First flights as a qualified pilot.

Got picked up on Monday morning at 11am - I took a day off work just for the hell of it! Headed over the string and checked out the wind at Dereneneach. There was a north westerly so we decided to travel to Catacol, one of my favourite places on the island. Being a club pilot now, meant that Zabdi could stay on the ground and do ground handling with some other students. It's a shame because I miss her chat!! So it was just Maurice and I that went for a hike up one of the hills at Catacol. We had to fight our way through the bracken and up to a site just south of Catacol Bay called Am Badan, about 100m high. On the way up I even saw 2 deer bound past, but I was too slow with the camera. The take off site was quite steep and there were trees and power lines immediately below. The wind was a strong north westerly but there were plenty of seagulls soaring and they looked to be flying smoothly. The underwear stayed clean and I felt confident about going off.

First flying site at Catacol. The shingle beach was the landing site. The hill on the other opposite side of the bay is where we went for our second flight.

Again, like the previous day, I got hoovered about a bit the first couple of times I tried to reverse launch. Although the heather was quite deep and it caused me to trip over (that's my excuse anyway!). I should have been expecting to run forward as I brought up the wing because the wind was strong, I was trying too much to control it just with the brakes. On the third (or was it forth?) attempt I managed to get the glider up and I turned and flew out from the take off site. I gained some height straight away so the power lines and trees weren't a problem. I did 2 soaring beats but I flew too far forward and came out of the lift band earlier than I would have liked. At this point I turned and flew towards the landing site on Catacol beach.

This is a view of the hill from the opposite side of the bay.

It was really cool flying downwind. I followed the road beneath me, there was a car directly below and I managed to keep up with it - how cool! I think it was a shitty citreon saxo, so no surprise there! I flew over the beach where there were loads of seagulls. They all took off as I approached, it was an amazing sight from the air, it was just like a wildlife documentary. I then flew back over towards the road and did a couple of turns to lose height. I didn't want to end up in the water so I crabbed in to land and kept myself directly over the beach. I managed to touch down softly exactly were I was aiming. It was a shorter flight than I was hoping for but it was still immensley satisfying! Total flight time was about 10mins. Afterwards I packed up and waited for Maurice to come down, he was soaring about for quite a while and another glider appeared and joined him. I was quite content to sit on the beach. I ate an entire packet of jaffa cakes.

You can just make out Maurice and the other glider soaring about the hill. At this point I was sitting on the beach stuffing my face.

The wind had picked up after we landed so we hung about for a while to see if it would calm down. The wind seemed to be coming in waves, probably rolling off the Mull of Kintyre. There were definate calm spells and then windy spells. By looking out to sea it was clear to see if the wind coming in was strong or not. You could see the 'veins' on the water where the strong wind was, Maurice said this means it's 'borderline', also when white horses appear that indicates stronger wind.

After about an hour or so Maurice, myself and Carl the kiwi went to climb up the hill on the north side of Catacol. When we got up there the wind was too strong but I felt that it was flyable if it died down slightly. It was all about choosing the right time to take off. Because I'm qualified that means I can go first, Maurice was going to stay on the hill and guide Carl off so it was up to me to get out there and test it. My first reverse launch was a bit of a mess, but I managed to get it up and turn to take off, but just as I was a few inches off the ground I felt the wing collapse asymetrically. Surprisingly i didn't shit myself, I shifted my arse the other way and let the brakes go, I managed to get back down and kill the wing, but had a tumble backwards. The reason it happened was because I hadn't committed myself to taking off and running forward. I had let off one of the brakes too much, so one side of the wing overshot and collapsed. I wasn't too bothered by it because I felt it and delt with it (kind of) and I wasn't really trying to take off at that point.

Controlling the wing nicely - just before I arsed it up.

My second attempt was better though, once I had inflated I turned, controlled it and pushed forward until I left the hill. Suddenly I was up in the air and it was nice and smooth. I soared the brow of the hill for about 15 minutes doing many beats back and forward. I did feel the air become a bit bumpy when I flew a bit too far north round the hill so I kept my soaring beats a bit shorter just stayed at the front of the hill. I managed to get a good bit above the take off site. Having the whole hill to myself was awesome! The sense of freedom is just amazing!

Taking off from the north hill at Catacol.

Again though I think I flew too far forward and eventually came out of the lift band. I need to work at staying in the lift band when soaring. Instead of working back up I thought I'd stop being greedy and let Carl take off for his first big solo flight. I turned downwind and flew up the valley. The view up the valley is breathtaking and it was fun getting some good speed downwind! I flew down to a big empty field, lost height and landed in the centre. There was a nice smooth headwind at the landing I almost descended vertically and touched down very softly. It was a great flight, I love being a club pilot!! It was worth taking the day off work!! Total flight time was about 25 minutes.

Soaring, looking west towards Cambletown. You can just make out the Claonaig ferry that crosses from Lochranza to Claonaig on the Mull of Kintyre, near Cambletown.

Me flying out to sea and out of the lift band.

Carl the kiwi came down and landed in the field beside me, he was totally buzzing from his flight. It's always great to see someone complete their first big solo flight. He did really well in the strong conditions too. Maurice took off and soared about for a while before the conditions picked up and he was came down to land on the beach. A great way to finish another brilliant weekend down on Arran.

Maurice landing on the beach at Catacol.

Club Pilot at last!!!!

The highland games dance on the Saturday night are usually a messy affair, and this year was no different. Zabdi phoned to wake me up about 12, thankfully it was raining in the morning so it gave me some extra time to recover. Zab and Maurice kindly came to pick us up from the house and we headed off in search of flyable conditions. There was a fairly strong north to westerly hitting the island so we headed off over the string and first stopped at Dereneneach. Conditions from the bottom looked good so we all hiked up the hill to check out conditions at the top. It was a fairly tough climb, not made any easier by the fact I was hung over, hadn't eaten much apart from some jaffa cakes and a banana, and I'd decided to quit smoking this week so I was getting a bit irritable.

I did find this guy on the way up the hill. He was clambering through the wet moss, and was kind enough to pose for a photograph.

When we got to the top the wind had picked up and was coming in more from the north. I got my stuff out and prepared and did a half inflation but really wasn't happy about it. I watched chris get dragged about for a while and saw Maurice go up. He found it quite bumpy, I think because there was strong north component in the wind there was rotor coming from off the hill on the other side of the valley. I said to Zabdi that the conditions failed my underwear test - that is - if you shit yourself, then don't fly. I was happy to take the long trek back down the hill.

Maurice flying at Dereneneach. The flat lands below him to the right are the Machrie moors, there are some really cool stone circles there left by druids or aliens or something.

After the long walk back down to the van, we were close to calling it a day. But we decided to go and check out a flying site at a place called 'Thundergay' - always a source of amusement - but it's actually pronounced 'Thunderguy'. When we got there we walked up and by the time I got to the top I was knackered. My energy levels were low and I wasn't really feeling up for it. There was a smooth north westerly hitting the hill and Maurice took off first, he went straight up and started enjoying himself. You could see that the air was nice and smooth so shortly after Chris took off and started soaring about too. So I got my stuff out and set up, I still wasn't feeling it, my head was somewhere else, and the first couple of times I did a reverse inflation I got hoovered backwards and landed face first in the heather. Then I had a tantrum, my irritation levels boiled over and I shouted "all i want is a f**king cigarette!!!!!!". At which point Maurice, who understands how it feels, came and gave me a nicorette tablet. And 5 minutes later I felt surprisingly better.

This is me moments after my tantrum. Look how pissed off I am!! Maurice gave me a nicorette tablet and a pep-talk.

A few minutes later I felt much better and was ready to give it a blast. I managed to eventually do a reverse launch and was picked up straight away. I immediately got some height and after being hovered about the heather all day it was really nice to be up in the lovely smooth air. The view from above Thunderguy is absolutely incredible. You can see for miles down the coast to the south and then to the north and behind to the east there are incredible mountains. It suddenly transformed a shitty day into an amazing one all in the space of a few minutes.

Me taking off at Thunderguy

I had only 2 top lands to do to get my club pilot's rating, and Thunderguy was the perfect place to do it. It's covered in heather and there was a big plateau just above the ridge that we were soaring. I did a few beats across the hill, then positioned myself to the south of the plateau ready to come in for a top landing on my slow beat. I actually wanted to do a few more soaring beats but the wind was fairly strong and I wasn't penetrating forwards at all. If I had tried to do another beat I risked getting blown back over the hill and getting caught up in all sorts of nastiness. So I decided to go for a top landing. At first I wasn't loosing any height at all, I thought about doing big ears but I wasn't comfortable about doing it so close to the ground. So I did some small sharp turns, just swinging from side to side but staying in the same place. It was fun! I lost the height easily and came into to do a nice smooth top landing. I made sure I didn't pull the brakes when I landed as that would risk being pulled back up, but I pull the back risers and killed the wing quickly. 1 top landing down, 1 to go!! Total flight time was about 15 minutes.

Soaring about Thunderguy.

Look how much height I got . The view from up there was amazing! The plateau that I did the top landing was just behind me, directly above that orange glider.

After landing nicely I didn't want to waste any time. I was full of confidence and decided to go straight back up. I did another reverse launch and got away. This time I didn't go straight up but initially lost some height. I think the wind had died down slightly so I had to really work at getting up into position to do a top landing. It took me quite a few soaring beats to eventually get up to where I needed to be. There were also another couple of gliders in the air so I had to be careful when turning. As soon as I got into position above the plateau the only thing that was going through my head was 'if I do a top landing I'm qualified!', so I decided that I wasn't going to hang about and risk the conditions changing I went straight down to the plateau. I lost height a lot easier the second time and I did a perfect top landing. I killed the wing using the back risers, and then celebrated!! I immediately texted everyone I knew, whether they cared or not, and felt very, very smug with myself. What a feeling!! A lot of hard work and effort but I'd finally got my club pilot's rating! I decided that I wasn't going to push my luck any further and so packed up and decided to walk down the hill. A couple of the guys flew down to the bottom landing site on the beach, but I didn't fancy the look of it. It's a narrow strip on the beach where you've got the sea on one side and a road with powerlines on the other side. Not much margin for error, and I was feeling too tired as it was. We went and had dinner in the Catacol Bay hotel. Brilliant! Total flight time of the second flight was about 15 minutes.

One of the other guys landing on the beach. Not sure who though.

No flying, but enjoyed the highland games.

Arrived on Arran the previous night, got the late boat down and managed to stay sensible and have an early night. I went along to meet Zab at the McAlpine at 11am. The Brodick Highland Games were on today, so there were loads of different pipe bands coming off the boat . One of the bands had also decided to meet at the McAlpine and warm up their bagpipes. What a racket!



Before we set off in search of wind, Zab wanted to do the tourist thing and watch the pipe bands march through Brodick to the games. Maurice and a few others decided to go and set up the rig to try out some new harnesses, so I also took the opportunity to check all the adjustments on my harness.

After we were done we headed off in search of flyable conditions. We headed over the string but it soon started to rain. It wasn't heavy but it was drizzle that wasn't moving anywhere fast. We eventually ended up in the Lagg hotel and stayed there for a couple of hours to see if it would clear up. It didn't, and so we decided to call it a day and headed back to Brodick. Of course, as soon as we got to Brodick the sun came out to tease us, but the cloud base was still very low. I went along to the highland games and drank beer for the rest of the afternoon.

Ok, this my attempt to educate the non-Scots about some of our traditional highland sports. This is called 'tossing the caber'. A caber is basically a tree trunk that the competitors have to run and throw. It must flip over 180 degrees to be valid and the competitors are judged on how far they throw it and how straight it goes.

This is the tug of war. 2 teams trying to pull the other one over the half way line.

This team were the eventual winners, from the Ormidale pub. They always win and I'm not surprised - check out the beer bellies! No they aren't wearing skirts!! - they're wearing kilts!!!

This is a fellow pilot, young Archie (on the right), being battered in the pillow fight. First person to fall off the log loses. He lost.