Topic: South West Slopers

Not enough lift for daft aeros...

I thought some of my MPX Fox aeros were a bit daft  - particularly when I nearly got you in the 'nads

Excellent little session this morning at Middle Hope with goeffers, bennyh and Tim, got there turned model on- no left aileron working, remove wing to find broken wire
Wasn't so bad as I heaved Ben's Big Bird towards the sea for his maiden, flew straight out and was fantastic, and I got to have a go, thanks Ben.
Then as we stood around chatting this guy just appeared above our heads


No kidding it was 10 feet above my head He just plopped down


Then pushed out again, looked like fun.


Excellent fun, cheers guys.

John

He was only feet away from landing on my "pride and joy"..... (not the 'nads)
Looks like mobile soldering may be a good investment. What a daft hobby!

{edit} I've also found out that the Big Bird fits beatifully inside my kiteboard bag. The only worrying thing is the salty atmosphere in there from stashing wet boards.... Think I should rinse it out before keeping / transporting the ship in there?

Yo dudes. 'Bout time I put in an appearance here.

What a great day at Middle Hope! Buggered off early to go climbing, only to be blown out by the other party. Should've stuck around 

Been grappling with pretty awful Microsoft video editing software to trim down today's clips from the GoPro. Fisheye has rendered the horizon pretty concave, and it could do with a touch of zoom, but I'm pretty pleased.

Vimeo are busy uploading the first clip (foam combat), should be there by 21.30. See

Untitled

Next up will be the Big Red Maiden - uploading as we speak. It's a larger file so may take a while.

Enjoy!

cheers Timbo.
I think wide angle is better for biking than flying though!
We need Dave and his hexacopter to get aerial footage.....

Nice to meet you Tom, catch up again some time.
Like the video.

John.

Many thanks to Geoffers and his google map, have just managed to spend a cracking afternoon at MK
Wind was constant 15mph with only a few spots of rain (v light).
Only problem was had my Dad in tow and he wanted more air for his pace VXH  !!
Great slope though, had hoped to meet some locals, but may cross paths over the holidays?

Has any one got other suggestions for SW slopes within 1 hr of Brizzle?

Excuse my ignorance, but what, and where, is MK?

Maes Knoll - Iron age fort - East of Dundry

Hi oldschool,
About an hour from Brizzle would be White Sheet, pretty much opposite Stourhead country park.
http://www.whitesheet.co.uk/whitesheet%20on%20the%20web/detail_map.asp

or Frocester in The Cotswolds, you can search the map here,
http://www.scsa.org.uk/

or just over an hour you have the 'Bwlch' (pronounced belch  )- Mickey's slope.
http://mikey.rchomepage.com/bwlch.htm

On Goeffers map there is Crooks Peak which is another good one.

There are more but this should keep you busy for a while
I live in South Bristol and find I spend most of my time in the Cotswolds as it is the quickest for me to get to.
Catch up on the slope some time.
John.

About an hour from Brizzle would be White Sheet, pretty much opposite Stourhead country park.
http://www.whitesheet.co.uk/whitesheet%20on%20the%20web/detail_map.asp

or Frocester in The Cotswolds, you can search the map here,
http://www.scsa.org.uk/

or just over an hour you have the 'Bwlch' (pronounced belch  )- Mickey's slope.
http://mikey.rchomepage.com/bwlch.htm

On Goeffers map there is Crooks Peak which is another good one.

I'd go along with most of that.

- Whitesheet is fantastic.

- I haven't flown Mickeys Slope but the general area has huge potential so it could be fantastic when not clagged in (low cloud).

- Frocester is nice to fly off, but the landing is an acquired taste. You need to sideslip in to land in a smallish area on the corner of the hill. No problem if you're happy with crow though.

- Haven't flown Crooks Peak either, but it looks good.


I tend to fly Frocester but that's only because I live 15 minutes away..
.

Many thanks for the heads-up and links to potential sites, will hopefully catch up with you on the front-side in the near future.

Ian

It's surprising how good Dundry can be - I've had some really good sessions there, especially combat. The LZ is nice too - good for crunchy maidens. I wouldn't fancy maidening something posh at Frocester but the lift there has always been reliably good when I've been.
I live in N Bristol and can get to the Cotswold slopes in similar time as it takes to cross town at the wrong time of day. I'm trying to figure out if I can cycle to Dundry from work in the summer and avoid the terrible evening traffic.....

It's surprising how good Dundry can be....

Just thought I'd bump the Dundry reports, as I've just flown the SE slope for the first time, and it's a good'un.

Been looking at it for a while, and waiting for a South Easterly (not normally the best wind direction in this area, well until today). It features as a slope on the paraglider sites, and there were 3 PGs up there when I arrived - not flying as it was too much for them, poor things 

Access is pretty easy: park just over the old railway bridge & there are 3 gates marked in blue on this pic.

The LZ is nice too - good for crunchy maidens.

Plenty of nice soft green stuff to land on, with the odd brown squelchy stuff too...

Details

       

Looks good Geoff. Is access ok regarding land owners etc?
The planes are flying the shed whilst it's so cold. Also my ocelot is doing weird things, wonder if the rx is damaged since the crash.
Roll on spring
Ben

Sent from my MB526 using Tapatalk

Hi Ben - seems like the PG community have got approval for this site
http://www.avonhgpg.co.uk/sites/maesknol.php so may need to give them preference, or fly there when it's too strong for them...

Another glider-guider turned up whilst I was flying.His airleon Y-lead had pulled out so he didn't fly, but I had great fun exercising his dog for him, making low passes but avoiding any teeth marks 

Excellent little session this morning at Middle Hope with Geoffers, Bennyh and Tim, .....
John

Should have been there this arvo Jonny  - lift was awesome. The type you don't need to bother with yer glider : just stick your arms out and lean out from the slope and pretend to fly 

However it did make it a bit interesting as I had 2 recently repaired mouldies to re-maiden, balance and trim


I started with the Blade but realised it was going to need full balast, so trimming a screaming, ballasted rocket ship was interesting to say the least. Flew out no problem with no trim adjustment required, but any touch on the rudder put it into a dive so there was clearly more down than up in the ele- servos. Tried to adjust by eye, but ended up with the opposite situation (rudder = up) so left off the rudder and just screamed around for the rest of the sesh.

Decided I'd used up all my luck, so didn't attempt to re-maiden the S'Bird 

How did the re-maidens go?
I would have come out but I really want to get my Mustang finished. Got my 15yo nephew up next weekend who would like to come flying. Maybe Saturday lunchtime/afternoon. I'll have to charge my Venom up and let him have a go.
See you soon
John.

oops - I'd submitted the post before finishing the story, so have edited the rest back in  :

Nice one geoffers, Sunbird next weekend then

John.

Good to hear Geoff, I'm looking to get big bird out again soon. roll on spring and long evenings...
maybe next weekend

Sent from my MB526 using Tapatalk

Stonking lift up MaesKnoll SW slope this morning: Orbifly was showing 11kts @ 250deg at Lulsgate at 9 & it certainly delivered 

Good day for re-maidening the rebuilt Sunbird ...

XC showing N'ly tomoz, so could be a Middle Hope or Brean Down day...

My hope is middling!

Sent from my MB526 using Tapatalk

Let me know, was looking at Selsley but fancy another trip to Middle Hope or Brean. Forecast is looking great.

John.

Benny, Geoff & maybe JonnyST are off to Middle Hope (WSM)

Orbifly is showing 350deg @12kts for Bristol Airport

My wife bought me a weasel for my birthday! astonishing as I thought my sloping habit was a negative trait for marital harmony...
now I can ride to the slope!

Sent from my MB526 using Tapatalk

Happy days and happy birthday

John.

My wife bought me a weasel for my birthday!

Ben - your Weasel will love it here ... 


Just flown the Lido again with my mFwks & Speedo: loads of lift straight off the sea, all along the esplanade .

I was holding out until Sunday/monday, but would have joined you Geoff!
Looks like a Maes session could be on in a day or two. I've pencilled it in.

Shaping up nicely for a trip down to Brean tomoz maybe 

Love to Geoff but I am 'radioless'
Have a good one if you go.

John.

I could lend you a radio Jon. Spectrum dx6I. text me if you want
Ben

Sent from my MB526 using Tapatalk

Thanks Ben, unfortunately I am 35mhz. Looks good today as well.

John.

........Looks good today as well.
John.

Sorry to gloat John, but IT WAS     big sky & big lift (if a tad chilly): Ben flying Big Bird & Weasel - me flying Sunbird & Swinger

Shame you couldn't make it, but there's always next time ...

Yes, a very fine outing indeed.
VERY pleased with the Big Bird now, having settled into it and got her shifting round the sky really nicely.
Wish I'd just chucked in my ballast really. On the bench test this evening it seems the ballast tube really is on CoG, so all ready to go. I've also discovered the wings have 10mm ballast tubes at the roots. Maybe I'll get some wing ballast too for those massive days.
Is there any reason why wing ballast would be superior to fuse ballast, assuming all CoG issues are taken care of?

Ace thermic activity over the gorge this evening with the B3 

Loads of lift hunting for the wispy clouds which hopefully indicated upcurrents, but the best was a launch into clear blue sky which just continued going up and up - didn't quite make 500ft 

Steep drop-offs after the high points are due to getting bored & utilising the height for some wicked aerials 

Excellent,I was up painting my loft room and could see it looked quite stormy behind Dundry. Was surprisingly warm this evening so I opened a Velux to let some breeze in and spent longer trying to get my cat back off the roof than painting
I will at some point join you at the gorge when I finish this little beauty. I will do a build thread too, amazingly complete kit for the money.

Hopefully some more flying this weekend.
I think Benny's forgiven me for Sunday morning, fortunately not too much damage

John.

Ha ha! I thought it was me that flew into you!
It opened up an old wound. Have Gorilla glued it this evening.
Keen to get the Alula back over the Gorge again....

.....It opened up an old wound. Have Gorilla glued it this evening.

Spar's mended on me Swinger too 

Keen to get the Alula back over the Gorge again....

Time for that DLG you know you want Ben