Adventure Blog Scotland

A short look back at the first quarter of 2008

May 6, 2008 on 10:40 pm | In Paragliding | No Comments

Despite a weather imposed slow start to the flying year the club has, during Jan-April, seen members out flying in Scotland (and some ‘doon south’) on over fifty days so far, in addition to flying abroad, this year India has been added to the countries already flown by ESP club members.

With several 100 hours airtime safely flown already this year, despite the fairly few flying days we had in Jan/Feb, it is looking like this year could even exceed the exceptionally good year we had last year!

Over the next few months several members and associate members of the club are planning (or have already booked) more trips abroad, either as individuals or in small groups. As the returning pilots pass on photographs & stories on their return, for the clubs own blog I will post the ’highlights’ on this site.

On the training side: Several of the new students who are just entering the sport for the first time in 2008, are lady pilots, I hope with the continuing steady increase in pilot numbers, that over the next decade we will slowly see a better ballance in what is still at least in the UK, a male dominated sport.

In a sport that has the potential to have almost no accidents, provided the issues in training standards are addressed, I hope more and more individuals in the UK will take note of the standard the members & students display in the many 100’s of YouTube clips the club now has on-line, the last few years has seen an increase in information/advice requests coming from non-UK pilots also seeking to improve with re-training, the feedback from other countries showing that as has been the case often in the past Scotland easily leads the world in inovation and improvement, this time in aviation!

Any non-pilots reading the articles on this blog, and who are intrested in finding out more about the sport in Scotland are always welcome to phone to find out where we are flying and/or training on any day, and come out to meet the members and ‘pick their brains’ regarding both ’AB intro’ training and the re-training options for those already in the sport.

Murray Hay, 6th May 2008 (four days flying so far this month!)

Murray Hay
http://www.paraglidingscotland.co.uk
Born in Kenya from Scottish parents, 'full time' job is commercial photography but the last ten years has seen me fly over 3,000 hours, paragliding all over Scotland!

1997-2007, Precision Paragliding ten years of innovation in aviation.

January 2, 2008 on 8:11 pm | In Paragliding | No Comments

The start of 2008 brings to the end of the first decade of Scottish (plus some English & Welsh!) training by Precision Paragliding. Time to review/rewind!

Back in the late 1990’s I was looking for a new challenge that would combine the best mix of my interest in both science and activity sports combined with the enjoyment of the Scottish landscape, in all its seasons and variety. With a life long love of sailing and wind sports and a desire to be in the hills and mountains of Scotland, and not just when the ski centers are open, but restricted by the demands of a job that kept me ‘on call’ so in need of being able to get off the hills and back to work with only an hour or two notice the then still developing/growing sport of paragliding looked to be the ideal choice.

Picture: Holding in a parachutal stall (1997). My Mk1 ‘glass’ Wayfarer “Pamoja”, 3rd in class ’Tay Week’ (1970’s)

With light weight (relatively!) and certainly highly portable equipment, and living in a part of Scotland absolutely ‘hoaching’ with flyable hills & cliffs, the choice of sports was almost inevitable, not to mention the amount of very low hours, inexpensive second hand kit available! Something guaranteed to appeal to the heart (wallet!) of a Scotsman….!

Having a general background in science and having already read (and rejected) most of the theory & much of the practice commonly taught in paragliding, I went back to the core science stated by Bernoulli & Newton in the 16^th and 17^th century and looked at how the various physical Law’s and Theorem’s would be correctly applied to the structure and flight of ‘soft wing’ aircraft, i.e. paragliders. As a result of this study in just over a year after starting to self train I was on 100 hours and soon flying a ‘comp’ rated Nova wing…. at only TWO hours old and 2 thousand pounds off list price the wing was perfect for me!

Ten years later and over 3,000+ hours airtime my early choice to self train is now paying dividends for others in/coming into the sport as they get similar results from using the theories I’ve developed/polished over the last decade, resulting in these days almost 75% of my students being pilots re-training to the alternative that Precision Paragliding is unique in the world in providing.

By ‘98 I was modifying/test flying wings, steadily increasing the knowledge and understanding of the true aerodynamic principles involved in this branch of aviation. Ten years on and I’ve written and had published a number of technical & safety articles in the leading US paragliding magazine as well as being a regular guest presenter on “Paraglider Radio” a internet talk show for a number of years, the show being hosted by David & Gabe Jebb who run Torrey Pines Glider Port, San Deigo, CA.

As to the last year… while many in the sport have been bemoaning the weather especially English pilots, in Scotland at our club sites we have had almost 400 ‘pilot days’, with members out flying on well over 150 separate days, and these statistics don’t include the days some of the Scottish members spent flying abroad!

Keeping track of the total flying hours at the club is a near impossible task but it looks like 2007 saw somewhere in the region of 1,500-2,000 UK hours been flown at the club.

Looking forward to 2008, and with more members now getting towards flying 100 hours a year and also a slow but steady growth in membership, this year/the next decade is looking good for the club and paragliding in Scotland!

Spin off’s from paragliding at the club now include paramotoring, with the first test flight of Ian Archers PPG on the 30^th of December (up on YouTube… but turn down the volume!) and possibly finaly the long awaited start of some limited hang glider flying/training in the coming summer if there is enough demand..

So please keep coming back to the Visit Scotland Blog to read about what is going on in the air over Scotland amongst both BHPC and the BHPA paraglider pilots, and of course those visiting to fly in Scotland, don’t forget you can also watch the YouTube clips of members flying & training at www.ParaVideo.co.uk

Murray Hay, 3,000+ hours and counting! (BHPC Pilot)

Last big ESP club meet of 2007 - Morrone near Braemar

December 9, 2007 on 7:24 pm | In Paragliding | No Comments

The last big club meet of 2007 For East Scotland Paragliding was planned to also be the first club day at a new site, one which only Duncan Booth, who had re-trained with me back in 2003, had flown before. Another re-training pilot Ian Archer, had arranged access with his friends at the estate as well as a second 4×4. The logistics of getting all the pilot members & students, plus all the equipment, including a couple of tandems (to cover the weight range) as well as the folk from the estate who would be flying with me make the logistics a VITAL part of any good club day! With ten years of running the club and providing training to pilots this is a well practiced fine art for me! The common additional problem this day being getting pilots from all over Scotland to the location at the same time, as despite the name of East Scotland Paragliding club we are attracting pilots from all over Scotland not to mention a few from England & Wales! As it ended up we had (after a
LOT of time on the mobile over a couple of days!) in the end just two ‘up-lifts’ needed, and with a 20 min drive up that was just as well, the second near midday for those with family commitments in the morning!

Picture: Just a few of the pilot members, students & friends out to enjoy the sunny winter flying.

With the MET office aviation weather & enough A4 maps printed (Memory Map) of the flying site, it was time for me to do a quick, top landing, solo site/wind/lift check on Nova Vertex then the final site brief/discussion. The ‘top’ LZ was set to enable all the pilots to top land and keep the launch window clear, this LZ was in fact off to the left 200ft lower in a dip (col) in the ridge so even if the lift dropped/was flown out of, little to no vertical walking over snow would be required!

Picture: For those interested in the physics the top right image that looks like ‘left weight shifted’ in fact shows the white Vertex held in a RIGHT beat all the way along the ridge as I hold it in a “Vectored Side Slip”… this looks from the ground (I am told) “VERY weird” and rather proves some of the points I have been making for 10 years about standard PG theory!

Landing next the snow covered track meant pilots were back at the launch site by 4×4 under 5 minutes later so a LOT of flying with almost no sweat was the order of the day in mellow light lift until near sundown when the forecast conditions were due to start to pick up.

As this was a new site a number of the students each did a short tandem flight prior to soloing flying their own equipment, Alan and Duncan were away then Jonathan, who is still at the stage to need the odd radio instruction followed, but took one beat too many deciding to “turn in lift”, which he did.. but promptly flew out of…. Giving him about his only (modest) ‘hike’ up… assisted by yours truly, having brought the retrieve vehicle down jogged down the slope to carry then fly JR’s wing back up! Meantime Nairn was again showing just how far he had progressed in his re-training, it appeared he was only going to land if he got cold!

During the day between checking students per-launch/reviewing flights, the folk from the estate were flying tandem with me, all as ‘first timers’. Barry’s two sons, first Ryan with two 15-20 minutes flights on the Dual Controls of G-BZJI, then young Lee (aged 3!) on a Philou 29, rigged as a tandem and finally their dad Barry, who said he could hardly go home and say he had not flown when both the boys had!

As it got near dusk those with more flight time/experience were getting longer and higher flights but with the changing conditions it was time for another site/weather review. JR having had a fantastic day decided that it was time to stop, and would drive the pickup rather than tandem to the LZ (Thanks JR!) while both Alan & Duncan, having a lot of hours airtime, opted to fly north from the launch site towards Braemar before cutting SE around Morrone towards the parking area. Next away about quarter of an hour later, was Ian Archer who is very ‘current’ but has a lower total hours flight time than Alan & Duncan, he took my advice and followed the simpler route downwind over the smooth rounded shape of the hill via the col which let him fly near the track all the way to land near those that had already bottom landed by the vehicles.

With the pilots on the ground taking advantage of the drive down the SE side of the hill in the two 4×4’s, I was off the ground for a quick beat to get just enough height in the now strong conditions to clear the ridge and carve downwind, with Nairn several hundred feet above the hill top just waiting for me ready to ‘convoy’ for his first ‘over the back’ LZ flight… Immediately I went to full speed bar and then with the back of the hill smoothly dropping away below me into the valley 2km downwind it was ‘Bar & Big Ears’ punching both well ahead & below to asses the conditions/landing options. This was going to be a guaranteed way of meeting wind shear where the prevailing NW wind would rub against the light valley wind above the LZ… and it did! Prompted a ‘interesting’ Acro show from the Vertex, with I am told those several 100 feet below at the vehicles having a good view of the top of my wing a few times! Nairn having plenty of spare height with at least 1,500ft above the valley floor and following my radio instructions passed high over the valley at it’s broadest point, and then it was a case of him spending time doing smooth 360* to the right & left to ‘burn’ altitude, showing just how efficient his Skywalk wing is by gaining height again at one point when he let the Ear’s out! Big Ears back in it was down to a couple of 100 ft on the far side of the valley then head back across the river to land about 15 minutes later within 20 feet of my touch down! A cracking landing to end a fantastic day, Nair is clearly another one of the rising stars of the club, rapidly building the hours and site experience so I expect it will not be long before he catches up with Alan who has done almost 100 hours since starting re-training in late November last year.

Flying till the cows come Home!

November 11, 2007 on 9:11 pm | In Paragliding | 1 Comment

There was a gathering from around the globe last weekend - with pilots from Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand, France and Scotland enjoying soaring till the sun sunk below the cows on the coastal site at Bennan head. The organisation was run by the wind.

We are migrating to Nepal for three months - running courses for beginners and advanced level. We work with Blue Sky Paragliding - It is our fifth season in Nepal.

Maurice concertina folds his wing after a flight soaring at the North end. We need to pack all our equipment as small as possible.

We will keep in touch with the Blog. We are contactable through email. Flying Fever will be operating again on the Isle of Arran from the beginning of March. (With a trip planned to Bulgaria in April)

You can watch the Red Bull X - Alps paragliding race staring Scottish pilot Ulrich Jessop.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/outdoors/features/x_alps/

Zabdi Keen
http://www.flyingfever.net
Paragliding instructor and tandem pilot and run a paragliding school on the Isle of Arran and in Nepal. New mother overcoming the challenges to continue being in the hills with my new baby.

They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words…

October 24, 2007 on 9:33 am | In Paragliding | 1 Comment

Well the photo composite images may not be made of a 1,000 images and while it is just a very small snapshot of some of the flying and training our members have enjoyed so far this year, I hope it helps to inspire many more Scots & visitors to Scotland to take up the branch of ‘free flight’ aviation I am passionate about, that is of course Paragliding!

When not flying I take commercial photographs all over Scotland, any of images taken while we are out flying & training, are available FOC to anyone wishing PG photo’s, be it for press use or in their own advertising to promote Visiting Scotland, simply contact me at PBM Photographic.

The club, ESP (East Scotland Paragliding Club) linked with training provided at Precision Paragliding sees the members out flying on well over 200 days most years and students typically flying around 19 out of every 20 days they come out to train, in a large part thanks to the fantastic work of the MET office aviation forecast and of course greatly helped by having many 100’s of flying sites many of which are ‘Top Drivable’ in the clubs 4×4 pickup.

2007-3

So far in 2007 (with still a couple of months to go!) I’ve personally flown almost 600 hours while some of the students are getting close to making 100 hours in their first year from starting training/re-training!

While the flying in Scotland does tends to slow down a bit as the nights draw in over the winter season this Blog and the club/training video clips on YouTube (www.ParaVideo.co.uk) I will be posting, will keep the Blog visitors up to date on our of winter flying in Scotland and Fly/Ski days, as well as looking back to some of the UK and abroad flying trips members have had in 2007.

Murray Hay @ Precision Paragliding & ESP Club

September Paragliding

September 30, 2007 on 11:27 am | In Paragliding | No Comments

September was a bit wetter than we would of liked, some of the high pressures we had were full of moist tropical air that condensed into rain as it passed over the hills. Despite this we had a few good days in between weather systems.

We had a few people starting their elementary pilot courses, Harry, Merrick , Micheal, Maria and Ian. Sandy and Stuart came for some more flights. We flew a few tandems at Bennan and Catacol. Sarahs grin was huge after her flight at Bennan.

Lee had his first days paragliding whilst his brother Damion and father John Mitchell who have just qualified club pilot picked up some extra tips and practised different techniques. John runs a hotel in Pokhara www.hotelgardennepal.co.uk he and Damion will be flying with us at in Pokhara for some more advanced training.

In strong winds on a flat field we practise rear riser control - not clipping into the harness. Two front risers held evenly in one hand and the other grasping the two back risers. Launch and collapse the wing to gain control and learn how to use your body weight.

We have our tickets for Nepal and head out mid Nov to mid Feb for our fifth season in Nepal. We are running joint courses with Blue Sky paragliding for beginners and advanced pilots. More details on www.flyingfever.net

Arran Paragliding Competition

September 5, 2007 on 2:04 pm | In Paragliding | No Comments

Arran Paragliding Competition 1st + 2nd Sept 2007

Arran Paragliding Competition - Part of the Paragliding Scottish Nationals

Ian Wallace joint second with Kenny Cooper and Gordon Smyth goes for the spot landing.

The Arran Paragliding competition was held this weekend. Twenty pilots from all over the UK, a Brazilian and our locally trained South African pilot all joined in to compete in a round of the Scottish Paragliding Nationals.

The forcast was not good but the skies cleared and perfect soarable conditions allowed pilots to soar along the cliffs at Drumadoon, using the Kings caves as one turnpoint and another turnpoint on the cliff, A third turnpoint of a tent on the shore brought a lot of pilots down as the lift did not extend so far out. They could admire the strange rock sculptures that are all over the shore as they walked back up. There was a final spot landing back on top of take off for those with enough hieght. Pilots enjoyed the challenge and ballasted up with an evening meal at the Ormidale Hotel.

Neil Cruickshank from Northern Paragliding escaped the office and came flying. Bringing a bunch of Skywalk demos for us to try. He has left with us an extra small and a Small size chilli skywalk gliders if any qualified pilots would like a shot.

Sunday the winds were right for Catacol and pilots gained lots of hieght in thermals and wave lift exploring the Catacol glen. Winds were strengthening so the task was set of a turn point along the coast to Lochranza then an open xcountry task following the road to the south to keep the pilots from flying into the high hills, incase they were blown backwards.

Scottish pilot David Thomson who learnt with flying fever many moons ago won the Arran Cup. He has been leading the UK cross country league for a lot of this season with flights of over 100km.

Donald enjoys soaring at Drumadoon

Kenny continues his tandem training

The previous week we did lots of training at Ballygown fields

Kite Surf Hebrides

August 29, 2007 on 6:40 pm | In Power Kiting | No Comments

This year has seen the start of my kite surf school on Lewis. Things have been pretty hectic of late with more and more kite surfers coming over to play or learn. This has been a fairly wind less summer for once but this hasn’t stopped the fun. I am glad to say that 6 islanders have now completed their IKO level 3 with another 4 on their way. This means they are now able to enjoy the water safely and get some air! September is already looking like a busy month for teaching as well as some top sponsored riders arriving on the island to check out the awesome world class conditions.

We are heading off on our first Kite trip to Portugal with some of the local kiters, an opportunity to practice in a warmer climate ready for next season. If all goes well this will be a regular trip to experience the waves and flat lagoons of the Algarve. Keep an eye on www.kitetrek.co.uk for future excursions.

I would like to congratulate Helen Thompson of Tiree for winning round 5 of the ladies BKSA competition in Aberdeen. She now lies 2nd in the overall competition, good luck! Maybe in the coming years there will be some more Hebridean challengers.

David Hepworth
http://www.wikc.co.uk
Teaches kite buggying, landboarding and kite surfing at Western Isles Kite School on the west coast of Lewis. David is an IKO/BKSA instructor.

The Walking Man comes Flying

August 23, 2007 on 10:48 am | In Paragliding | No Comments

Ground handling up the string with DHV 1 Mescal Skywalker.

8th Aug SW Catacol - Janie (67yrs old) flew tandem with Maurice raising money for charity and fulfilling her desire to fly.

Marek and Maude (visiting pilot from Canada) practised small flights. Aaran and David began their training in the big field with Trevor moving onto small flights at the end of the day. Jamie swapped wings with Paul. Jamie stayed up for a bit but missed the thermal he stood watching his wing skying out in a cracking thermal above the cliffs.

9th Aug: South strong wind. Students ground handling at Torrylin shore whilst visiting Flying Fever pilots Ian, Graham and Bill who had trained with us before flew along the coast. Graham going XC to land near Kildonan.

A very wet few days followed which luckily coincided with the Weavefest at the Burnside Gallery. I had been asked to help as I was the last person left on the Island who knew how to set up the four shaft floor loom. I had done a years spinning and weaving apprenticeship when I was 16. From the depths of my memory the knowledge resurfaced and it was fun to be spinning again. It felt like a real community with everyone coming in for a go.

Lilly Savage with her new kittens watched by my brother Tim and his dog Pip

My brother Tim and dog Pip admire Lilly Savage’s new kittens

Luckily I had taken a photo of my mums half drawn picture of my niece Natasha as she left her art folder out in the rain. www.patsykeen.com She draws commissioned portraits from photos.

17 Aug: Harry enjoyed his first qualified soaring flight and gained 45 mins airtime.

Pam goes flying tandem at Catacol with Maurice

Pam enjoyed a tandem with Maurice whilst her family watched.

19th Aug: North and North West flying at Newton and practising at Catacol field.

Nick and Jill have a tandem as son Grant watches.

20th Aug: North - ground training Catacol scout field, Johnny has a funday and Kenny starts Tandem training. Ground handling in the field.

21st Aug: South East bowl at the String - Great fun skimming about it feels more like flying when you are a foot above the ground.

Lousie has a tandem flight and carries the glider.

The Walking Man comes flying

We met the walking man pushing his adapted 3 wheel baby carriage over the Bougille and Maurice reversed for a chat and offered him a tandem flight. Brendan flew him tandem up at Newton Shore in Lochranza. www.walkingman.org

Zabdi takes the choice of a flight and avoids changing a nappy.

Flying Fever sticker on the walking mans buggy. Email for FREE stickers.

Carl Loses the red Ribbon

August 3, 2007 on 12:33 pm | In Paragliding | 1 Comment

Carl qualified with us last Autumn and back over to Arran for some soaring at Bennan. He passed his 10hrs and cut the red ribbon. You wear a red ribbon tied to your harness for the first 10hrs of flying after your club pilot license. It warns other pilots to keep clear!

Carl and David have a soaring competition at Cleats (a 20foot hill) The kids have a stop watch - David manages 2 minutes to Carls 28 seconds! You must turn the paraglider flat, use weight shift away from the hill.

31.7.07

Strong Southerly winds ground training and small flights at Cleats then soaring at Bennan.

Tom and Wil after their tandem flight at Bennan, they are from Australia visiting Uncle Kenny who owns one of our flying sites.

30.7.07

Northwesterly soaring at Thunderguy.

Zabdi and Kieth fly X-country to Catacol. Keith is just starting his Elementary pilot this week with his friend Angus who flew with Maurice.

Angus is 6ft 6 so a very tall passenger!

It’s quite windy with good height in the wave from Kintyre. Visiting pilots Bill, Ian and Graham enjoy soaring way down the coast they qualified with us last year.

2nd August

Ian finished all his club pilot tasks and qualified CP in 8 days flying within the last two weeks. He will come back and fly with us to consolidate his knowledge and join the Aberdeen club and fly under the guidance of the club coaches whilst building up his airtime.

Graham a pilot who qualified with us last year soaring at Drumadoon before going to land on the beach by the golf course. He miss read the strength of the wind and on turning in to his final approach at the end of the beach found himself blown backwards and crossing powerlines (too low) went to land in somebodys garden.

When you are paragliding and expanding your knowledge you always need a large margin for error!

When its windy always check penetration by turning into wind early and choosing a large area to be blown back over without obstacles then you can reverse into your landing. When your feet touch the ground you want to collapse the glider using rear risers or c-risers so it doesn’t produce lift. Then run towards it and round the side , if you fall over collapse it by pulliing on one riser only and keep reeling it in.

We headed off to Ballygown to practise ground control and small flights with Angus, Keith, Josh and Ian.

Angus going for take off - good body position

Keith after getting a collapse from jumping on takeoff - DON’T JUMP - that’s why we practise low down. This is not how to carry a paraglider!

Rhiannon helping light a fire in the rain. The pilots walked back down at Catacol.

Kenny heads off on a west Coast tour with his paraglider, camping gear and climing kit in the paniers of his new motorbike. He is hoping to fly at least once on every Island - Good Luck!

Flying Fever is sponsoring Ulric Jessop and Aidean Toase in the Red Bull X-Alps challenge an 850km race that starts in Austria and finishes in Monaco. 30 international athletes compete by air and on foot follow the race on www.redbullxalps.com