No. 404 DECEMBER 2022 The magazine of the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association2 SKYWINGS DECEMBER 2022 attitude The next challenge was the strength of the wind: we could hardly walk to the intended launch area without being blown over. ‘Don’t worry lads,’ said the competition marshals. ‘It will calm down within an hour and we’ll get you in the air safely.’ Half the pilots present were not convinced. The other half leapt off like lemmings when the lull came. I was the 10th or 11th lemming to throw caution to the wind, and executed a clean launch. Alas, the air was not so clean; it was like flying through treacle and then being hit by a sledgehammer! My glider pitched down and then banked over violently. I struggled to keep control, levelled out, then went through the whole scenario again. One flyer chucked his reserve after his glider almost tumbled upside-down! Fortunately there were no serious accidents, but all those who flew were in a state of shock! Come the evening, when the entire company relaxed in the warm, friendly pub and got stuck into hot meals and cool lager, we had another surprise. Some sailplane pilots told us, in no uncertain terms, that we were all mad. ‘D’ye no realise, laddies, that ye were flying in wave rotor? Ah cannae believe that ye could be so stupid!’ Wave, which few of us knew about back then, can produce exceptionally smooth rising air – lift akin to the best coastal air. If you are outside of that lift the air can be dangerously turbulent, as we discovered in Scotland. A year or so later, flying at Tredegar in South Wales, I stumbled into that smooth air. The thermic conditions were great, albeit rough, and my first flight saw a height gain of 1600ft. After two hours I top landed for refreshments and a rest. Because of the long summer days it was still light at 8, and I thought I’d have one more flight. Three of us launched and connected with classic wave lift. It’s hard to describe how serene this type of flying is, other than to say that you do nothing but sit into wind and go smoothly up, until you reach a point where the lift stops. For us that was 2700ft above take- off. We all then flew along the wave bar and landed at Tonteg, 13 miles away. Two years down the line I was fortunate enough to fly my hang glider in smooth wave again, and it ranks as one of the best soaring flights of my life. Here’s how it happened. My wife Maggie was from Sheffield and we often travelled north for weekend visits home. If the weather looked favourable I would strap my glider to the roof rack so that I could fly in the Peak District for a few hours. The sites up there are higher than down south, but require a long uphill walk to the take-off areas. My favourite is Lords Seat, a 900ft north- facing escarpment. When the conditions are good you can soar along the slope to Mam Tor (the ‘Shivering Mountain’), cross over to another long ridge which ends at Lose Hill, turn around and fly back to the launch area – an overall distance of 12 miles. I only remember completing the out- and-return once, but what a rush that was! Then came the day when I flew in smooth wave lift for the second time. Bradwell Edge, not far from Lords Seat, is a magnificent west-facing slope with a friendly gliding club at the southern end. I launched into strong, rough, thermic air. There were six of us on hang gliders, with a couple of conventional gliders about 200ft above us. One by one the other hang glider pilots top landed. They had been in the air when I arrived and probably came down to relax and have some coffee after flying in the spicy thermals. Ten minutes later I was thinking of joining them when, suddenly, whilst facing into wind, the rough conditions abated and changed into silky- smooth air. I was probably 500ft above the top when I connected with this lift. I knew from experience that I didn’t need to turn or circle round. It was amazing! Just like at Tredegar, I soon gained another 500ft, then 1000ft more; the ground below was getting further and further away. Then, looking up, I saw the cumulus clouds separate as though inviting me to enter their domain. I rose up through the gap, with the wave lift diminishing, eventually reaching 5200ft above sea level before my sky-elevator stopped. In complete awe of my situation, I looked around in wonder to find myself several hundred feet above the clouds. The world was my oyster! Recovering from my dream-like experience, seemingly suspended in mid- air, I decided to travel south and explore this magical place. Gliding along and then finally losing height, I encountered heavy sink, and this continued until I was once again below the cloud. I could just make out the gliding club at Great Hucklow, now looking miniscule! Back into thermalling mode, I was able to work some weak thermals, but in general the day was shutting down. Safely down in a field on the outskirts of Wardlow, I looked up at the blue sky in astonishment. Had I really been above the clouds? Wow! What an experience. What a day! The last time I encountered wave was again at Bradwell, but this time I was flying a paraglider. On a clear Spring evening I launched, with only one other lone paraglider pilot in the air. No gliders, no hang gliders. Conditions were very light but the wind was on the hill. After five minutes of scratching along the ridge my vario suddenly sprang into life. I turned through ninety degrees and, with more ground clearance and confidence-inspiring lift, flew upwind. Wow! This feels like wave. The other pilot soon followed, and together we cruised for a mile or so out from the hill until we were 2500ft above the village of Castleton. It was brilliant, but it was getting dark! We both top landed, well and truly engulfed by the twilight zone. We had been flying for two hours. After high fives, I took out my digital camera and snapped a couple of photographs. The flash recorded us both grinning from ear to ear like Cheshire cats! You could say we were the cats that got the cream that day. Marvellous! This article is an extract from Mike’s forthcoming book ‘Free as a Bird – The Hitch-Hiker’s guide to Free Flight, Fun, and Adventure.’ Mike Hibbit launching at Tredegar in the 1980s The wonders of wave flying MIKE HIBBIT, LONGTIME HANG GLIDER AND PARAGLIDER PILOT I’ve experienced what’s known as wave lift on four different occasions. The first time was at hang gliding’s Scottish Open in 1982. The action took place in the Cairngorms, on the Glenshee mountain top. To get up to the take-off we had to a ride on an open ski lift, scary enough in itself. Photo: Mark W oodhams4 SKYWINGS DECEMBER 2022DECEMBER 2022 SKYWINGS 5 regulars reviews features THE BHPA LTD 8 Merus Court, Meridian Business Park, Leicester LE19 1RJ. Tel: 0116 289 4316. SKYWINGS MAGAZINE is published monthly by the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association Ltd to inform, educate and entertain those in the sports of Paragliding and Hang Gliding. The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, their Council, Officers or Editor. The Editor and publisher accept no responsibility for any supposed defects in the goods, services and practices represented or advertised in this magazine. The Editor reserves the right to edit contributions. ISSN 0951-5712 SUBSCRIPTIONS AND DELIVERY ENQUIRIES Tel: 0116 289 4316, THE EDITOR Joe Schofield, 39 London Road, Harleston, Norfolk IP20 9BH. Tel: 01379 855021. COVER PHOTO Gary Burchett flies Acro at Oludeniz with Passion Paragliding – see Page 25 Photo: Gary Burchett THIS PAGE Tandem paragliding from Niederbauen, Lake Lucerne. Photo: Xenia Winter for Altitude Trips Paragliding School, Switzerland DESIGN & PRODUCTION Fargher Design Ltd. Killane House, Ballaugh, Isle of Man, IM7 5BD. PRINT & DISTRIBUTION Newman Thomson Ltd, One Jubilee Rd, Victoria Ind. Est, Burgess Hill, RH15 9TL. ADVERTISING Tel: 07624 413737 SKYWINGS ONLINE All issues of Skywings magazine are now freely available DEADLINES News items and event/competition reports for the February issue must be submitted to the Skywings office by Monday January 2nd. Letters for the January Airmail pages should arrive no later than Friday December 16th. Advertisement bookings for the January edition must arrive by Monday December 12th. Copy and classified bookings no later than the following Friday December 16th.6 SKYWINGS DECEMBER 2022 news 2022 XC League winners Congratulations to Hugh Miller on his third UK paragliding XC League win. Jake Herbert was runner-up with a resurgent Kirsty Cameron third. All three flew Ozone’s Zeno 2, with only 200 points covering the top three places. Steve Blackler won the hang gliding XC League for the fifth time, from Gordon Rigg and Carl Wallbank; all on Moyes’ RX3.5. Mike Armstrong (Atos VQ) won Class 5, from Nev Almond (VR) and Stewart Reid (VQ). Unusually, for the last three years the leading Class 1 hangies have flown further in total than the Class 5s. Congratulations to all involved! More and more pilots are also logging distances on the International XContest site. Top UK paraglider pilots on that reckoning were Andrew Kruszynski (Zeno), Richard Meek (Zeno 2) and Ludek Munzar (Axis Venus 4). Tom Wycherley (Niviuk Artik 6) led the Sport (EN C) class and James Chancellor (Phi Maestro) the Standard (EN B) class. Of UK hangies, 2020 UK XC League winner Jeremy Soper (Moyes RX4) top-scored ahead of Steve Blackler and Rhal Ssan (Moyes RX3). New this year, the embryonic ‘alternative XC League’ factored in glider classes. Brainchild of Simon Ford and Ken Wilkinson, this shows a top three of Richard Carter (DSC, Alpina 3), James Chancellor and Tom Wycherley in the Sports class, and James Chancellor, Richard Carter (Cayley, Rush 6) and Robert Davis (Gin Explorer) in the Recreational PWC Mungyeong The PWC’s Asian Tour, aimed at exporting the PWC idea to Far Eastern pilots, has been running since 2019. Gin Seok Song, driving force behind the Tour, plans to have rounds in South Korea, Indonesia and Australia in 2023. October’s final round at Mungyeong in South Korea, picking up from where the Tour had left off in February 2020 at Pokhara, saw pilots from all across the Pacific area joined by a few top European fliers, including PWC Gochang winner Martin Jovanoski. The weather was either too windy or not windy enough, leading to only three fairly short tasks won by Jovanoski, Swiss pilot Tim Bollinger and Iran’s Soheil Barikani. Jovanoski emerged the overall winner in a very tight finish, ahead of Korea’s Chigwon Wong and Tim Bollinger. Among the ladies, Korea’s Jinhee Baek (pictured) led Japan’s Jun Yomo and Nao Nariyama. The event was marred by the death of a Korean pilot in the first task. Absurd security from the Korean authorities – and the PWCA organisation – means we are unable to publish the pilot’s name. Mungyeong, with its new monorail to launch, is to be the venue for the Asian Oceanic Championship in June 2024. Altitude Trips A new BHPA development school has begun operating in the Luzern-Engelberg-Interlaken region of the Swiss Alps. Altitude Trips is led by Emi Carvalho, who has been teaching paragliding in Switzerland and on trips around the world since 2016. Altitude Trips run three- and four-day-long weekend courses all year round, starting on the first Thursday or Friday of each month. These include ‘introduction to Alpine flying’ and ‘introduction to hike & fly’ clinics, refresher/CP+ courses, and XC trips. ‘This can be the place to take your flying to the next level,’ says Emi. ‘Take off from a glacier at 10,000 ft, practice proximity flying over the snow or experience your first moonlight flight – Altitude Trips’ motto is Fly Everywhere!’ Contact him at BHPA AGM A reminder that the Association’s 2023 AGM takes place at Loughborough University on February 25th. All members are welcome to attend; the meeting can also be accessed online via the BHPA Facebook page. Find out what the Association’s many volunteers and its few staff are doing on your behalf. The AGM venue is Loughborough University’s Holywell Park Conference Centre, LE11 3GR. There is accommodation nearby; contact them (01509 Note too that nominations are sought for BHPA Merit Awards. If you are aware of any member’s efforts to run and improve our sport, don’t hesitate to nominate them. Our sport is full of unsung heroes; we aim to thank them for their work and make their endeavours more visible. Citations must arrive at the BHPA Office by Friday December 30th. Framed certificates will be presented at the AGM or other suitable occasion. GBAR 2 As announced last month, the second Great British Aerotow Revival event – GBAR2 – is on. The competition will be returning to Deenethorpe airfield near Corby, former home of the USAAF’s 401st BG. The dates are May 13th-20th 2023; for those who want DECEMBER 2022 SKYWINGS 7 to hone their skills and/or sample the site, set-up and practice days will be May 10th-12th. Places will be strictly limited by the number of tugs available. Currently there are five tugs booked and competition places will be limited to 50 pilots across Class 1, Sport and Class 5. Registration opens on December 15th – to avoid any disappointment confirm your place by registering via The Big Fat Repack is back Learn to pack your reserve parachute, practice deploying it on an indoor zip-wire, and repack it under the watchful eyes of BHPA-qualified packers. The Thames Valley club’s BFR runs from 0900-1700 on Sunday February 26th, at Aldershot Garrison Sports Centre, Rawlinson Road, Aldershot, Hants GU11 2LQ. Tickets cost £30. Email invites will go out to TVHGC members first, but the event is open to all current BHPA members. The booking link will be circulated to other clubs via Telegram. The team aim to get 100-120 reserves deployed and repacked, and to pick up any installation faults in equipment. Club coaches and experienced volunteers will run the event – if you can help out please contact the TVHGC committee. Details are at short video from 2022). SHPF Ratho repack too The SHPF Ratho repack will be held at the Edinburgh Indoor Climbing Arena (EICA) on Saturday February 11th. The one-day event will include trade stands and demonstrations, with certified EPS packers to help you pack your own reserve. Costs will be £15 (SHPF members) or £20 (non-members) per repack. The venue is Europe’s largest indoor climbing centre and features soft play areas, clip-n-climb activities for supervised children, and a café for unsupervised adults. Further details will be announced in due course; further details. SkyWise app withdrawn The SkyWise app, offering tailored news, notifications and alerts from the CAA direct to your phone, was withdrawn on November 30th. Feedback has revealed that people prefer to receive notifications via an email subscription, or by visiting the SkyWise website. Current users should create an email subscription for their chosen categories and uninstall the app. SkyWise is actually a useful route for receiving CAA bulletins on a range of topics, not least developments in airspace and airspace policy. Ticking the right boxes allows elimination of extraneous stuff so you only get what is relevant to your type of flying. Notifications from the last 12 months can be read without a subscription. Existing email subscriptions are not affected by these changes. Find SkyWise at Marcella goes 457km to goal It’s the record season in Brazil, and straight away Marcella Uchoa reset the book with a 457.0km distance to goal from Caicó. Her flight, aboard an Ozone Enzo 3 on October 14th, exceeds Seiko Fukuoka-Naville’s existing 2019 record by just 6.6km. But it totally eclipses fellow Brazilian Kamira Pereira Rodrigues’ South- American record, set in 2009, by no less than 60%! Photo: Goran Dimiskovski. In brief BP Cup news. The very organised British Paragliding Cup team plans two rounds in 2023 including an overseas leg. There will be a UK Round in the Yorkshire Dales from Thursday 20th – Sunday 23rd April (registration: Wednesday 19th April), and a European Round at Sopot in Bulgaria from Sunday 27th August to Saturday 2nd September (registration: Saturday 26th August). Details are at these dates in your diary now! South-American tandem record. Four days before Marcella Uchoa’s flight (above), Brazil’s Falko Felix Fischer, with an un- named passenger aboard, claimed the unset South-American tandem paragliding free distance record at 319.3km. Falko was flying a Gin Fuse 2 from the renowned record-camp tow site at Assu. 8 SKYWINGS DECEMBER 2022 news BHPA 500 Club WIN CASH PRIZES AND HELP THE ASSOCIATION! October winners Hugh Boyes £126.80 Julian Walford £63.40 Paul Sully £31.70 Dominic Doran £19.02 Donald Mapp £15.85 Rajdeep Patgiri £15.85 Lewis Bagge £12.68 Lee Jackson £12.68 JJ Jardine-Paterson £9.51 Jonathan Greenwood £9.51 BHPA £317.00 If by the time you read this you have not received your cheque, please contact me on 07802 525099. Marc Asquith On August 1st three pilots of the RAF Paramotor Challenge took off from Winglands, Lincs, to circumnavigate the British coastline, a target that, although attempted before, has never been completed. Sqn Ldr Tim Taylor, Flt Lt Mike O’Hara and Flt Lt Andrew Whisker had 30 days to complete their task. A month of non-stop flying turned out to be a tough assignment, as were the logistical problems confronting their small ground support team. August 2022 will be remembered for its record temperatures, and rough air denied the team use of the hottest part of the day. Nevertheless the pilots were able to cover an average of 70 miles per flight. Andrew traversed the entire coastline of Cornwall. ‘It was idyllic and breathtaking,’ he reported, ‘but navigating round a very active Newquay Airport, and taking off at Land’s End, were a tad scary!’ Mike completed a 105-mile flight along the Jurassic Coast on a single tank of fuel, while Tim flew across the Lake District into Snowdonia National Park. Members of the team were regularly in ‘stretch’, taking off, flying and landing on the edge of what might be considered safe. Yet their confidence and skills grew as the days passed. A routine was soon established: fly, service equipment, then focus on ground-support issues. Their Bulldog paramotors, using the Vittorazi Moster 185 engine, proved to be supremely reliable. Other than cosmetic repairs there were only two mechanical issues, a failed pull start and a broken exhaust, both quickly repaired on the road. All three pilots flew Dudek wings, Andrew and Tim using the Solo and Mike the faster, more technical Hadron. The RAF Paramotor DECEMBER 2022 SKYWINGS 9 In the military it is common to hear that ‘amateurs talk tactics while the professionals talk logistics.’ In this case the logistics support trail was key to the whole adventure. A mix of Regular and Reservist RAF personnel established overnight campsites and provided meals ‘almost from nowhere.’ With two vans, and a medic in a 4x4, they were often hard pressed to keep up with the pilots. Phone apps were central to the team effort; SkyDemon for planning and navigation, Google Maps for tracking pilots and ground crew, What3Words for location, and XCTracer (and SkyEcho 2) for EC functions. The Zello walkie-talkie app provided a radio link, and the all-services JESIP network an emergency- response capability. All three pilots also carried airband radios. After 30 days the team had flown most of the English coast and a good chunk of Wales, but were still slightly under 500 miles short of their target. Yet the three pilots’ experience levels and air awareness had been raised, while increasing the profile of the sport and the RAF Benevolent Fund. Their thanks go to the support team members, without whom the Challenge wouldn’t have left the station gates. Tim Taylor. ‘It was disappointing to get so close yet not quite make it, but the experience of concentrated flying was invaluable. Some conditions would normally have had me back in the clubhouse, but the experience of flying a high-speed downwind leg can’t be beaten!’ Andy Whisker. ‘The challenge put me well out of my comfort zone … and into an area where I was able to test my flying and navigation, and push my confidence.’ Mike O’Hara. ‘I worked with great people for a deserving cause, and my flying skills and technical understanding of the Bulldog improved tenfold. My hope is that the Challenge will spark the RAF into recognising paramotoring as adventure sport.’ Challenge Next >