I met up with Steve Bullers who was on a paragliding taster day. The sun was shining; the wind was light and since one of the forecasts said the direction would be SSW we went to Big Collin. There was a light wind there but too far off to the west.
Agnew's West then seemed the obvious choice so that is where we went - and found a nice 8-12mph blowing straight up the hill. There had been a lot of rain as the ground underfoot was soaking and fairly slippery in places. Nevertheless we had a very successful day with Steve getting three low flights and two from near the top - all with good standup landings. As a result he wants to go on to do an EP course.
During the day I
was approached by the local gamekeeper, Alex Rodgers. He told me that
the Grouse Conservation area has been extended from the existing area
at Skerrywherry to encompass the back of Agnew's Hill and Shane's Hill
up to the fence that runs along the top.
As
a result he is asking us to stay clear of these areas from April
through to the middle of June as this is the grouse nesting season and
the birds should not be disturbed. He left me his mobile phone number for anyone proposing to fly there to ring him for advice around that period. I agreed to advise UHPC members.
Monday, February 27, 2017
Wednesday, February 08, 2017
Big Collin again.
No wind at home all morning. I went out to Big Collin anyway around lunchtime after speaking to Dermot Lagan who was already there and reported 4-5mph at the bottom.
When I arrived the wind had picked up a bit and when we got to takeoff we found a brisk 18-20mph! We were joined on top of the hill by Janet Crawford, the owner of Big Collin who was out for a walk and stopped for a chat. By then the wind was gusting to 24mph.
We walked down to meet Tom Carson who had arrived. He decided to do a bit of ground handling near the cars and eventually managed a few short semi-soaring flights from a few yards up the hill when the wind gusts eased a bit.
See also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzRdduY0CVM.
Dermot and I contented ourselves with fighting the gusts in the landing area with the small Firebird Trainer. By then the wind on top was gusting to 26mph and very cold. By 4pm we'd all had enough and went home.
When I arrived the wind had picked up a bit and when we got to takeoff we found a brisk 18-20mph! We were joined on top of the hill by Janet Crawford, the owner of Big Collin who was out for a walk and stopped for a chat. By then the wind was gusting to 24mph.
We walked down to meet Tom Carson who had arrived. He decided to do a bit of ground handling near the cars and eventually managed a few short semi-soaring flights from a few yards up the hill when the wind gusts eased a bit.
Dermot and I contented ourselves with fighting the gusts in the landing area with the small Firebird Trainer. By then the wind on top was gusting to 26mph and very cold. By 4pm we'd all had enough and went home.
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