Yorkshire puddings

Hangers take over the car park at the morning briefing

photo Justin Needham

Briefing on the hill in sunshine in Yorkshire!!!!!

Photo Ted Claggett

Gliders sunbathing waiting for the "off"

photo Ted Claggett

Gliders "stacking up" in wave over Wether Fell, the tiny dot on the right is a fourth glider to give some idea of the hieght (around 7,500 and still climbing)

photo Justin Needham

Dave Matthews parked up in the wave way above the cumulus and so so smooth

photo Justin Needham

Launch at Nappa Scar was fun and required some attention

Photo Jenny Buck

Well not quite but we did see some. The bank holiday saw us in The Yorkshire Dales for the second round of the British Open Hang Gliding Series (BOS) where the weather was uncharateristicly fine. It started on the Friday when we headed to Tailbridge a nice site on the edge of the Dales with an easy take off and top landing area. Plenty of flying went on but no one managed to activate the task and with low damp cloud approaching we called it a day before the window closed .

However Saturday was better and with sunshine forecast and the wind due to veer a little we headed back to tailbridge where Pete Coad (meet Director) set a nice little XC vis a turn point to Barnard Castle some 40K away. Things were a little challenging with pilots getting away in several groups or on their own. The pack went down at around 14k alongside the main road whilst a few of us managed to "hole" up on a small ridge just short of them. Shedsy managed to sneak away and did a brave flight across the moor to land at 25k or so whilst i took what hieght I had befor ethe rain came and overflew the masses to land just past them at 16k. A fun day with plenty of smiling faces saw me in 3rd.

Sunday was a super looking day and based on a forecast for the wind to come on later at Wether Fell that's where we went. By the time the window opened on the 81k task to Wombleton it was well off to the south making conditions less then ideal. taking the opportunity for some sunbathing I rested whilst the masses took off and beat around in the choppy air. opening my eyes revealed gliders starting to climb so after an hour in the sun i launched to join them in what had now plainly become wave conditions. By the time i reached 4000' Asl the high boys were at 6000' and by the time I got to 7,500 they were at 8,500. How high we would have gone i don't know because as the last start had long gone and we had delayed long enough just to enjoy the experience looking down on the cumulus we did eventually pull out of it to head off towards goal. a cracking flight followed with a mixture of wave bar hopping to start with followed by thermal flight to finish including a stunning climb out off Sutton Bank right in front of the tourists saw 14 of us arrive in Goal. One of my best days flying in the UK ever just amazing, you should have been there.......

Monday saw the wind forecast for a light southerly veering SW so we headed up Nappa Scar a cracking ridge with a cliff type launch. The walk up gave us some well needed exercise and on arrival at the top it was far from light. Pete set another 81k task north under what looked like a cracking sky. By the time the window was due to open it was very breezy and turbulent at launch so it was decided to delay until further notice. More sunbathing ensued but finally things did moderate and off we went with a few exciting launches, but everyone did manage to get away in the end. Thermals were pretty good at launch and pretty soon gaggles of gliders were up at base and heading off on track. Things 20k downwind were not so good with the sky in decay and soon after that pilots were decking it in large numbers at and around the 25k mark. I managed to sneak by under a blue sky and slide onto a small ridge (slope) where i found a weak thermal which lifted me just high enough onto the moor to allow a short glide on track to a track to give me the winning distance for the day of 34.8k, still enough.

Tuesday was blown out so after Prize giving we headed home early under a cracking sky but it remained breezy all the way. Final results can be found here http://bhgc.wikidot.com/ and were pretty good for the Wills Wing Boys with then taking 3 of the top 4 places, well done guys.

Some "interesting" film footage of the event can be found here http://www.film41.co.uk/F41/00-BOS_Videos.html