finally airbourne again

Let's face it we've not been spoilt with flyable days recently, but earlier this week we had an afternoon of slacking in the sun up on the hallowed turf. The slope lift wasn't up to much, but there was a stream of lovely thermals bubbling through. 

 all your floater are belong to us!

 Sunshine gets some airtime in the sunshine

Wally Wing at the ready

test pilot surveys the sky implement

the owner gets so excited, his manhood bursts out of its lair but we get it

back under control with some gaffer tape

 off she goes!

 whoosh! (or what ever other noise you feel is appropriate)

 Martin's getting down with the Acacia

soaring, sun and shorts, what could be better!

 just back from the gym

that Fossy classic- the Centi-Phase

 flaps down (nob out)

Keith and his foamy '17

after all these years the Ellipse still shows its pedigree

don't let your sun go down on me

Hoorah! the sun came out on Sunday, and even better; the sky had emptied of rip stop canopies by early afternoon leaving us free to enjoy the increasing wind.

 power assist trolley soon to be accompanied by electric scooter 

 Simon is reminded of the less 'vanilla' exploits of his younger days

 guess the wing span

last week Le Fish, this week Les Wing

 three grown men and a child's toy

a belly full of ballast

Sir Bob correctly identifies it as the stretched wing version 

 off she goes

she's a wee timorous beastie...

 and invites a hand catch

or maybe just give a cheery wave as she goes by
(slope hunter photo)

payback for being a miserable git

(slope hunter photo)

Simon preps the mighty '20

whilst bad boy Colin gets ready to maiden the Ka8

all goes well, good set up for finals...

 ....then all of a sudden whoah!
(slope hunter photo)

 checking orifices for signs of internal bleeding

did you guess correctly?

sustained slope draught

Bank holiday southerlies welcomed us at Holly, but (surprise surprise) it rained again!

basking in the lovely spring weather

 foam in the majority today

combat ensues

Alan pretends to fly Charlie's 'Le Fish'

fish knife (edge)

 Le Plank

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