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.

Combe Gibbet tomorrow

Off to Combe Gibbet tomorrow morning - can't wait. I replaced the damaged line on my glider (which arrived in the nick of time) so i'm all set. The wind looks good (a northerly 7-9mph - nice and gentle for me) and Weatherjack was giving a 3 earlier today. Meeting up with Richard from DHPC at the hill. Never flown there before but it sounds quite a big hill which is good news as its likely to be busy since its going to be a sunny bank holiday. Aparrently its a good thermic site from which a lot of cross-country flights are made - though perhaps i'm not ready for that yet. Must get a vario sorted next week!

I'm going to set off nice and early so I can beat any traffic and get my kit sorted out before too many people arrive. Will write a post on the days flying once I get back...