Friday, March 09, 2018

Light wind training At Big Collin

First day in a long time that looked suitable for some paragliding training. I had three potential students who had indicated on my online calendar that they were available for a taster day. As I usually do, I texted them in the morning to meet at Corr's Corner car park which would be handy to all. Super keen Simon Martin beat me to it and was waiting as I arrived. We chatted and waited for the others but after 20mins I rang to see if there was a problem. There was! They were at work and hadn't bothered to tell me.

So - off Simon and I go to Big Collin site near Ballyclare meeting Martin Bates at the gate. The wind was less than 10mph mainly from the SSW but varying slightly as very light thermals came through. Simon turned out to be a natural - show him forward launch technique once and he had it nailed every time, He ended up having six good top to bottom flights with gentle turns and standup landings. This is one of them.
Simon gets ready

Martin and then Dermot Lagan also flew and Ken McConnell made a few paramotor flights before and after working with one of his students.

For his last flight Simon had a long wait as Ronald Chudziak was faffing about in the landing area with his paramotor that he eventually got sorted and took off after a few abortive attempts in the shifting wind.

When we left Dermot was heading up the hill for another flight; Ronald had landed and Ken was seen flying back from the Knockagh direction.