A quick trip down south to Albany.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiCrvHv87HYAhXFfrwKHcCqBasQFggsMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rainbowcoast.com.au%2Fareas%2Falbany%2Fshelleybeach.htm&usg=AOvVaw2sLazll1oBrmW7J_j8_rzk
Camping by the ocean.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xYHL8iKhI5VLoI1E2
https://photos.app.goo.gl/q06JWTcAqIa3Jom43
https://photos.app.goo.gl/2E1VQoP0EHHTQaZl2
https://photos.app.goo.gl/SIU7wXU3ecZwdinJ2
An amazing day of flying.
https://youtu.be/J1jD57ANZHE
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiCrvHv87HYAhXFfrwKHcCqBasQFggsMAA&url=http://www.rainbowcoast.com.au/areas/albany/shelleybeach.htm&usg=AOvVaw2sLazll1oBrmW7J_j8_rzk
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Sunday, December 24, 2017
Another awesome day at Bakewell. 5m/sec or 1000ft/min climbs up to 8000ft.
Another awesome day at Bakewell. 5m/sec or 1000ft/min climbs up to 8000ft.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3hHqcs617CCRWrre2
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3hHqcs617CCRWrre2
Sunday, December 17, 2017
Saturday, September 23, 2017
+1 for religious people wearing blindfolds and putting plastic bags over their heads.
+1 for religious people wearing blindfolds and putting plastic bags over their heads.
http://all-that-is-interesting.com/hasidic-blindfolds
http://all-that-is-interesting.com/hasidic-blindfolds
http://all-that-is-interesting.com/hasidic-blindfolds
http://all-that-is-interesting.com/hasidic-blindfolds
Sunday, September 17, 2017
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Tuesday, September 05, 2017
Monday, September 04, 2017
Summer has ended.
Summer has ended. But cold and and sunshine means thermals. Yay. I'm flying my first true love again. Love my Masala 2 XS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRYUNjzBQh8&feature=autoshare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRYUNjzBQh8&feature=autoshare
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Sunday, August 27, 2017
I'm starting to get used to the wing...
I'm starting to get used to the wing...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R66NShi_-QU&feature=autoshare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R66NShi_-QU&feature=autoshare
Friday, August 25, 2017
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
After forgetting how to fly a couple of days ago, I remembered again today. 4 fun flights.
After forgetting how to fly a couple of days ago, I remembered again today. 4 fun flights.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMtOX2UlfLY&feature=autoshare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMtOX2UlfLY&feature=autoshare
Monday, August 21, 2017
Some days you realise that it was your turn to be the cautionary tale and not the shining example.
Some days you realise that it was your turn to be the cautionary tale and not the shining example.
Today was my turn.
Schwengimatt is a hang gliding and paragliding site in Solothurn, Switzerland.
There are 2 take-offs. They both take a Northerly wind but are mostly flown as thermal sites.
Neither take-off gives you a nice clean start from the side of a hill, both take-offs are set back a long way from the edge of the tree covered hill.
I’ve taken off from the higher take-off many times, both with HG and PG. However you have to go between a couple of trees on take-off and it gets pretty rowdy when it’s thermic.
The bottom take off is lower and shallower, but you have a great big sloping field between you and the trees and so aborting is an easy low risk option. I also found the take off to be much easier as you can run on the shallow slope.
According to my gps the starting elevation is 1020m and to clear the the tops of the trees by a few meters you need to be at 980m when you arrive at the point 380m away from where you take off. That means you need a glide ratio 380/40 = 9.5 to 1 in still air.
Of course it’s rarely still air. With a light facing breeze your ground speed and hence your glide ratio reduces, but the extra lift tends to overcome that.
I think that with a chainsaw and the use of an excavator for the day I could make one amazing take-off that would be the kind where you don’t have to worry about your glide ratio as you are heading towards the trees.
But of course, in the real world one has to contend with the trees.
Today was my first time at the lower launch. My first take-off was fairly uneventful, I got out over the trees and onto the ridge and went looking for thermals.
After landing down at the bottom I got a ride back up to the top for another go.
For my second launch it was getting more thermic. I watched a couple of pilots fail to clear the trees and then land just before them.
Both guys seemed to have higher performance wings than me, and so that made me worry that my inferior glide might not be enough.
I’m flying a straight EN-A wing, that’s as safe and simple as it gets. It sacrifices performance for a very forgiving nature, and that’s exactly what I need to be flying.
So I took off at a moment that I thought was good and had one of those, will I, won’t I clear the trees flights, where I would hit some lift and gain a few meters and then hit some sink and lose a few meters. I was totally fixed on the trees in front and was waiting for my decision point where I would abort if I was not going to be several meters above the trees when I got there.
Having the wing pitching about all over the place made it very hard to judge my flight path, so with a couple of seconds to go I aborted by turning right and landing along side the trees.
I picked up my wing and walked back to take off for another go.
There were some pilots there who seemed to be in spectator mode. I know it’s one of those sites. Whenever anyone takes of in marginal conditions (or a marginal pilot in good conditions) everyone watches and says “Oooh” and “Aaah” as they glide towards the trees. It’s quite hard for people watching to judge whether a pilot will clear the trees and always exciting when it’s close.
At this point there was another pilot there who had failed to clear the trees and was having another go. I took of shortly after him. Neither of us made it over the trees, he aborted right, I went left.
When It was time to flare I realised my canopy was in front of me and as I pulled on the brakes in an attempt to slow down and round out I suddenly realised that I had been so fixated on the trees I had forgotten to fly.
I’m a low hours paraglider pilot, flying a new wing. I’ve just got to the point where I’ve done enough ground handling and take-offs with this wing to feel relaxed during take-off.
I know the site fairly well and so I don’t have any stress about where I’m going to land.
I’ve even seen enough other people abort flights to realise that it’s just one of the things that can happen and is nothing to worry about. I’ve only ever seen one guy end up in the trees and that was because he left it too late to abort and then stalled and spun his glider in, that was one mistake I was not going to make.
So as I packed up my gear I though about what had been happening. About how my wing was pitching all over the place in the turbulent air. About how I would gain several meters and then lose them again.
My whole thinking had been to fly the best glide I could manage in order to clear the trees. Most paragliders get their best glide wherever they are trimmed, touching the brakes will reduce your speed and your sink rate, but also your glide. For this reason I was trying to fly as hands up as possible, I was even trying to weigh shift to steer to avoid using the brakes.
In hindsight now of course I realise that was the reason the wing was pitching all over the place. I should have been active flying the wing. The small losses from touching the brakes would have paled in comparison to the huge loses I was getting from the massive pitch changes.
I was one of the guys that the experienced pilots on the hills were pointing to and saying, look what happens if you don’t manage your pitch well.
It’s easy to fly a paraglider. It’s hard to fly one well.
I’ve put the video of the aborted flight up on you tube to serve as a reminder to myself and others.
https://youtu.be/NuZFIqTo0dM
https://youtu.be/NuZFIqTo0dM
Today was my turn.
Schwengimatt is a hang gliding and paragliding site in Solothurn, Switzerland.
There are 2 take-offs. They both take a Northerly wind but are mostly flown as thermal sites.
Neither take-off gives you a nice clean start from the side of a hill, both take-offs are set back a long way from the edge of the tree covered hill.
I’ve taken off from the higher take-off many times, both with HG and PG. However you have to go between a couple of trees on take-off and it gets pretty rowdy when it’s thermic.
The bottom take off is lower and shallower, but you have a great big sloping field between you and the trees and so aborting is an easy low risk option. I also found the take off to be much easier as you can run on the shallow slope.
According to my gps the starting elevation is 1020m and to clear the the tops of the trees by a few meters you need to be at 980m when you arrive at the point 380m away from where you take off. That means you need a glide ratio 380/40 = 9.5 to 1 in still air.
Of course it’s rarely still air. With a light facing breeze your ground speed and hence your glide ratio reduces, but the extra lift tends to overcome that.
I think that with a chainsaw and the use of an excavator for the day I could make one amazing take-off that would be the kind where you don’t have to worry about your glide ratio as you are heading towards the trees.
But of course, in the real world one has to contend with the trees.
Today was my first time at the lower launch. My first take-off was fairly uneventful, I got out over the trees and onto the ridge and went looking for thermals.
After landing down at the bottom I got a ride back up to the top for another go.
For my second launch it was getting more thermic. I watched a couple of pilots fail to clear the trees and then land just before them.
Both guys seemed to have higher performance wings than me, and so that made me worry that my inferior glide might not be enough.
I’m flying a straight EN-A wing, that’s as safe and simple as it gets. It sacrifices performance for a very forgiving nature, and that’s exactly what I need to be flying.
So I took off at a moment that I thought was good and had one of those, will I, won’t I clear the trees flights, where I would hit some lift and gain a few meters and then hit some sink and lose a few meters. I was totally fixed on the trees in front and was waiting for my decision point where I would abort if I was not going to be several meters above the trees when I got there.
Having the wing pitching about all over the place made it very hard to judge my flight path, so with a couple of seconds to go I aborted by turning right and landing along side the trees.
I picked up my wing and walked back to take off for another go.
There were some pilots there who seemed to be in spectator mode. I know it’s one of those sites. Whenever anyone takes of in marginal conditions (or a marginal pilot in good conditions) everyone watches and says “Oooh” and “Aaah” as they glide towards the trees. It’s quite hard for people watching to judge whether a pilot will clear the trees and always exciting when it’s close.
At this point there was another pilot there who had failed to clear the trees and was having another go. I took of shortly after him. Neither of us made it over the trees, he aborted right, I went left.
When It was time to flare I realised my canopy was in front of me and as I pulled on the brakes in an attempt to slow down and round out I suddenly realised that I had been so fixated on the trees I had forgotten to fly.
I’m a low hours paraglider pilot, flying a new wing. I’ve just got to the point where I’ve done enough ground handling and take-offs with this wing to feel relaxed during take-off.
I know the site fairly well and so I don’t have any stress about where I’m going to land.
I’ve even seen enough other people abort flights to realise that it’s just one of the things that can happen and is nothing to worry about. I’ve only ever seen one guy end up in the trees and that was because he left it too late to abort and then stalled and spun his glider in, that was one mistake I was not going to make.
So as I packed up my gear I though about what had been happening. About how my wing was pitching all over the place in the turbulent air. About how I would gain several meters and then lose them again.
My whole thinking had been to fly the best glide I could manage in order to clear the trees. Most paragliders get their best glide wherever they are trimmed, touching the brakes will reduce your speed and your sink rate, but also your glide. For this reason I was trying to fly as hands up as possible, I was even trying to weigh shift to steer to avoid using the brakes.
In hindsight now of course I realise that was the reason the wing was pitching all over the place. I should have been active flying the wing. The small losses from touching the brakes would have paled in comparison to the huge loses I was getting from the massive pitch changes.
I was one of the guys that the experienced pilots on the hills were pointing to and saying, look what happens if you don’t manage your pitch well.
It’s easy to fly a paraglider. It’s hard to fly one well.
I’ve put the video of the aborted flight up on you tube to serve as a reminder to myself and others.
https://youtu.be/NuZFIqTo0dM
https://youtu.be/NuZFIqTo0dM
Sunday, August 20, 2017
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Wednesday, August 02, 2017
Friday, July 28, 2017
If the media were to tell us to ignore the media and look at the actual reality...
If the media were to tell us to ignore the media and look at the actual reality...
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/jul/28/is-the-world-really-better-than-ever-the-new-optimists
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/jul/28/is-the-world-really-better-than-ever-the-new-optimists
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Friday, July 21, 2017
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Check out my trail running activity on Garmin Connect. #beatyesterday
Check out my trail running activity on Garmin Connect. #beatyesterday
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1860119138?share_unique_id=2
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1860119138?share_unique_id=2
Saturday, July 15, 2017
Part of my second flight. I managed a nice accurate spot landing.
Part of my second flight. I managed a nice accurate spot landing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ-sDdkYXIM&feature=autoshare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ-sDdkYXIM&feature=autoshare
<iframe src='https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/embed/1853989520' title='Beckenried Trail Running'...
A fun run along some awesome ridge today. Started wet and cold and windy but ended with sun.
Friday, July 14, 2017
Tuesday, July 04, 2017
A public service announcement ;-)
A public service announcement ;-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt9zSfinwFA&feature=share
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt9zSfinwFA&feature=share
Monday, July 03, 2017
Friday, June 30, 2017
Thursday, June 29, 2017
I remember when ......
I remember when ......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YewNEAIkbG4&feature=share
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YewNEAIkbG4&feature=share
Monday, May 01, 2017
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Monday, April 17, 2017
Monday, April 10, 2017
Saturday, April 08, 2017
Wednesday, April 05, 2017
Monday, February 06, 2017
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
One of our pets. Personally I prefer the reptiles and the bandicoot.
One of our pets. Personally I prefer the reptiles and the bandicoot.
Friday, January 27, 2017
If you are one of the people who does not understand how Trump won, you should read this.
If you are one of the people who does not understand how Trump won, you should read this.
https://antidotezine.com/2017/01/22/trump-knows-you/
https://antidotezine.com/2017/01/22/trump-knows-you/
https://antidotezine.com/2017/01/22/trump-knows-you/
https://antidotezine.com/2017/01/22/trump-knows-you/
Sunday, January 22, 2017
There have been suggestions that Trump is intending to head down this road.
There have been suggestions that Trump is intending to head down this road. It is what every responsible government should be doing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=196n6etP4rg&feature=share
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=196n6etP4rg&feature=share
Thursday, January 19, 2017
Saturday, January 14, 2017
Saturday, January 07, 2017
Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Sunday, January 01, 2017
Get $10 of free credit when you sign up for a DigitalOcean VPS with this link:
Get $10 of free credit when you sign up for a DigitalOcean VPS with this link:
https://m.do.co/c/0588dd120a66
https://m.do.co/c/0588dd120a66
https://m.do.co/c/0588dd120a66
https://m.do.co/c/0588dd120a66
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