Summer is here and we seem to actually be getting some flying. Last Sunday there were 9 paras on Morrone and we all sort of got away … well, one thermal wonders. I heard there was a group of hangies on Tap the previous weekend as well, though no reports of any XC from there. I’ve also been away on competiton duty, so written up some of those. Julian has also been away to France but guess what, no report there. He’ll have an edition all to himself soon (once he’s put finger to keyboard).

 

 

Club News by the AHPC Comittee

 

The club has now supplied the gratuities to the farmers and landowners who allow us continued access to their land to fly (courtesy of Bob and Matt), at a cost of £400.

 

The following pilots still flying this year who have not paid their membership are:

Kieron Flynn

Richy Grundy

Mick Helliwell

Charlie Ingram (yes, the Gruppenfuhrer himself)

Ian Maitland

John Rankin

Russ Thompson

Roy Westland

 

These guys are now enjoying subsidised flying thanks to the pilots who have paid. We are now half way through the season so if you are one of those listed above, do the decent thing and send a cheque for £20 payable to “Aberdeen Hang Gliding Club” to Julian Robinson, 40 Elmfield Terrace, Aberdeen AB24 3NY. Russell Thomson was saying that he had to pay nearly £100 in club fees when based near Dunstable so its obviously good value up here. Especially as if you don’t pay then Bob will be round to grump at you.

 

If you have paid then I apologise but blame Jules who gave me this list, and get onto him to give him a rocket. If you know you’ve not paid and aren’t listed, then please pay as well if you intend to fly.

 

 

Crash Test Dummy 2005 Nominee

 

Charlie Ingram managed to pile in at the Tap sometime last month, bending an upright or two. The proof was witnessed by Simon as Charlie handed over £100 to Bob in exchange for a couple of new uprights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Celtic Cup 2005 by Bob Dunthorn

 

This (usually) annual friendly flying comp is normally rotated between the Celtic nations: Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Iceland and the odd trip to Cornwall and Brittany. This year our hosts were Iceland and most of us went for a week to include the 3 day Celtic Cup and Nordic International.

 

Traditionally a hang glider event, paragliders have been welcomed in recent rounds, but other than the local Icelanders, there was only a lone US one. Bruce Goldsmith has done a lot to encourage the local paras the last few years.

 

Having pre-booked our gliders on Icelandair we arrive at Glasgow airport to be met by Miss Nasty Bitch Jobsworth who does her best to keep us grounded. Eventually after extensive security hassles we are on our way to point blank and only 3 turn up, sans gliders. Our 7-strong Scottish contingent (including the women) are met by friendly Icelanders and we are transported to a summer house log cabin in the country. The area is a cross between Scotland and Lanzerote. We do some tourist stuff in the cloud, wind and rain before heading to the competition base at Hella, and hour’s 50km from Rekjavik.

 

The sun comes out to play so we head to a bloody great mountain 40 km away. It is multidirectional and the 4x4’s take us up to the launch. The first task is a down-wind dash back to the campsite. The early pilots get away well but the wind then becomes light and variable (my favourite, especially with rocky take-off). After a 1½ hour wait I can brave the launch behind 2 welsh pilots (on borrowed gliders). They bomb out but I take a broken climb to 5000’ asl only to be met by an increasing sea breeze. I end up on the deck after about 10km along the course. There are no incidents and everyone enjoys some airtime, except the paras.

 

Day 2 is on the same hill, though different launch and another downwind dash. The take off is more intimidating, but Jamie the US para shows how to do it. /there are some hairy hang glider launches and once again the earlier pilots get the best conditions. By the time I launch the wind has picked up which helps my take off, but not the task – another 10km on the clock. And this time I do a stand-up landing! The remaining paras do not fly so everyone is safe at the end of the day.

 

Day 3 was cloudy and windy so the task is cancelled. The 2005 Celtic Cup winners are Iceland, followed by Scotland then Wales; there was no Irish representation this year. We all had a great holiday with great company.

 

Unfortunately my camera broke during the trip so no photos, but there will be a DVD out by the time you read this.

 

 

Scottish Nationals Paragliding Series

 

A series of “competitions” aimed as a social get together and coaching weekends. Good fun, if a bit dodgy on the weather front. Though past couple of years have been fairly good.

 

21 - 22 May       SMPC – not organised, to be rescheduled?

02 - 03 Jul         Borders – washed out, to be rescheduled?

23 - 24 Jul         Arran – Saturday light & vegetable, Sunday good soaring. Report by Roy Westland to follow.

20 - 21 Aug       Tinto

03 - 04 Sep       Aberdeen

15 - 16 Oct        Ochils.

 

Further details of each round will be posted in due course.

 

If you have any questions about the series or if you wish to receive a registration form, contact series coordinator George McGhee on 01416499220, 07980573187, geomacsco@yahoo.co.uk

 

 

Ochils Fly-In & BBQ

 

The Ochils club are having a fly-in and BBQ this weekend (Saturday 30th July. This is an open event for all pilots, family and friends and all are welcome. The flying task setting on the day will be dependent on the weather. This will be followed in the evening by a BBQ at Broomhall Castle, Menstrie, who will be providing the food and running a bar. The cost of the BBQ will be £3 per person but we need to know numbers so e-mail, telephone or contact Andy Ward 07729 634894 or Gordon Smyth 07764 353987 or email comms@ochilspgc.org.uk

Morrone Flying – flight reports for 14-15th May by Matthew Church

 

The first weekend with a forecast northerly after we had got permission to drive up Morrone and I’m in Glen Clover for a music weekend with Lu. However, I had the key and being a good AHPC member I phone around, find Morrone is the intended target and so drive over there.

 

Most of us congregate at the bottom of the track up, though Russ Thompson and Graeme Connelly opt to walk up the NE track, where I’m told that it’s blowing quite strongly when checking on their whereabouts. So we drive with a full Scoobydoo of 4 wings and 5 people to the top to meet the other 2 just as they complete their 75 minute walk. Simon Lucas and myself are first off into the N facing bowl, but it’s very scratchy so The Major slope lands while I remember Russ’ words and head for the NE spur. Sure enough I blunder into a thermal, lose it, go back and bang, time for the stars. I reach cloudbase (well, a few wispies) at a fantastic 7800 feet. Yes, 7800. What a view, and what a feeling. Meanwhile Russ sees me so launches and follows me. Only misses and goes straight down – that walk must have really knackered him out, though he really deserved a climb. I bimble off south towards Glenshee, taking a gentle thermal near Carn Aosda and cross the Cairnwell at 6000ft. I get “low” over Ben Gulabin (well, below 4000 feet that is) but get an initially rough but booming climb to go back up to 7000ft again, seeing 5m/s on the 30 second averager as I go.

 

 

Meanwhile Simon, Brian O’Donnell, Giles and Graeme have walked down onto the NE spur and launched. Brian gets up to 7000ft and goes over the back for the first time. Yes, he has an 11km glide to the ground at about 4m/s down the whole way, but his grin made the retrieve more than worthwhile for Lu. Simon didn’t get so high but crossed to the east side of Glenshee and didn’t get a climb at the Spittal of Glenshee. He ended up slope landing on Meall Uaine after 20-odd km and walking up for a second flight. Giles and Graeme have a good boat around but don’t go anywhere and land near Braemar.

 

After leaving Glenshee I drifted with lift for a way before gliding slightly crosswind towards a cloud. Got a climb over a village (Enochdhu?) and onto some higher ground. It wasn’t very fast up but I kept with it for the drift, staying at over 6000'. Finally I got to the Tay valley (had to check on the map that that was where I was) and went for glide over the Tay, a bit south of Pitlochry. I tried for the high ground where a cloud had been but couldn't find the thermal and ended up landing high on the hills by a loch, having been using my South African experience of water equals trigger equals climb or at least a swim to cool down. Oh well, 45km on the GPS.

 

While walking down to the road I talk to Simon, who’s back in the air having a bit of a rough time in (and out) of convergence over the back from the Spittal. He tries to complete a triangle, but just fails so getting a 16km flight. But with 14m/s down it’s not surprising he didn’t make it.

 

All in all an extremely pleasant flight with amazing views. Jules reckons it’s an AHPC record for a club paraglider a club site and certainly a site record. For me a personal record for Scotland in both height and distance. Thanks to Lu for yet again doing the recovery.

The following day we’re at Morrone again, though Russ opted to go to Leadlich with John Newton in case he had to walk again. The wind on Morrone was a reasonable strength from the west, though at that strength where you don’t want to hang around in case it picks up and you get stuck on the hill. Strange that at Leadlich there was no wind all day.

 

So Simon, Brian and myself again have some good thermals at Morrone, this time from the top on the West face. After a lot of scratching around I finally got to base at a mere 6600ft. Simon didn’t waste so much time and headed for Lochnagar. He got a good climb on the west faceof it and ended up flying directly over the top. Unfortunately that was his last lift and he went down by Loch Muick, where Richy (who’d again decided that DIY was more important than flying) came to rescue him before Lu could. I scratched around on Carn an t-Sagant Mor (the hill with the remains of the jets on) but kept losing the thermals. So I got to the end of Glen Callater and turned around to push into the wind back to the bothy. Brian had meanwhile flown to the same bothy and was quaffing a cup of tea while being entertained by me getting trashed in the valley wind. But a lift back to the road by Simon’s mate who runs the bothy made up for any unpleasantness. So we had Simon on 18km (54km for the weekend), Brian on 6km (total 17km) and Matt on 17km (62km). All in all a very successful weekend.

 

As an aside, this finished up a week’s flying, starting at Ben Newe, Morrone and the Cairnwell with brilliant skies that we just couldn’t get high in, though had some airtime trying. Then on the Friday I walked up Morven and got to cloudbase at 5000ft. Unfortunately the cloud street went straight to Ben Avon where I’d gone down in April, resulting in a long walk. So I left the obvious route and paid the price by ending up on the deck after 15km. But near the road so only 5 minutes walk, ha ha.

 

 

Flight Report 22nd July – Morrone to Spittal of Glenshee by Matthew Church

 


Late afternoon by the time I got to Morrone – it was blowing a hoolie in Aberdeen and Bob called at 13:00 to say it was light in Braemar. In fact it was still blowing strongly as I drove out through Ballater. Walked up the NE spur and launched as soon as I was on the edge of the N bowl, the wind being fairly light from the north. Smooth thermals finally took me up and I drifted with one over the back to 5000ft. Aimed for the next NW facing ridge on the other side of the valley and found the climb somewhere there. This drifted me on to Glas Moal, though while still climbing Lu called to say she had to go for her practice with the massed harps of Aberdeen, so I was on my own. Went along the ridge of Creag Leacach but decided not to hop across to Glen Isla but kept to the ridges of Glenshee. Ended up with not enough height to get across the Spittal to Meall Uaine so landed in a recently cut field. 19.5km on the clock.

First hitch to Braemar was in a Bentley (veeerrry nice), then a doubledecker bus to Ballater. No Richy so another hitch to Aboyne (in the more usual beaten up Ford) from where Simon kindly came to pick me up.

 

Flights from Morrone:    

Simon in green (one from Meall Uaine)

Matt in blue

 

 

Flight Report 14th May – Aonoch Mor to Fort William by Kevin Will

Saw Julian go at the start of his 58km flight to Derrydalloch, Glen Falloch, but then no one else could get up for ages. The sea breeze kicked a few thermals off at 17:30 and me & a lad on an Ozone Proton thermalled up to 6500ft. I went over the Ben before landing at Ft. William. Great evening flight for a hour but only 6.5km, although I thought I was only going to get the 2 short test flights on the Mustang that day.

 

Kev’s Boot Over The Ben

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flight Report 18th May – Tap O’Noth to Keith by Matthew Church

 

Went to Tap with Bob on a SE forecast. Bit east at the top, about 15mph. I take off, find its actually a bit stronger than that so throw the plan of soaring the Tap before top landing to help Bob off and go straight to the Hill O’Noth. Get a nice climb to 4000ft but decide to hang around and hope Bob can launch himself. After an hour its obvious that he can’t or won’t so I take the next climb. Typically lose it at 3300ft and go for a small hill I’ve tried but failed to use before. This time I take the chance and circle very low over the trees and am rewarded for some good flying with a good climb up to base at 5000ft. I trundle off trying to keep clear of the approaching clag from the south, taking a few small climbs. See a couple of Tornadoes go below me in one thermal. A final glide put me in amongst the power lines near Keith which severely hampers scratching low in any lift so ended up on the ground – 21k out. Bob had rigged but then packed up again as he was not happy launching in those conditions without a nose man and very kindly came to pick me up (just as well as all the pubs were shut).

 

 

Matt’s Boots Over A Tornado Over Den of Pitlurg

 

 

 

George Watt Memorial Trophy XC League & Over-the-Back Bottle

Rank

PILOT

 

POINTS TOTAL

OTB

Total Km Flown

Wing Factor

Km needed

 

                                                                         

1

Matt

Church

15.46

10

123.7

8

0.0

2

Simon

Lucas

6.79

4

54.3

8

69.4

3

Julian

Robinson

3.15

1

25.2

8

97.9

4

Brian

O'Donnell

3.18

2

25.4

8

98.3

5

Giles

Adam

1.44

2

11.5

8

112.2

6

Adrian

Smith

1.43

2

11.4

8

112.3

7

Kevin

Will

1.25

1

10.0

8

113.7

8

Scott

Mather

0.63

1

5.0

8

118.7

9

Graeme

Connelly

0.54

0

4.3

8

119.4

10

Richy

Grundy

0.51

0

4.1

8

119.6

11

John

Newton

0.25

0

2.0

8

121.7

 

Total Distance Flown: 277.5km

Scores in red unconfirmed.

 

For those that don’t know (or have forgotten), the XC League is handicapped according to glider type and any distance counts. The Over-The-Back Bottle (OTB) award goes to the pilot with the highest number of flights of 10km or more for hang gliders and of 5km or over for paragliders. This is the best trophy as it not only involves the (almost) usual silverware but also a bottle of whisky.

 

As you can see, there are new names to the league. Brian had his first XC’s from Morrone in May and then Giles, Scott and Graeme also got away last weekend from the same site for their first XC’s as well. This was also the weekend Adrian had his first XC’s in Scotland, though at least he’s got away before in South Africa. Well done to them all. All the hangies seem to be stuck to the hill this year.

 

 

Sites Updates by Dr Bob

 

St Cyrus – SNH has asked the club not to fly the cliffs during the nesting season. Accordingly the site is now closed until Saturday 20th August. Limited flying is possible to the north of the car park but don’t fly to the south (and spoil it for everyone else).

 

Cairnwell – the chair lift is now running 7 days a week, weather permitting. Cost is about £4 per lift or £10 for a day pass. Since it is a 70 mile drive from Aberdeen its still worth a phone call if you are wanting to use the service (013397 41320).

 

Morrone – on the first day the club used the new driving access to the summit of this hill near Braemar there was a big paraglider squad out, boosted by a hangy contingent from Angus (I passed Bill Hutcheon’s house on the way to the hill)

 

Coilochbhar – Anyone checked on the old track up the back through the forest (as specified in the sites’ guide)?

 

Ben Newe – the track was reported as being bocked by fallen trees. Has anyone been there in the last few months to see if this is still the case?

 

 

News & Stuff

 

Ken Macrae has joined the ranks of BHPA Club Pilot rated flyers, finally getting all his tasks signed off by Zabdi at Flying Fever on Arran in May. Well done to him.

 

A further note to the small ad about ex-Scottish pilots Ruth & Ulrich as while staying with them, Glasgow pilot Bob “Mad Weegie” Gair ended up helping Cross Country magazine in a test on various light-weight gliders.

 

AHPC beat the LLSC. Simon, John, Matt (and Andy Davies from Englandshire) made up a team in France for the Chabre Open. While we didn’t win (9th team out of 19), we did beat the Lanarkshire and Lothian team (11th). Full write up by John or Simon to follow.

 

Alan Budge and his girlfriend Fiona went to Dorset to do some flying with Flight Culture, with whom they are going to Dune de la Playa in September. Three out of 7 days were flyable and meant that Fiona now has her EP and even got some tasks done for her CP.

 

I (as in Matt) was given a calender by Dave Tweedie of the Ulster Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club, which they produce each year. I propose we do the same for the AHPC. We have about a dozen sites so one a month would work. Any good photos around? Anybody got any thoughts on the idea?

 

Tony Smith has sold his Atos, so presumably we won’t see him for a good while. Maybe once he’s got tired of sailing the high seas, I mean lochs.

 

Jenny Auckland, despite having been living in Australia for the last 6 years, hasn’t flown her hang glider. Something to do with sitting around in dusty tow paddocks in temperatures of 40 degrees (that’s centigrade, not farenheit as at Thornhill). She has however substituted it with surf and kitesurfing, which apparently is perfect in Perth. Jenny was on maternity leave so presumably is a mother now; all the best to her and sprog. She is happy to help any pilot that is visiting Western Oz,so if you head that way, make a note of her contact details on the membership list first.

 

 

Stuff for Sale from Simon Lucas (079790 35345)  (Aberdeen)

 

All reasonable offers considered. Unreasonable offers treated with suitable derision!

 

Edel 8000 mountaineering paraglider medium (75-95kg)     £700

DHV1, 50 hrs, yellow/blue, weighs 4.3 kg

Supair Randonneuse harness (light weight)

 

System X Harness Vario Mount   £10

Side zip, plastic front cover, 15cm x 10 cm x 5cm

 

Wall charger for Alinco radio, UK Plug     £10

13V 150 mA output

 

Battery multi-charger for Camcorder battery, 4.8 V / 6V / 7.7V auto sensing, European plug £5

Suitable for Top Nav or camcorder

 

Alinco EMS-47 speaker mike, adjustable volume, still boxed         £10

 

Ski suit / flying suit.  Medium, purple/maroon       £20

 

Nova Xyon 125 paraglider, medium (75-95kg)        £250

DHV 2-3, 140 hrs, blue/white

 

Metamaforsi 18 gore paraglider reserve.   £ Free to deserving cause

10 years old, only use this if you are too skint or too stupid to get a new one as per BHPA guidelines.

Suit all-up weight up to 100 kg. 

 

Icom radio bits: flexible aerial, BP153 12V / 600 mAh battery, BP151 6V / 800 mAh battery £20 the lot

Another Incident at St Cyrus by Simon Lucas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


What Happened

·         Flying glider along a Northerly beat, in the lift band above the cliff edge.  Wind appeared to be dropping – flying at low speed to maximise lift

·         Turned into wind at North end of beat, lift failing.  Checked flag on the Northerly point – wind direction still “on”

·         Flew in front of the cliffs, loosing height, with aim of landing on beach.  Still flying slow relatively close to stall point

·         Whilst passing the point in front of launch, decided to turn to the right to land closer to the path

·         Felt the air go “dead” and total loss of lift

·         Realised I had flown into the “dead zone” below air flowing up over the cliff

·         Speed up a little and started turning glider to the left, out into wind, keeping flat turn as relatively close to the ground

·         Felt the right hand wing tip beginning to stall, so started letting up on that side, weight shifted slightly to right to keep wing loaded and reduce roll.

·         Avoided immediate stall, but wing still not loaded properly so kept letting up.

·         Felt wing go completely dead so let up on both brakes and prepared for PLF as about 2m above the ground out from landing.

·         Right hand wing tip collapsed (about 20%) and wing flat spun clockwise (i.e toward the side that had collapsed)

·         Approx 180 deg rotation by the time I hit the ground, flat with little roll

·         PLF on impact, being spun clockwise, rolled onto right side of my back

·         Stood up – everything fine.  Chiropractor 2 days later.

 

 

Primary cause

·         Landing in the wrong place - didn’t follow flight plan for landing on the beach in front of the “dead zone”

 

Contributory causes

·         Late change to flight plan, impetuous decision to land near the path not subject to proper risk analysis/thinking.  Lack of currency / complacency, “I’m skilled  enough to handle it”

·         Flying close to stall point – little margin for error in event of turbulence

·         Shear layer between “dead zone” unmoving air and air flowing up over the cliff caused enough turbulence to stall a wing flying at slow speed

·         Possibly some turbulence from small sand bars, but these are well in front of landing area

 

Mitigating factors

·         Experience including SIV course meant I could feel the onset of the stall and react accordingly without panicking.  Managed the situation and avoided a full stall with associated high pitch and yaw   Managed to loose 6-7m height without loosing control of the wing.

·         Proper position (out of harness, feet down) well in time for landing – did not have to change position in harness while controlling imminent stall.

·         Proper PLF technique

·         Proper harness protection (12 cm Bump-Air)

 

Sum Up

·         Very lucky – this could have been a lot worse, a high probability of a serious back injury if it had happened at higher altitude or resulted in a violent stall.

 

Advice

·         If the wind drops on cliff sites, land out in front, be aware of the “dead zone”

·         Go to the bottom of the cliff in flyable conditions and walk directly out into wind – see how far you get before there is steady breeze on your face

·         Keep enough flying speed

 

 

Other Info

 

Windtech Quarx Medium (DHV2)

Pilot rated

13 years flying / 250 hrs

Site: St Cyrus (coastal cliffs), Montrose

Wind 10-15 mph SE at takeoff, dropping slowly while flying.

 

 

Ground-handling on Morrone, Sunday 24th July – there were 9 of us that day

 

 

 

Scottish Aerotow Club Open Competition 19th - 21st August 2005

 

Just got the Aerotow newsletter and it seems Bob and Ross have been doing a bit of flying down there. The Aerotow Club will be holding an Open Competition on the weekend of 20th-21st August 2005, with a practice/familiarisation day on Friday 19th August. For non aerotow rated pilots we may be flying from some of the local hills in addition to towing, and there may be basic aerotowing tuition available. Tows will be available from 1pm on Friday 19th.

 

British Championships Round 1 – Mayrhofen, Austria by Matthew Church

 

I have once again entered the 3 British Opens, though as I am now Advanced Pilot rated (ooh) I am in the Championships as well as flying each round individually.

 

The first round was at Mayrhofen in the Austrian Tyrol (see Kev Will’s article from the October 2004 Dangler). Big Alps up 3500m and still a fair bit of snow around. I went out a week early for a “Race Training” course by local British guide Kelly Farina. In a group of 9 pilots plus Kelly we had various tasks set, similar to those likely to be used in the competition and covering the whole Ziller valley. Low cloud base meant we started with a couple of short 20-30km routes. Then the weather got better and better. I “bombed” on our 100km task, only getting halfway round (the only time I didn’t land at the goalfield in the 2 weeks), but finished a couple of 65km ones. Bases were up to 3600m above sea level, having taken off at 2000m, leaving plenty of time for glides as the valley floor is at 630m. On the day before the competition I was offered a new glider to fly, a UP Trango 2. Like my Excel, this is a DHV 2/3 wing, but being a new model has a better glide and bit more speed than my 4-year old somewhat shagged-out glider. Something I had noticed during the week was that on the glides across the valleys I would generally get to the other side nearly 200m lower than the others on their new wings (Trango 2’s, Advance Omega 6’s, a Skywalk Cayenne and Kelly’s borrowed Boomerang 3 comp wing). The wing was much livelier than mine though only went pear-shaped in the expected places – ie when I flew into the rotor. But while I got “Trango’ed” several times, I was able to get out of the mess with correct inputs (definitely a wing needing active flying and an experienced pilot). I wanted to fly it a bit more and Airtopia who lent me the wing, kindly allowed me to fly it for the comp.

 

Flying the UP Trango 2

 

The actual comp started well for me, getting into goal after a 70km task on the first day, though I made quite a few mistakes and wasn’t as fast as I might otherwise have been. But pretty happy. Then a three shorter tasks, 40km or so, in initially scratchy conditions: pilots milling around crowding each other (and more to the point, ME) out of the lift. But I got to goal in the 2nd and 3rd tasks, though was really stuck on task 4 and was only halfway round when the task was stopped due to very strong winds in the goal field – my own fault as I was the last to take off.

 

Another scrappy day in lee-side thermals for task 5. I finally got clear of the crowds near launch (I really don’t like crowds in these conditions and kept trying to run away but they’d pounced on me as soon as you tried to turn in lift) but got hit by what was effectively a twister – huge hit, wing almost twisting, got it recovered, hit again, and again and again before I could get clear of the air. Nasty. Had me looking for my reserve handle, though I was afraid to let go of the controls as the wing would have just spun around my head. Despite these big collapses, I was still mostly going up and only lost 40m. After getting my breath back I found another thermal and got the turnpoint, but then left the course and crossed the valley to the windward side. Much nicer flying. I got back above the goal field, skipping the rest of the course and soared a cliff hoping to watch the lead gaggle come in. But I was too late and just saw a trickle of gliders going in to land. It turned out that most of these guys hadn’t even made the first turnpoint. So despite my troubles I still came in 59th out of 90 with 30 pilots less than 1km ahead of me (I should have tried just that little harder to get that turnpoint near the cliffs!).

 

Follow That Street

 

For the first time in a British paragliding competition came the 6th task with a really good looking sky. I got stuck on the hill while a helicopter came in for Paul Russell who piled-in in front of launch (it arrived in 3 minutes but had to wait 30 minutes while Paul stabilised before leaving with him)(in the end he had a broken ankle and bruised back). Those pilots already flying had to stooge around in a thermal on the edge of the start gate, which made for an impressive sight. The 71km task proved to be just right with a wonderful cloud street out to the Gerloss pass. I managed to do the out part of that section with only a few turns once I’d got to cloudbase (at 3800m). Of course I then fell out of the lift (watching a friend 50m away cruising along while I plummeted) and lost all the time I’d made up. But at least I got to warm up and I finished the course with a 14km glide on full bar.

 

The last day was just pesh weather wise so that was the end of the comp. I ended up 46th out 97 but more to the point flew 12 days out of 14, for 40-odd hours and 560km.

 

Mayrhofen Revisited by Kevin Will

 

Not so good as Matt had it. On my week it was 2 sled rides on the first day, took off in drizzle just to save the walk down. Then it was mountain biking the next, hill walking the day after and getting wet on the chairlift the next. Managed 2 1/2 hours on the Thursday, only up to base at 2600m then over to the Wiesenhof on the Ahorn for the hardest scratching I've ever done for 40 mins before catching some thermals to top land above the Ahorn cablecar. I waited for everyone else to join me but no one could get up, so took off for a short flight over the Indian ridge to the main landing field for a pint. Friday was supposed to be epic but alas not, short hour flight scratching around Zell. So much for the great mega conditions in June.

 

 

Redbull X-ALPS a friend of mine, Aidan Toase, is flying as the British entry in this race across the Alps, supported by his Mum. See www.redbullxalps.com for live updates as the competitors all carry GPS transponders. I hope to see him somewhere along the way, maybe even at the start on 1st August.

 

 

British Championships Round 2 – Piedrahita, Spain by Matthew Church

 

Again a site that Kev Will has been to and written about, this time in the September 2003 issue of the Dangler. I went out to Spain a day before the competition with Gordon Macgregor from LLSC and Andy Jess from Ulster, in order to get at least one flight in, never having been to Piedrahita before. However BMI decided to leave my bags in Heathrow so I had to chill in the town square instead. There were plenty of folk I know from other comps sitting around as well, mostly in a sorry state after a Cross Country magazine-sponsored party the previous night. The last to leave the bar were thrown out by the police at 7:30.

 

My wing finally arrived but my problems didn’t stop there as my GPS decided to pack up. I spoke to Steve Ham and he ordered me a new one (I splashed out on an XC Trainer combined vario & GPS) but as that wouldn’t arrive until Monday night, Steve lent me his old Top Navigator for the first 2 days of the competition. Only the most complicated instrument on the market but hey, if it got Steve to the number 2 spot in the world rankings then maybe it would help me! Then again, Simon Lucas has one as well.

 

First task and its certainly a bit daunting with about 150 pilots at the Pena Negra launch (and 2 free-flying hangies). But the area is big enough to cope and I wasn’t held up by anyone in front of me (just those pulling up behind). The task was a cat’s cradle in front of the ridge, with the later turn points across the other side of the valley from Pena Negra. Good way to see the area I suppose. I went slowly, enjoying the views and looking around, but got drilled by the infamous Piedrahita sink – a lot of the area works on convergence with not only lift lines but big sink lines.

 

The second task was an out 50km towards Avila and then back again. Initially the route was along the ridge then, once over the pass, a choice of ridge-with-a-push-out or along the valley. I went at a reasonable pace to start with, but lost it big time 10km out and was grovelling at Villafranca and making a do-or-die glide into a valley. Luckily it did and I got up very high (3600m) but then mucked about thinking I could get high easily again and never really managed to. Still, a few more thermals and I got halfway round the course, though gave up a bit too easily in trying to get the turnpoint which was into wind. Probably something to do with the turnpoint being a bar. Still, 50km flown, though with 60-odd pilots in goal and more along the course I scored pretty badly.

 

The 3rd task was another cat’s cradle, only heading further east to El Barco first. Most of us scratched along the ridge at first before getting the climb above the inversion. As we spread out along the course it was great flying with a few friends, leaving them at the top of climbs then meeting up with another few friends in the next thermal. I finally got to base at 4100m (having slightly misjudged a few climbs missing the top by a few hundred metres) just before the first turnpoint 25k out. A bit of a glide had me meeting up with Mark Graham, then another good climb before a long glide back west. Mark went a bit faster than me and must of heard me shouting not to turn in a climb until I’d warmed up: it was bloody freezing up there. We saw the convergence at work as a couple of comp gliders sunk out either side of us. I lost Mark as he got a thermal I just couldn’t find, but joined up with John Stevenson and Mick Brothers for a while. Then I went into real go-slow mode to make sure I got round. So much so that for 10 minutes I drifted in a zero-up (well, actually I couldn’t find the bit going up up) and finally went a bit high on my last climb. I calculated I’d need 2500m asl to get into goal, decided I’d leave at 3000m to make sure but the climb was the best of the day (saw 8m/s on the vario) so I stayed with it until 3400m! I then picked a good line and only lost 100m in the 5km to the turnpoint and only hit small sink for the 7km to goal, arriving with 1000m spare. Oops. But racing wouldn’t have got me ahead of anyone and people finishing 40minutes earlier only got 3 points more.

 

The last day looked a bit on the big side cloudwise, but I was confident on the safety committee would call a stop if necessary. The thermal forecast was for stronger than the previous day and a 120km task was set. But when we went off in groups (due to the wind coming periodically over the back of launch) we found it very light. However I managed to complete my own task for these championships and stayed in the middle of a gaggle of 30 or so in climbs averaging 0.2m/s or something big like that. In fact, I managed to climb through the gaggle to the top. Scary but I didn’t run away as usual. Well, until we’d got reasonably established then a rush of blood sent me off on my own, and straight down. Not a good day to bomb out at 12km when the rest of the group did 60-100km.

 

The next 3 days were blown out with the wind not only too strong but also over the back. So we went for walks (looking for Gordon’s stuff sack) and quad biking, where we saw a Griffon vulture swoop low.. As in 6 foot above our heads. That’s low when considering his wing span was about 8 foot.

 

So result-wise I finished rather low but I’d really enjoyed the flying, got up to base at over 4000m, flown in gaggles, drunk far too much and generally had a good time.

 

Next and final round, 27th to 30th August at the Long Mynd, England.