"What's on" archive 2003

Sunday 16th November and St Agnes was the place to be with excellent conditions for hangers although a little to windy for danglers. Thermalling on the ridge to a 1000' + was not uncommon with all pilots getting some of the action. Patrick made the best of the day flying to Swanpool on the south coast so kick starting the winter XC league. Paul Howse was out on his new Wills Wing U2 which was proving both it's performance (especially  sink rate) and ease of flying, ask Paul.  Myself and gay made up the other regulars and it was great to see Charlie Z and Alec out dusting off the cobwebs also ex student Geoff Brook made a welcome appearance. Thanks go to Peter for recovering Patrick after which he was rewarded with a nice paraglider flight as the wind dropped towards evening. 

Saturday 1st November and it was out to Perranporth to catch a break in the weather which happened to coincide with the low tide. Tim GO made an excellent job of completing his CPC with a super soaring flight followed by a good top landing, well done. Chris Lobb returned to training after his layoff and after some refresher hops did a first class flight from top to bottom proving he had not forgotten how to fly, next stop soaring. Several other hangers had good flying in the sea thermic conditions gaining heights of up to 750' whilst the Paragliders entertained themselves (and others) on the low dunes out of the stronger winds.

Sunday 26th saw some dualling at Carbis Bay in very pleasant conditions with Nick the passenger enjoying the the experience even if he did feel a little quezy at the end. Several other hangers were out along with some danglers although conditions were generally a little strong for them. Tim J started his dual rating endorsement and proved to me what a poor passenger I make.

Friday 10th October although overcast was actually quite good. Tim continued his rapid progress back into flying with three soaring flights at Chapel Porth two on the Mars and the last on a Calypso. All were good and all ended in stand up top landings with his airtime for the day topping 1:10 mins. This was followed by a 95% pass in his CPC exam. One more day should see him complete, well done Tim, some pictures below. 

Friday 11th July saw a good day at Perranporth with Toby completing his CPC with a 90% pass in his exam, well done. New boy Tim made excellent progress from the bottom to the top in a day! getting him back to where he left off 14 years ago and passing his EPC exam. Some paragliders also enjoyed the day flying in close formation in the bowl as the wind moved further north.

Tuesday 17th May saw a very pleasant afternoon at Perranporth culminating in Toby having two soaring flights to complete the airborne tasks for his CPC both ended in respectable top landings unlike yours truly! Visiting pilot Andy Holidge showed just how good the current rigid wings can be cruising around several hundred feet above the paragliders who were at 50' at best. As conditions improved so did his height allowing him to easily cross the beach and back before top landing with little problems. A good number of danglers were out along with several hangers enjoying the summer weather. 

Saturday 31st saw some towing at Culdrose and the first opportunity for me to fly the U2. I only managed one flight but it seemed all it said it would be with extremely user friendly characteristics and a huge landing window. Graham May had a go and commented how nice it was to fly a glider that went the way you wanted it to go when you wanted it to! but then he does fly a Kiss. Alan Ashford got his introduction to towing and completed four good tows on his Wills Wing Falcon which behaved impeccably even with Alan on board. All in all a good day with a little entertainment from Coady on his power unit. 

Late May Bank holiday and it was off to Yorkshire to compete in the second leg of the British Nationals. Despite the weather plenty of flying was to be had although only two tasks were validated. The net result was a Talon 140 placing 4th against strong competition consisting of the top British team pilots. There is no doubt that the Talon has got what it takes both in performance and handling to give every pilot the chance of winning and at a price you can afford.

Wednesday 14th May Perranporth Roy H got back into the swing of things with 6 low level flights and 4 medium flights working on his turns. A couple more and he will have his EPC.  Plenty of Paragliders out making the best of marginal soaring conditions.

Monday 12th May and back at Perranporth for an early start,8.00am. By 09.00 wind was on the hill and soarable. following demo flight Chris Lobb carried out his first full soaring flight accruing 20 minutes and resulting in a top landing.  Toby arrived just after a quickly followed in Chris's steps with a 25 minute flight and another top landing, well done to both.  Paul and Gay turned up and experienced some strong wind flying later on. The rest of the day was taken up with some tethering with  Brian R as conditions got windier.

Saturday 10th May and despite a poor forecast things turned out really good with Toby having five top to bottoms including semi soaring all excellent, now just waiting to soar on the next good day. Brian R made a good start and is now ready for the hard work! Thanks to Paul, Gay and Alec for the help.

Bank Holiday Monday (May5th) saw the only task of the British Open due to strong winds. Race to Goal was set at 72 k taking us from Merthyr to Gloucester. Only flying the Talon for the second time I took it easy and was delighted with it. Both climb rate and glide seemed excellent with the good sink rate definitely showing up when thermalling with other gliders. The end of the day saw three out of the four Talons in Goal with two in the top ten. Not bad when you consider it was only the second flight on the gliders for all the pilots! 

Sunday March 30th saw a good crowd at Carbis with the Hangers having the best of it. Vicky F, Nigel E, Paul H, Gay J , Alan A (new boy) Steve H and Roger G all had good flights with the low airtime guys getting some useful experience. I was on Mothers day duties so spent a couple of hours taking the family up dual before heading to the beach for a picnic! The danglers found it a little brisk and spent most of the day on the lower dunes having fun although a couple did try their luck higher up but it was on the edge and they did have ballast.

Saturday 22nd March saw us at an easterly training site with Brian Reynolds to start off his conversion to Hang Gliding. Despite the breezy conditions he did very well with a few of the basic concepts being grasped and a few not!  Thanks to Gavin Cooper for his help and good to see him out again.   

Sunday 16th March and it was back up to Wales to demo' the Talon again. This time it was the south east face in light conditions. With several nationals pilots on site the glider got a good looking over by their critical eyes and came out with some very favourable comments to it's credit especially relating to the "clean" sail and it's trimmer system. However the proof of the pudding is in the eating and it came out of this tasting very good! two Nationals pilots flew it both being suitably impressed with it's flying characteristics and performance. It is the first chance I have had to compare it to the mighty Litespeed and from what went on it seemed well up to the challenge. The net result was another firm order there and then. If you want an unbiased opinion on the wing try Justin Needham who had a go on it for comparison purposes. Alan Ashford who also came along at short notice had a super day with a flight off the Blorenge (1800') to Castle Meadows and added his first 360. Quite a jump from 180' dunes at Perranporth!

Wednesday 12th March saw the Talon out at the Blorenge (S.E Wales) for some pilots to test fly. Despite the brisk conditions all who flew it were suitably impressed not only with the performance and handling (including landings) but also the superb fittings and finish. The day resulted in an order with the other pilots keeping on their selection lists for when the decision time comes. Not bad going. Whilst on the hill another Nationals pilot was on the phone asking when he can have a go so things are starting to move.  

Tuesday 11th March and a trip to Chapel after work saw the Talon taking me to 1500' in the most unusual conditions. Paul and Gay also took advantage of the weather and both were well high when I arrived. For the last five flights in a row the Talon has taken me to over 1000' not bad for coastal soaring! Steve Hawken also appeared and grabbed a flight on the Talon flying it until dark, maybe that was so we could not see his landing, but he need not have worried as it was a peach with the glider floating in.  

Sunday 2nd March saw the first towing of the year at Culdrose. Everything went remarkably smoothly with some seven pilots getting winched up and one being self propelled. Tows up to 1200 feet were on the cards although only a lucky few managed to stretch their flights out with the use of some marginal lift. Charlie flew his recently acquired Java for the first time and did an excellent job of it even if he did consolidate his claim for the crash trophy! Steve Hawken was seen to risk the Talons grip and had a couple of flights which despite much expectation passed off without incident confirming it's good nature (and Steve's skills). Vicky flew her hanger for the first time in a while with some cracking launches before spending some time on the winch as operator. Gay , Tim J, Paul H and myself made up the remainder of the tow pilots with Alan P and Catherine H in support roles. Paul D flew his NRG Mosquito putting in an hour and a half's airtime whilst cruising the south coast and climbing to 5,000'. The Gliding club was a sociable as ever and pleased to see us out and even more pleased to see us in the bar afterwards. Click on pictures below.

Sunday 16th February saw a gaggle of brave souls at Vault Bay despite a breezy forecast. As it turned out the wind picked up then eased allowing some good flying to be had although it was always brisk at take off. Paul Howes on his Avian Java and Gay Jones on her Wills Wing Eagle yet again put some more time into their log books gaining some useful experiences on the way. Tim Jones and myself made the most of our performance advantage having a really fun time in the strong conditions. I was pleased to fly the Wills Wing Talon in stronger winds and was suitably impressed. It glided around effortlessly with no tendency to yaw and never felt that it was going to anything you did not want it to. Slowing down it's superb sink rate quickly saw it climb to a 1000' ato and 360 ing in lift was easy and stable. Landing was no problem as was the take off. It felt that good I even let Tim take it up so if you want a second (unbiased) opinion ask him.  Grab a go before it moves on you'll regret it if you don't.  

Saturday 15th February saw more powered hang gliding  with Pete C and Paul D putting in the flights and the hours. Slightly breezier than Thursday and even colder giving both pilots a chance to experience quicker take offs. Coady did a round trip of Camborne, Redruth & Troon before posing over his house and coming back to the field. Paul kept slightly closer to home due to the lowering cloud base. They both took advantage of the clearing skies later in the day climbing as high as they could stand the cold before gliding back down for good landings. Maybe if they keep this up we could have a power coach in the near future!

Thursday 13th February and despite the date Pete Coad and Paul Dunstan were keen to go FLPA (Foot Launched Powered Aircraft) training. After bit of a wait for the wind to settle in the right direction a top afternoon was had with both pilots performing superbly. Coady looked far more relaxed on his Booster unit and was even heard to say what fun it was! Paul had his first flights on his Mosquito NRG which did all he hoped it would and after his first couple of flights looked like he knew what he was doing. Thanks to Paul Howes for his help and hopefully his turn will not be long as his unit is due any day. Sorry no pictures but forgot the camera. 

Sunday 9th February saw a group of optimistic hangers at Perranporth and some even more optimistic danglers. Wind started of in the high twenties but gradually moderated allowing for some good tethering at first then dropping light enough for Toby (Tiverton) to do his first high flights from the shale (3 in all). Roy Hunter (Kingsbridge) got back into it on the tethers while Chris Lobb (Newquay) who is just waiting to soar kept his hand in and tried out a new harness again on the ropes. Paul Howes kicked off the soaring on his hanger followed by Gay and Tim, who may possibly claim the first XC of the season, but then again he may not. Late in the day the wind was light enough for two very patient paraglider pilots (Steve Edwards & ?) to enjoy some pleasant soaring. 

Saturday 1st February and what a way to start the month off. Despite a **** up in a brewery the night before there was a good crowd at Perranporth  with plenty of flying for the Hangers. Charlie made an early bid for the crash trophy whilst everyone else behaved themselves. Training consisted of some excellent tethering with "soaring" and prone flying included. Congratulations to Toby Shearman on completing his EPC in record time and to Alan Ashford on completing his CPC, so keep an eye out for him on the hill. Some "dualling" also took place and thanks to everyone involved both passengers really enjoyed it.. It was that good that even Mark Woodhams was tempted back to a Hanger and finished the day off with a nice flight.  

Friday 31st January at St Agnes Head provided me with the first opportunity to fly the New Wills Wing Talon. In light conditions first impressions are good as despite being a size to big for me the handling was no problem. Performance is always hard to judge on your own but felt as good as it gets, and the landing was a "peach". Overall it was a nice flight with sea thermals taking me up to 1200' ato back by the road before pulling easily forward again. Try it for yourself, it's only here for a limited time. 

Monday 27th January and despite mist and fog we managed some flying, with Toby on his second day all but completing his EPC!  Thanks to Alan P and Nigel E for helping out on top with the tethers before we moved to the bottom to continue the free flying in less windy conditions. 12 flights later and with 90 degree turns mastered the "Stubby" soared it's way back to the top (not with Toby) to complete a good afternoon if also a slightly damp one.

Saturday 25th January saw a busy day at Perranporth with a good turn out of hangers enjoying near perfect conditions along with some paragliders who had fun soaring the lower dunes in the lighter breeze. . On the training side Alan Ashford completed his flying tasks for CPC putting in two excellent soaring flights on a Wills Wing Falcon and  top landings in front of the assembled "judges". First day student Toby had a good day starting with some tethered work on top and ending in 10 really good solo flights off the low dune to get him well on the way to EPC. Nice to see three of last years CPC's out all of whom had a good time with out incident (well flying ones any way).  

Saturday January 4th 2003! A pleasant afternoon at Carbis  Bay resulting in Alan Ashford completing his first soaring flight and top landing. Conditions were variable due to the sea thermal activity giving periods of good lift (700') followed by sink cycles. A few paragliders were also out some of which made good use of the thermals. So two more good flights out of Alan then he's CPC'd and hopefully out with the club to continue his flying.