No. 348 April 2018The magazine of the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Associationcontentsregulars reviews features 2 APRIL THE EDITOR Joe Schofield, 39 London Road, Harleston, Norfolk IP209BH. Tel: 01379 855021. COVER PHOTO Malachi Templeton wrings out Ozone’s Rapidospeed wing at Cecil Peak, Christchurch, NZ, Photo: RebeccaBredehoftTHIS PAGE Cade Palmer flies Ozone’s Speedster 2 paramotor wingnear Jackson, Wyoming Photo: LorenCoxDESIGN & 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: 020 7193 9133 SKYWINGS ONLINE Go For the April issue enter the username April_2018 and the case-sensitive password dF#78rP For the May issue enter the usernameMay_2018 and the case-sensitive password 3Mb#kN7DEADLINES News items and event/competition reports for the June2018 issue must be submitted to the Skywings office by Friday April27th. Letters for the May Airmail page should arrive no later thanMonday April 16th. Advertisement bookings for the May edition ofSkywings must arrive by Tuesday April 10th. Copy and classifiedbookings no later than Tuesday April 17th.THE BHPA LTD 8 Merus Court, Meridian Business Park,Leicester LE19 1RJ. Tel: 0116 289 4316.Skywings magazine is published monthly by the British HangGliding and Paragliding Association Ltd to inform, educate andentertain those in the sports of Paragliding and Hang Gliding.The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily thoseof the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, theirCouncil, Officers or Editor. The Editor and publisher accept noresponsibility for any supposed defects in the goods, servicesand practices represented or advertised in this magazine. TheEditor reserves the right to edit contributions. ISSN 0951-5712SUBSCRIPTIONS AND DELIVERY ENQUIRIES Tel: 0116 289 4316, The common virtue of all the thousandsof people involved over that time has beento grow and protect their sport. Thiscontinues, you may be glad to hear; one ofthem may even be you. There were timeswhen it looked as if these organisationswould not survive, yet my perceptionremains a good one – self-interest reallydoesn’t prosper, determined service does dogood. The shooting stars that were going toburn their own way faded quickly; it wasalways the stoic, dull plodders who gotthings done. And yes, they are still around.At the AGM you can pick up quite a lotmore than just reading all the publishedreports and financial statements. Issuesabout our staff’s conditions, for exampletheir pensions; why the BHPA has half amillion pounds in reserve; and why we alldon’t get a free glider every Christmas. Orjust how hard it is to obtain that preciouscommodity, insurance, and how vulnerableit is to market forces and pilot stupidity.How we have, in my humble opinion, themost current and competent set ofTechnical Officers we have ever had, and adiligent Office staff handling the myriadpersonalities of the membership.You can ask questions and, usually, getimmediate answers: just who moderates theBHPA Facebook page? And how iscompetition funding distributed? Why havemembership fees gone up, and what havethe old folks done to lose their discount?(Hint: they have not, yet.) There is not muchyou cannot find out, and often there is acertain gladness that someone is interested.And, on my part, a realisation that someonehas decided that they will use theirprofessional skills and spare time to dosomething that is quite involved, for free.Have you, for example, ever tried to buy andrun a business premises?So what state is your 2018 BHPA in now?I hope you will be glad to hear that it seemsvery solid. It is recognised, organised, andable to respond to the frequent threats tothe sport that come along. It is financiallyviable and produces, at a remarkably lowprice, the magazine you are reading (nowalso available electronically). It still has along list of volunteers, from Executivemembers to local Club Officers, who givetheir time to safeguard your privilege to fly.It is an employer, property owner, tax payerand Limited Company. It is regarded wellinternationally, alongside somenational bodies that have considerableformal governmental support. It hasdedicated people prepared to sit on otherbodies, read all the blurb and counselagainst ignorance of your needs. It can anddoes see off the profiteers of our age, whocriticise what they don’t understand in thepursuit of the vacuum of their conformity.I will probably go to the next AGM(foreign blue skies permitting!). I think thatour Officers are deserving of respect andscrutiny, a deserved thank-you and a hard,polite question. If you find yourself on thehill, parawaiting and having a good oldmoan about the BHPA this and the BHPAthat, then good on you. It is a good thing tobe self-critical as a member of thisAssociation - you are slagging off yourself.I will not beat the propaganda drum foryour attendance, but I will give it a little tapto point out that your interest can befulfilled in other ways - the 2018 AGM waslive streamed on Facebook! Perhaps I’ll seeyou there next time?P.S. Free tea? Just saying – item raised.Answer please, minuted! 4 APRIL attitudeI am often the butt of some, I hope, well-meaning humour for the fact that I regularly attend the BHPA AGM, and Iask many questions about its workings. Often I have been one of the very few members present out of manythousands. My interest has extended all the way back to the formation of the Association and the protoassociations before that – nigh on 50 years of development. I have seen meetings conducted in airfield car parks,hotel rooms and cramped and leaky offices, through to this year’s swanky setting of Nottingham’s Belfry Hotel.wishing you were hereBILL MORRIS, LONGTIME BHPA MEMBERCFcall: 01404 Turfhouse, Luppitt, Honiton, Devon, EX14 4SA. Email: To survive 42 years in the Free Flight business you needan eye to the future. So this year I will be supportingJeremy Soper in his first full year of hang glidingcompetition, providing him with a glider from my stockused gliders, which he can then sell at the end of theevent. I have a history of supporting new competitionpilots – Simon Murphy’s Flying Circus was originally thename of a team entered in the British Hang GlidingLeague, and one of the first members was an unknowncalled Bruce Goldsmith.I suspect that Jeremy is going to be famous, too - he ismega-keen on his flying! The first time we met he told mehe wants to be an astronaut, he is studying aeronauticalengineering at Cambridge and is already working on arevolutionary new design of hang glider. He will turn up atthe first round of the BOS with an elderly Litespeed whichwill be his first topless glider. You will be able to followhis progress on the blog on my website. But remember, itis NOT about winning, it is all about having fun:Recently, products featuredin my adverts have beenselling before they appearin Skywings, so I thoughtI’d look ahead and talkabout things that may behere soon. I’m negotiatingfor the purchase of a little-used Firebird Raven in thelarge size, which is asuperb second glider forpilots who want a solidwing to take them on theirfirst XC’s. Talking ofthinking ahead, this photo shows my mate Tomasz Hardejon his Raven (not the one that may turn up soon...) andhis son, who is alreadypractising his take-offtechnique.Another glider that mayturn up soon, but at themoment is just anegotiation-in-progress is this rather tasty AirwaveCalypso. If you are on a very tight budget it is anexcellent first glider – less than £500. Watch the websiteto see whether it has materialised in the present:Just arrived, this brightly-coloured Avian Rio isanother ideal first wing. Itwill require a biggerbudget, but until the snowdisappears so I can rig andcheck it the price hasn’tbeen fixed. I can tell youthat, by Rio standards, itwill be a relatively lowprice: This lovely photo by Darren Shepherd shows me (if youlook very closely) flying another glider along the southcoast last month. That glider has sold, but I do still haveDarren’s nice old Advance Sigma 8 29 – just saying – incase you are looking for a large EN C wing. You’ll find myselection of secondhand paragliders on the website, ofcourse: It’s all about having fun,so it isn’t just usedgliders at Turf! I have newparagliders from Skyman(plus any other brand youwish to order), new andused harnesses, reserves,instruments, clothes andaccessories. Have a peek at the website then come downto try things out for size: I am also the sole UK importerfor Charly helmets. Renownedthroughout the Free Flightworld, our range of six designssuit most heads and purposes!I carry all designs, all sizes andalmost all colours IN STOCK forimmediate delivery. Go throughthe website, or just give me aring and we’ll have a chat aboutthem Another thing I’mlooking forward to isa week in Italy at thePizzo ParaglidingFestival. Italy, flying,sun, beach and icecreams – it soundslike a plan, to me!Should be homeabout May 8th afterwhich, my crystal ballsays, the UK flyingseason will start witha vengeance. Fingerscrossed!For 2018 I am stocking Charly, Apco and Independencereserves, so as to give my retail and trade customers themaximum choice.These brands have sold tens of thousands of reserves,and have many hundreds of successful deployments totheir credit. When all is said and done, that is what counts! My own deployment was beneath a Charly Revolution, andI regard that reserve as having saved my life - it wasprobably my best ever investment. Read the full accounton my website, or just ask me about it! Charly Second Chance from £399 Charly Revolution, from £480.Apco Mayday HG from £415Charly Clou2 from £490 Independence Annular Evo,from £545The NEW CharlyDiamond Cross,from £670ReservesLooking Forwards...The Slightly Alternative Flying Circus!CAA nails Red ArrowsinfringerA microlight aircraft who infringed a Red Arrows TRA andcaused a display to be halted was fined recently followingprosecution by the CAA. On July 9th last year Anthony Hope, 52,infringed the Temporary Restricted Airspace surrounding theFlying Legends airshow at Duxford. The Red Arrows broke offtheir display until Hope’s Quik GT450 trike had left the airspace.Hope claimed to have been aware of the NOTAM announcing theTRA and blamed his infringement on poor timekeeping. At LutonMagistrates’ Court in January he pleaded guilty and was fined£1,250, plus costs of £500 and a ‘victim surcharge’ of £125.BHPA subs increasereminderAs reported in February Skywings, the BHPA Exec, havingreviewed subscription rates in the light of rising costs (see alsoBHPA Financial Report, January), has agreed to increasemembership subscriptions with effect from April 1st. The newsubs, etc, are as follows: Flying Member £106; Flying Member(Family Group) £94; Flying Member (Under 21) £86; FlyingMember (Over 67) £86; Non-Flying Member £45 and 3-monthTrial Membership £62. The Joining Fee is unchanged at £22 andthe Direct Debit Discount remains at £7. The age at whichmembers become entitled to the ‘old-age’ discount has increasedfrom 60 to 67. The percentage of the membership entitled to thisdiscount has steadily increased to a point where the full under-60s subscription would have to be increased to maintain it; Exechave settled on 67 as the probable official pension age for mostof the population in the future. Members already eligible for thepost-60 discount prior to April 1st will continue to receive it. OzoneKrushevoOpenOzone are running a newcompetition modelled on thelegendary Chabre Open –a stress-free paragliding XCcompetition with theemphasis on fun andlearning. The first-everOzone Krushevo Open runsfrom July 22nd - 28th thisyear in a near-perfectlocation. The focus is onachievable tasks and in-depthXC coaching, with dailybriefing/debriefing from JockySanderson. Like the ChabreOpen, the new event is aimedat pilots with some XCexperience who want to honetheir XC skills or get moreinto competitions. Classes,governed by your wing’s aspect ratio, include Fun, Recreation,and Sport, with further classes for women pilots androokies. Krushevo in late July is the ideal location for XC flying.Registration is open now at: Tandem at the DuneOnce again Sunsoar-Paragliding will be returning to the Dunedu Pyla in south-west France for those wanting to share thelove. If you wish to become BHPA Tandem rated they are offeringa training week culminating in a BHPA tandem assessment.Course dates are Saturday June 16th to Saturday June 23rd. Pilotsmust be P rated with 100+ hours and have good skills.Equipment will include both new and old tandem wings; pilots6 APRIL Paramotor cavepainting discovered!newsA study recently published in the journal Science revealed that cave paintings at LaPasiega near Bilbao have been dated to more than 64,000 years ago. This predates thearrival of modern humans by over 20,000 years and means that Neanderthals, formerlybelieved to have been incapable of moral or creative thought, are now seen to have beenhighly accomplished in the field of art. Although the view that Neanderthals were moreadvanced than they had been given credit for is contested, paintings found at a numberof sites in Spain make the most convincing case yet. Of greater significance to free fliersis the fact that one of the La Pasiega paintings clearly depicts a paramotor. Incapable ofmoral or creative thought they may have been, nevertheless the surprising discoveriesof La Pasiega make it clear that the Neanderthals, thought to have become extinct40,000 years ago, had not only mastered flight but could wield a plug spanner too!BHPA 500 ClubWIN CASH PRIZES AND HELPTHE ASSOCIATION! February winnersChris Wood £130.60Kearn Malin £65.30Derek Pavey £32.65Gerald Nolan £19.59John Taylor £16.33Charles Blount £16.33Anne Breckenridge £13.06Steven Mackintosh £13.06Walter M Robertson £9.80Elizabeth Delap £9.80BHPA £326.48If by the time you read this youhave not received your cheque,please contact me on 07802525099.Marc Asquith continued on page 9newsThe BHPA Pilot DevelopmentStructure has arrived!All post-CP pilots have access to thePDS and it is aimed at everyone, frombeginners to advanced pilots. It isavailable at It worksbest in Chrome, Safari or Firefox. There isalso a mobile version. To see how thesystem works, log in and view the shortvideo help files. The PDS has two primary functions – topresent all the best currently availablepractice and advice arranged by topic; andto allow you to monitor and plan your owndevelopment in the sport, by providing eachpilot with their own ‘experience profile’.A typical skill page has a description,video/diagram or podcast, issues andsolutions, other useful resources, a feedbackbutton and related skills. The exercise pagehas exercises for you to demonstrate thatyou have mastered the skill – and thatusually means doing it competently,confidently and consistently in a range ofdifferent conditions. The general idea isthat the skill needs to become embedded,and doing it once on one hill doesn’tachieve that. When you complete the exercise in a skillpage, that skill becomes hatched on yourexperience profile as displayed on the webpage. As you complete the skills in a skillarea, that area becomes increasinglyhatched and the percentage completedincreases. Each skill has an appropriatetime limit, after which the hatching reverts,reminding you it’s been a while since youlast practised that skill. So the system helpsyou to track your currency - not in hours,but in skills mastered. Your experience profile can also becustomised, by summarising yourexperience and future aspirations in thesport in a few short questions. Yourdashboard will be reshaped to emphasisethe areas most likely to be relevant at yourstage of development. All BHPA licensed coaches and instructorshave access to coaching pages whichprovide guidance and tips on how to coacha particular skill. These are a collation ofbest practice from all our clubs and schools.If doing one of the exercises reminds youthat you’ve never been too sure aboutsomething, then have a chat with a clubcoach. With direct access to relevant tipsfrom experts throughout our community,our coaches are well prepared to help out. The pilots in our community have a hugerange of experience and ideas of the sport,and the PDS is intended to apply to all. So,don’t just ‘push the button’ – actually doingthe exercise might just result in someminor breakthrough which could make youa better pilot! A lot of content is still being written andcollated and the PDS will always beexpanding. If you want to contribute, pleaseemail The BHPA Pilot Development PanelYou will have read various updates on the Pilot Development Structure over the years. The paragliding PDS site isnow live, with other disciplines to follow. You should be getting your login details n the week beginning April 16th. Ifnot, the BHPA office does not have a valid email address for you. For any login issues, please email 8 APRIL APRIL 2018 9will make as many flights as can be fitted in in order to becompletely prepared for the assessment. To secure one of thefew remaining spaces on this trip contact Pete Morris tel: 07980 743864.Changes at Cloudbase Lee Bligh and Fi Burgess of Cloudbase Paragliding have anew Wiltshire base at Redlands Airfield near Swindon, just offJunction 15 of the M4. They have also expanded intomicrolighting with the acquisition of a Pegasus Quantumflexwing and two fixed-wing Ikarus C42s. They also have an in-house glider servicing and trimming facility, a parachuterepacking service offering a ‘super-quick’ turnaround time, anda shop full of goodies. Details are on their new website at or phone 01793 790183. continued from page 6Pilotage at FlySpainFlySpain are running a series of Pilotage courses from April21st - 28th and April 28th - May 5th, and from October 20th -27th and October 27th - November 3rd. Courses cover glidercontrol, symmetric and asymmetric deflations, rollcontrol, descent techniques and ‘search for spin’, plus how touse all this awareness in your flying. You’ll make at least sevenflights flights over three days, with local XC flying too. Allcourses take place at Bornos Lake near Cadiz, withaccommodation at the Eagle’s Nest nearby. Details of what’sinvolved, and about paraglider SIV courses, mentored holidaysand guided XC trips, are at St Hilaire datesThe 45th Coupe Icare will take place from September 20th -23rd at Saint-Hilaire-du-Touvet near Grenoble. The Coupe Icareand St Hilaire Festival remains an event that all free fliersshould visit at least once in their lifetime. The four-day festivalattracts as many as 10,000 international pilots and around90,000 spectators, dividing their time between flying, the tradefair, the film festival, the flying displays and the famedmasquerade fly-down. For details go to Next >