No flying, New wing

By Barry Sayer on  April 2, 2020 10:52

Hello fellow sky friends,
It's been a very difficult time the last few week's, and I'm sure everyone's thoughts are with the families who have lost loved ones.

Everything seems to have stopped at the moment, work, social events, sports, and our Pennine playground.
It does give masses of time to think about things paragliding related, possibly xc flights, training, kit, holidays, brushing up on theory, or just day dreaming of aimlessly floating around your local hill in good company, without a care in the world.

Personal plans for when normality has resumed is.....fly!
Just before the sh*t storm hit mother earth I bought a new little wing. A mini wing/speed wingythingy . Sol Attak 20, in red! Screenshot_20200322_230657
I'd wanted to make the transition for a while, to have a second wing that’s more practical on stronger wind days, when the standard PG is grounded. I didn't want an all-out speed machine for the close terrain proximity rush, just something in between.
I'd had a quick test fly a few years ago on a Niviuk roller 16 (thanks to Barney) , I really enjoyed it, just a bit to hot for me though.
The Attak seems to be aimed more at beginners, described as built with safety in mind over performance.
I ordered through Ginger nomad paragliding shop, owned by Guy Richardson who's an all round nice bloke, and a pleasure to deal with.
 
Screenshot_20200322_230821It took a few week's to arrive from Brazil, definitely worth the wait and very satisfying opening up a super crispy new wing.
One thing also strikingly impressive is how neat they are folded and packed from the factory. After a good inspection layed out in the garden at home, it didn't quite pack away as neat, so maybe I'm not as good as the Brazilian factory wing folder, but who cares.
The wings construction looks to be of excellent quality, tough durable material that should last, not the lightest though. Sheathed lines coloured for easy identification, nice size brake handles on swivels, magnetic clips, standard trimmers plus brumels for optional speed bar set up.

First flight was on Parlick East, 15+mph wind speed.
The take off was effortless and predictable, it seems to be nice and responsive with a feeling of it being very solid overhead. Weight shift and break inputs positioned the wing smooth and precise in flight, with a little bit of constant brake pressure to feel what's going on above. I didn't test full use of the speed range, it had a good constant forward speed even in the strongest gusts, so I left the trimmers and speed bar alone.

Screenshot_20200322_230744


Screenshot_20200402_100232After about half hour of soaring that was plenty enough for me on this test flight, so i cautiously headed for a bottom landing, trying to judge the glide and sink rate to take on board for future flights. It was very strong in the landing field, and with a final flare only a few steps forward was needed, and that was that!
Very impressed and happy.
 
Stay home, stay safe, see you on a hill soon.

Regards
Barry Sayer

CAA Airspace Classification Review 2019-2020

By Brian Stewart on  February 20, 2020 15:10

image

Hen Harriers

By Brian Stewart on  June 13, 2019 17:31

RSPB have announced that there has been successful fledging of several hen harrier chicks in the Bowland Forest area. They request people stick to marked tracks in the area to avoid stressing these birds during the breeding season. Please be aware of this when flying in the area, and think carefully about landing out where you could disturb them.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-48607497#

A Grand Day Out

By Brian Stewart on  April 13, 2019 11:37

Doarama has changed name to Ayvri, and seems to have raised its game. Have a look at the track here: https://ayvri.com/scene/8dk36qe1kx/cjufeds5k00013b64fvfr8bas

Thanks Jim Ashley for the choice of site, I thought the wind was was too far South. Driving through Ingleton we nearly turned back under the uniform grey blanket, but we put our faith in the weather forecast which turned out to be spot on. A triangle around the 3 peaks was set, but after an hour of vainly pushing upwind, Ingleborough wasn't getting any closer, the thermals were rough and spring like and the southerly wind was making life near the hill very unpleasant. Poor Jim, after persuading Graham and I to join him, landed early and had to console himself with a pint and a nice view of Ribblehead viaduct.

Graham and I decided we'd go over the back, and found that the clouds were behaving just like the textbooks say they should. With hindsight we could probably have pushed faster but lacked the confidence to leave the climbs early. Arriving at the M6 we debated pushing on towards the Lakes, but the clouds drew us along the motorway instead. Both of us had low saves at Tebay, and I was privileged to share a 2000' climb with a true king of the sky - a buzzard that stayed just in front of my leading edge all the way to base.

Landing at Langwathby I set up for an empty field but got it wrong and had to stall it into the field downwind as I wouldn't clear the fence. Then bundle up my glider and run for the gate as a herd of frisky cows galloped towards me. I swear one of them was trying to head me off, but I made the gate, throwing myself, still in the harness, and the glider over it in an ungainly heap. Note to self: must stop crashing on landing.

Big thanks to Jim Ashley for following us in Graham's car and a speedy pickup.