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.