Soaring at Catacol, Isle of Arran 11.7.07

July 18, 2007 on 11:58 pm | In Paragliding |

The skies looked a bit grey but we had seen from the satellite pictures the cloud was clear to the west. So we told folk to get on the ferry and come over and give it a go and we would see what the wind would bring us.

The forcast was for a West/ South West wind so we headed up to Catacol at the North end of the Island. With paragliding you have to take off into the wind so Arran gives us an ideal training ground with hills facing all directions.

Out with Flying Fever school we had David who was doing his club pilot course, he is from South Africa and is staying the summer on the Island working in a hotel doing split shifts and paragliding in between. He had decided to stay here and fly, turning down a higher paid job in London.

He started his paragliding training this year in June, he fininished his Elementary pilot in 5 days and continued with his club pilot, this was his 10th day flying of his CP. We had been working through his pilot task book of the British Hang glding and Paragliding Association we needed a good days soaring to get certain tasks signed off and this was it. David soared about for 3 hours completing 7 top landings,
Big ears (collapsing the wing tips to make a smaller wing and come down quicker) Assymetric tucks (you collapse one side to simulate turbulance and prevent the wing from turning by weight shifting away from the deflation whilst you recover it)
Pitch and Roll (simulating turbulance and how to recover)
Speed bar (altering the angle of attack to make the paraglider go faster)

He had done some of these excersises before but this day consolidated them and he completed all the practical tasks needed for his license and showed good control, he passed the theory exam the next day. He will still come out and fly with us as a club member whilst on the Island but he can also go out without an instructor present, it’s wise to continue flying with more experienced pilots while building up airtime.

Andi was also out today she is an air traffic controller at Prestwick and has been training with us in Nepal and Bulgaria the last two years but has not managed many days training in Scotland, because her training has been sporadic then each time currency is lost and we need to go over the tasks again and build up confidence and ability. It was her first days flying since last October.

She went a flight with Maurice to gain confidence and go through some of the tasks on the Tandem. Then she was up solo flying and did very well as we used the conditions to run through the tasks. According to the book she is up to club pilot level but because of the lack of currency, ground control and confidence she will continue flying with the school to build up her hours and proficiency.

Sandy from Inverurie was out on his second day of an Elementary pilot course he had been on Arran for a few days and had only managed one days flying because of the weather. We had persuaded him to stay for today in the hopes of getting him some decent flying. Maurice took him up for two soaring flights on the tandem talking him through his excercises.

The kids were with us and were running ferrel on the hill enjoying their summer holidays tumbling in the heather. Baby Kieran had his first ride up in his mac pack rucksack.

Air acts like water, a smooth breeze was blowing from the West with a wave forming from Kintyre that produced superb lift out from the hill. It was so good that Diogo (a visiting pilot from Brazil who is working as an Italian chef in Glasgow.) who was test flying a second hand wing started flying well out to sea and not descending - we were starting to get nervous watching him but he turned and came back in fast with the wind behind him.

When he landed he asked “How much is the wing?” “£400″ he turned away and came back and handed me a wad of cash with a grin! Then grabbed his helmet and took off again.

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