meanwhile....

 On the way to the hill...

Tuesday bliss

Tuesday evening offered up one of those delightfully mellow sessions. Airborne harmony alongside our paragliding compatriots and everyone savouring the last of the summer as the unmistakeable dampness of autumn begins to creep in.

 

god save the king

Hopefully you're all out enjoying a bit of slope side action today courtesy of King Chuck... 

we also remember last September when (thanks to the late Liz)

we spent a scratchy afternoon at Firle...

whilst the farmer scratched out his

commemoration below!

south face

A gentle stroll along the Downs.... it may not be 'wind on' for the main hill, but guess what?

the gentle southerly is smack on the promontory. 

and we just happen to have packed the correct gear for the job!

hmmmm, something's afoot down there....

looks like landing out is no longer an option!

imagine what that'll do to your solarfilm!

let's just stick to the upper reaches shall we?!

stay alert!

 

junkyard island

Another in the infrequent series of 'Our Slopes on Film'

Remember 23 years ago when it was actually worth owning a tv?

Remember a show called Scrap Heap Challenge? Well we're not covering that today, but in the year 2000 when we had all recovered from the world ending as a result of Y2K technology meltdown, an American tv company filmed a pilot show for their version of SHC.... aka 'Junkyard Wars'.

The lucky US teams got flown over here to the UK to pit their wits against each other in a junk heap battle of hovercraft mayhem. Unfortunately for them, they got to do this on the Isle of Sheppey. Even more unfortunately for them, they ended up on the coastal mudflats of Leysdown with not much in the way of a health and safety risk assessment.

So, I hear you ask, what's all this got to do with slope soaring? Well, anyone who's been desperate enough to explore the easterly delights of Warden, will instantly recognise its craggy grey clay cliffs rising from the sea in the pilot episode.... then again, with the extent of coastal erosion that's gone on over the past 23 years, you probably won't recognise it at all!

In 2023 there's not much left of that large area of woodland... 

and if you really don't have anything better to do (highly likely given the crappy wind recently)

you can watch the full episode here-

Hive mind

Part 2 of the Dorset quickie....

Hive Beach, 20 mph and some ancient balsa. What more can I say?!

 

not much elevation, but plenty of lift!

wide, smooth landing patch... thank you NT

short bad friday

It's a national holiday, the sun is out and the forecast is saying NNW, swinging round to SE over the course of the evening.

Reading between the lines, this tells us that there'll be a brief

period of N and NE which will allow us to enjoy the smooth coastal lift of Minster.

Unfortunately the switch from NNW to E takes about 30 seconds

so Eric breaks out the Heron to cruise the tangential airflow with

some prop augmented altitude.

big blue sky despite it being a Bank Holiday!

squeezing every bit of hot air wafting up from the brambles he gets lower...

 

and lower....

and finally just on the wrong side of low.... oh well, no harm done to man or model!

dorset quickie

 

A quick jaunt down to Dorset didn't throw up the opportunity

to fly any of the the classic sites...

....but with the vintage Miniphase holstered in the rucksack, and a smooth sea breeze

against a few metres of berm, it would have been rude not to!

 Landing over the back not an option (obvs).

it's coming!

 Slightly non-compliant weather conditions recently.... but it is warming up!

Let's look forward to some more sessions like this one from last summer...

it's looking floaty

Nimbus strains at the leash

it's caught scent of a thermal...

and she's off!

catching a bit of water ballast refreshment

whoosh!

boink!

noyce!