CARETAN -

welsh national flying club
caraten

thursday 14th may , and the welsh national flying club were once again basketing for the second time in as many weeks this time for a race from careten on the northern french coast
with high winds and rain during the basketing procedures this didnt seem to defere our membership as once again following on from the sucessfull maidstone race the week before the event was well supoorted

with the birds safely on route across the seven bridge from south wales ,the entries made the seceduled liasian with the west of england combine at thornbury , who were to take over the transporting duties to the coast and across to the liberation site at caretan,we were informed that the transporter arrived on site at 6.45 pm friday evening ,and upon arriaval the pigeons were fed and watered and left to settle overnight
saturday morning and after a fine evening and dry throughout the nght ,the weather saturday morning seemed unfavourable for a possible early liberation due to overcast skies and it was therefore feared within the first update shortly after 7am that the weather was expect to clear around 10am and failing that if improvements wernt visiable by 12 mid day it was possible that their may be no other atlernative than to holdover till the sunday ,
at 8am and after a substantial break in the weather reported on site and along the 175 mile journey homewards the convoyers and race advisory committe of the w.o.e.combine were happy that conditions were in fact improving and after another hour or so and with breaks in the cloud the convoyers were happy to cut the strings releasing the 4,500 english and welsh pigeons at 09.50 into a west north westerly head wind, one of our members who was in weymouth on the day kindly sent us a picture showing the clear blue skies which were present on the south coast and out to sea at this time .

leading the field with an outstanding performance and the honour of 1st 2nd and 4th open open welsh national flying club and recipient of the west country products sponsored trophy is our 2014 fourgeres national winning loft of ray lambert of abergavenny timing in .14.29.35 and a velocity of 1198.6, the winning pigeon was flown racing to a fouteen day old youngster in the nest and is of lefabre/dhaenen cross herman v.d weyer bred bown through pigeons from seddy stevens from pontypool on the dams side when paired to the sire from the derby loft of dave stone, a gallent winner in such demanding conditions ,rays 2nd arrival is a smokey blue hen also sent sitting and described as the best racing hen that he has in the loft today she is bred down through the vandenebelle lines crossed with his kirkpatrick family ,closely followed by the third pigeon this time an unpaired herman van der weyer cheq cock which takes fourth spot at 14.36.05 with a vel of 1171.43 dividing these three pigeons in 3rd we head to the blackwood area to the loft of geoff davies and haines ,one of our past committee members,who rejoined us on the night of basketing , the partnership timed in a 2 yr old cheq cock at 14.35 recording a vel of 1171 ,sadly thats all we had on this pigeon has i tried to contact jeff prior to publication

so with the first of a planned five overseas races overcome ,we believe that under such trying conditions the w..o.e.combine committee got the timing right as to liberating the pigeons and they seemed to have come through on the estimated time of 4 1/2 hours which was circling around .it therefore gives us a good prospect of continued support for the next race from fourgeres when once again we come under the guidence of the w.o.e.combine

Convoyer’s Report:
Firstly can I thank everyone for the assistance given at the pick-up points especially at Thornbury where in excess of 2000 birds were loaded. We arrived at the docks in Plymouth at 2.30am and made sure there was water before the birds.we kept water in the drinkers when boarding the ferry for the 8am sailing and on arrival at Roscoff again ensured there was water in the drinkers for the 200 mile journey to Carentan. We arrived on site at 7pm and after settling the birds fed and watered them before turning in for sleep at 10.30pm. We rose at 6am and topped up water. Weather was overcast with a NW wind but the overcast was expected to clear by 10am. I consulted with the race advisor. By 9.30am there were large patches of blue sky and sunshine. Visibility was very good. At 9.50am we liberated and all but about 70 pigeons cleared the site immediately. The stragglers cleared after a few minutes. The Wiltshire Fed liberated I believe at 10.15am and the Dorset Fed at 10.30am. All liberations were good. I hope you had a good race though I expect it would have been fairly tough in the NW wind.
Martin Pike – Chief Convoyer

this weeks top ten

1RLambert04:39:35190m727y1198.666
2RLambert04:41:20190m727y1191.210xxx
3Davies&Haines04:35:37183m796y1171.468
4RLambert04:46:05190m727y1171.431
5Mr&MrsBromley04:36:25183m781y1168.023
6Mr&MrsBeresford&son04:26:24176m707y1165.417
7Scammell&Peploe04:40:05185m227y1163.322
8THawkinsFamily04:26:03173m1322y1149.416
9Mr&MrsBromley04:41:01183m781y1148.903
10Scammell&Peploe04:43:42185m227y1148.491

tom harris

Carentan 16th May 2015 LIBERATION NEWS 07.44

The birds arrived safely on site at 6.45pm on Friday and were settled. They were then fed and watered. Weather this evening at the site was described as fine but there is a possibility of a late liberation or even a holdover on Saturday because of weather conditions. The cut off time will be 12 noon. If not liberated by then we expect a holdover. You will be informed as further information is received. We believe there approximately 4500 birds on board including the Welsh NR Fed.

pigeons liberated at 09.50