Agnews Hill

Two new sites in one weekend, that is probably a personal record. Yesterday was Slieve Donard and today was Agnews hill.

Agnews is a hill with a large cliff face to the north west of the A6 Larne line (the main Larne to Belfast road). I have been by it many times on my way to other flying sites and even had a top to bottom on the adjoining hill at the south end which is called Shane's hill.

I arrived at the Agnew's Hill designated parking area to find another member of our club, Andrew changing into his flying gear. Fortunately for me he had flown Agnews before so I could ask him questions about the site.

What I didn't realise was that the route to the top is a near vertical climb, which is good because it means the the site will be soar-able in light winds, but it is a bugger to climb up. As I climbed up I realised that this was going to be the only time today that my leg muscles would allow me to do any exertion as they were still recovering from climbing Slieve Donard yesterday.

While recovering from the climb I checked the wind and it seemed very low, 6-9 mph so I wasn't very confident about staying up. I checked my kit and watched my companion test the lift by inflating his wing and standing with it overhead, after a bit of re-positioning he took off, turned right and flew out of view just about maintaining height. At this point I sat down because I thought I would have a bit of waiting to do until the conditions picked up. The next thing I know I look up to see Andrew way above me. It seems there was plenty of lift to be had above the cliffs. I Wasted no time in finishing my equipment checks and I am up and flying way above the ridge.

After about 15 minutes flying high above the cliffs I decided it was time to warm my hands up so I try a top landing. I wasn't trying too hard and when I had clearly missed the spot I was aiming for I decided that I should fly back out into the lift for another circuit. Unfortunately the wind had shifted slightly and I ended up at the bottom in the bog so I sent a text message to let Andrew know that I couldn't face the climb back up and was going home.

Slieve Donard charity fly down

The UHPC organised a fly down from the summit of Slieve Donard to raised money for The William Keown trust (Highlighting the achievements and promoting the dignity of people with disabilities).

About half way up several pilots stopped to have a sandwich.

With my kit weighing about 20 KG, this was hard going.

Donard forest and Dundrum bay in the background

One of the things that spurred me on during the last leg was that many hill walkers asked why I was carrying such a big back pack, so of course I had to explain that as a group we were paragliding down. At least three groups of people wished me well.

Summit of Slieve Donard looking North, wisps of orographic cloud forming behind the cold pilots,Irish sea on the right.

Well we made it, I wasn't at the front of the pack with the fit people (which included two pensioners) but I wasn't at the back either. As soon as I stopped I put all the clothes I had brought with me, some estimates put the temperature at -8 C. While I stuffed the last sandwich into me wisps of orographic cloud started to appear. At this point decided it was time to get ready just in case we got clagged in.

Andrew D. is the first to get off.

Fortunately nothing more came of the cloud, which was a relief as I really didn't want to walk down.

Harry the paragliding dog with owner Tony clipped in and ready to launch

 You may recognise Harry, he is quite famous, been on the tele and everything!

Harry on his way to meet his public.

It was so cold that I could only have my hands out of my gloves for a minute before they were unusable. This made doing my equipment checks quite slow. When I did eventually get off there was little in the way of lift, so it was just a big 2,700 feet top to bottom. I did take the opportunity to play with my speed bar on the way down.

Of course we have the obligatory fly down video!

We had three landing options, first was and easiest was the beach as the tide was out, second was the football pitch and third was the lawn in front of the Slieve Donard Hotel. I chose the football pitch and one of the upsides to this that I didn't appreciate until after landing was that I have never landed on such an even surface before. Still, I witnessed two experienced pilots trip and fall on landing, I guess the flat surface put them off.

It is something when you have to be released from your own lines by family and friends.

Last two pilots.

Some statistics:

• It took me about two and a half hours to make the summit.
• Only about thirteen minutes to fly down.
• Summit is approx 2,700 feet above sea level.
• I counted 18 paragliders (not including Harry).

Everyone enjoyed the experience, and I am sure there will be plenty of money raised. It is not something I'll be doing in a hurry again, and certainly I will wait until warmer weather before I try again.

Thanks to anyone who has sponsored me, expect a visit asking for the readies soon :)

A Big Collin warm up for the year ahead

I had a great day at Big Collin today, no epic flying was achieved but it was good to get some ground handling practice and a bit of hopping about the hill. I arrived fairly early (before 11 is early for me) to find Merv sat at the top of the hill waiting for stronger conditions.

The wind never really got to usable strength (at least for me) so there was a lot of walking back up from short flights and I got some good practice kiting the wing back up the hill.

After one of my short flights my wing ended up half upside down as I collapsed it and I took the opportunity to turn it entirely upside down and try kiting it in that position, this allowed me to shake out most of the bits of grass and dust that have accumulated inside the wing.

Some of the other Eejits from the UHPC

I was also proud to have managed to walk a good distance up the hill with the wing directly overhead, this is a nice easy way to get back up the hill because if you get it right the wing is pulling you up hill in a controlled way. I managed to just about make it back up to take off although at times it was a bit two steps forward and one step back.

I only managed about 10 minutes airtime in total but it was good practice for the year ahead and in particular the UHPC planned charity walk up and fly down of Slieve Donard, the highest peak in Northern Ireland.

So that is why it is called White Mountain

I had been watching the forecast for today's weather like a hawk all week and each day it got a little more promising. I arranged to be able to get away early, Ian C. and I left for Dungiven about 10:30. On arrival the wind was on the hill but only managing 6-8 mph, no where near enough. We phoned some other pilots we were expecting to see, they were over on White Mountain with a couple of pilots in the air. So we jumped in the car and drove the 8 or so miles. It is amazing the difference a few miles can make to the conditions.

There was still patches of snow in places all over White Mountain, I guess that is how it get's its name. Usually there is plenty of puddles and standing water dotted about take off but helpfully these were iced over.

We found the other pilots on the North West point of the hill and after a quick greeting I managed to get ready quickly (for me) and set my new Go Pro Hero 3 to record. For the camera I performed a more or less perfect take off. After about 25 minutes flying my right hand was feeling cold so I landed to try and warm it up only to find that the camera had not recorded anything... it seems that I had only switched it on. I thawed my hand and after the pain subsided I tried to ensure that it was warm before I took off again.

My second flight was recorded and was slightly more interesting than the first. The take off wasn't nearly so elegant, though I have had worse and I managed to relax a bit and push out from the hill a bit more. It also ended in hugging the hill at the end and managing a top landing with probably the least amount of height yet.

A nice easy soaring day to start this year's flying was just what the doctor ordered. Bring on the spring.