Summer was here but has now gone. Which means that it’s time for the following notice:

 

A.G.M. will be held on Friday 25th November at 7:30 (sharp) at the Boat Club.

 

ANY PROPOSALS FOR DISCUSSION AT THE AGM SHOULD BE SENT TO ME SO I CAN DISTRIBUTE THEM TO THE WHOLE CLUB. DEADLINE IS TWO WEEKS (I THINK) BEFORE THE AGM.

 

Already suggested for debate are the Scottish Sites’ Guide and that the club make an annual donation to Braemar mountain rescue.

 

Wummin Parapoofters Are Dangling In Red by Fiona Work

 

My name is Fiona and as a newly accredited club pilot, I have been coerced into agreeing to give the Doric Danglers a wee introduction to myself and to tell you about my club pilot experience. It started in Scotland, continued in England and finished at the Dunne du Pyla, which is situated next to Arcachon near Bordeaux on the west coast of France.  The dune is something spectacular in itself, standing 385ft high and stretching close to two miles long; it is the biggest sand dune in Europe.  It also has a life of its own, and has already swallowed trees, a road junction and an entire hotel which worried me each night as I went to bed.  I was assured the process was gradual and would not happen as I para-slumbered in an adjacent campsite.

 

Because of its orientation, the dune offers extremely reliable flying conditions for elementary and club pilots.  During the week the sea breeze effect switches on at around 11am to midday and allows flyable conditions till late evening.  Some days the breeze decided to arrive in the late afternoon which integrated the traditional ‘para-waiting’ experience on a desolate and deserted sandy dune in the sun.  However, a bizarre phenomenon happened within ten nano seconds of that sought-after chilled breeze.  From the trees, scores of para-waiters would emerge like midgies attracted to a camplight to fill the sky with dancing colours.

 

The advert at Flight Culture’s website said “summer flying tends to be extremely reliable here in Bordeaux.  Flying in shorts and trainers, the dune, several hundred feet of soft sand, provides an opportunity to get bags of air-time in a stress free environment”.  What the school missed out was that carrying 16kgs of equipment on your back to the top of the Grande Dune was like a week in the French Foreign Legion ‘boot camp’;  a task which I’m sure is given solely to Elementary and Club trainees as part of the initiation ceremony and as a source of entertainment.  As for the soft sand, three steps forward and two back were the order of the day. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Accomplished French paraglding acrobatic artistes reinforced my own inadequacies as I struggled with cross-hand reverse launches, which my instructor so favoured.  One of my instructors in Skywings published that in employing such a technique indicated that “the pilot is well balanced and in a position of command”.  Well, there is a first for everything!  Not that that stopped my forward alpine launches. However ground handling takes on a new meaning at the dunes as the sand gets everywhere (and I mean everywhere) and a normally light glider takes no time in filling with sand. If your technique is really poor, which mine was, then it’s a great motivating factor to learn quickly to avoid carrying another few kilos up that Grande Dune.

 

Once back, wearing shorts and T-shirts led my work colleagues to question the source of my numerous bruises that are an integral part of Alpine launching.  I am sure they think I have been away on an S and M specialist holiday. Maybe they’re right as well.

 

As a female parapoofter, shopping for the equipment was an easy task and done incorporating feng shui.

Make of glider:   yes, it’s made and in a bonny shade of red

Certification:      no idea, but, like I said it’s red

Harness:           black but guess what, it has red on it, and matches the glider perfectly and my newly

acquired red ribbon.

Helmet:             yes, I’ve met many of them while para-waiting and none of them wore red.

 

I sincerely hope to meet you all soon on some scenic hill in Aberdeenshire.  I will be easily spotted (or is that avoided) with my new red glider.

 

 

News & Stuff

 

Bob Dunthorn has released dates for his winter sojourns to Lanzergrotty. He and Big Ian Smith will be going for 2 weeks from 3rd November. Then Bob will (unconfirmed but probably) return to the island on 8th December for another 2 weeks, with Ian joining him on the 15th for the second week.

 

Big Ian has meanwhile left Urquhart Road and moved to the salubrious Westhill. We hope its nothing to do with Richy Grundy buying a flat in aforementioned Urquhart Road. Then again, Richy was by his own accounts the neighbour-from-hell in Ballater, so maybe there is a bit more than coincidence.

 

Sandy Argo has moved from his ditch in France and is now on an German organic fruit farm in Andulucia, working for board, lodging and peanuts. Did you know the Gemans had colonised Spain?

 

Guillaume Perrin is a Frenchman posted to Aberdeen, working for Total, who also happens to have just learnt to fly a paraglider.

 

Mike Mackay has finished his posting in Geneva and moved back to Aberdeen, so expect to see him on the hills, whatever the weather. He phoned me at the beginning of September and went out in what looked like strong conditions. I’ve not heard anything since so either it was blown out or he got killed.

 

Actually, possibly there’s an even better reason for going out – the fields at the bottom of Kerloch have been planted with hemp. As in the relative of cannabis. So anybody who gets a good photo for me gets a prize (good being a glider and a plant in the same frame). I’m sure we can then send it to Skywings for their caption competition (AHPC get higher than thermals, or some such nonsense).

 

Julian Robinson and Adrian Smith went to Slovenia for a flying holiday. Haven’t managed to get either of them to write an article yet but a synopsis is that it peshed with rain, Adrian took off into a tree and Julian landed in a lake, or a lake landed on him. Or something like that. Maybe they’ll put pen to paper and explain.

 

Duncan Booth went to Oludeniz in Turkey at the end of August. Two flights off the top of Babadag (Father Mountain) at 6500’. Very smooth conditions with some thermal activity on the first flight. Stunning scenery and easy landings on the beach made it a good place to fly.

 

A bloke that Julian met in Slovenia called Toby is running a couple of trips to Morocco this winter. Ideal for low airtime pilots who want to get some flying in. Contact Julian (01224 561152) for details.

 

Still with Jules, he’s changing job an during the intervening 3 weeks is heading out to Brasil for the nuts. And to take part in the Xceara, an open distance competition with retrieve by plane for the top 5 pilots. So hopefully he’ll be skipping the 100km fkight and going straight for the 200.

 

Thanks to those who paid their membership and/or glider storage fees (including Per, Ross and Roy W).

 

Crash Test Dummy 2005 Nominations Anything new? Nothing I’ve heard of.

 

Scottish Nationals Paragliding Series – Arran, 23-24th July by Neil Macdonald

 

The first two rounds of this not very prestigious open championship were postponed or cancelled for one reason or another and so Arran played host to the first competition of the season. Despite rumours from certain people about appearances, our new roving reporter in the south (Neil Macdonald replacing Sandy Argo) was the only member of the Aberdeen squad to make an appearance.

 

Saturday morning and with my track record of catching ferries being poor to say the least I arrive at Ardrossan with over an hour to spare and find I am able to board an earlier crossing than expected. That was the good news, the bad being that I can’t see the island as in its place there is a HUGE band of low cloud and mist. It’s not a promising start but I tell myself that it’ll all burn off and turn into a wonderful day.

 

 Upon docking in Broddick I find some likely looking chaps lurking around with similarly oversized rucksacks to mine and start up some banter until the official meeting time arrives. Zabdi Keen and George Mcghee are running the show and with registration completed final numbers reach 21 competitors and a few free flyers tagging along for kicks. Promises of a BBQ and a T-Shirt are made but with last years competitors still waiting for clothing I’m not putting off my next trip to M&S just yet.

 

First briefing is just that – brief. It goes along the lines of “It’s a crap day for flying let’s go for a coffee and meet back here in an hour and a half.” Two hours later we sort of amble back and there are all sorts of hopeful mumblings about sun coming out, skies clearing, clouds lifting but in reality not much has changed weather-wise. Something has to be done about flying – it’s not a coffee morning after all. Local scouts are sent out to all points of the island. Reports come in that Lochranza in the North has a NW wind, Sannox in the East has SE and on the String Rd. its more toward the West: basically its anyone’s guess what is happening in Arran’s micro climate. All sorts of technical explanations are offered about high and low pressure systems, depressions, convergence and sea breezes – YAAAWWWN!… More coffee anyone?

 

Finally a decision is made about what to do with the day and so off we troop in a convoy (I double up in the Skooby Doo mobile with chap called Martin and his dog “Dogsbody” – cheers mate) to view the chosen site – a small ridge facing SE called An Tunna. Its going to be tricky if the ridge works as there is room for only one glider, or maybe two at a squeeze, to soar it at a time.

 

The trek up through the trees reduces the space problem slightly as the swarms of midges stirred up force all of the women except local heroine Zabdi back to the car park. Further chatter over the radio indicates to me that one or two others are distinctly lost in the forest. The survivors of the chest-deep heather and the midges with nasty pointed teeth gather to hear the task for the day, which is set at open distance in any direction. Translation: make the best of the poor conditions. One or two of the more early pilots try to gain height and head north in search of the illusive convergence of the N & S winds whilst the rest of us see what we can scratch off the ridge, then the valley walls in a southerly direction. No one gets very far and so it is deemed that the honours be shared for the day.

 

Off to the campsite for beer, BBQ and bullshitting until the early morning. A beach bonfire gets started and local entertainment appears in the form of 2 guys with guitars offering the island’s alternative to karaoke.

 

Sunday morning 10 AM meeting: Kildonan, where we are staying, looks blown out but the local jungle drums assure Zabdi this is all of Arran’s own weather system and in Laggan it’s actually a flyable NE breeze suited to the long sea cliff ridge there. Once more it’s back to the Skooby wagon and off round the island. The weather looks better as we progress further north and the walk up is nowhere near as taxing as yesterday: longer but without the trees, the heather and the midges. The wind from the top is a reasonable 14mph and looks good to fly. My only concern is the steep drop over the edge, did I say steep drop? I meant vertical precipice but I guess the idea is to get airborne before this becomes an issue.

 

Today’s task is North along the ridge until you reach the little house on the prairie, I mean coast, and then open distance South. I decide its best to get up and off early as something makes me uncomfortable about take off: could be the wind feeling stronger than it is; could be the aforementioned drop; or it could be the occasional peat hag threatening to trap my feet. Or maybe the hangover has finally kicked in. I don’t try to think about what it is as if I do then I’ll just worry about it and bottle the take off.

 

Two wind dummies are sent out, one stays out from the hill and flies overhead reporting that it’s very smooth while the other stays close in and floats like a cannon ball out of sight. MMMMM I wonder where the lift band is then.

 

I settle myself and go for take off. Pull up the canopy and with only a couple of dainty ballet style touchdowns with the tips of my boot on bouncy heather I’m away. I head out from the ridge and immediately my vario beeps away quite happily. I am soaring the ridge comfortably 200m above take off and decide to see what this cross country stuff is all about. Up to the little house, turn and off we go then. Heading South and the vario stops beeping – bad news me thinks, but the numbers don’t change on its dial and by the time I reach the forest which has to be cleared or avoided I’ve only lost about 20 metres height since I left the little house 4km behind me.

 

Let’s go for it then, over the top of the forest, follow the coast round and see what treats lie ahead. Of course the only real option for a great cross country would be to make for the mountains covered in cloud and mist but I doubt I’ve got the height to reach them so choose a sensible flight path avoiding obvious hazards. I see the glider that was in front of me tried to reach the mountains and failed: he’s turned back to fly towards me now and we meet up to soar on an improbably small rise above Sannox village. After about 10 beats back and forth I have as much height as I came in with and doubt I’ll get any more. I spot what must have been one of the first to leave the hill landed in a field below me and decide to join him – at least I’ll know what it’s like to be in the lead for a minute or two with a distance of 10K. Two others come in to land at the same spot but as we pack up at least two other fliers glide overhead, sacrificing the chance for more lift inland for that extra bit of distance along the coast: hope they get down safely as it looks like housing and trees ahead.

 

The four of us fight our way through bracken that is above head height in places to find a cliff dropping to the sea bars our way. Eventually we figure the only way out is through the garden of a house on the shore road. The entire family comes out to see what strange creatures fly through the sky and ask for safe passage through their land but are very friendly and we wish them all good day before making a swift exit to the pub. Turns out a few of the others are landing in similar patches all around us so the beer garden makes a splendid meeting place to regroup and the awards ceremony is also conducted within its confines. It’s all very good natured and not too serious an event with the hope that more experienced pilots will offer some help / coaching to the less experienced.

 

Verdict: Great weekend away with a decent bit of flying on Sunday. Arran definitely has its own curious weather pattern so if your planning a trip across get some local info or be prepared to circumnavigate the island before giving up for the day. You can get a good bit of craic in the Kildonan Hotel and they do a decent BBQ – none of that sausage and burger muck! Hope to see some of you at future rounds of the series.

 

 

Zabdi Keen is leaving Arran and is off to Nepal for the winter. She hopes you can go and join her to fly above the Himalayas. Check out  www.flyingfever.net or send an email for more detail info@flyingfever.net. Simon Lcas may well be joining her in December.

 

 

Sites Updates by Dr Bob

 

St Cyrus –now OPEN the whole length.

 

Cairnwell – the chair lift stopped running on 2nd September and is now closed until the skiing season.

 

Morrone – trial period is now over and we need to see if there have been any complaints or whether we can continue to drive up.

 

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?

 

Aberdeen Accommodation Review September 2005 by Steve Blackler

 

As some of you may be aware, my relocation to Rosyth means that I will be heading back to fly the epic sites of Aberdeen next summer. So I thought I should utilise four days of flex that appeared on my Naval program to take a trip up to the port of Rosyth and see the ship that I will be joining. Whilst driving over the Forth Road Bridge I did indeed see the ship in the distance… and then kept driving until I reached Bob’s house. So begins my review of two fabulous Aberdeen accommodation establishments and a tale of one the best flights I have ever had.

 

The first two nights were spent at Bob’s Place. A comfortable relic from the 80’s, Bob’s Place hasn’t changed since I last stayed there five years ago. Well, I tell a lie, it now has a DVD player. However, this house doesn’t need laminate floors or central heating to make you feel at home; a hearty welcome from its proprietor helps you to feel relaxed and at ease. During your stay ensure you go on the Aberdeen Curry tour where you can experience a taste of India and a painful revisit by the curry the next morning.

 

If you time your stay right, like I did, you can also include a visit to the local Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club meeting. You’ll meet friendly faces, consume many pints and have yourself a jovial time. If you’re a hang glider pilot you will also help to almost double the hang gliding attendance. This in turn will help prove to the paraglider pilots that hang gliding is not dying a slow, painful and lethargic death.

 

The final night was spent at Big Ian’s Bungalow. This new establishment is an extended and modernised improvement to the Inner City Chalet where Ian used to allow spongers to stay. With leather recliners, a large plasma TV, a shrubbery in the front garden and single sprung mattress in the guest room, there is an air of conservatism. However, the concrete back garden is enough to reassure visitors who know Ian that he hasn’t gone through a mid-life crisis and there are no plans of getting married and having children in the near future. During your stay at Big Ian’s Bungalow don’t miss out on the Westhill Pub Crawl - you never know you may get lucky and score 2 fat mingers like we almost did. If we’d stayed for another pint we may have discovered the difference between a fox and a hound: I’m told it is seven pints!

 

Finally on to the flying, which was the reason for the visit. I was only in Aberdeen for three days and I had two flyable days. Not a bad average: one of the days was ok and the other was AWESOME! The first day allowed for a pleasant couple of hours soaring at Tap O’ North. We arrived on the hill a bit late due to the weather forecast, which said things were going to improve in the afternoon. The forecast must have been for sun dodgers because we made it just in time for the spread out. If we were there an hour earlier a trip over the back would have definitely been on the cards.

 

 

The second day didn’t start very well, it was shaping up to be a day of doomed hang driving. A trip up Tap proved that the wind was picking up as forecast. The question was how much stronger than 35mph was it going to get. These strong winds weren’t going to put Mad Bob off. While we watched Bob continue to rig I got to know a new shipmate from the days of the real Navy: Charlie and I only just stopped short of singing sea shanties to pass the time. Thankfully, Ian declaring he was going to leave with the only vehicle and check out Craiglich was enough to persuade Bob to pack up. Ian’s desperate idea in the search for some flying, even considering the dreich overcast conditions, turned into a gem. On top of Craiglich I was surprised to find that it was blowing a smooth 20mph so Ross and I rigged. This was enough to persuade Ian and Charlie to start rigging but Bob was a little reticent and started rigging much later.

 

We had talked about wave and pointed out Tap O’ North in the distance but I took off expecting nothing more than a couple more hours of soaring. Soon I was going up, initially in small bumpy bits of air but within minutes it turned in to constant smooth lift. For the next ten minutes a debate was going on in my head… the doubtful side lost when I was 1000ft above take off: it was definitely wave. Below me a little line of cumulus cloud was forming and I started to get quite excited.

 

Wave is something I have heard about and longed to experience ever since I got over Sandy Argo’s horror stories. There I was in the smooth lift steadily going higher and higher. I was still going up when Ross and Ian launched but by the time Bob had hobbled forward I was sailing over the back of Craiglich at 6000ft dying to test out whether there really was another wave bar down wind. 10km later I found it. It was an enlightening discovery and proved once and for all that wave wasn’t a myth. The lift wasn’t as strong as it was over Craiglich so when I reached 5000ft I got bored and decided to tour a bit of the Aberdeen countryside. I glided over a small village and realised it was Bridge of Alford. Just beyond it I connected with lift again. I parked into wind and topped up in the weakening lift while absorbing the great view from my awesome vantage point 4000ft above the Bridge of Alford. I still can’t believe how smooth the lift was. My ASI was reading 26mph, I was almost stationary perhaps going back slightly and I was flying with the smallest of inputs.

 

 

I thought the next glide was going to be my last so I looked for fields to land in. While checking out landing fields I noticed that almost perpendicular to me and crosswind was a hill that looked soarable. When I looked at it again I realised it was Hill O’ North. I came to the conclusion that I should try to reach it, even though it was going to be difficult to glide there. Just in case it didn’t work I spotted a nice big field, perfect for the wind strength and went on a glide. The air got rough as I got lower and as I neared Hill O North I was thrown around a bit too much for my liking. However, it was more rough lift than violent sink so I edged closer to the hill and began to climb. Initially I was about 200ft below Hill O’ North but the rough air eased me higher. In the corner of my eye I glimpsed two very big birds close to Ryhnie. I looked again and saw they were hang gliders! They had to be Ross and Ian. I slowly made my way towards them and summit of the Tap. Things were starting to mellow and the lift became more consistent. When I was above Tap the bumpy air started to turn to smooth lift and transformed into 550ft per minute on the averager! The other pilots were indeed Ross and Ian and all three of us cruised upwards together. Ross and I were wing tip to wing tip at one stage until I got a bit scared because he wanted to get even closer: I could already see the whites of his eyes! I let out some jubilant yells, and screamed at Ian, “which way to the coast”. It was a great feeling to share this with some mates. We continued upwards and went all the way to 8150ft together.

 

This was the highest I’d been in Britain by 3000ft and the 6500ft climb my highest ever single climb. Tap looked so small from so high and Ryhnie seemed so close to it. The mountains below were blanketed in a very fine mist and the sun was trying to break through the high clouds. The view was just spectacular. The coast looked very close and was only a gentle 40km glide away. When the lift eased off and we got too cold that’s where we headed. We stopped for another top up to 8000ft just before Huntly and then flew in a straight line to the coast following the road to Portsoy where we arrived with 2000ft to spare.

 

I opted to land in a large field next to Portsoy where I found a shop that sold homemade mint choc chip ice-cream, in my opinion the best way to celebrate a great flight. Ross and Ian landed in a humongous field 10mins walk from Portsroy. We were reunited in the Station Hotel where we swapped tales of our epic flight over a beer (Ian’s preferred celebration) and waited for our retrieve, Dr Bob.

 

Cheers guys for an awesome few days, look forward to next summer and hopefully more epic flights around bonnie Aberdeen.

 

 

 

Flight Report - 20th August by Simon Lucas

 

9 km Morrone to Carn Aosda. 5500 ft in convergence and then not a sausage. Boo-hoo.

 

Flight Report - 24th September by Julian Robinson

 

Only one to get to the Tap at a reasonable hour (10 o’clock).  Wind was already quite strong but I got into a thermal and drifted with it before going on a final glide to land at Milton of Rothiemay, 21km away. Yes, it was on a paraglider. Does that make me a Pilchard?

 

Flight Report – 1st October by Geoff May

 

Well boys, I remember one of you (Smiffy, I do believe) telling me I could never return to the Aberdeen club if I didn't knock-off a 100 mile flight in Texas. Well, I'm glad to report that I finally achieved it this weekend in a 3 1/2 hour flight. The whole thing was rather uneventful, if  the truth be told. I was down at 1400ft on one occasion but other than that  I was cruising between 3000 to 6000ft all the way, only stopping if the lift was greater than 300ft/min. Knowing that my retrieve driver was itching to head home ASAP I went on a final glide once my GPS showed 95 miles to land at something just over 100.00001 miles

 

The biggest challenge out here to going a long way out here in Texas? Finding a retrieve driver - it really is the every man for himself attitude that makes the American "Dream" what it is. Unless somebody has specifically agreed to chase you, other club members would be quite happy to leave you out in the boonies. Very few guys in the club want to go XC so there is little scope for arranging a retrieve rota among a group of folk either. The flying may be good out here, but the lack of decent scenery and a fun club attitude does make me appreciate the flying in Aberdeen and Thornhill.

 

Anyhow, hope all is well with y'all.

 

 

Flight Report – 23rd June by Ian Smith

Leadlich to Auchleven. Distance 25 km. Reason: I couldn't bring myself to burn off 8000ft just to land in Shepherds Silage. But as it turned out I might as well have, as I flew into 2000ft/min sink that continued until I was down to 1500ft at Alford! 

 

Flight Report – 1st July by Ian Smith

Leadlich to near the Midmar Inn. Distance 18 km. Reason: Bob was driving, and the bottom fields were in Silage. So I thought I might as well fly along the road home as far as the start of the surface up airspace.

 

Flight Report – 4th September by Ian Smith

Craiglich to Portsoy. Distance: 61 km. Reason: Steve had already gone, and it was his round......

 

All of Ian’s flights were on the Discus (Kingposted Sports HG), not on the Rigid Thing.

 

 

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

 

Rank

PILOT

PILOT

POINTS TOTAL

OTB

Total Km Flown

Wing Factor

Km needed

1

Matthew

Church

15.46

11

123.7

8

0.0

2

Simon

Lucas

9.10

6

72.8

8

50.9

3

Ian

Smith

8.67

3

104.0

12

81.6

4

Julian

Robinson

7.61

3

60.9

8

62.8

5

Ross

Paterson

4.07

1

61.0

15

170.9

5

Steve

Blackler

4.07

1

61.0

15

170.9

7

Brian

O'Donnell

3.18

2

25.4

8

98.3

8

Richy

Grundy

2.23

2

17.8

8

105.9

9

Kevin

Will

1.96

2

15.7

8

108.0

10

Giles

Adam

1.44

2

11.5

8

112.2

11

Adrian

Smith

1.41

2

11.3

8

112.4

12

Scott

Mather

0.63

1

5.0

8

118.7

13

Graeme

Connelly

0.54

0

4.3

8

119.4

14

John

Newton

0.25

0

2.0

8

121.7

 

Total Distance Flown: 576.4km

 

So at last the hangies have gone somewhere, and what a way to do it – in wave to the coast, which prompted Big Ian to tell me about his other flights. Geoff’s flight doesn’t count.

 

One of Ross – that’s the sea behind him!

 

 

 

Scottish Nationals Paragliding Series – Aberdeen 3-4th September

 

Or The September Comp Thingy by Simon Lucas

 

Well I eventually took off from Tap at this comp thing, then parked myself in wave at Hill of Noth and got to 850m.  Then the wave died, so I went over the back – over the top of all those who’d already landed (heh heh), flying on the speed bar up to 75 km/h downwind.  Got a couple of blips over the harvested fields, and saw two birds (feathered) circling in the distance…. so headed straight for them.  Unfortunately it was two buzzards doing the  vulture trick – circling over a dead cow, which I duly found on landing.   Well you just don’t expect this in Scotland.  South Africa maybe, but not SCOTLAND!!! 

 

Had 9.5 km on the TopNav after landing near Burn End.

 

 

 

 

Whisky Man ….                                                              .… Irn Bru Boy