Flying Andrew Marr for BBC

We have just got back from a great 2 day filming trip with Andrew Marr, for a new BBC series he is presenting. The weather really played ball and we flew tandem up to 4,000ft in amongst the British hang gliding league's competition.

When they flew off to do their 80km task, Andrew and I boated around the skies, chatting and being filmed by super HD camera operated from a a helicopter hovering just 25 metres away. It was a wonderful day for all of us involved. We flew with a camera up in the wing looking down, one on a boom, another from the ground, and one from another tandem flown by Chris. No doubt you will hear and see more about it, either when the series comes out, or when we meet in the pub. You can see our lovely landrover with the helicopter, our new retrieve service. Next we are off to Turkey!

Returned from the DR & Brasil

After a week of fun comp flying with Julian, his team, and the pilots from the Ozone XC challenge, I flew into Rio to join the Chris, JF, Tim and the Escape XC squadron who were all flying in Gov. Valladares. Although the weather started off perfectly and pilots were flying to Don Cavachi, aprox' 60km plus, things started getting a bit unsettled. We flew most days with some more challenging XC's but GV wasn't producing her usual reliable magic, so we decided to move! We spent the last 4 days of the trip flying in the idilic flying area of Alfredo Chaves, Spirito Santo, just 20km from the beach. That way we got some stunning flights in with 2 hours airtime, completing 15km FIA traingles and out and returns, before landing and heading off to the beach of river for a swim, while it over-developed. Then it was back up for some eveing soaring infron of the white cascading waterfull that tumbled over the brown rock-face ammid the green jungle.

It was a wonderful place to fly and all of us agreed that it really made the trip special. The fun group and tranquil location made it all the more magical. We will be going again and if you want to see more pictures go to http://gallery.mac.com/jfparadis Perhaps next year we will include it as part of the Brazil XC experience!

Next stop Laragne.

Flying South for winter sun!!

After a wonderful family holiday skiing in Tigne until the 15th Feb, I start the flying year by heading to the Dominican Republic to join Julian and help with the Ozone XC challenge, which is a great event that follows the ethos of enjoyment, challenge and education. Last year we had a great time and flew over some stunning scenery with good reliable conditions.

Then on the 25th February I arrive in Brazil to join Chris, Tim and the team to run our XC courses in Governador Valladares, one of the worlds winter XC meca's. You can see some pictures here of our last few trips. I can't wait to get back up to the warm clood bases and cruise along the effortless streets with the gaggle to the coverted Caratinga! Which is past the 100km mark and is set in the rolling green velvet hills south of GV. I will put the pictures on the blog. Anyway have fun where ever you are and hopefully see you soon somewhere around the world.

Coring by Jocky from Speed to fly DVD

"As a basic rule of thumb whenever you enter lift, wait 4 seconds and then turn, because that’s the time it takes you to do a full 360 and stay in the lift section, (8-10 seconds 360). Thermalling isn’t just about doing 360’s. You often have to fly straight for a while or do 180-degree turns just to stay in the best section of lift. It’s important to fly away from the areas of less lift as much as its important to fly into the areas of most lift. So when you’re doing a 360 in a thermal, if there’s a section of the 360 that the vario’s beeping drops, then just turn 90 degrees away from that edge and fly straight for a few seconds then turn again, and that way you’ll always tighten up on the best part of the lift and avoid the sink."

Speed to fly & Security in flight are available in a DVD from escapexc.com.

NEW YEAR NEW SITE!

Happy new year everyone. 2008 looks like it is going to be a good year and to mark the occasion we have updated escapexc.com As you can see, it is much slicker and easier to navigate around, plus it has more information and a super gallery page which we will be adding to after each course. As of 7 January we will also have secure booking forms too. So our website perfectly reflects the slick professionalism of the escape team.

South Africa XC Trip

I have just returned from South Africa and the flying was stunning! We flew 9 days out of 10 and did an average of 40km each day, with 6 to 7,000 ft cloudbases. Not bad for December. I will post pictures and a full write up soon.

Have a GREAT christmas everyone.

Welcome to my blog.

I am now modern and have my own blog. I can't believe that it has taken me this long to find a site that enables me to talk about ME.

From now on I am going to bombard you with stories of my travels so please keep coming back. Take care.