Sunday dawned with a strong wind warning which seemed weird as there was no wind at all. It was forecast to increase however so it seemed to be a good plan to get flying sooner than later. Keith , Si and Chris Miss were first to hit the hills climbing up Snaefell and finding no wind they eventually top to bottomed with K and S landing down in the fields next to the Reservoir.
We then regrouped and decided to fly according to the SE forecast off Mount Stupid and try and get to Hibernia. By this time a large group of pilots found themselves on Stupid. Myself, K, S, Bill, Swalesey, Chris Miss and Gold were on the summit-again becalmed ..Plenty of time to catch up on the gossip and compare how long it had been since we had all flown .the wind then strengthened to 14mph perfect and then disappeared! This was to be repeated again and again as we waited on the top for some sort of steady breeze to materialize. Watty then appeared on North Barrule .took off and sort off stayed up. This seemed to spur everyone on as the next breeze to come along had everyone taking off and going up. Not willing to mess about on Stupid a flock of manxparagliders was soon floating along towards North Barrule praying for the breeze to stay switched on .It did not and switched off just as everyone arrived slope landings all over the hill. Some walked back up a little and took off again to get to Hibernia some walked.
Nice to get out after what has been a very poor spell of weather.
I have just received a copy of the Steve Lamson’s DVD featuring our paragliding competition. Nice film with a bit of everything for anyone who has an interest in the IOM. The paragliding is limited to the top of Snaifell, but you certainly get a feel for what’s going on.
There is a meeting this Thursday at the QB. I seem to inherited a few harness’s and bits and bobs. So if you missing a harness please come along.