Club News

Saturday August 5th  found myself at Sartfell getting there just before the road closed for the rally at 2.15pm.  Si and Keith, keen as ever had been out, gone back home and gone back out again.  As I was walking up there was a very light breeze from the SW.  The boys already on top were doing some ground handling and a couple of small flights and top/ slope landing after 20-30 seconds.  Very warm walk up.  I did some ground handling and we all did more small flights almost managing to soar but reluctant to go out from the hill and sink and have to walk back up.  Anyhow after about 2 ½ hours the wind started to pick up and there were pockets of sun coming.  A very nice cloud street ran from at least Slieu Roy to Snaifell (again). Giles arrived along with Watty and they took off.  Giles and Watty did very well out front for 20 minutes or so with Giles eventually landing down the bottom- only to walk back up again as the conditions were to get better.  Watty landed to the NW of take off around the side of the hill and came back up also.  Si Keith and I patiently waited and took off in 11-14mph.  It has gone quite westerly but now it was coming around to SW again.  I managed 45? minutes before having to land due to dinner commitments.  Plenty of lift, only 1 360 over summit and about 80m ato?.  Landed at 5.50.  Si and Keith also had to land prematurely.  Dan arrived about that time and was heading up.  Watty was still flying, Giles was on way back up too.  Hope someone picked up orange wind sock and white and red one in the field used for spot landing?

Four intrepid paraglider pilots; myself, Gary Cooper and Tom Kane from the Dunstable Hang gliding and Paragliding Club and Keith Wood from Sussex set off from Milton Keynes by car on Friday lunch time.  The traffic on the M6 from where the toll road ended was terrible; turning what should have been a three-hour drive into just over 4 hours to Liverpool.  Upon arrival, we abandoned the car in an NCP car park and just managed to catch the ferry and cross as foot passengers to Douglas,the capital of the 33 by 11 mile Isle of Man.

Held on the weekend of the 15th/16th of July on the Isle of Man, the Manx Paragliding TT consisted of three tasks.

The weather was hot, sunny and inverted.   Not ideal for flying cross country.  However, Chris Dawes of Airways Airsports managed to set some interesting tasks.

All three started at the highest peak on the island, Snaefell at 2036ft. 

Continue reading Manx Paragliding TT 2006

For those of you who could not make the Competition here is a little run down of what happened.

Once in a man’s life, he will feel the need to run a paragliding competition.  It’s an unnatural urge really, fraught with huge logistical and metrological risks.  An urge so abhorrent to most sane people that it probably takes a little bit of madness mixed in with an irrepressible dose of optimism, coated with a dream like hope that everything and everyone will not let you down, finally topped off with a hopelessly misguided thought that success will put something back into the sport you love.  But hey, as a pilot you have to be a pretty optimistic sort of person.  You have to have faith.  If we thought it was not going to work we would never take off.  So I took off.

Getting a paragliding competition up and running needs publicity.  The Isle of Man Tourism Board Special Events team kindly offered to underwrite us for the cost of the advertising in Skywings.  Colin at Skywings offered to sponsor us with a great deal in the Magazine.  Full colour page, the works.

Chris Dawes at Airways agreed to come over and take control of the task setting and supply the main prizes.  He was a godsend.  Other prizes and funding were provided generously by XC magazine, Microgaming and Peter Jenkins.  Swales Flooring agreed to provide a sponsored bus to transport pilots around. The Snaefell Mountain Railway people agreed to provide a free tram and trailer to the summit of Snaefell for each day of the event.  All these people were more than generous with their help and enthusiasm.

Continue reading Airways Manx TT Competition 2006

Its the competition this weekend and the forecast is good!

There are a stack of prizes with top prize being an all inclusive trip to the Ozone Master Class in Austria with transfers & spending money.  Other prizes are a Woody Valley Peak harness, Ozone and XC Mag goodies!

The competition weekend should kick-off on Friday night with Pilots arriving from foreign shores.

Friday Night
Simon, Keith and whoever else will be in the bar at the Claremont Hotel to welcome pilots, tick them off on the register and make a note of their departure time on Sunday.  Martin will also be around to assist the Hang Gliders.

Saturday Morning
Its probably a good idea to make a packed lunch before you get on the bus.  Marks and Spencers is close by and has a good selection of posh sandwiches.
The bus will leave the Claremont Hotel at 10:00am and will make another stop at Creg Ny Baa before heading off into the hills.

The competiton window will open at 11:30am

The Bus will be used to collect everyone at the end of the day and return to Douglas via Creg Ny Baa

Saturday Evening
Hopefully go out for a restaurant meal somewhere in Douglas.  Will confirm on Saturday when we know how many would like to join us and what time we are likely to be finished.

Sunday
Similar start to Saturday, may have to finish earlier to get pilots back to the boat in time.

Phil Swales, Mike Swales, Richard Watson, Jamie Teare, Simon Atherton and Myself went to Annecy on a Paragliding holiday arranged through Jocky Sanderson and his company Escape XC, I think we all had Personal Bests for distance or duration, a brief rundown of the flying is as follows:

Thursday
Si got away from the madness in front of launch (40+ gliders soaring a ridge smaller than Ballaugh..lots of near misses) and made it back onto Les Dents and then across to the Rocs des Boeufs where he scratched for ages.  He was soon joined by Watty but whilst Si was still scratching Watty made it out and got to Doussard, Si eventually landed in front of Rocs des Boeufs.  After an hour and a half in the madness in front of launch Phil, Mike, Jamie and I opted for the Landing field at Talloires.

Friday
Launched with determination to get away from launch and back onto Les Dents…..my glider however was pulling hard right into the trees.  I was trying to look up at lines to see if there was a tangle but couldn’t see anything in the quick glances I could steal whilst trying to avoid mid-air collisions.  My suspicions were confirmed when Chris White came on the radio saying that it looked like I had a tangle in the brake lines at my right wing-tip.  I headed away from the hill to try and clear it, but it was locked in and I had to land.  As I packed away I watched everyone manage to get away from Launch. 

The wind really picked up at Talloires landing field and from the cafe it was quite entertaining to watch the vertical and backwards descents – including Phil and Mike who were returning from made it look easy but provided no entertainment.  Si and Jamie had headed off back along the Parmalan ridge trying to get to the Hotel but with the weather closing in got stuck in a valley headwind and had to land in the valley – again vertically or backwards with Simon apparently managing to manoeuvre into a postage stamp clearing among some trees.  Watty was high up on the Parmalan ridge just below Jocky and tucking in really tight scratching hard….so hard in fact that it became an unexpected slope landing…with a very long (and quite treacherous) walk out.

Saturday
A top to bottom and a quick soar before the rain came in.

Sunday
Post frontal and glorious sunshine we got to launch at about 12 but waited until it was starting to work.  Soon there was the usual queue of gliders on the launch mat.  After launch spent a short while soaring in the madness until I got a decent climb above launch that enabled me to get back onto Les Dents and there soon found another thermal with Watty and Phil which got us to Cloudbase at about 2200m.  Jamie had already set off across the Lake to Rocs des Boeufs and we now followed.  Connected with the ridge and found lift all the way up to the big power lines and turned back for another neat to gain enough height to clear them but just sunk all the way back down the ridge and had to scratch for a while before I got a really nice climb that took me above the ridge and straight to cloudbase again.  Chris White was at cloudbase and I then set off with him back across the lake for Forclaz launch.  As I left Watty and Phil were climbing nicely up to cloudbase and Jamie was still scratching and not having a lot of luck.  Connected with Forclaz at road level and scratched in the gully to the right of launch for a while – slowly losing height.  Eventually was joined by another glider and they showed me the way out and shared a climb with them to base above Forclaz launch before heading off back to Les Dents.  Si had landed earlier at Talloires and had taken-off again and was now really high above Les Dents, Phil and Watty had overtaken me whilst I was scratching at Forclaz and were both nearing Les Dents.  Chris White had waited for me at cloudbase above Forclaz and we topped up at Les Dents before heading across the valley towards Parmalan.  We could see Watty ahead who was now scratching again on Parmalan.  Watty eventually made it above the ridge and Chris connected with the rock face and instantly climbed above the ridge, I was not far behind but did not find any lift and was soon scratching, constantly losing height.  Chris and Watty were patiently waiting above the ridge so that we could fly formation for the final glide back to the Hotel but it wasn’t to be as I was having to move further away from the cliff face as I was losing height and further away from the lift and had to go land in the valley.  Si had now landed at the Hotel, as had Phil and Watty and Chris flew in to join them.  Jamie got above Rocs des Boeuff but opted for Doussard landing field and Mike got high above Les Dents but with no flying partners around enjoyed the views from there before landing in Talloires.  I had a short walk of about 1Km before finding a bar and having a well earned beer.  My flight time was 3hrs and 10 mins.  Some photos can be found here (more will be added when I get them from everyone elses cameras).

 A damn fine days flying to end a really good trip.  Counting down the days till we are back there..and its not too long!

Simon, Keith, Giles, Watty and I flew Benny Pot on Saturday.  Watty was first there and had a few attempts at soaring in an easterly at 12-16mph, but only managed a few minutes each time.  Si was next off around 12ish and it seemed to be working better with good thermals although they were rather broken and quite bumpy. I followed and expected to fly down to the cars at Brandywell as we planned to head to off to Slieu Roy, but after pushing out front and maintaining I made my way back up the hill where Keith and Giles had now taken off. There was no problem staying up and Si was first off south to Carrighan with 70m ATO, I was next with 110m ATO followed by Keith and Giles.  We all made it quite easily however it felt a push at times with slow progress in the stiff wind crossing the gap.  The 4 of us spent 20 minutes soaring Carrighan realising we would need 200-250m above the summit to head further south over reservoir but in fairly strong thermals and 15-17 mph wind it wouldn’t happen today.

Continue reading Paragliding 6th & 7th May

Wed 26th April Big Bowl
WSW 12-17mph. Only 400′ on hill but then 750′ flying up downwind side of long cloud coming from Peel.  Looked like wave type cloud and felt like it but base was 200′ beneath top of Sartfell and I was sandwiched between it and higher ground. Funny feeling the wall closing in on you! But landed OK at Cronk-y-Voddy.

Friday 28th April Ballaugh
A bit west with small half useable thermals in average 11mph WNW. Didn’t get above 350′ in first hour so not pleasant. Then wind increased to 13-17mph giving 1100′
silkily smooth hands off stuff. Dan and two others came and went, I assumed to Slieu Curn, so went over to find they had gone to coast instead. I was low on Curn getting thrown around all over the place. Not getting up at all with the wind being much more NW here! So was surprised to be able to just get back to Ballaugh where it was just as rough low down, but once over 500′ sily smooth and maxed out at 1725’ATO. Then headed for Sky Hill where got only a few blips and landed a couple of hundred metres north of Grand Island Hotel in strong wind admiring the same lovely sea color that Jamie noted (tomorrow!) on his epic flight. Some very minor wispy wave looking clouds
Ballaugh way but proper "space ship" wave over Barrule.

Sat 29th
Meant to be the best day with light North then West forecast but with Dan reporting  a gale in Douglas! Orographic very slowly clearing from hilltops with no wind at all across north of island till after 1pm when it suddenly picked up from WNW but then the orographic sank lower and lower down Sl Curn so I canned it. But did you hear about that Jamie? He is becoming a real animal, I don’ think I would have the balls to fallover the back of Barrule from that low height!!

Snaefell to Maughold Head on Saturday April 29, 2006 for a total of 10.24km.  Took off at 11.50 Snaefell summit.  Wind was west 12 to 14mph with some thermic cycles upto 16-17mph.  Took off and straight into lift.  A few S-turns 1 360′ and I was looking at the ridge across to North Barrule, I had gained 250m ATO without really expecting to do an XC and as I left Snaefell I managed to collect another nice thermal on north side of Snaefell before heading for Mt. Stupid.  I lost 300m and was 20 meters from decking it  once across TT course, but patiently worked weak but then firm thermals to maintain a reasonable height towards north barrule.  It was quite rough in places but reached NB at 540m ASL (40 meters above stone wall?).  Spent 20-25 minutes soaring and thinking where to go.  Plenty of thermals.  Left NB at 570m ASL (20m above summit?) wanting to go as far as I could toward Maughold and with the wind.  The cloud shadows showed a NW drift.  About the area above the Hibirnia landing field I received another nice thermal which took me from 540m ASL to 700m ASL wher cloud base was and momentarily experienced some whiteness.  Happy to clear away from the lift as I realised I was going to run out of land I started decending toward Maughold Church as I was still 500m ASL.  Did some relaxing 360’s taking in one of the most beautiful views of the Head, Laxey bay, Ramsey bay, the mountains, the ocean and aqua marine color of the small inlets etc, to land next to the cemetery- the only field with no livestock in it.  Bloody brilliant!!.  Thanks to Ean and Chris who kindly picked me up and drove me to my car at Snaefell. 

You can view the flight track by clicking on the distance (10.24) in the XC league table

Well went for a little fly at Ballaugh last night to test my new harness, all well and good, a little light and west to be able to stay up for long, but a nice flight anyway.  But now to my main point;  Whilst setting up I noticed some minor damage to the sheathing on one of my "A" lines, still flyable but in need of repair.  So upon landing I proceed to do a very thorough line and canopy inspection and to my horror find another three lines all with minor damage !!

All of which cannot have been entirely new, so my point is this; 
We should all regularly thoroughly inspect the canopy and all lines, connections, etc for wear and/or damage.  Our usual pre flight checks are not thorough enough to spot potential problems, as we know, we are usually in a hurry to fly and only check for twists, tangles etc.
 
Also, I might point out that just because a wing is new (mine is only ayear old !) that does not mean that it is impervious to damage.  It doesen’t take long to do a full inspection, and it is well worth it if prevents us from flying with potentially fatal faults in our equipment.
 
So here’s to another good flying season which now seems to be getting underway nicely and remember "Safety first, flying fun second!"   (Pot, kettle, black maybe, but a little reminder can’t do any harm.)
 
See you all on the hill.

Friday.
Myself and George Flew from North Barrule down to the grammar school,  pretty sinky but ok.
Chris and Ean the did the same later that evening,  very smooth, nice 1700′ T2B.

Sunday.
Great forecast- sun and light winds.  Got a text from Watty early on to say it was on at Ballaugh, 10-13mph…….with that myself, Watty, Martin, Goldie, Keith , Si, Jamie, Bill, George, Ste, Chris and Ean (Phew!) all found ourselves floating over the top of Ballaugh in big , wide, easy thermals that took some to 220M ATO.  Classic Ballaugh day. Top land when you like, have a chat, take off again straight up to 150m plus ATO.  Everyone seemed to crack at least an hour.  Keith went off XC along the Sulby straight for 3.9km.  Must have been quite a sight with us all up at the same time.  It was not crowded though with loads of space for everyone.

Great day.

Forecast looking light all week then getting good from Wednesday…..Saturday looking very good.

See you soon.