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.