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.
21/05/2012
20/05/2012
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.
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.
06/05/2012
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.
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.
05/05/2012
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.
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.
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| Busy hill |
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.
02/05/2012
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.
View Larger Map
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.
The Ridge we usually fly runs from the carpark down to bottom right.
View Larger Map
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.
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