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2005 Well, we've just had the best ever July (1,648km), and now we've had our second best August, with 1,067km flown. And the total flown this year is already 140km further than in 2003, our previous best year! It's almost certain that we'll break the 5,000km mark this year... Who's going to do it though? Will it be over the Mere Bash weekend?
Tuesday 6th September A beautiful day with light southerlies enticed Nick Somerville out to Mere where after a couple of beats a nice thermal took him up and away to just outside Bath for a new PB of 31km. Also, Pete Robinson (Wessex) had a lovely flight and broke Ken's two year old record from Mere by two km, flying 75.2km - nice one Pete (even though you're not an Avon member :-) Monday 29th August - Sunday 4th September A few decent flights during the Long Mynd round of the British Open, but Wayne stayed away and flew 105km from the Malverns on Tuesday 30th - this is his third 100km flight of the year, definitely a new record! Monday 22nd - Sunday 28th August Jim's clearly on a mission at the moment adding 63km to his tally on Tuesday... Up until Sunday 21st August... Jim's been busy recently with a couple of nice flights - 72km from Combe and 85km from near Milk Hill... Up until Sunday 8th August... Loads of flights whilst I've been away on holiday on the Isle of Wight, most notably Alex's 174km flight from The Lawley to Andover on Saturday 7th August. This is a new Avon record which puts Alex firmly back in the top spot with 507km flown in his top 6 flights (597km in total). This is Alex's 4th 100km+ flight which is an incredible achievement - congratulations! So Wayne, it's time for you to pull another 100km out of the bag! Well done too to other new PB'ers - Rich D (43km), Nick Somerville and Paul Guilfoyle (both 21km)... Up until 22nd July... Too many to mention at the moment - check the flights database for details...! Most notably though, Wayne flew 101km on Sat 16th - that blasts him to the top of the league with an incredible 413km so far! Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th July What a weekend, and a BCC round at the Blorenge too! Loads of 40-60km flights in S Wales, but Wayne takes the biscuit with his 125km flight from XClent down to near Taunton... fantastic! I got off the mark this year with a 61km flight during which I climbed up in a cloud to a monstrous 8,454' - the views were totally mindblowing when I popped out! Rich Harding flew 57km and Andre Odinus 44km - more details once I've received all the flights... Monday 3rd July Loadsa PBs at the BCC round South Wales at Merthyr... Mike Andrews 82km, Iain MacKenzie 58km, Mike Humphries 43km, Martin Nichols 40km!!! Incredible - well done all! (and the others who helped Avon win the round - Graham, Ken...) Sunday 26th June Good flying in south Wales on Sunday - Ken 62km, Alex 54km, Martin Nichols 32km (new PB - well done) and Graham 22km & 9km - sounds like fun! And there were lots more too - Mike A, Mike R, Morgan... Saturday 11th June Some nice flying up in Snowdonia by all accounts with some nice xcs flown by Ken, Mike Humphries, Mike Andrews and Morgan. Tuesday 7th June It was obviously working at the Malverns with Robert Kerslake and Tim Dent getting away - any more? Yep, Wayne and Garry - 105km in total... Spring Bank Holiday w/e - 29th/30th May 109km flown by pilots at Selsley, Leckhampton, Merthyr and the Mynd... Mike Andrews' 37km was the best. Tuesday 17th May Another good day with 115km being added to the league - Pete Douglas 39km, Garry 33km, Hugo 32km and Howard 10km. Typical that after a fine but windy weekend we should get an awesome week's flying! In the last week Avon pilots have added 980km to the league, with Alex clocking up 264km alone! On Monday Alex flew 123km from Leckhampton to Petersfield (new PB and 2nd longest flight ever in the league), and then on Wednesday the world and their wife and dogs were out at the Malverns doing 50km flights left right and centre! The only person who wasn't there (apart from me it seems) was Jim Mallinson who flew 135km from near Combe to Honiton, but alas he made a small airspace infringement which nullified his flight... So well done all you PBers! There's too many flights to mention each one - but check out the details in the database... Saturday 30th April - Sunday 1st May - BCC 2004 final Flyable, but not xc-able unfortunately. Four teams descended on Nant-y-moel on both days and had a fair bit of airtime but only Rich Harding got away for a 13km flight on Saturday. No tasks were validated, but it was decided that Avon had won the comp for doing best in the rounds and semi-final. So well done Martin and Ken and everyone else involved!
On the Sunday I finished my flying somewhat earlier than planned - I had a LAC (Low Altitude Collapse) and hit the ground hard, but fortunately only suffered bruising to my back and whiplash in my neck... You can read more about it here. I hope to be back in the air soon! Thursday 21st April Jim starts his year with an 18km triangle, which under the rules gets multiplied by three to make 55km - nice one! Saturday 16th April Lots of people enjoying the thermic conditionas at Westbury (myself included), but no one got away. For xcs you had to go to Frocester where Alex, Pete T, Alan D, Robin and Robert Kerslake (a new name - was this your first xc?) all got away for flights of 20-30km approx. Saturday 2nd April Mike Humphries flies the ridge run from Pandy to Hay Bluff for 15km, but doesn't make it back due to the strengthening wind. Anyone else do anything? Easter Bank holiday weekend Friday was disappointing and a lot of us spent a frustrating day at Talybont, however the rest of the weekend was better with Ken and Morgan both doing the Pandy ridge run with Ken then continuing on to Aber for 30km. So it was a close thing, but at the moment it appears that Ken has won the Easter Cup by 1km, barring any late entries or course! Then on Monday Talybont was working better and Alan bloody grand bloody slam Davies did a 10km flight to Brecon. Sunday 13th March Wayne Seeley and Morgan Nicholas get the 2005 season underway with 13km and 6km flights respectively. |
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