Adventure Blog Scotland | Air » 2007

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

Zabdi Keen
http://www.flyingfever.net
Paragliding instructor and tandem pilot. I run a paragliding school on the Isle of Arran and in Nepal.

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.