looking n to Blencathra at 7am or was it 6am - the clocks had just changed!
Site choice was difficult as we didn't know where any were but a few phone calls later we had settled on Parlick near Lancaster as being far enough s to not be too windy (although david t was not convinced) and far enough w to allow for a long flight before getting to the complicated airspace on the e side of the yorkshire dales. David was far to the S (peak district) and heading further s (Long Mynd) which meant my copy his airspace map plan was not working out. I did ask the "what is the airspace like 100k downwind from here?" question of several people at take off but you feel like a bit of a tit asking it in the first place and all the guys who would have known were already in the air.
Jules was the first to notice me getting the first strong climb out of the day and headed my way just when 20 other gliders were trying the other end of the ridge. when my 3 metre climb fizzled (inversion?) still a few hundred metres below base i found some sink and dropped down to join jules in a weaker core that was drifting nicely over the the high ground behind the hill and it was great to circle wing tip to wing tip for the first few k (we both admitted later to quite enjoying leading out in front of all the local pilots).
jules joining the dots
After a few sideways moves to clouds we got established on the mother of all cloud streets where the flying was just too easy. Behind us a big gaggle of about 15 gliders was chasing (trias included?) and there also seemed to be a gaggle on another street 5k to the south.
radio chat indicated another gaggle to the s over the reservoir
As we crossed the flatlands before the start of the Dales Jules pulled ahead a glide or two and i didn't see him again although he was always just ahead. Towards the end of the Dales crossing and thinking of airspace again i waited for a blue gradient and a red gin who were just behind who I assumed were local fliers but in fact, as i found out later, were paolo and scott from Aberdeen. Unfortunately i missed the climb from the last big hill of the Dales and was on the ground not long after just before the A1 (75k) and instead watched Paulo and Scott climb up to an awesome street leading ne. You have to be pretty crap to stuff it up on such an epic day!
paolo and scott climb above my head
awesome street leads downwind to the ne for paolo and scott
Because I was over 1000m for almost the whole flight it did feel like true flatland flying. However, getting a lift back through Hawes in the heart of the Dales didn't feel like flatlands - beautiful country. It was interesting to rely on clouds all the time and not be thinking so much about what ground features they were connected to as this is very different to most of the flying i do. Even though the wind was quite strong (25kph) the air was very smooth through the whole flight and stress levels were pretty much zero. So, less intense compared to mountain flying but still with the subtlety needed for an enjoyable game!
Congratulations to trias on his first 50+km flight in the uk! Retrieve was epic - well done to trias for getting to the car eventually (10pm) and also thanks to local pilot Mike Sumnter from Leyburn who gave me a lift back through the Dales to Ingleton.
Track log for the flight is here.
Scott r's write up for the same day is here.
