seasons salutations

The new season starts here, a warm wind means Winter's on the way out and months of sunshine and thermals await us!

the lane foliage has been

comprehensively mullered, all the easier to park up against!

start of season salutations with the customary pensioner man poon parade

Eric and his Terry cover up Ray's excited fist thrashing-

it's been a while since he's seen the sun

see, a real man knows exactly where he is

with a 7 cell nicad pack and a speed 400

and the Terry (bless it's little cotton socks) is none the wiser either

Free Bird, plenty more of those down Rochester High Street

on a Saturday evening

2009 roundup

Here's a little bit of cheer whilst the weather continues to spoil our fun. The good news is that it's not getting dark until about 5.15 now.

testing day

Duke's got some new slope devices to test

and rounds up the ground crew

'I need one volunteer...you'll do nicely'

'Let's get this down on film......it's all

looking a bit dark though'

'Ray, keep an eye on those paragliders'

away she goes!

lost sight of him....

fossin' 'ell that was close !!

'what?'

countryman soars the common

common people

Deryck drags Paul out to sniff the icy north westerly wafting across Kent. Despite the perma-frost, there's some lovely thermal activity in the smooth air.

Deryck has the Countryman on duty today

firm push

no problems off the small hill, even with a meagre breeze

It turns out to be a right lovely day. It's more thermal soaring than ridge relaxation, but with rooks marking the lift and plenty of layers to keep out the chill, you'd never know it's still Winter.

finally some action

It's a light westerly, but plenty of fliers get out to enjoy the Winter sun. Lots of quality carnage for some reason, fly aways, fly togethers and fly straight ins. Perhaps we've all forgotten how to do it properly.

Steve does some quality flying...





...even if it does involve getting dragged around the sky

ouch!

deryck does the dyke

Deryck heads down to the Dyke for a pre-Christmas session. Traction control and white stuff combine to produce a rare day at this renowned site where the sky isn't heaving.

Mr Parateddy arrives for a go in the light, crisp air

bloomin' lovely

drift depth plus manhood length conspire against bladder emptying

glorious lighting

in the snow

The gate's locked, the hill's blocked. Alan and Paul creep up on the hill, one sneaking up from the base, the other bringing up a rear guard action across the top.

They're rewarded with smooth, light lift in the crisp dry air and have a mighty fine afternoon on the Downs. The only challenge they face is stopping their landing roll-outs along the ice.

the Fusion heads out

After the physical strain of the ascent, Paul tries to

silently cack one off. It doesn't escape the wily eared Alan

and the misdemeanor is duly noted in his little black book

winter test flight

Simon bravely offers up his Tiger Shark to the mercy of the hill

merry christmas

Wishing you all a Goodwind Christmas