Mayobridge

Last night I sent an email to the club email list to see if anyone was going out as today's weather looked promising. I sorted the kids out with their morning activities while I had my eye on Magilligan but when I checked with Phil who is based up that way it turned out to be too strong and Phil was heading for Portrush sand dunes.  I phoned Bertie, after umming and arring we decided to go to Mayobridge as we knew there were already people flying there. By the time I collected Bertie we had gained another passenger, Bertie's student Alistair, the more the merrier.

As we passed out the south side of Rathfriland we could see three gliders in the air at the high ground we refer to as Mayobridge as that is the name of the town that you can see to the NW when you are flying there.

By the time I had been blown around the hill a bit attempting to launch a couple of pilots left the hill for a chance at flying along to the Mourne mountains. We spotted a curtain of rain heading our way so we packed away our wings to stop them from getting wet only to watch the cloud miss us to the west. Conditions calmed down after the rain clouds had passed. I decided wait until Alistair got airborne because he only had "Dealing with a asymmetric tuck" and two top landings to tick off on his list of tasks towards his Club Pilot qualification. Knowing this, when I got airborne I could barely fly for watching him on his top landings.

I got myself an easy 20 minute soaring flight to recharge my batteries and I am glad to say that Alistair got those tasks completed. I am on the Blue Ozone Electron in the video.

Day 5 at Algodonales

Today is the first day that we have had significant cloud cover.

Morning view from Flyspain's Eagles nest.

The first flight I got today was a cracker as it included a couple of firsts. At one point I was 1800 feet above take off, over 3300 feet above the landing field, that is over a kilometer. Again I got a touch of the wobbles when I realised how high I was. While being bumped about I looked at my GPS to find I was in lift that was +4m/s.
At one point I was even joined by a hangglider who wanted a piece of my thermal. I watched him start circling below me and decided that he would soon out climb me so I did the correct thing and left him to it and rejoined the lift after he was above me. It wasn't long before the hangie moved on to look for other lift and I couldn't help chuckle when I saw him sinking in the distance as I continued to climb. I did eventually decide to leave the lift when I estimated I was about 200 feet below the cloud above me that was clearly the source of my lift. I thought it is all well and good climbing above everyone near me but I wasn't quite ready for the off chance I would be sucked into a cloud.

Best Flight yet, lots of curly thermalling

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My mate Karl was in the queue behind me at launch and took the following video.

Apart from giving you a feel for how busy take off can be you can see at 1:45 I launch with someone else's wing tucked in my lines. It was my fault as I should have checked everything was clear before launch and again while launching. I didn't even know what had happened until I landed and Karl told me (and yes I do look like a right dork!)

Halloween at Dungiven

I hadn't even been looking at the weather today when I glanced out of the window and thought to myself it must be flyable somewhere. I checked the club mailing list and sure enough a couple of members were making their way to Dungiven. So I quickly got kit and myself together and drove the 50 odd miles (who am I kidding I know it is exactly 52 miles). I arrived in time to see Colin take off and by the time I had driven to the top of the hill it looked like Dave was about to take off. Dave is the UHPC Chief coach and so is in the know. I ran down the hill to see what he thought of the conditions and as far as he was concerned there was nothing to worry about except it might be a wee bit light.

I was a wee bit worried about the lack of wind as I don't like landing at the bottom simply because someone has to stop what they are doing to drive down and collect you. First couple of flights were easy enough and resulted in top landings. Third flight was a disappointing top to bottom, followed by a top landing, and then another top to bottom.

I had five flights today and managed to clock up over an hours airtime. Not too bad considering I woke this morning without the faintest hope of flying.

When not to fly.

After stomping around Knockagh (the only site I can see from my house) watching Ian C. and Dave fly I soon realised I would not be joining them. When Ian took off I was convinced I would be jumping in the car to retrieve him from the bottom landing field. I saw him disappear behind the vertical cliff face trying to make the most of the lift. I moved around to try to watch his landing only to find that he had made it up above cliffs and was now flying on the edge of the cloud that was forming just as they cleared the cliff face. I didn't fancy that much. A short while later Ian landed and we were joined by Dave. Both Dave and Ian flew again but I was content with waiting for a better day.

Ian C. with the Knockagh monument in the foreground

We were joined by Michael and after I a while Michael and I decided that a trip of 11 miles to Big Collin was a better option so we headed there for what amounted (at least for me) to a bit of ground handling.

A new site: S-W Agnews hill

Went to Big Collin today and met Bertie there. I only managed two top to bottoms as the conditions were quite variable and not really any good. Unfortunately this site is a bit like that. either it is windy enough but not quite on the hill or it is smack on the hill but not quite window enough or it is too windy.

Bertie got a bit of flying in while waiting for a student to join him but as the conditions were not great for training he decided that he would try a rarely used site at the back of Agnew's hill and I joined him. After about quarter of an hour stomping around in waiting for Bertie to get a key to the gate we drove about a mile up a small lane and parked up in a lay-by.

It was a walk up that seems slightly easier than a Big Collin Mountain which included me nearly falling on my face when I found a two foot deep water filled gully with my left boot (brand new boots I might add). I have previously heard people talk about how much heather covers Agnews hill and it is like a carpet in places, certainly where I decided to try and take off. I have also heard that heather easily tangles in your lines but this didn't bother me but I suspect that is because my lines are of such an old (huge) design.

Unfortunately the conditions were not quite strong enough for soaring. So after a quick slope landing I finished off with a nice soft squidgy landing at the bottom. I can see the benefit of this new site more and it is certainly a forgiving

Although I have some flight logs for today it is a far cry from the flights I had in Spain.

Day 4 at Algodonales

I didn't fly yesterday but managed to get 2 flights into today even though they were little more than top to bottoms (although the height difference between top and bottom is a lot more than I usually get back home). We went to a new site called El Bosque ( in Spanish means the forest) which has a nice high but small launch and is surrounded by trees.

We drove nearly all the way to launch and had to walk the last 10 minutes or so in the heat which seemed to half kill nearly everyone (not just me). The launch site was very unforgiving, smaller than previous sites and just as rocky with small spiky bushes bordering the take off. While we were all having a breather we got a site briefing. We were warned about going back too far toward the spine back top of the hill unless we had excessive height. There are a couple of lower cliffs off to the left of take off which was the direction in which it was suggested we fly if we failed to get lift. It was also pointed out that you cannot make it to the official bottom landing field for the site if you do not get any lift. There are a couple of bomb out fields just at the foot of the cliffs which can be used if necessary but as I found out access to the fields isn't great. There was every chance of two flights at this site so we were not worried if we had to land.

After my usual faffing around I got ready and after nearly all of the rest of the group were away I managed a clean(ish) launch on my first attempt. No sooner I had cleared the launch site than I hit a thermal and started my 'S' turns until I was high enough to perform 360s. I soon decided that I had enough height for me to push forward and start looking for new lift. I managed to get some lift over the cliff faces to the left of take off but soon tired and I was aware that the Flyspain retrieve bus was already at the landing field. So with plenty of height to spare I set off for the huge landing field.
On the way to the landing field you pass over the Spanish equivalent to a UK 'A' road. This was the first time I have flown over such a main road before and remember thinking if this presented any additional considerations. The only thing I could think of was that if I somehow I end up landing on it but I had more than enough height to prevent that.

I have previously watched flights of huge top to bottoms on Youtube and Vimeo and wondered how it is possible to burn the height of to land. I know the safe technique of getting near your chosen landing spot, or even over it if you are worried about penetrating forward in strong wind, then burning off your height in 'S' turns. I have always had a doubt about me actually pulling it off. The trick seems to be to make sure that you are not coming in to land at the same time as anyone else and then you won't have other pilots to worry about. I was quite glad I did burn my height off so close to the landing field because the last few hundred feet before I landed were all in sinking air.

Only after getting my feet on the ground and collapsing the wing did I think I should have kept the wing up and tried to walk closer to the entrance to the landing field. I jumped on the radio to tell the group I had landed in the bottom landing field then packed up and made my way to the Flyspain bus for another trip up to take off.

My second flight was much the same as my first but with little or no lift. I made the cliffs but it was obvious to me I was going to land soon so I had already picked out the field just the other side of the main road that I was going to land in and the one this side of the road should I not make it. I headed out and as I looked at the first choice field I realised that I couldn't see if there was a gate between that field and the one next to it with all the cattle in it. Being in Spain the fact that they bread bulls for their aggressiveness helped me decide to go for the nearer landing field even if it did mean a significantly longer walk out.

As I got closer to the landing it became clear that it wasn't what I initially took to be a cotton field. Only when I landed did I realise that it was a field full of scratchy dead plants about a foot high that were covered in small white snails. I was wearing shorts so my legs were getting a bit of a scratch while I packed up as quickly as I could. I thought that I would get out of the field next to the house nearby but as I approached it became clear there was no way out. Rather than dander around the field until I found a gate I decided to try to climb out onto the main road and head back that way. I got on the radio and said I would make my way to  the cafe at the bottom road leading up the hill. Eventually I found a way to get onto the road without damaging the fence, myself or my kit but for a while I was a little bit concerned I could be there a while. Once on the road I noticed that there were all sorts of itch scratchy crunchy things in my socks and boots, nothing painful just a bit uncomfortable.

At least fifteen minutes and a litre of water later I made it to the cafe to find two other pilots from our group who I joined for a refreshing beer. It wasn't until I got back to the shared house we were staying in that I realised that some of the crunchy in my socks were several small snails that I assumed must have jumped in when I landed or while I packed my wing away in that field.... nasty!

Day 2 at Algodonales

Today was a slow start as it seems it often is here. We went out to the Westerly take off on Lijar the mountain that overlooks Algodonales and sat around a good while before the conditions were flyable. Once everything got warmed up nicely and the thermals were coming through we watched a couple of gliders launch and some were even maintaining height. At this point Neil who is always the keenest to get airborne in our group launched and started gaining height. Slowly all the group got airborne and on my turn to launch I made a hash of things by failing to brake the glider as it came overhead. Unfortunately as the conditions are so different it took several attempts until I was in the air.

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Initially when I was airborne I was struggling to even maintain height and I was concious of the little height I had above the small lump of hill in front of take off that is the height marker we use to decide whether we will make the landing field. It took a while of flying in (and often out) of lift in 'S' shapes before I had scratched enough lift to get me clear of the hill and be able to do full 360 turns in the thermals. Slowly and with the help of some of the many vultures that live in these parts I managed to gain height and eventually I was 1500 feet above take off.

I gained so much height that I started to get a little uncomfortable, this is of course the opposite of what is deemed safe as the more air between you and the ground there is the more time you will have to sort out any problems. Up high I seemed to be getting rocked about a little bit more than I did lower down so I decided to make my way over to the landing field.

After a spending some time loosing height I landed in the landing field. It wasn't until I had packed up the wing that I realised how tiring thermalling is, it is physically and mentally much more demanding than the ridge soaring I usually do back home.

Today I reached the milestone of completing 10 hours air time. This means that I can officially remove the red ribbon from my harness that indicates to other pilots I am a very low airtime pilot. I wont remove the ribbon until I at least get home but it is another task checked off.

Day 1 in Algodonales

Flyspain is a company that organises paragliding holidays around the world, I booked myself in for a weeks thermaling training in or around the town of Algodonales in Spain.

After the necessary faffing around with paperwork. We set out for an inspection of the huge south-east landing field just outside Algodonales, it was comfortingly massive and only had a clump of small trees and an old farm house as obstacles. We set out for the south-east ridge above Algo in the sunshine with a plan get a confidence building top to bottom flight under our belts. There was very little cloud cover and the temperature must have been around 25C and rising.

I didn't feel nervous at all until we parked the car and I saw the take off area full of people, hang gliders being rigged and paragliders being checked, very intimidating. After a while I managed to find myself a tiny spot just big enough to do my daily checks.

Checks done I clipped in and moved to the take off queue (if you can call it that). With helmet, gloves and harness helping to bake me in the sun I was soon sweating.

After much confusion about who was going next and where the queue was (there isn't a queue) I was up. Having watched a few others launched it is obvious that the idea when doing a reverse launch is to bring the wing up and while making sure that your lines are as they should be and then turn and run like stink. My launch was similar to this but probably not as elegant. Finding very little lift on the way down it took about 10 minutes before I was in the landing field. As I was coming in it seemed to take ages before I could see the wind streamer on top of the farm house so I could land into wind. This was probably because I was so high to start with. It turns out that it was about a 2200 feet top to bottom which beats anything I have previously done.

Picture of a paraglider over the South-East landing field.

We all packed up and sat in the shade waiting to be collected by the FlySpain bus. We then set off for the westerly take off and stopped along the way to look at the landing field. The field was big but had trees around it, a road and electricity line running along the side facing the mountain. We were talked though a suggested landing approach so that we had a tried and tested method for avoiding the power lines when landing.

At the take off it was the same story of people everywhere and very little places for setting gliders out. Rob walked us though the site and gave a talk on general thermalling techniques. I found a space but only after I had the wing fully out did I realise that it had thistles everywhere.  I eventually made my way to the front baked in my helmet. I fluffed a couple of launches, it seems I am not braking my wing enough when it comes overhead but on my third or forth attempt I got away.

Having never really thermalled before I thought I did quite well. I worked a few thermals and was able to stay underneath a couple of gaggles (a gaggle is the name for a group of gliders in a thermal). Another first was that I was close enough to a few vultures  as they were thermalling and was able to make use of them as markers. Unfortunately I didn't turn on my GPS and so failed to make any recording of the flight, still there is always tomorrow.

Paragliding week in Spain

In disgust at the weather we have had since I achieved Club Pilot in March (since I started training when I think about it) and because I am Forty this year and can get away with it I have decided to go for a week to Spain to try to get some air time. I am going with FlySpain to Algodonales.


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I am hoping to get a little more familiar with thermals, a few tasks ticked off on my way to Pilot qualification and improve my general flying confidence. I have my Fingers crossed that the weather doesn't follow me.

I will attempt to take pictures and I might break out the crappy video sunglasses again as I have completely failed to get myself a better video camera. I hope to blog every flying day (or at least the following day) so look out for blog entries between 6th and 13th of October.

Dungiven. Wind a bit too strong

Today I took a days leave from work to fly Dungiven. I set out about 9.45 and arrived about 11 am as several others were just arriving. The wind was smack onto the hill and nearly too strong to fly. Mike who passed this CP the week after me was already there and he set up and before long he was up and flying. Conditions looked good with plenty of lift so shortly after he was joined by Phil Barron and a student on his tandem, another pilot and finally me.

Michael was the first off the hill.

There were wispy clouds coming and going at the edge of the hill but nothing that you couldn't see through but I stayed in familiar territory just in case it developed into orographic cloud. At one point I was in a bit of mist and decided to use my big ears (which is a rapid descent technique where you pull the wing tips in) in a half hearted fashion but there was no real need. I threw in a 360 degree turn just because I had the height.

After about 15 minutes I thought I would land for a bit as I would have the rest of the day to fly and practising top landings isn't a bad way to spend my time. As I was lining up for the landing I noticed an inch or so of standing water right where I was planing to land so I revised my landing spot as I came in. I used enough control to descend vertically and when I touched down I turned and killed the wing by running towards it and pulling the controls.

Phil's tandem landing was interesting as he called over to myself and another pilot (Jim) to grab the controls from him when he landed. Jim took the controls and ran away from Phil which quickly killed the wing.

Mike had several goes at top landing and missing (well flying back out into the lift for another attempt) getting further and further back over the hill until he was able to get his feet on the ground.

Mike decided he wanted another flight so I stood and shouted wind speeds at him from my wind meter while he chose his moment to inflate and take off. While he was up the wind picked up a bit and Mike ended up landing way back on a flat part of the hill away from the lift.

This was the end of the days flying for me. The wind spent the rest of the day dropping to acceptable speeds just long enough to dupe me into getting ready to fly again and then strengthening to beyond my comfort zone.

I have booked a guided paragliding holiday in Algodonales, Spain so this is probably my last day's flying until  I get there on the 6th October. I am going to try and take pictures and blog about each flying day but I suspect the post frequency will be directly inverse to the number of bars.

Big Collin and a opportunity missed

Another tiring day at Big Collin mountain today. Once I got my chores out of the way (mostly running children back and forth in the car) I got to BC just before 1 pm. There were already a load of other pilots there and I joined them in a tiring afternoon of running up and down the hill. The wind was off to the west and was coming and going which was why staying up was so hard.

Gary and Bertie at a wonky angle.

After a few hours I found myself on the top of the hill by myself, so while there were people still on site I took off , bottom landed a few minutes later then packed up. This was a mistake because I found out later that a few pilots stayed behind after most had left and they got about 2 hours in the air as the wind came around to the south to produce better conditions. I'll just have to be more patient in future. Still I got my feet off the ground and looking back to 6 months ago when I first got CP things have improved immensely because take off is considerably less nerve racking.

Knockagh monument

As my experience slowly grows the range of sites that are available to me as a pilot broadens and today I got to fly one site that has been fairly high up my wish list.
Knockagh is the closest site to my home. I can see it when I look out of my home office window. There is a wind turbine on the ridge that is great for quickly getting the wind direction so if I am at home I will look at it at least once a day. You would think I would have flown it before now but unfortunately the bottom landing options are very restricted. To start with there are several power lines that criss cross the foot of the cliffs, many trees (maybe there are enough trees to call it a wood) not to mention houses, fields with race horses and other live stock.

I wasn't going to fly initially as the pilot I was meeting (Ian) was already in the air when I arrived (of course I had put the glider in the car, just in case). I switched the radio on as was pleased to find that Ian had his with him as well. He kindly talked me through the site from above over the radio and I ran around the take off and landing fields. He made it very clear there were effectively no bottom landing options except the Knockagh lodge area and it was a site that commanded respect.

Out of the blue (not literally) another pilot was on the radio asking about conditions. He was heading to another site when he saw a wing in the air above the monument at Knockagh. So I went to take off to chat, he also did a good job of explaining the pitfalls of the site then I watched him make take off look easy (as he so often does). I watched for a while and my interpretation of the feedback over the radio from both pilots was that conditions were great. After a while I thought that the exercise of carrying the glider out to take off would not do me any harm and that conditions would probably change by the time I made it out to take off again.

By the time I got my gear to take off things were looking increasingly like I couldn't blame the weather for not flying. So I walked about a bit, then decided that it wouldn't harm to run through my daily checks. Before I knew it everything had been checked (at least twice) and the conditions were exactly the same. In fact the comment over the radio was that these were the best conditions for this site for some while i.e. smooth and consistent.
The take off area is very small and surrounded by trees behind so this means if you loose control of the wing even for a moment there is a good chance you will end up picking your glider out of a tree.

I moved the wing so that if I were to take off I would head out over the gorse where it was lowest. I strapped in and performed all my pre flight checks, asked on the radio if conditions were the same (they were), went through my pre flight checks again and then visualised bringing the wing up in a controlled manner several times in my head while blocking out the vision of the trees that were is spitting distance.

Pre flights checked again, slight lull in the wind onto the hill and I crouched back in the harness and got the wing above my head in a controlled manner, turned and ran at the gorse in front of me at full pelt. At this point I realised that as you run down a hill towards something it becomes taller the closer you get and if it were not for my committed run I wouldn't have made it over the gorse bush with 6 inches to spare.

Once in the air I went up at a consistent rate. Unlike the other pilots I stuck very much over the ridge, this is where you feel safe as a low air timer and usually has the most predictable lift. I was soon high above the ridge and grinning madly.

After a bit of boating about and even waving at someone who was taking photographs of me from the monument I saw that both my fellow pilots had landed and thought that it was time I should do the same. I had had my fun and if conditions changed while I was on my own in the air I didn't want to be flying alone. I tried to land well back from the edge in the same field I had seen used earlier. Unfortunately I turned back into wind too late and missed putting myself down in a field of calves that was immediately behind the field I was aiming for.

I landed and killed the wing at least as cleanly as I have ever done before but the calves took an instant interest in me and started running over to get a closer look. Now being a city/towny all my life I have no idea how to handle a gang of large creatures that could easily take me for a ride around the field if they get caught up in my lines. I started by making sure that they didn't get too close by the odd shout or clapping of hands but clearly this wasn't going to keep them back for long. As the calves at the back push forward they push the ones at the front closer to you and before you know it they are nearly on top of you. So I decided that the best course of action was one more hand clap to push them back then a quick march over to the gate to throw my gear and myself over. While I marched across the field Ian was calling me on the radio to check that I had landed safely but I couldn't respond until I was over the fence.

Once over the gate, after a quick "I am fine" on the radio I didn't really know what to do, I didn't want to fold the wing in the lane where it might become tangled in the hedges or worse barbed wire fencing. After some consideration I decided to do something I regretted doing last time I tried it. I carefully stuffed it into the harness but this time keeping the risers together and put in last.

What a flight! I found out later that several people had seen me. Apparently a friend of the wife was waving from her back garden at me (she lives at the foot of the ridge). Others had spotted the Gliders from slightly further away and were wondering if one was me, which I confirmed later with a tweet.

The hurriedly packed wing worked out because I repacked it in the front garden when I got home just before I headed of out to friend to celebrate my achievement.

12 minutes air time

Today I drove over fifty miles out and fifty miles back all for 12 minutes air time. Last night a few club members expressed intentions of going out to Dungiven or White Mountain. I left the house about 10 and arrived about 11 at Dungiven, I sat eating sandwiches until a fellow novice pilot arrived and we both went to check our kit before the 'grown ups' arrived. Although the wind was a little off to the north it seemed like it could be flyable.

Buy the time we were ready to fly other pilots had arrived and they helped the other novice to launch off the hill. Unfortunately her flight was short and a top to bottom. Another quite experienced pilot took off only to land shortly after and announce that the conditions were "not nice" by which he meant turbulent due to the North element in the wind. Having just been put on my arse by the wing when I failed to stand with it above my head for more than a minute or two I had to agree. So I packed the glider and followed the 'grown up' pilots to White Mountain.

I was up against the clock because I needed to be back to collect the kids from school. When I arrived at White mountain I didn't waste any time in getting to the top of the hill but when I saw the conditions I slowed down. The wind was strong at times but this seemed to go in cycles. I watched nearly all the other 6 pilots get off the hill before I was happy enough with the conditions join them.

After a few false starts I got the wing above my head and launched into great dynamic soaring conditions. After a few minutes flying I noticed one side of the glider lifting more than the other I turned the glider towards the side that was getting more lift (like I have read I am supposed to in a thermal). I think that today I was starting to tune into a thermal. I even performed a 360 turn to see if I could find more strength. I am far from captain thermal at the moment but I guess you have to keep at least thinking about these things.

Longest flight yet

It has been a while since I got a truly decent flight in at Dungiven and given it is both one of the best and one of the most used sites this end of the country it would be surprising if you didn't take this years horrendous weather into account.

Last night I got a text from Ian (my closest fellow paraglider pilot) saying today was worth an early start, so I did my best to arrange things despite a celebratory slap up meal with the Brother and Sister in-law. After some arsing around in the morning involving keys and cars I set off to pick up Ian and head out.

When we arrived there were no other pilots about so set about our daily checks, and I found I was had left a cable for my radio at home, another thing to add to the checks before I leave next time.

Ian was off the hill first and he was struggling to maintain height so I made myself busy by getting the wing up above my head and watching for a bit.

Other pilots had started to arrive and I was conscious that I should take off before the sky was filled with pilots (which wouldn't take many in the light conditions). I launched and did a few beats of the hill then landed back with a close to the top slope landing, lost my footing nearly falling over and completely losing control of the wing which spun around and ended up front down behind me. After a quick look around to see who had seen me I remembered that no one actually cares if you lose control of the wing or fall over as long as you are safe so I bunched up the wing and moved back to take off.

I took off again after only a brief breather and managed to get a bit of height, enough to give me the confidence to fly further away from take off and before long I was going more or less from end to end of the ridge that is almost a mile and a half wide. I decided that while I was staying up I would try for an hours air time in one flight. This turned out to be difficult to gauge because although I had my new GPS with LK8000 loaded on it which could tell me my flight, I had forgotten how to use it, and at one point took to pressing the screen with my nose but to no avail.

I gave up worrying about the length of time and thought I would just have to guess. I started to set myself little tasks to try to complete. I firstly I got enough height to try slowing down the wing more than I have done previously (but not so slow to make it stall of course). Next I tried to make it to 500 meters above above mean sea level, so using the vario (height gain in meters a second) data on the GPS I tried to stay in lift right at the south end of the cliff and eventually (maybe more luck than judgement) I made it. At this height I was more than happy to try a right hand 360 turn, then a left hand 360. I then set off a good way out the front of the hill to head for the north end of the ridge and tried to stay in lift as and where I found it.

Eventually after I was fairly sure I had my hours flight time I came back close in to the hill and performed a gentle top landing with crouched knees, then stood up (to unload the wing) and turned to face and killed the wing with the controls while jogging towards it. I even got a comment of approval from one of the club coaches about the landing.

I bunched up the wing and moved it behind a small grassy wall that runs the length of the take off field (a good place to make sure the wind doesn't unexpectedly re-inflate the glider). Hands now free I worked out how to get the flight time from the GPS and to my delight it was a few seconds over one hour and thirty minutes. I promptly turned off the GPS which I found out later will eventually shutdown the flight software in a way that it will not save the flight log. another point to note next time.

Unfortunately that was the end of the flying for me because two minutes after my landing the wind picked up and didn't let up until I we decided we had seen the better part of the day. The wind didn't stop everyone from flying as there were a couple of mini wings and a hang glider for us to watch.

busy day

Today was a desperate attempt to get some flying in because it had been so long since there has been any and because the weather looks crap for the next few days. Initially I was going to drive to White mountain which is just over 50 miles from home but decided that the conditions were to come around to Big Collin in the afternoon which is only 12 miles away.

I ventured out to find the hill already scattered with pilots, climbed up to join in the piss taking, check my kit and eventually the wind started to come around.

There wasn't much in the way of wind for a while then everyone took turns in taking off, flying for a short while, slope landing then climbing back up to repeat.

Eventually the wind did come up and my last flight I had to fly right away from the hill to get out of the lift and land.

I got six flights in total, all unfortunately were only a few minutes in length. I was once again reminded that climbing back up hills in the sun can be warm tiring work. If I were doing it everyday then I would be as fit as a fiddle.

The return to White mountain (2012)

I saw a message to the UHPC mailing list that several members were heading to Dungiven this morning. I didn't think the wind directions would suit Dungiven, but there are several sites not too far way that would suit the wind direction. After a quick phone call to my boss I was able to secure the rest of the day off. I then jumped into the car and headed out.

Just after getting onto the motorway I realised that Bertie (the guy that was my instructor) was behind me. So after he had passed me I tucked myself in behind his car and travelled in convoy safe in the knowledge that he would probably have the latest information on which site in the Sperrin mountains would be best suited for flying.

Photographic evidence of me flying above my instructor (briefly).

We arrived and to find there were already four pilots willing the wind strength and direction to improve. It was not to be, so they suggested we change site to White mountain. I have only flown at White mountain a couple of times and it hasn't yet had what I can call a good flying day there. With this in mind I followed the crowd but didn't have any real hope that things were going to be any good.

We arrived and everyone enthusiastically got changed into their kit, so I followed suit. Climbed the small bit of a hill and set about my daily checks. Previously I would have been slow to set-up because I would want to see others flying before I got my wing out but I have now released that getting the daily checks out of the way is a good way to spend the time waiting for everyone else getting airborne and you can't over check your flying kit.
Others took off and gained height, so I got myself ready and was third into the air (I think). I got about 8 minutes flying and then came in for a top landing.

Mark and Dave

I took a breather and and calmed myself as things were really looking up. I took off again, this time for over 40 minutes (my longest yet) I was up so long that I had time to try and sit back in my harness and try an relax. Along with trying to slow down while I fly by applying more brake than I usually would, I also started to really try to think about areas of lift when I encountered them. Then I top landed because my phone had been ringing only to find it was nothing important enough to stop me flying.

After a sandwich I took off again, I tried more concentrating on what the wing was telling me, which side of the wing was getting more lift than the other and which way I should be turning (at times this was only a mental exercise as the hill was beside me). I actually spent some time flying out from the hill trying to keep where there was lift. I got another 20 odd minutes air time eventually landing by the cars.

At this point I was feeling a bit tired but I thought I should make good of my opportunities. I took off and again tried to tune into the wing and the lift I was flying through. This last flight was another 20 minutes and I slope landed just a little way down the slope from the cars.

In total I have clocked another hour and a half airtime today and I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out especially because I thought initially there might not be any flying at all today. It just goes to show that you can't tell and you just have to put the time and effort in to get these days. Improvements for the future will be:

• Try to get a continuous hour in the air.
• Get more in tune with the lift I am in (device that will work as a vario/GPS is on order)
• Try to use today's gained confidence to get ready a bit quicker
• Get back in the air a bit quicker between flights to maximise my airtime.

A hard won top to bottom

Having negotiated the car for the day I wasted no time in setting out to Robin Youngs hill only to find the wind was too strong and the cloud sitting about half way up the cliffs and the wind slightly too strong. I then drove to Slieve Gallion which where the wind was too strong, then drove back to Robin Young's to find boarderline conditions (wind on the light side and direction was not directly on the hill). However there were a n abundance of RC pilots flying their aircraft and I met a Pilot I have flown with before also checking out the conditions. After a quick chat it seems we are both willing to climb up and see what conditions where like on the top of the hill.

When the wind was registering it was about 7mph and sometimes as high as 9, but it was fairly inconsistent. I made sure that the other pilot flew off first, he struggled looking for life and eventually went and landed behind the RC glider guys.

I took off and had much the same problem, so I used what little lift I could to eke out my flight ending in a slightly delayed top to bottom.

6.4 km at Robin Young's Hill

With the torrential rain we have been having lately (wettest June on record etc.) I was glad to get out today for a bit of soaring. I got a message from Bertie to say that Robin Young's hill was soar-able.

When I turned the corner that brought the hill into view I could see a Martin was flying his glider high in the ridge lift above the hill. It still makes the hairs go up on the back of my neck when I see a glider in the sky.


So I excitedly parked and put on my boots and climbed up the hill with my gear. Half way up I got a text from Bertie saying the wind was a bit rough which deflated me a little, but this was evidenced by Martin opting to land out in the middle of the field. When I reached the top of the hill Bertie was walking down to drive and collect Martin. So I busied myself with sitting on a rock checking the wind every now and then. I got bored sitting on my own after a bit so I left my gear next to Bertie's and walked back down to the car. A sandwich and a chat with Bertie and Martin later the conditions seemed to have improved, so we climbed back up. Conditions were now a wee bit choppy but nothing to worry about so I got ready while Bertie flew for a bit. By the time I had made myself happy with the conditions and equipment Bertie was setting up his top landing so I waited for a for a full report... "A bit choppy, should be fine."


A few moments later I was off the hill being watched by two experienced pilots who would now and then give me hand signals on how to improve my flight. It was always the same hand signals, move further in over the hill. The way Bertie explained this is that if you have the height to be in over the hill there will still be lift there, and when you turn out from the hill to change direction you will not fly out of the lift (or at least not so far out of it).


Below is my track log:

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New site, wind still shite

Today I intended to head out after work but I my wings were clipped due to not having a car as the missus took the children out for the day. Just when I was considering phoning to see what time my car would be back I got a call from a friend up the road asking if I fancied a trip out to Shane's hill. So of course I took him up on his kind offer.

I have been to Shane's hill before but never flown it. On route we phoned my old training instructor ("old" as in he isn't my training instructor any more) who was already out at Big Collin (which takes a similar wind direction to Shane's hill). The news was not what we wanted, apparently the wind was too weak to fly and they were packing up, so we decided to head to Shane's to see if it was any different.


We arrived and went through a site assessment from the bottom of the hill. Nothing to worry about just a busy bypass road, trees, houses and power lines for hazards before you get to the bottom landing field. It wasn't all bad as you can slope land on most of the hill if necessary and there are options to fly onto a nice long ridge called Agnew's hill in the right conditions. 


We climbed to the top which was a nice easy walk up the back of the hill and Ian talked me through the site once more. We both went through our daily checks and Ian took of first. He was just about maintaining his height so based on previous experiences I wouldn't be up for long if I launched, so I contented my self with a bit of ground handling. Just bringing the wing up and standing with it above my head for a while then collapsing it back down again, rinse and repeat. 

I got a call from Bertie letting us know that he had parked in a lay-by at the bottom of the hill with a windsock in the bottom landing field, offering us a lift back to the car if we flew down. So I took him up on his offer and launched. I knew it was going to be a quick flight because I had to really gun it to get airborne. I encountered absolutely no lift at all on my way down and didn't even make it to the bottom landing field. 

It was somehow re-assuring that I wasn't on my own, the lack of lift meant Ian also didn't make it to landing field.

Dungiven

Today there was word that a some of the club members were going to try the flying site that over looks the town of Dungiven. I arrived just before 2 PM to find four idle gliders laying on the hill and four pilots bumping gums in the car park. I was informed that I hadn't missed anything of note, with the exception that a couple of pilots had "gone over the back" (went for cross-country flights). Shortly after my arrival the wind decided it was going to start working again so got I set up.

I took off and proceeded to fly back and forth not really getting any great height, after a  few attempts I managed to push out towards the big cliff face to the north, but I decided not to stay there because it was the first time I have been up that end and I didn't want to push my luck when I was not gaining much height. I struggled back towards take off and shared the air with another low air time pilot. Suddenly we just stopped getting lift from the hill so I headed out and managed to make it to the lower landing field that I have used before. As I landed I realised that the wind had changed direction and was now coming from the north.

I thought that I might be in for a big hike back to the top but before long I was joined by three other experienced pilots, landing at the bottom because they had simply no other option.


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I was quite pleased with my 6.8 km flight, but as you can see from the above track log it was far from a straight line. While I and the other guys were packing away in the bottom field a phone call came in from the cross country guys. It seems they had flown all the way to the East coast, 40 miles away. They literally couldn't have gone any further in that direction.

Fortunately the other low airtime pilot hand managed to land near the top of the hill, so after he had put his kit away he came down just as the rain was starting and collected everyone and took them back up to the car park at the top.

The rain ended play.

Wow, what a day.

Being fathers day I got first dibs on the family car and a few other pilots were making noises about going out to Magilligan. I have had my sights set on bagging myself a flight or two at Magilligan since I first took to the sky on a tandem experience flight 14 months ago. I checked with my local friendly club coach and he confirmed that there were at least two other pilots heading to Magiligan with the hope (ever hopeful) of flying.


So after getting my fathers day gift of a beanie hat and a couple of T-shirts (note that there was not a sock in sight) I jumped in the car and spent an hour and a quarter getting to the the site. I was only there a few minutes when I recognised some faces pulling up to check out the wind. A few minutes later wiser men than I had decided that the north west face would work best under the given conditions.

Several of us went down to the take off area right down at the front of hill and the wind was blowning just a little bit on the strong side for me so I was happy to sit and watch fellow pilots take off. The other guys seemed to be doing well in the conditions and the wind seemed to drop off a little so after consulting with a couple of the club coaches I felt confident enough to have a go.

With my daily checks done and pre-flight procrastination complete I stood and watched another low air time pilot take off and gain height immediately. So a few minutes later the air in front of take off was clear and I got airborne. A long missed feeling of gaining height immediately hit me as I cleared the edge of the hill. I went through the mental exercise of reaching for my reserve parachute because for the first time in ages I was going up. I aimed for the East cliff face and made it easily gaining height all the way. I continued along the cliff face for about a mile. It was great, I was properly free flying for the first time in months and it took me right back to the feeling on the Tandem where I just wanted to be in control of the glider... well here I was totally in control of my own kit flying, looking down at the road, the railway and the beach below. I was well above the birds and staying there.

I then decided to come back the way I had come and pass take off and head around to the West cliff face.
I soon decided to make sure I wasn't in danger of getting blown too far around the cliff face that I wouldn't be able to get back, but there were no such problems. The plan would have been to have several goes at flying further around the cliff face checking out my ability to penetrate back to where I started. I decided against my plan as I was happy just floating about.

It is not not close enough to see the look on my face, but my bet is that it is priceless.

After about what I think was half an hour my right arm was beginning to ache, probably because I was so tense, so I thought I would try to top land, this site is a bit of a pain for bottom landing as the round trip in a car is about 4 miles and there isn't much chance of climbing back up. No-one wants to bottom land unless they absolutely have to. I managed to end up about half way between the car and the take off which I was pleased with.

After a drink of water and a stomp around the hill chatting to fellow pilots I realised that if I wanted another flight I would have to go up soon. The wind had dropped since the last flight but I could see other pilots still able to work with what was there so I took off. Again I headed off to the East cliffs but the lift wasn't as strong. When I made it to the east cliffs I am guessing I was about two thirds of the way to the top. Once I was properly along side the cliff I tucked in a little closer to get the best lift I could and before long I was again up above the cliff happily floating along. Although there was enough wind to stay up above the cliff faces the lift wasn't as strong in front of take off, so I decided to top land as I was running out of time to make it back for dinner. I had lost a lot of height coming off the East cliff face but managed to come in at the bottom of the of the huge field use as take off and landing. It seems I was lucky to come in when I did as I saw a couple of pilots take off as I was packing away and as I was leaving the site I heard that they had to bottom land.

Below is the GPS track log of the second flight. 7.95km is the total distance and 26.5 minutes duration and this was the shorter of the 2 flights.


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Today was the best yet so far in my short paragliding career. I am sure that my day would not have been so enjoyable without the great and tireless effort of the club coaches and everyone else who chipped in. Two long (for me) soaring flights at probably the prettiest flying sight in Northern Ireland. It was great to see so many pilots (I counted fourteen) all enjoying the sky.

Showing off

Today was the first time that any of my family or friends (that I had made before starting paragliding) have seen me fly. My mate Steve was over to visit from England and I had already warned him that if it was flyable I would probably cry until he agreed to come out to the hill and be exposed to my hobby.

Steve, my son and I decided that we would head out to Robin Young's Hill in the late afternoon. I wasn't sure what the conditions would be like but I thought I would give it a try. When we arrived there was no other pilots about. So I checked the wind in the car park and it was a fairly consistent 14mph. Worth the walk up but I was worried that it would be stronger higher up. Another pilot arrived and I went over and introduced myself. This was re-assuring that someone else thought that there maybe some flying to be done. We all climbed up the hill and watched the other pilot take off and soar for a short while and end up bottom landing it seems the wind wasn't so strong up on top.

With my daily checks done and happy with the conditions I decided to I ask my son to take some photos as I launched. Unfortunately on my first flight I sunk like a stone and it was no time at all until I was landing in the bottom field.
I climbed back up to take a second flight and when I arrived I was greeted with a very enthusiastic nine year old. It seems that watching my flight had really hit a note with my son. So he offered to record a video of me taking off with his iPod.

I think that the video is not bad for a nine year old's first attempt. It seems that my son also wants to come out the next time I go flying, I wonder how tolerant of the inevitable wasted trips he will be.

Cheeky top to bottom

Having been away camping at the weekend I got back today to see that the wind might just be on for a flight at Big Collin. I haven't got any flying for over 2 weeks so I emptied the car of camping gear as quickly as I could and off I went.

As I approached Big Collin mountain I was relieved to see that there were cars parked at the bottom of the hill and a couple of gliders laid out further up. As I pulled up I recognised one of the cars as belonging to a local instructor. I sat and watched them for a while and the conditions seemed light enough for me to risk climbing to the top of the hill to check the conditions out in a little more detail. By the time I had got changed and got my gear together the instructor had moved his students further around to the more south west side of the hill which isn't really ideal for this site.

I got to the top and the wind was 9-11 mph, at this point I was more concerned with getting a my feet off the ground than worrying about doing any soaring. I decided that it was worth taking glider out of the bag so got on with my daily checks. Checked the wind again, the instructor and his students were still about so I made my flight plan (turn into wind, don't try too hard to soar 'cos it ain't likely, try to land near car). Pre flight checks, bring wing up... nearly lost it, managed to recover... launch. As I turned into wind my penetration (forward movement) was a lot less than I expected it to be which meant the wind was further around to the south west than it seemed on launch. This would probably have been fine except I haven't flown that far around the hill before and my flight plan included landing near the car (if it was safe of course). So I turned back towards the cars and made quite a good guess at turning into wind and landing just next to the long grass that grows by where the car was parked.

I did consider another flight but I decided that another walk up the hill for another top to bottom was not to be, it was getting late and I was tired from being away. I was happy to have gotten my feet off of the ground to clear any cobwebs.

Thermic day at BC

I was at Big Collin Mountain for 5 hours today. I spent my time ground handling and taking short hops off the top. At times I was able to soar but only for short while. I got 5 flights in but none were more than a few minutes long. My aim today was to try to top land (which I have yet to achieve at BC) but there were only a few times when I had enough height to have made it in on the top and those times I wasted by trying to stay up.  I probably should have got more flights in but the intermittent conditions plus me trying to stay up made the climbs back up bigger each time and I was starting to feel the effects of yesterdays efforts as well.

At the end of the day the three of us that remained on the hill played "spot landing at the wind sock." I went first and I am glad to say that I didn't come last. I didn't come first either, that title went to Bertie's student Alastair who is coming on in leaps and bounds. Bertie got so excited at the top of the hill when he realised that Alastair had landed closer to the wind sock than me that I could hear him shouting from the landing field.

I have come to the conclusion that most of the difficulty I am having staying up is because I have been flying in boarderline conditions on a wing that I am in the top end of it's weight range. There are several options for me here. First is to stick with it and see if practice and patience will win throught on light wind days. Second is to fly in better conditions (not really an option as any conditions are better then none). Third is to get a different wing. Forth is to lighten the load on the wing, that means equipment and more importantly my weight.

Up and down days

Some days you feel better than others.

Having been disappointed yesterday with a wasted trip because of strong winds at Robin Young's hill yesterday I waited until the afternoon and headed out to Big Collin mountain. I arrived to find several gliders laid out on the hill.

I climbed to the top of the hill and had a quick flight which ended in a slope landing I climbed back to the top and I wasn't really interested in taking off again. It was strange that I had spent all week looking out of the window and now I was on a hill with glider at the ready I wasn't that keen to launch. Other pilots were encouraging me to take off but I wasn't for moving. After a while I decided that it is a bit of a waste to stand around and I got back into things and finished the day with four flights in total. Unfortunately all flights were either short top to bottoms or slope landings.

Soggy Robin Young's

I took a chance today and set out for Robin Young's hill about 1 PM. I arrived to hail stones but the sky out front of the site was clear so I decided I would try to wait it out. After a while the rain stopped and the wind changed to a more favourable direction. So I got my kit and climbed to the top of the hill.

The wind direction was ideal but the strength coming and going just like yesterday at Slieve Gallion. I walked about the top of the hill to try to get a signal on my phone, I found a spot where I could get a data connection and received an email that the club's head coach Dave Tweedie was on his way.

As I was to have company I laid out my wing and started my daily checks, while I was doing this I felt the wind pick up a little. I also noticed that another couple of cars had arrived in the car park that were probably other pilots. I thought that I would bring my wing above my head and ground handle which would tell any others that there was someone on top of the hill, unfortunately by the time I was ready there was no wind at all so I just stood and waited.

Soon enough Dave appeared with someone carrying his rucksack containing his kit.It seems he got talking to a guy who was out running and the guy offered to carry Dave's kit up for him. We stood some more and the wind came and went, but so did fine rain. After a while Dave took off (it is easier to let someone else who is much more experienced like Dave provide a reference, for example are other pilots staying up or are they getting chucked around). We were joined by a few other pilots now and we watched Dave's flight take him down to the end of the cliffs and back. He only landed because he forgot to make a phone call but he reported nice smooth conditions. 

I was holding off launching because of the rain. It seems that as the air was being blown in from the sea over the land it was being pushed up and forming the cloud just in front of us that was dropping the fine rain. Interesting weather to watch but frustrating to experience when your kit is laid out on a hill and you are ready to go. Eventually everyone admitted defeat and the three of us that had already got their kit damp decided to fly down. The wiser pilots walked down with their nice dry wings still in their rucksacks.

An audience in the form of a family out for a walk were taking photographs of us. Dave and Carlos reversed launched (bring the wing up facing it, then turning to launch) off the hill. When I it came to my time to launch I decided to forward launch because my wing is made of heavier material than theirs and requires a bit more wind or effort to pull up. I was quite pleased with my launch (although I did get help to lay the wing out so the cells at the front were open and ready to inflate). As usual in very little wind after the initial heave to get the wing overhead I had to run as fast as I could to get enough speed to get airborne. From the second I took off it was obvious that I would have little or no lift so with a face full of rain I headed along the cliffs towards the car park and landed next to the other gliders.

The rain was a little heavier at landing and by the time I had got the glider into it's bag it was soaked. It looks like the kitchen floor will have to double as a drying area tomorrow.

Slieve Gallion video

Recently the UHPC have temporarily lost access to Slieve Gallion due to lambing season. One of the few sites in the country that take a N/E wind well it is also a favourite of the cross country hounds in the club because there is a lot of unrestricted airspace to the South West. News of the site re-opening to paragliders was gladly received and at least 14 pilots turned out.

Busy hill

The conditions were up and down, either it was working or it was dead. First flight which I was up for only about 10 minutes and got loads of height when conditions were good, then lost all the height and scratched around just above the hill for a bit before finally slope landing when the conditions dropped off again. I climbed back up to the top then sat and had a sandwich and a chat with some other pilots. I was chatting to a fellow IT professional who had experience with GPS and off the back of this conversation I managed to get my phone to record track logs, these might be handy for calculating my height above the hill and length of time for each flight.

Second flight I tried to video but I must have ejected the SD card as I was putting the glasses on under my helmet. Shame because I think I performed a nice top landing.

Third I managed to capture but I had invented a new way to twist my risers so I landed to sort that out. Again another top landing but way back on the hill behind where I had been previously taking off.

For my forth take off I decided to bring my wing up where I was on a fairly flat part of the hill and walk in a controlled manner down to where we were all taking off and I achieved this mostly. When I take off in the video it looks like I am quite close to another pilot, I can assure that it only seems that way and at no time was there any danger of a collision. Good job really because that was the club Chairman. Unfortunately this wasn't a long flight and I landed back on the slope when I ran out of lift.

Skimming the hill, well not quite

I had been watching the weather for a while and it had pointed out today about a week in advance, which is unusual because usually good days that far off move. I posted an email to the UHPC's mailing list to see if anyone was going out and got a email to say that Robin Young's hill was the place.


The Ridge we usually fly runs from the carpark down to bottom right.
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I arrived to the disappointing sight of the hill covered in orographic cloud (orographic cloud can form quickly  as moist air is forced upwards by protrusions in the landscape like hills and mountains). I spotted a car almost full of pilots that were waiting out the cloud and joined them to chew the cud (or talk bollocks and take the piss out of each other as it is sometimes known).

Slowly the cloud lifted in fits and starts. The club chief coach went up and flew about just under the cloud but there was no chance of me (or any others) joining him with all the cloud about. After a bit of horse play involving getting another recently arrived pilot into thinking they had received a parking ticket we walked up the hill to check our equipment and get ready to launch. At one point there were five of us flying together. unfortunately the wind was just a bit too far from the East to make the ridges work as well as they could.

My first flight I managed a quick bit of soaring, or at least managed to avoid the ground a bit longer than I would of if I had flown straight out. I landed on a nice flat area at the bottom of the cliff faces so there wasn't very far to walk back up to take off.

The second flight was much better. It has been suggested before, more than once, that I should try to fly closer to the hill I am trying to soar. Today I think I took a step in the right direction, although I probably could have been closer to the hill at times. I got a few beats back and forth and gained a tiny bit of height I was able to bring myself closer into the hill by checking my distance to the ground features I had seen on the previous pass. This seemed to help me with my confidence and eventually I was almost aiming at the hill and missing. What I mean by this is that I would fly towards a part of the hill that I knew had previously given me lift and by the time I had reached that part of the hill I was previously aiming at I was above it. I spent probably the longest time in the air so far flying back and forth, gaining height slowly on each pass. All good things must come to an end and the wind dropped enough to put me on the ground. I landed back almost exactly where I had the first time, much to the delight of Bertie who thought he might erect a plaque there for me.

I think it is time to get the video sunglasses out. All being well, next time I am out and happy with everything (site familiarity and weather conditions) I shall attempt to record some video footage to share. Apart from adding another dimension to this blog I am hoping to use it as an aid in analysing my performance.

Finally got to fly White Mountain

White mountain is a private site that the UHPC has permission to fly. It is a peak the the Sperrin Mountains that looks over the Glenshane pass (A6) which is the main route from Belfast to Stroke city. It isn't the tallest mountain in the Sperrins but it is still rather a big lump. Fortunately the private road goes all the way to the top so there isn't to much climbing to do. I have been to this site before but never flown it.

I wasn't too expectant to get off the ground today as it was a typical April day with showers coming and going and the threat of rain was always in the air. However I got a phone call early afternoon from Ian who lives about 2 miles away from me to see if I fancied chancing a trip out. Ian is the club coach that I have been assigned to. I had been looking longingly out of the window all day so it didn't take much to make my mind up.

 I managed one flight as the wind was only just strong enough to maintain height if you know what you are doing and it seems I do not. I launched off the hill into a lull then tried to soar back and forth but bombed out pretty quickly.

After a hard climb back up to the launch site and a few minutes getting my breath back Ian came over for a chat. It seems that after I take off I fly out from the hill too far before I make a turn to fly along the ridge. This means that I fly through the strongest lift which is closest to the hill so that is why I loose height quickly in light conditions. I do this because I have difficulty in getting sat back into my harness and need to push forward on the risers just above where they attach to the harness to be able to push myself back into the seat correctly. Next time I will try to turn along the ridge before I get back into the seat, it maybe uncomfortable for a little longer but it will be worth a try to see if it helps extend my flights in light conditions.

I also think I will have to hang the harness up in the garage again and practice getting from an upright position into a seated position. Fortunately I have used some of the recent non flying days wisely enough to clear the garage out so this shouldn't be as hard as it normally is.

Squeezed in flight on family weekend

After a great weekend away with my family in County Fermanagh I managed to squeeze in a trip to Robin Youngs hill today. We spent a few days on or around Lough Erne, while driving back I saw a paraglider wing off to the side of the road somewhere around the Dungannon area. On closer inspection it was actually a paramotor but that was enough to get me thinking. It was obvious from the weather that there wasn't that much wind and by the time I was with sight of our home town I had successfully negotiated a trip out if the weather was appropriate when we got home. It took me about 10 minutes to empty the car boot and make the agreed cup of tea before I fire off a phone call to Bertie (my old instructor) as he was the person that was most likely to be in the know about the local flying and he was, he was parawaiting at Robin Young's hill.

Half an hour later I was at the foot of the hill. We chatted for a while then headed up the hill with our kit to winds gusting up to 22 mph. We took the time to walk over the back of the hill to another site (Sallagh) that I have never seen before, this site takes a East wind as opposed to Robin Youngs hill which is a North-East wind. Having spent all weekend with friends that genuinely think that paragliding is throwing yourself off cliffs I was at a site that actually seems to be exactly that, launching off a cliff.

When we got back to take off and the wind eventually died down enough to launch. Bertie's student (Alastair) went first and landed at a wind sock in the bottom field. My flight plan was a bit of soaring and a landing somewhere near the car park for an easy pack up and short walk to my car. Unfortunately conditions were very turbulent which is still something that I am still uncomfortable with. I did do a bit of soaring but I failed to maintain my height. Due to all the rocking around I flew out from the hill and out of the best lift. Before long I had decided to land next to Alastair at the wind sock. By this time Alastair's wife had arrived in the bottom field in a 4x4 and I was able to ponce a lift back up to the car park.

Height at Mayobridge

Today is probably the only day I'll be able to fly out of the 4 flyable days we are set to get in a row. Fortunately for other members of the UHPC saturday and sunday are looking good for the UHPC Open which is a friendly competition for those that are at least club pilot with 10 plus hours of flying.

Today seemed that the only people flying were heading to Mayobridge. This is quite a forgiving site and one I have flown before a couple of times so I thought I would tag along. When I arrived at the site I could see other cars parked up and gliders laid out on the north ridge that you can see from the car park.My heart sank because that part of the hill has been pointed out to me that you can fly it but you wouldn't choose to come to this site when there is a north wind.

I changed into what passes as my flying gear and started walking over to the laid out gliders only to see that a pilot was heading my way with his gear all packed up. I asked him if he was packing up for the day, but he was just moving around to the NW side of the hill which was more familiar with. I quickly grabbed the rest of my gear and walked with him. While chatting away to him, it turns out that his was Tony whose blog I follow.

The wind was gusting up to 20 mph (my ideal is a smooth 13-14 mph). After a bit of waiting around the wind died down and I watched as Tony take off, soar about then lose his height in a passing lull and land in a field at the bottom of the hill.

I was up next and planned a bit of soaring then a top landing if I get enough height. I got the wing up and after a bit of a wobble of the left a bit I was up, got a few turns in but no real height, thought about a slope landing then bottled out to the soft boggy area out towards the north.

Quick pack up and climb up. Stuffed a sandwich down my neck then up for another flight. This time I concentrated on turning using minimum input on the controls and a lot of weight shift which seemed to help with the height. Before I knew it I had a stack of height but was enjoying myself and really throwing myself into weight shifting.

At some point the wind picked up a bit and made the turns at each end of the ridge quite bumpy. This I wasn't so sure about so I thought I would move further out from the ridge where the lift would be weaker. This lost me height nicely and made things a good bit less bumpy. I then tried to come in for a top landing but missed, so ended up in my favourite boggy field with a nice soft landing.

With the failed top landing in mind I think I will have to explore the lower end of the speed range on my glider to see if I can confidently get my speed down when I am landing. This exploration will have to occur a few feet from the ground though as I do not need to come a cropper to far from the ground.

Slieve Gallion again

I think the fruits of flying six days out of the last eight have been realised today. I felt a little bit more confident about what I was doing. I still found my self checking and double checking my pre flight checks but when I was ready to go I simply checked there was no-one in my way (and that I wasn't going to get in anyone else's way) and launched.

My first flight plan was to get a bit of height and top land, I did get some height, then I lost it, then I found it again so I had only been in the air a few minutes when I was coming in for a top landing. "Top landings, nothing to worry about!" It had been playing on my mind that I hand't performed a top landing completely on my own before, i.e. without the comfort of an instructor on the radio should I not quite get things right. I was glad to get this out of the way.

We were sharing the hill with Phil and a few students (well they were there before us). The wind had moved further around to the West than the previous day and this meant that the face we were soaring was smaller. So after trying to share and fit in with the other pilots I got another flight in with the same plan to top land, but this time maybe keep the wing inflated and relaunch straight away. This wasn't to be as the loss of height meant a slope landing and a short walk back to the top.

Before I could launch again a huge thermal came through, the experienced pilot I was flying with was able to make the most of it but the student (Jim) who was up at the time probably had a bit of eye opener. The instructor Phil talked him calmly through pulling big ears to lose the height he had been gifted. He eventually went on to safely bottom land in a field that seemed miles away.

After I had watched all the fun I realised that there were what seemed to me like rain clouds heading our way so I packed up happily in the knowledge I had now slain my top landing demon.

Not quite read to go home we headed for another site where we knew a pilot was trying to ride out the rain. We parked at the bottom and watched the clouds pass just over the top of White Mountain while we ate sandwiches and tried to spot the hiding pilot. The weather didn't lift so we drove up to Dungiven which was only a few miles away but it was deserted. We were going to head for Magilligan but saw that from a distance that part of the world was also in cloud. At this we headed home but no one can say we didn't try.

New site (to me) Slieve Gallion

A local pilot and I went to Slieve Gallion today ("slieve" is the Irish word for mountain). I have only ever seen this mountain from a distance as I pass it on the way to other sites and thought that it couldn't be that difficult to get to as it is so large and can be seen for miles. This is not the case as there is no direct road to the mountain from the direction that I was approaching it from.

When we arrived there were several other pilots in the car park huddled up waiting for the wind to drop to usable levels, there were also some hang glider pilots rigging their gliders between the car park and take off.

This site is great as there are land-able slopes almost all over the face we were going to be flying. There is only one small fence next to a small crevice that ran from the top of the hill down to the bottom. There were massive green fields out in front of the slopes so I was happy there were so many get out options should I need them.

After a while everyone moved up to the take off and the wind was slowly falling to acceptable levels for the more advanced pilots. Slowly everybody took off one by one until there was just me left on the hill, there were eight paragliders and one hang glider in the air. I still wasn't that happy with the wind levels for a while after that.

Others flying at Slieve Gallion

Eventually after all the hangies had given up and some of the other paraglider pilots had had their fill for the day the wind had settled enough for me to be confident enough to launch. My first flight was several soaring beats then a slope landing when the wind seemed to have given up completely. I was comforted in the fact that it wasn't just me the wind had left down when other pilots landed further down the slop from me. I bunched up the glider and walked back up to take off.

After a short while the wind returned to it's previous strength, with only about 5 pilot still flying I was easily encourages to go back up again. This time the plan was to try and get enough height to top land. Unfortunately I get wrapped up in all the soaring and kind of forgot about the top landing until I had lost so much height I needed to slope land anyway.

It seems after I fly a site for the first time I experience a feeling of relief and of understanding to how the site works. This probably comes from the fact that when you fly above a hill there is nothing hidden from sight, when you can see all there is a lot less scope for surprises.