Stevie G's Log Book 2009

[Stevie G]

6/8/09...Rhossili. W 14-21mph. 18c... another good day.. all in the air by 1ish... lots of pilots around today...lots of spectaters.... fly Spain, a positive crew, good flyer's...our gang of ingrate's, Viv, Nick R, Chris D, ChrissyKite, Paul H, Gerry, Tom G, Gareth P, James Marine... all in the air for hours.... a lot of the guys playing with there wings in the air, a good place to practice wing overs a little SIV, ChrissyKite even doing SAT's, Nick joining in on wingovers even, good to see... Viv gettin up to cloudbase 1200ft asl higher than the boys sometimes... a friendly day.... 1.32hrs for me...then the club meeting afterwards in the worms head...good venue

[Stevie G]

2/8/09...Rhossili. W 15-20mph. 16-20c... arrived early, already pilots in the air...was with them by 8am...on the hill and steady about 7 of us, Francois doing tandem, Paraventure, fly Spain, Gerry and more... some only gettin around 1000ft asl, able to explore the whole ridge, lift out in front even, big cloud formations forming inland behind us... around 11 Martin Cray turned up with his Step Eagle Cossack... it was great to fly around with such a great bird showing us where to follow the lift... flying so close not afraid, doing barrel rolls, wings in for bomb attacks...landing on the pimple better than any of us...there were about 14 gliders in the end....but it was all over just after 1pm as it went too far S and became stronger...I only managed 2.46hrs only got bout 950ft asl... Francois flew the whole time without landing... 6hrs...pub for social after with very happy faces...

[Stevie G]

1/8/09...Rhossili. W 15-20mph. 20c... what a place... another good days flying altho a little on the strong side....took a chance at midday... cookie and Andy turned up at the same time....we took off from the dunes... not too strong just right... a good handfull of friends flying... you could get hieght off the dunes and then make your way to the ridge, but that was a little strong... so get hieght 1200ft asl and push out to sea... do manouvres, then do it again....you could play a lot at the dunes... everyone had a great time... I got bout 2.30hrs...cookie must of got at least 4hrs.... more early tmz morning...tidy

[Stevie G]

29/7/09... Dune de Rhossili.W 15-20mph. 21c... an unexpected call from young James to go fly the dunes... the sun was coming out and the wind easing... good call... got there and James already flying...he was high and looked like he was ridge soaring...I walk to pimple, get ready and wait....it was howling.... wrong... do a rough pack and go to the dunes... it was easy to take off... it picked up and soon we were 300ft asl and a good push away from the dunes... after 20mins it did become snotty and we were having to use speed bar....both of us at the same time decide to land.... just as well coz it well picked up....James got 50mins I got 20...still worth it...

[Stevie G]

thanks guys... but it was more annoying than anything else... it could of been a lot worse... but thanks to Nasher he kept things at a peaceful level between me and the controller...   

[Jeremy]

Wow ! Bad luck but good Luck. ............. I t would be sooo easy to get knocked out of the sky by a model plane. Glad you're safe mate that must have been very scary.

[Stevie G]

27/7/09...Rhossili. W-SW 14-20mph. 19c...arrived early 8am...Nasher and another pilot already flying and looking good, caught up with Gerry and we were in the air by 8.30, minutes later with Stuee too...it was on the hill and a  steady 16mph +or-... we could land on top... we were only getting about 850ft asl....stuee constantly doing good wingovers... after about 1.40hrs of good flying I was hit by a model glider and it ripped the full lenght of my top centre cell... landed safe and was NOT happy... 1st time out on my new wing... had some words with the controller...who said it was'nt his fault, that did'nt help the situation... we exchanded names and address...his insurance WILL pay... a [censored]ty end to a good day, but it could of been worse... the flying window was for around 5hrs...it turned srtong then SSW by 1ish... Stuee let me try his addict, I was pleseantly suprised, thatnks mate...

[Stevie G]

yer man... it was, nice really....also......some people like to walk in the rain, others just ge wet...

[Norris]

Nice write up mate, tells it without drama or frills. You could have mentioned that the rain was warm though.

[Stevie G]

10/7/09...Rhossili. SW-W 12-19mph. 18c... Rhossili looked promising today... allready a big crowd there... army and Navy services... visiting pilots from afar... 2 schools and only a handfull of locals.... it didn't really start to work till middayish... lots of top ttb's going on, schools I guess...but after a while all managing to get in the air after our test dummy's cookie and Norris showed the way...I think most of us had fun, a lot of people seem to like heading out to sea to practice their thing with what little height we could get...900ft asl... it picked up late afternoon then rained...all over, everyone packed quickly and left...no more later...no more for a while it seems...hope not

[Stevie G]

3/7/09...Ager-Orgayna. E..W. 35-40c... we go for our last early flight at Ager because the weather reports aren't too good anywhere... so we take advantage of the conditions we have, go to T/O hardly anything about but cloud forming all around? we fly, go to eastern face and just manage to stay up but not for long... have to land...Nick takes us up again and we seeat the lower T/O the sock is on with a fail breeze...its just me and Marcelle, its too hot for the others, we take off and realise away from the ridge its E and sinky...B******s...too hard to scratch, land and head off to the hippie bar at the lake in Tremp where Jordy does the sic and acro courses, real nice place and vibe...thinking its all over we have hippie food and beers, well nice....then Nick gets a call from Mickey who runs Organya escole parapente..come down now, we have a chance to fly...1.20hrs later we arrive...3 gliders in the air... magic mountain here we come...acro heaven... its ok if you just wanna float about, but this place is used for training by acro pilots... simply because you take off and go up 2500ft ato giving you 3000ft to play over a vast area... you cannot but go up... only Scotty. Marcelle and me fly with the rest... the boys are eager too practice to their limits, and they were good... I do mine with help from other pilots around willing to share and help.... were just on normal wings, there all on super duper high G wings... the stuff they were performing for the comps were mind boggling... what an unexpected way to finish an allready brilliant tour... thank DoYouWanna

[Stevie G]

2/7/09...Ager.E. 35-40c...we get to T/O early unsure what we might get today because of the instability all around us, we are just happy to get a flight in, its just a ttb for now, so Marcelle offers his wing for me...mmm 2500ft ttb wot could I do with that... think think think...err Marcelle do you mind if I do acro... go ahead be my guest....sorrrted....Niviuk Artik what a wing, easy easy...easier than the Sigma...my poor wing, its well ragged.... we've named it 'the TeaBag'... after landing DoYouWanna collect us and we have a break... we think its all over... but theres someone flying??? Straight back up, its a little strong on the hill, but there are lulls... too strong for others but Nick and me go in the lulls and then it really picks up...have we made a mistake? did just see some guy on a Mantra have several major collapses near the ridge...thought he was a gonna...saved himself with only feet to spare... Nick and me push ourselves out into the valley and just go up, we see from the east sea breeze pushing in and pushing the valley lift up...luckily cloud base only 6400ft asl but it was rough as F*** and being pushed to the west up the valley, really hard to get down and being thrown round like you just messed up siv... Nick and me get down 1.15hrs eventually going backward a good few klm from LZ...we get to fly another day...watching news, big storms all around us... we had that window....tomorrow is marginal...we see

[Stevie G]

1/7/09...Ager.SE. 35c+... We new we had to be there at T/O for 10am, a late start for us, the weather was gonna be on our side today...it slowly came onto the hill...I get in the air first, stayed up and just went up and up...followed quickly by the rest of the gang....we all group together in one huge thermal, team working, finding its edges, centres and drifts, I loved that, its how it should be...it took us to cloud base 6900ft asl at 5mps, you could see over the Pyrenees to France behind us and Barcelona and the Med in front... once at that height you could push out front into the valley, maintain your height...go where you want....after bout 1.20hrs the middle of the day weather system started to kick in and quickly forming cumulus forming not so far away...we know to land...we filled our boots and were happy....then went to a new lake for a swim and picnic....later we saw on the news that while we were flying, 20miles away had flood and hail stones bigger than golf balls...awesome

[Stevie G]

30/6/09...Ager.SE. 35c+... We decide to go to Ager, as Berga was gonna be unstable, so we follow the good weather system... Ager a small sleepy village, huge plains with massive ridges 4980ft asl....2500ft ttb... we get there early to make sure we could flyand was rewarded with gentle air and easy thermals... we hunt out the eastern facing slopes and maintain top ridge height for an hour... fantastic views....we feel and recognise the change in the air and all go land at one of the flying schools...all happy...tomorrow is gonna be better, even tho storms are around us

[Stevie G]

29/6/09...Berga. 30c+... pretty much the same as yesterday but hotter...25mins of easy float then it picks up again due to surrounding storms..this time we take off from the antennas, head out over the monastery and land bout 7km from take off...take it easy for rest of day... swim in lake and beers later