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BLACK MOUNTAINS OPEN - 2007

This will be a five day competition based in Crickhowell and the competition headquarters will be in the Crickhowell Telecottage as usual - opposite the War Memorial. The cost will be £50 for those who have not already entered the whole series and payment should be sent (with a cheque payable to BHPA Hang Gliding Competitions) to John Aldridge at the address given on the entry form. Waypoint upload and registration will be in the Comp HQ or the Vine Tree during the evening of Thursday 3rd May and briefing in the village car park (behind the Fire Station) at 9:30 a.m. on Friday 4th May. Latecomers can also register at this time. All pilots should be prepared to present their BHPA card at registration and this is essential for any pilot who has not flown in the series so far this year. Tasks will be set (weather permitting) Friday through to Tuesday.

There will probably be a "Hog Roast" or something similar in the Britannia Inn during the evening of Monday 7th May (to be confirmed later) and the cost of this for pilots is included in the entry fee. However the pilots will have to pay a small sum for their retrieve drivers and any other guests to attend.

A number of South East Wales sites will be available for the competition including the following:

Nant-y-Moel (SW)
Rhigos (N)
Merthyr (W)
Abertysswg (NW)
Pontlottyn (NE)
Blorenge (SE, NE, NW)

Unfortunately the landowners will not allow competitions on Hay Bluff and insist that it is a members only site; Pandy is also closed to us during May each year. Any pilot arriving early for the competition should note this. The SE Wales club web site guide is at http://www.sewhgpgc.co.uk/

Essential maps are the latest Southern England and Wales half mil air chart (latest edition), plus OS Travelmaster 7, Wales & West Midlands. Appropriate OS 1:50,000 maps of the area may also be useful.

Saturday onward we will aim for the following routine:

09:30 Provisional results available
De-brief previous days task
Met brief for the day
Announcements
Site for the day decided
TBN Task briefing on site.

The competition panel members responsible for this competition are:

Organiser: Graham Phipps, mobile 07785 593559

Meet Director: John Aldridge, mobile 07720 559083

Those seeking accommodation may find the following links useful or lists can be obtained from the Tourist Information and National Park Centre in Abergavenny (01873) 857588:

http://www.bedandbreakfast-directory.co.uk/default.htm

http://www.smoothhound.co.uk/

http://www.crickhowell.org.uk/intro.htm

http://members.aol.com/redhartbandb/

http://www.britinfo.net/bed-and-breakfasts/TAYCS10000.htm

http://www.oakview-cottages.co.uk/index.php

http://www.pyscodlyncaravanpark.com/

http://www.selfcatering-directory.co.uk/

http://www.sewhgpgc.co.uk/

http://www.abergavenny.co.uk/

http://www.staying-in-wales.com/_pages/contact.html

Reports:-

The British Open (and first round of the British Open Series) was held in South EastWales on five days over the early May Bank Holiday. This year the series is being sponsored by UK Airsports,WillsWing, Cross Country Magazine and Green Dragons who are providing day prizes and funding the retrieve drivers' food at the competition dinners.

There was a good turnout, with over 50 flexwings and more interest in the rigid wing class than we've seen in recent years with five pilots. The weather didn't play ball and there was only one valid task on the first day. Conditions were uninspiring and a short 30kmtask was set from the Blorenge down to the coast near Newport. Only two pilots made it to goal, Graham Phipps on a flexwing and Neville Almond on a rigid. Here's how they did it…

Graham writes: “Boy it was cold on the top of the Blorenge. By briefing time I was barely able to write the task down as my hands were shaking so much, and looking at the sky there seemed little point anyway. However things soon improved and it was time to see what my new WillsWing T2 144 fresh out of the box could do. I spent a good 30minutes bobbing up and down before finally getting a solid climb to base (2,300ft asl) over the south-east face. Arriving at cloudbase with a few others there was no point in hanging around and I was quickly off, heading for a couple of gliders circling low in the foothills. Amazingly, very few of the gaggle followed.What more can you want than cloudbase and gliders circling low? By the time they did they were well below and I was back in lift.

“Spotting a rigid a km or so away, nearly on track to the crosswind turnpoint, I pushed on and joined up with newcomer Jamie Cannon.We quickly found lift back to base but the rigid (Neville Almond) was long gone and never to be seen again.We cloud-hopped towards the turnpoint. The glider was flying superbly with little effort,making the climbs easy and the glides relaxing. A small blue hole near the lake proved that it was not all straightforward, and Jamie and I both began losing height. We got to the eastern side and found broken lift although Jamie, now a fair bit lower, never really recovered and landed just past the turnpoint.

“Now back at base at 2,700ft, I was enjoying the views whilst trying to pinpoint the turnpoint. A gentle climb just short set me up nicely and I nipped into the cylinder to get my tracklog point before returning to the lift. The sky was now looking a lot bluer than previously. At 2,500ft I expected the target to pop up on my Bräuniger but it stayed stubbornly blank. I climbed higher, but still nothing. I headed towards goal in anticipation, but nothing. Stopping to climb again, not wanting risk falling short, I did the maths and convinced myself to glide for it, and off I went.With good air the coast was within easy reach. The MLR woke up and showed 4.9:1 glide to goal, giving me the ideal opportunity to try out the T2's speed-gliding characteristics (superb).

“Arriving at goal when no one else is there (or at least they are but you can't see them) always leads to shadows of doubt creeping in. These were compounded after landing by Sara Green (thank you for the retrieve) announcing that the co-ordinates that John Aldridge had given her no way tied up with the locality I was in. However when she announced that they were located some 534km away my faith in my
navigational capabilities returned.

“Whilst derigging I kept scanning the sky, fully expecting new arrivals, but no other flexwings made it . Despite having landed only a couple of fields away (and having flown over him several times), I didn't even know Neville was there until he popped his head over the gate. I must get some new contact lenses!“

Neville writes: “With the sun only breaking through the overcast by 2:30 and base at 2,700ft asl, the 20- mile dogleg to a remote goal looked ambitious. Maxing out at a mere 900ft above the Blorenge the route southwards following the hills looked obvious, but pilots could be seen scattered along the hills and that option didn't look promising. On a positive note,mild thermals were in existence and I decided to attempt a straight line towards the first turnpoint at around 3:50pm, for no other reason than a few others (including Grant Crossingham and Phippsy) also deciding to go. The mild thermals would shut down quite early and a positive decision was necessary.

“After three miles we encountered a few blips of lift. I started a turn and the five of us scattered, looking for that elusive lift. Good teamwork! We hadn't quite reached the lift, and on seeing the others sinking I straightened back on course. Another 20 seconds gliding put me in the thermal - a good result but I would have preferred the company in the marginal conditions. I repeated three glides and scratchy climbs, ever climbing at more than 300ft/min, but the broken scraggy cloud was actually proving quite
reliable.

“Staying between 2,000 and 2,500ft was encouraging, but there was only one line looking soarable and I was now 1.5miles crosswind of the first turnpoint. There was no option but to glide into a blue hole to snatch the turnpoint and then steer towards Newport.Within minutes the ground was approaching, and I ended up at just 800ft over the huge golf course near theM4/Newport junction. I connected with some poor lift which I happily struggled with (off-course) to the outskirts of Newport. Goal was now just five miles away crosswind, and from2,500ft it looked easily possible. I encountered a long stretch of 600ft/min down on the way, but I arrived with just 300ft to spare. I had barely scratched the surface of my food supply when Phippsy sailed overhead just eight minutes later.”

On the Saturday we had lighter north-easterly winds. The forecast for better lift than the day before and the wind to drop and swing more north. A task was set fromt he Blorenge to PenMilan in the Brecon Beacons and back to Castle Meadows. Most people rigged in the bowl, but eventually the wind set in from the east and everyone carried over. The paraglider wind dummies were not too inspiring, but after 2pm a few people started launching intermittently. No one got more than a few hundred feet above take-off and the furthest anyone flew was 8km, landing just short of Crickhowell - not far enough to activate the task. Eventually the task was canned to avoid a mass sled ride into the sensitive fields on the way to Crickhowell. The next few days were all blown out and often wet as well. On the 4th day, with strong winds and a forecast of more for the last day, the competition was canned a day early and the prizes awarded.

Pics

Scores

(you may find that these are easier to read bu pressing CTRL - (minus) a couple of times. CTRL + (plus) will revert it back to normal.
One day I'll find out how to do it another way :-)

Task 1 - Blorenge to Redwick