SE Wales Hang Gliding & Paragliding Forums

Rhosilli in the Cold!!!
By NorriS

Paul Williams picked me up at 08.00 on Saturday with Cookie and we set off to Rhosilli. The trip down there was okay in spite of quite bad conditions in places; roads were icy but not much snow on the road.
We got to Rhos to find that James was already flying but Stevie G was in the car park and he advised us that it was quite strong, James had been flying for a while. We had a brief discussion and decided to go up and see how it was, so we kitted up and vacated the car park.
When we got to the Pimple it was quite strong but Paul checked the wind speed and found it was only 15mph. Huh, a mere breeze!! Feels much more cos it is cold. Cookie was the first to rig as usual and then James landed. Seems he had taken off in time to have the wind pick up afterwards so he had flown for over an hour rather than land. He made a nice landing though. Cookie popped his wing up and started to drift backwards but remained in control and collapsed it again. A few minutes later James took off and Cookie followed him and they flew around for a while before landing again. Dan Sidoli arrived with the glider he got from Toys R Us and had no problem at all in taking off and flying around at high speed. Not surprising really, I have hankies bigger than that wing. Fair play though, in spite of being called “Little Cloud” it does fly well in these conditions
A few minutes later Cookie took off again and started to drift backwards so I gave him a helpful push and he just bobbed up into the air. When he came down within reach I grabbed his feet and pulled him; much better this time and he sailed out over the gorse and away. Little did I know that he would be returning the favour quite soon.
Stuart arrived and kindly gave me a hand to sort my wing out; it had gotten a little untidy drying it out in the front room. After helping me, he got his own kit out and was soon off and away, along with Stevie G and they both gained a good bit of height, pushing well out in front of the hill.
I decided to give it a go and popped my Mentor up and took a fast hike back up the Pimple before collapsing it from my vantage point flat on my back. I dragged it back on the “C” risers and gave it another go. This time for a bit of variety I added a front dive and a shoulder roll. James gave me a hand to drag it to a favourable position and there I waited for a lull in the wind. The bushes at the front were quite agitated, thrashing about quite energetically but I knew that once away from the hill I would be okay; I am clipping in 5K over the top weight and the Mentor is quite fast anyway. James was standing by my shoulder ready to give me a hand should it prove necessary and Cookie was saying that it had picked up, maybe a walk down to the beach was in order when the wind dropped a little so I pulled the wing up, keeping a bit of pressure on the “C”s and managed to stay on my feet. Well, for a second or two, then I got lifted off the ground and started to drift backwards. Again.
Cookie grabbed my foot and pulled me forward and that was enough to get me out over the gorse bushes and I found the speed bar and that was it, I was away. My vario kicked in at 12.05, so we had been there for a couple of hours. I gained height and pushed forward and there I stayed for the next hour and three quarters. Smooth but strong, although later on it got a little bumpy as the winter sun started to kick off small thermals.
Cookie, James and Paul walked down to the beach and took off from there, so it must have gotten quite strong, I was out over the beach and Mr Osmundsen flew up alongside me to check that I was okay. How nice it is to have friends. He flew off to do some wingovers and spiraldives but I just flew around like an old guy, nice and steady. Well, I did a few wingovers but nothing extreme, and a couple of baby dives, but I was quite content to just bimble about; this cold weather is getting to me, Arthritis and joint ill have becoming unwelcome guests of mine.
Eventually I burned off some height and flew along the raised beach before landing on the sand to have a walk about to warm up after 105 minutes in the saddle. Edi Geczi was there chatting to another pilot and Michele was there too. I had a little chat and then decided to have another go. That is when the fun started.
I watched Stuart take off; easy, then I pulled the wing up and walked over the pebbles (rocks) to the edge of the dune and fell over. I got up, re-inflated the wing, climbed up the dune a way and fell over. Used the wing to pull me up and fell over. Got the wing upside down so I balled it up and carried it back to the sand where I started to get sorted out again. A pilot went to pull the wing out straight but I stopped him; rather do it myself thank you. I got the wing up again and went through it all again, the only difference being that on one occasion as I fell over I pulled the wing up to steady myself and Paul Williams, who was just passing over me, had to run across the top of my wing! Sorry mate, my fault entirely, I was getting a bit exasperated. After falling over half a dozen times at least, I finally got off and followed Cookie along the edge of the dunes, not easy cos I was flying a bit faster than he was, but I managed it without getting too close. I turned towards the ridge just past the National Trust house and started to get some height as I flew into the lift band; I still got a good strong whiff of smoke from the wood fire inside the house though. Half a dozen people were flying and Edi pushed all the way out to the cliffs at the edge of the Wyrm and back.
Eventually the wind seemed to have dropped so that we could land on the Pimple again, although Paul had a nasty experience when he landed; a line dropped around his neck and started to pull tight, he had to go with the wing rather than get throttled. Nasty, but he coped with it. We were at the point of thinking that maybe we had had enough when Stuart decided to have another go.
Unfortunately, when he pulled his wing up it lifted him off the ground with a small tangle in his left tip. He drifted over the Pimple and slowly turned downwind. He flew over the first field, just cleared the fence and landed in the next field, still going downwind. ******, he can run! He told me afterwards that no amount of brake would turn the glider back into wind. I saw that he was starting to bag his glider up and we all decided to do the same. We all walked down to the car park and said our goodbyes before Cookie dragged us into the pub where we found Stevie G and Rob and Tina Browning, so we joined them for a drink and a chat.
Eventually we set off for home and Paul went a different way, he said it was shorter but I think he wanted to do some more ice skating! We got home okay and they dropped me off tired but happy. What a good start to the New Year!

NorriS.

P.S. To those who don’t know me, I had the misfortune to break my right thigh a couple of years ago, and the surgeon had to put a bolt and a plate in my leg to repair it and the hip joint. A combination of the original accident and the surgery has left me with a weak right leg that does not have the amount of mobility it used to have, and it sometimes gives way when I stand on it. I tend to land on my arse quite often and I fall over a lot. Sometimes when I fall over I stay there for a while until the leg wakes up.
If I fall over whilst you are watching, please, have a good laugh, it doesn’t bother me, but don’t rush over to help me unless I ask for it. Happy New Year.