Butser West in the snow

Good fun in the snow today on the West face and my first flying for over a month.
I thought it might be a bit on the strong side but arrived on the hill to find it beautifully sunny, virtually still and a chilly -3 degrees. Stuart turned up a bit later and we waited and waited. Mark and Phillipe rolled up a couple of hours later opened the van doors walked to the hill the wind picked up and they were off. Don't you just hate some people. Al and Danni arrived later. The wind picked up around 2pm and we were skating about at times on the icy snow while trying to ground handle. I decided to call it a day after it got quite lumpy and strong. At one point I got hoovered up of my feet and couldn't get forward and had to big ear back down but it was all good fun while it lasted.

Peter

Harting Sunday 13th December

Flew today at Harting in between showers (which were not that frequent). Only myself and Tim on the hill, although he had not dragged his VR out.

I understand that three flew yesterday as well.

A few days this week look promising.

James

Butser West site

December 10th 2009

 

At last a nice day and flyable at Butser West from 11am -2-20pm.

Nothing epic but soarable -just.

Tips was on the hill first and I joined him mid-day.

Highlights :- watching two red kites and three buzzards flying low right above us.

Later a crow was in combat with a kestrel, the crow won!

 

Low points:- Piles of dog pooh and discarded pooh bags.

 

Could be on at Mercury tomorrow and maybe the weekend after mist clears.

 

        SHIPPO

Milk Hill Sat 5th Dec

Got to Milk reasonably early, light and bright when I arrived but clouded over quickly. The wind picked up to soarable just when I finished rigging but I was on my own. I saw another hanger driving up so took off. Had to land after an hour due to the cold, I need better gloves. By this time Grant and Luisa had arrived, Malcolm then arrived. Had another fly after lunch as did everyone except Grant who was on Connor duty. The rain arrived at about 2 so we all headed to the pub for hot coffee and chocolate brownies with ice cream.


James Roy CEng, MRINA
http://www.bmtyachts.com
http://www.ngal.co.uk
dir: +44 23 80 38 25 29
tel: +44 23 80 22 66 55
GSM: +44 79 01 85 66 51
fax: +44 23 80 22 88 55

email: jroy@ngal.co.uk

(Sent via Blackberry)

BMT Nigel Gee Ltd, Building 14, Shamrock Quay, William Street, Southampton, SO14 5QL, UK
Registered in England & Wales, Registered no. 02718748, Registered office: Goodrich House, 1 Waldegrave Road, Teddington, Middlesex, TW11 8LZ, UK

E-mail confidentiality notice and disclaimer:
The contents of this e-mail and any attachments are intended for the use of the mail addressee(s) shown. If you are not that person, you are not allowed to read it, to take any action based upon it or to copy it, forward, distribute or disclose the contents of it and you should please delete it from your system. BMT Nigel Gee Ltd does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the context of this e-mail or its attachments which arise as a result of internet transmission, nor accept liability for statements which are those of the author and clearly not made on behalf of BMT Nigel Gee Ltd.
Please consider the environmental impacts of printing this email, and only do so if really necessary.

Morocco 26 Oct - 2 Nov

What with these strong winds and the cold rain pelting down, I suppose everyone like me will be dreaming of those last autumn flights and longing for spring to come. So, I thought I'd give an account of my recent PG holiday in the sun!

I booked on one of the High Atlas safaris in Morocco from the 26 Oct to 2 Nov which are run by Toby Colombé's Passion Paragliding. Our group of 11 pilots from a few to a few hundred hrs were flying on various sites on the N edge of the Atlas range but mostly based at Aggregour, one hr S of Marrakesh.

A couple of GPS track logs are attached:

blog entry

Saturday 7^th November - Butser West – PG

 

A very pleasant flying day at Butser. Shared a couple of tweets, drove up, met Neil, phoned the farmer and up I went. Blue skies with light scattered clouds. An easy 10/16mph westerly made for a simple flight plan along the full ridge and unexpected thermal bubbled enabled to climb a couple of hundred feet above takeoff. Soon the conditions became a little trickier, with sudden and lasting lulls and with the wind swinging though south west without warning. Neil was unfortunately caught out by the first swing and found himself in the leeside of southern bowl. The sudden pitching was very well handled and he immediately flew clear of trouble to a safe bottom landing. Two more pilots arrived and we few short and high flights for the reminder of the morning and early afternoon. At midday we were waved at by a light aircraft flown by, we suspect, our very own Tips. By 2pm the wind had settled down to a steady SW so we called it a day.

 

Very enjoyable all in all.

 

Jason Smith

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blog entry

Saturday 17^th October - Butser North - PG

 

I don’t mind people knowing that I love Butser hill. The place has been good to me over the years but you have to treat it with the right attitude, take it for what it is.

Saturday was a typical example. Got there was 8.30. cold, clear skies with a smooth light NNE. Flew a short hop then updated Twitter. Soon Darren joined me and got some pleasant soaring in. By lunch time the wind had dropped and we were grounded, shorten Alun arrived. More short hops and tricky slope landings set the scene. A third pilot joined us, Tom, a regular of the Thames and Green Dragon sites, who hadn’t flown Butser before. He was given a detailed site tour by Darren. Shortly after the sky began showing hints of blues, the sun showed its face and the wind picked up with the arrival of punchy little thermals. Several fast climbs could be had, with Darren and Alun making good accounts of themselves. Our peak heights were just under 500ft ATO. Great to look down of the old hill once again! Unfortunately the NNE wind was pushing the thermals over the valley and I didn’t have enough height to venture into the No Man’s Land. Tom also flew at this point and flew well considering his apprehension to flying such a small and unusual site. Tom and Darren suffered small collapses but they were well handled.

 

By 3pm the thermals were gone, leaving behind a cold and lumpy air mass so we all called it a day.

 

A really enjoyable day with the challenging conditions making us feel all the more satisfied with our modest efforts.

 

You don’t need the alps when you have this place.

 

At butser we make a mountain out of a mole hill

 

 

Jason Smith

 

Saturday 17th October - Harting Down

Wind NNW-NNE 12-16MPH   The promising forecast did not realise as we were hampered by cloud being dragged in from the North sea.   A cold and overcast day saw some cumulus popping off for a short spell under the blanket of cloud. Louisa was first off followed by me and we both cored a weak climb to around 1600ft asl. Tim launched as we neared the top of our climb.   I headed off along the South Downs and passed two PG's soaring their 'secret site'. At this time the wind had a slight bit of West in it. The house thermal was evident again just 200 metres to the East of their take-off and I climbed with a sailplane to around 1600ft asl to give me easily enough height to cross the Cocking gap.   The wind strength was ideal and made ridge soaring the Downs easy all the way to the end and back. Lots of birds of prey evident again. Returning to the Cocking gap I past Tim on his rigid.   Here by the chalk quarry I tried for maybe 20 minutes to get a thermal to cross back and chickened out on my first attempt. 2nd go I attempted to cross with just 1127ft asl (about 400ft above the hill). I had reasonable air all along the glide and made it comfortably losing just 400ft.   Back at Harting Down was Neil Atkinson flying and I could see Louisa just going in to bottom land joining two others. She was shortly followed by another which may have been Shaun House but Tony Blackburn managed to top land.   I continued to fly around Harting region with Neil until I thought I'd see how Tim was getting on and waiting on the West side of the Cocking gap I watched Tim make it across but alas he was just a little to low and landed next to a farm on the West side of the gap.   Conditions worsened so I opted to top land as my hands were getting cold. An enjoyable if not spectacular day at Harting with another 38km out and return to add to the tally for the year.   Tony

Monksdown 17/10/09

A interesting if busy day at monks. Too many wings in a small site made games of who's gonna turn first quiet fun to watch from the ground but as the afternoon progressed pilots obviously decided that being at home in front of the fire was the place to be. It got quiet gusty again late afternoon which made for some "fun" flights with a couple of hundred ft ato achieved just the getting back down was the tricky bit, still four flights and 40 mins in the book made the day worth while

Nigel Beaven

Friday 16th October - Harting Down

This blog can be a double edged sword - I haven't managed to get any spare time to even try and go flying in the last month and reading about all of the good conditions we have been having has been a little painful.

I could take it no more and decided that work would have to be sacrificed for a day, and a great day it turned out to be. The forecast was a bit iffy suggesting murk until around 3pm. The sun was out here at home (Hamble) at around 9.30 so I headed off at 10. Driving through the A3 cutting it was pretty grey on the north side of the downs and there was even at one point some small water droplets on my windscreen.

On the hill it was smack on, at times it went a bit left but in the most part straight from the north. There were about 30000 aero modellers out, more than I have ever seen at Harting.

First spot of blue sky appeared at 12 and after a quick bite to eat I was off for a 3 hour excursion. By 1pm the sky looked great with plenty of climbs, some over 5 on the averager, plenty of traffic; models (lots), sailplanes and even a Chinook (thankfully he kept his distance).

Life is good again....................James Roy

West Firle Thursday 15th October

What an Autumn! Left work at midday, passed the Dyke at about 1pm
where there wasn't much happening, collected my wing from the loft and
was on firle at 1.30. People thermalling 500ft-ish above both Bo Peep
and Firle. Scratched for 10 minutes then got a could climb upto
cloudbase (about 3400ft asl) where it was a chilly 4 celcius according
to my vario. Drifted a little towards Newhaven then pushed out towards
Lewes with a few others under great looking cloud streets, climbs upto
2.5m/s on the averager though mostly 1-ups, all marked by buzzards.
Whole ridge was working and the flats out in front, so easy enough to
stay up high. Sky started the blue out by 3pm so landed and beat the
traffic back to work. Hope nobody noticed the long lunch break.....

Harting Down Monday October 12th

Soarable right up to about 11.30 but after that wind dropped almost nothing at times. Tim, Brian, Steve Gale, Paul Harvey, Alan (surname evades me) and myself turned up. Tim had a problem rigging so had to go home.   I had my first attempt at flying when I spotted a buzzard circling out in front about 250 metres away. It flew off I'm told as soon as I joined it. Got a very weak climb to drift along at 4 mph and it was a NW flow. It petered out to a zero over the hill so opted to top land.   2nd attempt around 2pm and joined another buzzard to the left of take-off but it too flew off as I joined it. I failed to find the thermal initially but headed out from the hill a bit to core a 2-3 up that eventually stopped at 1400ft asl. Headed out to South Harting...nothing headed... NW towards two birds seemingly circling but they were just playing with each other and I landed in the field beneath them!   A friendly couple watching us all at take-off kindly retrieved me! Many thanks to them. Steve Gale had a go on his Sky floater, he bottom landed and I retrieved him. Paul Harvey had a go and managed to hill soar the beacon before opting to top land.   I had a 3rd go as the sky still looked so good I had to try again. Took-off 4.30 and could hill soar the beacon in a 12mph NW. Had a real privilege sharing the sky with a Harris Hawk, what a stunning looking bird these are.   Alan had a go and managed several beats during this time before opting to bottom land. I got a weak climb to give enough height to top land. No classic flying but I enjoyed it all.   Tony

Wednesday 14 oct 09 Mercury

MERCURY mid day.  Forecast changed overnight showed Easterly increasing 6 - 8 during afternoon.
Just about ok at 12:15. Had 25 mins and a bit of height then it went light.  Mike still in the air.
Picked up a bit about 13:30 so had another fly.  Then light again.  Packed up at 16:30.
Cows had tried to eat my windsock and broken a pole.  Got back to the car just as another cow pushed the wing mirror and snapped it off completely, oh dash it £££££££££.  TIP: put your wing mirrors in and save money.  All in all worth the hour in the air.  See you all on Friday at the AGM.  Leaving Gosport at 18:50 if anyone needs a lift.
 
Alun

---

Download Messenger onto your mobile for free. Learn more.

Saturday 10th October - Bell Hill

 
Saturday 10th October - Bell Hill
 
Around 7 Hangies and 20 PG's out. Perfect conditions; a nice 10 Mph WNW, with gentle thermals whic went to 3000ft asl if you persisted long enough (you needed to!). Tim & I on our Vr's had a nice time crusing the area, and a number of PG's went XC (although I did noticed a few returning on foot shortly after)
 
Nev

---

Have more than one Hotmail account? Link them together to easily access both.

Bell Hill saturday 10th

Neville and i flew at Bell wind 10 WNW with gentle thermals to not very high Nev showed off as usual scuttling about the sky but failing to perform any epic XC later joined by a couple more HGs (Everard , Richard and Tony -you should get out more - Blackburn) who joined  in the autumn frolics Loads of PGs - to many to mention TK

Saturday Telegraph hill dorset (10.10.09)

A days flying on my old training hill I got down there midmorning to be greeted by 8 wings in the air and 6 more waiting to take off. This made for quite busy sky's with the gods chasing each other up and down the ridge as the thermals came and went. In the end a large group settled into a thermal and made they're way over the back and away. Now with the sky's quieter it was time for us lesser gods to play which we did in abundance I got to 700 ato in the thermal and the ridge lift with the occasional gusts keeping you on your toes. Five flights latter totaling 45 mins air time the lift dissipated and the day was over. I made my way the 2.1/2 hrs home a Veryyy happy boy :-)

Harting - Thursday 8th October

A very pleasant afternoon, suprisingly bouyant considering the rain we've had the last few days. Completely blue with moderate 12-16mph NNE breeze. Tony S. and Alan B. joined me early afternoon.  Tony had the first launch of the day and immediately grabbed a thermal to 1,600ft.  He disappeared off along the Downs to Graffham and beyond - not to be seen for most of the afternoon.  I had a 25min flight then landed to help Alan off for a short soaring flight followed by a bottom landing.  Second flight I reached the Beacon - it was working consistently and I got several climbs over 1,000ft ATO.  Mooched along the Downs to Treyford and back.  Tony reappeared and cruised back to launch where he lost most of his height.  Wind had gone a tad more easterly.  He scraped back to the Beacon and topped up again. Lift was fading on the Beacon so I elected to glide back for a top landing. Lost all my height, fouled up the top landing approach, (overshot) and ended up in the bottom field.  Alan kindly retrieved.  Back up to launch, got Alan off on his second flight then packed up for home.  Another 90mins for the logbook.  Excellent.

Brian.

Butser West Sunday 4th October 2009

Early conditions fair. Sky clearing. Wind straight on the hill with variations to north and south.
Mike and Jason in the air at 10am. Launched into small pockets of lift up to a few hundred feet out front.
First flight to Oxenbourne (it takes some bottle to get away from the hill the first time,doesn't it?) came back into strong sink.  Two hours of flying.  Good day had by all, Mike, Jason, James, Tips, Neil and lots of spectators.  Two hang glider launches and landings in the stubble fields.
Alun 

---

Add other email accounts to Hotmail in 3 easy steps. Find out how.

Westbury Thursday 1-10-09

Wind varied NNW 10-30kph (according to my brauniger).  A couple of hangies 1000ft ato by 1pm. However conditions seemed to get really going after 2pm. I climbed out and headed NNW and got 9.5 km upwind before it shut down. Headed back to Westbury ridge and soared here until 3.30 and got up again and headed ENE.   This proved to be the best part of the day and I hopped from cloud to cloud. Generally weak climbs with the odd 5 up. The wind had now dropped too, often below 17kph at base. Here I was laughing to myself thoroughly having a good time. Turned back to Westbury at around 10 km out and then when near Bratton camp I picked up a cloud street to head NNW again.   The street ended so headed West but never connected with the cloud I aimed at so turned back when 4km out from Westbury to land back at the car at 5pm.   A very enjoyable flight, what a great start to October! :-)   Tony

Butser West Face Friday 2/10/09

Thirteen pilots turned up on the West face today. Phillipe even cycled there from Portsmouth now that's what I call dedication. Pablo decided work could wait, the Twitter messages had worked their magic again and he appeared on the hill with his new pod harness. The wind started quite light and northerly but slowly came around and picked up. Two made it over to Oxenbourne but it wasn't working that well over there. Most people managed a couple of good flights.  I think at one point we had five in the air. Eventually it picked up and Brian had the hill to himself, hang glider heaven. The wind eventually eased and lenticular sort of clouds started to appear out front. It was floppy time again. The North end of the ridge started to get really buoyant and the whole area seemed to lift. Jan Jason and Brian made the most of it getting good height but they couldn't get away. A bit of a mixed bag but great to be still having lovely sun and flying in October.
Peter

Harting - Wednesday 1st October

A late start dictated local sites and a trip to Harting. Rigged and ready by 2:30pm. A few models wafting in the light N-NNW breeze.  Morning cloud (post-frontal) cleared to give clear blue skies, incredible visibility - and no lift.  (Not unusual for Harting.)  Had three scratchy flights never getting above 100ft ATO.  Best lift over the trees in the NW corner of the Beacon spur.  Good fun working weak lift.  Last flight ended up at the bottom for a satisfying nil-wind landing.  Long walk back up, collect the car and pick up the glider in beautiful late afternoon sunshine.  Whilst loading up the car, a familar "wokka, wokka" sound got VERY close.  Chinook helicopter flew west to east at tree-top level - between me and the Downs.  Could see the glint in the pilot's eyes.  Glad I had already landed!

Brian.

Devils Dyke 1st October

Arrived at the dyke10.30 to find HGs flying Conditions NNw 10mph rigged and took off  1130. fly around mainly at cloud base for 2  hours landed defrosted and repeated  for 2 more hours later Better day than Tuesday ? maybe but definitely colder 4 rigids  a few Hgs  and lots of Pgs all enjoyed another good day TK

westbury 29.09.09

Arrived very late at Westbury after pondering over several current weather reports. Eventually rang local pilot Tony Moore who looked out his house window to tell me it was worth a drive.   Arrived to find no one flying, light/variable but mainly from WNW to NW wind. 20 minutes before I was ready a couple of PG's got up and were away heading up wind. Local pilots Kevin winters and Dave Tyler bombed out just before I was ready.   With a model glider and 2 PG's going up I launched and climbed up to cloud base in a 6 mph drift. Headed towards Trowbridge under a cloud street and soon passed up the first PG that took off just North of Westbury town.   Generally had weak climbs with the odd 4 up against a head wind of 10-18 kph. A really enjoyable flight. Unfortunately spread out occurred and my progress halted upwind and had to go into survivor mode to just stay aloft.   Arrived back at Westbury under a nice forming cu to make CB again which was always never above 3150ft asl. Headed 4km WSW and glided back to take-off and landed to finish a very enjoyable flight. Approx 27km flat triangle.   Tim King had a great flight too achieving a pre declared triangle, can't remember the distance though.   Tony

Westbury 29/9/09

Another fine day at Westbury Forecast from Lasham was for thermals after 1pm but they were alittle late with very light winds onto the hill but a few paras scraped around from 12.30 and a couple of HG's were sacrificed to the bottom landing and the conditions gradually improved until about 2 when everything started to lift . a big cloud street set up and off we all went with HG's and PGs spread between the white horse to westbury and towards bath with Tony S leading the way.  i had declared a local triangle round westbury bratton and forward from the hill which i did mainly at cloud base. Just starting to get a feel for the VR Tim King

Skysurfers PG meeting at Bell

Had a good day at Bell today. I stopped off at Monkesdown and Winklebury on the way down convinced it was going to be more northerly.  Monkesdown was still so I walked across to the Winklebury bowl but it was light and only seemed just about flyable so it was back to the car. Richard had said earlier that he was on his way down to Bell.  He sent a Tweet as I was sat there wondering what to do saying it was flyable there and two were in the air. I only sorted the Twitter thing out this morning so result, I was off. As I got near I could see seven in the air, even better.  Simon V was there as well as Richard. One of the Wessex guys gave me a site brief, I haven't flown there for at least ten years. He had just got back from a short XC leaving the hill at just 500m ato. It was really smooth about 12mph NW and the lift went well out over the fields much better than I had expected. I landed later for some lunch but ended up having to change a tyre on my car. I had managed to get a puncture on the track up, welcome to Bell! It was totally flat the top parking is not the ideal place to jack your car up I can tell you. The afternoon was great fun scratching at times on the ridge but always flyable. Simon just used the lulls as an opportunity to show off his Wagga moves or try stacking on the top of Richards canopy as he ground handled. We finally gave up at around 5pm as it died off. A few of the Wessex guys thought that tomorrow was looking good so hopefully back in the morning.
Peter

Sunday Monks Down

Duvets in abundance,

Very pleasant afternoon at Monks. I arrived at about 1pm just as things livened up  a group of XC hounds got away about 2:30 I missed that thermal but hit into one good style about 3:30 took me to 850ft and over the back of the hill, realising that a long walk wasn't in my intinery for the day i got back to the hill after reaching the half way point of the back field... big smiles. boated about the front of the hill for a while then realising nature was making a call had to try to get though the lifty stuff to land, big ears sorted that one out and a perfect landing made for a great ending. To top it off Sunday saw the back of my red ribbon so watch out sky gods here i come :-)

 

Nigel Beaven

Sunday at Westbury

Rigid wings and HG  lovely autumn day at Westbury light winds to start but the sun was out so Nev and Grant (on a bog rog advanced)   showed me the way to go so i thought it rude not to make an effort. Cloud base and a cruise around Westbury and Bratton made for a good day out in September . Where was everyone???  Pg's out in force bobbing about Tim King

Thursday September 24-09

Hi , Arrived at Butser West to join Mike and Simon V who had landed in the bowl to the South. Quite usual in light winds. Unfortunately he had sprained his ankle and was uncomfortable. I told him to climb the fence as he couldn't fly/walk down.

 

I too had landed in the bowl which is a right mess as I have mentioned before. It is covered with thistles and hawthorn and needs a good purge. I can't do this on my own so I am asking for volunteers. I would need to obtain Mike Atkinson's permission and it is likely he would ok this also chainsaws and maybe a burn. So subject to numbers stepping forward I will organise a party.

I managed to launch from the bowl and flew back to take-off  and continued to fly with Mike for short thermic flights. Nigel Bevan joined us at this time . He launched and had a nice flight and nailed a top landing. Nigel from Guildford, a red ribbon pilot went home very pleased with himself. Well done.

An hot air ballon appeared and this  was a sign to us that all was over.

 

                                                                   Shippo                                                          

Butser afternoon

Interesting late afternoon at butser with Don, Mike and another pilot was name i didn't get. I didn't arrive till about 3:30 but got in one good flight and my first butser top landing. I know just couldn't get past the tree's before..  Some thermals coming through with some nice lift until about 4:30 when it switched more northerly and the fun ended still roll on tomorrow and the weekend

 

Nigel Beaven

Classic Devils Dyke day

Classic day at the dyke, more thermals than anyone could want. Mostly
blue but smooth thermals and little drift so really easy to climb to
3k then push many kilometers out in front along blue streets. Hill
didn't work too well but it didn't matter because everything seemed to
be lifting out in front. Some big triangles done today and others 60k
to Bexhill on Sea. Some scrappy Cu later over the back at about
3700asl but top cover late in the day (3 or 4 pm) spoilt things. By
this time most had been in the air for 4 or 5 hours and explored a lot
of sussex from up high so nobody complained. Amazing for late
september, in fact better than any day I can remember in July or
August this year. There's still some life left in 2009 - hoping for
more of the same tomorrow!

Chris Jones

Harting

Hi, I was further along the 'Downs' and watched a hang glider fly towards Cocking, guess it was Grant?

Considering the conditions the Hg's were doing well am .  Never saw or heard the aircraft mentioned.

A few buzzards were trying it on though.

 

Were there any air restrictions that day as plenty of activity near Goodwood?

Did anyone make that call to find out? There MUST be someone that does!!

 

Driving past the bottom landing field I watched a top to bottom and a nice landing too.

That must have been Sean H.        Shippo

 

Harting - Sunday 20th September

Very light winds and off to the east.  Nice and sunny to begin with but a blanket of cloud moved in during the afternoon and killed what little breeze (and lift) there was.

 

Grant C. was there early - family outing.  Some impressive low-level scraping was eventually rewarded with weak lift around the Beacon and a gentle climb to around 1,500ft.  He was able to wander around the sky with minimal drift, but after an hour the lift died as the sun disappeared.  The rest of the afternoon was spent perched on the edge waiting for something to happen.  It never did.  Some canopies seemed to enjoy themselves for a time further along the ridge.  Alan W. and Malcom B. (TVHGC) had extended down flights.  Sean H. tried out his Target late in the afternoon and had a pleasant extended downer.

 

A couple of treats through the afternoon.  A Spitfire flew north over the top of us and the Vulcan XH558 bomber made a trip south and back again.  Goodwood airshow?  A Mossie motored from Butser overhead towards Treyford and beyond - anyone we know? 

 

I rigged, perched, de-rigged and carried back.  Nonetheless a pleasant day chatting to passers-by.  (NOTE: Cattle now grazing the top area - so beware cow-pats.)

Brian.

Notice of AGM 16th October

Dear Sky Surfing Club

This a note to say that the club will be hosting its AGM on the 16th of October at 7.30 for 8pm start at the Square Brewery pub in Petersfield. Food will be served at 9pm!

This is an important event in the running of YOUR club. The main focus of the committees work is focused on managing our sites and relationships with the land owners.

Please come and give your support and make your views heard. It is also a good time to come and have a beer with other club members and chew the cud.

All committee posts are open for election;

Chairman
Secretary
Membership
Treasury
PG Comps
HG Comps
Social
Coaching
Sites & PR
Assistant Sites
Safety
Editor
Webmaster
Ordinary Member

If you would like to know any details of whats involved please ask – none of the posts are overly arduous.

If you have an item you would like on the agenda please send them to myself.

Regards
James Roy
SSC Sec

Local flying

Friday September  18 /09

 

Started off at Whitewool  about 09 30hrs. It was blowing too hard for me but Mike Shippam gave it a go as he does.

 

We took a look at Mercury, it was lighter there which is unusual but does happen occasionally.

A hang glider had a brief flight then flew down and walked back, this was Matt W. He called it a day. Wise man.

Two other HG pilots were also at Mercury ,Brian P and Tim King. Paragliders were flying of sorts but poor lift.

Meantime Brian had rigged and moved to the take-off area. At this point I decided to return to Whitewool so don't know how Brian fared. I assume not very well?

 

Whitewool was calming down a tad but it wasn't flyable until 4-30pm. then everyone wanted to be in the air which wasn't so good as the lift was marginal.. There was a full house (8 pilots) with a sprinkling of red ribbons.Most managed some flying. Jason Smith had the best flight managing to fly over the trees at the North end of the slope. I left at 5-30pm and some were still boating about milking the last half hour. Not a brilliant day but better than nothing.

 

Treats of the day

Just after I arrived at 09-30hrs  the Red Arrows flew over and a Chinook came over the back VERY low. It dropped out of sight into the bowl at Old Winchester Hill. I also flew very close to a kestrel. Nice one.    Shippo

 

Weekend flying

Went to wales at short notice stayed at fforest fields powys and flew both days.
Fantastic campsite lovely people small but perfectly formed hills.

Brian searle

12/9/09

Mercury and more  12 September 3 sites in one day may have been a bit excessive Mercury was working very well with lots of thermals coming thru regularly. took one to about 3200 and drifted over to whitewool. No warden about so pushed forward to Butser .Tony stephens was catching me up at this point so pulled in and he dissappeared. Over  to Butser with 2000 but the cloud street was evaporating so span round and back to mercury. Nice try out for the new toy .great day in the autumn sunshine

Mercury Saturday 12 September

Very nice day at Mercury today for us hangies. A bit lumpy at times but the sun was out and I cant remember the last time I flew a club site - even had the family up for a picnic and everyone went home happy. Tim King was there with his new Atos - he even flew Butser Hill!!! Whoever made that new money box (and sign).....top job.

James

Thursday 10th Sept - Harting

 
In the air by 11:30, didn't feel too bad on the ground, but was really lumpy......the lumpiness continued for an hour at which point I realised the wind was in the upper 20's mph and came back and landed. My comments semed to put Brian & Julian off flying!
 
Nev 

---

Add other email accounts to Hotmail in 3 easy steps. Find out how.

Barton on Sea

Hi,  Took my own advice today and went to Barton on Sea.,

Wind on arrival was about 8 knots but looking good. Half hour later I launched and flew almost into Milford on Sea. Cliffs get lower at this end and becomes scratchy. I enjoyed four hours flying and could have flown longer but wifey on beach and sea mist moving in was the deciding factor for me to pack and go. I was informed that Ringstead was clagged in.

Shippo

Stubbington cliffs

Hi, this blog is for the paragliding discipline.

I hear the Stubbington cliffs mentioned frequently on the hill and there are those that have flown this non-club site and probably will have second thoughts of going there again. A few others will have flown and enjoyed an hour or two.

I have flown there for the past fifteen or so years, not on a regular basis though and make these observations.

I am blogging to make the point that firstly it is and hopefully will remain a low key site. At best it will only take four wings in the air at a time maximum. The cliff run is split in two by a wide gully which you will not be able to jump. Hence four wings , two at one side of the gully and two at the other side.

This site is not for the faint hearted or low airtime pilots as take off can be very difficult at times due to severe rooter. The wind needs to be quite strong to soar as cliffs are low. Usually a take -off is made from the beach and this in itself is a technique that requires practice. Get it wrong and it will go badly wrong and could drag you up the cliff face and drag you into the rough areas at the top.

Launching from the cliff top usually requires a different take-off skill due to rotar, also with the high wind speed the chances of being blown back are greatly increased . Some of you have already experienced this.

Then there are the landings. It is possible to land at the cliff top but again beware of the wind factor. Beach landings are safer ,that is, if the tide is out. When the tide is in the area left on the beach to land is minimal and if you land on the narrow strip of beach your wing is likely to fall into the sea. If this happens even in very shallow water the cells will fill and pulling the wing out of the water is like a trawler hauling in a full catch. If you land further out be it only 6ft or so your life will be in danger.

It is a site that is unpredictable as there are occassions when it is possible to pop the wing up within minutes , lob off and fly. But it can be difficult at times to assess how it will go. You will only find out when you give it a go.

Now you have the facts you can make your own minds up about flying there. I would recommend travelling that bit further and head for Barton on Sea . Launching there has similar problems with rotar etc but is more user friendly and also there will be other pilots there usually to give a briefing.

Safe flying Shippo

IOW - Compton Reds & Whites - Sun 06th

Magnificent place, friendly people, and nice flying :)

18mph ssw then s.

Taking off on Reg cliffs and actually flying on white cliffs/ridge. Top landing on the golf course for a break few times. then land back on red cliffs takeoff.

Why we not wisit IOW more often? it is just 55min ferry from Southhampton (32f return if booked on internet) and another 30min drive to take off...

With best regards.
Oleg

Ringstead Sunday 6th Sept

 
Arrived at 11pm to find PG's starting to struggle in the 14 mph wind. Off to south (SSW), it was perfect for the Purbeck ridge run, enabling flying between Weymouth and Kimmeridge, a run of around 14-15 miles of stunning Jurassic coastline. Surprisingly it was only taken advantage of by myself and Neil Atkinson, who had around 3 hours of quality airtime.
 
Nev 

---

New! Receive and respond to mail from other email accounts from within Hotmail Find out how.

BUTSER SATURDAY SEPT 6

Hello Bloggers, My first blog so here goes.

 

Went to Butser West site. Others there early and had flown. Wind soon picked up enough to ground us.

I spoke to several new pilots including two visiting pilots who were hang glider pilots. One from up North the other from Chamon---FRANCE ! I briefed them and conditions were ok for them.They informed me they were meeting Grant who soon arrived .Grant flew first followed by the Northern chap . They seemed to enjoy themselves.

 

Interestingly when I asked if they were on holiday here they told me they were on a conversion course. I thought they meant from winch to hill but no. They were converting from the average airliner to fly the Air bus!! Wow!! And yes, they preferred flying their hang gliders. Nice one.

 

New rule imposed today by Mike Atkinson.                                                                                                               

 

Fortunately James Lane had called for permission to use bottom fields and was informed that landing had to be in the fields with stubble, not in the usual fields.  This just shows how important that phone call is.

Mike S , Simon V and myself had some more flying but it was turning rough with a fair bit of South in it so off we went.

 

Shippo

British Open Series Hang Gliding Mid Wales

Got back yesterday from the final round of the British Open Series hang gliding championships. Over the five day comp we only had one days flying on the Long Mynd, a very nice day it was to if not a bit windy. On the other days it rained, was to windy or, surprise surprise, was both to windy and raining!

SkySurfer Grant Crossingham finished the comp second and in the overall series SkySurfer Tony Stephens came third, also three other SkySurfers in the top ten......well done guys.

James Roy

Mere Rifle Range, Sunday 23rd August

A bit of a tricky decision, wind was due South - Milk or Mere? Our group of hangies was split on where to go so half went to Milk and half went to Mere, I was one of the latter.

Sounds like it was blown out at Milk but at Mere it was mid to low 20's and straight up the bowl. Plenty of lift, a little rough at times when it went off to the west but a nice day out and the first time I have flown this site.

James Roy