Bell Hill Paragliding XC 25th July 2010

After a great days flying at Bell Hill playing in the fairly rough thermals but never quite taking one over the back, I launched for one last flight. The sky had gone blue and time was getting on.

But after just a few beats of the hill I hooked into a little thermal. The strong wind meant lots of drift which would put me over the back quite low, but after missing out all day I was determined to stick with it. Neil Withers flew underneath me and I shouted for him to join me. As I climbed slowly up I pulled away from Neil and reached base just as the cloud started to decay. With not much in the way of obvious options, I pointed downwind for a one thermal wonder.

About half way through the glide I saw a cloud forming ahead so diverted towards it. A broken thermal gave me back some height but it some died too so I set off for some nearby brown field hoping for something.

I arrived low but saw a tractor ploughing (text book stuff) and flying over the top was rewarded(!) with a horrible rough broken thermal. I tried to stay with it but was not really climbing and eventually fell out of it. I headed downwind towards a farm ready for a landing. As I approached very low again, I felt the wing lifting and a second later the vario responded. This was rough too but at least it was a bit stronger and I was gaining height now.

After fighting for a bit it smoothed out and with relief it took me back to cloud base. From here I could see the sea breeze front up close and personal (and from above!). With the wind pushing me towards airspace I didn't have much choice but to punch through into the sea air. My ground speed went from 65kmh to 5kmh and it was a glide to ground from there. I landed on the edge of a town called Sandford for 25.4km.

My personal best, although being only my second cross country that isn't hard!

Thanks to Neil for coming to retrieve me, he managed to make it past Winterbourne Stickland for 7.1km on his first ever cross country. So all in all, not a bad day!

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• paragliding
• paraglider
• pg
• thermal
• thermalling
• flying
• soaring
• gliding
• xc
• cross country
• bell hill
• wessex
• dorset
• gopro
• sea breeze

[solentfisher]

That must of been one of the last good days we've had for the past 4 weeks or have you anymore to share? I hope so as all your vids are great to watch, especially with the anotations giving us a guide to what's going on.

[rchambersuk]

@solentfisher Hopefully it isn't the last flying day of the summer! I flew the week after at Ringstead but I need to get together with Neil Withers to edit that one as he was filming too. Be nice to have a video where you can see me flying.

[MrOmbit]

Well done! Something I've sadly still yet to do, even after 40 hours, including a trip to Austria!

[rchambersuk]

@MrOmbit I need to add up my hours but I think it is around the 30 hours mark. I'm sure you will get away soon, with that new wing coming you won't have any excuse ;) Loving your blog by the way, puts mine to shame!

[jezeroo]

It turned into a very good flight after that low save - well done!

[rchambersuk]

@jezeroo I still would have been happy landing there as I would still have beaten my previous best! Still feels good to get a low save, even if it was rough.

[neilmacfly]

Nice vid to watch on a horrible cold afternoon in December (even if it is Christmas Eve!). Well done for staying with it, cool low save!

[skysurferuk]

Excellent vid, loved your text and explanations. Good editing, look forward to watching some more of your work.

[8wealthyone8]

Thanks for sharing lovely flight. Beautiful scenery and I love your comments they bring out suspense and sense of adventure. I wish my flights were like that. blessed

[Reechforthesky]

Brilliant! Well done :)

[sandysteve97]

very nice vid well done on getting up again