Happy New Year and all that. Here’s a fairly brief, despite
the size, newsletter as one is due.
The AGM
This
was held on Friday 1st December at the Boat Club. Those present were
Simon, Richy, Julian, Matt, Tom, Guilleme, Scott, Adrian, Jim, Graeme, Brian
and Tracey his other half. Apologies from Bob, Big Ian, Ben and John. Apologies
to Charlie who failed to get notified (oops, but that’s what you get for being
Chairman).
Of
the reports presented by the “officers of the club”, some by proxy, Julian’s
was the most interesting. Membership was down from the usual 40-odd to 28 so we
made a bit of a loss over the year on the bottles, tracks, etc. Therefore the
subs will remain at £20. Though a vote of thanks was passed to Mark Johnson for
paying twice!
Julian asks very nicely could everyone please pay
ASAP, preferably by cheque (to save him spending the cash), made payable to
AHGC, c/o Julian Robinson, 40, Elmfield Terrace, Aberdeen, AB24 3NY
John the safety officer reported there were no yellow forms
submitted (all very sheepish). He himself got dragged at Leadlich by a gust,
cutting his leg on a rock, and again got dragged on Ben Newe resulting in a cut
that put blood on his brand new wing and broke a line. Bob ground-looped while
launching at Tap, breaking a tip baton. Simon crashed into his hang glider when
landing, breaking his arm.
The
usual suspects were voted back into office for lack of opposition, namely
Charlie as Chairman, Bob as Secretary & Sites, Julian as Treasurer and Matt
as Newsletter / Website Editor. However the exception to this was that Simon
Lucas was voted as Safety Officer as he’s crashed both hang gliders and
paragliders more recently than John.
Other
business after a drinks break (no Bob so we could fit in quite a few) involved
discussions on organising a repack (Matt to check whether the SHPF Ratho event
was going to take place, see somewhere else in this newsletter), another
donation to Mountain Rescue (Julian to sort out which one), tandem paraglider
rides (see Simon’s missive later) and the change from Smart to Googlegroups as
a web-based forum. Matt suggested changes to the XC league based on the
national HG league now using 2 turn points but this was voted down, as was
changes to the glide factor for paragliders.
Finally
trophies were awarded: the Spring and Autumn trophies weren’t held, Bill Connon
got the Winter Height Gain, Ben Hull-Bailey the Big Stiff One and Matt got the
Big Soft One, Over-The-Back Bottle, the XC League and, being on a winning
streak, after several re-counts, the Crash Test Dummy for running into a tree
in Oz (despite no damage done). Despite strong contentions from Richy and John,
Simon won the Floofie to the Bottom for consistency throughout the year,
finishing on a strong note in stitching Matt up for the CTD.
After
a celebratory pint most of us reconvened to a curry house, which must by now be
an AGM tradition. (Somebody had a camera but I never got the pictures so sorry
there’s none here).
See
later for a breakdown of the competitions.
Weekend Flight Report by
Dr Bob
This may not be main stream free
flight as you know it, but with the exception of Matt and Julian's recent
world record flights abroad, local reports are thin in the air.
On Saturday 6th January
I was towed up to 2500ft. at Deeside Gliding Club in a duo Discus which has a
45/1 glide angle when angry. We were soon down to 1800 ft. over Craigandarroch
but managed to work some broken lift back up to 3000ft., before heading off to
a likely looking wave cloud at Tarland. 40 minutes after launch it got a bit
easier and we were over Strathdon in weak wave at 6000ft. with a 30 knot
headwind. It looked good across the hills and we headed off to the next bar
upwind which cost us 2000ft. in height followed by no lift under the
disappearing cloud. We managed to hang around on a small ridge in a Glen
adjacent to Tomintoul for 1/2 hour, but for us the war was over and our flight
was concluded in a field outside the village. We then had tea and scones at the
Fire Station café while waiting for our retrieve. Not a bad winter's day for 2
hours airtime. A local Para, Sean, helped us de-rig the glider.
The next day, Sunday, I went up
with another pilot in a Puchaz, one of the club 2 seaters with a glide of about
35/1. We pulled off over Presendye at 3000ft. just short of the wave but a bit
of effort got us up into strong lift to 10000ft. with about 40 knots headwind.
Losing 4000ft. flying upwind got us to Glen Muick and then it was back up to
11000ft. over Balmoral which was as much as we could take with the cold and no
oxygen on board. Back to Tarland for the descent we were still climbing with
airbrakes deployed until I found some sink. A bit of turbulence in the circuit
and we were on the ground, frozen, after 1 hour 40 minutes. Other pilots went
as high as 19000ft. and to Elgin and back. The distances today were resticted
by cloud cover and lack of lift to the north.
DGC is proposing to host flying
training for AHPC members this year, probably weekday evenings in May/June. If
you fancy this, let me know. Some coordination will be required to make it
work.
Letters to the
Editor, News and Gossip
There
is a new website for the SHPF after Bob Vietch took over from John Rankin. It
can be found at www.shpf.co.uk and
currently has pages for the Paragliding Nationals, Scottish Club and school
links, minutes of SHPF meeting, etc. There is also the beginning of the online
sites’ guide for which we have sent information but it is still being
processed, as are most of the other sites.
SHPF Social Weekend 10th/11th February
Due to rebuilding at Ratho, the
zip-wire deployment and subsequent repacking of reserves is not being organised
this year. Instead there will be a social weekend at the Tinto Hotel.
Entertainment in the form of drinking, guest speakers (from Englandshire),
drinking, videos, drinking, etc will be laid on in the evenings (or day if it’s
not flyable). There will also probably be an opportunity to repack your
reserve, as the guys who supervise at Ratho will be there. Well worth going to,
if just to meet up with other flyers from Scotland.
Trips
Abroad 2007:
If you’re looking to go somewhere and
want someone to go with, here’s a list of those I know about so far:
Matt in South Africa 17th Jan
– 26th Feb; Richy in South Africa mid February; Bob & the
aerotow hangies in Lanzerotte mid Feb as well; Scott Rigg (& Matt?) at
Chabre, France 8th – 17th June; Matt in Piedrahita
following 2 weeks; Matt in Piedrahita first week Sept then to St Andre, France
mid-Sept for 2 weeks; Scott Mather & Graeme Connelly in Ager, Spain 7th
– 14th Sept.
Also in the pipelines are: Simon may get time off
for good behaviour already at end of April so looking for inspiration; Bob may
go to South Africa in May, Matt ditto with Peru in May, Jules to Kamchatka in
July.
John Newton is thinking of going to the Coupe Icaro
at St Hilaire, France in September.
Jules & Matt will be going to Xceara in Brazil
in November.
Tandem Flights (on the
website as well (www.ahpc.org.uk))
A couple of pilots in the club own
tandem paragliders and have a BHPA tandem pilot rating. If you are lucky they may be able to take
you for a flight, depending on weather conditions and pilot availability.
Before committing to a tandem flight,
you need to understand that paragliding is by nature an “adventure” sport and
there are inherent risks. Paragliding
is not comparable to a funfair ride - people can and do get injured. That said, pilots who hold the BHPA Tandem
Rating have been trained in tandem flying techniques and will have passed an
assessment overseen by a BHPA Chief Flying Instructor.
The AHPC does not have any
insurance cover for tandem flying, and does not accept any responsibility for
accident, injury, damage or loss that may occur when tandem flying. Tandem pilot’s insurance cover is very
limited. If you go flying, you must
accept the personal risks.
.
Passenger requirements:
-
reasonable fitness – able to run 10-15 strides downhill
-
good footwear (walking boots ideal) warm windproof clothing
and gloves
-
if you want to take photo, a length of line to tie camera
onto your clothing
The passenger must also accept
that paragliding is a weather dependant sport.
With Scottish weather it is very possible that a trip to the hill may
not result in a flight because conditions aren’t suitable. The tandem pilot is the decision taker on
whether to fly, regardless of whether any solo canopies are flying.
If you are interested, contact
Simon Lucas (07979 035345) or any of the club contacts.
Flight Report Creag nan Gabhar, 16th January by Matthew Church
Same place as I flew in a SW at
the beginning of November, though the wind was forecast W and looked it on the
odd brief cloud popping up. Got a good thermal as soon as I took off at about
2400ft, though it wasn’t particularly strong most of the time. However I did
get up to 5200ft, if slowly, then trundled over to Braemar, with a couple of
top-ups. Got into a good lift line on the way back and continued a further 3 km
before turning back to take off, so closing a 21km out-and-return. Then
plummeted to the valley floor and spent 10 minutes running round in circles
while my hands warmed up. Lesson for the day – go to the southern hemisphere
this time of year.
View from over Invercauld back
through smoke to Morrone (03/11/2006)
Xceara Competition, Brazil
by Matthew Church
For a
proper write up of this event, Ben Keayes will be writing something for
Skywings pretty soon. Meanwhile a brief synopsis of this open XC distance comp
follows. Jules flew his target of 200km with a 202km flight (no need to break
that target too much), though also flew 195km on the last day when the goal was
66km! I managed both my targets of a) flying 160km (Geoff’s 100 miles) and b)
having a pee in the air. The first I managed and a bit by flying 222km and the
second I first did at 35km on the second day’s flight. I then repeated it at
175km on the big flight to show that it wasn’t a fluke, though I took about
50km to manage it. By the end of the comp, 6 tasks in 6 days and scoring the
best 4, Julian was in 12th place with me in 13th,
separated by a kilometre after 450km or so.
Jules takes it too literally when
told to “Smoke ‘em”
Glider Checks by Simon Lucas
Checked
your wing lately?
Emptying out my glider before I went to Nepal
resulted in this collection of stuff picked up at Scottish
sites through the summer of 2005.
All chafing away at the trailing edge during launching and
flying. Removing this also prevents
the odd rock dropping on your head at the end of the launch sequence (yes it
happened to me once!).
I also noticed a break line attachment tape had just about
come adrift – only held on by a couple of threads. Not life threatening if it came undone but a good prompt to check
all the rest of the tapes and stitching (they were all fine).
I generally give the glider a thorough check about twice a
year, and do additional checks if I’ve been doing a lot of flying or launching
from nasty sites with sharp rocks, sand etc.
Normally I check it at home – not at a flying site where there’s a
temptation to shorten the check and go and fly instead. Each check takes me
about an hour: empty out debris, run fingers down each line to check for nicks
and bulges, check each line attachment point, check cascades and stitching on
line terminations, check risers and hang loops for wear, check canopy stitching
and tears/holes on upper and lower surfaces by doing a “rolled pack”
slowly!
Over the years I’ve found tar/oil patches on the fabric,
multiple nicked and squashed lines, chafing wear on cascades, unseen
perforations and tears and wear to a riser through putting the carabiner in the
wrong place (not my canopy!).
And consider a professional check if you have concerns about
fabric porosity, line strength degredation, line stretch and trim.
A break down of the
year’s winners:
Winter Height Gain Bill Connon: 1158ft at Tap on 7th
Dec 2005
Spring McRonald Trophy /
Autumn Pilchard Trophy Not held
Big Stiff One Ben
Hull-Bailey: 50km Pressendye to Insch via Aboyne
Big Soft One Matt Church: 57km, Meall Udhar to Bridge of
Alford
Over The Back Bottle Matt Church: 6 flights > 5km
George Watt Memorial XC
League Matt Church: 19 points / 152km
|
Rank |
PILOT |
PILOT |
POINTS TOTAL |
OTB flights |
Total Km |
Wing Factor |
Km behind |
|
1 |
Matt |
Church |
19.0 |
6 |
151.8 |
8 |
0.0 |
|
2 |
Julian |
Robinson |
15.4 |
4 |
123.4 |
8 |
28.4 |
|
3 |
Simon |
Lucas |
5.1 |
2 |
40.5 |
8 |
111.3 |
|
4 |
John |
Newton |
5.0 |
4 |
40.0 |
8 |
111.8 |
|
5 |
Kevin |
Will |
4.6 |
2 |
36.7 |
8 |
115.1 |
|
6 |
Ben |
Hull-Bailey |
3.3 |
1 |
50.0 |
15 |
234.6 |
|
7 |
Scott |
Mather |
2.5 |
2 |
20.2 |
8 |
131.6 |
|
8 |
Scott |
Rigg |
2.4 |
1 |
19.5 |
8 |
132.3 |
|
9 |
Richy |
Grundy |
2.2 |
2 |
17.5 |
8 |
134.3 |
|
10 |
Graeme |
Connelly |
1.7 |
2 |
13.6 |
8 |
138.2 |
|
11 |
Adrian |
Smith |
0.7 |
1 |
5.8 |
8 |
146.0 |
|
12 |
Charlie |
Ingram |
0.4 |
0 |
5.2 |
12 |
222.5 |
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
429km |
|
|
|
PILOT |
|
DATE |
FROM |
TO |
DIST |
TYPE |
L/D |
SCORE |
OTTB |
|
Richy |
Grundy |
29-Apr |
Morrone |
Glenshee |
10.5 |
Open |
8 |
1.3 |
1 |
|
Julian |
Robinson |
06-May |
Hill O
Noth |
Lossiemouth |
47.1 |
Open |
8 |
5.9 |
1 |
|
Adrian |
Smith |
06-May |
Hill O
Noth |
Towards
Huntly |
5.8 |
Open |
8 |
0.7 |
1 |
|
Scott |
Rigg |
26-Jun |
Cairnwell |
Spittal
of Glenshee |
19.5 |
Open |
8 |
2.4 |
1 |
|
Julian |
Robinson |
26-Jun |
Morrone |
Spittal
of Glenshee |
18.5 |
Open |
8 |
2.3 |
1 |
|
Richy |
Grundy |
02-Jul |
Cairnwell |
North a
bit |
7.0 |
Open |
8 |
0.9 |
1 |
|
Matt |
Church |
05-Jul |
Meall
Udhar |
Bridge of
Alford |
57.0 |
Open |
8 |
7.1 |
1 |
|
Simon |
Lucas |
05-Jul |
Meall
Udhar |
Lochnagar |
10.5 |
Open |
8 |
1.3 |
1 |
|
Scott |
Mather |
22-Jul |
Cairnwell |
Newbigging
bridge |
8.2 |
Open |
8 |
1.0 |
1 |
|
Graeme |
Connelly |
22-Jul |
Cairnwell |
Clunie
Bridge? |
5.0 |
Open |
8 |
0.6 |
1 |
|
John |
Newton |
23-Jul |
Cairnwell |
North a
bit |
7.0 |
Open |
8 |
0.9 |
1 |
|
John |
Newton |
23-Jul |
Cairnwell |
North a
bit more |
10.0 |
Open |
8 |
1.3 |
1 |
|
Julian |
Robinson |
30-Jul |
Pressendye |
Insch
then Auchleven |
33.9 |
Open |
8 |
4.2 |
1 |
|
John |
Newton |
30-Jul |
Pressendye |
Alford
way |
18.0 |
Open |
8 |
2.3 |
1 |
|
Ben |
Hull-Bailey |
30-Jul |
Pressendye |
Insch via
Aboyne |
50.0 |
Open |
15 |
3.3 |
1 |
|
Matt |
Church |
05-Aug |
Pressendye |
Redhouses |
15.5 |
Open |
8 |
1.9 |
1 |
|
Kevin |
Will |
05-Aug |
Pressendye |
Leadlich
(failed triangle) |
10.0 |
Open |
8 |
1.3 |
1 |
|
Simon |
Lucas |
05-Aug |
Pressendye |
Banchory
golfclub |
24.3 |
Open |
8 |
3.0 |
1 |
|
Matt |
Church |
06-Aug |
Morrone |
Invercauld |
5.7 |
Open |
8 |
0.7 |
1 |
|
Julian |
Robinson |
06-Aug |
Morrone |
Ballater |
23.9 |
Open |
8 |
3.0 |
1 |
|
Matt |
Church |
07-Aug |
Morrone |
Dinnet |
33.2 |
Open |
8 |
4.2 |
1 |
|
Kevin |
Will |
07-Aug |
Morrone |
Ballater |
24.0 |
Open |
8 |
3.0 |
1 |
|
Kevin |
Will |
07-Aug |
Morrone |
Glen
Clunie |
2.7 |
Open |
8 |
0.3 |
0 |
|
Simon |
Lucas |
07-Aug |
Morrone |
Glen
Clunie |
2.7 |
Open |
8 |
0.3 |
0 |
|
Simon |
Lucas |
07-Aug |
Morrone |
Braemar |
3.0 |
Open |
8 |
0.4 |
0 |
|
John |
Newton |
16-Sep |
Tap |
North a
bit |
5.0 |
Open |
8 |
0.6 |
1 |
|
Charlie |
Ingram |
23-Sep |
Tap |
Rhynie
& back but too short for OAR |
5.2 |
Open |
12 |
0.4 |
0 |
|
Scott |
Mather |
22-Oct |
Tops of
Fichell |
Cortachy Castle |
9.0 |
Open |
8 |
1.1 |
1 |
|
Graeme |
Connelly |
22-Oct |
Tops of
Fichell |
Cortachy Castle |
8.6 |
Open |
8 |
1.1 |
1 |
|
Matt |
Church |
03-Nov |
Creag nan
Gabhar |
Braemar
and back |
13.0 |
OAR |
8 |
3.3 |
1 |
|
Matt |
Church |
03-Nov |
Creag nan
Gabhar |
Ranibaich |
20.1 |
Open |
8 |
2.5 |
1 |
Crash Test Dummies Current
holder Charlie Ingram
Nominations:
Bob Broke
tip baton on Tap while getting into his harness - £25?
Crashing
his glider backwards - £4000
Graeme Glider went for
it’s own drag on Cairnwell - £30
Simon Crashing
a hang glider but no damage to it, just his arm
John Breaking
a line on his new, unflown Aspen 2 - £3
Matt Crap
forward launch ending in a tree – zero cost, dented pride
Winner - Matt
Floofies
to the Bottom Current
holder Bob Dunthorn
Nominations:
Bob Crashing his
fixed-wing glider by rolling backwards down a hill into a fence
Richy Found his
passport out of date when at the airport on the way to France
John Blood on his new wing before even
flying it
Landing
in a cherry orchard in France, getting soaked by the sprinklers & stuck in
a muddy ditch
Simon Crashing a hang glider but breaking himself
not it
Taking a
stranger for tandem on Morrone
Kicking Kat off the hill
when she was his passenger
Long walk after landing
high on Lochnagar
Writing lots of articles
for the Dangler
Stitching Matt up with the CTD
Strangely
enough, as this trophy is decided by the newsletter editor, Simon won.