dodging the wet bits

Never before in the history of sloping has April lived up so absolutely to its reputation. The last few weeks have comprised continual shower dodging sessions combined with the highly variable winds brought about by the overdeveloped conditions.

 here comes another shower....

Charlie's Fish owning the slope

enjoying a sunny bit

BOOM !

not even considering a landing...

...until the next shower swings in

Slope Phantom is watching you...

wherever you are!

battered le fish

decamp to jack and jill

jack and jill via wolstonbury

A selection of the usual suspects risk a trip to the South Downs on a weekend.
Rather than battle the hordes at Bopeep, our intrepid slopers head for Wolstonbury.

there's good lift, but parking issues require a decamp to Jack and Jill across the way

(see above right of Phil's head)

verdant pasture, full size fly overs and spring blossom greet us!
another flier was visible over on Wolstonbury (above and left of Pete's head)

wind is off the slope, but thermals save the day

(windmill in the background available if you have £1.5 million going spare)

seven year old school boy type photojournalism documenting

the flagged up landing zone hazards

 Phil and the Falcon

Eric and the Stealthy Sittingbourne Soarer

 scalie and asymmetric flying wing

17s own the downs

It's a blowy day at Bopeep and Eric's got one thing on his mind...

it's time to give the ASW 17 a good honest thrashing

5 metres of lovely Pat Teakleness

Le 'aeroplaneur du pike' with its vomit inspired paint job

just doesn't cut it in amongst the other scale beauties today

wasting no time, Eric gets airborne...or is it Gary's 17?

no it's definitely Eric's, I can still hear it whistling...

look who's just turned up stage left!

Eric flies...

and flies....

 .....and flies some more.

 Ably joined by Gary with the elephantine 17, the two are caught here in a nostalgic fly by
(note the 35 meg aerial in foreground to heighten the vintage aura)

Gary landing.......down flap equals anhedral

 after many joyous hours in the sky, the '17 slides over to

give its master a quick blowy by way of a thank you

with its epic lift, great view and wide landing

area, Ray's still not sure about the mighty 'Peep 

comparing sky tools, Gary's careful not to rest his

16 stone fuz on Eric's dainty light weight

oh go on then...just one more flight!

Well, some good news from Ray; turns out that it was neither a hernia nor a haemorrhoid

causing the discomfort; the brisk stroll to the patch brings on contractions and he

gives birth to a 50 year old, fully clothed male. We christen him Mark and it turns out he's a natural on the sticks.

 time to pack up and head for home

windy bopeep

piggyback fail

Lack of decent wind drives slopers to desperate measures. In the mean time, a true pro shows us how it should be done.