AUSTRALIA XC 2012

It is amazing who pretty it is. Mind you there is a price to pay for the lovely green, lush grass and flush deciduous  trees, and that is rain!  In fact the cross country, 10-day, section of our tour had 7 out of 10 flying days, which was great, considering the rain that was to come later in January.  The flying was lovely, with climbs to 6,500ft, and regular distances of 50 to 70km to the North to the Ponds, and North west to Upper Horton.

On one of my out-landings, I was picked up by a really nice, helpful farmer, who was great company and was very knowledgeable about the UK. I asked if he worked in London, probably bar work or something, and he smiled and said “no”.  We continued our banter, and I explained how thermals work and why the hill behind his house attracts pilots like bees to honey.  He was very interested and polite.  It was later that I discovered he was Tom Bowman, a legendary Wallaby Rugby Union player, who played against South Africa in 19998 & 1999, playing many international, including Twickenham probably, not a bar in London!    A lesson learned, never underestimate the man standing next to you.
 

What else, we saw a giant monitor lizard or something similar,  casually lounging around on an old wooden railway bridge. Can you see him? His head was as big as John Caston's boot, and he's a size 12. He was very cool, just glancing around and staring at us with distain.   John and I also went paddling down the river from Manilla to lake Keepit, which took about 4 hours and was very relaxing and beautiful, with some fun little rapids to boot. Tom and Vic were also wonderful hosts at the Royal Hotel. It is the best place to stay and my favourate paragliding stop over, because they are so warm and welcoming and they cook stunning food. It's like staying at their house. We will be back!

Wonderful India XC tour - Bir

We have just returned from a fantastic flying tour to India.  Thanks to Foram Pandya, a pilot and friend, who attended an SIV course in Annecy.  She invited us to come to India and teach a small group of pilots in Bir, in the Himachel region of northern India, and then to run a 3 day work shop for a larger group of pilots in Kamshet, near Mumbai.  I will start first with Bir trip...

Bir, what a wonderful place. The flying, the birds, the mountains and the people, they were all great. It was like going back in time, with civilised accommodation, thanks to the Colonel and his wife, who were perfect hosts. They organised everything and made all of us feel so welcome with lovely food and cosy evening sat by the fire with a polite team of staff bringing all you could want.

Now what about the flying? Well is was great too. We flew 80km out and returns, got to above 10,000 ft, flying an average of 3 hours a day, every day! It couldn't get much better.
To add the the great flying and accommodation was the company. Our group was small, with only 8 pilots and two guides, it was a perfect number.  Everyone had a positive attitude and all got on really well. In fact I think everyone got a personal best in their flying, from distance and time, to altitude and goals.

It was a good blend of completely different characters all sharing the same love of flying and sense of humour. We all shared our flights and social time with other pilots staying at the colonels place, with other tours organised by John Sylvester, Jim Mallinson and Eddie Colfox, who are all great friends and pilots. It was a very happy environment and a pleasure to knock about with old pals. I even managed to get the last three days with mad jack mac mad Mark Russell, my mate from Dorset.

We also flew there the day after the Russian pilot had the Griffin vulture fly into his wing, the one that was made famous on YouTube. We even had our own mid-air when a vulture bumped into the wing tip of Nihad's glider. It rip the tip and cut the stabiliser line. Fortunately both the vulture and Nihad flew away un hurt and richer for the experience. The birds were realy nice to fly with and they were very relaxed, some were even swooping down and soaring the leading edge of our gliders, like this one playing with Kirans glider.  I also saw a few vulture mesmerised by the dot on the top of Klaus's Gradient. They kept on gently diving down, with their talons extending, as if to try and pick it up, and then flying off again. Fortunately Klaus was oblivious, but they looked great.

Another lovely aspect of India are the people, they are lovely and, without exception, they were all kind and hospitable when ever we landed. It is very humbling to see such warmth and a strange organisation and discipline amid such perceived chaos. They are well presented and proud and a pleasure to be around.   During the relaxed long nights, Kiran taught us about the stars and we took pictures of the moon through his telescope, which was amazing, considering it was a case of sticking it in the viewfinder and holding it very still.

I am definitely going back next year because the flying and place is so wonderful.  I also only want to take a small group because it is a place where you need know where everyone is. Plus there will hopefully be a few local pilots so the blend of local and visiting pilots will help to bond the group, like it did this year.  So book early if this trip appeals to you.

Annecy 2011

John Jones crosses the lake

Annecy! I will never get bored of that lovely place, it is so beautiful and so versatile. You can fly around the lake, on either the petit tour of about 30km, or do the grande tour of about 60-70km. Then, when you are done with that, you can fly south towards Genoble, over stunning national parks and mountains, or north along the Aravis to Chamonix. Then there is the lake for some superb SIV and general playing about with your glider. What an aerial playground.

Foram after her fun swim.

We have been out there for two weeks and both groups were great fun with a truly cosmopolitan collection of pilots, all with the same positive attitude and hunger to learn SIV and XC.  Each week had a day of bad weather, but that didn't stop us completing the schedule. We had two pilots, Foram and James, who wanted to throw their reserves, which went very well, so welcome to the exclusive club you two.  Foram was particularly brave because she could swim! In addition to the parachute fun, we had perfect stall recoveries from everyone, not to mention some awesome wing overs, in the end. Well done everyone. Course do seem to just get better and better, and that is largely down to the skill level of pilots and their sensible choice of gliders, which are more fun to fly, with a perfect balance of security and performance.



The first A&1 teams



We had over 20 personal bests with XC flights in distance, height gain, and time, with many pilots flying more than 30km, up to 2,500m, and for over 4 hours in the air.

Some great images of Annecy and the course...

This is a funky short film by Stafano Tomassi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkdHpNguZUQ

Here is a nice slide show from Paul Chapman
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuwYm0gtbKQ=BuwYm0gtbKQ

Here are some lovely on-board manoeuvres from Rob Ness

Rob's Wingover tuck http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7fjqHyfp30

Rob's Twist exit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOP186ra0UQ

The North South Cup

This was the collective brainchild of High Miller, Jim Mallinson and myself.  We wanted a friendly competition between experienced XC pilots who just want to fly, have a good laugh, while pushing pilots skill and getting records.

May 13 marked the first ever competition between pilots from the North and the South, locked in friendly aerial and ground based battles to find who were the true victors of the skies and kings of the dance floor.  The north has the mountains and versatility, where as the south has the weather  and flatlands. The southerner’s skill at eaking out the light thermals and tracking with the  lift, really showed, as they came good in the first task from Milk hill , a elapsed time race to Crome, 239km away, in a line to pass major airspace.  Richard Bungay flew 116km and many passed the 70km mark. It was great to see such high caliber pilots flying so close and so politely together to get away from such a small site.

The next day dawned with strong westerly’s, so we headed up the Mynd and set a relay race speed flying task, one Km up the ridge and back, one on one, North v South! Even though one the southerner, Tom Payne, landed at the bottom and Richard Westgate landed in a tree, they still managed to beat us. How was that possible?

Back to the camp for some butch tug-of-war, and yes, of course the Northerners won that! Even though there was a bit of cheating from Wattsie, as he helped his crumbling Southern squadron.  Even the women got stuck in and mustered opposing teams, and yes we won that too. It must be all that scrubbing of the front steps on the terrace houses, up in Acrington Stanley, that built their muscle tone up.

Then came the slack line, of which we, being in tune with our bodies and dexterous muscle control, won, thanks to Phil from the Niviuk boys. The final task was the “dance off” at the party.  The southerners could have done with Patrick Swazey, because their team was whoefully short of willing dancers. So it was like taking candy from a baby when Marra strutted his stuff on the floor tonight, aow-yeah.

Although there was hope for the Sundays forecast, with a band of flyable weather that we could just launch in and surfed from the Mynd down to Cirencester, a British declared goal record. However it was not to be, the band dropped the wind from 55km down to 35, so it didn’t really help. So we had a raucous presentation, handed over the silverware to the victorious Southern Sqn, and boobie prizes to the boobies.  Then, after the hugs and hand shakes, we all cruised home in time for brew and buns up north, and tea and cakes down south. 

The defeated captain

Thanks to everyone for a great weekend and a real team effort from the marshals to the competitors.  It was a real pleasure to fly with you all.  Because this is a comp to fly to the max, next year we will be choosing from Milk in the south and Keswick in the south, at the last minute, to maximize the flyable conditions.

Indonesian Paragliding team

Last week we had the pleasure to teach 27 members of the Indonesian paragliding team SIV and XC in Oludeniz.  I have to say it was an a great experience and they are a wonderful bunch of positive and happy people and pilots.  It was all a bit last minute, but once the ball got rolling we all worked well to make it happen.  Sebastian Bourquin, an old friend and SIV expert, flew in from Nepal and Chris, Kath and I flew in from England. Then came the team of 27 pilots! Within 24 hours we were off, flying SIV in two groups, the first with the old timer, teaching SIV and the second, with the young buck, Seb, teaching SIV and Acro.  Everything worked really well and all the pilots and team did really well.

Then we set a 28 km race to gaol task and had 6 pilots in goal with many making over 14 km. the last day was a 15 km FAI triangle with all pilots in goal!  So well done everyone. It was a pleasure flying with you and you are the best group we have had a taking off and following instructions despite the language barrier. I am sure that with the dedication and support from Bodhi and Durmha One, you will be an unstoppable paragliding team in Asia and soon the world! Thank you and well done to the pilots, organisers and instructors.

Midnight express for the Jockster

We are out in Oludeniz at the moment and the weather isn't playing ball, nor are the officials of the council.  They are doing a great job improving the road to Baba dag and making the take offs safer, with cobbled launch, a cafe, new toilets and medical centre, but sadly they have not got round to lifting the ban on pilots using the 900 meter launch.  This was   imposed by the former owners of the mountain who were more money orientated, and managed to pass a law banning the use of 900.  So until this ban is lifted, the Jandarma have to enforce this ban and they do this very well. Yesterday the cloud was well below the 1700m launch so I decided to risk the ban and took our group to the 900 launch because we are here to fly and there was no real objection to us being there apart from this draconian law.  The students were briefed to our rebel mission and off we went, the renegades, ready to suffer in a Turkish jail to have our voices heard.  


It wasn't long before the call came in that the Jandarma were hot on our tail, so we stopped to look at the view into Butterfly valley and  to save them getting angry for chasing us up into the hills.  They soon arrived and firmly, but politely, made me get in the van and took me to jail.  doh!

Back in the clink I was in negocaitions and they were very sympathetic to our cause, but their hands were tied. Until the rule was changed they had to enforce the law. 

During this time Chris was left to hold the fort and his sadness and sympathy for my incarceration, and the inevitable sexual humiliation I would suffer at the hands of the prison guards, was starting to tell.  No longer alowed to teach, he took up a job driving for Halil, who kindly took him under his wing on the promise he didn't fly from 300 or 600m.

Mean while, after a brief stay in the clink, I was released on the promise that I did 4 hours community service selling kebabs, and that I promised not to go up again until it was resolved, otherwise it was all gliders confiscated and midnight express for me!  

 So without hesitation I embraced my new career and joined forces with Gokhan, and his new "mobile kebab take away service".  It wasn't long before I finished my community service and was back in the fold of the rebel fighters.  

Statements were made, lessons were learnt on all sides and constructive meetings have been arranged.  So I just hope that the powers that be will soon release the bans on the lower launches and allow us all to do what we have come to this lovely place to do, which is to fly. And fly we did when the sun came out! I even taught the commandant how to fly, as a thank you for the early release, and now he's part of the guiding team. Thanks Mark.

Alex does the first ever buggy slope landing!

The last few days here in Keswick have been wonderful weather and we have managed to get some great flights in. John Jones, Andy Smith and Ian Jenkinson successfully completed all their CP ratings, so well done fellas, you all did some great flights and landings. Im am proud to sign you off.

Alex, our flyability top gun pilot, even graced us with his presence and had some long soaring flights with two perfect top-landings and one, spot on, spot landing. The middle part of the day wasn't quite so graceful as, while attempting to scratch in the light lift band, Alex squeezed in a turn while still flying slowly. The glider, a reliable Mojo, elegantly tried to accommodate his ambitious request, and turned 180 back into the soaring beat, but then majestically dropped slowly into a deep stall, and lowered her eager passenger gently onto the grassy slope, then selflessly put herself into the the gauze bushes, keeping the lines tight so that Alex didn't roll down the hill.

But she needn't have bothered because Alex wasn't wheeling anywhere, on doing his and flyability's first ever buggy slope landing, he broke the 40mm solid nylon

suspension leg and the stump was imbedded in the soft mossy grass. It least the leg, wheels, buggy and Mojo did a perfect job in protecting this plucky flying ace.

Joking apart, I have to say a big well done for Alex's spirit and determination, because once we go him down to the landrover, and back up to launch, we just took the other leg off and he launched again for another flight, landing perfectly without wheels. That's the barn-storming, dunkirk spirit we have come to expect from this unique airman.