A Sunny Sunday Morning on Whitewool (27th May 2012)

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The forecast was insisting that a morning flight at Whitewool was on the cards, so I dragged myself out of bed and out to Whitewool for 8.15am. I clearly wasn’t the only one with this idea as Jason was already kiting his wing on launch and RJ was just pulling up as well. Initially the wind was just a fraction too light but it soon picked up enough to fly. A few more dedicated souls turned up with perfect timing including, Andy, Chris and new member Mark (sorry if I missed anyone!).

The wind was slightly off to the south so there wasn’t as much ridge lift as you would expect but there were some fairly punchy thermals coming through to give us some extra height. The place to be was above the trees to the north, with some nice lifty conditions to be had. Unfortunately the thermals never seemed to amount to anything, but we had fun seeing who could push out front the furthest before running back to the ridge.

By around 11am the wind was moving south and the sea air had killed what thermals there were leaving behind nice smooth air for us to float around in. Mark managed his best flight ever at his first visit to Whitewool so well done to him.

 

 

It was flyable until around 11.30am, when it had become too south for everyone, perfect timing to get home for lunch and some extra brownie points!

 

Richard

Saturday 19th May – Ringstead and White Horse

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A doubtful forecast turned into a lovely days flying in the end. Started at Ringstead where it was very scratchy, just about possible to maintain in the take off bowl. Sean Staines made it to the cliffs but couldn’t maintain height and had to land on the beach. Eventually, despite the forecast, it picked up enough (mainly thermic wind) to get more than one wing in the air at a time. I had a nice little boat around near take off trying to get used to my new harness. It was great fun working the small thermals and gaining pretty good height. Everytime I headed in the direction of the cliffs I was met with loads of sink, twas not to be today. It had gone very light and south so me and Simon Vacher decided to relocate to White Horse.

We arrived to very light wing but decided to have a go anyway. Surprisingly, it was thermic enough to gain good height and get out over the fields. We had a jolly time for an hour or so playing in the gentle lift coming off of the fields. All in all, a good day out of nothing.

Richard

Barton on Sea – Friday 27th April

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A small window in the current ‘drought’ was predicted for Friday afternoon, so I set off for Barton on Sea. I arrived to see the usual suspects getting ready to launch (wind had just dropped to flyable, talk about perfect timing!). We were all soon in the air and getting good height. Various people achieved xc’s, jumping the gap to the west and flying down to Milford to the east.

I pushed my luck too much on the flight down to Milford in theweakening wind and bombed out at the east end of the beach huts. I tried relaunching from the cliff top above the huts but in the weaker wind there wasn’t enough lift to stay up. I walked west to wear the huts end and lay out my wing in front of the barbed wire fence (eek). Unfortunately there was no magic spot to avoid the rotor so I couldn’t get the wing inflated.

Luckily for me a nice gentleman saw my plight and came out of his house to help. With him holding the centre of the wing in the wind I was able to relaunch and fly back to Barton, saving me a long walk. It remained flyable up until about 7pm until the wind dropped. All in all not a bad days ‘gay’ coastal flying!
Richard
More photos here or on Facebook

Bell Hill CuNim Dodging

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Bell Hill 19th February

The forecast was for strong winds but also good thermals. It looked like it would be blown out until at least 3pm, and the further west you went, the quicker the wind was dropping. With that in mind, I thought Bell Hill was the best bet. My usual wingman Neil was hung over so I decided to go it alone. Al Jones and Andy Hasler had headed off to Combe but I thought the chance of flight was better at Bell.

On the drive to Bell I could see huge CuNims over Dorset and I drove through a few heavy hail showers, not a promising sign! I arrived at Bell Hill around 2pm to the site of Craig landing on tandem. The wind was flyable but a little gusty for comfort. The CuNims were keeping everyone else grounded too.

By 2.30pm the clouds looked like they were loosing energy and the gusts were no longer as strong. Derek Sadler was the first into the air, not bad for someone in their 80′s! Everyone quickly followed and there was soon around a dozen wings in the air. It was surprisingly gentle in the air, a nice change from Butser on Friday. Gentle thermals were coming through and you could push way out over the road and just waft back in lazy circles, fantastic! After about an hour the lift died and everyone floated back down to land on top. Everyone, that is, except for the speck that was Alastair Florence! He had managed to connect with a cloud street out front and was following it away from the hill. After a while even he started to descend, eeking out the last of the lift to scrape over the bushes onto top landing.

It seemed to be all over and most people packed up and left. I took the opportunity to practice some ground handling. The lift picked up a bit and Sean Staines (back from a 25k xc on his hang glider) took off on his paraglider. He seemed to be doing ok so I took off and joined him. I managed another 15 minutes or so of floating around in the last of the lift. I packed up in the last of the light and walked back to the car satisfied.

Photos here.

Some After Work Paragliding at Butser West

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Friday 17th February

It’s always nice when the forecast lines up for a bit of after work relaxation in the air. Unfortunately this time the forecast was strong and for a direction suited to Butser West, a site not exactly famous for its relaxing flying!

With nothing else planned for the afternoon, I thought it was worth a try anyway. Alasdair Jones disagreed with me and decided to stay at work.

Arriving in the car park, I could see two wings in the air, always a good sign. On take off it was strong and pretty gusty but seemed doable. A man and his daughter were asking me questions about paragliding so I thought it best to show rather than tell. Thankfully my launch was text book, although I was barely making headway in the venturi. A quick squeeze of bar got me out and away from launch and I quickly climbed up to meet my fellow flyers. There were weak thermals coming through, which was pulling the wind anywhere from NW to SW. This was causing quite a bumpy ride at times and I had my first collapse for ages. It was only a little one and I reacted well (even if I do say so myself) so it was a non event. I took a little climb in one of the thermals to a couple of hundred above take off and decided to try and push forward to Oxenbourne. This is a ridge to the south west of Butser and takes a north west wind. This little flight is a bit of a right of passage at Butser and I had never done it before so I was determined. The glide over was quite sinky and I had to use half bar to make good speed against the wind. I arrived quite low but soon climbed back up. It was much smoother than on Butser so I stayed a while before an easy glide back to Butser.

I made it over to Oxenbourne again just to prove to myself that the first time was a fluke. I made it over easy but the wind dropped and I couldn’t quite make it back to the ridge lift. I ended up landing in the bottom side field. When the wind picked up a bit I almost managed to take off from this field but there wasn’t quite enough lift.

A nice afternoons flying all in all and it was nice to finally get over to Oxenbourne.

Video is on Youtube and Vimeo.