first day of spring

This weekend heralded the start of spring, the sun and warmth confirm the shift in seasons. With a high pressure system establishing itself over the UK, it's a flat field day on Saturday with lots of passing buzzards marking the thermals.

Sunday brings fortune to the brave, with F3Fs and floaters doing well off the slope on a slermally afternoon. If you work the spring lift well it's a rewarding session, but there are a few out landings as the sink sweeps through behind.

Martin's landing monitored by formation UFOs

35 meg still alive and well

Steve's grown another foot or so since his

last session a few weeks back

Eric and Betty

Jon launches

the paragliders get some air time too

Sir Tim joins us for the afternoon

speed merchant Jon even has a skeg on his tranny!

is it spring yet?

It's a good morning for the paragliders, but as the afternoon pushes on the wind picks up. There's better slope lift, but it's still cold and rather rumbustious.

white planes

the...

men....

in.....

red!

straight through the heart

the sun! the sun!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! surely this must be spring? Thursday was bloomin' loveley, but Friday was pay back time when Thurnham threw a paddy and delivered cloud, and mediocre lift.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Duke's floater is perfect in the light, lifty air

a model that can always be relied upon

a good turn out

Colin's well kitted out

yet another silhouette / sunset shot....

followed by another in the series of extreme close-ups

good catch from Alan

Jason's got one brewing too

sniff, sniff

saint slacker's subterfuge

On a forecast promise of clear sky and good winds, Deryck and Paul head off south for a day of sloping indulgence.

However, mist envelopes any high ground south of Bexhill so this Friday's slackers spend a day touring South Downs sites in hope of some slope action.

Beachy is bleak, with fog rolling over the car park. The lift is good, but anything other than a foamie would be too much of a risk in the big air.

High and Over is busy with paragliders, so it's off to try uncharted territory. After a brief hunt, our persistent slopers strike off on foot to a small easterly ridge.

a climb up the Cuckmere valley......

the patch

The lift is reasonable, and the cloud high enough so as not to be an issue. The down side is the landing strip, or lack there of.

What looked feasible on arrival feels little more than a postage stamp once airborne. So a safe landing calls for a five minute, backward hike up the bumpy bridle path away from the lift.

Paul has a better time of it than Deryck, who bags a patch of bad air and has to scratch around in deteriorating light at low level. He hooks the last weak thermal of the day, squinting hard at his rapidly fading speck of an Ellipse. But it gives him the altitude he needs to peel off far from the lift band and get safely to the higher, clear ground for a landing....phew!

salute to St. Slacker

flying with half a tailplane

last monday

Lovely, active skies again for the most part of the afternoon. The paragliders are hopefully, but it's a bit too gusty, and then just too darn light!

early spring thermals abound

Martin is getting to grips with the Acacia

Hello Duke!

good lipo cooling in Mick's Radian



the stalwart of Alan's sloping fleet

bring on the spring!

Roger Broad

The sad news has reached us that Roger passed away last Thursday

His funeral will be on Monday morning at Medway Crematorium.

It has been asked (in a what must be a reflection of his upbeat manner) that should anyone wish to attend, could they please refrain from wearing black.

He will surely be missed up on the hill.

holly hill heaven

Come 3pm on a Tuesday afternoon and Holly Hill hits her prime. Gentle wind and a few thermals complimented with some sunshine.

Martin is non-plussed due to his lack of light lift equipment

Charlie's Fox pretends it's in California

a nifty knife edge maneuver for the camera

low passes too

Martin manages to skillfully hang on with the Apache

but just then, the lipo battery in the Fox spontaneously combusts....

leaving only piles of ash where once stood happy aero-modellers

Oh well, at least we end up with one of those rare blog entries where the flying shots outweigh the incidental gumpf!

spring pre-dawn

Thursday brings us the first glimmer of spring, the promise of sun and a decent wind brings a good crowd of fliers to the hill. Unfortunately the Goodwind camera is not in attendance, so here's a reconstruction of a few of the highlights

the sun

the crowd

the superb thermals

Jason enjoys the Sigma....

Deryck enjoys some low passes





Paul's been enjoying some lead fumes




We all enjoy Gary's Habicht