Online logbook of my paraglider flights from 2007 onwards.
Chinese (and Korean!) New Year, on the second new moon after winter solstice, is a more fitting date to mark a new year than the Western alternative. The days are lengthening, and—for frustrated soaring pilots like me—the first breaths of spring thermals are just around the corner.
This time last year, I was psyched up for […]
XC flying conditions in northern England this spring have been unusually good; what’s more—the best days have fallen on the weekends, which—after a poor 2007 and 2008—proves the adage: “Be it fair or be it wet, the weather always pays its debt”.
AWESOME. Full-on spring thermals and wind today at Pule. Straight-lining it and going up at over 5m/s on the averager, I ended up over Standedge—2Km upwind—on full bar, desperately trying to stay below the 3000ft base of Manchester CTA.
Autumn leaves are falling and I’ve got the blues. Flying-wise, 2008 was my best summer of the past 17. I achieved my long-term goal of 50 miles with a 100K flight. The success was due to my work shift finishing at lunchtime on a significant proportion of the few good XC days.
August 2008 was the dullest since 1929. An improvement finally came in the second half of September. I enjoyed the dog ends of the summer thermals at Nont Sarahs on Thursday 18th and at Hawkswick on Saturday 20th.
The best (and the most frustrating) thing about flying XC in the UK is the constant challenge of the rapidly changing weather. On Saturday 23 August, a transient ridge of high pressure presented a narrow window of opportunity between weather systems. With bad air downwind to the east and a front approaching rapidly from the […]
After this latest flight, I felt like I’d just won a bronze at the Olympics. Chuffed to have gotten something out of the day, but a tad disappointed not to have pushed a bit further.
The Czech Republic might not the first place that you’d associate with the term “paragliding mecca”. But the facts are: 275 Km flown this May, 309Km over in Poland and some world-class manufacturers. And the interest extends beyond paragliding: Czech has produced writers like Kundera and Kafka, and Leo’s 3 year old Czech “girlfriend” from […]
I saw Roger Federer on the TV the other day, explaining what it felt like to win his first Grand Slam. “Overwhelming relief. It doesn’t matter what else you do in your life, you’ve won a Slam”. Those words echoed my sentiments after I achieved my first 100 Km flight on a paraglider in the […]
I decided to be adventurous and try a site I’d not previously flown, so off I went to Hawkswick in the Yorkshire Dales.
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