Friday, 26 October 2007

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

Saturday, 13 October 2007

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.

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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.

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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.

Lachens SW launch

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!