FOOTLAUNCH
September Meeting –Wednesday
10th September at the Plume
Safe T-Lines (Tim Crow)
DANGER - HORSES!
A couple of months ago two girls rode their horses along the path on the West face of the Beacon whilst paragliders were flying. Unfortunately they weren’t visible to the pilots on the ground due to the curve of the hill and appeared almost directly below just at the moment a pilot reverse launched. One of the horses threw it’s rider and bolted along the footpath.
The pilot had no idea the horses were there, and didn’t realise the paths are in fact bridle-ways. I wonder how many others know this? The consequences of a horse bolting after being spooked on a busy day don’t bear thinking about.
So please be aware that the paths along the Malverns are bridle-ways and that horses may be ridden along them. Be extra vigilant when flying, and if there are any horses in the vicinity keep canopies on the ground gathered up and under control until they are well clear. This should be quite easy and will not cause us any real inconvenience.
Stupid,
stupid, stupid . . . . .
Flying Kettlesings, I had already side-landed twice fairly near the
top. It was 12mph and slightly North so really easy coming in from the South.
After another nice hop it was time to come in again; usual approach just below
T/O flying obliquely into the slope. Then the fatal mistake; at the last second
I decided to reach down and release the seat extension straps whilst holding
the brakes thus slowing the glider right down. Bringing the brakes back up the
glider accelerates and drops into the hill, but without enough energy to flare
– “Sh*t!” smack, I hit the ground hard and my right ankle takes the impact
making a sound like tearing a drumstick off a turkey at Christmas (a cooked one
though, could have been worse.) “Stupid, stupid, stupid!” My ankle hurts, but
not badly, so I sit there for a good while to let it recover. I can move it (a
bit) and it hurts (a bit) but after a while I can just about hobble about. So
I figure it isn’t so bad and as the sky improves markedly I figure it feels
even better. Howard from
Moral: Don’t fiddle with things whilst close to the ground, fly the thing! If all else fails do a PLF.
TC
Airwave Sport test-flight (short version)
I bought one. TC
August Flying
It’s an ill wind, as they say, and the heatwave in
Generally the really hot
weather here early in the month wasn’t good for this sort of flying, but that
changed when the cooler northerlies came in. Aug 14th and 16th
saw a whole host of PBs, whilst Nick Collins had an epic triangle flight on his
Stratos on Aug 15th on a light wind day from the Malverns, flying to
Ross, to
Moyes
dominant?
The results of
the Brazilian HG Nationals were:
|
Pos. |
Glider |
|
1 |
Moyes
Litespeed |
|
2 |
Aeros Combat |
|
3 |
Moyes Litespeed
|
|
4 |
Moyes
Litespeed |
|
5 |
Moyes
Litespeed |
|
6 |
Wills Wing
Talon |
|
7 |
Moyes
Litespeed |
|
8 |
Moyes
Litespeed |
|
9 |
Moyes
Litespeed |
|
10 |
Moyes
Litespeed |
|
11 |
Moyes
Litespeed |
|
12 |
Moyes
Litespeed |
|
13 |
Aeros Combat |
|
14 |
Moyes
Litespeed |
|
15 |
Moyes
Litespeed |
|
16 |
Moyes
Litespeed |
|
17 |
Moyes
Litespeed |
|
18 |
Moyes
Litespeed |
|
19 |
Icaro Laminar |
|
20 |
Airborne
Climax |
I can’t remember seeing
that sort of dominance from one glider since the Airwave Magic IV swept the
boards in the mid-80’s.
Metamorfosi
Dominant?
At the World HG Championship, around 16 out of 20 of the
first pilots were flying with Metamorfosi Conar reserves.
Of course the reserve will not add much to their
performances, but it is interesting to see Metamorfosi are chosen by the best
pilots in the world.
Tom Weissenberg deployed his Conar chute after he tumbled
just after the first turnpoint while at about 3,000’ above the ground. Tom was
totally uninjured but lost the instruments.
Airwave Sport demo (longer version)
After trying the Vulcan,
On T/O at
I bumbled around a bit circling in the odd blip without even thinking
about it. The air was active even with all the cloud. In fact Merthyr is the
only site I know of where you can thermal to base under 8/8ths Cu, and sure
enough 20mins later there I was at base 2,000’ato playing in and out of the
wispies. I had an hour and a half or so thermalling around at base, and the
glider felt 100% all the time. It is not as damped in pitch as some gliders so
requires quite active piloting to keep it smooth, but this also means it’s very
responsive and you can vary your turn to tighten in on a core very easily.
Time to lose height to get down for a bun, so I flew out to the middle
of the valley and tried a few big asymmetrics by pulling one A riser – no
problem, the glider virtually keeps flying straight as you’d expect from a
DHV1/2 wing. On pumping out the deflation the wing stayed nicely firm and
stable unlike some higher performance wings which get a bit unsettled on losing
pressure. B-lining was also very straight forward, although it took a great
deal of effort initially to pull the B risers. In fact I was lifting myself out
of the harness, so if you can do a few chin-ups you’ll be OK, but if you can’t
then you might find it a struggle. Releasing the B’s caused a reassuring surge
as the glider instantly started flying – no worries about inadvertently staying
in deep stall. Big ears were easy, facilitated by the split A risers – not
something I personally do a lot but the split A’s certainly make inflation and
launch easier. I banked it over into a spiral and wow, it went hard in right
away without any preamble. This is probably due to the pitchy nature of the
wing, and it took me by surprise to be honest. Exiting spirals was without
drama as you’d expect from a well behaved wing.
Back on T/O after refreshments the wind had dropped considerably and
light thermal cycles were coming through. The cloud had thinned right out and
wispy cu’s were drifting across to the South. There were dozens of others
jockeying for position in the scrappy lift, but flying in the middle of it all
wasn’t a problem on this wing. Everything turned off, quite a few ended up in
the bracken down the front and I landed on the Southern end of the ridge in the
SW bowl. A rigid flew out into the middle of the valley way down over the
industrial units before finding something and slowly climbing out. I launched
and went on a death or glory glide out to join him. The thermal was still there
and we climbed out together, back up to base at 2400’ato whilst everyone else
sat watching on T/O. The cycles got better and soon a respectable number of PGs
and HGs were scooting around, with the HGs pushing forwards over the other side
of the valley. Well if you can’t beat them join them, so myself and a couple of
other PGs ended up flying over the hills in front to the valley beyond, over 3
miles upwind. After playing around there for an hour I flew back to T/O for
another bun – definitely the most epic flying ever barring XC flights.
So it was decision time. For me, the Sport did everything I wanted from
a glider with the added benefit of DHV1/2 security. Thermalling with others
showed no real difference in sink rate, with the agility making up for any
disadvantage. For sure the glide on full bar wouldn’t be as good as a DHV2 wing
but so what! How often do you race to goal on full bar? Personally never, and
anyway you could always buy the new Airwave Ram Race harness and get that extra
glide if you really needed it. So the DHV1/2 rating swung it for me, plus the
Sport is 200 quid cheaper and it might still be worth something in a few years
time whereas a DHV2 wing won’t. I ordered a new one from Robin as soon as I got
back. I’m looking forward to flying a modern wing with reasonable performance
and safety instead of my Urraco which has DHV3 safety with DHV1 performance! TC
P.S. Flown it a bit and it still collapses! However it’s definitely
easier to keep straight and sort out.
More Mad Farmers
Finishing an XC from Pandy, a PG was
over Talybont village choosing the LZ and elected for a big flat area near a
camp site with no crops to the west of the road going from Talybont to the A40
(SO 117 233). Good choice, flat clear and easy walk out to A40. Bad choice of
farmer who drove over demanding £10 landing fee or she would 'call the police'.
PG said he would like to call someone (not sure who), but she said 'No, £10
pounds or she would call the police'. Not taking kindly to bullying, PG said
'call the police' and continued packing up, then walked out to a stream of
abuse. PG was very polite but firm. The farmer wouldn’t say whether the £10 was
for damage (none), for trespassing, or a legitimate landing fee. If the latter
then you would expect some facilities like a wind sock, toilets and showers
like those provided for her campers at much less cost per 4hrs on the premises.
The farm (Gilestone) runs a camping and caravanning site and is an obvious
LZ for anyone going down in that area - probably, most frequently, from
Talybont T/O (Maybe that's why they are trying to make a (infinite) profit from
it). The camping site was not too busy, not surprisingly.
I believe the legalities of this situation is that demanding a landing fee ‘or
else’ constitutes demanding money with menaces, so call the police ASAP.
Go 4 It
2003 Current Standings
Paragliders Totals
Tim Crow 88.2
72.5 48.4
46.7 42.7 35.6 32.7 28.1 24.1 19.3 17 14.5 10.0 479.8km
Bryan Hindle 94.4 51.3 15.2 170.9km
Chris Smith 16.6 8.2 24.8km
Flexwings
Derek Evans 59.3 28.7 88.0km
John Bevan 8.0 8.0km
Rigids
Nick Collins 133.6 60.0 14.0 207.6km
Aeros Xtreme Hangliding Harness. As new. Would suit 6ft Medium build.
Please Email Frank on Sammi@Lawstroud.freeserve.co.ukOr Telephone 07775817845 or 01453 791479
Trekking Ritmo 41 XL 90-120
kg. Sail in excellent condition with new lines (fitted in 1999 but only
test flown for two hours since) ACPUL 12 A's. Would make a good paramotor wing
or 1st time stable learner wing.
I am the only owner and know it's been looked after from new, flies great
on a hill and winch launches easily (it's a really steady forgiving wing, I've
used it for years without a reserve)
Open to sensible offers telephone me and we can organise a test flight view
of the wing
Phil Cooper tel 07947
824370 email:PHILCOOPERALICE@aol.com
Woody Valley X-Act airbag PG harness. Medium, blue/black (£460 brand new) less than 20 hours, looking for £225 ono.dean.naylor@axa-tech.com
Freex Spear Large,
Blue 20 hours, DHV 2
Freex Spear Medium, Blue
70 hours, DHV 2
Offers invited on both.
Ian Clague 0771 472 0583
UP paragliding harness, medium, excellent condition.
C/w cross bracing and back protection,
£100 ono
Alan 01452 504000 (Glos)
Harley Sirocco (Large, 92kg-120kg) Acpul 12A
rated, c/w harness; £250 ono
Dennis 07876 492406
AIRTOPIA
Full
of all the latest equipment; Harnesses from Sup-Air, Gin, Airwave, gradient and
Edel.
Helmets
from Lazer, Charley and Icaro. Flying Suits, Instruments, radios, compasses,
T-Shirts, reserves, boots, books, instrument mounts, flight decks and groovy
sunglasses….even coffee and biscuits!
Edel
Atlas Med Good
condition 75-95kg
£550.00
Nova
Xyon Large Good
105-125 kg
offers
Edel
Sabre Large Fair 100-120kg offers
Canopies
from Ozone, Gin, Gradient and Airwave, demo’s available, part exchange a
possibility! Demo’s available at the Blorenge party, 26th/27th
July.
Mobile 07973 844449
www.airtopia.com robin@airtopia.com
We
are very easy to find, just off junction 13 of the M5, check out the map on the
web site…..
Pssst . . . which local pilot clipped a bush at
Haresfield just after taking off causing him to spin wildly two or three times
locking his controls. How we laughed as he wriggled madly trying to untwist,
and how we stopped laughing as he turned 180 º and flew straight back into the
hill with a tremendous impact. Well, where there’s no sense there’s no feeling
and amazingly he got up and walked/staggered away. To be honest we were
mightily relieved Howard was OK – otherwise who else would we be able to take
the piss out of?
Flying Diary
Sun 31st Aug
Long Mynd NW 8-12mph. Easy to get up and away, not so easy to stay up under a
very over-developed sky. Bombed at 17km but someone got to the Malverns ~50km.
Quite a lot of HGs there as well, all having good flying in the up cycles.
Sat 30th Aug
Selsley N 5-10mph. Classic looking sky, epic streets everywhere. Cycling
through but hard to get up until mid-afternoon. Wayne S scraped away, got up
and landed at Westbury 49km. I bombed and went home in disgust. Leckhampton was
better – Tom Mayne and Alex both did 115km. However, a PG went over Lecky at
base so who was he and how far did he get?
TC
Wed 27 Aug
Kettlesings E 12mph
It started out looking very grey with 8/8 strato-cu but it was smack on and
smooth so I had a fling. Soared to the Beacon and back, making clag-base at
1,000 ato. A few others turned up to enjoy the easy soaring. Mid-afternoon it
broke really quickly, the sun shone and nice thermal cycles started. I then
cocked up a side landing and badly twisted my ankle. Howard from Cheltenham
kindly offered to pick me up from the landing field if I could launch, but I
put plan B into operation; after a one-legged take-off I wound it up to base
and flew off towards Ledbury. Made a perfect one-legged landing next to the
main road and phoned my wife for a retrieve. Ouch it hurts.
Nigel D flew his new Sport for the first time. It's identical to mine so if you
see a red and yellow Sport at base it's me, and if it's going down it's Nigel !
At 5pm the wind and cycles dropped to nothing and most had sledders down to the
bottom landing field.
TC
Bank holiday weekend
Sat 23rd Hay Bluff
Sun 24th Kettle Sings
Mon 25th Pandy
A typical bank holiday weekend it wasn't! For a start it didn't rain all the
time, although there were a lot of showers despite the forecasters mentioning
nothing!
Went to Merthyr on Sat. Loads of stiffies there so went to Focriew. Loads of
floppies there (lots of comps on mi thinks!) so tried Abertysswg. Too far off
to N so landed and sped off to Hay where I should have gone in the first place!
Had 2.5hrs flopping around only marred by a forced landing on the Knob (oops!)
Weather was funny with loads of towering CUs some with rain showers out in
front of the hill and loads of dark clouds behind. I could even see rain
through Gospel pass while flying! Normally I wouldn't fly in these conditions
but with lots of wind-dummies I could see it was OK (just don't ask why).
Sun was Kettle but way off hill and too strong for me so only a short hop and
slope land. Saw Tim go up and away, how does he do it? Well done :-)
Thought Mon would be too strong but off to Pandy on Dave J-H's advice. Good as
it turned out. V strong and over my limit but a few dummies showed us it was
OK. Managed to jump the gap but couldn't get to Hay as the wind was well off to
E at that end of the ridge (but still bang-on at take-off, any ides why?) Made
it back with no end of trouble getting down! Dave couldn't get enough and was
away again as I left the hill. Not sure how long I flew for and how high etc.
as my vario claims it stores 100 flights. Turned out to be correct; this was
the 100th so it forgot them all and now contains only 1 flight from some time
in June last year. Not exactly what I expected to happen ;-)
Chris
Sun 24 Aug
Kettlesings ENE 15+mph
Grey and drizzly at noon but easy soaring. Then the sky broke and the hoards
turned up. It picked up a tad so a bit fresh on launch with towering clouds
around. No decent cores but plenty flew, and generally it was nice and smooth.
I worked the only one I found on the edge of a big cloud and stayed with it,
cleared the Marcle ridge for 19km. A few hangies flew later as well, Frank T.
said it was easy to stay up way out in front over Malvern and generally cruised
around at up to 1500' ato although he said it was quite rough.
TC
Thurs 20 Aug
Olivers Castle 5-25mph WNW
Cycling through too strongly most of the day, but a few managed to get off in
the lulls and get away. Christened my new Sport; first flight wound one up and
over the back for a PW of 4km (personal worst). Still, it was and enjoyable way
to start.
TC
Woolacombe
Tuesday 19th August
Flew the paraglider today at Woolacombe, due to light wind. Had one and a half
hours until the wind picked up at 6pm
Frank
Woolacombe
Monday 18th August 2003
Arrived at Woolacombe at 2.30pm and rigged my hanglider. Took off and had a
really nice days flying. Got over to Mortehoe and the lighthouse a few times.
Landed at 7.30pm
Frank
Tues 19 Aug.
Frocester WNW 10-12mph
Funny old day, good forecast but lots of medium cloud early on made it look
like a waste of time. Went along after lunch to fly the Zagi only to find half
a dozen PGs had gone over the back, although no great distances. Quite blowy
and cloudy so flew the model, then it brightened and a few had a go. I launched
and took the first blob, got to Cirencester and then had to cross-wind to avoid
airspace. Landed at Cricklade 33km only to watch two others go overhead.
Probably the last flight on my old Urraco (sob) as the new Sport just arrived
for tomorrow!
TC
MALVERN
Saturday 16th August
Having worked all day? Took off at 5.30pm. Paragliders were on the ground and
there was not any wind. I half expected to go down but took a slow climb upto 5
grand above take-off, just behind the hill.
There was very little drift but then flew to Upton on Severn where I got back
to the ridge with 2 and a half grand and enjoyed the evening convection until
8pm
Frank
August 13th Long Myndd. Flew for 2 and a
half hours. Cloudbase was only just over 2 grand but either there was a
contortion in the aerial perspective or an alteration in the usual pressure
degradation with height, thereby affecting the alti reading, because both Al
and myself both thought we were much higher.This resulted in us pushing well
upwind , much futher than we would usually with such a height gain. The main
point is that the views were stunning ; you could see Snowdonia. Infact you
could see the whole extent of Wales from north to south and into the west.
Nick.
August 15 th Malvern Did Triangle Malvern-Ross(over my house
a mile up!)Hereford Malvern. Really enjoyed it especially the long final glide
to get over the malverns through Wych cutting but then got a two grand climb
out just amile before and made it easily. Another dream flight the Rigid has
made easy, although the 6400 cloudbase helped alot!!! Just wish others had done
it with me!
Wind was 2mph ese! Over half of the flight the cloud was thick cirrus but the
climbs kept coming.
Nick.
Thur 14th Aug
Leckhampton NNE
Sorry Chris, sounds like Leckhampton was the place actually - Ken Wilkinson did
77km.
TC
Thurs 14th Aug
Blorenge NNE 15
Blaenavon was the place to be. I counted 16+ in the air near the take-off,
climbing nicely with loads of separation even at 5:30. Trouble was, I was at
the Blorenge! Still, had a nice flop with one or two others up to about 700'
ATO 1/2 way to the car park.
Chris
Wednesday 13th August
Frocester and Selsley
I had a nice evening flight taking off at Frocester in a light Westerley.
Thermalled around getting up to 900 ft and flew down to Selsley. I almost
landed a couple of times. Whilst in the air the wind went Northerley and picked
up so i flew back to Frocester where the wind was a little bit strong to top
land so I flew back to Selsley and landed at 7.30pm. The only downside was that
my car keys fell out of my pocket?!!!!
Sun 10th Aug
Corndon NE/E 5-10
Funny day. Dave J-H was going there and so I decided to tag along for a lift to
the top (I haven't got a 4x4 and have done enough walking in this heat
recently!) Started off strong with lightening and rain. Not a good sign. Dave
had abandoned Corndon but decided to return when the sun came out so up we all
went. Wind was light at first and kept changing direction but eventually had
1/2 hour flopping around until the cloud rolled in and we were all at cloud
base but still on the hill :-( Still, first time at this hill and it looks like
a really nice site to me.
Chris
Saturday 9th August
HARESFIELD
I had a nice evening soaring on Haresfield. The wind was quite Southerly,
however I was wafting round at 150ft. Howard and his m8 were there too.
Frank
Wed 6th Aug
Fochriw WNW 15-18
Thought it was going to be light. Turned out to be a gale hang. Nice and smooth
and plenty of strong wind take-off and landings. Had about an hour until sea
fog and increasing wind stopped play.
Chris
Monday 4th Aug
Kettle Sings E 5 - 10
Arrived at 6 and walked up with our chairman to find people still on the hill.
It had clouded-over so now a nice 'cool' 27oC. Watched others do TTBs and short
hops until eventually I was forced into doing a few short beats to N of
take-off but couldn't stay up. Bryan could and eventually he summoned the
evening lift after everyone else had left. We had 3/4hr in smooth warm lift.
Forced to land at 9:15 as getting dark, shame :-(
Chris
Sunday 3rd Aug Beacon SSW 0-6mph
Went up to Kettlesings first only for it to instantly switch SE to SW. On top
of the Beacon with Bryan and Mike Riley it was definitely cycling. Mike
launched into strong sink and just made the bottom. 5 mins later I went off
into a thermal and got to 2500'ato before leaving it and flying along above the
hill as far as the Wyche, hit strong sink and only just made it back to the
bottom! A nice 15mins whilst it lasted.
TC
Sun 3rd Aug
Talybont WSW 5-10
OK, so this wasn't the place to be today but where else would you go? Arrived
really hot and sat around for ages getting my strength back and waiting for
some decent thermals. The only consolation was that the sky gods (Nick Roberts,
Eddie Colefox etc.) couldn't get up either, until they got the last laugh and
about 15 got away in 2 big gaggles with the rest of us slope landing all over
the place! So only about 1/2hr and max 500' ATO but hey it's nice to be in the
hills with some friendly folk. And the sun was out, boy was it out!
Chris
Sat 2nd Aug
Nantymoel SW 10-15
Had a couple of hours flopping around in the sun. I never got very high (600
ATO), a couple went over the back but only one got anywhere. Had a good time
:-) but busy at times so lots of landing and takeoff practice.
(BTW nice flight Tim!)
Chris
Sat Aug 2nd Merthyr W 16-nil mph
Arrived late morning to 8/8ths Cu but a nice steady wind. Test flight on an
Airwave Sport - wound up to base at 3,400’asl in good thermal and stayed there,
tried big asymmetrics, B-lining and spirals and made myself airsick! After
lunch it blued out but still thermalled to base at 4,000’asl, flew upwind
across the valley and over the hill in front then out over the valley beyond to
nearly 4 miles upwind with Nigel D on a demo Vulcan. Thermalling with Nigel and
another on an Aspen and there wasn’t anything in it. After a couple of hours
flew back across to T/O where the wind had dropped to zero. Best flying ever!
Tim C
Fri 1st Aug
Rhossili WSW 10-15
Managed to get off work a bit early and looked like things were brightening up
a bit so headed west. Where do you think I ended-up? At the sunny shrine! Had a
good 2hr flopping about in perfect (for floppies!) wind strength. As I arrived
there were at least 10 in the air but most landed when I took off (can’t have
been scared of me?) so I had the best part of an hour all to myself in the
beautiful clear air. Now that’s the 3D freedom Nick was after ;-)
Chris