Long Jump winner 2011

Rob Bayly & Andrew Gregory Z105 G-SFSL ‘Limoncello’ 4 October 2011 MILFORD HAVEN to CAMBRIDGE

“LIFE IS WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU WHILE YOU’RE BUSY MAKING OTHER PLANS” If this John Lennon lyric inspires you to ‘get on and do stuff now - not just think about it’ then the Long Jump certainly qualifies.

As we drove from Bristol in blustery wind and driving rain, those reassuring words came up on the stereo and set the tone for ‘fab’ flight - not least for the music. Matthew (14) had lent me his iPad loaded with MotionX GPS tracker. But it also held another type of recording and in the air we got it to play a random Beatles selection.

‘Here comes the sun’ Behind the cold front was the forecast clear sky and even a light frost on the trees as the sun rose over ‘Dawn Till Dusk’ golf club and airfield at Milford Haven.

Owner Bill Young explained how he’s so far from anywhere some golfers ‘fly-in’ for a round.

He welcomed us with clubhouse coffee and, with his son, helped us load the tanks.

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‘Boy you’re gonna carry that weight, carry that weight a long time’ We hung two 60 litre tanks from steel cables off the burner frame and shared the basket with three titanium 60s and three 45s. A met balloon gently went off at 085 degrees. We needed less than 090 to stay north of the Carmarthen Bay danger area live shooting range. We’d phoned the army and found all danger areas in Wales were active and definite no-go areas. NOTAMs also warned on route could be model rocket flying and, in the east, an ominous test: ‘GPS jamming event’!

08.04 Take-off and immediate heading 110 degrees… The coast loomed. This could be a 20-minute short hop….

‘I should have known better’ 08.15 Andrew bravely suggested a steep climb to test the upper wind.

A lovely left breeze hooked us into the prevailing wind. Near the surface we must have been in some low level drainage to the sea but at 4,300 feet we were now doing 43.6 mph 080 degrees.

Phew….

We had a good line south of Sennybridge, the other potential danger area, and picked up speed to 48 mph.

If we hadn’t managed a credible Long Jump I was going to submit one of the fun flights that the balmy early October

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Indian Summer had already allowed. The great Grass Roots meet had put three flights in my logbook by the 2nd of the month!

But the remnant of Hurricane Ophelia was now adding just enough speed to the stable weather to give us the ride of our lives.

‘I feel fine’ 09.30 Breakfast of great gooey flapjacks made by Andrew’s wife Louise and crisps ready to explode with the altitude.

His dad Jim was driving with Laurence Wigfield, another ace crewman and pilot only just back from flying for the Buddy Bombard fleet around Europe. The retrieve was now out of radio range and we guessed Jim and Laurence were having trouble keeping up.

7000 feet, 090 degrees, 53.8 mph! The fastest I’ve ever been in a balloon and a pleasing personal moment as I hit my 1000th hour P1.

‘Good day sunshine’ 10.10 We sped along at over 50 mph for more than half an hour but as the sun stirred up the wind and the cloud scattered we were down to 41 mph at 8000 feet over Merthyr Tydfil.

We just gazed over the side appreciating the privileged view - and the music.

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‘If I fell’ The Brecon Beacon hills looked wonderful. We had been worried cloud would prevent us clearing them at 5000 feet, but we could see right across the Bristol Channel to Devon.

At 8,500 feet Andrew woke Abergavenny with a golden shower….

‘Once there was a way to get back homeward, golden slumbers fill your eyes’ 10.45 Four fuel tanks now used as we crossed the Severn at 4500 feet, over Gloucester and Cheltenham GCHQ UK Intelligence building looking like a recently landed flying saucer. Other notable landmarks included Blenheim Palace, Woburn Abbey and the stately home of airships, Cardington hangars.

‘Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup, images of broken light dance before me like a million eyes, They call me on and on across the universe’ We’d spoken to Oxford Kidlington airport for lower wind information as Luton and Stansted were on track and we needed a bit of left. Speed was sacrificed for a better direction and we settled on 23 mph 075 degrees down at 2500 feet. This kept us just north of controlled airspace and under the London TMA. Big jets were all around! But this also steered us to a surprise family meeting.

‘Let’s all get up and dance to a song your mother should know’ 13.30 Overhead Henlow and Andrew’s mum was out in her back garden giving us a wave! Must be family

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magnetism that pulled us here after 200 miles flying. As we had slowed down, dad was catching us up too in the retrieve.

‘One day you’ll find I’ve gone, for tomorrow may rain, so I’ll follow the sun’ 14.15 We overflew Duxford airfield doing only 30 mph. I say ‘only’ but now, on our last tank, our thoughts turned to a fast landing. We’d reached Cambridge, my birthplace.

Andrew rotated us so the external tanks wouldn’t hit the ground.

Landing positions had been rehearsed before flying when we rigged the tanks. There was very limited space to get down in the basket, but we braced ourselves. Doing nearly 25 mph we were at least offered a rapid succession of potential landing sites. Cruising low over a huge green field being ploughed in Andrew pulled the rip - and we went up…..

It was a bit thermic at 2.30 in the afternoon but with fantastic control Andrew got us down as we clipped the hedge of the next field. It was equally large and gently up hill, which we hoped would slow us as we did our own bit of ploughing.

‘I’m down, I’m down on the ground, I’m really down…..’

We dragged horizontal for what seemed like ages over the crumbly soil. As most of Cambridgeshire scooped into the basket I’m sure the extra weight helped anchor us to a final halt. We just giggled like hysterical children.

‘.…how can you laugh when you know I’m down?’

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James Kiddy, the appropriately named landowner, knew enough about balloons to comment ‘funny time to be flying’.

After explaining the flight he must have thought we needed it when he invited us to use the loo in his farm. He happily left the gates open for the retrieve and carried on ploughing.

‘The wild and windy night that the rain washed away has left a pool of tears crying for the day - on the long and winding road’ The 100 pace drag added 0.06 of a mile, to make our total distance 228.8 miles.

A huge thanks to Jim and Laurence for putting most of the 642 miles on my car, Bill and James for being great launch and landing landowners and to our wives Louise and Jan for letting their boys go out to play.

‘When your prized possessions start to weigh you down, you say you’ve seen seven wonders - and your bird can sing’

Rob Bayly 31/10/11

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