Flying in wave

Saturday 21st February was a beautiful day. I was down in Hampshire and the wind was from the west. I had been having some problems with starting my paramotor and the last few attempts to fly were thwarted by flat batteries and the machine just not starting. It turned out to be the ignition gap that needed adjusting and now, I am delighted to say that it starts immediately... everytime... and Saturday was no exception.

The wind was 6 or 7mph from the west. A reverse take-off and I was airborne in a few steps. I took some photos of the farm then flew on to take some more photos of a friends house and on towards Butser Hill on the south downs where the paragliders were trying to fly. The air was very bumpy and as I was flying on my own I had plugged my headphones into my vario so I could hear the lift (and sink!). I found that there were large localised areas of big lift and I was going up fast on idle. I then flew towards Droxford and flew into an area of huge sink - so much sink in fact that I thought I would have to land. I flew back towards the farm and managed to escape the sink before hitting another area of lift and once again, I was rocketing upwards on idle (flying in a straight line!). I later discovered this to be wave conditions. Michel Carnet had been flying down in Brighton the same day and had experienced exactly the same conditions. A first time for me. I was only up for an hour and a half but what a beautiful day...

Hope you were all having some fun outside somewhere...

Skiing to work in London!

Last night I was up at 4am... I looked out of the window and there was a deep blanket of snow outside with large flakes falling! I have not seen this much snow since I was about 10 years old when we really did have cold winters! Gosh, that makes me sound old!

So... I dusted off my mountaineering skis, found an old set of skins and skied to work! It was quite funny to see the reaction of people! I thought that I would get snow balls thrown at me and that people would think what an idiot, but not at all; everyone was in a jolly mood and most said "hello" or "what a good idea" or "can I take your photo?" etc. etc... Makes a change from London town in general!

The highlight was skiing down Balham High Street, when the Halal butchers gave me a big cheer! I was surprised, as I have to say, I did feel a bit of an idiot and a little self conscious, at first... by the end I was used to the funny looks I was getting and was longing for some steep powder! No such luck in down town Balham!

But it was fun for a Monday morning! Battersea to Balham on skis... (Mostly flat except for Balham hill, which is sadly, only a 'green' run!) Di, Sebastian and Uncle Ben came up onto the Common to take some photos... Thank you Uncle Ben for the photos!