Report

Day 1

The July 7th - 6th saw the activation of the British Open Series reserve comp date in South East Wales. Obnoxious weather during the season so far meant that only two tasks had been flown: 31km from the Blorenge during the original South-East Wales meet in April and 127km from Wether Fell at the Yorkshire meet in May.

Being held at fairly short notice, this extra meet was a chance for some of the less accomplished pilots like myself to rack up a few points simply by being there. Others who were unable to attend left a few places open in the rankings for those that were.

Optimism at the 'low pressure with a hint of a ridge' forecast led to the first task set by Meet Director Kathleen Rigg being 177.2km from Merthyr to a goal near to Milton Keynes. Conditions at launch looked promising, though a brisk 15 - 20mph wind meant that when you went over the back you really went over!

The sky was a mix of cumulus, misty bits and some convergence toward the Severn Estuary, as well as some big blue gaps out toward the flatlands beyond the valleys behind Merthyr. I launched fairly early to find that the air was surprisingly smooth. Thermals were abundant though they felt broken to the less-experienced competitor (me).

The climb that finally took me over the back was like the hand of God. It planted me near to cloudbase at around 3,000ft above the hill (about 4,400ft asl). If only I'd capitalised on it! By the time I'd got to cloudbase a slight northerly component had caused me to drift south of the course line. It was the first time I'd flown at Merthyr, and after hearing the horror stories of valley landings I was keeping one eye out for safe landing fields instead of both eyes on the sky.

Not long after this I was low over a gully on one of the valley ridge-tops, picking off the little bubbles that were coming through and hoping one would be my low save. When I finally thought I'd found my route back up I managed a couple of very tight 360s, only to be spat out into the surrounding sink. I top-landed nearby about 10km into the task.

A handful of others shared my fate, but a few more astute pilots had stayed with the good clouds along a line to the south of track to clear the valleys before working back north later on. These included Dave Matthews and Will Greenwood who had both got to goal.

Justin Needham, who also got to goal, writes: “Merthyr did its common trick of shutting down with a vengeance for several long minutes before the big lift. Struggling to stay airborne, I suspected it would lift off. Grant went down and I nearly followed. Eventually the enormous strong cycle which quickly got me away lasted long enough for all those who had top landed to have a really good crack.

“With 177km to fly and a crosswind to negotiate I didn't hang about. I connected up with Bruce during the run out of the Valleys. He pulled ahead after finding a stronger core at the Blorenge, but I later saw him faltering in the gloom when overdevelopment struck us at Ross-on-Wye.

“Negotiating this overdevelopment was a defining part of the flight and put many on the deck. What had been a humungous sea-breeze convergence line shut down rapidly and shaded a massive area of the ground. I needed to make a very determined northwards glide to reconnect with the sunshine after the initial romp towards Ross.

“Beyond Gloucester things initially looked good again, but I flew into a large hole in the lee of the Cotswolds where there was a big area of descending air. I took a dodgy low save in the blue some 15km before the turnpoint which got me back in the running. At this point I was letdown by some faulty GPS button-pressing, having dialled in a turnpoint 3km north of the correct one. As it was in an almost perfectly straight line with goal, the overall task distance was unchanged and I suspected nothing till we scored in!

“Dave had a faster run with Will, apparently flying the stronger conditions which seem to have developed across the Cotswolds. We flew the same thermal in our final climb, Dave leaving lower to take a dodgy final glide - but as it turned out expertly judged. Dave made goal a couple of minutes ahead of me - considerably stretching his harness in the process - and Will (third in goal) a couple of minutes behind. Although second into goal I finished fourth thanks to my GPS error.”

1	Dave Matthews	Moyes Litespeed S	500
2	Will Greenwood	Airborne C4	484
3	Steve Green	Aeros Combat	395

Day Two

Sunday at Merthyr was less windy and a little more top-cover threatened to take the edge off proceedings. The pace of preparation seemed much slower among the flock. A 73.2km task to Highnam near Gloucester was called, followed by a period spent watching the rain clouds gather out in front. The 1:30pm start-time coincided with the arrival of the looming rainstorm.

When the sky cleared enthusiasm was still hard to detect among the group, although an early batch of toe-dippers got up to show us what the air was doing. All credit to them - when the sink cycle came not everyone made it back to top-land, Grant Crossingham ending up in the sports field at the bottom.

An hour later a few plucky contestants launched into a more perky sky. As nearly everyone who launched was going up I followed them. After a couple of beats of the ridge I connected with a reliable 5 - 6-up which took me pretty much all the way to cloudbase. However the bit of cloud I was under - some convergence or mist - was only about 2,500ft above the hill. I skirted the edge and joined up with a few others in a small gaggle working the 1 and 2-ups over the back of Merthyr.

Staying with this until I could see the flatlands in the distance, I got bored with waiting and took a gamble on a nearby cloud that appeared along the course line. I spotted two other gliders on the deck and feared my chosen route might meet with a similar fate. I managed to clear the fourth ridge-top back and sneak a landing on its lee side. All seemed well until my feet touched the ground, when I was instantly soaked up to my thighs. My two broken uprights confirmed that I'd landed in a hidden ditch. Well, I didn't see it!

Those that motored onto goal included Graham Phipps, who writes: “With the clock ticking I was keen to get going. I launched to find good lift on the ridge and gave an encouraging shout to the ground. It proved not to be such a wise move as on turning back I was met with a wall of gliders that had just launched. We quickly established into a thermal which saw a good number of gliders to cloudbase or very close.

“Bruce Kavanagh, Steve Green and I all set off on a fast glide over the valleys, keen to make up for time wasted on the ground. Dave Matthews (now series leader) gave chase and we all met up in the next climb which saw us back to base. Running along a good street at high speed we were quickly out of the valleys, past the Blorenge and looking for our first climb in the flatlands. Not long before we had seen gliders climbing (presumably Gordon and Carl). Again the climb was good and we moved as a group from cloud to cloud, making good time until things began to look a little on the blue side up ahead.

“Bruce and I discussed tactics. The obvious choice was to put the brakes on under the last cloud and get as high as we could before heading out into the blue towards goal. The lift was weak and broken and we couldn't quite make base. As we began to sink again it was time to take our chances, or head back upwind to hopefully better lift and wait.

“We took our chances, and after only a few km we hit s reasonable 3-up lift and circled up. Getting the jump on the others, I pulled away in a 5-up to the base of a newly developing cloud. Here was my chance to rein a few points back in on Dave if I could make goal. Off I went with 27km to go and a glide of 18.9:1 showing on the MLR. The distance went down but the glide angle required went up as I hit some poor air. Bruce and Steve had headed off track to the north to a large town and were encountering light lift as I began to sink into trouble.

“Gliding from ground source to ground source with no result, it looked like my day was over. With height running out fast I diverted to try some large buildings at Mitcheldean about 14km out, but again no luck. Do I hang around them or glide over the next village with limited landings? Gliding over the village confirmed that the landings were indeed limited, but cruising the upslope behind it the air became almost buoyant. Bits of up were followed by bits of down, but still the average was down.

“With no more than three beats left before I must land, I found lift! Turn, sink, lift, more lift, turn, sink, lift. A whole 360 and then another. Eventually a solid 5-up got me as high as I needed to be, and with glide angle to spare it was bar in all the way to goal. 15 minutes later Dave arrived, while Bruce and Steve landed around 10km short.”

1	Graham Phipps	Wills Wing T2	500
2	Dave Matthews Moyes	Litespeed S	468
3	Nigel Bray	Wills Wing Talon	405

Well done to everyone involved for a safe and enjoyable competition. Special thanks to Clive Belbin for his scoring efforts, and to Kathleen for taking charge over the two days. I think we all agreed it was a great success.

Final Scores

1	Dave Matthews Moyes	Litespeed S	968
2	Graham Phipps	Wills Wing T2	837
3	Will Greenwood	Airborne C4	824
4	Steve Green	Aeros Combat	781
5	Justin Needham	Moyes Litespeed	667
6	Bruce Kavanagh	Wills Wing T2	659