the patch, now with movie!

lovely aerial view of boys at play from yesterday...nice one Deryck!

the western bowl beyond guffer's gully

autumn cometh!

heading for the pub!

...or better quality here- http://www.vimeo.com/2094479

heavy gear

The boys have got out the heavy gear today, despite the early calm conditions the wind picks up from about 12ish and doesn't relent. However the air does smooth out as the afternoon progresses, but at 20mph(ish) it's a day for your heavier kit.

Deryck successfully maidens his new (to him) Toplight, and progressively adds lead to get this lightweight moving on.

full size jobbies

T'Other Paul brings out the Sword for a decent thrashing, and thrash it does! However there's a lack of anything useful under the bonnet, Paul holds his tranny for show only and is really controlling the model using the power of The Force.

There's Steve, Colin, Alan, 2 Pauls, Deryck, Mick, Ray, Eric and several cows out to enjoy the vertical tendencies of the waftage.

who gives a stuff about jittery servos, just chuck it off!

What's Deryck up to? images to follow....

overhead with a fine whistle!

start 'em young!

Trev joins us later on and we all fly 'til dark to get the most of our fix before the clocks go back. We head off home with glowing faces and far off memories of the summer.

happy chappies

October has provided us with some splendid conditions, and today is no exception as plenty of slackers sneak off up the hill to enjoy good thermals and a pleasant wind

the gloves are on!

a good spread

Alan, t'Other Paul, Ray, Duke, Colin, Paul and a couple of unknowns set to with a variety of slope soaring devices. The brothers unknown launch and quickly land in one of the trees down in the gully...probably the only tree in a mile radius you can't climb!

well planted

Bizarre found object

Ray has trouble keeping it up too, so he and Paul head off down the hill for a retrieve. They stumble across a bizarre object what can it be?

Well at least Paul will have no trouble keeping it up today!

attack of the giant caterpillar

Colin's had enough of this nonsense

these guys are experts, look at that kit!

Autumn

the whole weekend works!

The wind's good for the whole weekend. There's plenty of takers over the two days, Saturday is very pleasant, Sunday is a day for weight, speed and carnage.

The Epsom (or is it Esher?) chaps show up for Saturday morning, with their superb scratch build scalies and impeccable hill side code, the locals are put to shame. There's a veritable cornucopia of regulars, Steve, Ray, Roger, Duke, Paul, Mad Mick, Cat Weasel man, Trev, Vaughn, Eric, Mrs Eric, and new man from Sutton to name but a few.

Mick has a good sesh with the Easy Star with hi-def handicam on board, it's darn tricky getting those air to air shots.

Steve spot lands on a bull, man launches his 100" floater into 25 mph winds (very short flight), Ray lands his ricochet onto barb wire fence (it doesn't ricochet) Mick snaps wing of Easy Star with assistance from Paul. The sun prooves to be a p.i.a. as it's starting to sit lower in the sky now, but it's better than rain I suppose!

Duke pushes it out

you'd have thought they'd never seen an Easy Glider before

lovely

core that!

Eric turns up to deliver this month's copy of QFI

died and gone to heaven

autumnal evening

aerial footage from Saturday evening, not a lot of wind

but lovely lighting from the setting sun

under pressure

The forecast is spot on, there's gentle wind brought in by classic high pressure conditions. Did I say classic? this high pressure brings a south westerly!

The direction and strength are fine, but there's murk in the air and it seems an inversion layer is keeping thermals from developing, so it's conditions for efficient models.

Well it's immaterial really as the paragliders are out in force with as many as five hugging the ridge at one time. The air's more congested than a '70s commuter trying to buy a first class train ticket to Nottingham.

nice of you to drop in!

South African contingent

Colin's no flight pre-flight

Roger's pre-flight prostate

who needs a fly-cam when you've got a Hi8 cam!

(footage to follow at later date)

Mad Mick turns up to talk at us

several bonfires, each gives a different wind direction

no caption needed!

saint slacker's solstice

Saint Slacker decrees that with Capricorn rising in the east, and conjoining with Aplina descending from the south west, this weekend is the sloper's solstice. This brings superb conditions for today, with more promised for tomorrow.

As a result there's many of the usual suspects shirking their everyday duties and sneaking up the crest of the Downs to enjoy the sun and moderate to strong breeze.

Paul's in a rush to get flying and employs the 'rear near side levitation' maneuver favoured by members of the extreme parking association.

who gives a stuff about share prices when you can be enjoying this!

The wind is a firm 15 to 20mph and there's a good spread on the patch. The lift's not blown out by the stronger conditions, and it's complimented by good thermic conditions. To top it all the sun is out and it's warm...hurrah!

zagibumsniff

cheer up Rog' you're future happiness is in south westerly winds, not the FTSE 100

ready to rip it up in an old skool stylie

fox takes to its hanger

What can I say, it's just glorious! However there are some incidents. Ray lands out.....way out round the back, we still haven't found it! The red floater isn't the best beast for the conditions, but gets away....and then 'arrives'.

bull digs ground with front hoof and expels puffs of steam from nostrils

nice chap from the flat lands of Essex, his Granau loves the lift

Alan's new (to him) Storm is a good performer

Duke preps the ASWish, and ignores warnings about the all moving
(but double centering) tailplane

it so nearly made it back home, unfortunately the fence was 12 inches too high

(does anyone else think it looks like it's break dancing?)

never mind, grab another victim from the hanger!

exactly as forecast

Saturday started off with strange conditions, the wind has plenty of south in it and the hill is unflyable, even the floaters aren't floating so the Epsom guys entertain us with some zagi hand launching.

not much to do except kick heels and look at grass

xc weather is spot on, the only place in the UK that isn't experiencing a SW wind is Thurnham!

Ah ha! it's about 12ish and it's starting to work, helped by the arrival of the Croydon Crew. Deryck leads the way, the bigger models that can range out and cut through the chop are getting away on the far side of the castle. Very soon the blow is firmly from the south west and what ever you've got will fly

en-guard!

scalie type thing

bigger scalie type thing

more wind means more weight


not impressed...

.... but it works!

these boys have had their fill and de-rig before the showers hit us

Daisy and Buttercup escape an adjacent field and head down the road, they're after some hot action but haven't noticed our resident bovine boys have had the chop!

The wind continues to rise as the day progresses, and Croydon chaps get a quality fur ball going on the lip, the afternoon brings the full size chaps and Alan. Once again we're grateful for the cow shed as we're hit with regular showers.

edge of the action

ready for an auction?

Good session had by all it seems. By 3 o'clock it's gusting over 30mph and most of us head off, we're already missing the summer!