Report by Pete Malon

Arrived at Bell with two friends at 11am after deciding the trek up to Long Mynd might be a bit too watery. It was just starting to get a bit strong with a couple of pgs and hgs in the air and some thinking about it on the ground. Kirsty Cameron launched first and got a climb out fairly quickly, with another pilot on a Nova going at the same time (Sean S?). I was slower getting ready and the wind had increased a bit so it was touch and go to get off but I eventually managed in a slight lull (many thanks to the kind souls who took the strain before that by holding my Cayenne down during the stronger gusts).

It was strong but manageable, with occasional thermals popping through. I caught the third one far enough in front to be safe staying with it and headed off, climbing steadily almost to base in it as it drifted behind the hill. The sky looked epic and there was lift about but the strong wind was breaking the thermals up (Kirsty saw a ground speed of over 90kph and I saw 70+) and the drift was towards airspace so it needed an effort to track crosswind to avoid that. I managed 12km before hitting huge sink and going from 2,600ft to the deck near Spetisbury in a couple of minutes (not even full bar could get me out of it €“ sad as there must have been big lift somewhere around). Kirsty did about 22km to East Morden. I would have been much easier if we could have continued straight downwind but those nice people at Bournemouth might have objected. Returning to the hill we flew again but conditions were much lighter, not very thermic and going Westerly so just a boat around before darkening skies and intermittent bursts of light rain put an end to proceedings.

Report by Keith Burridge

Heard the early message on the site phone so headed up to Bell to check out the €œstrong conditions€. Yup it sure was top endy with just a few choosing to give it a go. Had a couple of lumpy speedbar flights until the conditions strengthened and all landed. Sean S and a lady pilot decided to go over the back with the flow and one made Whitechurch (I think). Conditions eased after an hour or so of watching the hangies take to the skies and Bell was almost in bloom with floppies from one end to the other. Ali F caught a good one to leave the hill as all were bombing out in the big sink preceeded by the thermal he caught. I think he made Durweston Bridge. Many pilots on the hill during the course of the day including a couple of guests from the Gloucester (Long Mynd) area.

Report by Alastair Florence

Report by Gary Mullins

Arrived just as Russell Whyte landed, proclaiming that it was "b****y cold" out on the cliffs. So an extra layer was needed. Nice gentle flying was had by all for an hour or so until the wind backed to the south and increased. This was when Grant Oseland arrived. He surveyed the conditions and decided that Ballards was his goal for the day. The wind eventually eased enough for him to make a "bottom take-off" ! and off he went out to the cliffs and into the distance, never to be seen again. While he was gone the wind kept slowly veering to the south-east. So the exodus began. Steve Bamlett and others decided on White Horse and Russell and Stookie went to another nearby site. I went home for tea.

That's why, Grant, there was no-one there when you got back from excellent flight. Nice effort.

Report by Paul Ebert

Report by Dave Winn

Report by Grant Oseland

Awesome flying today at the coast, arrived at Ringstead to find a strong south south west wind and no one out at the cliffs, or in the air for that matter and a lot of wind measuring then took place for the next hour or so with various wind instruments and a lone hang glider took off (sorry don't know who).

Decided that despite it being strong I would give it a go so walked down to the very bottom off the hill and took off into strong but still easy to push forward wind strength , I wasted no time and decided that a ridge run was the order of the day as the wind was turning more and more to the south. It took nearly 15 minutes to get to the White Nothe with little hight gain to be had but as soon as I turned the corner onto the South facing cliff I went into orbit at about 600 feet above take off and from there hight was not a problem all the way down to Worbarrow bay. At this point it was decision time to go along the back ridge or push forward onto Gad cliff, I went for the back ridge and at first it seemed to be the right choice as there was still a bit of lift to be had but then it all went very wrong by the car park at Povington hill where I started to take a very large spanking presumably from the rotor off Gad cliff to the front, I went from about 500 feet to kicking the top of the gorse bushes in next to no time so I aborted this idea and about turned back to Worbarrow Bay and took another spanking all the way back to the cliffs, had a quick top up of height then went forward to Gad Cliff which again pushed me up into orbit.

It was now that I realised Kimmeridge would be quite possible from here and went on a long glide down the back ridge topping up a bit with the odd bit of lift on the way but started to get pinned when I hit the left hand edge of Smedmore hill (Kimmeridge) which was quite a way out of the wind and touched down just below the normal take off. I thought about packing up at this time but had a better idea and ground handled the wing around the corner just enough to take off again and scratched all the way along Kimmeridge towards Swyre Head which was working nicely and gave me enough lift to push forward onto Kimmeridge Ledges which provided just enough lift to get back to Kimmeridge Bay along the front cliffs, a first for me, but then it all went wrong again and the wind was to far round to the south and I could not build up enough height to get over Broad Bench and back onto Tyneham Cap and after a lot of scratching I nearly ditched in the sea but just managed to land on one of the Ledges and scared the crap out of my self and also two archaeologists who had not noticed me.

Still not ready to give up, a quick up pack followed by a quick walk up to Tyneham Cap and I took off again and headed for home, well Ringstead and the car, but was surprised to find that the car park was nearly empty and no one was flying, landed in the top field with loads of height at 17:45 and packed up quite content after having the whole of the coast to my self! Just one question, where was every one else?!

Report by Alastair Florence

Had an early (0815) call from Dave W to say he was airborne at St. A's, by the time I got out D had relocated to Kimmeridge and was airborne again. Measuring 17-22 mph on t/o but Dave seemed ok so I just went down the slope a bit to launch.

Plenty of lift and just a little bumpy at times. Dave made a break for the sea cliffs and made Houns Tout and very nearly back onto Kimmeridge just falling short of the ridge lift. I went over to Houns Tout, spotted Paul H and A Nother launching on St. A's so decided to go for St. A's and back knowing I could scrounge if a lift if I couldn't fly back.

St. A's was ok very southerly for the site, got out to the coastguards then built up height and back over Chapmans Pool to the tout easy enough. Then on up the coast in front of Kimmeridge struck lucky for height and cruised back onto Kimmeridge, well chuffed that was one my goals for this years flying.

Meanwhile Dave had got stacks of height in front of the ridge and flew out to the cliff at Clavells Tower then after a bimble, back to Eldons Seat and from there back onto Kimmeridge ridge. A cracking morning all round although it was a bit strong on t/o really.

So I claim the bottle of whiskey I offered for this run, I dont really drink whiskey so a new challenge is, Knitson - Corfe - over the castle - to the edge of the ranges and back, do this and the whiskey's yours.

Report by Paul Hawkins

Received a phone call from Steve Auld at around 5. 30pm saying it might be flyable at St Albans. (I have been pestering him to give me a site brief and see me off from this site for at least 6 months!) Unfortunately I had an errand to run so didn't think I could make it. . . . chucked the wing in the car just in case, finished said errand and drove to St Albans. Had a good 35 min in the air with Ali(thanks for the brief).

A stunning site to fly! Just a shame not to bump into Steve Auld as it was his idea to go there in the first place!

Report by Alastair Florence

Nice start to the day but soon turned to torential rain and I really didn't have any inspiration to even think about going flying today.

That is until Steve A apparently suggested (thanks Steve) to Paul H that St. Aldhelms might be flyable late PM, then Paul text me to see what I thought, I had no idea and little wish to find out really but as Paul had not flown here before I said I might take a look about 2000hrs ish.

Rain spots on the windscreen driving up did not bode well, I secretly hoped Paul wouldn't show and I could just go home.

He did show and we took a walk out to t/o where I didn't look to bad.

Soon both launched and found and abundance of smooth lift in an almost due Westerly. Both had a really enjoyable evening, Paul doing all sorts of stuff and me trying for Houns Tout a couple of times and still not quite making it. (much nearer this time) 400 - 500ft ato easy and got almost to the far side of the pool but started sinking fast. Too much west in it really. Both landed back at the car park in gathering dusk (yes that is the moon behind Paul in one of the pictures)

Report by Alastair Florence

Report by Grant Oseland

Report by Alastair Florence

I had a proper days leave today and spent the first 3 hours (0700 onward) at Bell chainsawing blackthorn bushes off the spur. Still there arn't to many left standing now, all they need is shoving in a heap and burning.

Then off to Ringstead where several pilots had been flying or thinking about it. Very light and a lot of South so me and few others went to White Horse, Henry ? and John W plus Gail O determined to not let me see the top of her wing (and mostly succeeding). Very eratic wind and strong so after finding cloudbase at 300 ft ato gave up and went back to Ringstead where wings were all over the ridge.

Too much South for a while (although Grant had just flown back from a trip to Durdle Door). Later got much better and turned out perfect for a coast run (ok I cheated a bit) RW and Grant making Lulworth and back with me (Grant several times) couldn't go past the cove as the range was active.

All my recent pictures seem to feature cloud, shame cloudbase always seems to be a few hundred feet instead of a few thousand.

I noticed there were no sitephone messages I just assumed some else before me would have done it, oh well.

Thijs Visser

What a great experience! Yesterday (Saturday 14 July) was my first flight to the cliffs at Ringstead. What a stunning views! Just after 5 o'clock the wind came down, and the first paraglider took of for some great afternoon flying! After a short site briefing from RW (thanks by the way), I also tried my luck. Carefully manoeuvring through 17 fellow paragliders and 3 hang gliders I made my way to the cliffs. Really amazing and really nice to experience the dynamic lift along the cliffs. 35 minutes later I landed satisfied at the top landing spot. Unfortunately the wind dropped down more later on, so my second flight was just a very short one and I made a slope landing just 5 minutes after take off. Hopefully we will soon get a real summer, as I cannot wait to fly again!

Report by Alastair Florence

I went up to St. Aldhelms late tonight, nice medium wind speed but off to the South quite a bit so out by the coastguards was working best. A bit cloudy at times but the clouds where producing plenty of lift so quite pleasant. You could see the clouds coming in low over the sea and check there was a clear spot past each one. I made a run for the car park direct from the coastguards with about 300ft ato as it started raining, couldn't really see the ground but guessed direction, lost alot of height and landed with no probs about half way back (the corn has been harvested so nice stubble fields to land in now). Got home just before sunset.

Report by Gail Otton

Report by Keith Burridge

Report by Alastair Florence

Picture taken on Bell this evening of one of those weird clouds that crop up now and again.

This one looked normal to the left of the picture and just like someone had turned the right side upside down, totally flat on top and very ragged bottom.

Thanks for the late PM sitephone messages several of us benefited from them.

Report by Stuart Martin

Report by Stephen Arnold

Report by Marcus Webster

Report by Alastair Florence

After deep consultation with Dave W we still couldnt decide where to go today so went to Kimmeridge. Met up about 0900hrs ish, still very light but promising. It soon improved and Dave and me and a little later Keith W had a good session in reasonably good conditions with some quite workable thermals, 350ft ato ish, the whole ridge began working after a bit tho you did have to work the thermals in places. Plenty of clouds developing in land and the sky looked great. After a bit Dave went off to Ringstead to pursue his tandem training, me and Keith felt a change was as good as a rest and followed suit.

Ringstead was, well Ringstead pleasantly flyable up until maybe 1400hrs when it picked up a fair bit with Neil W milking the last out of it. Around 1300 there must have been about 20 wings flying. Derek 'The Grandfather' putting in a sterling performance as did many others, Gary P also on the tandem training, ( in my attic I have a pair of those mid 70's wedge shoes somewhere if they would come in handy to see over the passenger).

One of my ground crew reports seeing a Blue glider landing near Durlston about 1600hrs ish

Report by Shamus Pitts

Report by Alastair Florence

If there was a flying window early today I missed it as I didn't look out the bedroom window until after it had closed.

Still it was a good day for working on the latest home extension, nice cooling breeze.

About 2030hrs I took a ride up to St Aldhelms and found it annoyingly light 7 - 9 mph, so got in the air quick and found it pleasantly smooth and suprisingly bouyant up to 250ft ato. Had a mooch up and down for a bit as the sun set into a nice pastel colour.

Report by David Franklin

It was a hanglider day at Bell today with some good flights had. The wind settled down eventually and lots of paragliders were led off the hill by Derek. He was keen to fly his new Golden 2 and spent a good bit of time flying around at the top of the stack. I took off at 6.10 and within a few minutes was lucky enough to get a lift to over 5,000ft and had a very pleasant flight landing near the edge of air space. David Franklin.

Report by Mike Bretherton

I have just returned from 2 weeks in Piedrahita with Adrian Bishop and Simon Herbert and I hear its been raining here a bit. Well it was hot, sunny and flyable there almost every day and a few were of the epic variety. On Big Thursday day the British Open competition set their longest task in history and it was apparently the 5th longest ever valid paragliding task ever set in the world. A race to goal of 154km. Oooh baby not the day to bomb out ! It was a slow start but with eventual good climbs up into Madrid airspace (that's about 12 grand !) and a reasonable downwind drift, 28 out of 130 pilots made goal. I destroyed my previous personal best of 90km and I flew 138km during an epic 6 hour flight which included several low saves when I was helped by some feathered friends marking a thermal. We made loads of other good flights in completely different conditions every day. I am completely flown out, well until weatherjack forecasts a 5 that is, if ever in this dismal year.

Report by Shamus Pitts

Went to Whitesheet for the first time today. I arrived at 11:30 to a strong and gusty scene, which only seemed to get stronger and more gusty over the couple of hours I waited. There was nothing on the site phone to say that anywhere else was any better so I went home.

About 4:30 and next doors weather-vane was indicating north-westerly so I thought I'd have a look at Telegraph hill "just in case". when I got there the wind was 18-20mph and gusty, but there was a wing in the air so I thought I'd have a go.

I "enjoyed" 25 minutes of being thrown about the sky before the lift died a bit and I had to bottom land. I managed to get about 300' ATO well out in front of the ridge and it was a lot smoother, but scratching in close to the trees was particularly bumpy.

It was good to get in the air - hopefully tomorrow will be smoother!

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