Venue: Bistrot Pierre – Preston (back by popular demand)
Date: Sat 21st December 2019
Time: 5pm – 7pm + Drinks afterwards
Cost: £27.50 per head – (£10 deposit per person required)
Max attendees: 30 (first come first serve basis)
Christmas Menu – we will be required to complete a pre-order of the food by mid November
Please let me know if you would like to attend andyarcher60@gmail.com along with your menu choice.
I'll then send you an email back with details regarding the deposit.
The forecast was for light winds, starting in the East and veering right around the compass through SE, S, SW to West by mid-afternoon, so where else would you go but Parlick, with an eye on the Totridge run before the wind swung too far. It turned out pretty spot on to begin with and the East bowl was fairly busy, without too much height to play with. Murph showed how it’s done with a tenacious trip across the washing machine early on to complete the run. Later as the wind went further South-East more attempted the trip and at least 3 managed it cleanly without a touch and go.
Coming back into the bowl, it would have been easy to head back to the East face take off, but for the warning signs:
· The forecast direction change
· My instrument told me the wind was SSW (I don’t trust the XCSoar wind calculation too strongly, it takes a lot of consistent circling before it makes up its mind)
· The glider field windsock
· A PG not having a good time near the crags
GJ and I headed on a direct line to the showground and enjoyed a very lifty ride; others shot up 3000’. Something was going on. 5 minutes after landing in Chipping, still more or less into a Southerly wind, the trees around us started thrashing violently from the West as the sea breeze (?) switched on. Meanwhile in the landing field there were backwards landings and blow-backs into the wrong field.
As always, awareness of the conditions is vital. Keep asking yourself what the wind is doing; how it compares with what you expected. If a sea breeze arrives at Parlick, it can catch anyone out, especially after a long period of fairly constant, benign wind speeds and directions. The sudden appearance of massive lift suggests a convergence as the two winds met – another warning sign that things are about to change.
Tight lines.
Brian
Hi All,
A couple of weeks ago one of our members was challenged by the Wolfen Hall Gamekeeper for landing in the fields below Saddle End Farm. It seems that the the owner of Wolfen Hall purchased Saddle End Farm and surrounding land a few years ago, as such they are now breeding game birds on the land surrounding Saddle End as well as the land directly below the east face of Parlick.
We have been asked not to land in the area marked in red on the plan, this is a much larger areas than previous. Please adhere to this.
If you are approached by the game keeper please be respectful and understanding of their frustration with you, it is their livelihood after all. Please report it to me so that I can manage the situation.
As it was the PSC member involved had a good conversation with the gamekeeper and reported it to me straight away, this allowed me to contact both the game keeper & landowner to understand the issue and obtain the latest info of the Exclusion zone.
Thanks
Andy Archer
PSC Sites Officer
07824 321575
BOLO: Be On Look Out for . . . apparently I read too many crime thrillers. Earlier this week a few of us encountered an endangered species on Parlick East. These creatures aren’t threatened by the environment, or global warming, or country leaders with mad hair; no, they are undone by their own actions. This one displayed many of the common features of the hapless creatures: standing off to one side, no eye-contact with anyone else, holding bits of kit in his hand wondering what it did – you know the look. No helmet, a climbing harness and just a T-shirt completed the picture.
I cautiously approached, ready to run and hide behind Paul if I aroused the threat response for which these specimens are renowned. This one turned out to be most polite and courteous, phew! Some careful questioning produced the following: Where did you get the wing? Ebay. What is it? No idea. Age? Dunno. Size? Does it matter? BHPA? What’s that? Lessons? Watched YouTube.
I had a long chat with him, as did several others at different times during the afternoon. To be fair to him, he seemed to be a pleasant, decent bloke who would be good company over a pint in the Sun. He listened to what we had to say about the benefits of learning properly, BHPA insurance etc. but still insisted he was going to take off. We all advised him not to, explained that we could not offer any guidance without putting ourselves at risk, legally, and left him to it.
Luckily for him, he never even looked like getting launched, despite his claim to have spent ‘every day’ ground handling and flying in Tenerife. The wing must have been 15 years old, probably so far out of trim as to be unflyable. Speaking to him later, it seemed like our advice had penetrated, and he would ‘think about’ what we said.
Sadly, this is becoming a common occurrence all over the place. A recent article in Skywings spelled out the pitfalls of a lack of insurance, so no point in going over them here – I am preaching to the converted after all. (Yes?). I hope the combined effect of several pilots speaking to him in reasonable tones about his unreasonable actions might just have sowed some seeds of doubt in his mind. Perhaps we can all keep a lookout for these unfortunate people, and with the right approach keep them from harm. As well as keeping ourselves safe.
Tight lines.
Brian