ARTIKULATION (PARAGLIDING)...

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2012-01-09T21:23:00.002+02:00

Two from three

2012-01-09T21:03:00.001+02:00

We had been waiting an awfully long time to get our feet in the air for anything more than a series of brief scratchy jaunts, so the forecast for Friday 6 Jan looked very promising indeed. I arrived there around 10.30 and was pleased to see the usual suspects rallying around and sorting gear out.

My first flight was interesting; I'd set up and, seeing three or four gliders scratching around the bowl I raised my wing, posed for a bit of videography and then launched into probably the stillest air of the entire day. The sensible thing to do would have been wait a few minutes, but I was too eager and simply had to go then. As can frequently happen, I thought I might not make it over the fence and so dabbed a little brake, but this didn't help. I found myself half launching half trying to vault the wire. Attempting to place my trailing foot on the fence, I failed and instead hooked my toe in it. Luckily it came free and I was standing on the other side. the logical course of action would have been to abort, bring the glider back down and go again, did I do that? No! I decided to run from there and at one point, that point when you know you can't go back, I thought I was going to regret this decision badly. It seemed like there was no escape from the trees for me, an unthinkable proposition with my skinny micro lines. I 'ran' across the tops of trees and found myself very low indeed on the other side. There was no escaping the inevitable effects of gravity, all I could do was get as far along the ridge as possible before I touched down. In the event I did rather well and ended up near the bottom of the bowl, the best place to walk up from.

From there, it was a simple matter to scale the northern pimple and kite a bit, before taking off again. This time the breeze was on and I was high enough to make use of it thoroughly. I took it along to the south end all the way to the pylons and back several times. During the course of the day I had four flights, all gaining considerable height and top landing, notching up a delightful 1 hour and 5 minutes, most enjoyable! I took some video from the ground, which I am in the process of uploading to Vimeo - watch this space!

Two days later, Sun 8 Jan I managed to persuade Elena to come with me and bring the children. It again was looking like being a good day and, unusually for a Sunday, Lucien was even going. So it was, that we set off and, barring a slight detour, due to my not paying careful enough attention, we duly arrived to find in excess of 20 gliders on the hill and much hustle and bustle going on.

Conditions looked perfect for tandem, so I got the wing out and began setting up. Soon Kyle (my personal ballast) was prepared and we were off, ably assisted in the take off by Martin (thanks Martin). We boated the tandem around for about 25 minutes and took some video, before top-landing on the adjacent ground now agreed for the purpose. All in all, not a bad flight, take off and landings being particularly good if I say so myself.

Next, the kids went with mum, while got the Peak out and gave it an airing. On Friday it had got a little damp, so this was the perfect opportunity to rectify the case. I took the camera with me again and boated from the pylons in the south, up to the bowl and back a few times, recording some video evidence along the way.

Thirty-five minutes solo flying, rounded the day up to a cool hour of tandem and solo flying - most happy!

So, 2 hours 5 minutes of flying over the 3 days and suitably 'topped up' for the time being for me. Watch this space for some video of the flights.

Tight lines and happy flights to my readers and please keep me up to date on any of your flying adventures!

Timed to perfection

2011-12-23T00:20:00.001+02:00

Well, to be fair, this has been a long time coming, since I arrived back in UK, April this year to be exact! I have turned up at Dunstable several times, but it has yielded the odd fifteen minutes of mediocrity at best.

Dunstable has always been a bit finicky when coming up with the goods and often the better days have been a surprise during the winter months, so then was the case today.

I had checked the weather on the various sites and it looked to be doable earlier on, but getting strong, perhaps too strong in the afternoon. This was to prove inaccurate, but nevertheless, flyable.

I arrived first around 10.30 and was alone for a while, then as I was making my final preparations, Peter showed up. I decided to continue and fly for a bit and maybe join him on the ground for a short chat if he delayed getting in the air, if not we could fly together. The ground was very wet, so I was keen to keep ground handling to a minimum so as not to get the wing soaked through.

Once in the air, I watched, but Peter was having trouble launching what I later discovered was a soaking wet glider from his last flight, when the air was so damp it drenched his wing. After about thirty minutes, watching some smoke down on the bottom road, I noticed that not only was it blowing due south, but it also appeared to indicate a strengthening wind. I elected to land and chat to Peter and perhaps go for a cup of tea.

As it happened, there was no need for a longer break in flying and within another thirty minutes we set off again. I went second and during a one hour flight had some fun trying to break past the ‘Elephant’, but found the wind to strong to make it beyond the track. Eventually, I noticed that the wind was dropping and veering slightly, bringing it square onto the hill and was able to make it nearly as far as the pylons to the south. There were some kids near the slope below the Wind-catcher so I flew above them and hung around to chat a while with them, since they were clearly impressed by the sight of these pieces of fabric flapping by.

After an hour I landed and went to get my video camera, such was the improvement in the conditions. As I took off again I chatted to a family with some young children who were discussing the method for take off. I demonstrated the method, to dispel their expressed idea of ‘jumping’ into the air, I think they were suitably impressed and even more so when I returned a moment later to confirm ‘no jumping’. It’s great to interact with people who are so interested in what we do, such little effort is rewarded with their expression of wonderment and awe.

So it was today then, that I managed to tuck away a very pleasant hour and fifty minutes in the saddle, one hour of which was one continuous flight, something I haven’t done for several months and I can honestly say that it was not tedious at any point.

This will undoubtedly turn out to be my last flight of 2011, but hopefully an opportunity should present itself to fly again before the end of the festive break. Watch this space for a short video snip from todays flights. Pictures below:

Sometimes I even amaze myself!

2011-12-10T23:27:00.001+02:00

Incredible! Today was my beautiful two year old daughter Lara’s birthday, so I spent the morning and early afternoon with her and family and friends, but couldn’t help but notice that people were flying at Dunstable. Such is the situation of desperation lately, that any flight, no matter how poor needs to be capitalised upon in this depressing country!

So it was then, that at 2pm I set off to Dunny, incurring the wrath of some ignorant navvies digging up part of the road as I failed to notice their ‘Road closed’ sign. Turning back and circumnavigating the road block, I made it to the take off in an hour, Lucien having already recently left.

There were a few strugglers working at it in the bowl, but most of the regulars were packing up, having had enough of scratching away in the cold. I set up quickly and to my surprise, easily boated to the bowl end and joined two other guys boating back and forth in a 200m beat! I somehow managed to claw a few extra metres, so didn’t have too many issues slotting in with these guys, but one or two of the LGC sailplanes returning from their probable south coast XCs were getting a tad close on their downwind approaches!

We floated about together for about fifteen minutes and then one of the other paragliders and myself decided it might be a good time to land, before the wind dropped and us with it. I thought I’d be clever and go a little further along the ridge, to a point near the first ‘pimple’, as this would make for about 50m less walk back – big mistake! I landed fine and then brought the wing down behind me, but as I saw it lower to the ground I also noticed the huge thorny thicket which was springing up where a big area of scrub clearance had been done a while back. Nothing so much as to damage the wing, but my glider has ridiculously thin unsheathed micro-lines which readily wrap themselves around everything and anything. It was too late to change my mind and the lines had fiercely anchored me to the deck, I just had to accept my fate and lower the wing back to terra firma.

And so it was that I concluded my afternoon thus; an hour driving, fifteen minutes flying, about thirty untangling lines and another hour driving back again. Was it worth it? I would have to say that very definitely it was. On the one hand, any flight here cannot be sniffed at this time of year in dreary UK and on another, I have learned about yet another place NOT to land at Dunstable!

Never mind, the day was a very pleasant one and my little angel was clearly pleased to see daddy back home and I enjoyed a little play with her, before she gave in to her exhaustion and crashed out.

Scraps

2011-12-02T22:57:00.001+02:00

A month of non flying, combined with a great deal of despondency about my work was beginning to get the better of me! During the past month I have undertaken my instructor’s course, I’ve watched many videos of people paragliding, I’ve chatted about paragliding, but I had actually done.. none at all! It’s fair to say I was feeling a tad down generally.

I discovered that I had quite a lot of annual leave remaining, so I mentioned to my boss that I would be looking to take some of it at short notice in order to catch some decent flying weather.

My email to remind him where I was read something along the lines, “If I don’t get my feet off the ground by paraglider I might have to consider other means!”

Glenn asked if I minded if he took the day off and tagged along and I readily agreed to the opportunity for some driving company.

We set off bright and early and arrived a tad too early at 0930. There was not a breath of wind and even worse, the visitor centre was not yet open, so no opportunity for a cup of tea. Peter had arrived early too and we stood and chatted a while. Soon the centre opened and we made the best of the warm and a nice cuppa and the lovely view out of the picture window onto the Downs.

Next to arrive were Hugh and Lucien, who soon joined us over a brew. By about 11 there appeared to be some hint of a wind picking up and some hang glider pilots had rigged and were awaiting the forecast maelstrom at the bowl end of the Down. Happily those gales never actually arrived, instead we got several hours of moderately south westerly winds, which provided just enough lift, though it was becoming increasingly difficult to make it back from the bowl to the take off area.

James, Jim, Paul, Tom amongst one or two others had joined us by this stage and we all boated about, top landing and slope landing at the bowl end.

All in all I probably had about 5 flights and around 45 minutes in the air all told, managing to land on the top each time and thus avoiding the steep climb back up to the top. Not too bad a result and at last I had managed a ‘dangle’. Many thanks to Glenn for keeping us company and great to see the guys again on the hill. To the next time fellas!

Special thanks to Glenn for the pics – cheers mate!

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Get your own

Old stomping ground

2011-10-28T13:37:00.001+03:00

When we decided to go back to Cyprus for a short visit, I considered leaving my trusty paraglider at home, in order to avoid the frustration of taking it and not flying. I am so glad I changed my mind!

We’d had several offers of accommodation from friends (thank you all very much) but we elected to go first to a contact house at the east of the island. Our flight arrived late on Tuesday night, so Lou very kindly agreed to give us her lounge to sleep in that night and we loafed around in the west for the remainder of the day. Dudley was engaged in a training course at Aki, so we managed to meet up with him for a meal before heading east.

We spent a very pleasant day on the beach at ‘Fig Tree Bay’, followed by some time at a hotel pool with Lisa and the kids. Friday saw the return of Dudley and on Staurday we all went to Nissi for a lovely afternoon playing on the beach.

Sunday, we returned to the east, to give Curium a go, since the forecast had looked quite promising.

The breeze was quite light and Glenn launched, only to find himself going down fairly rapidly. Dudley followed and he too struggled. A group of Swedish pilots, led by Peter and guided by the home grown hero, Christakis stood, some sat and most drank beer as we did our flying thing. Conditions were slightly better as I set up and flew around the take off area trying to work out where the best lift was. After a couple of minutes I top landed and reported that it was tricky to stay up, but doable with some care.

Again, the watchers watched, clearly not thinking it good enough for them to fly. Dudley and Glenn flew again and once again Glenn struggled, whilst this time Dudley did much better, managing a fair few minutes soaring. I joined him and we had the sky to ourselves, watched once more by the bewildered foreigners. We were wondering why they were not flying and I think they were wondering why we were. Perhaps they had been told by their ‘guide’ that it was not flyable? Either way, we enjoyed the freedom of the hill to ourselves for a good half an hour or so, until conditions weakened still further. Still, I would have been able to top or slope land, but since everybody was now down on the beach, I waved goodbye and went to the bottom to land beside Panicos’ ice cream van with a tidy 45 minutes flying time under my belt.

We stayed Sunday night with Halsey, where we enjoyed a lovely BBQ (thanks again due to good friends!) Monday was a cloudy beach day with friends and Tuesday saw us back at Curium. This time only Halsey and I could be there unfortunately, but we enjoyed some good strong lift together. The icing on the cake on this day was that I got to fly with Halsey on his newly acquired Edel Promise, an older style glider, but in very good condition. All told, I managed three flights, top landing twice, once trying out the Edel and then a further two on the trusty Peak.

After an hour and five minutes air time I was ready to land on the beach for a swim with Kyle, before packing and heading to see Mandy and Roger for a lovely late lunch.

This was a lovely, much needed break away from the drudgery and dull UK weather. The only problem is that it has now given us a reminder of how nice it is to be able to swim in the sea in October. Watch out Cyprus, you might not have seen the last of us!

As a footnote; once again I would like to say a heart-felt thank you to all of our friends, especially; Lou, Dudley and Lisa, Halsey and Roisin, Scott and Katie, Mandy and Roger, Manuel and Ntia for their hospitality.

Curium Oct 2011

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Mediocre

2011-09-02T18:29:00.000+03:00

A mediocre day at Dunstable today, two short flights, 20 mins total airtime. No photos unfortunately.

Blorenge Bash

2011-08-30T12:22:00.001+03:00

Well, we bashed Abergavenny, we bashed Big Pit and by virtue of the fact that we flew, I guess you could say we bashed the Blorenge! Not only did we fly, but we flew from the Blorenge. Not only did we fly from the Blorenge, but we flew INTO the ‘Bash’ landing field, something only managed by a select handful.

OK, the weather was far from good and the appetite for a ‘flop to bottom’ virtually non existent, but I was amazed after two days blown out, that nobody seemed interested in the chance to fly from the Blorenge to the campsite. For me, this was the name of the game. Yes, there were the bands and they were very good. Then there was the beer tent, with their very drinkable ‘Blorenge Bash Ale’, but to me whilst good, all of this was secondary to any flying, no matter how weak. The golden egg for me had to be to fly from the Blorenge to the campsite, land and grab a beer. Sadly, we only flew on the last day and as we were driving, that wasn’t possible, but I reiterate.. we did fly!

To be blatantly honest, if I were to be very critical, I think we suffered a bit from the apathy ‘leached’ from the sky-gods who were there to fly tasks for the BPC. They had no weather conducive to those tasks and so hardly bothered to get out of their sleeping bags. Everybody became fixated with flying from Fochriw, Hundred House, anywhere, anything other than a top to bottom from the Blorenge. Consequently, the ‘Bash’ folk became similarly apathetic, preferring beer to air. It was a pity so few took up the pack for a plod when the opportunity presented itself, but it was still well worth it when those of us who did.. err.. did. Thanks to Graham (Taz) for making the effort and joining me for not the best flight of our lives, but every flight is an experience eh mate?!

On Sunday, Elena and the kids and I went to ‘Big Pit’ a mining museum at Blaenavon, which was very interesting and entertaining for the kids and us adults alike. I’m not a huge fan of museums, but I can whole-heartedly recommend this one to anyone. It has been organised to be engaging and capture interest in a clever way.

Face painters and balloon sculptors kept the kids engaged during the long periods of non-flying and the bands and beer were well chosen to entertain the adults in the evening. I learned that the Blorenge Bash is now only run on alternate years and to be honest I probably wouldn’t be in a rush to attend it annually, but I would certainly consider oing it again in two years time and who knows, I may even persuade Elena to come again with the family by then!

Punchline; ten odd minutes tandem with Kyle and similar time solo. Here are a few photos:

Blorenge Bash 2011

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Paragliding orphans

2011-08-21T01:35:00.001+03:00

Whilst flicking through a mate’s blog, I noticed this photo, taken I think by Lisa. I remembered how much I love this photo and had meant to steal it, so I took a moment to do so. We’ve been doing a lot of reflecting back on nostalgic Cypriot times of late and there is no doubt that we will have to go back to Cyprus sometime, one way or another! Great picture Lis – thanks for the virtual stroll down memory lane!

Dunstable 11 Aug 11

2011-08-20T08:21:00.001+03:00

A nice piece of video captured by a hang gliding photographer friend:

Credit: Markus Kinch

Many thanks Markus!

Kyle’s boring day

2011-08-16T00:08:00.001+03:00

We went to Dunstable for a look and found it a little strong and southerly. I readied the tandem, as Kyle had said he’d like to fly. It seemed to lull for a little while, so we set up and went, Lucien and Nigel steadying us as we went. It was fairly strong, with quite a lot of thermic activity and it was quite difficult not to be lifted to ridiculous height. Also, there were several gliders around, so keen vigilance was required. Anyway, long story short; Kyle quite enjoyed his flight, but after 10 minutes I had decided it was quite exciting enough and put us on the top again. Loo took some pictures, so I’ll post those soon. A bit later I took off for a short solo flight and again found conditions quite strong, so knowing the family wanted to get away soon, I landed after a 5 minute flight. 10 Mins tandem and 5 mins solo today then, pics to follow.

Saturday blowout

2011-08-07T14:46:00.001+03:00

Saturday 6 Aug 11:

Lucien rang to tell me he was on his way to Dunstable for a look. I had noticed that the weather looked promising and said I might join him there. Graham had already flown by the time we arrived, but it had been a struggle. The wind was nearly south, worse than any conditions I think I had ever flown in before, but people were still inflating their gliders and ground handling. It was bizarre to see all of these gliders up and pointing about 60° off the hill.

I announced that I would take a walk north along the ridge toward the bowl and see what it was like there. Loo’s response was that he thought it would be too windy along there, to which I replied that I would take a walk back then.

A few minutes later I was near the bowl end and the wind was not too strong at all, but still significantly from the south, but the side of the knoll I was on would cope with that, so I set up to give it a try. After a few minutes I was ready to go and managed to get the wing in the air. It was odd to be facing in a near southerly direction and staying up, but the wind was constantly pushing me back toward the bowl. I went with it for a beat, then tracked back along the ridge to my launch point. I touched down on the next knoll to the south of where I had started.

This spurred some of the guys back at the normal take off into action. Graham, having taken off again, headed back toward the bowl area where I was, but I could see that he would not make it and sure enough he went down. He landed near the bottom of the west end of the bowl and kited back up to the top. After a few minutes he was off again and flew in that area for a while. I watched and observed his progress over the ground. He was penetrating forward at height, but eventually, when he left the lifty area, went down on the hill in front of take off.

I returned to the northern knoll and took off again, this time spending more time at the northern end and consequently stayed up in that area. I was getting high now, but the air felt very unstable, though not in a good way! I wasn’t enjoying the turbulence and was getting very high high at this point and was making sure I kept well out in front of the hill as ai was not feeling comfortable at all.

Having gained massive height, I coasted toward the normal take off area, before setting up to land. I landed quite gently and was glad to be down. A total of nearly 10 minutes in the air and I considered it more than enough today. I packed and headed home.

Newhaven with friends (catch-up)

2011-08-06T13:10:00.001+03:00

This post is a full week behind, my I’m slipping! Sunday 31 Jul 11:

The forecast was showing a near perfect south at precisely the right strength, so I canvassed the Dunstable club for interest and came up blank. I decided it would be worth going it alone and so set off about 9.30, arriving around 11.15.

On the way there I phoned Keith, who was at home and just needing the push to ‘get off of his ar$e and do something’ in his own words! He said he’d make his way down.

At the car park, I met Jacqui and Richard, who’d had the same idea. We arrived on the top just after 11.30 (high tide), so options for going along the cliffs would be limited, but that wasn’t to prove much of a temptation anyway. The wind was slightly easterly, meaning that we couldn’t get far along the cliffs, but lift was plentiful in the areas we could play in.

We had a boat about in the western area and I managed to get as far as the next small town to the west, but had to turn back at that point for fear I wouldn’t make it back.

We flew for a while, took a break and chatted for a bit, then flew some more. As the day wore on, hoping the wind would turn square south so that we could fly the Brighton run, it in fact turned slightly more east, meaning that we became further restricted to the eastern area in front of the fort.

I had a total of five flights, flying for 2 hours 15 altogether. Afterward we all went to the pub around the corner for refreshment, before heading home. A great day with good friends!

Like the Clappers!

2011-07-31T00:33:00.001+03:00

Yes, we do! It occurs to me that there has been a bit of flying lately and it is time that I brought the blog up to date. Firstly, I have a few photographs from my flight at the Blorenge on Tuesday (23 mins), those can be seen here:

Blorenge 26 Jul 11

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Next, Lucien and I flew at Coombe Gibbet (90 mins airtime) on Wed and here are some photos of that:

Coombe Gibbet 27 Jul 11

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Coombe Gibbet 27 Jul 11

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Finally yesterday, James, Taz and I flew at Sharpenhoe Clappers and here are some photos from there, totalling about 35 minutes air time):

Sharpenhoe 29 Jul 11

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Apologies for the scant description of these trips, but it has been fairly hectic around here of late, what with flying and training courses etc. Normal blogging will resume as soon as possible

Until then; tight lines all and I hope to see you on a hill soon!

Coombe

2011-07-28T01:16:00.003+03:00

One hour thirty approximately on CG today, conditions moderate strength with gusts and slightly toward the NE, causing some moderate turbulence. Pictures and more words to follow soon.

A satisfying day!

2011-07-27T02:01:00.001+03:00

I was working with an EP student today and we worked through the first flight exercises. James had done a bit of paramotoring a couple of years before, but had not got signed off as BHPA EP standard. It quickly became clear that he was very capable with him launches and landings, only needing the bare minimum of instruction from me. James banged out the flights on Merthyr and soon had 10 in the bag, not being hampered by a flying buddy needing to share his wing. Unfortunately, the wind switched on us around 2pm, leaving us no safe direction to launch in, so we had to call it a day. I can only hope that tomorrow and the rest of the week is kind to him, so he can complete EP and possibly even get a start on CP, good luck James and great work today!

I was thinking of trying to get somewhere near home to get a flight in this evening since the weather was good, but alas a northerly wind didn’t readily suggest anything to me. On my way, I noticed gliders on the NE face of Blorenge, so I decided to go take a look. I had forgotten just how long a walk it is from the antenna car park on Blorenge to the take off and was dismayed to find the wind apparently a bit light when I arrived. I was just deliberating over the risk of going down, when one of the pilots I had seen earlier appeared, having gone down and landed in Castle Meadows. None of the other pilots were anywhere to be seen.

After a few minutes the breeze seemed to pick up, so I kited my glider and the local told me that it would probably be lifting around to the west side of the bowl. I wasn’t hugely convinced, but I decided to give it a try anyway and launched into the bowl. Sure enough, up I went and the other guy launched soon after me, but seemed to struggle to find lift. I was enjoying the height, but all I could think about was that I had enough height to make the car park, so after about 15 minutes I decided to allow the thermal I was in to track me in that direction, reaching something over 850m. After a further few minutes, I was over the path I had walked in on, but felt I could do better and land near, or maybe even in the car park. Seeing a dog-walker just leaving the car park along the footpath, I decided it would be better to land near it and so set up and landed about 25m away.

All in all about 23 minutes in the air and a most satisfactory flight. Photos and track log below:

http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/480905

2011-07-26T00:54:00.001+03:00

Wind check today gave us due north, so we started off toward Hay Bluff, after Pete had tried to get hold of some contacts for local knowledge with no luck. Ten minutes down the road and Norris phoned to say that he had just landed and others were still flying at Fochriw, so we quickly turned tail and headed there.

Whereas 'wind check' was still in low cloud, once over the hill and on the way down to 'Heads of the Valleys', it was like a different day, lovely and sunny and getting nearer we could see a glider in the air, it didn't seem to be making very much headway. Once on site, we gathered the gear and plodded up the hill to the top, where the breeze was a good 10 mph, but with some stronger moments. We briefed the exercises the guys would be doing and prepared to get them off the ground. We assisted their launches, just using the minimum of restraint to steady them in their inflations and then seeing them off one after the other.

Pete talked them through various exercises, such as Big Ears, pitch/roll etc and I worked them through speed bar revision and then basically left them to enjoy their time soaring and just feeling the air.

After they had all flown and top landed a couple of times, both Pete and myself had a little fly. I managed to find the only few moments of sink in the whole day and ended up at the bottom and so walked the glider back up to the top. Once on the top again I relit and flew a little longer, before top landing and handing Phil back his glider, complete with a slightly soggy helmet (sorry Phil)!

The guys enjoyed an hour or more flying time together and in the company of others and I myself must have had a good 25 minutes airtime, so none of us could really complain.

By 1 pm the wind was now picking up, so Rich, still in the air, flew down to land at the bottom. Mark, Phil and Pete walked down and I flew Phil's glider back down to the bottom after launching from just below the top of the ridge. I lifted off facing backward, rotating in the air, something which used to feel scary, but these days gives me a bit of a perverse buzz (don't try this at home folks!)

All in all then a good day again and a fitting end to a good course with talented students, tight lines and many happy landings guys!

Desperados

2011-07-24T18:31:00.001+03:00

How desperate do you really have to be to want to fly in less than satisfactory conditions? Well, Lucien and I were hoping for decent conditions yesterday Sat 23 Jul, so much so that we decided to go take a look despite the fact that nobody else had evidently bothered to show up. The reason soon became clear!

I launched into some fairly strong wind about 45° off the hill to the north and managed to stay up in some fairly bumpy air. I can distinctly remember a time not so long ago when this would have seemed quite unpleasant, but now I was quite enjoying it, perhaps an indictment of false security born from lots of experience? I suggest that it wasn’t the best decision ever to fly, but anyway I was still enjoying it.

Lucien took off next and had a fairly short flight, landing in the corner of the (inactive) LGC field. I top landed after a bit of a faff to get down. No sooner was I on the ground than I started to wonder if it was getting lighter and might now be better in the air. It was and it wasn’t!

Like a fool, I took off again and flew for a few more minutes, but now the lift component was less, but the bump factor was none the less evident. I was simply forced to fly more low in the snotty air below where I had previously been. This resulted in a slightly less enjoyable and shorter ride to the same field as Lucien, where we both packed up, walked back to the top and then drove home.

About 15 minutes airtime for me then and nice enough stooging around with my old mate.

On the up and up

2011-07-22T17:41:00.001+03:00

Thu 21 Jul 11: The forecast was decidedly uninspiring today, so it came as a pleasant surprise to arrive at Blaenavon to find a moderate breeze blowing square up the hill. We got our students kitted up and I did the first test flight, soaring a couple of beats, before top landing to help with the setting up. The guys each managed a few flights, some with top landings, until it became apparent that poorer weather was on it’s way. We could see and also heard from another source that it was raining in Abergavenny and within a few minutes it started to spit on us as well, so we took cover down by the vehicle.

The shower finished after a short while and we took the hike back up to the top, where the guys did a little more ground handling. A few local pilots had arrived by this point and Pete and I each flew with the students off and on and they managed a few more of the exercises for their CP syllabus.

We had achieved quite a lot of flying (45 minutes myself alone) and worked quite a way through the training by the time more showers arrived and, it being nearly 4 pm, we decided it was a good time to call it a day. Hopefully I will get hold of some photos to post soon. Until then, happy training and tight lines all!

Pressing on

2011-07-20T19:27:00.001+03:00

The wind was nearly non existent today, though what there was seemed to be SW in some places, so we thought long and hard about it, keen to get our students a flight somewhere, somehow. Pete thought it might be worth the gamble to drive to Nant-y-Moel and, soon as I heard the idea I liked it, not least becuse it's a new site for me and another to add to my experience of the area so far.

We drove the 30 minutes or so to get there, taking in Rhigos on the way, just as a reference to another South Wales site, but that needs a Northerly wind, so that was not an option. We carried on to our proposed destination to find the site devoid of much breeze at all. When there was any, it was occasionally on, occasionally off the hill, so we chose our timing and I launched to do the demo for exploring the speed range. It's a small-ish landing area, so I was meticulous with my approach and as soon as I was down, bundled the glider up and 'field packed' it. This entails stuffing glider and harness into the bag as quickly and carefully as possible without first neatly folding it.

Our three students launched one by one and one by one they completed the first exercise and produced landings, with a minimum of assistance from me into the same little field. Job well done! We decided that we might get another flight in, and so Pete came down for us and up we all went again.

Back on top, it was even more 'nil windy' and even the occasional flutter of tail. On a prolonged bout of nothingness, I launched off again and demo'd the next exercise, putting on deeper brake, holding and releasing, before catching the dive and repeating. I was aware of much more sink this time around and made the landing field with very little excess height, so I radioed this fact to Pete, who was by now standing, watching the windsock, which was reporting consistent tail of anything up to 5 mph. After a few minutes, we decided to pull the plug and go home, at least the guys had got out and each had a high flight with an exercise thrown in.

A total of two top to bottom flights and 10 minutes in the air for me then and our students had got their feet off the ground on a day that had not looked at all promising. Keeping our fingers firmly crossed for tomorrow.

JS Champs recap

2011-07-17T14:21:00.001+03:00

And I finally find the time to upload the flight from Tal-y-Bont during the Championships. The only staggering record it breaks is my own personal first XC from UK soil, enjoy: Flight from Tal-y-Bont

Playing 'Repack Roulette' at Hay Bluff

2011-07-11T01:53:00.001+03:00

Having had a lovely, if hectic weekend with the family and seen them all safely off on the train from Gloucester, I headed back to the centre. On my arrival there, it occurred to me that there was a real possibility of flying somewhere, so after consultation with 'Wendy', I headed for the Bluff, with the prospect of a light WNW.

At the car park the wind was virtually non-existent, which is usually a good sign, so I set off up the path. I was becoming a little concerned that it wasn't getting stronger, even way past the intersection with the sloping path, but I pressed on anyway. Once at the top, the breeze was much better, a good 8-10 mph smack dab on the hill, however now there was a very light spitting of drizzle, though the sky didn't look at all ominous, so I elected to drop the glider and take a wander to the trig point. During my stroll, I noticed the drizzle was easing off, so I wandered back to my glider, though the breeze did seem to have eased off a little too. Nevertheless, the threat of rain having gone now, I decided to launch anyway, deeming the conditions something akin to a challengingly light afternoon at Curium.

My efforts and commitment were rewarded with a lovely soaring flight in the wonderfully smooth air, just the right mix of effort required to stay up at first, then enough height gain to top land, which I did after about 35 minutes. I made a couple of minor adjustments to my harness settings, before launching again, during which flight I managed to get even higher. I soared happily and effortlessly now for about another 15 minutes or so, before heading out toward the car park and doing some nice big wingovers and landing right beside the car.

Elena had phoned while I was in the air and for some reason, I had not been able to receive the call, or to connect to the network for a return call, so I phoned her now from the car park to chat about her journey back from Gloucester to London. Apparently it had been fairly smooth, but Kyle and Lara had been a bit of a handful, so I chatted with her for a few minutes about houses and she seemed in better spirits before settling down to a movie before bed.

All things considered, a busy, and yet very enjoyable weekend, topped off with about 55 minutes air time today in some of the nicest air I've flown in for some considerable time. I took a couple of decent photos, but alas it's a bit difficult to post them on this blog from here. I will attempt to get them onto Facebook in due course. Until next time happy flights and tight lines to all of you!

2011-07-05T19:30:00.002+03:00

A pleasing day working with the cadets again, the weather looked fairly unusable at the start of the day, but we managed to get the trainers out in the afternoon and the guys and gals did good work with them until the drizzle became rain and finally we had to give up.

Nice work from everybody and as always, good to see such enthusiasm, regardless of the subdued conditions. Fingers crossed for better weather tomorrow to reap the reward from that training!

Back in the valleys

2011-07-04T20:03:00.003+03:00

The forecast doesn't look so promising for this week, but today at least stayed dry and warm and sunny. The wind wasn't really the most helpful, but we managed to get a dozen cadets out on the field by the club, attempting forward launches, some of which were heading the right way despite the direction and strength being somewhat.. 'variable'. This took us up until lunchtime, when we got some vittles in the form of sandwiches and a well earned rehydration session.

After lunch, the wind having picked up generally, we headed out in the minibuses to Bedlinog, armed with a couple of the little trainers, where we found conditions a little gusty, so we went down the road a bit, where things were a tiny bit better. I did a quick demo on one of the trainers and we assigned one glider to three students and worked through some rotations. Not everyone got the hang of it straight away, but just about everyone got something out of the practice session, with one or two managing to control the wing above their heads. In the circumstances, with the ever changing wind speed and direction, we had to consider this something of a success and so we packed while we were ahead, returning to the centre, all happy campers.

This has been quite a valuable learning day for me then, serving as ne of my pre-requisite days as 'duty instructor', taking the lead on the instruction front, with the regular guys taking a bit of a back seat and helping out as required. All round quite an enjoyable day, even if nobody flew.

Let's see what tomorow dumps upon us. Safe landings all!

First week in Wales

2011-07-02T19:41:00.001+03:00

A great week working as TI in Wales. Many thanks to Pete, Ian, Malcolm and Keeley for the great company.

A great end to the course

2011-07-01T11:02:00.000+03:00

We had a spy on the Bluff early on, who clued us in to the fact that the hill was on and looking lovely and user friendly, top launchable/landable and fully soarable. We arrived as quickly as our little wheels could carry us and were on the top as soon as our exhausted legs could lift us, which was around mid morning.

This time we had Keeley with us, who just needed a few soaring flights and top landings. Pete went first and demonstrated the launch and top land, then we got Ian off and floated him around a bit, before getting him to top land, followed by Keeley and then Malcolm. After everyone had flown and done some top landings I had a couple of short flights and touch and goes, before landing for a bite to eat.

Thermal activity had increased by around midday to the extent that it was becoming more and more difficult to fly without being hoovered up, so we elected to pull the plug around 12.30, having achieved plenty for the day and indeed for the week.

I flew for around 30 minutes again and Malcolm had well and truly revalidated his CP, while Ian was well beyond EP, only a couple of exercises short of CP, happy bunnies all.

Below is one photograph from the 28th at Blaenavon, taken by either Ian or Pete. More next week.

A good all round day

2011-07-01T02:14:00.002+03:00

It was supposed to be a good day today for training, but the wind seemed quite strong from the off. Ginge, with the EPs had gone to Hundred House, but was thwarted by strong wind and rain. Pete decided upon Hay Bluff, again (a bit south of HH) and so we headed there. We found it looking reasonably good from the car park, but this site can be quite different on the top. We elected to do a bit of reverse launch ground handling near the car park, while the weather settled a bit and the rain stopped. Finally, it looked as if it might actually be worth a look higher up with a view to flying the students.

Ian, an Army guy, just loves yomping and enjoyed the slog up to the top, only to find it too strong up there, so he and Pete retreated down-slope a bit and I diverted from the path to meet him there. Next on site was Keeley, who had joined us from an earlier course, soon followed by a wheezing Malcolm.

In brisk conditions, Pete did a demo flight and top landed, then we sent the students off one by one. Conditions were challenging for them and they completed speed exercises, descent techniques (Big Ears and Big Ears/Speed bar combo) and 360 degree turns, as well as 'flying with others' and other disciplines. At last Ian managed a decent soaring flight and everyone learned something about high mountain flying.

I flew with the students for about 20 minutes and noticed conditions becoming stronger and more demanding and so, reluctantly we decided that discretion was the best option and everyone landed.

Pete had another flight to test the air and, finding it rough, called a pause to the proceedings. I kited my glider higher up the slope and barely 1/3 of the way up, was amazed at the strain on the brakes, indicating that the glider desperately wanted to fly. I eventually lost the battle to stay on the ground and separated from it, turning and skimming the ground lightly.

As I tracked left, I passed Pete going the other way and we both started to go up. We investigated the air for another 15-20 mimutes, before concluding that the conditions were somewhat beyond the realm of the newly qualified pilot and so we both made our way to the landing area.

It was a good afternoon's training, everyone getting something very worthwhile out of the day and we returned to the centre to complete the paperwork.

We had bumped into a guy called Dan, so I gave him a call to see if he fancied an evening flight somewhere, however he didn't respond, so I headed out anyway. I arrived at the Bluff and was surprised to find Dan there and so we climbed the hill together, only to find it unlaunchable on the top, with a Polish guy set up ready to try anyway! Dan and I headed down a few metres, to a shelf below the summit, where the wind was much less strong. The Polish guy followed, set up and promptly launched and floated up, away, up, away, up and up again! I was next off and Dan the final man in the sky.

The wind was smooth at first, but then it started becoming quite choppy, with distinct layers of sink and rough stuff etc. We boated around for about 45 minutes before the sunset and then touched down as near to our cars as possible!

Approximately 1hr 15minutes in the log today then, as well as some very nice low flying around the base of the Bluff. An all-round good day!

Working, watching people work

2011-06-28T20:12:00.003+03:00

The sky this morning bode very well indeed and Ginge had been out on the ground early sussing the right place to train with his group. Working with Pete this week has proven to be a pleasure and today saw us trundle off with our two students Ian and Malc to Fochriw, where the wind was too far off to the north/northeast to be workable, so we turned about and headed to Blaenavon, which takes a NE.

On our arrival at the landing area, it unfortunately looked as though it would be too northerly. Even though there is a slight bowl here, the best part of the hill is apparently the central part and we would be hoping for the easterly end to be good in order for the students to manage to soar.

I did the first check flight and was able to get enough height to demonstrate 'Big Ears' a couple of times, before setting up and top landing, to give the guys an idea of the kind of flight path to take. I touched and walked the glider forward, relaunched and then did another couple of beats, before setting back down on the top again.

We observed the guys clipping in and then each of them took a turn for flight. Malcolm had done his CP 'many' years ago and so really just needed to revalidate his certification and get back into the groove a bit, hence he quickly settled into beats back and fore and even pulled off quite a nice top landing. Ian, struggled a bit at first with the reverse launch, but he too was soon off and for a short while they were flying together. Unfortunately, Ian lacked the confidence to tuck in close enough to the hill and so, soon found himself going down, but not before delivering one good top land, a good step toward his qualification. Malcolm meanwhile, was going from strength to strength, beating back and fore and top landing several times. I'm sure that the main incentive to Malcolm's determination was avoidance of the painful walk up, one which I know he wasn't too keen on!

During the course of the day, Pete and I were both fortunate enough to get in a flight or two a few minutes at a time, in order to demonstrate top landing, efficient soaring, 'Big Ears' and other manoeuvres.

All in all then, a good day for all and about thirty minutes flying time in total for me, spread over three flights, plus one top to bottom at the end, landing beside the Rover.

On days like these I can definitely see the satisfaction to be had from instructional duties!

Birthday flight

2011-06-25T19:48:00.001+03:00

Some photos from the other week’s flight, thanks to Jim.

All about ratios

2011-06-25T01:36:00.001+03:00

Just about everyone was at Dunstable today, Jim, James, Ian², Gary, Lu, Pete, Graham, Hugh, Paco and several others, all strutting their stuff. I arrived around 10.30, immediately unpacked and got in the air. Conditions were as good as I’ve seen here yet since I got back to UK, however it soon turned a bit gusty. I managed a couple of flights, top landing each time and totalling an amazing 20 minutes airtime.

It struck me that in this sport, the ultimate goal must be to spend more time in the air than in you car and today, sadly I failed to achieve this by a ratio of 3 to 1 against, since it takes about 30 minutes to drive to Dunstable, thus 1 hour total car time. The problem is, at Dunny one is unlikely to achieve a credit in this department, unless one gets away from the hill and I have to confess that there are always a myriad reasons (excuses) why that is highly unlikely to happen, but I live in hopes. If one does not get away, the chances are that the boredom of simply flying back and forward stand a good chance of thwarting your prospect of beating the ratio.

Down to Wales next week, where a little bird tells me that a favourable student/instructor ratio lends itself to good progression if only we get the weather. If nothing else I would have thought there ought to be some scope for getting airborne at some point, either way, fingers crossed for some good experience in the training environment. Watch this space for a run down of events!

Good, bad, good news and bad news

2011-06-20T00:41:00.001+03:00

Good news; my beloved Zamberlan boots that had a hole in them were ready, so I picked them up from the shoe menders on Friday. It’s good to have them back, as they feel like carpet slippers and I haven’t worn them since about 2008, when I was in Cyprus.

Elena had fulfilled her desire to run the 18 or so km into London, so I drove in with the kids to pick her up and we took a little walk in Hyde Park whilst we were there. Kyle was impressed with the familiarity of the wildlife, despite having nothing they wanted to eat.

I had been waiting all day for the wind to drop from a very strong and blustery 15 – 22 mph and had posted on the Dunstable Facebook forum my intention to take a look. Finally, about 7pm it looked as if it was coming good(ish), so I went to take a look. More good news was that the roads were clear all the way and it only took about 27 minutes to get there. The bad news was that the wind had dropped to about 5 mph and Richard, who had just taken off.. had gone straight down. Richard is a very good and capable pilot and I judged that if he went down, there was a good chance that I would too. I only learned this after I had got my kit out, so I continued to attempt to kite my glider along with another guy.

On to the better news; I chose a moment and launched anyway, heading straight toward the bowl end of the hill, where a couple of other guys were managing to take off and do one or two beats and land again. I was near the bowl, when one of the guys in question, just in front of me had little choice but to turn back south. This gave me no option but to turn in light sink but, not losing a great amount of height, I managed to slope land a little way down from the top. I bunched the glider and walked back to the top, where Brian (the other pilot) had now landed. We chatted and kited together for a few minutes and took it in turns to do beats back and forth, landing back where we had started, the third guy having given up and left. It was barely what you could call flying, but actually, it was fairly entertaining.

I managed a sum total of about 5 minutes flying time, after which I again bunched the glider and (more bad news) walked back along the top to the main take off. Brian had been quite cunning and had parked near the bowl end of the site.

If nothing else, today seems to have redressed the balance with regard to ratios for our given pastimes, Elena having spent an hour and 40 minutes in the pursuit of hers, whilst I had indulged myself for a mere 5 minutes of flying, but had enjoyed it nonetheless. This is quite a reversal for us in recent years!

All good fun then and something for everyone today. I’m looking forward to a real flight soon though and then next week, getting into the teaching side of the sport, good times ahead hopefully. Until then; tight lines and safe landings all!

Champs swansong

2011-06-18T22:29:00.001+03:00

Three years in Cyprus has made it very difficult to manage to fit in a return to Joint Services competition flying, added to which, I would find after each of the recent annual events that very little competitive flying had been done, largely due to ridiculous British weather. This year, for the first time in at least five years, I managed to get to the event and a (reasonably) good time was had by all!

I had prearranged to arrive at Crickhowell on 11 Jun in order to do some work with the school as a Trainee Instructor (TI) and hopefully gain some valuable experience toward potential future avenues of employment. I had overlooked the fact that the Championships were due to start on Monday 13th, however the staff were perfectly happy to allow me to compete. The organizers were slightly more put out however, since I had not registered my intent to take part, but they were happy to squeeze one more competitor into their arrangements.

Dudley was due to arrive on the 11th too, however his aircraft had gone US in Athens, so he didn’t in fact make it until late o’clock on the 13th, a pity since we managed a free flight at Rhossili during the day of the 13th. It was nothing to write home about really, just a mixture of gale-hanging and a bit of boating about coastal soaring, like I haven’t done plenty of that in recent times! Having said that, it has to be said that Rhossili is a little more impressive than Curium, being about 3km long and three times as high, with a beautiful sandy beach on an area of outstanding natural beauty. The take off was fairly interesting, turning and finding that I couldn’t penetrate forward. I am used to gentler breezes and being able to just lean forward and go. On this occasion I turned, leaned forward, let up the brakes, let them up some more, leaned some more and finally managed to steer to the right, where the terrain was steeper and my feet could leave the floor. No sooner was my undercarriage up, than I got my foot on the speed bar and gingerly applied some acceleration. I then began to inch forward and in a few minutes was well clear of the hill and already very high. I managed about 1 hour 40 minutes of boating, before boredom was beginning to kick in and most people were landing, so I joined the club and set down on the beach near the steps.

The next opportunity to fly was on Tuesday 14th and it was declared to kick off the competition at Tal y Bont near Brecon. Flying this hill entails a slog up the flank of the mountain first and once on top a modest 32km task was set to Builth Wells to the north, via a turnpoint at Brecon. As soon as this was announced, everyone commenced milling around and consulting on tactics and the science of setting up the waypoints and route. I was concerned as, like many others I had done no homework on this technicality, but I need not have worried, as it was actually very simple to input the required data. The window was open at midday and, having seen several pilots launch and climb away I decided that the time had come for me to join them and get in the air. I coasted along the front of the hill and almost immediately found the climb I needed to get to a suitable height to leave the hill. I made about 1200m or so and was surprised, just tracking the thermal, just how far it had taken me back over the hill. This was to be my first real cross-country flight ever from a hill in UK, nearly all of my experience to date being in Slovenia, somewhere I consider cross country flying to be very easy to achieve.

In Slovenia (or the Alps in general) the winds are generally lighter, so one tends to climb more steeply, as the wind doesn’t take you back so far. Here, the angle from which I found myself looking back to take off was much more oblique and I felt as if I would not make it back there should I drop out of the back of the thermal. Fortunately, I soon saw cloudbase approaching and no sign of the lift dying, added to which, the fact that I was around a third of my way toward the first turnpoint; Brecon. The only difficulty here was that all I knew was that the point was around Brecon somewhere, yet my GPS was pointing me well to the east of the town. Just about everyone who flew toward the first turnpoint experienced this same pang of doubt, however once there I realised that the actual turnpoint was in fact a large roundabout to the east of the town. I bagged the point, making sure I got to well inside the 400m cylinder, in fact I held on to about 250m away to be certain. I was climbing quite well above the turnpoint with another glider, but didn’t seem to be able to get back to base from it and instead of sticking in there, did my usual trick of becoming frustrated and electing to take whatever height I could get and go with it. I might even have got away with it, had I stuck with the plan and applied some speed and maintaining a northern bearing. What I actually did however, was to fly fairly slowly, hunting left and right for lift and of course I found none and so, slowly sank to the deck. I made about 15km having flown for about 50 minutes and had enjoyed making my first ever UK XC flight, during what turned out to be the only task of the competition!

Far fewer pilots than I had imagined had actually managed to get that far, with the result that I finished in 5th place overall from a field of 34, taking third position in the RAF, so a couple of nice medals were duly received. The winner was one Jerry Thwaites, runner up being Ginge Roberts, who actually flew considerably further, though in a longer time. Tom Garner came third and Dave Mackinder fourth.

Sadly, Dudley having flown from Cyprus, was one of the guys thwarted by the conditions and being persuaded to move to a different area to launch, failed to get in the air. I was truly gutted for him, sorry dude, but I hope you enjoyed the trip anyway and it was certainly good to see you. I know you’ll soon be wafting up and down Curium, so enjoy!

Above: The tandems get an airing at Rhossili/RAF team 2011

If you can’t fly on your birthday, when can you fly?

2011-06-10T01:06:00.001+03:00

The weather has been so frustrating of late, hardly a day worth making the trip to Dunstable. Today being my birthday and knowing that James was already there, we decided to put up with the possibility of M1 traffic, what was the worst that could happen, bacon butty and a cup of tea? No sooner had we committed to go, than the sky clouded over with nasty black Cu-nim type clouds. To hell with it, we were going!

On our arrival, James was there in the visitor centre, about to buy a cuppa, so it having just started to rain, I went and fetched Lara while Elena locked up the car. Pretty soon we were drinking and chatting and generally catching up on the events of the last three years and doing anything to avoid admitting to ourselves that the weather was not improving, then.. it sort of did!

We eventually went out for a look and it had perked up in that the sky looked a tad better, however now there was hardly any wind to speak of. I got my glider out and started to ground handle a bit, hoping that I would begin to feel some ‘pull’ in the air. It was improving – just, but hardly inspiringly so. After about half an hour or so, I was getting a bit fed up of waiting and so I raised the wing and decided to go for it, committing to a run and launching, just clearing the wire fence with not much to spare. I turned the normal direction, which is right, toward the northern track and immediately began to sink like a stone in the gap between the trees, which generally limits one’s options significantly, with the only safe direction; out and away from the hill. I didn’t drop any further however, but did in fact pick up a little lift and so I figured with the apparent NW’ly component that there must be some lift over the ‘Elephant’, the name given to the spur that stretches out away from the visitor centre. It almost worked, but wasn’t quite strong enough, added to which the wind began to die again, with the inevitable result that I was losing the battle against gravity.

I landed in the designated barley field, right on the edge and retrieved my glider and plodded back up cursing to myself. Cutting a long story short, another protracted period of waiting ensued, after which a few of us took off, flew around a bit and, despite gaining some significant height, lost it all again and one by one we each began to sink again.

When I was gaining height, it was mostly without any attempt on my part and when I would lose it, it was equally involuntary, right up to the point when, to coin a phrase, I was ‘sh1t out of luck’ and irrevocably on my way down, once again to the bottom. About 10 minutes flying time today, I suppose I shouldn’t scoff at it, since it’s been about the only 10 minutes available for one reason or another during the last month, such are the joys of English paragliding! More importantly for me, is the fact that the air was such that the flight was not really very comfortable at all, not horrible, just not smooth and ‘relaxable’.

Next on the agenda will be the Service Championships in Wales, then working there to obtain some instructor ratings. Whilst I’m looking forward to that, I confess to being a little apprehensive about what comes next, some studying, a course and then the unknown. It’s exciting for sure, but also a little daunting. I’m sure we’ll get through it!

Tight lines folks and I’ll see you on the hill soon!

Re-acquaintance

2011-05-21T01:36:00.002+03:00

11 May 2011: It was good to hear from Lucien and he warned that he was off to Dunstable to spend the day on the hill come what may, since it was the only time he could go there. I elected to tag along anyway and we were among the first there. I managed three or four solo flights oaf between 10 and 30 minutes a time, totalling about 50 minutes solo and even managed a short top to bottom on the tandem with James, who is keen to write up some tandem time toward his rating. Most of the time the wind was off to the south and staying up was of variable difficulty and gusty at times. The sailplanes were taking a few liberties, getting quite close at times and I must admit I’m out of practice at flying with that sort of traffic, but no real snags.

It was really nice to see many of the old faces, including James, Gary, Paco, Tom, Jackie, Jim, Richard and a few new faces into the bargain too, including Peter and Jack. Good to see you guys and here’s to next time! Below are a few photos from the day:

Slovenian misty moment – taster

2011-05-20T23:12:00.003+03:00

Here’s a little glimpse of our terrific time in the Soča valley. I would like to say I’ll get around to editing something a little more substantial soon, but I can’t promise anything. In the meantime, enjoy this:

That moment when everything goes ‘milky–misty’, but in a good way. This is the reason I love paragliding!

Doubled up

2011-05-05T21:17:00.001+03:00

I made almost the same flight twice today, the two bear no comparison in terms of conditions and I got further the second time around, but alas ran out of time, everybody waiting for me in the landing field at Kobarid. Here's the link to the second flight, which was basically a gentle bimble into Italy and back. Later I will upload the remainder of the tracks from the trip.

Playing catch-up in Slovenia

2011-05-03T17:31:00.001+03:00

Sadly, not really enough time to relate the full story, just a brief catch-up on a borrowed laptop (thanks Dudley).

Since my last report, we've been lucky enough to snatch a few flyable days, under the effective direction of Klavdij. On Fri 29th Apr we managed two short flights from Matajur and one from Kobarid, giving yours truly about an hour's flying time in total, nothing too special, but at least it blew away some cobwebs!

Saturday was a bit of a washout, but then Sunday came good, so I agreed to go as passenger with Alex, a tandem pilot who just needed to acquire the final sign-off from Pete. One successful flight later and that was achieved, along with a short piece of video in the bag too. I had one flight from Kobala after the main throng had left and made it as far as the 'Pyramid' before foul weather clamped us down. I flew for an hour there and had just landed and packed the wing in the van as the gust fronts hit.

It had blown itself out during the night and we were left with our first clear blue day and so we headed off up to Stol take off. A not too promising start saw one or two top to bottoms, but eventually conditions improved to the point that a few of us got away down the valley to the east (away from the dark forboding weather). I managed a nice 25km flight to Kobarid, where I was joined by the others, who had driven up in the van. Inexplicably, I made a very stupid decision and ended up going down to the bottom, whilst others took off and flew over my head toward the west! The weather once again resisited any advancement too far down the valley though and I believe I ended up with the best distance for the day.

This brings us right up to date, with a flight today Tues 3 May from Kobala, heading west, once again dodging dark cloud and heading into the Dreznica valley and crossing to the Bovec valley head. I had met up with Alex and we pushed on together along 'Tandy ridge' with good height to the end, then turned back intending to return to the Tolmin end, which would have been an awesome flight. Alex was getting very low and did extremely well to eke his way back, while took easy street some distance above. Dudley radioed to ask if I fancied landing for an ice cream at Kobarid, but I declined, anouncing my intention to head back in the direction of Tolmin, (the kiss of death)! I found myself getting drilled behind two notorious hills between Dreznica and Kobarid and so landed not far from Alex, whereupon we sat and swapped notes on the flight.

For the more geeky individuals (Tim et al, you know who you are) the track logs can be found here

More news on the final days soon hopefully - tight lines all!

Two days washed out, here's hoping for better soon!

2011-04-28T23:17:00.002+03:00

As I sit here, we have survived another day walking around Kobarid, having the occasional beer and wishing the crap weather away and new, flyable weather in to replace it. Luckily, Dudley brought his laptop, which unlike my 'breeze-block', is a bit more portable. Unluckily, the wi-fi connection here in the Jelkin-Hram lodge, home of the renowned Klavdij (Cloudy) is not exactly lightning fast, however it is welcome and better than nothing!

The forecast for tomorrow is significantly better and we hope for, at the very least a flight of some sort in the afternoon, if not something better, sooner. The problem has been the 'Bora' wind, which blows from the N-NE, which is very strong and gusty, not to mention completely the wrong direction. This may have blown itself out in the next 12-18 hours and so we may just get some airtime here soon.

Having walked back up to Dreznica from Kobarid town for the second time in as many days, Dudley and I are quite tired and ready to call it an early night and get a fresh start in the morning. Happy parawaiting to all!

Missed last tango

2011-04-05T19:22:00.001+03:00

The plan had been to take the gliders down to the clubhouse to empty out the debris and fold them all up. I was wondering if it was flyable for one last tandem flight and it did look good as I reached Curium, so I made some calls. Unfortunately no one was available and after about 30 minutes of deliberating I decided to give it up as a bad job.

I collected the keys and went to the clubhouse, where I emptied the tandem and folded it neatly, before starting on the Peak. The tandem was a difficult wing to hang, taking up most of the width of the room and requiring all my strength to get the fabric 90% suspended off the ground.

No, not a new set of curtains, the trusty tandem!

Unfortunately, the broom was nowhere to be found, so I went looking in the alcove cupboard, where it normally is. I didn’t find a broom, but instead, in a box, this is what met my gaze:

A moggy had somehow got in and found a cosy corner to give birth to her brood. The mother, startled, bolted out of the door and I unfortunately didn’t have time to wait around for her to come back, so on consultation with Tim, I had very little option but to take them with me and Lou very kindly took them on to the cat sanctuary near Akrotiri.

So, that is it; very much the end of an era for yours truly. I’ve done my last tandem flight at Curium, at least for a while anyway and I have to wonder, given English weather, when will be my next opportunity to fly generally, never mind tandem. Oh well, onward and .. well maybe upward, we shall have to see!

Cyprus round-up

2011-04-01T22:40:00.001+03:00

It’s beginning to look as if I have flown my last tandem flight here in Cyprus, if not my last flight! The weather for the next few days is looking nothing short of diabolical. We are off as a family, to sample the delights of Kyrenia at the weekend, although it looks as if we will not miss any flying time either there or here. On our return, poor weather is likely to preclude much by way of free flight for the beginning of the week and I have kind of earmarked the midweek point as the cut-off to get everything packed to be sent back that needs to go in PE (Personal Effects) boxes.

As has become my wont at this time of the year, I would like to share with you some statistics that I find interesting, even if no one else will. Actually, I have in the past crunched the numbers a little earlier, but since we are leaving imminently, I thought that around this time would seem the most obvious time to do it, so without further ado, here are my flying stats for the duration of my time here:

All of the figures above are total flying time and include both solo and tandem. Since we are only just into April, I have only included 2010 figures in the graph, although somewhat surprisingly to me considering the weather, I seemed to have been off to a fairly good start for 2011, the first quarter of the year yielding 15 and a half hours flying, although I suspect this may be more due to the fact that my time here is coming to an end, than the weather being particularly good!

During our time here I have accomplished a total of around 50 tandem flights, a combined flying time of around 26 hours (excluding training in ‘08) and these really started to come together around Jul 2010, when I press-ganged the long suffering Louise to be my ‘ballast’ in order to experiment with reverse launches. This opened the door to flights of a sensible and worthwhile duration, since prior to that I had only been launching forward and in lighter conditions. A bit of fine tuning has now seen me bring my take offs on to the point that they are much more controlled and relaxed affairs and I would like to say a big thank you to Lou and all the other passengers who have helped me refine my technique. My total solo flying time being a little over 320 hours, this means that in my time in Cyprus I have moved on from a relative novice with 90 odd hours, to a fairly experienced Tandem pilot with a total in excess of 350 hours. In that time I have added several locations to my sites flown, notably including Nepal, the Tirol region of Austria and a few more areas in Slovakia.

As a family we have loved our time here in Cyprus, which has accelerated noticeably during the last 12 to 18 months, as we began to dread this time approaching. We have become accustomed to the luxury of a five minute drive to the beach and I a five minute drive to ‘my’ flying site. For the past 3 years I have considered myself to be the authority on flying Curium, since in that time I can categorically say that no one else has flown there more frequently or in as many varied conditions.

We will hopefully come back to visit in the future, both the island and some of the friends we have made in our time here, but aside from that, what next? Well, I am sad to leave, but also excited by the prospect of the immediate future. I have a paragliding expedition to Slovenia coming up, followed by an English teaching course and then I will spend time in a paragliding school, where I hope to become a fully-fledged paragliding instructor. Exciting times ahead for sure, but we will take with us happy memories from our wonderful time here.

Watch this space for news of my next paragliding adventures. In the meantime, tight lines all and the very safest of landings!

Heidi puts her feet up

2011-03-30T19:48:00.001+03:00

Unfortunately, just when she should be running (bad Heidi, bad Heidi)! Having been waiting for a tandem flight for well over a year (?) I reckon, Heidi had recently produced one beautiful baby Charlotte and so was understandably indisposed. As soon as the requisite recovery period was served, I contacted her to enquire whether she was feeling up to the job of running off of Curium, she replied promptly in the affirmative.

Mark and I arrived to check out the conditions and found them slightly on the light side, but looking marginally doable. Mark set up at the top, while I got the tandem kit out of the car, just as Heidi and Billy turned up. Heidi and I took a walk down to the sand pit, being the normal sensible spot to launch from and a few moments later Mark took off from the top. It was evident from the off, that he was struggling and he overflew us (just) to tell us that he had forward launched! This was also not very good news. There was next to no wind over where we were, so we watched as Mark sank lower and lower, before making our way back up to the top to reconsider the situation. I went down in the rocket to collect Mark, which gave me a few moments to reassess the conditions and to confer with Mark. We came to the conclusion that a launch could be made from the top with care and that any flight might be a prolonged top to bottom

We couldn’t have called it better than that really; Heidi and I were set up, glider came up sweetly, we were transferred from ten steps down, back onto the top and we made our run. I will rephrase that, I made our run, Heidi decided to take the weight off momentarily and sat down, at which point I suggested it’d be nice if she ran. She got to her feet again and we ran together through the overgrown weeds and were finally lifted up.

Billy snapped away furiously and did well to get many shots in at all, while Heidi and I scratched our way first left, then right and back left again, before disappearing out of sight to the eastern cliffs. I think we managed to eke it out for about 5 minutes, although that might turn out to be a generous estimate, before a fairly gentle and gracious landing on the beach. All in all, I think we did pretty well and we hope to give it one more try before the trusty tandem has to be put to bed in the big box for transportation to colder climes.

Thanks Heidi for flying ‘Dave Air’, sorry it was so short and we hope to see you again soon! x

2TD

2011-03-25T10:40:00.000+02:00

Two tandem day today! Everywhere is looking very green and lush at the moment. Here’s a photo by Lou of Lara standing near the top take off (thanks Lou):

I was dubious about today being very good at all, but Dudley seemed adamant that he and Glenn would be coming over, so I decided that if I was going, I would bring the tandem, since it had been a little while since we’d managed any.

I knew Graham was in town, so I suggested he might like to fly (hopefully a little more successfully than our first, scratchy attempt), so Dudley very kindly picked him up and his mate Dan came too. ‘J’ was there, but he said that he wasn’t too bothered about flying and to take Graham and his mate if they would like to go, so that became the plan.

The wind was a little brisk, so after waiting a little for it to decrease, Dudley launched first, quite neatly and we set Glenn up to go next. It was a little challenging, Glenn took a couple of attempts to get off, but made it in the end and it was time for myself and Graham to get ready.

We launch easily and found plenty of lift straight away. We were able to fly around for a good half an hour, high enough to enable Graham to take the controls for a bit and to allow us to do a few manoeuvres, such as wingovers and stall swings etc. After about 30 mins, we landed for a well earned ice cream and were promptly picked up and recovered back to the top to fly Dan.

I was lulled into the idea of trying to take off from the top with Dan and this resulted in failure, so we headed down to the trusty sand pit take off to launch from there, where we found it much more easy. Again, there was still ample lift to do some interesting stuff, before landing on the beach again after another 30 minute flight. Photos from Dan’s flight should be available soon, as these were taken by Graham.

A cool hour of tandem time for me again today, hopefully some more tomorrow.

Small island politics

2011-03-21T09:13:00.002+02:00

This is not a political blog, but a paragliding one. I am not especially concerned with the struggles or strifes on this island, as far as I am concerned it is a shame that something cannot be done to help the inhabitants live in peace with each other and that is as far as it goes. Sadly however, it would appear that my recent passing comments concerning our ‘warm welcome’ in the north of the island have upset a certain individual and for that I feel some regret. It is not my intention to rub salt in the wounds of those who feel aggrieved about the situation here, far from it, however equally there is nothing I can really do about that situation either. It is a great shame that such individuals appear hell-bent on projecting this racial hatred further into the future, when of course the only way forward is for them to respect each other’s differences and progress together peacefully.

I had considered the individual in question, if not a friend (I originate from the wrong place geographically to ever be that), then a ‘friendly acquaintance’ and we had always gotten along quite well with them, despite being from different continents. It is unfortunate that one passing comment, an observation about a different culture should bring about such a hostile reaction, but sadly it is exactly because of individuals such as this one, who refuse to let go of the past, that this poor strangled island will continue in strife and it’s younger generations, who are innocent of the evil that has passed will have to continue to bear the burden of that past.

I wish that I had some magic proposal to offer to make this situation resolve itself, but sadly I do not, no one has. All I know is that this island could be so much more and everyone on it could benefit from a unified island of Cypriot people, irrespective of background. I wish them exactly that and maybe one day I will revisit a totally different island free from such hatred. I certainly hope so!

Back to paragliding; the forecast doesn’t seem so great this week, maybe we’ll get to fly at some point, let’s hope so!

Video playtime @ Curium

2011-03-19T21:45:00.001+02:00

It was a very pleasant day at Curium. I called Mark and we agreed to go and take a look around 12.30. ‘Jad’, a Lebanese friend was already there, flying his RC model glider and waiting to see if anyone else would turn up to fly. Since we had, he decided to get his glider and equipment out.

Mark set up first and was pretty soon off. Jad asked if I wanted to go next, I said I was happy for him to go and so, off he went. About this time Christakis showed up with a novice pilot, presumably to ‘tutor’ and I greeted him warmly. No response. I assumed he hadn’t heard me, since we have always been on quite good terms. I pointed out to him the sharp edges on the barrier and he responded, “do you want something from me?” I asked him to ‘say again’ and he repeated. I looked at him a little puzzled, “no I was just warning you that the workmen have left these edges quite sharp as I didn’t want you to damage your glider”. He responded that he had nothing to say to me and walked away. Again I was rather bewildered by his response to my well-meaning caution. I continued preparing my equipment another moment, and then became a little annoyed and indignantly walked up to Chris again and said, “well yes actually, there IS something I want from you. I would appear to have done something to offend you and I am sorry for whatever that is, but..”. “I am not interested, I have nothing to say to you”, came the response. I said that I had no idea what I could have done, but was sorry anyway and he remarked that he didn’t like me, it was “as simply as that”. He added something about, “if you have something to say to a person, say it to their face and not..” (I think his language skills failed a bit at this point, or maybe I just couldn’t hear, as I missed what came after this, I assumed it ended something like .. “behind their back” or similar). I told him that in that case he would be pleased to learn that I would be leaving the island in April and he concurred that he was ‘very’ pleased to hear it. At this I just shrugged apologetically (being somewhat at a loss to understand what he was referring to) and simply continued to ready my kit.

I prepped and was off in a moment or two and joined in the merry throng with ‘Jad’ and Mark and we were joined a few minutes later by a guy I didn’t recognise on a newish looking Nova glider. I cruised up and down the regular area of the hill with these guys, merrily capturing video, doing wingovers and playing with the stall point etc. There was a very appreciative audience on the ruins wall, happy to watch our demonstrations.

I became a little bored with this area after a while and so I decided to go and take a look on the west side. It required a good boost of altitude before I could make it around the corner and I had to ‘sneak’ around the last elbow in order to get there, but as always, once around, there was an easy bowl to play in. I couldn’t make it beyond the next cliff, toward the Zapalo ‘crux’ and I could see there was no point trying, so I played there for a little while, before returning to the main hill, videoing all the way.

I had switched to full res mode (r5) and gave it a blast on that for a while, by way of comparison. I am still not sure which setting I prefer.

We must have flown for about 50 minutes and I then folded away the monopole and switched off the video. Five minutes later I landed, just behind Mark and a couple of minutes ahead of ‘Jad’.

A good day flying, only slightly marred by the rather strange encounter. I confess to being absolutely none the wiser as to what might be going on in the head of our Greek Cypriot friend (or maybe ex-friend, we shall see). He does seem to be a rather small-minded, insecure little fellow, who seems to be ‘sparked off’ by the least little thing, being as he is a ‘well-balanced’ individual, that is to say he has a chip on both shoulders! One friend suggested I should offer him a dummy (pacifier), but I suspect that would not be the best thing to do. I am truly sorry to have (presumably) caused a rift between us, but since I have no idea how I did it, am hardly in a position to do anything to repair it. I have always found him an amicable guy, even if at times overly childish. What a very bizarre encounter with a very strange person! Never mind, I won’t be needing to be concerned with this guy for much longer. We leave soon and he can resume his role as ‘top dog’ unimpeded and un-threatened, if that’s what it is all about.

Thanks to those I flew with for a very enjoyable hour or so at this lovely site, blue skies guys!

Slack Arse

2011-03-17T07:25:00.000+02:00

Becoming very slack just recently, sadly think enthusiasm is waning :(
Had two flights just this last couple of days, one 5 minute top to bottom with Mark on.. (13th?), one with an old friend yesterday (16th), just 10 minutes soaring, but in interesting, scratchy conditions. Good to see him flying more confidently on a higher performance wing. Just to keep the record straight!

JBO part two

2011-03-06T21:31:00.000+02:00

Now, you will have sussed by now, that once again, I am post-posting! Yes, I’m cheating and writing this after the event, but come on, be fair, we were knackered after our little trip.

Moving swiftly on, let me recommence the story; we had gone up Kantara knowing that the wind was almost tail and the hill completely enveloped in cloud. We arrived on the top to find.. the hill in cloud and completely in strong tail wind! There was no surprise to be honest, no chance of flying!

We had a good look around the castle and I even felt compelled to run down to the car to pick up the camera to take a few candids.

Nevertheless, the real reason for going up there was to find the take off point and we are quite certain that we did just that. All I knew, was that the recognised take off was on a fire break, some way below the summit.

We had a little drive around and I was happy that we found it. I had been imagining a fire break leading down from the hill, but the take off we found was running around the base of the summit, across the hill. I am convinced that this must be the obvious place to launch from.

Sadly today, launching from anywhere was not an option, so instead we explored the area and took some photos. My only regret is that I will not be back to fly from here. I believe it could be a fantastic site to fly, a clear contender for best flying site on the island, given good conditions!

On our way down, the drizzle was causing difficulties and, seeing that the windscreen washers were not working properly, we employed the lesser used, but under estimated ‘Dudley wash’ wiper system.

To be honest, I’ve had worse car washes, but this one was very cheap and cannot be underestimated!

We lived to drive away and the final leg of the journey took us to ‘Zafer Burnu’ or ‘Cape Andreas’ as the southerners would call it. At the Golden Sands is another recognised take off, but alas today was not a good day. I got my glider out and tried bravely to re-enact my first and only flight there, but alas it was not to be. I enjoyed a five minute top to bottom, including some ground handling at the bottom. Duds helped me back up and, after a climb up another prospective flying site, we gave up and headed back to Dipkarpaz for a coffee and off back home.

It was a pity we didn’t get to fly at Kantara, but we hedged our bets and made certain of the flight at Kyrenia, which always had to be first aim. I got about 45 minutes over the two days and, more importantly Dudley and Tim got first hand info on where to find the main flying sites in the north.

In closing, I would just like to say this: I have thoroughly enjoyed my time on this island, but never since we got here have I felt more welcome and more happy than in the north of the island. The food is more tasty, the welcome more sincere, the whole experience just.. well just more.

The countryside, the country, the food the aromas, the warmth are the very aspects that connect the north and the south and I believe that if they can put aside the differences, they will discover the close similarities. I for one hope that day dawns very soon indeed, because whether they realise it or not, both sides have very much to gain from peaceful union. Here’s to a peaceful united Cyprus one day soon!

‘Jolly Boys Outing’ (weekend away)

2011-03-05T01:27:00.000+02:00

It was a long time in the planning and options were becoming limited and weather would always be a lottery. We had been waiting for quite some time for a period when as many of us as possible could make it, but finally we chose this weekend and Duds, Tim and myself were free. We would finally get up to the north together.

The plan was simple; three guys, one vehicle, two tents and as many hills as we could reach in 48 hours, perchance to fly.

We had done all the ground work and made sure that we would keep on the right side of Ozgur by supplying him with our insurance details and copies of our BHPA membership cards ahead of our visit.

SAT 5 MAR 11

We arrived at Kyrenia around 11 am and went straight to the top of the hill, since one can clearly see the landing field from there. The wind seemed to be cycling in strength, but on the manageable side of interesting, so after a thorough briefing on how high to cut and run, what areas to keep away from and everything else, I asked the guys if they wanted to set up to go first, or if they would prefer me to go first. Duds said he would be happier to see another glider in the air first, so he volunteered to do the first driving run, so I laid my wing out.

I could feel that it was going to be an easy flight to gain height, but suspected that with the north-easterly wind, it would be very difficult to make it to the castle and I was proven correct. I launched and stooged about until Tim was ready to go and soon we were flying together. I had a good general boat around and it was good to fly there with my buddy for a little while, until Tim, being slightly caught out, managed to get himself a bit low and unfortunately had to ‘dob out’ short of the landing field. The presence of the now complete dual carriageway, meant he had to find a slot on one of the firebreak hillocks, before the high voltage cables, so he landed there after maybe 20 minutes or so.

Watching Tim land safely, I realised I too was getting lower than I was comfortable with and so, rather than hang there any longer, I would head on down for the landing field, making the field with a comfortable height to burn off, but only after some cautionary use of the speed bar.

I landed sweetly beside the carob tree and lowered my wing to the sweet call from Duds that he was about five minutes away – bless him!

We recovered the sheepish Tim and, after a bite to eat, headed back up top for Dudley to have his flight. The conditions by this point had decreased to a much gentler breeze and most of the hill was now in shadow, but very evidently flyable. Tim and I helped Duds lay his wing out and he prepared to fly. We watched as he pretty much glided top to bottom, determined that he would make the landing field for his first ever flight here. He executed a very nice landing and Tim and I trundled off to collect him, happy to have succeeded in task one, the flight from Kyrenia east aka ‘Paradise’ aka ‘Oh my god’!

After picking up Duds, we got some provisions from a nearby supermarket and headed east toward Kantara, our next quarry, in search of a practical place to put our tents up in the wild. We found the road hugely improved since my visit two years previously and were there within an hour! We hurriedly put the tents up, just before the light faded and enjoyed some bacon and egg for supper, washed down by a few beers. We watched, amazed as a small boat, with a very large searchlight scoured the coastline, presumably for smugglers. We sat, very still and watched as they passed us, scanning the shore, no further than maybe 100m away, but clearly they did not see us!

SUN 6 MAR 11

We awoke, to find the wind now blowing from the east and the top of the hill in cloud, so we ate, before striking camp and heading up the hill for a recce of the take off for Kantara.

to be continued…

Keeping it in the family

2011-03-02T22:10:00.001+02:00

Well, today seemed like a very good day indeed for flying. We had a school meeting to go to, for an update on Kyle’s progress. We were very pleased with the teacher’s comments about our son’s performance, which set the scene for a good mood all around.

We headed down to Curium, where reports were trickling in of several pilots enjoying the good flying conditions. My chosen mission today, was to get my beloved wife in the air, so on our arrival, the sight of about five other gliders in the air was a welcome one.

Leaving the kids in the capable hands of Lou (many thanks – x) we headed down to the sand pit, to get going. The breeze was good, if not overly strong, but I could see that there was definite potential, much better than our first attempt at flying together, which was a scratchy affair. I set the glider up and Elena informed me that she didn’t need the briefing. I replied that I guessed not, as she could probably deliver it!

As we launched, the wing tips hung in, in a sort of ‘Big Ears’ configuration, so I gave them a brisk pump to free them as I turned and they were almost immediately clear. After a good look around at the relatively ‘busy’ sky, I ran us forward and we lifted up nicely. We tracked left and climbed sweetly above the heads of the tourists.

As we headed back over the top take off, Lara was amazed and amused to hear us calling to her and waving. We only flew for about 20 minutes altogether, as Elena knew I was quite keen to offer a flight to 9 year old George, Tim and Lou’s son, who had expressed an interest to fly a while back. On Elena’s suggestion, we did a couple of gentle wingovers on the way down toward the beach, before setting up and landing just beside the edge of the road.

Tim kindly ran retrieve and once back on top, we could see that everyone else had finished flying, the wind having dropped significantly.

This seemed to make conditions conducive to a top launch with a light-weight passenger, so we laid the wing out to go again, Tim clipping George into his helmet and harness.

George was quite cool about everything and did as he was asked perfectly. Tim steadied him as we launched and very soon we were airborne and moving neatly away from the hill. We managed a good many beats back and fore and travelled just about the full length of the hill, following kestrels around the cliffs and overflying the edge of the ruins, as well as doing the obligatory fly-pasts for the photo calls, executed by the now expert Louise. George seemed to be having fun, so I told him I’d fly until he’d had enough. He really seemed to be settling down and relaxing, so having done 20 minutes and finding it a bit of a struggle now, with the failing breeze, we climbed out as high as we could and headed down toward the beach car park.

On the way, I asked George if he fancied doing some wingovers and he answered that he would, so we did a few and then headed to our landing spot in the centre of the near empty car park, where we set down neatly and tidily. George announced that it was ‘awesome’ and he would do it again sometime. always nice to have a happy passenger! About 45 minutes tandem flying time in the bag today

Off the cuff

2011-02-28T19:30:00.001+02:00

Unbelievable as it may seem, this afternoon was flyable too! I arrived home about 4.40pm and tried to phone Mark about something, but there was no reply. It occurred to me that it might be flyable, but I wouldn't have bothered on my own, such is the difference to my preference when we arrived here, (I would have gladly gone in any conditions, alone or accompanied then). A couple of minutes later, Mark phoned from the air at Curium, saying that he assessed there was about an hour’s flying time left in the day. That was all I needed, I was off. Mark was in the air when I arrived (had been for about an hour). I had fifteen minutes in the strong, fresh westerly and slightly bumpy air and that was all I needed. Mark decided to go down to the bottom for some reason, where I elected to land back on top.

Another unexpected fifteen minutes and why the hell not?!

Niviuk playtime

2011-02-27T19:06:00.001+02:00

On Friday, when we finished work, someone asked me what I had planned for the weekend. I replied that I wasn’t sure, but that I was sure I wouldn’t be flying. Most unexpectedly, we managed to fly briefly yesterday and even more unexpectedly, was an amazingly enjoyable day today.

I arrived about the same time as one other guy and we quickly assessed conditions to be pretty good and proceeded to get ready to fly. I’d received a text from Tim, to say that there were weather fronts arriving from all directions and asking if I was going down. Once in the air, I phoned him to tell him that, far from going down, I was ‘floating around’ and that conditions were very good. He said he’d be on his way at any moment.

I flew around the bowl to the west of take off and to the headland cliffs without too much trouble, so I decided to have a look around the corner in the bowl beyond the water’s edge. There was lift there, but it wasn’t possible to get that high, or to go any further that way, so I decided to come back to the main site. On arriving there, I found that Tim had arrived.

Myself, Tim and our friend (who chooses to be known as John) enjoyed some fun, buoyant conditions, being able to do wingovers, stall point play, as well as some wall landing at the ruins for myself and ‘John’. This was the first time I had managed this, so I was quite pleased with myself. As I expected, once I had managed it, I found that actually, the wall is quite wide and it’s not terribly difficult to stand on, the only trick to it, is to judge the approach just right, so that you arrive just behind the wall. Meanwhile, Lou was scrabbling to change lenses and just managed to catch a picture as I was leaving the wall.

I flew twice, a total of one hour and Tim landed a few minutes after I did, a nice, controlled top landing. It seem to me that the fledgling has graduated to a competent pilot in his own right. I was impressed!

It occurred to me recently that paragliding takes no quarter, you cannot cheat it, either you invest the time, or you will never master the skill. One prospective passenger for tandem recently sent me a message to say that he’d heard I was leaving here and we need to do his tandem flight before I leave. I have contacted him a couple of times, but he has been busy both times. It has to dawn on a prospective paraglider pilot that they must take every chance the weather brings, to get into the air. If you have any other priority when the weather presents an opportunity to fly, then you will not succeed. You learn to either understand this, or to be destined not to fly, or not to be good at it. There can be no compromise, it’s all or nothing. Maybe that’s what I like about this amazing activity; the fact that one must give of oneself in order to succeed. It’s not easy with a family, but the weather, the air, the sport doesn’t care about any of that, paragliding is a selfish mistress! Maybe that’s what makes it all the more pleasurable; the fact that it demands your time. I will give mine whenever I can!

Below are some wonderful photos by Lou, of the day’s flying, cheers mate!

Tad breezy

2011-02-26T20:48:00.001+02:00

The weather has been so terrible now for such a long time, we have all been getting bad withdrawal symptoms. I had a hunch that today would be possible to fly somewhere, just so long as we went early enough, the question was, where? The forecast was for west wind early on and then easterly by about midday, but when has the forecast been even close of late? I couldn’t really see how it was going to switch 180° in such a short time, or at least not that way around.

I had in mind Pissouri if was easterly, or Tunnel beach if it was westerly. On checking Wx/Ug it was clear that it was indeed NOT easterly, so we quickly realised Pissouri was out. Elena had been for a run and said that on her was back home from the direction of the dog unit, the wind had been on her left cheek (coming from the sea), which immediately pointed to Curium, so I contacted Mark and Tim and off we went.

On our way there, Mark and I took a quick gander at Tunnel Beach, which revealed a strong westerly already building, too strong to fly from this location. I thought that, given the shelter of the headland, it might be possible, albeit perhaps not very nice, to fly at Curium, so we headed off there to check. On our arrival, we saw Tim and Lou, who were waiting by the roadside barrier, clearly unsure as to the flyability of the conditions.

I checked on the top take off, watched for a couple of minutes and assessed the sea state. My verdict was to hurry off to the car to get my glider. Flyable, but only if we are slick about it I thought!

I set up on top, while Tim and Mark decided their chances would be better down in the sand pit. I chose my moment well, brought the wing up overhead and was lifted, rotating in the air and was soon smoothly away from the hill. It was a bit gusty, making the going a bit bumpy to say the least, but penetration was still not a problem.

At one point I got rocketed skyward near the right of take off and was not happy to be going so high so fast. I flew away from the strongest lift and found myself still higher than I would like, so I pulled in Big Ears to limit the climb and finally reduce my height to a manageable level.

After about 15 minutes I was finding it less enjoyable and more of a fight so, flying away from the lift I was not disappointed to be sinking steadily. I held that course, seeing that I could easily make the proper landing area. I opted for this rather than the beach car park, as when it is this strong, there can be a risk of being dragged across the road or into the trees by the roadside. Once down, I turned my attention to the guys up top in the sand pit.

Mark was setting up and clearly having a few minor issues with the gusts. Eventually Tim set up and he too was struggling a little bit, but working together he and Mark prepared his wing and Tim was reasonable smoothly thrust into the air.

I decided to walk back up to offer Mark any help or advice he might like. Soon, he was set up again and this time he launched fairly smoothly, managing to negotiate the gusts. What I didn’t see, was what he described as a full-frontal. Apparently he had been putting on quite a bit of speed and the front just caved in on him. reacting quickly, off the bar and using brake pumps to recover, he had decided that was enough for him. Tim had had enough by that point too, so they both landed together at the east end opposite the ‘Kourion Café’.

Well, it was short lived, but we had braved the conditions and carefully negotiated and beaten the elements to claw a much needed flight out of the day. Twenty minutes for me and maybe a tad less for the other guys.

I enjoy nearly any flight that I walk away from and when it is turbulent like this, I feel I have gained some experience or another. today was one of those days, where the actual flight was not that enjoyable, but the nature of it and the experience gained from flying in uncommonly rough air was.

We hope for better weather soon, weather in which I can fly some more tandem flights hopefully, it seems to have been a while since we had those conditions!

Until then, tight lines and happy landings one and all!

I am not instructing this man!

2011-02-25T00:01:00.001+02:00

Well, what another truly frustrating day! To make matters worse, I drove past Curium about 8 am and observed that the conditions looked just about perfect for soaring. Unfortunately, I was on my way to do a job in Akrotiri, but I quickly logged in at the Squadron and left a ‘shout’ on the club site’s ‘Shoutbox’. Sadly, everyone seemed to be busy and so no one could take advantage of the flyable breeze!

I checked the hill out on the way home and it looked light but doable. On my arrival home I had a message from Tim telling me that he was on the hill and it was indeed quite light. Sevag had apparently flown twice, very briefly, going down fairly quickly and Tim had one top to bottom too before I arrived.

Tim and Lou’s kids were there, so there was someone for Kyle to play with. He and George headed off to the sand pit, while we stood on top, trying to decide if it would get flyable.

Halsey was there, so we decided that it would be a good opportunity for him to demonstrate his technique, whilst Tim and I observed. I should point out at this time that I am not instructing this man, I am not qualified to do that. I am not coaching him either, HE is not qualified for that! As to what we are doing.. well, that is a bit of a moot point! Actually, Halsey is kind of trying to teach himself and I have told him that I will help him wherever possible. This largely involves watching and keeping an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t do anything dangerous. The main problem with this approach is that it lacks any proper structure or schedule. Finding the time to both be on the hill in suitable conditions at the same time is challenging to say the least.

Anyway, Halsey set up his glider and we watched as he prepared to launch in a nice gentle 5 mph breeze. He has elected to use the ‘A’ riser and brakes method, which seems to be working for him up to a point and the wing rose into the air quite well and reasonably controlled. He rushed the turn a bit, which is a common fault, but on the whole it was not bad considering his limited experience.

As he began his run however, he was holding onto the risers, so I yelled at him to let go of them. Non-compliance forced me to repeat the instruction, but louder, as he left the hill. I noticed a bit of a ‘faff’ going on as he fiddled with the brake handles, which we later learned was due to the brake lines being twisted once around the riser each side.

Tim and I went down to pick Halsey up and we pointed out his errors. We returned to the top, hoping to have another chance for Halsey to rectify these problems, but alas, the wind dropped completely. Instead, I gave him a brief demonstration, but before long it was completely unlaunchable, even for another top to bottom flight. Finally, we decided to give it up and be on our way. Who knows, perhaps we’ll get our chance to fly tomorrow, before the next bout of horrible weather sets in? We shall see!

Latest video offering

2011-02-19T23:12:00.001+02:00

Here is my latest video offering from 12 Feb 2011.

Credit: Thanks to Dudley for the static footage–nice one mate!

Full house (well, very nearly!)

2011-02-12T00:02:00.000+02:00

What a terrific day! I had thought it might be quite good, but I couldn’t have hoped it would be this good! Mark and I had planned to go and have a look and Dudley was on his way over from Ay Nik with the whole family in tow, but what we didn’t realise was that Michelle and Glenn were also on their way over.

I had texted to ask Dudley how long it would be before he got here and his reply came; 5 mins, so I decided to wait for him, as it might be an opportunity to offer his daughter Rachel a flight. I had also texted Tim before and he now replied that he was just up after the night shift and was asking how it was. I couldn’t reply to this by text, so I called him to tell him the full story; virtually the whole club was here and only he was missing! This did the trick and he announced that he and Lou would soon be on their way.

Dudley having arrived, I set off down to the sand pit with Rachel and Dudley was close behind to help and then to fly himself. Glenn and Michelle were also on hand to help lay out the wing, thanks guys! I was carrying with me my rather ropey cheap mono-pole, which I had had to bodge up with tape, as the telescope components had snapped, transforming it from a telescopic pole to.. well, a pole basically! Anyway, I thought I’d give it a try out in the air. I have a newer and hopefully better one on order, but I was keen to try the technique out, so I took my old one instead.

Once we had the wing set, we were off very quickly, as I didn’t want Rachel to get nervous, I needn’t have worried! The wing came up beautifully and perched above our heads neatly and away we went.

There were about three visiting German pilots here on a flying holiday and they had quizzed me about other sites, so I directed them to our web site and some blogs etc. They had set up and were in the air, along with Mark, who had gone earlier and we joined them. After we were airborne, we watched from above as first Michelle, Glenn and then Dudley got away, all executed very well. Rachel was clearly enjoying the flight and we boated around all over the place, bobbing an weaving between the other gliders and shooting the odd bit of video as we went. Tim arrived and went down to the sand pit, where he too executed a good take off and soon he had slid into the pattern and we all floated around together.

Rachel and I flew for an hour and I am sure she would have happily flown for another hour, but I had a party to get Kyle to, so I broke the news that we would be going to the beach to land. We headed out over the car park, set up our approach with a couple of wingovers and touched down quite neatly. I had to settle for bringing the glider down whilst facing forward and Rachel stumbled as we turned, so I stepped over her and the wing came down quickly, so no harm done. One good thing about taking children up, is that they are fairly easy to step over, but it can be a bit of a worry if they trip.

Rachel was beaming from ear to ear and clearly had enjoyed herself, announcing that she wanted to go up again sometime.

Lou had been on the hill snapping and soon sent through a collection of the best shots, which I am posting below – thanks mate! Take a look, they are stunning! I will post the video here in the next day or so, until then, tight lines and happy landings all!

Cloud’s up!

2011-02-10T15:07:00.001+02:00

Looks like there’s plenty of lift out Curium way. Pants! And I have been coveting the desire for a float about for a few days now.

We have word of our new home, it’s a bit like our old home, just up the road in Stanmore. The question is, will there be much opportunity for flight in that region? About 30 odd minutes up the road to D’unstable I reckon, so maybe there’ll be the occasional opportunity. I also hope to be able to keep a hold of the tandem for a little while too, so you never know, there may be the occasional chance of passengers too.

As for where we’ll eventually end up, who knows? So long as there is a hill somewhere near, I suppose it won’t be a complete disaster!

As for today in Cyprus.. well, I’m clearly not about to fly here for the next 24 hours or so. The question is.. would I be getting more airtime in UK just at the moment? I swear, a few days here without flying just seems like an age. What’s it going to be like when we’re there?!

Stavrovouni 6 Feb 2010

2011-02-09T15:11:00.003+02:00

A great day boating around from the awesome Stavrovouni.

Time management

2011-02-08T16:07:00.001+02:00

The weather sites on line all said it was supposed to be easterly all day, but walking home this didn’t seem to be the case and the flags were fluttering in a westerly direction. I had another look at the internet.

Elena was planning to go to running club for 4pm, meaning she’d want to set off about 3.30, so I would need to be fairly swift about it if I intended to try it. I set off and upon my arrival it was clearly westerly and the hill was almost perfectly on.

I set up and launched, after sending a couple of text messages out first. A friend in Limassol was amazed, saying that there it looked strong east, with white caps on the sea. This island can deliver some pretty strange weather, with bizarre systems setting up depressions and other odd phenomena around the coast and in the mountains.

I boated around for about 30 minutes, hopeful that another friend might show up, but alas I was doomed to fly alone today! On checking the time, I saw that it was approaching 3.15, my self declared cut-off time, so I began to lose height and crept in over the ruins. It was a little bumpy near the top launch/landing point and the bowl to the immediate east of it, but with care I was able to float in over the take off and mush down onto the matted area quite neatly.

Sometimes it can be a bit of a juggle, trying to ensure that both Elena and I manage to get time to do our respective ‘things’, but when the weather plays fair, it’s easier here than in UK, another factor we are surely going to miss!

Stav with friends

2011-02-06T23:04:00.001+02:00

The initial signs for a good day were encouraging. Yesterday had been a running day for Elena, so I wasn’t able to come then, so today was designated for the pointy hill. I sent messages to the usual suspects and Mark and Dudley announced that they were up for it. I am currently baby-sitting the Red Rocket, so I picked Mark up for an early start and we were at Stav by 0930. Duds met us there and, after buying our refreshments we drove to the Landing field to leave one car and then to the top, to check things out.

Demetris hadn't been sure if he could come or not, but happily, he was there, with Nick. Nick was already in the air and on our arrival, Dudley set up first and was soon away. Mark went next and I brought up the rear. I had been very concerned about problems with my microlines on the Peak, but in the event I need not have worried, it behave impeccably and I was away very neatly first time.

There was an inversion layer not far above the take off, so sadly there was no getting very high. We all managed to get better than the height of the mountain, but no cross-country flying today unfortunately. I ran some video, which came out OK and Duds ran his camera, which having been set wrongly, unfortunately recorded 40 minutes worth of footage of his lap. Never mind mate, it’s a bit of a learning curve, better luck next time!

Well, there’s not really very much to tell really, except to say that Nick, Dudley, Mark, myself and Demetris all flew we all had pleasant enough flights.

In the landing field, there was a gathering of around 20-30 school children and, upon landing, Demetris announced that they were his students from the nearby Pyrga school. They seemed to be enjoying the spectacle and probably got something of a thrill to see their school teacher drop in out of the sky.

Another pleasant one on Stav, even if we couldn’t go anywhere and I for one notched up another 55 minutes, just cruising around thermal hunting.

Chasing my tail

2011-01-23T23:01:00.001+02:00

What a great day! A whole day devoted to my favourite pastime, commencing with a terrific little mini cross-country flight, followed in the afternoon by two tandem flights, I couldn’t really ask for more.

I’d arranged with Jean, Dudley and Demetris to meet up at Stavrovouni for 10. Demetris was delayed, as he was going to help Nick fly, so we met in the kiosk car park and headed to the landing field to brief Jean and deposit two cars, before going to the top in the ‘Rocket’. The wind was a little off, but the odd thermal was popping through and so we were able to get off the hill by means of a little commitment. Dudley went first after one false start, then Jean first time and finally myself, again after one aborted attempt. Dudley had reached the area of the landing field before I got away and appeared to have found a nice, gentle, large thermal, which he was turning in nicely. Jean too, found a nice one and managed to climb to a good height.

I was later advised that the wind had switched to almost full-on tail when I actually took off, so all in all I am quite happy to have got airborne at all and in fact, it happened about as neatly as was possible. I played near to the ridge at first, but soon found it a bit turbulent, so I moved away from the hill to where the other guys had found climbs and I too, found one near to the quarry. The valley breeze was slowly drifting me above the quarry and, since I was getting a good climb out of it, I went with it. Soon I had passed the point where I had to accept a different landing area, but I was going places, so I was happy to take it. I reached the motorway just before Kornos village, having carefully navigated around the military base at Stavrovouni. I had thought of landing in a field near there, but on seeing around 100 troops parading on the main square I decided that it might perhaps be a better idea to head back toward Pyrga and perhaps jump back to the monastery landing field. This was however, into wind and would have required a good deal more height. There were thermals just about everywhere, but by this point I was starting to get quite chilly, had been flying around forty minutes at altitude and was not too concerned by the prospect of going down somewhere.

I headed to the east of Pyrga and selected a good field to land in, just before the Kalo Chorio military range. Villagers here have repeatedly complained to the military about projected ordnance exploding in their neighbourhood. It seems that the military are fond of using equipment of too high a calibre, which has a tendency to overshoot the back of the range, sometimes exploding in villagers’ back gardens!

Anyway, I found a nice field to land in there and packed my glider while Dudley kindly came to collect me. Jean was heading off and said he might be going to try Curium, as was my intention also. The log of my morning’s flight can be viewed here.

I texted Elena to let her know that I was on my way if she fancied coming down to Curium and she said she would meet me there. There was a young lady, a daughter of a friend of Lou’s who was very keen to fly, so I was hoping to take her up. On my arrival at Curium it was a little light and Mark was parawaiting with Halsey, but I judged it would be doable, especially on a tandem with a small passenger. After a few minutes my young passenger had arrived, so I started to kit up. Pretty soon, Lou and Jean had arrived too, so I knew we would soon be seeing some very nice photographs!

It was light enough to take off from the top with a little help from my friends, so I set up and got Bethan, my passenger ready. The glider came up neatly after one false start and with Bethan already in the air, I walked us forward and we were up. Bethan was very quiet for quite some time and I was concerned that she was a little bit nervous, so I chatted to her almost constantly. She finally broke her silence when she saw some horses in the Episkopi saddlery and from that moment on I was able to engage her in conversation. We flew for around forty minutes and finally landed on the beach. The glider came down a little untidily and I managed to stop us being dragged more than a couple of feet with no harm done.

It would appear that we may have a bit of a paragliding fan, as I am pleased to report that Bethan really enjoyed her flight, exclaiming that she wanted to ‘go up again’. Unfortunately that was not an option today, as Kyle had already earmarked the next and last flight for today. I am so pleased to have been able to make her wish to fly come true – thanks for flying with me Bethan!

Kyle had another bizarre inverted launch again today, not quite sure how that happened, I thought we had sorted all that out with the new harness. Well, at least he is consistently more comfortable now once we’re flying. The seat seems pretty comfortable for him.

This was Kyle’s fifth flight and he was keen to do something a bit more dynamic, so we did some wingovers, some pitch control ‘swing-throughs’ and even pulled in big ears a couple of times. The breeze had calmed down enough by the end of our flight, that I decided it was gentle enough to venture to top land, so with Jean’s help to grab the wing fabric on touchdown, we managed to put the glider down very neatly at the front of the top take off area. A lovely finish to a great day of flying, a total of 50 minutes solo and 1 hour tandem flight, with a little cross country buzz thrown in for good measure. Good times!

Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings here and please don’t forget to leave a message in the comments box. Tight lines and safe landings!

Many thanks also to Lou for her superb photos above.

East wind

2011-01-21T20:29:00.001+02:00

Video from yesterday

Many thanks to mcdudley for the video clip

Today, a short trip to Curium to meet up with Dudley, Paul and Jean in easterly conditions. The guys were set up on the west cliffs, however as often happens in an easterly wind, there was a lot of turbulence. Paul was just launching as I arrived and by the time I was on site, he was practically down on the beach. He had launched in what was basically the only short window of south-easterly breeze. Moments after he had taken off, the wind had swung back toward the east-northeast, making for turbulent, impossible conditions. I later learned that Paul had flown from Pissouri for half an hour in the morning. We all stood and chatted for a little while, before giving up and heading home. Lara had enjoyed a little nap on Dudley’s glider:

Doubled up

2011-01-20T00:09:00.000+02:00

I could see it would be a good day for flying and so I phoned Dudley to see what time he was coming over. He said he’d be on the hill from about 1.30 pm and asked if I’d be able to take a passenger. I said I thought so, but that it would depend upon Elena’s plans for running. I contacted her and she very kindly gave the green light.

On my arrival, Dudley was there with my passenger and a Belgian guy named Jean was there too, having made contacted yesterday, he was in the fortunate position that it was flyable today. Paul was in the air and a couple of other guys were around and ready to fly.

As it looked good, I sent a message to Mandy, to tell her that there was a chance for either her or Roger to have a flight (or ‘sloppy seconds’ as I called it) after. She responded that Roger would love to fly. People, I just cannot express how much more likely it is to happen if as a passenger you are able and prepared to drop things and come at a few minutes notice. It’s not me trying to be precious, it’s just the nature of the beast!

Anyway, These guys were on the ball and ready and the net result was a success story. Firstly, Nick and I took off with a neat and tidy launch and lifted quite nicely. We flew all along the east side, then toward the west cliffs a little bit, but lift there was not plentiful, so we returned to the east. Lou was now on launch with her trusty Nikon and I have to say it was nice to know that our team photographer was there to capture the flying.

We enjoyed some good lift for around 25 minutes before heading to the beach, where my next passenger was waiting. The touchdown was sweet as a nut and, once briefed what to expect, Nick responded and we brought the wing down crisply and neatly.

Mandy, very kindly drove us back up to the top and I reassessed the conditions. Where there had been about five or six of us flying earlier, now there were none in the air and the breeze did seem to have decreased, albeit only a bit. I decided that it was suitable for a top launch, thus saving a walk down to the sand pit and since we had a couple of willing bodies to help out, things looked quite well within limits there. I must thank Paul especially for helping anchor us and of course Dudley for capturing video of the take off, I’m sure we’ll see some footage of that before too long.

As Roger is quite a light guy, we were able to float and boat for about 30 minutes before I needed to start thinking about preparing for landing on the beach. The sun was working its was down and along with it the sea breeze was dropping too.

We finally headed for the beach and set down gently and easily beside our waiting chauffeur.

A good day today with another two successful tandem flights and another tandem hour. Thanks both for flying with me, hope you enjoyed the experience!

Oh, and a very special thank you to Lou for all of the wonderful photos! x

Low and high

2011-01-19T21:13:00.001+02:00

Low level flying today in the helicopter, then high level (ish) by Artik. The cloud base was extremely high today, well above the 6000’ summit of Mount Olympus, I would say it had to be at least 8000’! Later on of course, the clouds had built up a bit, but base must still have been very high.

On the way back from Akrotiri, I had a peek in at Curium and noted that the day was looking very good indeed in terms of ‘paraglidability’. After work, I sent out a few messages and headed down to check the breeze out and I was not disappointed. Mark was already (ahem) having fun in the sand pit and I had sent out a couple of messages for prospective tandem passengers but sadly, no one could make it today!

I judged that it would be possible, if a little sporty, to launch from the top and so set up there. Mark, by this time had finished his shenanigans and was airborne a few moments before me. He flew past me and announced that it was strong ‘even down there’, gesticulating toward the sand pit. I concurred. Nevertheless and very pleased with myself, I made a fairly decent job of launching the trusty Artik from the top and proceeded to join in the fun.

Early on I checked out the prospects of working along the west cliffs and early on I concluded it was simply not going to happen! We mostly flew out front of top launch and all along the east side, climbing quite high with minimal effort.

Soon Christakis, the Greek Cypriot instructor arrived, accompanied by someone, presumably a student. Chris took off on an old looking, blue UP paraglider, staying low and I concluded that he was merely doing a test flight, prior to launching his student. Once happy, he began throwing the glider around, doing wild wingovers very close to the terrain, presumably trying to get back down so his student could fly. Mark and I both watched in amazement as Chris threw ever larger wingovers, each one increasingly closer to the ground. I have to say that for the most part, Chris is a very good pilot, but every now and again he does something really quite out of character and scares me a bit. This was one such occasion. We watched on from above, waiting for the sickening thud of our fellow flyer’s body against the hill, a thud which thankfully never came. Finally, deciding that the top was too strong I guess, Chris moved along and top landed in the sand pit, somewhere I would actually consider harder to land. I was a tad confused, but hey, to each their own!

Soon, I noticed that Mark had landed back on top, just as I myself was thinking I had about had enough and so I flew out over the sea for a couple of final photographs, then headed back to the hill, applied ‘Big Ears’ in order to get a bit lower, then mushed in a bit and landed neatly on the top mats to join Mark. Fifty-eight minutes in the air today and quite an enjoyable flight to boot.

I had noticed a shadow in one of the cells of my right wing tip, which I had thought was sand. On packing my glider away, I discovered this rock in the trailing edge:

This is typical of the kind of thing we are up against on this island. Happy flying all!

Flying between the spots (dancing on the dark side)

2011-01-18T16:37:00.001+02:00

The text I sent out read ‘unexpected window of paragliding opportunity’. I was amazed to see the flags showing the right direction as I walked home from work and so, sent out some messages. Elena was amazed, as Weather underground was showing east wind, normally a harbinger of hopeless cross-wind on the top. Unfortunately, it appeared that no one else could make it, so I headed out alone, with a little over an hour to spare, so no chance of organising any tandems.

On my arrival, I could see that the direction and strength were perfect and the wing came up sweetly as I was watched by a guy with his little daughter, not much older than Lara. I held the wing above, despite small gusts, which were trying to push me to the left of take off. I steered myself back to front centre, just to satisfy myself that I could do so. When I was ready I launched gently and cleanly forward and up, up and forward. As is my custom, I turned right to explore that way and found the customary lift, before heading back over the top take off area, where my two spectators vacated post-haste, clearly under the impression that I was headed back to land on top. In fact I scooted past the top and played around in the general take off area, before going to explore the rest of the ridge.

After a few minutes, I began to notice the air becoming more feisty and a large black cloud had accumulated a few miles over the back in the direction of Epi camp. I decided that this would need to be keenly monitored.

My original planned name for this post was to be ‘Lonely hour’, however it now did not seem likely that I’d be wanting, or even able to fly for an hour, as this cloud looked quite ominous indeed! I decided to spin it out a while longer, just to see what might happen. In fact, after about 20 minutes, Mark arrived and I headed over to discuss the conditions with him. He remarked that there were spots of rain and sure enough, I began to feel a couple too. Looking back again, I could see the black stuff piling up and decided this was my cue to head back for the top. I mushed in cautiously and top landed, bringing the wing swiftly and smartly down, to bundle up and scurry under the tree. Mark hurriedly took his gear back to his car and as soon as I had bagged mine I followed suit, just as the heavier rain started to fall. Just about judged to perfection and 27 of the least likely minutes bagged on a day that promised nothing. All in all, not too bad!

8G

2011-01-15T00:32:00.000+02:00

No, not a reference to the force borne upon us today, just the number of gliders I counted at one stage. Apparently, there were nine or maybe even ten flying at once, but I only noticed a maximum of eight at any one time.

I had not expected much from the day, what with the forecast showing east winds again, but I got a text from Mark, asking if my ‘Spidey senses were tingling’ and if so, what they were telling me. I replied that I thought there were two options; 1, go to Pissouri early on and since we were having the conversation about 10.45, that seemed to be out, or 2, just maybe Curium might be working in the afternoon.

Mark was out for a walk with his wife in the morning, so I texted him later to say we were on our way just after midday. On my arrival, there were half a dozen guys there, preparing and flying, plus a spattering of folks watching. Mark had just arrived too, so we set up and off we went.

I flew for about 18 minutes and then top landed to chat to some guys from the bases about training courses and tandem etc. When I took off again, the wind was much stronger and before I got away I had a couple of botched attempts (am I becoming too blasé about my own ability and my knowledge of Curium?) Answers on a postcard please!

Nevertheless, once I did get off, I noticed that the conditions were so good that we could all get really high and enjoy long flights, getting over the sea at times. I had been out to the west and found it quite a struggle, but now I saw Sevag there, so I went to join him. Once around the corner, I was able to get considerably higher than before, but it soon became clear that just past the bowl around the west cliffs was as far as it would be possible to get, due to the strength of the westerly breeze now blowing.

I did however manage to get my best height, just prior to landing. I cannot comment sensibly on the actual height, as I had not reset my vario before launch, however it was high enough to fly over the sea in front of the Kourion café, along in front of the BB café and to do some wingovers before setting down on the beach right next to Demetris.

A total of about 1 hour 15 today then, but more importantly the best flying day in months. Let’s hope this is the start of better things! I unfortunately did not have my tandem, otherwise today would have been ideal, neither did I take a camera, since I had only half expected it to be flyable – doh! Hopefully I will steal some photos from Sevag to post soon.

Fly safe people and tight lines to all!

Photos from Anthony’s flight yesterday

2011-01-12T16:14:00.001+02:00

Below are some photos from Anthony’s tandem flight yesterday. Special thanks to Lisa for the superb pics!

Tony in the sky with Mafa

2011-01-11T22:52:00.001+02:00

This had been a while in the planning. Anthony was really getting very anxious indeed to get his feet off the ground and what self respecting dad could deny his child that opportunity? Duds had been trying his best to get him over at a time when the weather would play ball, but our best laid schemes had consistently ‘gang aft agley’.

Today looked as if it could go either way, with an easterly breeze kicking in early doors, slowly being worked around to SE by what little sun there was. Having hatched this plot to finally get Anthony’s feet in the air and knowing how disappointed he would be if he didn’t get a flight again, I put it to Dudley that we would give him a flight, even if it turned out to be a top to bottom.

I arrived at the hill just behind Dudley, and Mark had been there, mulling things over for some time. It was light, with a hint of east in it. Had it been stronger, it would in fact have been perfect for a cliff run to the west, but alas, such it was not. I took one look and knew that with a large glider (the trusty Nova Phor 2 tandem) and a small passenger, we would have a fighting chance to stay up for ten minutes or so; all we would need to declare our efforts a success. With Mark and Dudley to assist, I clipped in, readied Anthony and prepared to reverse the wing up. The first time a line snagged on the right hand side, so we aborted and my helpers shifted the wing over a few feet to the east ready to try again. This time it came up clean as a whistle and Anthony was lifted off his feet, while I got on with the business of running.

We were clear of the hill and I pointed us westward where the cliffs face the east to south easterly winds. There was no denying we were lower than one would normally like to be, but still just above the cliff tops, below the upper slopes. I felt some gentle lift and hugged in as much as I dared with a passenger in tow. As we reached the sea end of the cliffs we entered the customary bubble of lift and I turned us back toward the hill, where I am happy to say we were lifted some 20 metres or so, now level with the west launch. A couple more beats and we were well above this area and Anthony declared that everything looked ‘like a tiny model’, a bit of an exaggeration maybe, but high enough for me to relax considerably. We were going to surpass our 10 minutes, of that I was now sure.

We chatted and flew for a few more minutes and were soon joined, first by Dudley and later by Mark, but they were visibly struggling below, not having my advantageous weight to square metre ratio.

We stooged around a bit and once I could see that we had enough height to make it back past the top take off area with a little to spare, I did a fly-by to allow Lisa the opportunity for a photo or two. This was a little bit of a gamble, because despite being higher than when we initially headed over to the west, the breeze was now becoming still weaker. We made it back to the cliffs, as we had done originally, however this time it was noticeably devoid of any real lift. Dudley had already been forced away from the hill and went down moments later and Mark too was now struggling. Minutes later again, Mark was down and I told Anthony that our minutes were numbered and that we would soon be arriving on the beach.

We touched down deftly, after a total of some 18 minutes, walked forward a bit and brought the glider down with no resistance at all, such was the condition of the diminishing breeze.

We took advantage of Mark’s presence and expertise to capture a couple of happy snaps (thanks mate) and then de-kitted and packed. Mark was ferried back to the top, where he duly headed home and the two families enjoyed a little stroll on the beach together for maybe an hour, before heading off for a celebratory MacDonalds, job done and another satisfied customer!

A pleasant surprise

2011-01-10T22:39:00.001+02:00

Today looked like it could be OK, if a little on the light side, plus it is usually my late day, finishing work with barely time to rush out of the door, by which time all of the decent flying conditions have been and gone. In the event, two happy coincidental conditions conveniently aligned themselves, creating far too good an opportunity to miss. Firstly, the wind speed and direction were spot on, secondly our working day miraculously ‘shrank’ meaning a window of tandem opportunity. Added to this scenario, Dudley was on the correct end of his shift pattern for once, so that he could for once be in the right place at the right time.

I headed to Curium, having received exactly what I had expected from Duds; the ‘good to go’ message. On my arrival he was airborne and my darling wife was on her way at a steading pace on foot, as is her whim. Once on site, I began sending out sms messages to a couple of probable prospective passengers and was taken up by one friend of a friend. Jim arrived a few minutes later and, seeing there was a fair amount of lift still to be had, I waved him down to the sand pit take off, where I was busy laying out the glider.

We briefed up, kitted up and were ready in a matter of minutes. The glider came up beautifully, however we were lifted off our feet and I unfortunately landed on my backside, but all was not lost, as the passenger was still just about standing and the wing was flying nicely. I released the brake, asked my pax to get properly to his feet and we were assisted in standing by another light patch of lift. The moment we were back on our feet we were airborne. Jim did everything I had briefed him on, which is a rarity in itself and undoubtedly contributed to our clean getaway.

Within a couple of minutes we were climbing away nicely to join Dudley, who was swanning around up to that point with the sky to himself. We were able to get high enough in the smooth air for me to give Jim the controls and he happily boated us around for a few minutes while I fiddled with the camera and took a couple of shots from the air.

I was particularly pleased to see Duds finally reaping the rewards of his commitment after the numerous times he’s been over and conditions have just not been there for a flight. I must say his nice bright green Hook 2 really looks distinctive and takes us a step further toward establishing ‘Team Niviuk Cyprus’. I almost felt like I was letting the side down, flying as I was a Nova glider!

Dudley must have flown for about an hour and three quarters and my passenger and I for thirty minutes. This is usually about a good benchmark time to fly passengers at this site. Much more and they are running the risk of either getting sick or just plain bored, much less tends to leave them wanting more. From my perspective, this is about right too, hence we set up and landed on the beach, next to Jim’s friend, who had positioned himself below and readily armed with a camera. Definitely one of my better tandem flights, thanks Jim for being a part of it!

On a whim..

2011-01-09T22:45:00.001+02:00

We had been down to Curium to check out conditions just after 1pm, but it was blowing a gale down there by that time, so we went for a walk on the beach instead and enjoyed a nice light snack in the Kourion café. It was strange to see the BBC empty and all shut up. Locals and visitors alike were using the terrace as a short seaside promenade.

On our return home around 3pm, it was looking a little better, but still quite gusty, so I elected to go take a look in a half hour or so. I started watching a movie and almost couldn’t tear myself away, but in the end I headed out around 4pm.

I was just outside the main gate headed east, when it suddenly dawned on me; it was westerly and there was one place even nearer to home that I’d meant to check out, so I spun around. It’s in Aki flying order book, listed as a known paragliding site and it’s five minutes from my house, yes even closer than Curium, Kensington cliffs above Tunnel beach.

I arrived there and the wind seemed intermittent, lulling one minute, gusting the next. After I had made the decision to give it a go and went to fetch my trusty Artik, I was about to set up when a guy appeared with a RC model glider. I chatted to him for a few minutes and rather than being in any way put out by the prospect of me flying there too, he was in fact very friendly and even offered to drive down to the golf course to retrieve me should the need arise. I thanked him and added that I hoped that wouldn’t be necessary, especially given the fairly strong conditions.

He launched his glider with distinct ease and it climbed immediately into the pitching air. I was amazed at how easily it launched and how well it climbed and moments later was laying my wing out. there was only one small complication, much as I thought might happen; my glider was laying in dead air and so did not want to inflate. There was nobody to help raise the leading edge, so I walked backward, stepping down the small ledge at the front of the hill and pulling the leading edge to the lip of the slope. The leading edge now began to fill, but unfortunately there were several thorny gorse weeds at the front, which tangled in my lines a bit. I was able to get enough air into the wing to pull these tangles free and the wing began to rise, as I trotted back toward it, hopping back up the lip onto the top in the process.

It had all worked rather well and the wing was flying nicely, so I pushed forward and was immediately off my feet, way before the edge. I was vaguely aware of the proximity of the model, but left the avoidance side of things to it’s pilot, now behind me. I had other things to sort out, as looking up I saw a small chunk of gorse in my lines, tagging my Bs and Cs together at an upper branch. I engaged all of my attention to pulling and rattling at the outer Bs and then the outer Cs in turn, trying to free it. It never did come completely free, but after a few minutes it released the Cs, now only hanging from the Bs and I was able to fly with full control again.

Relieved, I settled back into my flight and began to explore the cliffs a bit. I was immediately out-climbing the model, so there was no risk of collision. I suspect that he could probably climb that high if he’d wanted to, but only being quite small, it would undoubtedly make it difficult to see what was going on if he got it too high.

I stooged around for around ten minutes and would probably have liked to stay up there longer, but was keen not to miss the opportunity to land back on top, rather than have to put my new friend out for a lift, or to scrounge a lift from a passer by, of which there would be very few I reckoned. So, after about ten minutes I flew north of my take off point, looking for the best spot to put down on top.

I was approaching the upper end of the cliff line, but was also losing quite a lot of height and the opposite direction being the faster beat, I reasoned that it would be difficult to turn back in toward the hill there, before being swept back out and up. Also, going back is downhill, so as you attempt to set yourself up, the ground would not be getting closer, due to the fall off. for this reason, I assessed my ground speed and, finding it acceptable, touched down on a cross-wind leg, ready to run. As it happened I only ran about five paces and not at great speed, before bringing the glider down. Once down, the wing was once again in dead air and stayed put effortlessly.

All in all about 12 minutes in the air and nothing too thrilling, but nice to try this potential site out by way of a change. My assessment then; a usable site, but better in very smooth conditions and, due to the amount of canopy control required, definitely not for the beginner, or even the less proficient mid-low airtimer. If there was an assistant at hand to help all but last guy off the ground, it could be done, but due to the requirement to get the wing close to the edge (and thus oneself over the edge) it’s a bit tricky for the last man, or of course in the case of one flying alone, the only man. Also, the prospect of having to drive down to pick people up from the bottom, would soon become tiresome, so it would be better if all flying could be confident to top land.

Still, an enjoyable flight and a worthwhile experiment. On the way home, just outside my house I caught the sunset pictured below. I have to say, life here is good, such a privilege to have had the opportunity to experience it for these last few years!

Roy’s the word

2011-01-08T00:51:00.000+02:00

Today didn’t look great to be honest, but it’s been too long without decent flying weather to look a gift horse in the mouth. I went for a look-see and found there, Sevag, Christos, Christakis, Tadas and one other. I laughed and joked with Tadas, that he pronounced his name like ‘TARDIS’ and explained the Dr Who connection which, being Latvian, he was unaware of.

After a few minutes standing and waiting, a couple of us decided it might be time to give it a try, my friend getting neatly away on his old ‘Pro-design’ glider just as Roy, my willing passenger arrived.

It had been quite strong, but now was decidedly doable, so we scurried down to the sand pit post-haste.

I mentioned to Roy that I didn’t have my camera with me, so he quickly trotted back up to the top to fetch his phone for a few pics from the air.

One slightly fluffed launch due to the gusty conditions later and we were set up again and I managed to bring the glider up to flying position without any drama the second time.

Conditions were a bit less than perfect, but we flew for about 25 minutes with Christos and Sevag, before the lulling breeze forced us off the edge of the lift band and I apologised to Roy, saying that we would be landing near to the first café, the Kourion. He seemed happy enough with this, slightly shorter than the normal tandem experience and announced that he had thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks Roy, for flying ‘Mafa airways’ and we do hope you’ll join us again soon!

Weather window

2011-01-05T20:27:00.001+02:00

The man who calls himself the ‘Good luck Jonah’ is back in town! Mark Jones made it known to the flying fraternity that he was around and available for flying, so I shot him a message, to ask him if he was up for an attempt today around noonish. He agreed, so I popped around and picked him up and we headed for the hill.

I watched Mark off the hill, having sent a sms to a prospective passenger to check availability. Having not received a reply by the time Mark was away, I went and fetched my glider down to the sand pit and set up. As I was doing so, I noticed Gerhardt and Gabi on their way down to the sand pit too. My launch was fine, interesting for sure, but fine. The wind was picking up a bit now and I left the sandpit vertically and backwards, holding the controls steady and rotating forward with a very slight collapse on the left side. Shame no one was there to capture it, I’m sure it must have been amusing. I’m not sure if I’m a little perverse, but I quite enjoy leaving the hill in this manner. Less enjoyable however, were the conditions once aloft. I gained monster lift almost immediately and gradually pushed forward.

The wind was approximately southerly, so it was possible to travel left and right of the take off areas, but penetrating anywhere was slow progress. I tried to move forward toward the headland, but it was all but impossible and so finally I gave up.

Soon we were joined by a Cypriot Hangie and he was very courteously keeping well out of our way, well back on the hill.

Gerhardt had taken off by this point and we all had around 35 minutes or so flying, myself landing near Chris’ BBC, Mark at the normal bottom landing area and Gerhardt just across the road from me. A pleasant flight, but still not the full on, easy cruise we’ve been waiting for. Must complain I guess, a flight is a flight, a good one a bonus!

A bit of rough

2011-01-01T19:02:00.001+02:00

Early on there seemed to be very little if any breeze. By mid afternoon a fairly brisk wind was blowing and on my arrival at Curium it was looking just a bit too strong. I had hoped to get a passenger in the air on the tandem, but it was definitely looking a bit too blowy for that.

I took a walk to the sand pit, and it did seem slightly better there, but still a bit strong. I repaired the failing wind indicator in the pit and then wandered back, where I was greeted by two Austrians named Gerhardt and Gabi, who were inspecting the top take off. We chatted for some time and I pointed out some of the inland sites as well as writing down the club’s website and this blog by way of more information for them.

We had probably been chatting for about 15 minutes, when we began to notice that the wind had decreased, probably about enough to take off, so I went to get my glider prepared. Gerhardt was similarly inspired, especially at the sight of a local getting ready and he too got his glider (or rather Gabi’s as it turned out).

I took off first, with a remarkably easy controlled launch and moved away from the hill. The air was immediately detectably snotty and unpleasant, but quite manageable. Gerhardt launched soon after, with an equally well executed, clean launch in not terribly easy conditions. We flew together for around 10 minutes and both managed to top land, where we chatted some more.

After a few more minutes, we both took off once more and flew for almost another 10 minutes, at which point it became obvious that there was considerably less lift than earlier. Gerhardt struggled on a smaller glider than his own and I just managed to get enough height to get back on top, while he went down to the bottom.

I watched as his wife dutifully went down to pick him up, while I took a couple of photographs of the sunset before heading home. Somewhere between 15-20 minutes flying again today, again scraping away for a few minutes in the air. I am so looking forward to a good day, flying easily with friends. Here’s hoping we get such a day sometime soon!

New Years Eve flight

2010-12-31T18:16:00.001+02:00

The forecast was giving a reliable steady north easterly wind with little or no sun, so I deduced in light of recent findings, that it should be good for Pissouri early on. Tim agreed and we headed off to check it out, arriving just after 11am. We put the windsock up and it was indicating what looked to be a perfect, steady breeze, so we got the gliders out.

I was first up and once I’d managed to inflate the wing, was off, albeit in an unconventional fashion. The wonderful thing about this site is that there is so much space, hence I was able to set up, inflate, stagger around a bit, before pushing forward and then finally being lifted. There was ample lift immediately and I soon began to think about my original plan, which was to test the conditions a bit, top land and then take Lou for a flight. However, I was a little concerned about the amount of fun I had pushing forward with only my own solo glider. I wondered how hard it would be with the tandem!

For some reason, Tim was struggling to get air into his trusty Hook 2, but after a few minutes he joined me in the air and finally we were two gliders flying together at this wonderful site. Unfortunately, the lift band seemed to be decreasing in size now and, whereas I had made it fairly easily to the southern end of the ridge originally, this was now becoming more difficult to achieve. It was slow progress going south and very rapid indeed to the north. By monopolising on the southern beat, it was possible to scratch above the ridge line, but you were sure to lose plenty of height on the northern, downwind beat. This finally got the better of Tim and he was headed down. I almost followed him, but once I had a clear run at the hill to myself, I was able to claw my way back up and top land, just as I began to feel some gentle spots of rain on my face. We concurred that in future it might even be worthwhile getting to this site even earlier in the morning.

A tiny bit over thirty minutes start to finish and flying with company for only the second time at this site. Happy with that!

Some pics from today at Pissouri (thanks to Lou):

I came, I saw, I flew, I fooked off!

2010-12-29T16:22:00.001+02:00

The conditions for the past few days have been easterly to north easterly, two directions which are invariably completely incompatible for flight at Curium. I had been meaning to take a look at Pissouri for some time, as I hadn’t been there in an age.

In the words of the song, ‘I get knocked down, but I get up again, ain’t nothing gonna keep me down (except for adverse meteorological conditions –sic)’. On arrival on the top, it was the best I have experienced here, which is to say it was only mediocre as opposed to hopeless! I decided to kite the Artik and see what it felt like, although I was fairly confident I could stay up in this.

The wind was unsurprisingly, about 45° off the hill to the right, and my first attempt ended in me being pushed toward the north end of the hill, where I was forced to bring the wing down and mushroom it up, to return to the central launch area. Second attempt was better timed and I managed to get the wing above me and, putting all my weight into it, with handles to the stoppers was able to walk it to the edge, where I became spontaneously airborne with a bit of a busy workload.

As can probably be seen in the images, I was forced to maintain a course toward the sea, which is about 45° to the hill and was just about able to penetrate, though lift was only to be found around the take off area. It might have been nice to have pushed around the corner to the right, as there was a bowl there, which points toward the oncoming airflow, however getting there was impossible, due to the amount of sink just to the right of take off.

The area in front of take off afforded enough height to top land, but there wasn’t a lot of area to play around in, so it was all very limiting. I flew for about 13 minutes, but was unsure how long conditions would continue to permit me to get enough height to arrive back on top, I therefore chose to make the best of it and land sooner rather than later.

This is about my third or fourth visit to this site and by far the most successful, however one epiphany has occurred to me and that is simply this; this is NOT an afternoon site! It’s that simple, the wind always veers here, to the point where it’s coming from the right shoulder, due to the increasing sea breeze effect defeating the true E-NE required to fly it successfully. Mental note to self; to come here sometime with an E-NE forecast in the morning. I really believe this can be a good site, it just seems to me that one needs to be there at the right time!

A sad day!

2010-12-29T11:42:00.001+02:00

Please excuse the expletives, but Fucking Cyp Wankers! If you look for a skilled workman in this country you won’t find one! If you are looking for a skilled tree surgeon, what you will undoubtedly hire is a fucking monkey with a saw! If you are of a nationality other than Greek or Greek Cypriot, then you will be charged top dollar for what will undoubtedly be substandard work.

Yesterday, there were ‘individuals’ up on cherry pickers with extended chainsaws, hacking away at trees opposite my home. Meanwhile unbeknown to me, other ‘butchers’ were up the road destroying the most reliable gauge for wind I have. Here are some images of their handiwork. This country is so full of fucking cowboys it’s just untrue. Is nothing sacred?!

Christmas

2010-12-26T03:12:00.001+02:00

Just felt the need to blog this before I forget! We had hoped to somehow incorporate running (for Elena), swimming and Flying (for me) in our Christmas day activities this year and we succeeded – just!

We arrived late morning and found that there was virtually no wind, so went down to the beach straight away. Elena had done her occasional thing of running there, so she just continued to the beach and went in for a dip. I drove down with the kids. Elena, Kyle and I each swam, whilst one of us kept an eye on Lara.

After we’d had our fill of the sea and taken a few photos, we headed up the hill to check the conditions. It was light, but just about ‘scratchable’, so scratch I did for about 10 minutes, before gravity inevitably won. Paul was there when I arrived back on top and we chatted and waited for things to improve, which they seemed to do about half an hour later. I went again and this time seemed to be doing OK, so Paul got his wing out, just as I was starting to struggle again. I found no lift to turn in near the take off, so I kept going, ending up sinking into the east and bottom landing again. I began my climb back up immediately, just as Paul was launching and by the time I was up the hill, he was down again! We repeated this one more time, such that I ended up having three flights of roughly 10 minutes duration each and Paul probably had two. A little disappointing, but then it was in good company and the flying was focussed each time, so still enjoyable.

We then headed back home, where Elena was just finishing preparing Christmas dinner, bless her, which was lovely! 30 minutes flying and a lovely Christmas day! Merry Christmas all!

Arse about face

2010-12-23T20:53:00.001+02:00

Which is what my father used to say, meaning when we’d got something the wrong way around.

Tues 22 Dec 2010 – Old friend

No, not Paul or Halsey, despite them not being by any means ‘spring chicken's’, the ‘old friend’ I am referring to is my trusty old Firebird Marlin glider. I hadn’t seen it for a few years, but soon saw that Dudley had been taking very good care of it for me and despite having been used a fair bit for ground handling practice, the wing was in very good shape and now in the safe custody of Halsey. He too had been putting the glider to good use for ground work and it was good to see the wing again.

Cirrocumulus cloud building into floccus and fibratus formations

We had arrived on the hill with the hope of flying, as Paul had texted to see if anybody fancied a trip to Stavrovouni. I was just recovering from a light bout of ‘Montezuma’s revenge’, so a long day out didn’t really appeal to me, though I was happy to turn out to Curium and see what that brought. Well, it brought a very light wind day, so I elected to try to achieve two objectives, namely; check over my old wing and possibly fly it and then help Halsey out with his technique, as he’d been asking if I could offer some answers to a few questions he had.

I took the Marlin to the top take off point, laid her out and inflated the wing. Everything looked OK, in good condition even, so I clipped in, raised the wing up and had a better look. With a few other pairs of eyes to help, we scrutinised it for a few minutes, before I made he decision that a top to bottom was a safe prospect. I turned and pushed forward and into the air, putting in a couple of turns with no problem at all, save for a squeak or two from the old style brake pullies.

I managed a run along as far as the saddle before the east cliffs, before turning back and setting up to land near the top of the sand pit at the foot of the hill. Halsey drove down and joined me and we did a bit of work together on his launch technique, though there was no real scope to get airborne, so landings were fairly null and void. Since we only got a couple in before the wind died completely, we made sure they were good ones. He was happy that he’d had a bit of direction and felt he’d learned something, so all was not for nothing, plus I had checked out the Marlin much to my satisfaction. Whilst I felt it behaves very well and flew a treat, Paul also confirmed to me that from the top the geometry looked symmetrical and all good, mission accomplished!

Wed 23 Dec 2010 – Not the best option on the day

The title reads worse than it actually was, it was an enjoyable day’s outing, even if not too productive in terms of air time. Paul and I met up and headed off, arriving at Stavrovouni about 11. There was virtually no wind at all, no more than 3-4mph NW, which itself was off and on. We waited, but it failed to pick up, only to veer to a NE-E, but still with little strength, virtually nil even. By 12.30 the sea breeze was coming into play, to the point where the meteo wind was being cancelled out completely. Paul bravely set up for an attempt, but there was nothing with which to inflate his wing, so we called it a wrap and headed off back for Curium. When we arrived there, contrary to the forecast, which had said 6-7Kts, it was blowing well over 10-11Kts, so we thought about it and observed for a while and then headed down to the sand pit. Paul went off first and had a very interesting catapult into the air involving a quite amusing ‘cartoon’ style tip-toe across the prickle bush and traverse upward and toward the top take off. All in all, very well controlled. I set up and went soon after, similarly getting lifted, but I was luckier and went away more easily. We were able to penetrate without problems, but I was acutely aware of the tendency to gain height rather rapidly and maintained control of my height by means of ‘Big Ears’. After around 7 or 8 minutes I was becoming concerned that landing might be more fun than I usually enjoy having and so elected to set up and land at the lower sand pit. Only 10 minutes air time today and a couple yesterday, but probably more interesting than simply getting in the air and soaring for about an hour on a ‘normal’ day. Fun flying in pleasant company!

‘Mandemonium’

2010-12-19T18:11:00.001+02:00

Well, it’s been a while! We were keen to shake out some cobwebs before we turn cold turkey. I reckoned it could be good and arrived at the hill around one-ish. It was a tad brisk at that point, so I sent a text to a heavier set passenger, but alas he could not commit, due to visitors. I waited a few minutes and noticed that it was getting lighter all the time, so I texted Mandy, who was available and immediately up for a flight.

Some 15 minutes or so later she arrived and Roger pulled up behind her in their second car, great we had a photographer! Of course, Lou was on her way too with Tim, so I was sure there would be plenty of opportunity to get some great pics! As it happens, the ones below are her wonderful shots and I know she won’t mind me using them, as she generously gives us all of her really great work!

Anyway, the conditions were improving all the time, becoming lighter and smoother, but still quite ‘lifty’, allowing us to climb pretty high and affording Mandy her first view of the ruins from some way above, ‘a much better way to view them’ was, I believe her comment!

My passenger clearly enjoyed her flight and even had a go at flying, while I fielded a phone call from my nearest and dearest, who had misplaced her purse and wondered if I knew where it was. We sauntered around for almost 40 minutes, during which time we managed to fit in some wingovers, eliciting a little scream and a couple of ‘stall appreciating’ swings, before landing neatly next to Roger, who was now waiting for us near the bus shelter.

I think Mandy also wins the prize for my most fashionably dressed pax to date, with heels and D&G glasses on – nice one Mand!

A very pleasant tandem with an appreciative passenger who was fun to chat with in the air. Thanks Mandy – most enjoyable!

My idea of a good afternoon

2010-11-26T19:33:00.001+02:00

I was in two minds today; whether to drag my visiting friend to the hill again for the third time, or to find something different to do with our afternoon. Pete claimed he was happy to come along, plus he seemed to be teetering on the brink of going for it and actually having a flight. Simon, on the other hand, had been very keen and ready to go at the drop of a hat. I have to say, that as a potentially serious tandem pilot, I find this approach very refreshing. It’s such a grind, trying to get a tandem flight done with wishy-washy commitment, it’s hard enough combining my availability, with the flyable weather, never mind having to sync that with prospective passenger’s schedules. Simon was happy to come along on spec, in the hope of the weather playing ball. I’m pleased to say, it did!

On our arrival, he was there waiting, so one quick look and a nod later we were heading down to the sand pit, ready to set up. Pete, Elena, Kyle and Lara came along too, to enjoy the performance that is tandem paragliding. I am happy to say, that it was not terribly entertaining for them, as the launch was very smooth, controlled and easy. My pax was quite impressed with how easy it all was. We stooged around for about forty minutes, did some wingovers, some stall appreciation and even let Simon fly for a little while, while relaxed and took some happy snaps. After about 35 minutes or so, I flew us out to the beach and lost us a bit of height, before setting us down nicely and smoothly in the car park.

Seeing how easily it all went and having seen two or three take offs and a couple of landings now, Pete announced that he was finally up for it – YEAH! We packed and went back up, headed down to the sand pit and quickly ran through the ‘actions on’, before getting ready and finally we were off. Sadly we couldn’t achieve the great heights Simon and I had been getting earlier, but there was still just about enough height to hang in there for a little while. Also, I wasn’t really able to get my hands free long enough to take any photos, since it was necessary to concentrate upon economy of flight in order to stay up. Still, I was able to show Pete some stall appreciation, before we headed down to land on the beach. The landing was very smooth and we walked the glider forward and brought it down without a hitch.

So, a very satisfying day’s tandeming, about an hour and five flying time, shared with friends and I finally managed to get my old school friend in the air with me – result!

Pressing right on!

2010-11-25T21:47:00.001+02:00

Wednesday 24 Nov 10

I was keen to get some tandems going, but well.. I think I just left it a tad too late. By the time I was on the hill it was still flyable, but I think the best was over (with hindsight). Nevertheless, I judged that it was still doable, so I set about getting a passenger or two set up. All of the usual suspects were non-starters, so I finally managed to find a pax, in the shape of Alex (from the recent course), who said she’d set off immediately. Moments later, Tim and Lou arrived, so after a bit of a catch-up, I made my way to the pit and my first pax , Al arrived soon after. The wind was dropping now, so I suggested we get on with it and so we were soon briefed up and off. All of the lift was around the east cliffs, so regrettably we had to stooge around there for most of the flight, which only lasted about 15 minutes, before a gentle landing near the Kourion (café 1).

Back up to the top, and the wind had actually picked up a tiny bit, so I had to make a decision; whether to try with pax no. 2, Greg. In the end we went for it, with Tim assisting me from the top of the hill. We actually did pretty well in the circumstances and managed slightly longer than 15 minutes, but finally we were losing the battle and so we went down and landed in the scrub at the base of the hill. All things considered, a hard fought, even if poorly timed 30 minutes of tandem.

Thursday 25 Nov 10

Another attempt to get some tandems going and again a little bit of a struggle to get a passenger organised and on site. However, after a few messages and calls I managed to get Wes on site and we plodded down to the sand pit and got started. He stumbled a little bit, but we managed a clean get away and were soon flying high.

Wes wasn’t phased at all about the take off or any part of the flight and we chatted throughout. We had enough height that we could enjoy a good view of the ancient ruins and so much so that I gave Wes a turn at the controls, which once again, I must say he took easily within his stride. We boated around for a good 20 minutes, then climbed as high as we could, before I did some gentle wingovers. Wes seemed to enjoy these, so I did a few ‘stall point appreciation’ manoeuvres and again, he seemed to be enjoying the experience. We landed at roughly 40 minutes, very neatly and gently beside the Blue Beach café and packed the glider away. All in all a successful couple of days flying. I hope I can get a few more good flights in within the coming weeks, as I feel that things are really starting to come along nicely. Thanks to the tireless Lou for all of the wonderful photos and driving support, also to Tim for the take off assistance and all around general support – cheers guys!

A good day for tandem

2010-11-20T20:28:00.001+02:00

There was no real way to tell what today would be like. I arrived about 11 to find Sevag, Marios, Andros and Nicos on launch. It seemed a bit light, but improving every moment, so I messaged a couple of people, including Wes and Hannah (John). Nobody responded, so keen not to waste a good opportunity I took Kyle for a flight, which he enjoyed immensely and continuously demanded ‘wing-ups’ (wingovers), which I obliged by doing whenever we had enough height. We flew for about 35 minutes, before alighting gently on the beach beside Elena and Lara.

Once landed, we set about packing the glider away while I checked my messages. Seemed as if nobody wanted to fly today, so I checked my list again for more names. I saw that Dan from the last course was still on my list and so I gave him a call. He checked what was going on on the domestic front and once he’d got the all-clear, announced that he’d be along in about 10 minutes – result, that’s the kind of response we need people!

I was back on top and Elena headed off for the supermarket while I gathered everything we needed. Dan arrived a few moments later and we were off to the sand pit. One very smooth launch later and we were in the air, together with about another three paragliders and one hang glider (Eddie). We soared around with much more height than I’d had with Kyle earlier, due to the stronger wind now. I was able to put in a few manoeuvres including some wingovers and some stall point appreciation, much to Dan’s enjoyment (I think).

We flew for 40 minutes and landed just as Elena and the kids arrived back from Lysiotis.

Two tandems, totalling 1 hour 15minutes flying time today – happy!

The long and the short of it

2010-11-19T22:34:00.001+02:00

Just a brief textual report again today. I had received a call at work from Paul, just to say that he was over for a week or so and that he was standing on the west side at Curium. He was asking about the peculiarities of that launch, since he knew it had a few special behavioural pointers in certain conditions, but couldn’t recall what we’d spoken about before. I advised him to be extremely careful if the wind was coming parallel to the hill on the main take off, as this could mean nasty turbulence on the west side. Basically, if the wind feels intermittently ‘gusty then lulls on the west side, this can be indicative of a real easterly, in which case one is in for a short, bumpy roller-coaster ride to the bottom.

After I had finished work, I decided to go and take a look, on the off chance that it was good, in which case I would try some tandems. When I arrived, Paul was flying from the normal side and had some good height. I called one or two tandem passengers. Wes was just starting a game of golf and Hannah was just sitting down to lunch, but would be along in about half an hour. I told her dad that would be fine for me, but wasn’t so sure about the wind in half an hour.

In the meantime, I decided to get my trusty Artik out and give it a go on that, but even as I set the glider up, Paul began to struggle. Nicos, one of Chris’ students offered to go down and pick Paul up, so I texted John my report of the worsening conditions and carried on and launched. I scratched away for almost twenty minutes, before gravity and the lessening wind caught up with me and dragged me to the inevitable bottom landing. Once at the bottom I again texted that the conditions were ‘no-go’, unaware at this pioint that he and Hannah were by now already on the top.

Paul very kindly came down and retrieved me in the rocket and once back on top the situation was looking not very hopeful. Once again I indicated the disappointing news to my passenger, acutely aware of their disappointment at having turned up a second time. Loath to let her go home without so much as getting her feet off the ground, I offered to take Hannah for a short top to bottom and she accepted. I opted for the reverse launch from the top, that’s how weak it was becoming and it turned out to be the correct choice, the glider coming up beautifully. I held it above us and we ran off the hill. We got all the way along to the east end of the cliffs, but the turn did us, just as I knew it would. We lost so much height that I opted for a landing beside the Kourion café (café 1) and we touched down sweetly there, the wing just falling gently behind us by the roadside. Hannah was smiling, but I made her promise that she would come back another time, when it was possible to have a proper flight, she agreed.

So, 20 minutes solo time today and a three minute TTB tandem to log. Paul meanwhile had reaped the benefit of being in the right place at the right time and had logged a forty minuter. Nice one mate and thanks for the help!

Their loss is Kylo’s gain

2010-11-17T20:49:00.001+02:00

I had a few prospective passengers earmarked to take on the tandem today, but at nil notice, they all had to decline. One had an Am Dram club meeting, another was out shopping. Amongst them, Wes the DJ was busy doing something or other and Ben was training for some Iron man event. Hence it was, when Dudley had texted me to say he was going flying, I found myself there on the hill devoid of pax, except that is, for my son Kyle. Never about to refuse the offer of some airtime, he quickly scurried with me to the sand pit, where we launched quickly and easily into the lovely buoyant air.

I took no pics today (not of flying anyway) since we already have plenty, but my biggest regret is that I didn’t think to take any photos of Dudley in flight on his brand spanking new Hook 2, sorry mate, it completely slipped my mind while we were flying. In my defence, Kyle was continuously chatting my ears off throughout and I had to ask him to be quiet once or twice so that I could concentrate on the flying.

There was plenty of lift at first, but began to get a little more scratchy later on, to the point where Dudley and I both decided to go to land on the beach. Duds flew for about 1.5 hours, where Kyle and I had 25 minutes, which was enough for us.

I’m sure Duds won’t mind me posting this, but there would appear to be a small issue with the line arrangement of the Hook 2, an otherwise excellent glider. At some point very soon after take off, Dudley was aware that one wing tip had become tucked in at the very end, due to a small knot in the tape where the line adjoins the wing. This didn’t happen on the original Hook, due to the line being stitched directly into the edging tape of the wing tip. Now, with the new arrangement, it seems that the tape can get ‘hooked’ into the ringlet that the brake line threads through. I feel that this will turn out to be a minor design feature that Niviuk will need to address.

The amount of gathered in portion of the wing tip was not sufficient to cause Dudley any problems, or to pull him that way at all, but nevertheless, as Duds said, it’s not something you want happening in turbulent air! From my perspective (a staunch Niviuk fan), it’s not something you want to happen at all! A couple of pics follow, of the offending knot in question before we freed it up to pack the glider.

Unfortunately, the photos are not the clearest, but I’m sure you can get the idea from them.

Still nice flying for all and my passengers loss is Kyle’s gain this time around. Tight lines all!

Desperate to fly

2010-11-13T22:18:00.001+02:00

The plan had been.. well, non-existent to be honest! It had not looked good at all to fly today, but it had been a week since I had got my feet off the ground and so was feeling the yearning coming on! Tim obviously felt the same way and we discussed options. The wind was easterly and technically speaking, it seemed like either Stavrovouni or Pissouri might just be flyable.

Not feeling that it would be worth the hike to Stav, we decided to give Pissouri a go, which of course meant that Tim would have to pass Curium. I advised Halsey of the plan and agreed to let him know where we were heading. On the way, Tim spotted guys apparently setting up to launch from the west side of Curium, so we decided to check that out.

On our arrival, there was Pieter the German visitor, Sevag and Marios waiting to take off, while Andros battled bravely against the rotoring wind arriving at the west ridge. At one point he seemed likely to land, but moments later he was climbing again, which was enough to convince us to try. We got our gear out and set up.

Curium 13 November 2010

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Sevag set off and seemed to be doing fairly well, then I went and had a neat and uneventful launch. I had managed to get quite high and was just beginning to think it was going to be an easy flight, when Halsey arrived to spectate.

It started off OK, but soon started to become more difficult and Sevag and one other glider started to make hard work of it and down they went. I was to follow about five minutes later and landed on the west beach, where I walked the glider toward where Sevag was parked, before folding it and packing away.

Tim arrived a moment later, his take off unseen by me and he too wandered over to where the rest of us were. Halsey arrived in his car soon after that, followed by Lou, so we were spoilt for choice of transport back up.

I had agreed to offer Halsey some pointers for ground handling, just to get him started, so we drove back up and picked up the borrowed harness from my car and made our way to the kite surfers area to set about some basic reverse launch technique. The Glider that Halsey had acquired from a friend was very old and worn and a bit of a handful, but I nevertheless managed to give a demo of how to reverse launch, before turning over the controls to Halsey. All in all, for someone who has only ever touched a glider the once before, he didn’t do too badly and, with a minimum of help, just about managed to get the glider above his head the once or twice.

We were battling against dying/weak conditions, aging equipment and snaggy weeds, so after 40 minutes or so, we decided to call it enough for today and Halsey said he might try some more ground work himself later. I advised him to make sure he wore a helmet and he promised he would.

So, a rather mediocre 10 minute flight today, albeit from somewhere other than the normal take off and into decidedly uninviting air, but more importantly we finally managed to make inroads into getting Halsey started on the road to paragliding. More of that to come in the future. For now; tight lines to all you paragliding folks out there and many happy and safe landings!

Tandem photo update

2010-11-09T02:46:00.001+02:00

Here are some more photos from the 5th November flights with Billy and John. Photos courtesy of Billy/Heidi – many thanks!

Tandem pics

2010-11-05T22:54:00.001+02:00

Thanks to Heidi for these pics!

Hopefully, there’ll be a couple of John’s flight too, to follow later. Just gotta say Billy, you should get on a course, cos you look the part – quite relaxed in a harness! ;-)

Tandem results

2010-11-05T22:17:00.001+02:00

Friday – thank god! Unexpectedly, the wind seemed to come good today. I mean, the forecast did say it should be good at some point, but I was a little sceptical to say the very least! The working week done, I headed home, checking the trees, which didn’t seem so very inspiring, but I was determined to go give it a look anyway. On my arrival at Curium, the conditions looked nigh-on perfect, though I was concerned it might get too strong, so I called ‘Billy’, my first pax and set up the arrangements. While they were on their way I sent a text to John, pax no. 2, not aware that he was so close at hand. A few minutes later John and his wife and son arrived, having been on their way back from town when I’d messaged. I explained that another pax was on his way and they decided to go home first and then return with camera and better footwear for a flight, pending the weather holding out.

Billy duly arrived and we went down to the sand pit to get set up. A quick brief and kit up and we were ready to go. The take off went very smoothly and we were soon lifted up, as I tracked us east toward the cliffs. A couple of turns in the abundant lift and we were doing fine, so we promptly headed back toward Heidi, who was ‘manning’ the camera. I took a couple of candids from the air for good measure.

Billy seemed to enjoy the flight from the first moment, which is very gratifying. Since I have been doing this I have found that I encountered people who enjoyed the experience more than others, those who were more or less nervous but as yet, nobody that really didn’t enjoy it. Billy seemed to ‘get’ why we do it, which is quite satisfying from my point of view. We flew for just a tad over 20 minutes, after which I was quite keen to think about landing us, so that I could get the second flight in and take John up. Both these guys had been waiting for the opportunity to fly, so I was quite keen not to disappoint either of them. This can sometimes be a tall order, since it all hangs in the balance of the temperamental Cypriot weather.

We set up and landed very tidily on the beach, before a recovery to the top, where John was now ready to go. We headed without delay, down to the sand pit to set up and brief everything again. Billy very kindly agreed to hang around and take a few more photographs of John’s flight, which is a bonus since, as we were scratching a bit, I didn’t get the opportunity to take any myself from the air this time.

Nevertheless, we managed to find a fair bit of lift and soared back and fore for several minutes on the east cliffs, until we had climbed enough to make a few passes overhead the take off area, with just enough height to give John the alternative view of the ruins. A second passenger who also seemed to enjoy the flight and I was feeling very pleased with the way things were going. After a good 15 minutes, we noted that John’s wife, Caroline (also Elena’s friend from ‘Jelly tots’) had left the top and must be on the way down.

We figured that she must be on the beach, but couldn’t exactly pinpoint her, but conditions slowly but surely becoming weaker, we headed for the beach to land. We touched down gently and pushed the glider forward, before bringing it down equally softly onto the car park. Two flights, no excitement on the launch, sweet take offs and gentle landings. Everyone took off and landed on their feet, which I regarded as a result! I firmly believe that just that extra presence of mind to brief the passenger exactly what to expect and to do so at the appropriate time (and not overburden with lots to remember on the launch) really pays big dividends.

This is a very valuable learning curve for me. It’s very easy to take for granted that the pax is going to know what’s going to happen and be ready for it, as if by some form of ‘osmosis’, but the reality is that knowledge is definitely confidence and ultimately therefore comfort in the overall experience. In this case, a few simple words what to expect and the result was that everything ran very smoothly. A cool 45 minutes tandem time today and two passengers ‘off’ my list, except that is, to say that at least one of them will be happy to jump back on the list (albeit at the bottom) for another opportunity to repeat the experience. Needless to say, that I will be happy to oblige once I have flown a few more on my waiting list. Thanks guys, for your enthusiasm and trust!

A lucky break

2010-11-02T21:22:00.001+02:00

Today looked set to be another good day, but I had quite a heavy schedule ahead, all to fit into a short timeframe, so reckoned I would have to give up hope of flying today.

One of the things I wanted to try to ‘squeeze’ in was taking a look at a glider that a friend had acquired. It was an old Firebird Booster, something I’d never heard of, but an old DHV2. It certainly wouldn’t be of any use to learn to fly on, but would do for my friend to learn a bit of ground handling and so, since it was given to him, I couldn’t see any harm in saying we’d give it a go on the ground sometime.

Unfortunately, another blow to the hectic schedule, after the school meeting with Kyle’s teacher for his progress report, I received a duty call from Akrotiri to tell me that a colleague had arrived in unexpectedly and could someone pick him up. Fortunately, I was able to arrange for MT to bring him home, which meant that my afternoon would not be as manic as it might otherwise have been.

Elena was going running, so I thought that would be an end to my yearning to get out on this day, which had been described by Tim as ‘perfect’ conditions. I reckoned without the angel that is Lou, who readily agreed to watch my two horrors for me while I tried to get a tandem passenger off my ever growing list. Sadly, I had already told one of them that I had other ‘duties’ to perform and so they in turn had made other plans. I contacted a couple of others, but they were also unprepared for the 'zero notice’ situation and had to politely, gratefully decline.

As I arrived on the top to take a look, I noticed that my friend had come along to watch Mark and Tim soaring and so I spied an easy solution to the situation. He readily agreed to come flying with me, while Lou kindly watched the kids, who I gather were good as gold! We went down to the sand pit, where after one minor ‘deliberate’ mistake (which I am not mentioning here - ahem!) I was amazed at how easily and under control, the wing came up! We jogged a step and were immediately airborne and just as quickly into gentle, smooth lift. We tracked left and then fell into the routine beat pattern, climbing well for a lot of the time, getting good height above the ruins etc.

My passenger seemed to really enjoy the experience and we flew for a tad over 20 minutes, before heading to the beach, behind Tim and Mark who had both just landed in the car park.

The landing was very gentle, however I had neglected to brief my pax on running back upon dropping the wing behind and so we were both pulled off our feet, but were completely unhurt and managed to kill the glider in it’s tracks. It’s another part of the learning curve for me though, make sure the pax knows what to expect and then they can stay on top of events.

Still, it was a very nice soaring flight in the absolute most perfect of conditions and in very good company. It really is a pleasure to fly with somebody who is an enthusiast. From a potential paraglider pilot’s point of view, as passenger I shouldn’t think it could be too bad an experience either.

I will have to see if I can work on that list over the next week or two!

All of the above beautiful photos are taken by the amazing Louise. My, how she has come on since we met – thanks Lou! x

Re-acquaintance

2010-10-30T00:46:00.000+03:00

Today brought storms, or rather let’s say, this morning did. Not real, hum-dinger electricals, but as much rainfall as we have seen for several months. It was therefore a surprise to find that the late morning and early afternoon was offering decent flying weather. I had an errand to do, popping into Limassol to exchange a pair of shoes and my plan was to check out the flying prospects on my way out and advise folks of any possibility. I told Tim an another friend that it looked good and carried on my merry way. After the errand, I stopped in again and was amazed at how quickly it had become so strong. Tim was on site in the sand pit awaiting my return and I went to join him to confer. After a few minutes, we agreed that it was doable and so off I went back to the car to get my glider. In the meantime a Hungarian guy by the name of Georg or Jorn or similar had walked up from the bottom, so I decided to introduce myself. He seemed surprised that we were going to fly, since the wind at the top was by now quite strong, but I advised him that we would go from the sand pit, where it was still reasonable, if a little ‘sporty’.

Tim was already in the air by the time I returned with my trusty Artik and our friend was setting up his red Nova Carbon to one side of the sand pit. I realised he was deliberately leaving enough space for me, so I decided to prepare as well. Long story short, I set up and brought the glider up, which all went very well, but as I turned I somehow let go of the left brake handle – disaster! I grabbed, as the glider raced toward the right of the sand pit and just managed to get a hold on the handle in time to save myself from careering into the hill just before the rock pile! It all actually worked out quite nicely and once under control I got my foot into the stirrup and wriggled into my seat. Luckily, Lou caught the whole sequence once again – bless her and thanks Lou!

The flight itself was very enjoyable and I found I was getting some incredible height in some very odd places. As I tracked to toward the western bowl for example, I found the strongest lift there was. I was edging my way there very tentatively, expecting at any moment to encounter a severe pounding. This never quite came, although it did start to get a bit sinky and generally unpleasant, so I backed off. I was puzzled at first as to what could be causing this lift and then it dawned on me; it had been forecast to be turning west to north north west. What must be happening was that some of the wind was arriving from behind and toward the Curium stadium and meeting the sea breeze, causing a sort of convergence effect. this was useable, if a little turbulent at times. Several attempts to use this were successively more successful, until finally I reached 220m ASL. We flew for about an hour, before landing on the beach. All in all a very pleasant day’s flying. Some of the others had gone inland to Dora, where apparently, conditions were also very good. I was happy with my soaring flight, just to get my feet into the air once again.

New videos

2010-10-27T20:15:00.001+03:00

Efforts to fly have been thwarted in recent days. My wife sabotaged the car yesterday, leaving the door open, with the result that the interior light remained on, completely draining the battery, hence by the time Mark and I got to the hill, the wind was far too strong. Today, having driven past the hill and worried that it was again becoming too strong, I was eager to take a look before that happened. Instead, on my arrival home from work, I found that my beloved was out at the beach. So I waited until she arrived back home and Mark and I again took a spin to the hill, only to find that there was not a breath of a breeze!

Instead, we watched some Scandinavian (Swedish?) guys hopping off the hill for top to bottoms. Swedish Peter was among them, along with Christakis as their ‘guide’. They’ll be around for the next week, so maybe we’ll get to fly with them.

Here is a bit of an update of my most recent videos. These can be viewed on the video page any time you feel like looking, enjoy!

Fly Drive (part one) from Raveydv on Vimeo.

Fly Drive (part two) from Raveydv on Vimeo.

Lefkara 17 OCT 10 from Raveydv on Vimeo.

A tad late

2010-10-24T00:09:00.001+03:00

Went to Lefkara today, but it was quite overdeveloped before we got there. Saw a close friend and very experienced pilot toss his rescue today, which was a bit scary. No harm though, he was fine. Mark, Paul and Tim had decent flights, Paul did especially well and on his first visit to the site too! Unfortunately, I did not get to fly. There were a lot of dust devils, first time I’ve really seen them. By the time I was set up it was beginning to be quite overcast, with tail and side wind. I decided to give it a miss and drive down. No great loss!

And so it goes..

2010-10-22T23:01:00.001+03:00

The course has been fun, but now it’s over. Sadly, due to lots of different circumstances, we didn’t quite get any one person far enough to sign off as CP. Frustratingly close, but alas, no biscuit this time around. Yesterday (21 Oct 10) saw Doug on his first real soaring flight and he was absolutely made up. I get the impression that he will keep going now, to get this done but, he is clearly a very busy man and progression will have to come at the pace dictated by his ‘proper’ job.

Mike and I had worked with the students, who had slogged in the quarry, with the net result that they completed their first hops and low flights. They had the opportunity to see first hand the rewards, as Doug flew for forty-five minutes, myself joining him for thirty five of those on a spare Alpha 3. After completing paperwork, I gave Doug a lift to the top, only to find two Russian guys on launch, one of them trying to assist the other to forward launch in about 25mph wind! I felt obliged to try my hardest to beg him not to do it, but he insisted on trying. He was extremely lucky, in that he was ripped off his feet and dumped into the ‘Jesus crown of thorns’ bush to the left of launch and his glider draped over a chain link fence. He had a few nasty scratches and was clearly shaken, but escaped what could have been much worse injuries.

Today (22 Oct 10) saw some nice weather for purpose once more and our EPs worked hard at it again to achieve five flights each off the top, the last three working out their own flight plans and setting up for themselves. Thus, on completion of the exam, they each achieved their EP ratings. Alas, there was no time left, due to losing a couple of days to weather, for them to get on to CP. This was a shame, as with just the two of them, we were progressing quite quickly, we were simply confounded by the unpredictable Cyprus weather.

I worked the radio control of our fledglings today, launching them off the top, as main instructor into the watchful regard of Mike’s guidance where needed at the bottom. I am proud to say that the two guys did very well, with no aborted launches or incidents on top and managed to deliver themselves safely and virtually unaided to the landing zone.

I have really enjoyed the past two courses, evolving myself from background observer into one of the team and being responsible for getting guys flying. My next goal along this course must be to get myself attached to one of the schools (assuming they continue to exist) for a period in order to continue my ‘education’ in the skills of the instructor. Looking forward very much to more of this kind of work.

A useful day

2010-10-19T23:39:00.001+03:00

Today gave us gentle to non-existent wind early on, increasing gradually to about 8-10mph easterly, meaning that we could start Ash and Ronnie off with some forward launch practice, building up to some proper reverse launch training. The guys agreed that yesterday’s time spent on the mini round training canopies had been useful, in that they were hard compared to the full size gliders we trained with today, making today’s task seem relatively easy.

Another benefit was the fact that we could continue with one to one training, giving the guys a relentless, continuous training period of well over two hours on reverse alone. In no time at all, both these guys were doing it without any assistance from me or Mike, bringing the wing up, steadying, turning, powering, stopping, reversing again, before walking the wing back a few yards in order to start it all again.

Of course, as well as the ratio being perfect, so was the weather to allow us to achieve this, so we are aware how fortunate we’ve been. What we need now, is just the required amount of breeze and in the correct direction to get these lads their first hops and then some first soaring. I know that if we get the proper conditions, we will be safe launching the boys off Curium, the rest will be down to them. they each have some relevant experience to help them, one has done some power kite flying, the other obtained bronze in sailplane gliding. Only the next few days will determine just how far we get, as these guys have only this one week to train. Fingers crossed and keep it going the way you have been lads!

Catch up time

2010-10-18T22:28:00.000+03:00

Yesterday, 17 October, Myself, Tim and Lou, went to Lefkara to meet up with Sevag, Demetris, Dudley, a Norwegian visitor whose name I forget and another guy. the Met was looking good and the conditions that met us looked equally promising. After getting a couple of guys to the top from the highest positions their cars would reach, we began setting up. There was a fair bit of dark cloud building up over the mountains to the immediate west, but nothing too dramatic just yet, so Demetris was first to lay his wing out. As He was doing so, I asked if anybody wanted to be second in line. All wanting, understandably to watch the guru first, no one was willing to commit so, seeing that we needed to be prompt to avoid disappointment, I started to prepare my glider.

There were a few gusts, so Demetris decidd in the end that he wasn’t happy to launch and I could understand his hesitance. Some gusts were coming through that promised a bit of a bumpy ride, especially close to the hill, but if it was to be done I couldn’t help thinking it needed to be done quite soon.

I laid out my wing and began trying to get it into some sort of shape, but even as I did so the wind seemed to die altogether. I preferred not to launch forward, so I waited a few minutes. I even tried in some weak air, but that was a mistake, the wing never really becoming airborne. I reset the wing and tried again when a slight breeze came. Finally, the wing came up smoothly and I checked it, turned and ran.

The air close to the hill was indeed rather unpleasant, but there was some soaring height to be had, however it was soon lost moments later. After ten to fifteen minutes I was getting quite fed up with trying to gain height this way and failing fairly miserably. Watching over my shoulder to my right, I could see the darker clouds forming and building and looking rather menacing. I made the conscious decision to fly away from the hill and if I went down as a result, no problem for me, I would be happy to get on the ground. Of course, I also knew that, once out front of the hill in the vicinity of the landing field, it was often possible to pick up nicer, smoother lift and bore that in mind as a possibility.

Twice, I approached to land, watching as the Norwegian visitor packed and walked to his car and then watching a Greek Cypriot army vehicle pull up in our landing field and twice I climbed away again. The second time, climbing from about 150m above the field, I found a nice (relatively) smooth climb and up I went, approximately 1500m up!

Climbing now, in the cleaner valley air and away from the snotty hill thermals, I was much more comfortable and more so with every turn. I could now see that I was gaining height above my required glide angle to Lefkara, so I headed that way, but still remaining in zeros. Thus, I arrived above the town after a few short minutes and significantly above the ridge height, looking vertically down on the town and well above the antenna height. Not wanting to risk flying on and going down and thus requiring a lengthy retrieve, I circled above town shooting video until I had lost a couple of hundred metres, then pointed in the direction of the Lefkara reservoir, being careful not to go so far as to put me back under the black clouds.

Soon, I was back on the beat that leads back to the home landing field and, hearing the report that nobody else had flown, I drifted back toward the designated landing field and set up for a very smooth approach and landing. Once down, I noted that the wind, such as there was, was blowing from the north west and I heard the news that Demetris had decided not to fly, as he didn’t like the look of the building conditions and therefore all of the Cypriots had followed suit. To the credit of our guys, they hung on and made their own decisions, but on seeing the wind drop and then swing to near tail wind, understandably had ‘pulled the plug’. They came down and picked me up and we adjourned for frappé in town.

So, a similar route to the last time I flew here, but a couple of differences; one, I was on the Peak, with the attendant increment in glide efficiency and two, I was considerably higher above the town, despite cutting away from the lift at a lower point by some 150m or so. There was more lift around generally this time, but the increased glide ratio of the Peak over the Trango was very obvious. I am really loving this glider and the next time I find conditions with this much lift, I will go further and explore in a different direction, away from my ‘comfort zone’. The icing on the cake, would be to extend the route and still possibly make it back to the landing field, or if not then to make some considerable distance away from the start point. The one hour and five minute flight can be examined here.

Today, 18 October, I was back instructing again, this time, turning the clock back to EP with two new students and working with Mike. The winds were not terribly promising, being brisk and starting north easterly. The main problem with this is that when it does start to swing around, it invariably only makes it part way, leaving an easterly or south easterly, which is no good for flying and basically hopeless for training purposes. Fortunately, the school now has two small training wings, designed for reverse launch practice only, not to be flown and marked up accordingly. These are like little turbo-charged wings and actually quite good fun to play with, but fairly hard for beginners to master. the principle is the same, but everything happens much faster. Suffice to say that if you can master these, the chances are you will have no trouble with the real Mcoy!

Both of our students did all right with these and some good progress was made generally. Next, we covered parachute landing falls and safety equipment, fitting and use. We went back to the club to complete the paperwork, before finishing for the day.

The plan tomorrow, if the weather allows, will be to try some forward launches and/or moving on to some reverse practice with real gliders. if we have enough weather, we may just make it to the foot of Curium for some first hops, but that is really asking too much I think, we shall see!

After seeing the students off to settle in their austere transit surroundings, I headed to Curium to see if Al or Mike were there, and to check out conditions for a flight. the wind was from an easterly direction and didn’t seem to be coming too much over the back, so I decided at length to give it a try. Once in the air, I could tell that conditions were not the greatest, but I have to say that I felt safer on the Peak than I ever have in similar conditions on the Artik. Nevertheless, all I could manage was a dozen or so beats and a seven minute elongated top to bottom, landing at the foot of the western end. Luckily, Elena was on hand to pick me up, so I put the glider in the car and walked up with Kyle, before driving the truck back down to the beach for a cool refreshing swim.

Tomorrow, as they say is another day. How profound, as it certainly is! And hopefully one on which we will be able to progress the students in some meaningful way. Let’s see what the day brings!

New harness

2010-10-16T21:43:00.001+03:00

We went to Happy Valley to watch my clever wife win third female place in the SSAFA 10k race in the morning. I really didn’t think we were going to miss much today, due to the grey cloud overhead. This made things a bit cooler for the runners, but didn’t promise great things for us would be aviators. After the prize giving ceremony we were off home and I had received a text from Tim to say that things were looking good at Curium, as unlikely as that might seem. I enjoyed a cup of tea and then headed off to take a look, Kyle tagging along in case there might be an opportunity to fly tandem, despite my warning that it didn’t seem that likely, due to light winds.

On arrival at the site, the wind seemed very weak, so I watched a couple of guys struggle a bit, before setting out the Peak for a little exploratory flight. I made a bit of a meal of the launch, but once in the air it was apparent that all the lift was over to the east cliffs. I found myself spending more time there and eventually I was climbing like a ‘Dingbat’ in that area. I gained lots of height and overflew the take off a few times, as several other pilots launched and seemed to stay up fairly well.

Tim flew his new Hook 2, whilst Mark flew on his second hand Nova Artax acquired just this morning, I could see Kyle becoming more and more agitated, so I top landed, bundled the glider and readied him for the walk to the sand pit to give the tandem a go.

I was just beginning to have some misgivings about the possibility of tandem, but it did seem to be at least launchable, so with Tim’s assistance we took off. Lou, as usual capture the events as they unfolded.

The conditions were quite surprising, in that we were able to get high and to fly all around the available area and for the most part to retain that height. The harness worked much better for Kyle, he was held much better and was generally more comfortable. As the glider came up, we were of course lifted up, landing back on our (my) feet, Kyle sitting by this point quite comfortably in his harness, effectively in flight. From here, the rest was easy and we were away from the hill in no time. We enjoyed some wingovers and generally stooged around a bit, keeping a close eye on the sea for signs of the wind strengthening beyond limits. Fortunately for us, it remained just within our manageable limits and we flew for forty minutes before landing on the beach fairly neatly.

So, from what had seemed like nothing special, I had acquired 15 minutes solo flight and 40 minutes tandem. Mark managed to test the Artax and Tim had a ball on his new Hook 2. In the circumstances, not too bad! We all enjoyed a cool beer in Chris’ Blue Beach Café, courtesy of Eddie, thanks mate, a pleasure as always to fly with you!

PG course progress update

2010-10-13T17:08:00.001+03:00

The course seems to be progressing reasonably well, with all now signed up as Elementary Pilots and most pushing the bar toward Club Pilot. I of course have been helping out and working through my Trainee Instructor syllabus, which today involved what is probably everybody’s dream (or nightmare, depending how you look at it) of telling your boss to jump off a big hill!

I have been working at the bottom, directing the course members as required, although they are mostly planning their own flights now and then today, instructing on the launch site. It is quite a daunting and in some cases nerve racking job, but one from which it is possible to derive a great deal of satisfaction, when you see somebody ‘click’ and really getting it!

Without mentioning too many names, I think it’s OK to say that my colleague Dan is certainly getting there, along with one or two others and it’s not too difficult to imagine them taking up the ‘hobby’ and doing quite well in no time, all of which could bode fairly well for the Curium Soaring Club.

Below are a couple of pictures, firstly of my boss ‘powering’ the wing up and Dan just about to launch. Moving on, weather permitting in the next couple of days, we may be able to make inroads into the CP syllabus with a few soaring flights and maybe even some ‘Big Ears’ and speed bar action if all goes well for us. If necessary, for some we still have next week to push on further, so fingers crossed!