Back in October 2020 I was unashamedly badgering Jocky Sanderson to register on next year’s X-Lakes Hike and Fly race. I was only months away from finishing the previous race in August and still buzzing from the whole experience. After a few weeks of no response I eventually received an email stating that he had other business interests abroad and couldn’t organise the event for 2021. I almost felt for one horrible moment that it Read more…
X-Scotia 2021 After more than 13 years absent, the X-Scotia Hike and Fly race was resurrected as an informal get together of like minded Paraglider pilots in the Highlands of Scotland. Little did the organisers know that these events are exploding in popularity and, much to my delight and surprise, I was chosen as one of the lucky dozen who were allowed to take part. So 12 of us gathered in a field near Aviemore Read more…
The weather in April has been unusually good for paragliding this year, so I took the opportunity to make the most of it and take a day off for Hike and Fly training. Starting with Ben Dorain, this mountain is an iconic landmark for anyone driving north of Tyndrum and rises in a massive “cone” shape above Bridge of Orchy. I had a number of Munros planned beginning with Ben Dorain itself, then trekking over Read more…
The HiLo Vario A couple of years ago, on a particularly thermic flight near my home in Central Scotland, I was flying with two vario’s. I had a standard vario mounted on my harness and another one running as an app on an old smart phone in my pocket. As I went up and down through multiple thermals (I was only just over a year into the sport at the time) the noise from my Read more…
Search for the core of the thermal. I’d find it, then lose it! It’s like a game of Snakes and Ladders. J
This is a paragliding blog and I don’t do climbing. It’s also fair to say that I’ve fallen asleep in dozens of movies in the past ten years all churned out by the Hollywood film making machine. You know the kind, big loud characters who are on a personal crusade to save the World from some form of evil. I sometimes wonder what people sitting behind me think when they see my head slumped to Read more…
Really enjoyed this article by Lesley Gale (editor of Skydive Mag) explaining the normalisation of bad habits and how these can filter into your everyday routines. https://www.smallteaser.com/@lesleygale/normalization-of-deviance-beware I had the pleasure of being trained by some very good skydiving instructors at a very safety conscience club, and during my student years was taught the importance of good systems and procedures. These habits still live with me today more than 25 years after my initial skydiving Read more…
There’s not many feelings in paragliding better than having a “Low Save”. Just when you think you’re about to bomb out and be forced into an early landing, along comes that lucky Thermal. It’s like a big hand has come out of the sky and pulled you back up to where you really want to be, soaring high with the rest of the gaggle. Thankfully, the whole event was recorded on my GoPro and immortalised Read more…
There’s a few things in the history of humanity that have gone up and never come down. The Voyager space probes (1 and 2), now left the solar system. The Apollo 11 Eagle module (currently sitting somewhere on the Lunar surface). The price of bitcoin. (well ok, this one goes up and down at times) But I have to admit, sometimes in paragliding, it’s best to come down with a packed backpack and your body Read more…
After a couple of years in this sport I’m beginning realise that one of the hardest parts of paragliding is not the flying, but the art of getting the wing inflated and in the air. I, like many others that I’ve spoken to, have been dragged, quite some distance in fact, and I’ve got the grass and mud stains on my harness to prove it. I’ve been pulled through thorny bushes, over rocks, and once Read more…