No. 352 AUGUST 2018The magazine of the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association 2 AUGUST 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 and entertain those in the sports ofParagliding and Hang Gliding. The viewsexpressed in this magazine are not necessarilythose of the British Hang Gliding and ParaglidingAssociation, their Council, Officers or Editor. TheEditor and publisher accept no responsibility for anysupposed defects in the goods, services and practicesrepresented or advertised in this magazine. The Editor reservesthe right to edit contributions. ISSN 0951-5712SUBSCRIPTIONS AND DELIVERY ENQUIRIES Tel: 0116 289 4316, THE EDITOR Joe Schofield, 39 London Road, Harleston, NorfolkIP20 9BH. Tel: 01379 855021. E-mail: COVER PHOTO Richard Sheppard cruises his Aeros Combat Lover Defford, Worcs Photo: Richard Sheppard THIS PAGE Colin Fargher test flies Ozone’s new Rush 5 at VillersPoz, eastern France - full report on page 33. Photo: Colin FargherDESIGN & 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 Email: Online: SKYWINGS ONLINE Go to For theAugust issue enter the username August_2018 and the case-sensitive password ##~E*2jFor the September issue enter the username September_2018and the case-sensitive password c1Pr#w6DEADLINES News items and event/competition reports for theOctober 2018 issue must be submitted to the Skywings office byMonday September 3rd. Letters for the September Airmail pageshould arrive no later than Friday August 17th. Advertisementbookings for the September edition of Skywings must arrive byThursday August 9th. Copy and classified bookings no later thanThursday August 16th.Contents regulars reviews features 4 AUGUST attitudeOne of the great downsides of flying aparaglider is the fact you can take itliterally anywhere, pretty much all thetime. You can turn up to a site you’venever seen before, hike to the top, unpack,set up and be in the air in a matter ofminutes. You can fly around to yourheart’s content, as low or high as you like,set down in any likely looking field and beoff, with nobody any the wiser.You can … but you shouldn’t. Not justbecause of airspace (and we all know notto infringe airspace, right?). The situationin most of the UK is such that launchesand landing fields are available to us dueto the permission of the landowners, andin many, many cases that permissioncomes with conditions attached. Thesemay be simple (‘Paid-up local clubmembers only’) or complex (‘Site open tonon-members but only up to six times ayear except between March and May,except Saturday. Avoid a zone 200m roundthe white farm building, find out whichlanding field is open from the house atthe end of the road and put a windsock inthe field to show which one’s open). Theseconditions are usually the result ofpainstaking negotiations between thelandowners and the unpaid volunteer siteofficers of the local clubs. Therelationships are maintained thanks tothe good behaviour of local and visitingpilots and the occasional club-subsidisedgift at Christmas time. Site rules are not just for thelandowners’ convenience, though – thereare safety considerations too. Three of thebest sites in the north half of England for100km+ flights are Bradwell, the LongMynd and Parlick. Each of these superbXC sites exists in very close proximity to atow-launching sailplane field. It is vitallyimportant for everyone’s safety, and ourcontinued ability to use these launches,that visitors make themselves familiarwith the issues surrounding flying atthese places. It is therefore incumbent on anyresponsible pilot to make sure theyunderstand all of the following beforeflying a new site:• Can I fly here? Is this a negotiated local club site? If so do I meet the criteria to fly it –being a member, or a member of aclub with reciprocal rights if they’rerequired? If not, is there a good reason whyit’s not? (Answer: there probably is …)• Where am I supposed to take off from?• Where can I not take off from?• Where can I not fly? Are there any local airspaceconsiderations not covered by anairmap?• Where am I supposed to land? Is the landing field fixed, or do I needto ask permission on the day and findout which one to use? Are there issues with the landing fieldI need to know about – local conditionsdictating a cautious approach? Powercables I need to know about?• Where can I not land? Is there a field or other area nearthe flying site which has particularsensitivities?If you can’t answer (and abide by) all of theabove about a site you’re planning to fly, youshouldn’t take off. Not just because youmight cause trouble for yourself, but morelikely you’ll cause trouble for the other pilotsfor whom that hill might be their local.In 2018 there isn’t really any excuse – weall have the internet in our pockets. Allclubs should have a presence on the webthrough their own site or Facebook (orboth), and their site guides should explainall that a visiting pilot should need to know.Club officers’ contact details are (or shouldbe) available if you need one-to-one advice.When I proposed to Skywings that I shouldwrite this in response to some unfortunateincidents at my local site, the Editor’sresponse was ‘It’s as old as the hills – but itstill needs saying!’ I make no apology forsaying it again.One of the great joys of flying a paraglider is the fact that you can take it literally anywhere, pretty much all thetime. Once you’ve seen every nook and cranny of your local hill(s), it’s easy to venture out of your local area andvisit sites around the country and sample the delights of terrain you’re unfamiliar with. A neighbouring club’s siteor the region you’re passing through might offer better conditions on the day than any hill you’d normallyfrequent. Once you get really savvy with weather prediction and start chasing the points in the XC League, makingthe pilgrimage to a reliable spot for big distance might become your thing. And if you’ve ambitions to competitionyou might well want to suss out the lie of the land in advance.A new-site protocol SIMON BLAKE, LONGTIME NORTHERN XC PILOT AND AUTHOR OF ‘PREPARE TO FLY’call: 01404 Turfhouse, Luppitt, Honiton, Devon, EX14 4SA. Email: Great flying weather lately. Aces have been settingrecords, but I’m happy just flying stock used gliders. Thisrare and very special Finsterwalder Funfex, which I testflew at beautiful Bossington, packs down to just 1.95m.It flies really well, but will probably be sold by the timeyou read this. A good choice for first time pilots.It has been warm, hasn’t it? That’s my excuse forappearing to be asleep in command of my Cure whilst afew hundred feet above gorgeous Branscombe. It wasalso sunny, so perhaps it was the glare? Check out myblog at The Funfex may be sold (£1600) but I have a greatselection of hangies for new pilots. This very smartTarget is under a grand, and there are also superbFalcons and a Rio I also sell more advanced wings. My gorgeous BGDCure is up for sale – make me a sensible offer. Checkout my lists of new and used gliders on the website,because stock is changing regularly. I may have just theglider you You may have noticedthat my businessmethods are notnormal. I like quirkythings, and quirkypeople too. So a roundof applause for MartinGooch, who is buildinga VJ11 biplane glider.The VJ is an ancientdesign that weighs 115lbs, so Martin may findhis white SMFCspeedarms keep himcooler in the heat of summer. He also chose wisely inopting for a Charly NO limits helmet – no halfmeasures: There’s quirky. There’s“interesting”. And thenthere is Jeremy Soper….He missed the BOS infavour of workingtowards his degree,resulting in First ClassHonours, With Distinctionfrom Cambridge - and ajob offer! He then spenttwo weeks hitch-hikingthrough the desert inMorocco before settingoff for two weeks flyingin France. Here you see him collecting the Condor’sWinter XC League trophy and some spare uprights.Jezzer summarised theflying trip as follows:-“20 days, 15 flights, 13outlandings, 12 self-retrieves, 4382 kmdriven, 489 km flown,24h34m airtime, 7 sites,umpteen kg oats, 6 maltloaves, 1 night spent inmy harness and 0chipped teeth. A finetrip, courtesy of SimonMurphy’s Flying Circusfor generous provision of a most excellent wing.” Not badfor a glider that is for sale for £495! Make me an offer….I’d love to be able to givetop pilots more support,but this isn’t the mostlucrative occupation. Inthe past I have supportedGrant Crossingham,whose second place atthe Europeans was atriumph for an absolutelytop bloke - and pilot. Inparagliding, I give a littlesupport to XC star WayneSeeley, seen here skyingout in his Charly Helmet:My website is ladenwith new and usedstuff. Some mayseem to have alimited appeal – likethis full-house mylar competition hang gliding harness,but there is always somebody out there who wantssomething a little bit different. Particularly when it isunder £300! Have a Lovely WeatherFor 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 £670ReservesUK Icarus X Seriespostponed The UK round of the Icarus X Series, dueto have started on June 29th, has beenpostponed till Friday August 17th. Theparamotor race, scheduled to take placeacross Devon, Somerset and Dorset, was stooddown due to forecast strong winds. ‘Thepotential for gusty conditions has forced ourhand,’ said organiser Dan Wedgewood. ‘Thewindows of lower wind speed lost out againstthe likelihood of instability and strong gustsacross the region.’ To join the 30 pilots thathave already signed up, go to for details.FAI-compatibleinstrumentsCIVL has released a list of flight instrumentsapproved for FAI Category 1 events. Thoselisted are compliant to the instrumentspecification approved by the CIVL Plenary inFebruary 2018. In the absence of declarationsfrom many manufacturers, only Bräuniger’sCompeo/Competino/IQ/Sensbox range,Flymaster’s B1/F1/GPS/LiveTracker/Nav range,Flytec’s 5020 - 6030/Connect/Element/Sensboxrange, Naviter’s Oudie 3 and 4, Skytraxx 2.0,3.0 and Vario, Skybean’s Skydrop and Androidphones running Mycloudbase Tracker,XCTrack and XC Tracer will be accepted in FAICategory 1 competitions for flight datarecording. The full list is atDust devil podcastIn her latest podcast Judith Mole talks toUS XC record-breaker Matt Senior and X-Alps and X-Pyr protagonist Jesse Williamsabout dust devils – not just their dangersbut how to recognise them and how touse them. It’s of at least as muchrelevance to hang glider pilots as it is toparagliders. Judith’s 70th release marks adecade of podcasting since the first onesfrom Kai Coleman, Richard Westgate,Nicky Moss and Mark Dann appeared in2008. All Judith’s podcasts are available atAnother FirstFlighter!Congratulations to John Quinn who has justachieved his Elementary Pilot qualificationwith First Flight Paragliding, NorthernIreland. ‘Well done John for making quickprogress in less than ideal conditions!’reports First Flight CFI Bertie Kennedy.6 AUGUST newsOn June 26th - 27th Alex Colbeck completed his self-imposed 6Peak Challenge – to climb and fly from the well-known ‘threepeaks’ of Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon and the threeYorkshire peaks of Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-Y-Ghentinside of 24 hours! Starting with Ben Nevis, Alex pushed on toScafell Pike before tackling the Yorkshire peaks, finally completinghis epic trip by climbing Snowdon and flying down. The 15,000ftand 17 miles of climbing has never been done before. Alex wasraising money for the British Tinnitus Association and YorkshireAir Ambulance; for more info and to donate go toOn June 15th David Broom took off from Sandy in Bedfordshire onan Airplay Snake/Grif 3DC nanolight trike. 25 minutes later heswitched off his engine and flew under thermal power only. Justunder an hour and three climbs later he came to earth at Mepal inCambridgeshire having set the initial record in the FAI’s microlightdistance-in-a-straight-line-without-engine-power (RWL1T) class. Davidhas lodged a distance of 34.54km with the FAI but it’s not clear if hehas ticked all the boxes for a successful claim. Nevertheless his flighthas set the ball rolling on what can be achieved with a nanolightmachine using thermal power. David switched off at 1300ft andachieved a max.height of 4600ft, landing engine-off in a remote fieldbefore hopping down the road to his base at Sutton Meadows. Noprevious record has been set in the solo flexwing class and, ifaccepted, his flight will become a new British and World record. Davidsays, ‘I wanted to show hang glider and paraglider pilots that theirexperience can be enhanced by flying a nanolight trike. I even landedout in a small field to demonstrate that this is still perfectly feasiblewith a trike unit. 34km is only a modest distance and the aircraft iscapable of much more. I was a bit late taking off and then had to raceto keep ahead of some overdevelopment – if I’d launched earlier I’mconfident I could have reached the coast. And, aside from using theengine to self-launch, it’s much more fun flying to and from yourfavourite site than driving there!’ We await the next record flight withinterest. If the FAI update their record procedures it will become mucheasier for pilots in all classes to show what they are capable of.Alex completes the 6Peak ChallengeSnake sets engine-offXC recordOn July 15th Richard Carter finally cracked the 300km barrier.Launching on his Ozone Zeno from the Elan Valley at 11am, Richardthreaded his way around Manchester airspace, routing viaSheffield, Pontefract, Selby and York to reach the coast atCloughton, just north of Scarborough, well after 7pm. 301.71kmsecures the UK's first 300km flight and the UK record set by AlexColtman last year at 281km. Richard has now held the UK opendistance record a total of nine times! Full story next month!300km for Carter!email call (spain) 0034 651736718 or (UK) 0208 144 2087Nepal & Colombia 2018Book two weeks with our team of experts in Nepal orColombia next winter. Early bird offer £50 off!Guided XC HolidaysOver 14 years experience. Southern Spains most popularthermal and XC winter destination.CP Plus HolidaysGeared ultimately for the new and rusty pilots out there.SIV & PilotageFly Spain believe your paragliding skills shouldn’t stop at CP level.Record day atSutton MeadowsAn exceptional day at Sutton Meadows onSunday July 15th. After many consecutivedays of pure blue, an excellent RASPprediction proved remarkably accurate.With cumulus at a good height from about10:30am onwards, most pilots were able torelease at well below 2000ft. KosakaTakatoshi broke his recently established(152km on June 24th) UK defined-trianglerecord with a six-hour, 171km flight,landing back at the field just after 18:00.Andy Keyte made a 116km triangle; RichardHunt flew a 90km triangle; Jeremy Maddoxdid a good out-and-return and a durationPB at four hours; and Rob Hawkins flewupwind to the field next to his househaving taken off after 15:30. CharlieRichardson: 'I think over eight hours offlying was possible. The lift was usablefrom before 11:00 until after 19:00, andsome climbs went to over 7000ft. If we geta repeat of such a day there's an evenbigger triangle available!' Hats off to theCambridgeshire Aerotow Group, whocurrently lie second in the National ClubXC League. Taka's flight accrues to theSouthern club who are lying third! In briefBritish Paramotor Open dates. The BritishOpen Paramotor Championships will run atWorleston, just west of Crewe, fromWednesday August 29th to SundaySeptember 2nd. Competition flying willbegin on August 30th. The event director isPaul Smith and the comps director will beBarney Townsend, with tasks aligned withthe entirely new XC format laid out in hisRethinking the British ParamotorChampionships article in March Skywings.More details are at BHPA AGM. Following an Exec decision tofind a new venue for the AGM unconnectedto the BGA AGM at Nottingham – alongsidewhich it has been held since 2012 – nextyear’s AGM is likely to be held in theLeicester area in February 2019. Full detailsof the new venue will appear next month.As well as the Election of Officers, thecurrent Exec will report on their activitiesand members will be able to cross-examine them on their achievements. AnyBHPA member thinking about seekingnomination for election should contactChairman Marc Asquith or another Execmember to find out what’s involved. Theclosing date for nominations will appear innext month’s magazine.Shasha records cancelled. SashaSerebrennikova’s claim for CorinnaSchwiegerhausen’s 2017 hang glidingstraight distance record at 408.1km hasbeen disallowed. Her flight, made duringpractice for the Forbes Flatlands in January,did not exceed Corinna’s distance by therequired margin. And her 213.5 km claim onthe free distance around a triangle record,set a few days later, has been cancelled asno dossier was received in time. Sasha willhave to be content with the four otherrecords she set at the Flatlands, all ofwhich await ratification.Radio licences from Ofcom. The CAAadministers radio licences for UK aircraftand ground stations on behalf of Ofcom.From November 2018 Ofcom will issue suchlicences itself; the two agencies are nowworking to achieve a smooth transition.Aviation radio frequencies are assigned bythe CAA and this will not change. Moredetailed information will follow shortly.New European record. French pilot MartinMorlet claimed the previously-unsetEuropean paragliding free distance (up tothree turnpoints) record on June 22nd.Martin’s flight, aboard an Ozone Enzo, was372km from Conflans-sur-Seine east ofParis to Rodez in l’Aveyron.Russ 4th in PWC. Ozone’s RussellOgden finished fourth at the Italian PWC atGemona in June. Russ, flying an Enzo 3, wasonly 19 points short of winner Juri Vidic’sscore after four tasks. the only other Britishpilot at the Gemona comp was Seb Ospinawho finished 39th.Small changes. As supplies of the oldcircular BHPA membership stickers rundown the BHPA will shortly be issuing asmaller, rectangular version. TheAssociation is also looking into the use ofdigital membership cards running on aphone app in a bid to bring downprocessing costs.Skywings online. The online version ofthis (August) issue of the magazine can befound at Enterthe username August_2018 and the case-sensitive password ##~E*2j. For theSeptember issue enter the usernameSeptember_2018 and the case-sensitivepassword c1Pr#w6. These details can also befound on the contents page of each issue.Magazines with a cover date over sixmonths old can be viewed online ordownloaded without the need to log in.news8 AUGUST BHPA 500 ClubWIN CASH PRIZES AND HELP THEASSOCIATION! June winnersRussell Hicks £132.60Brent Pullen £66.30Jonathan Browne £33.15Neal Lewis £19.89Chris Holmes £16.58Andrew Burton £16.58Mark Manwaring £13.26Sebastian Nicholls £13.26Arthur Bentley £9.95Mike Hibbit £9.95BHPA £331.48If by the time you read this you have notreceived your cheque, please contact meon 07802 525099.Marc Asquith AUGUST 2018 9Pilot DevelopmentStructure updateAs you’ll already be aware, the PDS was released to all CP+ BHPAmembers in April. Login details were sent to the email addressyou have on the BHPA database. Over 1,000 addresses bouncedand possibly more were obsolete; if you haven’t got your logindetails please update your email address with the BHPA Office. There is quite a lot of content already uploaded, but we haveonly just started and new pages are being added every month.Each addition or amendment is notified within the PDS, but inaddition we’ll pick out some highlights in a new monthlysection in Skywings. There are already around 150 Skill Pageslive on the PDS –but I’ll not list them all in this first month! There have been some great recent additions to the XC module,including Pat Dower discussing ‘The basics of getting away’ andJustin Needham on ‘Trigger points’. Tony Johnston describes‘Choosing the right equipment’ for dual flying, and in the GliderControl module Steven Hope has some great stuff on ‘Strongwind ground handling’. Judith Mole also has some wise wordson ‘The first ten hours after CP’ in the Decision Making andPsychology Module. Due to the practicalities of publishing, this column will alwaysbe a few weeks out of date. For the very latest updates, log in tothe PDS at and click on the alarm bell attop right for all the notifications. If you haven’t noticed, if you click on the Module title on theDashboard, there’s a short intro to that module with a list of theSkill Pages which have been already been identified but not yetwritten. There is plenty of scope for anyone who feels they couldcontribute – please contact The Competition Flying, Speed Flying and Powered FlyingModules are particularly in need of some input. The HangGliding structure is also in development and awaiting theaddition of content.We are also concentrating on completing more Exercise pagesfor you to demonstrate to yourself that you’ve really mastered aparticular skill. With lots more exciting content about to getuploaded, why not make the PDS your first site to visit whenyou’ve got five minutes ? David Thomson, BHPA Pilot Development PanelNext >