SWWSC BCC 2018 Winners. Pandy Round 1 2019

I love flying the BCC as it means I get to fly with people from all over the UK in a really friendly atmosphere. It also helps that it’s mostly held in Wales, and as that’s where I’m from, it means I get to fly with guys from the South West Wales Soaring Club.
The first round this year was at Pandy, as the wind was Easterly and the site is well suited to a lot of people. That is of course as long as we spread out, and at least to start, that wasn’t so easy with many bunched up near the lower launch and not getting high.
A big inversion kept us below 3200’ which is a tricky height to go over the back with, so the general consensus was to get as far along the ridge and back as possible. I think some went off the beaten track, but I’d not seen any such track logs from XCLeague at the time of writing.
After the melee of launch I flew North to the relative quiet, and eventually pushed all the way to the Cat’s Back, which I’d not crossed before. Our chief XC hound Nick radio’d he’d already been over and was on his way back, so was encouraged to keep trying when I got there. I could also see a bunch thermalling the other side. I eventually got high enough and the thermal I was in merged with the one out front, so I flew over at 2800’, and I started my journey further North. There were a lot of pilots at ridge height however, so after topping up to 3000’ I resolved to turn back at 2500’ if I didn’t find anything. I didn’t on the way there and saw a could of pilots land out at the bottom, so duly headed back South only to find a nice climb back up to 3000’. There was a slight headwind on the return journey so I eventually found myself ridge hugging my way back, but thankfully it’s a high ridge and actually a lot of fun. Just as I was wondering whether I’d get back onto the main ridge at my low altitude, I found my best climb of the flight at 3.2m/s, and this propelled me up to 3200’ for a glorious view back to Pandy. I made it back, topping up a few times on the way for just over 30 points in the XC league, and 2 hours 40 minutes of flying.

As my awesome club (SWWSC) won the 2018 BCC, we had a little celebration in the Pandy Inn, which is at the end of the video. I’m proud to call myself a member, and we are all so very pleased at pipping SEW to the championship, especially as such a small club. Thanks to SEW for hosting, to the Joint Services BCC organisers, and to Advance for Sponsoring. I’ve not won anything paragliding before and love the trophy and the hat.

SWWSC BCC 2018 Winners. Pandy Round 1 2019

Related Post:

About The Author

Kane Dane