Odd day at Big Collin

Tues 26 Feb 2019

Forecast looked promising for Big Collin for the afternoon, with light wind in the morning. I headed out at lunchtime, having arranged to meet Paul Cunningham to finish off his CP Novice qualification.

Tom C, Steven G, John Q  and Martin B were already on the hill but flying was confined to a few beats and a slope landing. Gradually the wind picked up and soon everybody was flying. Martin and I chased each other trying to work small thermals coming through until I hit more sink than lift and slope landed.

Later, when Paul had successfully completed all for his CPN rating, I went up for another soaring flight. The wind by then had increased to 16-18mph. Top landing was tricky as the lift continued well back. Brian on an eventual top to bottom after soaring for a while, had the same problem as Tom - lift all along the bottom lane meaning it took ages to get down from less than 100ft.

Dermot L had arrived and climbed the hill but he and I eventually packed up and carried our wings down from the top as the wind had increased to over 21mph.

The photo shows Steven (I think) just getting airborne to chase the airliner and John ground handling.

Blown out again!

More in a mood of slight desperation and a need to get out of the house for a while, I went out to Big Collin today. Arriving at the usual parking spot I found the SE wind bang on the hill and 11-12mph up on the first ledge. The clouds seemed to be shifting quicker so I made my way up to takeoff.

No great surprise to find the wind around 21-22mph and gusting to 26mph. Ah well, time for a bit of exercise with a brisk walk, interspersed with short sprints to try and get some movement into this old body again. After a couple of laps of the hill I was surprised to find that I felt quite a bit better. But with no sign of the wind dropping - gusts to 31mph now - I returned to the car after an hour where the windspeed was still only 12mph! Time to give up and go home.

I pulled into the layby down the hill to clear some rubbish out of the car into the bins there. I noticed for the first time an information board that told how the Collin claimed the lives of a number of aircrew in two separate aircraft when they crashed into the hill on training flights a few years apart during the second world war. There were a few survivors of one of the crashes. I wonder what became of them. A poppy wreath and some small crosses had been placed there too.