Slieve Gallion, an unexpectedly good day

It seems like forever since my last flight which was a top to bottom from Slieve Donard and before that was Annecy.

Last night when I looked at the forecast I was unsure that there was promise. This morning while I was contacting pilots that might be flying I got a call, then all of a sudden there was three of us with enough confidence (misplaced or otherwise) to head out. After a furious hunt for equipment which was unsuccessful for several items I was in the car on the way to collect Ian and Colin.

We were just starting the drive up to the top when we got a message to say it was flyable. Just as we came in view of the take off we could see a glider popping in and out of wisps of orographic cloud that was forming around take off. A few minutes later the cloud was gone and a few minutes after that so had the wind and the few gliders that were in the air were back on the ground.

There was a while where everyone else had landed and I was flying on my own, this is usually when I decide to land just in case everyone had landed for an reason unseen by me. The wind had picked up a bit but I still had a small amount of forward penetration and the worst out come from being blown back could be a bit of a walk so I stuck with it until my hands we cold enough to bring me in. I eventually managed a slow descent without any forward movement.

At this point I would have been happy to go home, when I checked with Colin and Ian they were game for one more flight. We also decided to see if we got enough height to land close to the car park. The car park is about quarter of a mile from the side of Slieve Gallion that we were flying today.  The cherry on the cake was I landed closest to the cars.

SIV on Lake Annecy

I am just back from a SIV course in Annecy, France with a company called Flyeo.

Three of us from the UHPC went out to do a couple of days on a SIV course and a couple of days flying in the Annecy Region. I had a bit of an idea about what I would be in for but I am glad to say that Flyeo exceeded all my expectations. Our instructor was Fabien Blanco who I later found out not only owns Flyeo but trains the French acro paragliding team.

The eight of us on the course started with a relaxed but attention holding general briefing. You are told to take off then fly out over the south end of Lake Annecy where Fab (as he is also happy to be called) will talk you though exercises on the radio from a speed boat on the lake below. Then Fab spoke specifics with each of us about our abilities and where we wanted to take them. My agreed plan was to start with pitch oscillations, braking the last dive. Once we had all been infected with Fab's enthusiasm we set out for the take off at Col de la Forclaz. The wind at take off was non existent but we were soon told that the wind at the landing field was 30 kph (just over 18 mph), so we set off back down the hill to be told, no flying today but to be at the Flyeo premises for 7 am the following morning. Fortunately we were staying in a gite just around the corner.

The second day was more productive with all of us getting at least one flight. During my pitch oscillations, which is just rocking the glider backwards and forwards by synchronised braking and releasing, I was amazed to find how far down I can push the controls when there is energy in the glider. After each flight Fab discusses what you did and didn't do in an encouraging way then plans your next exercise, at no time are you pushed beyond what you feel happy with. At the end of each day you review a video of you performing the exercises which I found an immensely helpful educational tool.

The third day I started with tight 360's with rapid exit. This is just a tight turn that you exit when the glider starts to face the lake, you simply apply opposite controls which will bring you out of the turn, then opposite controls again to straighten up the glider, then hands up and wait until the glider starts to dive, then a big bang on the controls to stop the dive. It sounds confusing but after Fab has explained while giving you a visual demonstration you soon get it, you also get the impression he will happy show you over and over as many times as you need to get the idea. I was again amazed at how much and how hard you can pull the controls when the glider has plenty of energy (as it does after exiting the tight turn).

Next Fab got me to move onto maintaining control with an asymmetric collapse, this was fairly easy as you just grab the A lines on one side and pull them down then apply opposite brake to counter the turn.

We then moved onto asymmetric collapses allowing the glider to turn then recovering using opposite brake, this was fun but again demonstrated to me the immense pressures involved when the glider gathers energy. I had a bit of a struggle pulling and holding the asymmetric collapses in especially while exiting the turn and often I just let go while exiting. This is comforting to realise just how resistant the glider is to collapses.

I can't begin to scratch the surface on all the information we were given during this course but Fab went to great lengths to explain why we were doing these exercises and why we were doing them the way we were. He answered questions easily and succinctly often showing you the arm movements involved while facing this way and that demonstrating which way the glider and you would be facing. One of the most helpful habits I am still trying to adopt is that lying back and being relaxed in the harness. This isn't the first time I have heard this, Bertie used to mention it all the time but nothing hammers home a point like seeing the videos of others being able to play their gliders like a harp while sat back then watching a video of yourself spend far too much time and energy trying to sit upright when you should be controlling the glider.

The three of us had planned to spend a couple of extra days in the Annecy area flying and had booked into Irwyn Jehu's Maison du Moulin bed and breakfast. The upside of this is that Irwyn is more that happy to share his extensive paragliding (and mountaineering) knowledge of the area with anyone who wants to stay with him. Irwyn came up with many potential plans for us but the most ambitious was to get the sky lift to the top of Mont Blanc, climb/walk 20 minutes to an area where you can take off and fly down, lacking the mountaineering skills and cold weather gear we declined his kind offer so he went without us and flew is daughter in a tandem.

Unfortunately the following two days flying consisted of little more than a couple of top to bottoms. We had plans to take off at Forclaz and fly across the valley (and lake) to connect with the other side that had been in sun all day, then climb out. We tried this on our last day but were not gifted with a climb when we arrived on the opposite side of the valley. It was interesting to see how much lower I arrived on the other side of the valley than my two friends despite trying to make myself as aerodynamic as possible while going across the valley. It really is time I got a newer wing.
Of course within a few minutes of landing I spotted a group of birds circling up in a climb right where we had just flown over a campsite, it is all in the timing I suppose.

Now all I need to do is to convince the missus that I need another SIV course next year.

Mullaghdoo, a new site.

Today a last minute decision to go out with the clubs Cross Country hounds got me an introduction to a new site called Mullaghdoo. It is a mountain in the middle of the Sperrin Mountains.

Active "Simpson's" sky

I spent most of the day simply trying to stay off the ground while two of the other four pilots managed to get away from the hill, one of which ended up with landing in Buncrana in County Donegal.

I am quite proud of the fact that I didn't give up at any point today. I did wait until I saw all the more experienced pilots take off today but there was good reason as at the start of the flying the conditions were very thermic and the big boys were being knocked about. I took off after I realised things had calmed a little. Even when I was on the ground I didn't really fart about, I got straight back in the air as soon as possible.

A video of my day.

Things I (re-)leanrt today:

• I need a flight deck.
• I need a new wing.

What did you do in your lunch break today?

Yep, today I achieved something I have wanted to do since I first started training to become a paraglider pilot. I nipped out for a bit of a fly at lunchtime. Having got stuck in to all those thermals yesterday gave me the confidence to drive to my nearest flying site, have a fly about, land and go back to work. Of course flyable weather was also a requirement.

Leisurely lunchtime flight, as you do.

What did you do in your lunch break today?

Spring thermals at White Mountain

Today must have been one of the most days demanding I have ever spent paragliding. Not only the mental demands of flying with many others in thermic conditions, physically my back and shoulders ache from operating my controls in my attempts to stay in the thermals. It has to be said that I am still not exactly relaxed when flying. I think I have a good few more air hours before I can really relax back into my harness and react in a calm and confident manor but I am working on it.

Things didn't start on a positive note, when we arrived at site we found the padlock on the gate had been tampered with and it seems someone had broken something off in the lock. Resigned to the fact that the lock would not be soon fixed, four of us started the walk up the hill expecting the others to follow. It wasn't until we had walked the 30 minutes or so to the top that we found out from other club members that appeared looking fresher than us that the farmer arrived minutes after we set out to sort the lock problem.

In very little time the air was full of gliders whizzing about making the most of the thermals. When I was happy that there was enough vertical separation between me and the other gliders I launched and was soon sharing thermals with the other pilots. I had made the mistake of doing up the velco on the neck of my new flying suit which kept catching as my head whipped around to try and keep track of everybody.

Several times I was turning around thermals with other pilots, desperately trying to look like I knew what I was doing and probably just getting in their way but the sky is a big place and at times there was plenty of lift to go around. On at least on two occasions my circling had taken me way back over the hill but somehow I wasn't able to keep track of the lift. I was also aware that I was missing my GPS that can sometimes point you in the right direction when you lose a thermal (I managed to leave it in the car at the bottom of the hill).

I after all the lift I had clearly squandered I found myself back at the ridge scratching around for lift but there wasn't enough. In a few moments there were 3 of us landing back at launch because we couldn't stay up. I took this opportunity for a bit of a breather while the other pilots took off in the next thermal that come through. This was probably my downfall, it has been said before that this is the point that everyone will clear off on a cross country and leave you, well they did. Seven pilots went cross country. I managed to get a couple more flights in and at times I had loads of height, I even tried just following about one of the experienced pilots that arrived a little later then everyone else who is a bit of a XC hound but this just proved that the the best of the day was over.

Oh well my quest for my first XC continues. As payment for my tardiness I got to help out with the retrieves. You would think that people would be grateful to be collected when you drive out to fetch them in places you have never been before but you would be wrong where one certain Scottish individual was concerned. I may be wrong but perhaps "Where have you been? Doing research for the tourist board?" is as close to a thank you an English man can expect from a Scotts man.