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