Saturday 27 August 2016 - Big Collin

Attending the club barbecue, organised by Phil Barron, at Benone was the plan. So, with a forecast SE wind it seemed that a flight at Big Collin before heading north would be a good start to the day. Hardly had the thought occurred to me than I got a text from Dermot Lagan who was already on site and reporting soarable wind. When I got there, Dermot could be seen ground handling at the top of the hill whilst at the bottom, Ken McConnell was busy instructing a student in the same art.

When I got the top the wind was slightly off to the East and varying between 14-16mph. I took off and got sink followed by lift followed by sink but, working the lifty bits, I managed to gain 100ft only to lose it again and did a slope landing just below the top.

The wind had picked up a bit and was now around 18mph most of the time with the odd slight lull. I took off again in one of these lulls into conditions that were a lot more boisterous, with lift well out towards the farm upwind plus associated sink. I managed ten minutes before I decided that I was not enjoying this very much and went down and landed near Ken and his student after a bit of a roller coaster approach.

Dermot wisely decided he did not want chucked around like that so he walked down and, after a chat with Ken and his student, I headed to Benone to join the party.

BARBEQUE

Well - what can I say! Phil Barron, his good lady wife Louise excelled themselves in laying on a barbeque, helped by a few friends, that would be hard to beat. A large gazebo with an extension had been constructed on the beach in case of bad weather and for sleeping accommodation if needed. Those who arrived early were treated to Phil's famous stews, brewed up on a gas burner while the barbeque was being fired up. The recipe for the stews is his trade secret so no point in asking, but taste delicious. Boxes of burgers, bags of baps, lettuce, tomato, onions, sauces, disposable bowls, plates, glasses etc were all there waiting.

Gradually more people started to arrive bearing bags of logs and wood offcuts, booze of various sorts and a firepit consisting of an old washing machine drum was lit. This worked extremely well and kept us warm well into the small hours of Sunday.

  Once Gavin's big barbeque was ready, a steady stream of burgers, topped up with sauces etc started disappearing into baps and down hungry throats.

While all the preparations were going on, Al, Walter and Rory were zooming round the area on their paramotors. Gradually as the evening wore on, some people drifted away - particularly those who had children along or who had children at home to go back to. That left a hard core group huddled round the firepit, lashing back the drink and talking rubbish. One or two seemed to have a wee bit of a balance problem at times.

Dee down!

Strangely, the talk did not come round to paragliding until well after midnight. After 1:30am we were joined by four ladies from the nearby campsite who had decided to go for a run on their bicycles along the beach in the middle of the night. Like moths to a flame, they were attracted by the glow of the firepit and the waffling bodies gathered round it. After a bit of banter they left and the rest of us drifted off to sleep in cars, tents, vans or wherever around 3:30am.

Some five hours later, those of us who had stayed close to the action, helped to dismantle the gazebo, clear away the rubbish and generally leave the beach undisturbed.

Since the wind was on the hill, Dermot Lagan and I went up to takeoff. Wind was around 14-16mph with occasional gusts to 20mph. Since we were both semi-knackered from the late night and little sleep we thought it best to give flying a miss and headed home with our memories of a cracker event.

Big Collin yet again!

Thur 25 August

Calm morning  and didn't look like being worthwhile going out but I headed to Big Collin anyway after lunchtime. As half expected, the wind at the bottom  was very light and variable between SE and S. At the top it was little better but making 4mph at times. While waiting for students to arrive I had a chat with a radio amateur who had set up a temporary station on the top and was chatting to others in the far south of Ireland as well as a Frenchman who called in.

Declan McGill then arrived and the wind had picked up a bit to 10-12mph. I took off on my Firebird Raven straight into lift and had a pleasant soaring flight for a while right above takeoff while chatting to Declan as he stood on the hill. I then came in for a top landing and reckoned it was smooth enough for a beginner.

We then got organised and Declan had two good flights top to bottom from 3/4 of the way up the hill followed by Paul Cunningham who also had two flights. By the time Paul had climbed up again and we were planning flights for them from the top the wind had picked up to 16-18mph. We waited - and waited. Dermot Lagan arrived and we waited again! But the wind had no notion of dying down and was over 20mph at times.

After we returned to the cars for a bite to eat, we got the Gin Zoom S paraglider that Paul had bought on Ebay, out for a look. It was in excellent condition and real bargain but too far advanced for a beginner. I did some ground handling with it, ending with a short flight from part way up the hill. It was noticeable that the wingtips had a tendency to tuck in any gusts when kiting but steadied up when under load after takeoff.

As the wind showed little sign of dying down we packed up and headed home.

Wed 24 August

IP student Pete Stevenson came out after a bit of a layoff. After a familiarisation flight on the Firebird F1rst L wing we got him ground handling and then airborne on his new Firebird Raven L. He loved it and ended up with a soaring flight and a top landing after a number of top to bottom flights and 3 slope landings. He topped all this by taking and passing his EP exam so now ready to get stuck into his CP Novice tasks.

Windy Gallion

Thurs 18 August

Calm at home all morning. Had to call with my sister in Magherafelt late pm so, since the wind seemed to be picking up from the east, I decided to have a look at Sl Gallion. Arriving at the east face and facing into wind, I noticed that opening the car door met with a bit of resistance. I had just got the car serviced the day before so a stiff door had nothing to do with it. Digging out my trusty wind meter and stepping out I soon discovered that the wind was 24mph gusting 27mph - car door closing strength and a bit too strong for even a mini-wing I thought. But since I didn't have a mini-wing I abandoned that thought and hung about for a while but with no sign of the wind dying off, the lure of a cooked meal at my sister's enticed me away.

No good

Went to Big Collin with a student Declan McGill on the strength of  a forecast, to find that what little breath of wind there was came from the west - no good for this site. We then headed to Agnew's Hill West to find flat calm with occasional less than 2mph coming from every direction but mainly south! One of the turbines at Big Collin in the distance was slowly turning and continuing to indicate westerly wind there but it seems the energy it took to turn the turbine left nothing to travel on to Agnew's. After hanging around for a bit and no change in conditions, we went home.

Dungiven

Arriving at the hill around lunchtime the wind seemed a bit strong. Phil Barron and John Wallace had flown earlier and landed in rising wind - now 20mph as measured by Willie Kane. Noticing that the sky seemed to be lighter well upwind we decided to wait. Owen Rea and Gavin Rabbett turned up hoping to fly.

After a couple of hours the wind eased  to 12-14mph and Gavin took off, followed by Owen and me. There was plenty of lift around and as the wind had backed slightly towards the south west I decided to head over to the headland over the road. It was quite choppy in a few places - but then the wind got stronger and I was at 800ft above takeoff and going backwards even with big ears and speed bar. There was nothing for it but to prepare for a top landing behind the headland. as I got lower and let off the speed bar and big ears I found I was descending vertically and this is how I landed. Meantime, Gavin and Owen who were lower and flying near takeoff managed to top land before it really picked up.

Putting the wing and harness in a stuffsack I walked to the front of the hill and took a wind reading - 22mph with prolonged gusts to 26mph. Definitely too strong to fly so I walked down to the road by the bridge. Willie kindly drove down and gave me a lift back to the car. There seemed no prospect of the wind dying down so we left.

Yesterday - Thursday - with a strong NNW wind on the beach at Benone, Martin Bates and I spent a cracking couple of hours with the X-Sails in the 18mph wind until the incoming tide stopped play. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWxF9a6j-sc&feature=youtu.be.