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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.