19/06/2012

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.

17/06/2012

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.

10/06/2012

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.

04/06/2012

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.