Barry's Log Book 2010

[barrya1]

21^{st November 2010} Heol Senni 1hour Arrived with Stu Kelly and Guy. Arrived it was Quite strong, eased a little had a good hour soaring the hill and ground handling
   22^{nd November 2010}   Tor Clawdd 1hour  To strong for Heol Senni so decided to go to Tor Clawdd with Stu Kelly and Gerry L. Bit weak at first so done some scratching, then got a bit of lift… soard the ridge was brilliant Stu and Gerry took off.. The three of us flew for around an hour. Nice little site cherry Gerry for showing us it

23^{rd November 2010 -} Fan-G
Arrived with wattsy, Guy and Steve Watkins,wind was perfect but clagged in at first. Took off had over 2 hours flying , carried out a number of top landings and with the help of Steve some Spiral dives…. Wowone of the best day’s paragliding I have had to date, thanks Steve )

24^{th November 2010}   rhossilli Cliffs
Arrived was a tad bit light but decided to have a go with Stu Kelly walked
To the pimple took off not enough wind to stay up so a good top to bottom was
the order of the day

25^{th November 2010}   Rhiw Wen
Arrived and met stu Kelly, to strong to fly had a good 2 hours ground handling

28^{th November 2010}   Heol Senni Arrived to be greated by Stu Kelly, Wattsy and Guy, wind was unfortunately light and slightly off the hill. Carried about an hour’s ground handling and a top to bottom
 
18^{th december 2010} rhossili cliffs brill day arrived with Stu Kelly, Gerry already there with francis already in the air but to strong for everyone else. Went for a cup of tea and waited around an hour, the wind dropped enough to fly and what a fantastic day it turned out to be, very cold around an hour’s flying   

[barrya1]

21^{st November 2010} Heol Senni 1hour Arrived with Stu Kelly and Guy. Arrived it was Quite strong, eased a little had a good hour soaring the hill and ground handling

[barrya1]

15/11/2010 Nantymoel
Arrived early afternoon, little light and off the hill slightly. Decided to do some ground handling, got the wing out and ground handled for a bit, the wind came slightly on the hill so decided to scratch and if anything practice slope landings, took off couple of slope landings later the wind picked up just enough to get some hight, managed to get a good
Bit of lift and fly around about a quarter of an hour. Top landed and ground handled for about an hour then decided to do a top to bottom to finish the day off, all in all very good afternoon ground handling and scratching

[barrya1]

14/11/2010 Rhossilli 9-12 mph wnw
Arrived at about 11:45 stu kelly, gerry and a few others. The wind wasn't up to much at first so decided to practice some top landings from the top of the hill down to the pimple, bit of ground handling and the wind picks up enough to do some scratching. Managed to scratch around fine zither 2 top landings. Nasher viv and nick rock up, I lost my height thought I was going down ... Was about half way down the hill, managed to scratch my way back up really tight to the hill and got a good bit of height concidering the wind being light. Another top landing, had a chat with Nasher then had to make a move back to work. One final take off with a 10 min flight finally landing on the pimple to pack up. All in all a good day, managed to carry out some of the tips Nasher and a few others have been giving, thanks lads,  brilliant couple of hours, can't wait for the next flyable day 

[barrya1]

Saturday 6th November RhiW Wen
 
Rocked up early afternoon Nasher, Wattsy and Stu in the Carpark. Not enough wind to take off so decided to do some ground handling and top to bottom with nasher giving some good Tips.

[barrya1]

25th October - CwmAfan
 
Arrived with Stu at 14:00 Gerry was taking off Viv rocks up with Nick, ook off and at first some scratching then over the trees, i was at the fron and had to bomb out when the wind dropped. Packed up and walked to the top again. I took off again for some sctatching and slop landings. Nick, Gerry and Viv had landed the wind had droped, Stu took off but bomed out i decided to do a top to bottom picking a spot.... Nearly got the spot.

[barrya1]

24^th October 2010 Rhiw Wen NNE.
 
Arrived at Rhiw Wen with Stu Kelly after visiting Rhigos for a look, conditions were a little strong and were quite a lot or Polish pilots doing some crazy Acro fun to watch. Decided with Gerry and Stu to head to Rhiw Wen , conditions were light so some scratching and top to bottoms until finally the wind did pick up, managed to get some height and have a good flight for around half an hour. Late afternoon a massive shower cloud could be seen over Llandovery and was heading straight towards us. Landed and walked back to the car for the rain and Hail to come in. All in all a good day, had a few flying tips from the guys on the ground which I am looking forward to trying out. Cheers lads all in all a great day.

[barrya1]

13^th October 2010... Blaenavon... And  Blorenge
 
Arrive early with Gerry but the conditions were very light Managed to Scratch around for around an 45 mins in total Steve G  suggested a top to bottom at the Blorenge.
 
Got to the take off point at the top of the Blorenge, absolutely amazing views, there was no wind… Had a site brief from Stevie G and must admit was very nervous as the flight was very intimidating. The first guys went, looked brilliant Gerry went before me and as I was setting up to go heard that he had an accident on the ground, waited to hear he was ok then decided to go I was bricking it at this point…. Forward launch was committed and went for it and wow I can’t put into words how exhilarating the 8 minute top to bottom flight was. I managed to capture it with my video camera and can be seen via the following link. Maybe not very exciting for the higher air time pilots but for me just starting out will stick in my mind for a very long time. I can honestly say I would travel there from Llanelli just to do a top to bottom….

Paragliding at Blorenge. Blaenavon

[barrya1]

12^th October 2010 - Heol Senni

Travelled to Blaenavon first thing with Gerry, the weather looked promising, on the way it was very sunny and the occasional cloud was in the sky, this was until Blaenavon was in sight there was a massive cloud covering the whole area….

Quite a few people waiting as the conditions were slightly strong, absolutely freezing. Decided not to wait and see if there was anything at Heol Senni.

Arrived at Heol Senni 11 am. We were greeted by Nasher, Rob and Stu Kelly.  Got to the top of the hill, wind was very light, to light to fly, decided to do some scratching one at a time due to the conditions being to light. Stu got out and was showing us how it was done and decided to make some room unfortunately for him he ended up bombing out.  Nick rocked up with Viv in the afternoon.
A breeze came on later giving smooth soaring conditions for around 2 hours I was able to practice top landings and some ground handling. It was very cold, had a fantastic top to bottom at the end of the day, very good day really enjoyed.

[barrya1]

7th October 2010...BrynCaws...SE 15mph
 
Arrived Very early with Gerry with the hope of an hour before the wind was forecast to pick up….
The ground was soaking; Gerry took off first and was in the air for about 10 mins as I was getting ready to take off found the conditions gusty at times. I managed to get the wing in the air to do some ground handling. I finally took off. Whilst in the air I got pinned and unable to penetrate forward, I used Speed bar to push forward managed to lose my height and Top Land as the wind conditions were too strong for me to fly safely.
 

[barrya1]

28th Sept. Cwm afan. Ozone Element
Arrived around half Nine, wind was around 10mph bang on the hill, Took of and the wind dropped so a top to bottom was my plan, my plan didn't go as expected, soft landing the into the Furness, managed to get back to the top wind was slightly stronger, took off and scratched around for around 30 minuets all in all 3 top landings and 1 slope landing as I didn't want to venture out to far. Greeted By Steve J who was going to get his kit I took off and literally got pinned back straight away, Landed straight away as the wind picked up and was to strong to fly. At this point Norris turned up followed by Wattsy, Gerry and Stevie G. Rain came in I decided to leave the guys stayed hoping to get some flying in later on.
 

[barrya1]

26^th Sept. Rhiw Wen Ozone Element
 
Arrived early 09:00 met Robbie in the car park, Phil already set up and ready to go…. Phil gave us a site brief, cheers phil, not windy enough to fly decided with Robbie to do a top to bottom…..  took off and headed to the bottom still felt great …… got back to the top and decided to do another top to bottom, Robbie took off and headed to landing area, wind picked up…. I took off and hey got some great lift….. managed to fly to the ridge on he left and get back however unfortunately not experienced enough to stay up, lost my height and had to land at the bottom (. the rest of the day managed to get some good flight all in all around 3 hours flying met some good lads and learnt some good lessons all in all brilliant day afternoon.

[barrya1]

21st Sept. Cwm afan. 17-25mph Ozone Element
 
Arrived early afternoon, Gerry Kindly waited for me, had a good hour. I managed to get some fantastic height; had a bit of a scare when Gerry brought to my attention a helicopter was heading my way….. Must have been 100 above me, absolutely done my load;-O…… top landed, quite bumpy. Nick rocked up but a little strong. Watsy came a little later finally got in the air, some good flying Nick ad Gerry leading the way, Gerry landed advised via radio a little gusty we all managed to get down Viv got dragged a little. Went to take off again scratching trying to get some height and hit a sink area came down quite hard….. Learnt a good lesson…. Decided to quit while I was ahead ) all in all good day.

[barrya1]

9th Sept. Ozone Element Rhossili.
Arrived Mid afternoon quite a few in the air most have been up for hours….. Greeted by Gerry on the pimple. Took off at the pimple as too strong up the top. Managed to get some great height and soaring for around half an hour. Nasher contacted me via the radio to advise that he was recording 25mph+ gusts at the pimple so would be a good idea to avoid top landing and land on the beach as soon as possible as. Had to do big ears and speed bar to loose my height and finally land on the beach. Packed up my gear and walked back up to the pimple to find that everyone has headed down to the pub,…. I missed the broadcast that everyone was going to the pub., I needed the exercise. I stayed as weather was forecast to drop, around half six the wind was acceptable but the tide was I so dint risk taking off as just a little to strong for myself to top land.

[barrya1]

Wednesday 8th Sep 2010 Mynydd Dinas Ozone Element Forecast was S, backing SW later.

Arrived at Mynydd Dinas at around 1400 with Gerry, after a massive walk and a stone liter finally got to take off spot.
Stevie warned that it was intimidating and he wasn’t wrong there ……. I though oh I would be fine…. ohhhhh how wrong was I…..done my load….. After a while I got some good time in the air, about an hour all in all couple of top landings. Packed up just before the rain cam in, an amazing day, thanks to Gerry for looking out for me on radio and stevie for bringing us to this site. Stevie nearly beat club record with his xc…….