A photo of me?

Just came across this image of me flying at Rushup last week on another website. See the photo in-situ on the UK Climbing Website: http://www.ukclimbing.com/images/dbpage.html?id=77339

The wonder of networked living!

Rushup Edge - 13th December 2007

I'd almost given up any thought of flying before the end of the year. Every weekend I'm free it seemed to either be howling a gale or pouring with rain. This week though an area of high pressure settled over the UK giving light southerlies so checking every forecast on the web I booked the day off work at the last minute and the following morning left home at 7am headed for Rushup.

I arrived about 10.30am surprised to find no-one in the air and only a few cars in the car park. It seemed highly flyable and so I made my way up on to the ridge. The wind was between 10 and 12mph and all seemed fine. I took off second go after a mild dragging on my first attempt (wing came up asymmetrically) and soared around for 5 minutes or so before being forced into a slope landing as I slowly lost height. The air was smooth enough but had areas of lift closely followed by sink. Kind of weird - it was smooth lift followed by very smooth sink - almost like sets of stairs in the air mass. I'd not flown in such un-predictable conditions before and they seemed especially strange as the wind on the hill was so consistent. Was this some mini wave effect I wondered. There were some wave-ish bars of cloud in the sky to the south west but I didn't think that would affect me below the top of the ridge.

Slogging back up the hill saw me disintegrating into a sweaty state of near collapse at several points before I got back to take-off. I sat down for half an hour to recover and to re-assess conditions. Why had I gone down when the wind was so consistent? It was a little bit off to the West but no more than when I was here in October.

A couple of other pilots arrived after a while - one a willing wind dummy so I got to wait and see if things had improved. They had! We all took off soon after and spent a very pleasant hour or so wafting around in the smooth, light conditions.

At the end of the day the sunlight broke through the clouds and illuminated the hillside and I followed Mat along the ridge and down to the landing field with a number of hill walkers photographing us as we flew past them. A great end to the day where the temperatures never got above 3^oC.

See more photos on flickr

Rushup Edge - 21st October 2007

At last I've made it to the Peak District. Having spent many years climbing and walking in the peaks I know many of the sites quite well from the ground so it was lovely to fly one of them at last. I got a lift up with Keith and Tanya (thanks guys) and driving towards the site we could see a few gliders in the air. The walk up was a lot shorter than it looked and I met Adam, another Dunstable member on the way up.

Had a lovely day flying the ridge from one end to the other and back. It was fairly light conditions but it was relaxed flying, great views and nice to see so many gliders in the air - don't they look pretty! I also met up with Andy who I met in Greece back in May this year.

Can't wait for another opportuntity to fly in the peaks, but with winter coming it may be some time.

See more photos on flickr

St Andrè, September 2007

Having gained a bit of experience at Lachens and Gréolières I was keen to fly somewhere with a bit of XC potential. St Andrè has certainly got a reputation in this regard and I was keen to see how far we might be able to go.

Arriving on launch I was a bit concerned to see how windy it was, but people seemed to be getting off OK (OK so there were a few minor mishaps but it seemed doable) and the sky was blue and full of gliders.

Once I was all ready to go it seemed like the wind was just getting stronger. There were lulls but once again I found myself battling with the wing on the ground. After lots of waiting and a few failed attempts I took off and immediately went up - rather faster than I was used to. Ulric followed me into the air and I concentrated on moving along the ridge and thermalling to get some height.

After gaining quite a decent amount of height with little effort I tried to push further along the ridge only to hit lots of sink. I couldn't believe it. In almost no time I was well below launch and it looked like I would be heading for an early landing. I was the only one going down and so I just kept searching for lift. I eventually found a good climb which I stayed with for 700m until I topped out at about 2,300m - what a relief! Such a great feeling to have fought my way back up, although it seemed to take forever.

Our plan for starters was to try and fly along the ridge but Ulric also found lots of sink and so we instead decided to attempt crossing the valley over the town of St Andrè to the Crète Des Serres. All went well to start with but I ended up only finding sink apart from a couple of blips on the way over and was forced to contemplate my landing options on the far side of the valley, but well short of the ridge.

It wasn't too hard to find somewhere to land once I had established where the pylons and electricity wire were! Safely down on the ground I could only ponder my misfortune. Apparently it is rare not to make the transition when leaving the hill at the height I did, so I was clearly unlucky. Still, I was safe and felt very pleased with my thermalling and that I had found that climb which saved me from an even earlier bomb-out.

Conditions were fairly gentle according to Ulric and I didn't have any problem dealing with them - although a small front collapse just after take-off was a little concerning but it came out of its own accord.

The views from the air were amazing. It was an especially clear day and the peaks of Mercantour were visible in the distance. Other pilots made 50km+ but for me it was a more modest affair but certainly valuable experience and a taster of what I hope to do a bit more of in the future.

I stayed with Ruth and Ulric Jessop in their self-catering flat which i'd highly recommend.

Gréolières, September 2007

Having had a few flights at Lachens inthe company of Ulric I felt confident enough to try a solo flight from Gréolières in the next valley. Ulric had warned me that it was difficult to climb out from this site and right he was. I found myself going down almost immediately! But a short top to bottom flight was just fine and I comfortably made the landing field after losing height over the pretty town.

The walk up to launch was long and hot, but with Ravi generously offering to (practically forced me to let her) carry the glider for some of the way the task wasn't as hard as it could have been . Once on launch we were met with a gentle southerly breeze directly onto the hill and so I got away without too much trouble. I would love to fly here again (when the navette is running!).

Lachens, September 2007

On holiday in the Maritime Alps for a fortnight i'd arranged some guiding with Ulric Jessop. It took a few days before we both felt it might be suitable for a nice evening flight at a local site. In all I flew at Lachens four times during the week, mostly just soaring, but also finding some thermals but they were never that strong although they allowed me to gain height and prolong the inevitable return to earth.

On a few occasions we shared the hill with a local paragliding school, though it never seemed too busy. Lovely evening sunset flights in smooth air - couldn't ask for more!

Video of me reverse launching during CP training in India - 2005

Great new book

I ordered this book a couple of weeks back. Haven't had much time to actually read it but what I have read has been really interesting - makes quite a change from the Pilot Handbook or Touching Cloudbase.

As i'm off to the Alps very shortly its come at the perfect time and from what i've seen it seems to cover everything i could possibly want to know about thermal flying.

I ordered my copy from Northern Paragliding and received it the very next day - how's that for service!

Long Mynd - 25th August 2007 (2)

Eventually conditions calmed down a bit and taking my wing a bit further down the hill I figured i'd be able to launch safely enough. Sensibly waiting to see a few others do this first I decided it was my time again. Again I made a perfect launch and was soon flying high above the hill and connecting with the odd thermal and drifting back.

At one point i'd probably drifted too far back as I struggled to make it back to the hill, but I guess I learnt something. The crowds had left and there were a few pilots in the sky but i had a lovely flight with plenty of space to myself to play around.



It had been a magic day and I didn't want to land, but the prospect of a 2-3 hr journey back to Milton Keynes meant that I had to cut the flight shorter than I would have liked - I also needed to eat!



I set up for another top-landing but this time didn't get it quite right and so had to correct my approach and landed nicely at the back of launch. If only it had been closer to home, I would have flown until the sunset. As I pulled away in the car the sky was still full of people enjoying the last of the day.

Long Mynd - 25th August 2007

Having kept a close eye on the weather, it all looked set for the Mynd - a site I hadn't flown before but had heard a lot about. Given that it is 2-3hrs from my house I wanted a guaranteed day (or as near as possible). Leaving a little later than planned I hit bank-holiday traffic before Shrewsbury and not seeing a whisper of wind thought i'd had a wasted journey. Eventuall I navigated my way through Church Stretton and up towards the site. On the way I was convinced there would be no wind and so was looking forward to rambling around the hills for the day as it looked so lovely. The, as I rounded a bend I could see a sky full of paragliders and my dissapointment turned to euphoria - it was flyable.

I parked and walked onto launch, took a few photos and got my gear sorted. Clipped in and the wind died. Everyone was grounded immediately. Eventually it became clear that this might last a while so I unclipped, got out of my flying suit and settled down for a lie down in the warm sun.
Someone had a remote control paraglider complete with action-man pilot which kept people amused, then all of a sudden the wind switched on and people were taking off all over the hill. I got ready and was soon in the air myself. I stayed up for 45 mins or so, catching a few thermals and getting nice and high. I headed down the ridge where it was quieter and settled into flying and taking in the beautiful landscape. Eventually I felt like I wanted a rest and so headed back to launch intending to top-land. For once this went like a dream and I made a text-book landing.

By this time conditions had picked up a bit and so I had my lunch and waited for things to calm down a bit.

Dunstable - 17th August 2007

Given the previous failure at Dunstable I was keen to fly and so leaving work early I arrived on a flyable day to find many people in the air and my friend Richard there also. I got off first go this time and enjoyed a 25 minutes or so wafting around. Eventually things died off and we bottom landed. The hill didn't seem so hard as usual and satisfied with a sucessful flight I spend a while watching others fly and chatting to Richard back on top. The weather also looked promising for the weekend so I was happy have got back in the air.

Dunstable - 6th August 2007

Given the distinctly unusual summer we'd been having, coupled with study and work commitments I hadn't managed to fly since May in Greece. So, feeling like I wanted to get some airtime before I went to the Alps I headed to Dunstable. It was a little windy to say the least and I was content to sit out the gusty conditions watching others pitching around high above the hill. Eventually conditions calmed down and I attempted to launch, but kept on braking the wing too early letting it get properly overhead. Eventually I took a break but by the time I felt ready to give it another go the wind had dropped right off and I decided to head home and have my tea. Of course as I started packing my kit into the rucksack things picked up again for a brief spell and a few people got airborne once again. Still, it was a lovely day to be out, the sky was beautiful and I enjoyed myself taking pictures other people flying.

Paragliding photos now on Flickr

I've now added all my paragliding photos to Flickr. Click here or on the image above to view them.

Flying Paradise

Looking back on the trip I didn't get as much airtime as I had hoped for (but that's paragliding isn't it) but it was a well priced, well run holiday. The hotel was located on a quiet beach where you borrow snorkelling and kayaking equipment as well as mountain bikes (all free). Christophe worked hard all week to make sure we flew every day and his drivers and instructors were a friendly bunch, as were all the others on the trip. We got lifts into town to eat every night and a trip out on the only morning we couldn't fly. The only criticism is that there were perhaps too many people for him to deal with as he also had a few students and was one instructor down for part of the week. However, I would definately return for a trip in the future.

Peters Paradise

I had three flights at Peters Paradise. This was a beautiful site with views of the hills, sea and islands. First flight was an extended top to bottom. I didn't find much lift but others did. Landing was straightforward if a little rough for me as I unexpectedly found lots of lift then sink on finals - but no broken bones, just a few bruises.

The next flight was in the afternoon. This time we headed for the silos for landing and it was a beautiful flight over Didi Ma and the patchwork of fields. Really amazing views.

For my final flight I was first to take off and for a while I found good lift and was staying up nicely over a rocky cliff. It started to get a bit rough though and so I pushed out a bit further then whack! Not sure whether it was a collapse or what but my right wind dived beneath me to the right. I controlled the turn, got back on course and decided to get the hell out of there. I soon realised I wasn't goning to make the silo landing field and started evaluating my options. Pierre was flying a little in front of me and we headed to the same area of flat fields on the outskirts of town. Both of us made it into corn fields without incident. I was happy to have made an unplanned landing and also dealt witht he collapse or whatever it was up above the hill without getting completely scared. Others made it into the silo landing field - but only by being on the bar all the way. Andy had a low level front collapse but was OK. Yet another Greek salad was called for.

More Photos

Teds Cafe

Teds Cafe was a great site to fly. They day we were there it was a bit blowy up above for the first few pilots after launch so I hung back a bit until things calmed down. A perfect launch then I was flying around between sink and climbs - nothing major in either direction but definately pleasant flying. When we reccy'd the landing it looked fairly small and surrounded by olive groves on all sides. I was a bit concerned about how I was going to judge my approach correctly but in the end managed to just scrape in - a little low but safe nontheless. Unfortunately I was so happy to be down safely and not up a tree my glider managed to drape itself over the adjacent olive tree after touchdown. Luckily it only took me 15 minutes to rescue it. A few other pilots overshot or found friendly trees to almost land in and for those who didn't have a tangle of lines and branches to sort out it was off back up for another flight. A great site and one I am looking forward to flying again at some point.

More photos

Blacky

Just one flight at Blacky. For me the launch was pretty intimidating - a firebreak in the forest covered with rocks, bishes and fallen trees. Wind was also marginal for a reverse launch and having not forward launched before (for real that is - only in a sloping field) I tried to coax a reverse launch out of the dying wind but the wing wasn't quite inflated and I screwed it up twice aquiring a few bruises on the way. Eventually I let a few others go ahead of me and made my first forward launch with no trouble at all. By this time i'd missed the good lift and so it was another extended top to bottom but I was just glad to be in the air.

More photos

Marias Way

We had a couple of flights from Marias Way during the week, a relatively small site without much lift (at least on the days we flew there) so the flights were extended top to bottoms heading for a small landing behind the beach (this can be seen in the bottom right of the picture in the bay just beyond the village). Again Christophe was on hand to guide people in by radio as it is quite a tight landing with not much room for error. The flights were nice if a little short but better to fly than not.

This image is of the take-off at Marias way. A good clear launch - forwards or reverse dependant on conditions.

More photos

First flight

Not a picture of me launching but gives an idea of the beautiful flying in Greece. Tintin is the main hill behind the hotel and beach where we were based. The landing was fairly narrow and short, but Christophe guided most people in - sending us out over the sea to lose height. There wasn't much lift in front of take-off so it was pretty much a top to bottom. Amazing views and very beautiful to be flying over the sea before curving in to make a landing on the beach (the same one shown in the video on this post).

More photos

Flying Paradise - Greece 2007

Well this was my first flying trip abroad since gaining my CP last year. I looked at quite a few different options in different places but ended up choosing Flying Paradise in Epidavros, Greece. The trip seemed good value, catered for people with a range of experience and also there were activities to do if it wasn't flyable. I didn't fancy being stuck in the middle of nowhere waiting for conditions to improve.

Anyway, I had an excellent week not missing a single days flying (although others did miss a day - I happened to first to lauch on that rather windy day!) and having a great time with the others on the trip. We ended up flying at several sites: Blacky, TinTin, Peters Paradise, Teds Cafe, Maria's Way and a small cliff the name of which i've forgotten. Christophe was a good guide, quite crazy but always concened about safety, and really worked hard to make sure we got into the air as often as possible.

I personally didn't clock up any huge flights as I was a bit cautious about flying in rough thermic conditions and so I often took of later or early rather than fly in the middle of the day. I also managed to screw up a few launches at Blacky (quite intimidating as its a tight fire break in a pine forest) which meant I missed all the good lift.

The following posts give a more detailed picture of the different days flying.

More pictures of the trip can be found here on Flickr.

GPS Maps

Having bought my Garmin GPS recently I now have needed to locate some maps to upload into it to make life more interesting (my street is a blank space on the basemap that is supplied with the GPS). Given the relatively high cost of Garmin MapSource products (£129), I started to trawl the Internet and asked in a forums for advice and alternatives:

UK CAA Airspace overlays
http://ukgarminairmap.wikispaces.com/

Free Garmin Maps
http://garminmapsearch.com/

I haven't tried any of these yet (my new PC doesn't have a serial port and so I have had to order a card - still waiting!). Will post an update when I get a Map into the GPS.

Milk Hill - 21st April 2007

The forecast was for light southerlies for this weekend, veering SSW / SW on Sunday. Having recently joined as a full member of TVHG I set off for Milk Hill in Wiltshire just before 8am on Saturday. I managed to reach Buckingham (fortunately only 8 miles or so from home) only to realise I had forgotten to put my boots into the car with the rest of my kit. A quick return journey back home to pick them up saw me once again heading in the direction of Milk Hill. Arriving at about 10.15am there was only one other car in the car park but it seemed clear that the wind was much stronger than the 8-10mph forecast. A quick check with the wind-o-meter confirmed this with winds averaging around 16mph with frequent gusts up to 20mph!


A day lazing around on the hill chatting to the other pilots followed, all of us hoping that the wind might drop. It probably would have done eventually but with a 2 hour drive ahead of me I wanted to get home at a reasonable time and so left about 3.45pm (still no sign of the wind dropping). A few other pilots had launched earlier but it was just too windy for me to dare give it a go. A few of those who launched managed to get away on an XC, landing north of Marlborough - lucky them. Speaking to one of them back at the car park he said they'd reached 3,000ft altitude. One day hopefully that will be me!

New kit - GPS

Just placed an order for a GPS. I had been debating for a while whether to buy a GPS and when. Given my currentlevels of experience I probably don't need one just yet, but will if I want go on Carlo's SIV/XC course in Turkey next year (i'll write something about SIV at a later date). Carlo recommended the Garmin Map 76S (pictured above) but I noticed recently that Garmin have released a new version with colour maps. Colour maps would have been very nice I'm sure - but with a price tag of about £300 it seemed a bit costly. I'd been keeping an eye on prices over at www.blokesstuff.com and I just noticed last night that they dropped another £25 of the price of the black and white version. So, I quickly snapped one up at £149. For the amount of use its going to get, I think the B+W version will do me just fine.

Zen and the art of 'Winglish'

Just read an interesting article over at www.paragliding-tales-and-reviews.com on the art of kiting (that's groundhandling for us English pilots). Its a great little story about getting a 'feel' for your wing - that is instead of trying to control your wing by what it looks like and by thinking about what you should be doing, but to control it by becoming more 'in-tune' with how it feels. By listening to and feeling the glider through your body, harness, risers and brakes you respond more instinctively to the movements of the glider and ultimately become one with it - moving in perfect harmony. At this point you understand 'Winglish' and speak the language of the glider.

Its the sort naturalness we all want to achieve but is hard to attain simply through rational analysis. Sure, thinking about what is happening and why what you are doing is either working or not is definately helpful, but I really believe that getting into 'the zone' or reaching any level of mastery often can't be analysed - its something you have to feel, and of course experience always pays off!

So, next time you are being dragged about the launch area and the other experienced pilots are handling their glider effortlessly in strong winds - you know they are fluent in 'Winglish' while you are still only catching the odd word.

The article on Winglish was originally written by Jeff Greenbaum and is featured on his website along with a series of other articles on different aspects of paragliding - many of which are useful to (relatively) low airtime pilots like myself.

Flying holidays

Once I had completed my CP I was keen to get a good few hours flying in and so started to think about a trip abroad. Having heard some horror stories of small, difficult and rocky landing fields from a fellow pilot I was looking carefully where I chose to go. I wanted somewhere where I was going to be looked after to an extent as I only have a relatively low amount of flying hours (32) - I didn't want to find myself on a trip with sky-gods flying in booming conditions (at least not on day 1!). Eventually I settled for Flying Paradise in Greece. The other options I considered were South Cyprus (not running a trip this spring) Morocco (too expensive) and Turkey (not ready for SIV just yet, just want to do lots of flying).

Flying Paradise seemed like they were willing to cater for a range of pilots, the trip was reasonably priced and seemed to have a few other activities on offer should it not be flyable. Hopefully conditions won't be too epic at first but I am keen to make some XC flights during my stay. One of the landing sites is the beach in front of the hotel which sounds ideal - I can't miss that (can I?). See the YouTube video below of someone screwing it up (ouch!).

Hopefully this video (click here) gives a taste of what's in store for me...

I've also booked up for a fortnights holiday in the Maritime Alps for September with Ravi - mainly walking and climbing - but I'm also going to be doing some flying. We've booked accommodation with Les Basses Beaumettes - the owners of which are Scottish pilots Ulric and Ruth Jessop, who are now based in the Alps and offering guiding services so hopefully I'll be able to make a few good flights while we are there too.

New kit

Just ordered myself some new equipment - so this nice new Vario should be on its way to me any day now, along with a cockpit and Sup-Air flying suit! The Vario should make finding the lift a little easier in the future.

Dunstable - 10th April 2007

Keen to make the most of the good conditions I headed once again to Dunstable. This time it was a sneaky session during an extended lunch hour. I had planned to go after work but thought it best to try and fly while things looked good.

On the drive over I could see gliders in the air and so was excited that it was 'on' again. I arrived about 12.30 and was in the air not long after although it was clear conditions weren't ideal. There seemed to be cycles of wind and lift coming thought for short periods followed by lulls. After watching the others fly for a bit and one pilot manage a tree landing I managed to get off at a good time and flew for 20 minutes or so - eventually making a (slightly hard and fast - must remember to turn more into wind!) slope landing and getting my paraglider and lines all snagged on the brambles.

Untangling the lines and free from the brambles I returned to the launch but I had to wait a while for another good cycle to come through before I could launch again. Once in the air I managed just a few beats along the hillside before sinking out for a bottom landing. Still, with two flights in my lunch hour on a lovely sunny day I was happy enough, and the walk back up the hill will keep me fit.

Dunstable - 9th April 2007

I made a trip to the downs today hoping to find it flyable. Keeping an eye on the wind during the day I hoped to avoid the stronger mid-day conditions but on getting near to the hill I could tell that it was likely to be a wasted journey as there was little wind. The last of the pilots were just leaving having been grounded for most of the day although some had some good flights before the cloud cover killed off any decent lift.

I sat waiting for the clear skies to the north-west to reach the hill but it was clear they were going to be a long time coming - but it was nice to just take in the view at the end of a warm spring day.

Dunstable - 8th April 2007

Arriving at the downs around 9.15 the conditions looked promising. But instead of flying I was here for a walk with Ravi (the glider was in the car for a chance of a short flight on our return) and so we set off across behind the downs for a half-day walk. It was a lovely walk through farmland and small villages and on the return leg we could see Richard on his Atos high above and occasionally a paraglider. Where we were a few miles away the conditions felt rather strong and on returning to the car park I could see that only one person was flying and most pilots were sitting out the strong conditions.

Being a bank holiday the crowds were out in force and while it looked like conditions were mellowing, they still seemed fairly strong and I also didn't fancy taking off in front of so many people - besides which even the experienced pilots were clipping the fence on takeoff! So feeling well satisfied with the flying two days before we headed for home.

Combe Gibbet - 6th April 2007

A great day - 6 flights, two top landings, four slope landings and plenty of height gain. Longest flight - 1 1/2 hrs. Now completely knackered and slightly sunburned but managed 4 hrs of flying overall - well worth the drive.

I was on site for 9.30 and in the air by 10am. For a while things weren't too busy but gradually more people arrived. Four of us had the ridge to ourselves for a while which was great - so much more room than Dunstable.


Things got a little bit bumpy for a short while, but pretty mild really. Most of the time it was smooth soaring conditions - the only downside was the number of pilots in the air and their lack of appreciation of air law (pilots with the ridge on their right have right of way!). I managed to 360 back behind the hill for a short while and pondered where I might go if I gained enough height but was never really an option. A few other pilots did make it away from the ridge (Andover was the furthest I heard of). It was also possible to push out over the fields in front of the ridge (the best lift was often here) so it made a change to be flying away from the hill for once.