Record breaking flight 10/04/2011

The wind direction forecasted for the day and the reality were significantly different. So instead of SW we got SSE which meant we wouldn't be able to fly from Mt Leinster to Croghaun and a few other turn points as I'd planned the task the day before.
The new task consisted of the take off turn point and another one over Blackrock approx 3.5km away after which we had to fly the as far as possible. It was more like an XC task than a classical "race to goal".
Window opening was set up for 1 o'clock.
Big Mark - the CL leader - launched as the first one and bombed out few mins later. A bit later a few other pilots tried, of which Rafal "Vox" managed to stay in the air and after a long lasting fight he eventually regained the height and after getting into the take off cylinder headed towards the BR turn point. More pilots geared up and got in the air,
so did I.

I got in a strong thermal immediately. It was broken up and it took me a good while to ride it to the cloud base. I got quickly to the first cylinder and looked for the Blackrock where I could see Rafal Vox hovering pretty high. He left the hill way before I got there. On my way back I saw a few other gliders flying along the Blackrock ridge: Sebastian, Lubor, Greg and Big Mark who launched for the second time this day. It seemed like good company for a good XC.

It was my first time to fly with the lk8000 instead of my Garmin and I wasn't sure if I'd completed the BR turn point. I changed some settings and decided to fly into it again. That nearly grounded me as I couldn't make it back over the ridge. Then I noticed Seb around 100m away centering a thermal- that was my salvation!
While there was blue sky over the mast we had a pretty nice cloud street over Blackrock which worked excellently. I picked up a nice developing cloud and few mins later I could enjoy my favourite view: Mt Leinster mast from 1200m - gorgeous.

Now was the time for the most difficult decision: to leave the hill or not to leave? I left.
I stayed in one thermal until I passed Slaney river. Once it was gone I flew downwind under the cloud street coring every little lift and most of the time just 0m/s lift letting the wind push me further and further from Lenny.
I saw Lubor approx 200m below me and from now on we flew together for 20km helping each other in searching for any lift. Small gaggle is better than no gaggle.
While doing my best to stay in any lift I saw a hang glider (Jim Dowling) was approaching us from the south
and Seb to the north struggling hard along the small ridge. Jim caught up with us but was way higher. I tried to follow him whenever I saw him coring but Lubor kept searching on his own. Eventually Jim stayed in one thermal for a few more circles - it had to be a decent one. I got there quickly and availed of the same thermal - 3m/s to the base - sweet. I could relax a bit now. I couldn't find Sebastian. Jim disappeared somewhere in Keadeen direction. Lubor was at the base few kilometres in front of me. That gave me some comfort as I could just watch him and follow thermals that he marked. It worked just once.
While heading north I could see Lubor very low in desperate search for any lift in the Askanagap valley and before I caught up with him he was landed after 44.4km - less then 5km away from the TMT Award - what a pity!

I was getting lower and lower and when I got over Lubor I was below the tops surrounding the valley. I found a very broken thermal that I couldn't stay in. I got few collapses but managed to gain some height.
To the left I saw the Croaghanmoira hill that was just bathed in the sun. By its shape it looked like a classic collector and trigger point. I decided to chance it and after a while got in 3m/s sink and started accelerating significantly. "There must be something" I thought. And was indeed! 4m/s lift straight to the cloud base at more than 1300m. I had to run away from that as less than 100m above me the controlled airspace started. To the right I could see Wicklow and to the left Wicklow Mountains - the most beautiful view in Ireland unfortunately available to just view. I couldn't help staring at it but my GPS warned me: I'm heading towards Dublin CTA that starts from 3000 feet up. After quick assessment I decided to go towards the N11, avoid any cloud suck and stay below 900m - it was around 55km from Mt Leinster. The chance to break the official Irish record became a reality! I headed for the nearest bright field hoping for some bubbles, than another one.
I passed Ashford and in front of me had nothing but forest. I wasn't sure if I would make it to the big meadow behind it but got into a spike and gained a few meters - that was when I realised: Eoin is not the record holder any more - sorry Eoin...:)

Tom Cardas

30Km + XC from Keadeen to Glenealy and Wicklow 3 April 2011

                                        XC from Keadeen mtn to Glenealy and Wicklow town.
Pilots:
Tom, Rafal, Greg, Gerry and Lubor

Yesterday Sunday 03-04-2011 a group of IHPA  PG pilots met on Keadeen Mountain near Baltinglass Co Wicklow. There was a light W to WSW wind at the bottom of the mountain and it looked like we wouldn't have to climb too high to get enough wind to launch. We climbed for about 15 mins and waited for the wind to pick up a little as it was still light where we considered launching from up on the hill.

There were some dark clouds overhead and we could see rain approaching but it looked like there was some sunshine behind this weather front. We might just be trying on our optimistic hats yet again. Well rain it did and with no shelter all we could do was get behind our bagged gliders and wait it out. Looking to my left while trying to remain positive about the day I looked at Mount Leinster in the distance and it was in bright sunshine. I knew that there were HG pilots over there about to fly and of course I wised them well while they were bathed in sunshine and is was lashing down on us ( nearly true!)

Anyway the rain passed and I launched, I managed to get lift and I was holding my own well but it was very bumpy. I saw Tom launch and when next I looked his direction he was very high but I seriously thought of landing as I felt more than a little uncomfortable in the lumpy air.

Tom announced that the plan was to get to base and fly to the mountain behind Keadeen as it had a bowl which was in bright sunshine. The consensus was that the bowl might act as a collector and we could top up on height there if we needed to. Well that didn't work out too well and we tried to make it back to Keadeen but with strong wind and increased sink we lost quite a bit of height and it was nearly a hike out off the mountain.

Luckily we all managed to gain height again with the lift being a constant 3m/s or better sometimes  but while the lads made it to base and travelled about 5km down wind from me I was too low to head to the group so I stayed put and topped up my height and when nearly at base I turned and headed for the coast which at this stage was still over 30 km away.

I could see all around me for miles and I was nearly twice as high as Mt Leinster, just over 1500m with fantastic views. I was heading East across the Wicklow National Park following Greg, Tom, Lubor and Rafal in the direction of Wicklow / Arklow. The views from this height were truly breath taking and although we had broken thermals, cloud suck and sink air to contend with the air wasn't too rough at all.  I looked at the sky reflecting off a little lough in the middle of a mountain called Arts Lough. It looked so remote and lost  but I thought that it was a  little gem. Further to my left ( North ) was Poulaphouca reservoir with Lough Dan nearby and I could see the wind turbines about 10km off the Arklow coast.

Of course I was heading down wind for the coast and I hadn't caught up on the lads quite yet. I could hear the chatter on the radio and although it was in Polish I knew they were delighted at the distance covered and their current altitude. I could see them under a cloud getting higher. I unfortunately was getting lower and needed some lift fairly soon. I was on the speedbar trying to maximise my glide and get through the sink.
Eventually a few beeps on my vario but I turned the wrong way and they stopped. So I tried turning to my right and they started getting stronger and then the cloud called me and I went up like a rocket. My Vario said 17 m/s. I think that it had a moment but when I checked the gps log later it showed 8m/s which was nearly enough for a bowel movement.

Still I was awe struck by the views. There were many clouds but plenty of sunshine getting through illuminating the scenery below which was gorgeous. I was doing up to 84km per hour at times and  I had travelled nearly as far as the lads at this stage and I could see Raphal and Greg climbing under a cloud. I thought to myself that when I get there all I had to do was arrive and the cloud would call again but it wasn't to be. So I decided to continue towards the coast on my own and see if I could find another nice cloud or a thermal enroute. I fought with every bit of lift I could find and eventually followed the railway line that travells through Rathdrum and Glenealy.

The journey was nearly over for me at this stage and I chose the GAA field in Glenealy as a suitable place to land. It was tricky enough as there was some rotor from some nearby trees, hill and some thermic activity from the local graveyard.

Touchdown and before I could unclip some locals quizzed me about  "Whats that big yellow and purple thing."  :) Then someone else said there's another one of " those things" as Tom flew over me heading to Wicklow town.
The elderly gentleman  in the house beside the GAA field Donal, kindly offered tea and brought me to collect Tom and then on to the local Pub.

Ah the day was truly epic, there were five of us who had gone Xc and witnessed the beautiful views from over 5000 feet above one of Irelands real treasures on a beautiful day while managing over 30Km and ending up at a pub in Glenealy together for a pint. This is truly the stuff dreams are made of. The retrieve was also epic and we didn't arrive home until after 10pm but I would do it again in a heartbeat.
There are some videos being prepared. links soon


Rafal's video with his GoPro hd 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g70yCImOgfA

 Gerry


Now some important information about our Xc flight. We were using Lk8000 software with eire2008.txt Airmaps of Rep. Ireland on our flight computers.
The airmap seems incomplete and didn't advise us of controlled airspace other than Glen of Imaal which is not in use during the weekend. After the flight we realised that we had gone too high and entered CTR.
As a result I am withdrawing my flight from the Xc league.
Links to track logs
Lubor Kandera: http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:kando/3.4.2011/14:03
Rafal Mac:http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/427917
Gerry Kennedy:http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/427918
Tom Cardas: http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/427891
Greg Pelikan http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/427943