West Australian Free Flyers Forums

I set up forums for the HG/PG community in WA at the start of the year, but never advertised them.

They are now starting to see more use. I always post my flying plans and there is an increasing following.

I don't use facebook (like many people) and so using a closed facebook forum as the only way of communicating with other pilots is not helpful.

These forums are open and free and all you need is a web browser on any device/platform to use them. They won't slow down your device or fill up your memory and they don't track you.

You can subscribe to threads so you get notified about subjects you are interested in.



I'd really like to see all active pilots in WA sign up so we can unite the entire flying community, it would make sharing information much easier.

You can find the forums here:

https://wafreeflyers.org/

Western Australia RASP Forecast

I've been generating a RASP forecast for Western Australia for a few months now.

I have got it to the point where I am happy with the UI and I am just adding new features.

It was running on an old Xeon server I have here and with it's 12 cores it was able to produce the daily run in around 2 hours. But sadly that server has not proved reliable in the summer heat and so I am now running an i5 laptop flat out for almost 5 hours to produce the same daily run.
The model run happens every afternoon and it tries to do 7 days into the future.
I have a decent solar installation on my roof so the server is using solar power to generate the forecast, which I think is fitting.

I welcome any feedback with suggestions for improvements.

Find it here:

https://lampdatabase.com/rasp/WA/

The Muppet Forecast for Mt Bakewell WA

For a while people have been asking me to make a forecast for Mt Bakewell that gives the information that a local pilot would want to know about conditions.

I've got it up and running.

Like all my projects, it is a work in progress and so will continue to be developed as I think of improvements and get feedback from pilots.

You can find it here:

https://lampdatabase.com/muppetforecast/

5 Hour Paragliding Cross Country flight from York to Wongan Hills

I was flying my much loved PHI Tenor Light 19. It is such a great glider, and not just good looking/performing, but also easy to fly and carry.

It has taken me on many epic flights all over the world and this is my longest (in terms of time) PG flight within Australia.

It was a difficult day that started off low and slow but improved later in the day.

I had a lot of trouble centering in thermals, they were often a collection of cores (or bubbles) and it was hit and miss finding the best part. Without much altitude I was cautious and so often stayed in light lift just happy to not be sinking!

After Goomalling I had a slight crosswind from the East, but this was offset by the better height and the stronger tail wind component.

It was a really enjoyable flight, I had no collapses, I had no major turbulence, my pee tube system worked perfectly so I was able to stay hydrated.

I ate one gel half way through the flight as I was fading a bit.

After I landed in Wongan I headed straight for the road heading South out of town and started walking and trying to hitch a ride.

After several cars passed me and I was a couple of km out of town (and starting to wonder if I would make Goomalling (46km) on foot with 1lt of water and 3 gels) when an absolute legend stopped for me.

I was back in York around 10pm and then I hiked back up the hill in the dark to get my car, I got home just before midnight.

What an adventure!