Mission From Moir's

Having arranged to meet Anand at the turn-off at 1100, I was surprised to receive a message from him saying he had turned around and gone home due to it looking too stable. Fair enough it was cloudless blue, but the forecast promised more and in fact I was expecting an increasing wind. Of course that would be after I had launch and skyed-out on the way to far distant places. There was no-one else at the carpark so I lingered modifying my plan. Then Rodger turned up and in no time at all we were off to the launch. It looked promising at launch, the wind seemed good and clouds were forming, so we rigged up. And here was the fatal mistake, we didn't stop and wait, as soon as we thought it was OK we launched and unfortunately we launched into nothing. A couple of zig-zags and we on the deck. Bummer. Of course in the meantime Nick and Evan were on the way and launched about an hour later and flew to Matakana. I'm really starting to hate that. Leonardo Flight Link

This is the earliest start to a season I have experienced. After we had the "Wet", July, and then the "Cold", early August, we got light winds and a sunny day with the prospect of some good XC conditions developing. It seemed everyone had the same idea, and at launch we had about ten pilots rigging up and then launching. Jeff RIpley was the first to launch, managing to gain for a while, then heading out front only to return low, slope landing at the bottom of the hill he managed to climb back up and launch again to go over the back and all the way to Leigh. The best of the day. The rest of us fluffed around launch for a while, some managing to claw enough height to go over the back, albeit for only short distances. I couldn't crack 2000 feet, and having launched with a tangled speed system, decided to stay at the Hill for some thermalling practice, landing at the Short Distance Goal Paddock after an hour or so. Trisha had stayed home and some time wa...

Well it actually did look like it was going to be an OK kind of day. Got to launch about 1130 and rigged up, conditions looked light but improving. Decided I would have a little kiting session before the others arrived. That over it looked soarable, and I could mooch around above launch waiting for everyone else. Big mistake, as soon as I launched I knew it was "good night nurse", no lift at all, a zig, a zag, and I was lining up the LZ. Next mistake, was mis-judging the wind. The Moirs Short Distance Goal Paddock (bomb-out in English) is renown to be fickle when landing in light airs, so as I'm coming in the wind swings and/or fluctuates, and I aim instead for what ends up being a downwind on the road. Missing the barb-wire fence I land on the grass verge, except that grass is actually Blackberry (nice-one Tony), the wing flys overhead, fortunately now very slowly, and although I end up on my knees I manage to control it enough to miss the barb-wire and most of the...

After watching the News last night with graphic video of the Tsunamis in Japan, I feel blessed to be sitting Parawaiting on top of the hill. Its a long way away, but there is expected to be some unusual local tidal movement over the next day or two. Ripples of a great event. I suppose its that sheer power of Nature that draws me to Paragliding, the ability to use this power to fly brings great satisfaction even when you only Top to Bottom. Which unfortunately is what we all eventually end up doing, even though some stayed up for awhile. At least we can all return home safely. Till next time. Leonardo Flight Link

Just myself and Anand at launch. Wind SW at about 15 kph, some light cycles, and an Inversion. But we launch anyway, and search the ridge for lift. Small thermals, nothing substantial, and then I get below the ridge and move out front. Luckily I latch on to a slow climb at 900ft and climb until I bump into the Inversion around 2200ft. The thermal seems to dissipate and I sink again. We fly alongside each other out front and eventually circle down to land in the paddock by the road after 45 minutes. Leonardo Flight Link

Well the forecast was sort of right. The wind did get up, but was about 3 hour early, and the heavy cloud final broke up about 2 hours late. Unfortunately the good pilot turnout didn't influence the weather at all and it did its own thing. Only one HGy and one PGr took off and both got over the back. Wayne the PGr got about 17km, just short of Matakana. The rest took the cautious route and walked back out to the cars.

Ok, today looks even better. But it doesn't look like launch is going to be crowded. Plan to get to launch by 1115 but end up arriving at 1130. Jeff is there and ready to go, conditions look good, and he was away. Rigging up and launching I'm airborne by Noon. Initially I'm getting some good lifts, but nothing that drags me screaming to cloudbase. Jeff is ranging far and wide but not getting a lot higher. Then the seabreeze arrives pinning me to the ridge, while Jeff finally claws his way up and over the back. The breeze kills what thermals were left and I assume my usual position and head for the Bomb-out paddock, while Jeff runs to Warkworth, then is pushed North over the Dome and is finally drilled by the NE seabreeze, still a respectable 20km+ flight. Leonardo Flight Link