Looks good for tomorrow (Thursday) people, 

come and get stuck into some airborne rubber thwacking! 

.....most importantly, have fun!

combat 2020

 

to be confirmed...

 

till death us do part...

Most of us out there are wedded to the hill, but some

are wedded on the hill.....

I wandered lonely as a cloud....

...or to put it another way, Billy-no-mates session on Tuesday afternoon.

Pretty much naff all wind (1 to 3 mph) but as this cloud passed over the hill (see photo below)

 the air was filled with widespread, super smooth lift right up to cloud-base if required.

A blissful 45 minutes before the full-on misery of winter sets in!

guess where...

 

silky smooth air and golden autumnal sun

....you must be able to guess it from this one surely?

nicely trimmed bush

 

Grabbing the last few evenings before the utterly pointless exercise of turning the clocks back.

The face of the slope was getting a bit of a trim....

Alula vs farmer

....made for a well illuminated de-rig area

in the dark!

Storking...

Continuing the animal related theme ( I promise we'll get back to rc soaring some time soon ).... spotted over the North Downs today...

(world's worst photo of birds in flight)

I give you from left to right; 1 crow, 1 stork and 1 buzzard.

The stork is likely part of a reintroduction programme from sites in Sussex and the Cotswolds. FYI it was not carrying a young baby.

Once common in the UK, it's believed they were partially wiped out during the Civil War when they were seen to be representative of freedom! Since then, hunting and habitat loss has contributed to their terminal decline.

They are still common over in Germany, Portugal, Spain, Ukraine and Poland where they migrate to breed during the summer.

Prior to 2020 there were no records of nesting storks since 1416.

Approx 20 are sighted every year in the UK, and in 2020, a pair bred in the United Kingdom for the first time in over 600 years.

They are excellent thermal hunters, so if you see one.... stalk it!! (see what I did there?!)

dartmoor

Help out our fellow soarers who fly Dartmoor national park

Model gliding will be banned by next spring

https://www.dartmoor.gov.uk/.../DNPA-Comparison-of...

Fill this in:

https://www.dartmoor.gov.uk/.../who.../byelaws-consultation

making the most....

....of the last bits of lovely weather. A thermally afternoon on

Wednesday. More of the same tomorrow?

meanwhile on the hill.....

 

It's a sign

possibility of some 'left of field' soaring spots?

 

a touch of eggcitement

 

A little something to help combat that 'back to school' feeling....

exactly 1 year and 3 weeks ago....

....this happened!

Farthing Common is a capricious little slope; think Thurnham, but with even worse lift and far less of a landing area. However it does have its plus points.... I'll let you know once they come to mind!

But like most third rate hills, if you can get away in a thermal, you can make the most of the things.

the FPV racing quad boyos are ripping it up.... manic flips, screaming passes 3 ft off the deck,

and high speed impacts with any nearest tree!

we retreat back up the slope, hungry for every bit of launch altitude it can offer

active sky

the Alula really is a unique design, since its introduction approximately

15 years ago, it has changed the face of slope soaring.....

and here it is about to change the face of the cameraman!

it's on the lookout for its next victim!

the merry month of May

Approx 3 months ago, a covert evening sortie to check out a previously unsoared incline. No wind, but holy f##k the cowslips!!

off-piste

There are some hills that are utterly charming despite their diminutive stature, obligatory assent and compromised landing area. Today seemed like an ideal opportunity to have at it with one of them, and in the blustery pre-autumnal air a lovely bit of aviation was committed.

 

Edit-   Oh!.... and the Red Arrows did a flyover (too quick for the cameraman).

eagle eyes....

 

Real live eagle spotted over the Downs last Friday. Most likely part of the reintroduction programme on the Isle of Wight. Data tracker was just about visible on its back.... local avian population weren't too happy with their visitor though!

not much happening.....

 ...at the moment.

High pressure dominates, and when it's south westerly, the paragliders dominate!

goodwind vs. goodyear

Well there's not been much in the way of gloriously flyable weather recently.

However, to break the monotony, Saturday provided us with a fine example

of aeronautical oddity as the Goodyear blimp graced the skies of Kent for the day.

After a lengthy stake out on the Downs by Team Goodwind, it became apparent that

the scheduled flight path was being adhered to in the most vague of fashions.

Therefore it was back to base for refreshments and a revised plan of attack....

Lo and behold there it was cruising along the horizon at the end of the graden!

blimp vs. glider

blimp vs. hawthorn (elevated anxiety levels right here)

There then followed another hour's worth of unsuccessfully chasing it towards Brands Hatch

(imagine an episode of 'Stormchasers' without the storms but with extra geekiness).

It was then back to base again to spend the rest of the day getting on with

something a bit more productive.... that is until Flight Tracker indicated it

was heading home to Calais.

So back on the road again.... only to head back to chez Goodwind once

we realised it was on a direct intersect with the GW hangar!

....and for all but a quarter of a mile, she was!

She'll be taking to the air again late tomorrow morning

(Tuesday 29th June, weather permitting) and heading for London,

and again on Wednesday. Best of luck and have your 'Eye Spy

Book of the Sky' at the ready!

track the route here

Holly's bush

Good to see evidence of more clearance work up at Holly Hill.

A lot of the trees and scrub at the top of the slope have been cut back and laid up in the remaining strip of  woodland. Access via the official footpath only.... not sure if this'll reduce the littering issue though!

keep an eye out for nasties lurking in the LZ

soft landing

 

wits end

The end is in sight; we'll be returning to the hills soon!

Paul reports back with the sum total of his aeronautical exploits since November

Out on a local(ish) daily exercise session and

there on the high water line,

mother tide offers up a little gem of flotsam 

 

deffo tail heavy, but also in amongst the line of seaweed

and used sanitary products would you believe, is

a serviceable roll of parcel tape  

wind's about 90 deg to what little slope there is

nose heavy

success!

longest flight of the day

It's all about energy management

our time will come again

 

She's still there... silently waiting for our return. Hang on in there chaps!