Missing out

A week front passed over in the morning giving me time to finally catch up on the missing blogs, sorry guys and gals very lax but will keep up to date from now on, honest.

Peachy shares the air

With the cloud starting to break Peachy and myself headed to Portreath for a spot of Kayaking and fishing whilst we waited for the wind to come on and the sun to come out.  We had a good paddle around and kept a close eye on Chapel Porth which was shrouded in Orographic whilst we were in bright sunshine.  With the cloud lifting we headed in and after a quick cuppa we off loaded the Kayak and popped on the hangies just in case.

Michelle and Phil loving it

Chapel was still suffering with low cloud and light winds when we arrived but it did not take long to clear and fill in resulting in some scratchy flying at first but steadily improving.  With more pilots arriving and conditions picking up Peachy broke his duck and took off for a cracking flight putting a few demons to rest.

Kaz gets some relaxing flying in

It was a real shame that the Tandems that were booked in decided to give it a miss due to the grey morning as conditions were as good as they get for Tandems, still hopefully there will be another day soon.

Quote of the day "I'll take the front you take the back"

Who Ray Henry and a few more

It was one of those kind of strange days in the field when the forecast bore little resemblance to what went on and fortunately it was actually better than forecast and with a busy day on it played into our hands :)

Ray S (Dartmouth) was along for a Taster day on the Paragliders and Lylus (Bristol) for one on the Hangers and they were joined by Duncan B (Culumpton) and Paul H (Ivybridge) on Paragliders and Henry G (Truro), Tom G (Exeter) and Jenny S (Falmouth) on the Hangers.

With the wind flicking about in the morning and the holiday traffic holding up the arrival of some of the hangies it gave us a chance to catch up on some theory whilst the taster days got sorted.  Both ray and Lylus worked hard through their ground based activities and by lunchtime they were sorted and ready for a well earned rest.

Paul H leans into a super forward launch

Kaz encourages Duncan to join the Morris Men

With everyone now on site the wind kindly sorted itself out and we soon got the winch set up and were ready to roll. After a quick test of the air the guys got going with Paul h and Duncan B leading the way on the Paragliders followed by the hangs and the Taster days.  Everyone had a super time and mixed in well making it a very sociable and fun afternoon despite the mixture of gliders and levels.

Henry gets going

and head's off into an interesting looking sky (Cumulus Crimpus)

Tom in perfect symmetry

By the end of the day Paul had completed his EPC tasks and carried out a couple of high flights to set him on his way with his CPC ones. Duncan had moved deep into his CPC tasks and ready to start the "instability" ones .......Tom  settled down to high flights on the hangy and practised both spot landings and base bar conversions which went well although not so good for the windsock!

Henry and Jenny moved through gentle turns and into steeper ones with Henry giving me another grey hair to add to the collection. Jenny got her first flights on the deer old Mars and looked very colour co ordinated with it.

Pretty colours, very girly

Hangies hanging out

Kaz gets a chance to fly doing a demo for Ray

Ray and Lylus both got their taster day flights under their belts with Ray making "a right mews" of one launch giving his wife Lyndsay something to laugh about and some things to wash!  Lylus made huge progress over his flights with something clicking on each one and his final one being a cracker :)

Ray rigged and ready

and then he's off and away

Lylus gets set as Henry takes a bite

Lylus gets to grips with it

Finally whilst the guys packed up we took the opportunity to let Phil L loose on the winch and myself under Tim,s watchful eye. He put in six very nice tows without making me run too hard and also without me leaving my boots behind, a try with the Paragliders next, watch this space......

Quote of the day "there's some very strange things going on round here today"

Evening All

With a very thermic looking day underway and a bit of a breeze up we delayed going out to play until later in the day so things could settle down for the students.  Arriving at the field at 16.30 our timing was spot on with the sea breeze collapsing, the wind easing and backing and the thermic activity mellowing.

Duncan B (Cullumpton) and Tim W (Shropshire) were both along for their second day on the winch on Paragliders with a view to both paragliding and Paramotoring in the longer term.  A bit of one to one ground handling instruction form Kaz and myself worked wonders and in no time the pair of them were looking like they knew what they were doing, looks can be deceiving!

With the wind now settled in the SW we fired up the winch and sent Phil l to the top to test conditions, after a bit of a delay on the way down he reported it lifty ;) and we got the guys on the go.  A very productive few hours followed with Duncan and Tim making huge progress as they worked through the EPC tasks and finished off the evening with a high flight each to the top and circuit back so starting their CPC ones, two days work done on both of them.

With the sun setting it was time to pack up and once again it shows what a difference a bit of flexability on timing can make, this is definitely not a 9 to 5 operation!  Even the cows enjoyed it :)

Quote of the day "you looking at me"

Mucking about on Monday

Off to the field again and with a bit of a mixture on and Kaz not feeling so good it was always going to be a busy day.  Paul H made a welcome return on the winch to help out as Daisy was busy and Tim was still heading south from John O'Groats on his push bike ............

With two Taster days to get going I cracked on with Claire L (Ivybridge) and Clive S (Portwrinkle) whilst Duncan B (Cullumpton) and Paul H (Ivybridge) got some ground handling in on Paragliders along with Emil K (Bridgewater) along for his first flights on the Paramotor and Triston J who was along to pick up  his Parachute and have a fun flight on his Paramotor.

Late morning saw Triston get airborne and have a super flight although his landing was less than perfect due to some strange playing with the power on approach, how easily bad habits creep in when leaving the school .........  With a break for the taster days to catch their breath we got Emil into the school power unit and after a bit of on site maintenance he was up and away on his first powered flight.  An acceptable take off was followed by a very good flight and a first class landing 9 guess he learnt from the previous demo) and a huge Emil smile, nice one.

Next it was time to get the winch running and with the 4 paragliders taking turns we had a good time.  Duncan got his first taste of towing and moved nicely through to release flights, Paul moved on through his release flights and into turns whilst Claire and Clive did a great job putting in their taster day flights with every one being a good one, well nearly.

Emil got a second flight in on the Paramotor and flew till he ran out of fuel and again a perfect landing to round off his day.

Clive topped up his taster day with a tandem flight on the Paraglider and just loved it.  We were also joined by Teri P (Cambridgeshire) who was down on holiday for a tandem flight and her reaction was classic, think we shall see her again next time she is down.

A good day out if a busy one and yes we did miss you Kaz xx

Once again sorry about the lack of piccies but do check out paul H's video of Claires antics here



Quote of the day "Woooosh"

.

Thirsty on Thursday

Another hot and sunny one in the field and as it turned out ideal for Tim W (Shropshire) and Paul H (Ivybridge) to get going on the start of their Paramotoring and Paragiding courses respectively.

Strange story with Paul who is a Falconer (what two in two weeks!) he recently acquired an additional Pigeon in his loft which turned out to be one of the racing ones that were released from Sennen cove a few weeks back when we were there with Todd, what a small world we live in or is it just spooky ......

The guys worked steadily through the morning with Clare (Pauls other half) keeping us all well hydrated with ice cool drinks, fantastic.  Pete V was along to get up on his new paramotor (Parajet) and spent the morning getting it sorted, well nearly....

Early pm and it was time to get things going on the winch. Both the guys did a great job building up the tows and finishing with nice release flights to set them up well for their next days out.

A couple of test flights on Pete's Paramotor to get things set up for him and and a bit of adjusting here and there and he was ready to go.  Being careful of the extra power and the re activeness of his new wing harness combination was a good thing and Pete was soon up and away.  15 minutes later he was back down for a pretty good landing and smiling like a Cheshire cat:)

Paul B had now also joined us and took the chance to fly his own wing on the school unit making it all look pretty smooth but again taking time to settle into the more reactive wing. By the end of play they had both put in several cracking flights with views to remember and stand up landings all round.

So yet another cracking day, this is how it should be and with super company all round, well done to all and look forward to seeing up again soon.

Quote of the day "suck or blow"

Winding up on Wednesday

Here we go again off back to the tow field where the grass is short and showing no signs of growing:))

Jim D was back to hopefully finish off his CPC Hang Gliding and take the opportunity to convert onto a chest release system.  Steve L was also back now well into his EPC Paragliding and looking forward to maybe completing it and Keith W was up for some more Paramotoring all things being equal.

Jim had a fine day popping in the tows and getting the new release system sussed, with all his flying tasks completed he just had fun and proved yet again that his spot landings are pretty much spot on :)

Steve racked up the tows and built up the turns to complete his EPC flying tasks on the Paraglider before heading off to the top of the tow line to start his CPC ending up with getting weight shift under his belt as well, nice.  Add to this his EPC theory exam and he had yet another full on day.

Keith got up on the Paramotor again and made a fair job of it but we still have a way to go before he smoothes out the wing in flight and gets his landings sorted, patience is a virtue.

Kaz gets set to test the air

Roger comes in on the Tandem.....

  .......it wasn't that scary was it ??

With an early rap (15.00) as the wind began to fill we packed up and headed to Sennen Cove for some hill soaring. Conditions were spot on and it was not long before Roger (Bournemouth) was up in the air on the front of the Tandem Paraglider. We had a super flight with Sennen looking it's best in the bright sunshine.  It was a lovely evening with good company, Kaz went for a swim and Treeve made the jump after a bit of pushing and pulling to fly the whole ridge. Phil got a new nickname "Paragliding Slut" as he jumped ship from Fergies van to ours purely to get some free food and tea, what's he like.

Treeve takes off for an adventure

Line astern as the guys and gal enjoy the air

So a lot done for some and the sun tan continues to build.

Quote of the day "don't do that or that will happen"

Our man Flyn

Two out of three ain't bad and with two of yesterdays students back (Jim and Steve) and being joined by the welcome return of Peter F (N.Devon) who had a period off having dropped a large plank of wood on his leg just at the wrong time.

we had a later start as we waited for the breeze to settle back which it duly did and by early afternoon we were up and running with the guys.  Jim made amends for yesterdays indiscretion putting in 7 nice flight to round off his CPC tasks and taking the slow flight appreciation and stalls all in his stride.  Well done Jim a bit of tidying up and lets go to the hill ;)

Steve L built steadily on on his first day experience from yesterday and with a bit more space in his head did an excellent job to move well into his EPC tasks putting away 5 nice flights and plenty of ground handling.

Peter F was understandably a little rusty around the edges but after some time playing with the wing on the ground was soon back up there and after a couple of settling in flights moved ahead with his remaining CPC tasks, another day or so and he will also be ready for some hill work.

A very pleasant afternoon especially after the unusual day before and with Kaz now fully qualified there's a new kid on the block.

Quote of the day "do what?"

It never poured but it "Rained"

A Big day for Kaz as with lovely weather and a day in the  tow field where not only were the normal things going on but Ken Raines the Chief BHPA Examiner was along to assess Kaz for her Instructor rating.

Despite Ken's reassurance just to ignore him and carry on as normal lives not like that. Kaz did a fine job with the students at briefing then it was off to the field.  Whilst I got going with Jim D and Alec R (Shropshire) on the hangs Kaz took the day one Paragliders Steve L (Ivybridge) and Julian S (Ivybridge) with ken not far behind.

The hangies behaved them selves for most of the day with Jim marching nicely through his CPC tasks and making hang gliding look easy until a lazy launch saw him step onto the Condor which did not take it kindly!  Alec on the other hand did very well and was soon flying nicely across the field to both his and his wife's surprise fortunately getting all his flights in before Jim made his unplanned arrival.....

Kaz's boys were also up to tricks with Julian clicking something in his ankle whilst holding the end of a rope before he even got his feet off the ground, still it put her management skills to the test and gave something more for Ken to asses.  Steve carried on happily and was soon off on his first towed flights and just loving it.  By the end of the day he was thoroughly hooked and looking forward to tomorrow.

Ken then did a fair bit of discussion with kaz on various scenarios and got her to use ma as a student for the higher tasks and finally was ready for a debrief..........  In fairness he made Kaz work for it but yes she did get her rating and we are pleased to have her as an Instructor in her own right.  as usual there is always more to learn and that applies to us all and not just Kaz.

So one of those days when you hope everything goes just right and in fact it turned out to be one of those days when it chose not to!

Quote of the day "thank goodness that's over with!"

Power 2 the "P"eoples

The day started at 05.00 with an early morning fishing session on the Kayak resulting in a nice Pollack for tea ;) then it was off to work.

With no towing booked in it was a fine time to concentrate on the Paramotor boys with Paul B (Oakhampton) and Peter V (Launceston)  out to hopefully get their first flights on the Paramotors in.  In ideal conditions they both practised a little ground handling before getting set to go.

 Paul was up for it first and after his aborted launch practice he was focused for the Big one.  He did a fine take off and after a bit of a wobbly start soon settled in and smoothed out looking good as he circled the field climbing nicely.  10 minutes later he was back down for a good landing and grinning from ear to ear. nice.

Paul (Top Gun) ready to rock and roll

Having watched Paul Pete was a bit more relaxed and clipped in ready to go, he need not have been worried he did a fine job and was soon up there "enjoying" himself. Pete did a great job and another 10 minute flight saw him coming in for his first landing with the unit on his back and he did a fine job of it.

Pete flies high as Paul relaxes

Pete looking pleased with himself after his first flight

The guys then took turns to pop the flights in with each one getting better than the previous and the nerves easing back.  A cracking afternoon/evening saw them a very happy pair and looking forward to the next time and converting them onto their own kit.

Happy chappies at the end of a cracking day

Quote of the day "I'm buzzing"  you are right there.

Highs all Round

With twice as many people as yesterday it was still pretty easy going, just the way we like it!  Jeremy S (Taunton) was back after a cracking day yesterday and was soon marching well into his CPC flights on the Hang Glider having cracked High flights yesterday.  over 10 nice flights he settled into base bar conversions before going prone which took him a few flights to sort out.  Still his spot landings were good so another good day should see him pretty much sorted and ready for the hill, shame he is off on his holidays for 6 weeks or so!

Alongside Jeremy Paul B (Okehampton) made a return to the field and had a fine time putting away 8 flights to finish off his EPC Paragliding tasks and put away 5 high flights so is now ready for his conversion onto the Paramotor, ground handling with the unit next then :)

The wind played around a little with some strange towing mid afternoon as it changed direction at differing levels but a good weather eye spotted it and patience was a virtue once again and it soon settled for a some super towing in the early evening.

Quote of the day "Thank you Thank you Thank you"

Going Solo

Can't believe it the weather is perfect and we only have one student to play with on the tow lines and one on the Paramotor, still we did make the most of it and so did they.

Jeremy S (Taunton) was back exactly a month after his first day with us to carry on his Hang Gliding course.  Having done a very full day on on day one he cracked on at a similar pace racking up 11 flights and moving through his EPC tasks and turns before finishing off with a couple of nice high flights for another amazing day from him. Kaz was kept busy driving the winch and getting the lines back in time as Jeremy ran back every time with the glider to launch!  Guess it's a combination of youth, fitness and one to one tuition, way to go.

With the breeze easing back Kieth W (N. Devon) got his chance to get up on the Paramotor and popped in a nice flight on his own wing in classic conditions to move a little further forward in his training flights. the wind then dropped off noticeably making things a little trickier and giving Aerofix a bit more work.

Kieth on approach

on finals

looking good

yep he did stay on his feet :)

Shame not more out though to take advantage of such good conditions.......

Quote of the day "I'm tired and I'm just watching"