Nantymoel is a spot I have been to in the winter and thought it looked incredible – however the weather was relentless and it just kept getting hit by bands of rain or fog and I never managed to fly there. This weekend I went back there and it was glorious sunshine all day. As I was driving up the hill I saw Marcus take off above me. It looked light. There was a cross country event starting there too, so loads of people were about. It was very light wind and Marcus was just getting a few top to bottoms in. He was a few turns in – better than nothing.
I got myself all set up and waited till I could feel a bit of a breeze. I launched and off I went scratching around for lift to keep me up there. Things went better than expected and I was staying in the air. There was only one or two other gliders up for the first 10 minutes. After that we seemed to have proven that conditions were ok and loads more people joined in the party. Time for me to land – it was getting too busy for my liking.
After a little stop for lunch and watching around 100 paragliders take off and disappear on their XC adventures it was time to go fly again. The wind was up and down but the thermals were kicking in a lot stronger. It went from working to stay in the air to working to get back down again. I moved away from the ridge but kept finding thermals. I moved back from the ridge and put in some turns and started to lose height. It was prime conditions for the XC boys, but I had had my fill. A successful top landing and off to the beach for a surf. Another great day!
