75km Winter Weekend

Saturday: Harting to Devils Dyke (50km)

I woke up at 6:30, yes 6:30am! My body didn't really want to get out of bed but my mind couldn't forget that I took ownership of a new hang glider yesterday and today would be my first chance to try it out. I felt sure conditions would be blown out in the afternoon so I knew I had to get on the hill early to have a decent chance of getting into the air.

After loading my gear and putting the glider on the car, I was ready to head for a hill. Before leaving I gave Grant a call, time 8:00am. He forgave me for the early wake-up call. The wind was NNW so we debated the merits of Harting versus Westbury. We almost went for the latter but thankfully decided on Harting after looking at the isobars across the country on xcweather.co.uk. The result of the conversation was, meet at Harting ASAP before the wind picked up.

I was rigged and ready to go by the time Grant arrived at 9:30. There were already signs that it might be shaping up to be a good day, with cumulus forming over Harting. I proposed, in a half joking yet secretly ambitious way, the idea of flying to the Dyke but Grant wanted to see how conditions progressed. Taking off into a promising looking sky at 10am from Harting

I took off and immediately entered a strong thermal. I found myself 600ft ATO and a little out of my depth trying to get used to the new glider. The promising sign of a strong thermal before 10:00am didn’t escape our attention. I’ve never seen Grant rig so quickly. I got about twenty minutes in the air on my own and with the height from the first thermal I ran my glider through a series of tests. Still with 600ft ATO I pulled on half VB and flew over South Harting, this glider really can go! When Grant joined me in the air we decide to try for the Dyke.

We didn't stay on Harting long, because a thermal gave us enough height to move on to Treyford. Already Grant was high above me and apart from a couple of other short moments during the entire flight, he remained on average 1000ft above me! We moved to the end of Treyford and waited, but not for long. A gentle thermal gave us enough height to transit over the Cocking gap. This was suddenly all new territory for me and I felt a little lost on my new glider. Soon Grant was pushing much further Eastwards. I made sure I took my time and only progressed when I was sure there would be enough ridge lift ahead of me or I had enough height to cross the low parts of the ridge. Witnessing Grant ahead, progressing easily, pushed me onwards. We were in radio contact so he occasionally gave me some words of wisdom and encouragement. At the end of the ridge over Duncton , Grant was already up near cloud base talking over the radio about how he was going to attempt to get over the Arundel gap. Before I knew it and with the help of a few buzzards, I was climbing towards base too. The thermal seemed to hang about over the back of the ridge where a farmer was ploughing a field. My patience ran out as the lift became weak, I wanted to get across the gap while I had the height. I pulled full VB on for the first time and pointed for the other side of the Arundel gap. Grant called over the radio for me to slow down as I was pulling in too much speed. I must admit it did feel pretty fast (50mph) but it also felt so easy to fly at this speed.

View from Grant's glider, I'm hanging on 1000ft below! I made it over the gap with about 100ft to spare. Grant made it with at least a thousand! This was no mans land, I’d never even seen this part of the world before! It seemed to be lower, less defined and full of sailplanes. My progression along the ridge slowed to a crawling pace and Grant was soon far ahead of me at the other end of the ridge. I flew about at the West end of the ridge for a long time trying to take stock of where I was. I couldn't believe I had come so far, yet in the distance I could see the aerials at the end of Devils Dyke and knew they were in fact relatively close. We had come over half way. Grant could see them too and expressed impatience at my slow progress. I couldn’t help it my confidence had dropped as I was taking stock of where I was. I started to doubt that I would make the last hurdle. The sky started to close in and the thermals became less regular. I felt that I was holding Grant up and told him not to wait for me.

With time, however, I regained some confidence and pushed on once more. I took each stage one step at a time and on one occasion nearly lost it near Storrington when I took a thermal back over low ground. The ridgeline dropped into a gully before the next rise 300 metres away and I was over this gully with not enough height. The rise on the other side of the gully marked the final soarable high ground before the last gap to the Dyke. I saw a small ridge to my left that was 100m long and 100ft high. It didn't look high enough to soar but I had no other options. I had seen a massive landing field directly in front of it so I could always land there if I couldn't stay up. I unzipped my harness just in case I was forced to land and my heart sank because it felt like my flight was over. However, the wind was strong enough to enable me to maintain height. I was concentrating very hard to stay up, turning in lift, mapping out this tiny ridge and soared just above the top of it. Over on the high ground only 300 metres away I noticed Grant. This spurred me on; I could easily catch up with him if I could cross the gully. After 10 minutes I realised I wasn't going to go down so zipped up my harness. Literally two minutes later I got a few hundred desperate feet, which was enough to get me over the gully and onto the safety of the higher ground.

As soon as I crossed the gully Grant was off over the last gap. He made it to the Dyke after topping up his height half way across when he realised he was getting low. I still had this last hurdle to get over before I could join him. I hung about on the last bit of high ground before the gap. I was thankful for the safety but looked longingly over the gap to the aerials that marked the start of the Dyke. The gap seemed massive yet the aerials looked very close now. The sky closed in once more and again my confidence dropped. I must have soared back and forth on the high ground for fifteen minutes without any signs of lift. There seemed to be a lot of buzzards about so I followed one of the experts and was led into lift. The buzzard flew straight so I followed and rose in the thermal. My natural instinct made me try a 360 in the lift. As soon as I did I lost the thermal and sunk down to ridge height again. It wasn't long before the next cycle came through. This time I flew straight. After a while I couldn’t resist a couple of 360s but again the lift petered out, so I flew straight once more. I reconnected with the lift. I flew in more or less a straight line for the entire thermal and completed less than a dozen 360s gaining 1500ft. The forward penetration gave me a good angle on the dyke. I had gained 1500ft above the ridge, the height Grant had said I would require to get over the gap and my mind said I shouldn't waste it. My patience ran out again and the first groan of sink gave me the excuse I needed. I pulled full VB on and headed for the aerials. At the Dyke and climing back up to ridge height.

I was confident I would make it over the gap… until about half way. Then I realised that it wasn't going to be so clear cut, this was going to be close. I slowed in lift and pointed my toes a little bit more. Three quarters of the way over I knew I was going to make the start of the hill but I didn't know if I would have enough height to climb up above the ridge. With about 200 metres to go I unzipped and spotted my landing field just in case I went down. Grant congratulated me over the radio for making it over the last hurdle and onto the Devils Dyke, but I asked him to hold that thought until I knew I could climb up. First a zero, but after a while steady lift. I was soon above the ridge and following the rising ground onward and upward. I let out a whoop!

Wow! I made it and with literally feet to spare. How the f**k did I do that! We flew the Dyke for about 45 mins, then I got cocky. I wanted to keep going but Grant wasn't sure. He was debating whether to try and get back. I was aching all over and even contemplated landing on the Dyke Take Off. I should have just dropped over the back with a thermal. However, Grant wanted to fly round the corner onto the NE ridge past the Dyke. So when I had enough height I made my way into wind and round the corner. When I got round the corner the expected lift wasn't there. I should have continued down the NE ridgeline but I hung around. I desperately tried to find lift and soon found myself sinking out and the landing options weren't pretty. They were big fields but there was a forest on the up wind side. It was rough going through the layers and I put the glider down with a bounce. Thankfully that bounce was cushioned by the wheels I had put on the base bar before take off. Not a scratch on the glider, who said there was something wrong with putting wheels on a brand new Litespeed!

GPS Track, Harting Take Off (West) to the other side of the Arundel Gap (East). Thermals are marked by the Southerly Drift due to the wind!

Before packing up I made a few phone calls, the first one to the chairman of the Royal Navy Hang Gliding Club, Rob Dowdell, who provided me with the glider.
"Rob, sorry to bother you but I thought I'd better tell you... I’ve just flown the brand new litespeed for the very first time. I've just landed and... you never guess what I've gone and done???"
SILENCE...
"You haven't bent it have you Steve?"
"50 f*****g kilometers cross wind... in February mate!!! What a day!"

Other half of the GPS Track, Storrington (West) over the Gap to Devils Dyke. Notice the final glide from the Dyke into wind to try and get round the corner!

Maximum Lift 11ft per min
Max Sink 15ft per min
Linear distance 50km
Total distance 105km
No of thermals 13
Cumulative climb 16662ft
Time in the air 4hrs 15min
Max Ground Speed 51km
Max Height 3400ft

Barograph trace above ground: Straight into a thermal from take off, Treyford Gap 10km, Cocking Gap 25km, Arundel Gap 30-40km, Dkye Gap 65-70km.




Sunday: Harting to the Coast (27km)

It was one of those days where you wonder why you're going to the hill because all the signs pointed to it being blown out, yet you keep on going just in case! Ten minutes later 'there I was' at the front of Harting Take Off discussing the rationale of flying in these strong conditions with Grant and Raphael. "See its a steady 25mph… whoow, there goes a 30mph gust!" I'd never flown in these conditions and I wasn't sure I wanted to start, having said that, we'd already carried one glider up to the take off area so you could say it was a foregone conclusion.

We walked down to the car park to procrastinate some more. Miles and Mat arrived so we discussed our findings with them. We discussed compression, that wind speeds remained under 30mph, the fact that with height it would be 'smooth' and that it was forecast to drop off a little. We were starting to talk ourselves in to flying. To compound this there was a nagging voice in my head, no not the usual one about going shopping, I'd left that one back at the house! This one was more seductive and whispered "now you've got a topless you should try it in strong conditions”, and "The sky looks quite good and you could always try to go to Selsey". So it shouldn't be a surprise to hear that all five of us found ourselves rigging! 		Over the A27 on my way to the coast with loads of height.

I was the last off, I still wasn't sure about flying but the others seemed to be doing ok in the air. I asked a modeler to give me some assistance to launch, and as soon as I was 100ft ATO I wished I'd never left the ground! Wow, was it rough. I had the old ‘two handed death grip’ going on and even taking my hand off the base bar to do my harness zip up was unnerving. When my radio fell out of my harness and hung in mid air on the safety line I just left it dangling, much to the annoyance of the others because it was accidentally keying itself on (sorry about that chaps). There was plenty of ridge lift in the 25mph wind so there were no worries about staying up. It was just going down that I was worried about. I dreaded the top landing and fancied the idea of going down to the bottom landing field even less. I prayed for some lift like yesterday. I wanted to go over the back to a big landing field. My plan was this: get 1500ft ATO and glide to one of those big landing fields where I've landed before, 7 km downwind near Forestside.

However, as time went on and height wasn't forth coming I lowered my expectations to 1000ft ATO. Still the height remained elusive and when 600ft ATO was all I could get, I lowered it once more to 800ft. I finally got something that felt like a thermal and climbed towards 800ft but the strength of the wind soon took me over the ridge. It was decision time... It didn't take long to decide (top landing or over the back), I was going for it!

The lift turned to zeros as soon as I was over the back but I stuck with it. I looked at my altimeter, it read 780ft above take off. I really needed to work the zeros and not lose any height. The wind was strong and after about a dozen 360s I found myself clear of the hill and thankfully still around 780ft. I was now above the nice landing fields with height to spare. I continued to work the zeros. The ground screamed below me at 30mph. One side of the 360 was lift, the other sink but as long as the averager stayed at zero I remained calm. I settled into a routine concentrating on efficient 360's. Then I spotted some seagulls circling in some lift down wind above some rising ground. I extended my 360s until I found the lift they were in. I broke the 800ft mark and was quietly satisfied at my progress and extremely pleased to find my averager display 1.

Track from Harting to the pointy bit of land over Selsey and into the massive landing field. Unfortunately, as quick as it was found the lift was lost. I flew back into wind, feeling uncomfortable but sure the lift was there. I was rewarded with the reassuring lift again. I stuck with it, passed the 1000ft ATO mark and started to think I might just make it to the coast! The lift slowly eased off again and I was tempted to go on a final glide but I’ve made that mistake too many times before, so I squeezed every last bit of height and ground I could out of the air that I was in.

Over the last bit of high ground before the A27 the lift turned to sink so I pulled the VB on and headed down wind. My speed over ground was terrific. I relaxed into the flight, happy to know I was within gliding distance of some massive landing fields. I was also near the infamous pig farm that has welcomed me with a thermal before. Today I didn't register any lift until I was over the A27, it was a smooth zero/half up. I used the free ride for as long as I could before realising I was definitely going to make the coast.

Before the flight I said I wanted to go to Selsey and that I would like to get there with plenty of height. This would mean that I could fly out to the very tip of the land and then turn back into wind with enough height to choose a good landing field. So when I went over the estuary and was greeted by the best climb of the day I stuck with it, even though I knew I was going to make the coast with ease. I really relaxed into the flight now and absorbed as much enjoyment as I could. It had been a funny flight, it was the wrong way round. I'd started off low and now near the end, found myself with stacks of height. I had at least 2000ft clearance over the ground and was only about a kilometer from the coast. I could see my landing field, it was big enough for a jumbo jet, but first I needed to fly to the 'pointy bit' of land and over the sea. From the air the sea was a beautiful looking colour of blue, it intensified my elation as I realised I was about to achieve a goal I've sought for a long time. I flew over the most southern bit of land in Hampshire and turned into wind only to get the fright of my life when my speed over ground wasn't what I was expecting. I pulled the VB all the way on and increased my speed to max glide. Thankfully I had the extra feet so I didn't have to land in the small field I had also spotted just in case the wind was too strong.

I put it down in the big field and gave three foreign girls on a working holiday a bit of a scare. When they realised I didn't have an engine they seemed surprised. I could see from their expressions that my arrival had finally proven to them that 'us British folk’ really are mad. They considered me such a spectacle that they asked me to pose for a picture. I gladly consented, but made sure I didn't wipe the snot from my nose and left the cow pat on the front of my harness, so that their friends at home could gauge their own opinion of the British folk!

I walked the glider over to the coast guard tower (take note paraglider pilots) and was welcomed by a Southern Paraglider Pilot who’s front garden was this massive landing field. He invited me in for tea and we talked shop. Mostly I tried to talk him into joining the Sky Surfers especially when you consider we have a flying site called Butser 30km up wind from his front garden!

It was an awesome flight and shocking to think that I nearly didn’t fly. Some people say that flying to the coast is frustrating because after working to get so much height the cessation of land means you cannot use all that height to increase the distance of your cross country. However, I say that the fact that you can’t go any further implies you have done your best and therefore it is highly rewarding. Additionally flying to the coast takes you over dramatic scenery as you progress from land to sea. This is very much the case with the Selsey run. The contrasts of the quite rolling hills, the busy flat lands and the serenity of the costal villages are spectacular. Not to mention the backdrop of the English Channel with historic Chichester to the East, the Isle of Wight to the South West and the Solent off to the West. Why don’t pilots do these gentle flights to the coast more often? Perhaps you don't know how lucky you are, it is a shame more of us don't make the most of it when we get the chance. A thousand feet above take off is all you need! At the coast with height to spare.


And what a retrieve from the boys! 		Maximum Lift 7.5ft per min
Max Sink 11.2ft per min
Max Air Speed 46kph
Max Ground Speed 97kmh
Total distance 46km
Linear distance 27km
No of thermals 3
Cumulative climb 8000ft
Max height 2300ft
Time in the air 1hrs 20m

Barograph trace above ground, left the hill low at the 15km mark and gradually got higher and higher.



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