Members of the Petersfield-based Sky Surfing Club (SSC) have mounted expeditions to Dorset, Berkshire and south Wales to squeeze in rounds for the British Club Challenge (BCC) series of friendly competitions.

One weekend saw SSC pilots spilt into two teams. The Benchwarmers headed for the Coombe Gibbet site, near Newbury, while the Moon Shooters travelled west to Bell Hill, near Blandford Forum.

The Benchwarmers line-up was Justin Simmonds, Martin Ayers, Goran Oberg, Ellis Bird, Jon Stockley and Ali Ghorashinejad. Simmonds was the highest-placed sky surfer in eighth, with a flight of 24.7km. Bird flew 11.7km to help put the Benchwarmers in third place.

The Moon Shooters team comprised Dominic Brown, Russell Winters, Marc Serdet and Zach Hart. The team pulled out the stops in Dorset, with Brown achieving a personal-best distance of 34.4km to land near Corfe Castle.

The Benchwarmers headed to Monmouthshire, joining 16 teams at a 220m-high ridge line overlooking the village of Pandy, near Abergavenny.

Bird, Ayers and Ghorashinejad were joined by Winters, Nick Wood, John Kirby and newcomer Torie Morley. Some fine individual efforts put the Benchwarmers in fifth place, and Bird achieved second place with a flight of 36.5km.

Ayers, Winters, Ghorashinejad, Stockley and Kirby headed to Waun Rydd – a 760m mountain in the Brecon Beacons.

Winters achieved the furthest distance among the SSC group with a flight of 21.2km.

The Benchwarmers achieved second place on the day, and are in third place overall after five rounds of the BCC competition.

Brian Parkins