Roasting!

There was still time for a third flight today and Zabdi gave us the option of whether to go up or not. After having such a good previous flight I decided not to push my luck and opted to just chill for the rest of the afternoon. I went for another did in the mountain river to cool down, it was so hot today that I've just been drenched in sweat all day. The river was great though and there were loads of really colourful beasties kicking about which kept me interested for quite a while, we also caught a glimpse of a water mammal of some sort going into the water. We weren't quite sure what it was maybe a vole or an otter or possibly a rat! Whatever it was it seamed to disappear. After that I walked back to the house, via a couple of cherry trees, when I got back I chatted to the guys briefly then went for a lie down, I hadn't even taken off my boots and I was knocked out for the count and had a good sleep until about 9pm, I definitely made the right decision not to go for another flight. I got up went for a bit of dinner and now I'm about to go back to bed, I'm a bit annoyed I slept through the Germany - Argentina match it sounds like it was a good game.

A colourful beastie. And it didn't even want to bite me, how considerate!

First bit of thermalling

I was pissed off from the previous flight's landing, I actually staved my thumb when I threw my helmet to the ground! So we went straight back up and the weather conditions were the still the same at the top. There was nice head wind from the south so taking off was no problem. I gained a bit of distance from hill and I had a bit of space and Nicky said on the radio that if I wanted to try and do a bit of thermalling I could. So I flew down over one of the ridges and felt a thermal. It feels like a warm gust of wind coming from below and I could immediately feel myself gaining height. We I felt the thermal I started circling round to the left, the sky was fairly busy, there were about a 7 or 8 other gliders in the air and also a handglider, so I had to constantly check my airspace. "Look, lean, turn, look, lean, turn" is what Zabdi has drilled into our heads! I managed to gain a bit of height, I looked back at the launching site and I was about 100 - 150m above it so I was quite chuffed. I think I could have managed to get higher, but there were a lot of gliders just up higher and I didn't want to get to close. I also got a feel for what it was like exiting a thermal, a thermal is a column of warm air rising with cooler falling air round the outside. But it doesn't go straight up it kind of drifts with the wind, in this case a south wind going back up the hill. When leaving the thermal I felt the glider pitch forward and accelerate, this is where the pitch control training I had done early came in handy, I just applied a bit of brake as it pitched forward to steady it out. I wasn't too good at staying inside the thermal as my turns were too steep and it caused me to lose height. I was turning too much on one side, pulling the brake and also weight shifting to the left, but I needed to also apply a bit of right brake to smooth out the turns. The thermal I was tracking was coming from a long ridge that runs right up to the top of the mountain, Zabdi says that the best way to find thermals is to imagine taking the surrounding hills, turning them upside down and dipping them in a big bowl of honey, if you can imagine where the honey would then drip from is most likely where you'll find the thermals, it works surprisingly well! There are other signs too to look for, such as birds of prey circling and rocky areas as they let off more heat. I did see a couple of big birds circling on a ridge to the west I would have like to have gone and joined them but it was time to go and land. Zabdi was already at the landing site, this time we were using the large landing field. She got me to do a few 360 turns then do some figure of 8 turns down wind of the landing site to lose height. There was another glider in near by so I had to keep a close eye on him. Downwind of the landing site there was a freshly ploughed field that was giving off a lot of lift so it took quite a while to come down. I got ready to come in to land from the west and as I made my final approach I was aiming for a dirt road that runs up the middle of the field. But as I was flying towards the field and I was no longer over the ploughed field there was not so much lift so I ended up coming down about 15m earlier than I was intending. Again I didn't flare the glider enough when landing so I was a bit fast, I should have managed to run it off ok, but the ground was a bit uneven and I ended up tripping over my own feet and fell on top of the ONLY thistle in the entire field, just my luck! But this was by far my best flight I've done and it lasted about 40 - 45 minutes. Even though I had a bit of a tumble at the end I was well happy with it.

Small landing field

We got up early this morning and headed over to the chairlift, now ok after being struck by lightning. The conditions were good up top, there was a gentle head wind coming from the south. I managed to take off first time relatively smoothly, it makes such a difference when there is a nice headwind. I flew out from the mountain to give myself some distance from the hills then tried doing some 360 turns then did some pendulum moves, that is turning one way then another to make the glider rock from side to side. At first I was too gentle on the brakes when turning so it didn't really work, but I managed to get a bit of a rhythm going and I managed swing from side to side quite nicely. I was supposed to do some 'big ears', which involves pulling one of the risers down on each side to make the wing tips tuck slightly. This is used to help get a faster descent rate, but by the time I had finished doing the pendulums it was time to approach the landing field. We were landing in the smaller landing field by the base of the chair lift. There was a southern wind so I flew to the east of the landing site and did some 360s to lose height. We had been instructed to do a 'box' landing, which involves losing height to the side of the landing field, then turning to fly downwind, then doing a 90 degree turn to fly cross wind then finally do another 90 degree turn to fly into the wind for the final approach. I managed the first couple of bits fine, but instead of flying cross wind I did more of a 180 degree turn and made my final approach too early. Because of this I over flew the landing site. I managed to get down ok but I was at the very end of the field and when I landed the glider flew over my head and came down on top of a small tree, very embarrassing! It took a good 20 mins to gently remove the glider from the tree and it involve a good bit of team work from all the guys. The reason the glider flew over my head was because I didn't flare the brakes hard enough when I landed to make the glider stall and fall down behind me. Oh well, nothing damaged apart from my pride! Maurice then had to spend 20 minutes checking all the glider's lines and cells for any damage, which I felt bad about because it was 37 degrees in the sun!! My confidence was shaken a little but I thought the best thing to overcome it was to get back up there and do another flight. So I did. Total flight time was about 20 minutes.

crabbit

went to the training hill, there was very little wind. had 2 flights ended up in the potato field both times. got a couple of nice weight shift turns though. i'm tired and grumpy, i just want a cup of tea and a jaffa cake.

cold dip and cherries

We went back up to the same launch site as this morning, but the north wind was too strong for any flying. so we went back to the chair lift, but it's still knackered. so a few of us took a stroll up the mountain path and went for a dip in the river. at first it was freezing but once we were in it felt really refreshing. there was a deepish rock pool with a waterfall which was lovely. i didn't have any shorts so i just stripped to my briefs, it was a scary sight! we then took the long route back to the house and found a few cherry trees on the way they were yummy! we've had dinner and are now going to the training hill to do some more practice on take offs and landings.

What a body!

Stealing cherries!I managed to squash more than I picked!

Karnare

I got woke up this morning about 5 by a huge thunder storm. it was quite spectacular. unfortunately it struck the chair lift so it's getting fixed today. We drove to a take off site 1600 feet just to the north of a town called Karnare - although i've also been told it's called Hristo Danovo, either way it's a town with a large gypsey population about 15 minute drive west of Sopot. The take off site was quite tricky, it was fairly narrow and there was a slight cross wind. quite a few folk had to abort there take offs. mine was a bit scrappy. i didn't stick to my line and i over compensated when trying to get back then my left side tucked, but i managed to straighten it just before my stop line and took off. zab said i also started turning too early once in the air. i flew over the town of Karnare, did a couple of 360s then turned to the landing site, approaching from the west as there was an east wind at the landing site. i worked on losing height using a fixed line perpendicular to the wind, but had to move closer in order to clear power lines. next time i need to make my line closer to the landing site. my landing was gentle. total flight time was about 15 mins. on landing we got mobbed by gypsy kids all looking for something, but they seemed nice. i managed to get some in flight footage, and we're currently on our way back up to fly again. hopefully i'll do a better launch.

The take off site.

Karnare from the air.


Me in flight!

Welcoming party at the landing site!

This is me flying! Zabdi later told me off for resting my left hand on the risers when filming, oops!

The big arch.

The day started off with us being shown how to pack our reserves, which is a bit tricky but obviously important. It involves squeezing an entire parachute into a tiny pouch on the bottom of the harness, just underneath the bum. I also got to hook my new harness up to a training rig so i could adjust all the straps to make it just right. The Bulgarian school that Zabdi is working with is called SkyNomads, and they're all a really sound bunch of guys, most of them speak good English too which is so far is quite rare here.
We then went up the big hill and had a flight, which i've logged already. The weather then got rubbish and we came back to the villa, chilled for a while and had lunch. But i didn't mind too much because I was still buzzing from my flight.
In the afternoon we had an eventful half hour car journey out to a place called Beklemeto Pass. There's a massive archway there that had something to do with a past war between Bulgaria and Turkey. When we got there the wind was still to strong to do any flying but it was still a cool place. We went and had dinner at a place about a mile from there, but due to the fact that one of the Bulgarian guys hadn't put any gas in the minivan we had to do 2 trips in the legendary Moscovich, with 5 in the car - and 2 on the roof (not me though!). After dinner we went back to the site and the wind was still strong but had died down enough for one of the Bulgarian instructor called Nicky to attempt some soaring. In true Bulgarian style he got into his harness wearing sandals and no helmet and did some unbelievably crazy flying. He made it look so easy though. But no one else, not even master Zabdi considered having a go.
Just as it was starting to get dark we made our way back to Sopot, I was in the minivan with no fuel this time, and Nicky the crazy Bulgarian pilot decided that since it was down hill we could just free wheel all the way down. So we did, he even managed to overtake a couple of big trucks. What a nutter, nice guy though.
I found out today that Sopot was originaly an army base that was built when Bulgaria was fighting Turkey and there are still a lot of army dudes walking about looking serious. Luckily we never past any when we had 2 guys on top of the Moscovich. I'm not sure what the plan is tomorrow, probably get up early, about 8am local time (we're 2 hours ahead) and go do some more flying.
I've been taking a lot of pictures and i tried for about an hour today to get this shit computer to recognise my camera but it just doesn't like it, so pictures may have to wait until later, unless i can find somewhere else to do it.

The big arch


Nicky doing his thing. He was flying a small glider for him so he was heavy on it. This meant he was more solid on the wing and could cope with the strong wind.

first big solo flight done.

Went up the chair lift this morning and got to do my first big solo flight. the wind was a gentle south easterly. took off from 1400 feet, hit a bit of turbulance just after launch cause i hit a thermal, but just flew though it. flew directly to the landing site and did a few turns using weight shift. when turning i need to put my arms out further and straight, then lower and raise either side when turning. got down to the landing site and lost height doing s turns. christo said i should have done more 8 turns first and keep on the same line and avoid drifting towards the landing site until my final approach. the wind at the landing site was also se. the landing was gentle, and i was a happy man. 5 mins later cumulo nimbus formed - thunder clouds. so we were all grounded. the wind also changed to a northerly. we're currently driving to another site further north to do ridge soaring. we're in the patched up moscovich but we're sitting in a layby because the engine has just overheated!

The Moscovich lives to fight another day!

Moscovich and swollen hand!

On the way to the training site today i got to drive a moscovich! it's a russian car that kind of looks like a shit lada. it was very cool. I found out later this afternoon that i had the honor of being the second last person to drive it, as one of the bulgarian guys was driving back and a wheel fell off! Just glad it didn't happen when i was driving! And you thought paragliding was the biggest risk!

I've also discovered that the insects over here love me. i got a bite on the back of my hand and it's now swollen up so i no longer have any knuckles. I'm also growing a third nipple where something bit me on the chest, even though i've been wearing a tshirt the whole time. i think scottish blood is just too tastey.

Me driving the mighty moscovich!

The moscovich, minus a wheel.

Another tandem done

This afternoon we went back up the chair lift to get a proper flight done. I was going to do a solo flight but was feeling knackered from the training hill, and being out in the sun too much. So i decided to take the safe option and go with christo for a tandem flight. when we got to the top there was a northerly wind blowing on this south facing slope, ie a tail wind. we hung about for about an hour at the top waiting for the wind to die down, i even had a quick kip!

When the tail wind was slow enough we decided to go for it. it's never a good idea to take off with a tail wind unless you run like hell, so we ran like hell! managed to take off and hit some rotor straight away which made things a bit bumpy. it was too late in the day for thermals and the air was sinking, combine that with the tail wind meant that we got some serious ground speed and managed to reach the bottom within a couple of minutes. the landing was very gentle as we managed to turn back into wind for our approach.

Christo said that was the quickest he's every gone down the moutain without using acro. It sure beat getting the chairlift back down, which is what the others had to do (hehe).

stinging nettles at the training hill

Spent a few hours on the training hill. it was hard to do much because of the heat. Did a couple of flights. The wind was varying so take off required some ground handling skills to turn the glider into the wind. i also got to try my new harness for the first time. The first landing was text book, and the second landing was going well until a few feet from the ground when i discovered that what i thought was tufts of grass were actually nettles and thistles. Ouch!! i tried to fly past them but my legs got it! because of this i slightly over flew and landed in a potato field.

1st solo flights on training hill.

We had to wait until late afternoon before we could go to the training hill, as it is too hot. I got in 2 wee flights, probably no more than about 60 feet, lasting no more than a minute. We did a fair bit of ground handling at the top of the hill also. It's all about being in complete control of the glider before attempting to take off. Take offs and landings are the most important parts of paragliding and where there is highest risk. My first take off was perfect, zabdi said i got a gold star. However when i was coming into land i got a bit cocky and tried to turn after i had landed and gently lower the glider to the ground, but because i made a really small turn just before i landed, when i twisted the glider carried on travelling to the right and ended up tangled in some bushes. Zabdi took back my gold star.
My second take off from the same spot had slightly more of a crosswind, so when i pulled the glider up it veered off slightly to the right, but i managed to recover well by moving under the side that was falling. Gold star re-awarded. My landing this time was better too and i manged to avoid landing the glider on jaggy bushes.
I found a usb port on this pc, so i should be able upload some pictures when i get some free time.

2nd tandem flight done.

Did a second tandem flight with a bulgarian guy called Christo. he let me take control for most of the flight which is good practice before doing a solo flight. i managed to find a thermal that none of the others found, which i'm quite chuffed about! we managed to climb to about 150m above the take off site, about 2000 feet. Christo gave me some good advice on how to work a thermal. if the lift isn't too great then do a wider, shallower turn to avoid height loss. also fly for longer into the wind before turning or you can get kicked out the back of the thermal. we did some pitch control too. i had control for the landing approach which involved doing some 360s to lose height. unfortunately the landing was a bit of a tumble. there was very little head wind at the landing site so the approach speed was too fast. not hurt though. total flight time was about 35 - longest out of anyone, result! i'm updating this from my phone btw, high tech or what!

Balkan central park, in sopot.

This is the chairlift at the bottom of the flying site, which is nice! Apparently it's visible from google earth, must have a look!

Just done first flight! (tandem)

Just done a tandem fligt with zabdi. flew from about 1400 feet. did a few training moves. pitch control and big ears. looked for thermals but was covered with too much shade. The landing was a bit rough, we approached to quickly but that was partly due to there being no head wind at the landing site. We ended up skiding on our arses a bit, but that's what the protection is for!

Bulgaria - here at last!

The beautiful town of Sopot

Got here at lunch time. It's really hot, we decided to check out a beach at the black sea until it cooled down a bit as we had a five hour drive in a mini van. Sopot is really pretty as far as i can tell. I'm going to have problems uploading pictures as the pc doesn't have a usb port. We are off to the training hill today to refresh and get a feel for the gliders.

The Black sea
The garden of the house we stayed in. It was very nice.

9th June 2006 - too windy!

Went down to Arran for the weekend to try and get a flight in before we go to bulgaria. The weather was really sunny, but the wind was way too strong.

I took this on the ferry over to arran, the late boat on the friday nice. Very pretty.

Cause we were grounded Chris wanted to see the castle, this is on the way up. Glen Rosa can be seen in the background.