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.

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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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.

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.

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.

Mayobridge and a bottled top landing

I had already booked today off work so I could potentially go flying. After the kids were packed off to school I went through my weather checking ritual and the two sites that seem to have possibles where either Magilligan or Mayobridge. Mayobridge was showing slightly lighter winds so I favoured that. I heard that someone was heading to Magilligan and after trying (and failing) to talk Bertie into letting me give him a lift for once if he was heading out (he wasn't) I heard that a few club members were heading to Mayobridge.

When I arrived there were three pilots on the hill, one ground handling and two getting ready. I watched the fun as the three pilots launched and at times they were getting height but soon lost it again. After a while they all came in to land as they were struggling to stay up.

I got myself ready, mentally made my flight plan which was to launch, try to soar for a bit, then try a slope landing, falling back to landing on a large flat field that wasn't far to the north of the ridge if the slope landing didn't seem right or I lost height. By the time I had done this and waited for a small lull in the wind I had gained a bit of an audience. Helpfully Colin checked that I had made a flight plan which I rattled off quickly to prove that at I had one.

Facing the glider I crouched slightly and stepped back and pushed back on the harness while guiding the wing above my head checking everything had inflated properly, turned while (mostly) keeping pressure on the wing and ran launching into the air (a perfect reverse launch by my standards). I quickly sat back in the harness and turned to soar the ridge and to my surprise and delight I seemed to be gaining height. I even remember sitting back a little to use the back rest on the harness to try to relax a bit. It was fairly apparent that I was gaining height because the other pilots were seen scattering to ready their wings to make the most of the lift I was enjoying.

Me with my "L plate" red ribbon wrapped around something as usual.

After several beats back and forth on the ridge the lift seemed to be waning as did my height. As I was so pleased with the flight so far and worried about suddenly loosing height I aimed for the large flat field to the North. I flew probably about two thirds of the way across the field and turned into wind with loads of height to spare before turning into wind. With the use of my controls I was able to make a more or less vertical decent to my landing spot, which ended in a gentle landing and fortunately in no way required me to remember to "take a wrap" (it wouldn't have helped anyway).

So on reflection I probably should have gone for a top landing early on in my flight when I had enough height but I was enjoying the soaring. By the time I realised I was losing height I am sure a more experienced pilot could have slope or maybe even top landed, I was happy just to take the easy option with a big grin. There will always be the next flight.

As it happened there wasn't another flight today, by the time I packed away my wing, stepped over a barbed wire fence, climbed back up the hill and cooled down the conditions seemed to be getting too strong. The last pilot to land had been up a while and gained rather a lot of height and by the time it he came into land conditions were a bit rough, fortunately he had the skills to land easily in such conditions.

Next time I may remember to take pictures or even break out the sunglasses with built in video camera I brought especially for flying.