Monday 14 Oct 2013
Ian C dragged me away with him to Slieve Gallion on Monday. Arriving after lunch we found a brisk wind on the hill, slightly to the east of NE. We walked down the hill a bit and flew. I watched as Ian hooked a thermal and started climbing over the back. Meantime I was steadily climbing but making very slow progress into wind. When I looked for Ian I saw that he had not made it to cloudbase and was on a glide back to the hill. Due to the strong headwind he landed well back. Meantime Danny had arrived and was soon up to join me - even if a bit lower most of the time :-).
After some 25 mins I had had enough gale hanging and managed to get in for a good top landing in a bit of a lull. I went back to the car for some lunch where I was joined by Ian after his second flight. It seems that the wind was picking up as he said he had landed going backwards. When we returned to takeoff, the wind had increased to over 20mph and Danny was packing up. We did the same.
Tues 15 Oct 2013
Things to do at home so I didn't go out until after 3pm, more to go for a walk on Shane's Hill than anything as I did not expect it to be flyable. I parked in the bottom layby and saw that the wind was blowing fairly lightly straight up the road. I thought I might as well take the paraglider with me on my hill walk so, leaving instruments behind, I climbed to the headland between Shane's and Agnew's. When I got there the wind was Easterly and around 12-14mph. I soon persuaded myself that it was indeed flyable, although the top of Agnew's was in orographic cloud.
For the next 25 mins I soared around in smooth lift, using big ears to stay out of the intermittent orographic cloud as well as flying across to the dip between Shane's and Agnew's as it was lower and therefore cloudbase was higher. Cloudbase then gradually crept lower and forward progress was slow so I flew out to land by the layby. I flew through a fairly turbulent patch on the way down that I expect was wind shear as there was hardly any wind in the landing area. Not having instruments certainly expands awareness and reminded me of all those years hang gliding without them.
No massive airtime on the two days but pleasant and interesting flying nevertheless.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Friday, September 06, 2013
Worth waiting!
Went to Dungiven yesterday having been delayed by a necessary visit to my sister in Magherafelt. Arriving at the hill I found the usual suspects there with many of them having flown but the wind had now dropped away to a trickle. As we got well into our parawaiting, we watched the windsock doing a dance round the pole as the wind switched all over the place.
Some people gave up and went home and a few headed for White Mountain to check conditions there. After a while the wind came on to the hill at Dungiven at around 14mph. I took off after being unceremoniously dumped on my back by a sudden lull as I left the ground. I got back on my feet by the simple expedient of obeying my own "hands up" advice. On takeoff I was immediately in lift and as there was a slight NW bias to the wind direction I headed to the headland to the south over the road. Lift was moderate and steady, taking me to over 750ft above takeoff and out over the farmhouse at the bottom.
The wind then noticeably shifted to the NW which explained why nobody else was preparing to fly, so it was time to land. It took a while to fly now crosswind back to the hill and into wind towards the top landing area. Approaching the cars I became a bit wary of any turbulence that might be heading my way from Benbradagh headland as I was now directly downwind of it and my approach was taking me over and close to a couple of fences. I therefore flew back beyond the top gate and landed about 100yds from it directly facing Benbradagh summit, being surprised to find the approach there smooth, enabling a tiptoe landing.
Getting back to the car and the others it seemed clear that the wind had settled in the NW direction. I then headed over to White Mountain where I could see that Donal and Michael were by now flying their hang gliders and Ian C, who was depending on me for a lift home, was there with them. I assumed that the wind was too strong for paragliding until I saw Ian take off on his paraglider with no problem penetrating away from the hill. It did not take me long to join them.
Lift was plentiful all round the NW bowl with a couple of places where small gentle thermals were popping up at intervals. That showed up the advantage of a paraglider in such conditions as I was able to slow down and work the small patches of lift that the hang gliders, being faster, flew through. Unusual to be sharing the air with hang gliders and getting above them most of the time.
Since Ian and I had a meeting as members of the Sperrins Outdoor Recreation Forum in the community centre at the bottom of the hill we packed up around 6pm. I flew round to the W side of the hill and landed by the car. Ian landed lower down and the two hang gliders landed in the bottom landing area on the other side of the main road by the gate. All agreed that it was one of the best flying experiences in a long time.
Some people gave up and went home and a few headed for White Mountain to check conditions there. After a while the wind came on to the hill at Dungiven at around 14mph. I took off after being unceremoniously dumped on my back by a sudden lull as I left the ground. I got back on my feet by the simple expedient of obeying my own "hands up" advice. On takeoff I was immediately in lift and as there was a slight NW bias to the wind direction I headed to the headland to the south over the road. Lift was moderate and steady, taking me to over 750ft above takeoff and out over the farmhouse at the bottom.
The wind then noticeably shifted to the NW which explained why nobody else was preparing to fly, so it was time to land. It took a while to fly now crosswind back to the hill and into wind towards the top landing area. Approaching the cars I became a bit wary of any turbulence that might be heading my way from Benbradagh headland as I was now directly downwind of it and my approach was taking me over and close to a couple of fences. I therefore flew back beyond the top gate and landed about 100yds from it directly facing Benbradagh summit, being surprised to find the approach there smooth, enabling a tiptoe landing.
Getting back to the car and the others it seemed clear that the wind had settled in the NW direction. I then headed over to White Mountain where I could see that Donal and Michael were by now flying their hang gliders and Ian C, who was depending on me for a lift home, was there with them. I assumed that the wind was too strong for paragliding until I saw Ian take off on his paraglider with no problem penetrating away from the hill. It did not take me long to join them.
Lift was plentiful all round the NW bowl with a couple of places where small gentle thermals were popping up at intervals. That showed up the advantage of a paraglider in such conditions as I was able to slow down and work the small patches of lift that the hang gliders, being faster, flew through. Unusual to be sharing the air with hang gliders and getting above them most of the time.
Since Ian and I had a meeting as members of the Sperrins Outdoor Recreation Forum in the community centre at the bottom of the hill we packed up around 6pm. I flew round to the W side of the hill and landed by the car. Ian landed lower down and the two hang gliders landed in the bottom landing area on the other side of the main road by the gate. All agreed that it was one of the best flying experiences in a long time.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Saturday 10 August 2013
Good flying at Dungiven W. Then the rain came on and cloudbase dropped to the base of the hill. By this time nearly everyone had gone home but Colin D, Deri and I decided to wait to see if it cleared.
We headed to Dungiven and found the coffee shop closed but Dungiven Castle came to the rescue with large cups of the warm brown liquid as we listened to an instalment of Deri's life story, with frequent hopeful glances out the window.
Colin had a look outside after a while and pronounced the hill clear.
We drove back up to find the rain had gone and a high cloudbase. It was now 7pm. The three of us had a ball - soaring the entire ridge to heights over 850ft above takeoff in smooth air. I suspect there was wave lift in front of Benbradagh as heading out encountered very smooth air and steady moderate lift. This notion was further reinforced on finding that there was a bit of turbulence at the takeoff and top landing areas - perhaps the tail end of some wave rotor. Deri wisely decided to land at the bottom. We eventually packed up and left for home around 9pm having had probably the best of the flying. Just goes to show that having a bit of patience can sometimes pay off.
We headed to Dungiven and found the coffee shop closed but Dungiven Castle came to the rescue with large cups of the warm brown liquid as we listened to an instalment of Deri's life story, with frequent hopeful glances out the window.
Colin had a look outside after a while and pronounced the hill clear.
We drove back up to find the rain had gone and a high cloudbase. It was now 7pm. The three of us had a ball - soaring the entire ridge to heights over 850ft above takeoff in smooth air. I suspect there was wave lift in front of Benbradagh as heading out encountered very smooth air and steady moderate lift. This notion was further reinforced on finding that there was a bit of turbulence at the takeoff and top landing areas - perhaps the tail end of some wave rotor. Deri wisely decided to land at the bottom. We eventually packed up and left for home around 9pm having had probably the best of the flying. Just goes to show that having a bit of patience can sometimes pay off.
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