Malcs

Frazer, if you've already flown and perfectly landed that 28 Revo then I'd go with that and bite Simon's hand off, at least you already know what it does and more importantly what you can do with it. I did my first two flights and all my training on a slow safe wing and the speed of the Revo looked a bit scary to me so I played safe with my first purchase and bought an ITV Dakota which I find lovely and simple but I do get left behind when the Revos are up with me, not that it bothers me as I fly purely to float around and look at the scenery! Just my tuppence worth!

Congrats Fraser and Eddie, we never tire of hearing about first flights and it always reminds us of our own, a non flyer never quite understands that feeling that is completely undescribable! Welcome to the air boys!!

Simon, post the vid to facebook, the quality and size on there is better than all the other sites! And I don't mean embed the youtube vid, actually post the entire vid to facebook itself!

Looks like the producers have added all the tags now, I've uploaded a really crap vid of my song and linked it to your trailer as well! Hope you shift a few million!!

Oh, and another way to get tons more hits is to add the tags crash, accident, collapse, takeoff and landing, those are all words that I search for along with paramotor and I guess many others do the same! Cheers Malc PS: Yes, 750 hits is damn good in 24 hours but no harm making it better!

Simon, you should add more tags to the vid and to the title if you want more hits, ppg and powered are not in the tags and lots of foreigners would search that, microlight and ultralight would be handy tags too but I'd definitely put Paramotor & PPG in the title line too! Added it to my favourites! Cheers Malc

Well, assuming I get asked to write a song for Tip To Tip 2010, that could be quite handy!!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=z487HeJEkwA Ok, not a paramotoring vid but I figure most of you are F1 fans too so you'll possibly enjoy this!

Have you tried kick starting it, or don't you have tha facility on yours. I've given up pulling mine now(fnarr fnarr) as the last time it nearly pulled my arm off but with the kick start its dead simple, just means sticking the whole thing on your back first but it still wears you out a lot less if you have to give it a few goes!

That reminds me of a funny joke, my friend said "I just got a new BMW Cabriolet for my wife", I said "Sounds like a fair swap"

After 35 hours of recording, re-recording, re-recording again and wasting ten cds through trying different mixes we now have something resembling a finished song although me bing a perfectionist I'm still not totally happy with my vocals. See what you guys think http://www.myspace.com/thesodburys and be sure to take a look at the blog which contains a bit about Tip To Tip and the lyrics too! If you think its missing anything or is generally crap then please do tell! Cheers Malc

From my perspective, my missus isn't bothered about what I do, its not that she doesn't care bout me, she just understands that I like to experience doing bizarre things and I'll go and do it anyway, and that's not to say I'm inconsiderate either, if I was single I dare say I would be a bit more gung ho but I always look forward to doing the next activity with her or holiday, this week I am not going to fly whatever the weather as I am on holiday next week and I don't want to risk even a minor injury that might impact on our trip. BUT, what she does like about Paramotoring is that when I come home after a good flight then I am in a REALLY good bubbly mood and tend to be a bit more sociable and helpful than I usually am, I'm a miserable bastard most of the time actually, especially through the worst summer I can remember that I decided to take up the hobby! I've had a go at several extreme sports and all I've ever done is broken a finger (and that's only because a motocrosser drove into my arse as I got up from a fall) because I know my own limits and stay within them. Neither I or she can afford for me to be off work with a broken limb or worse so I factor all that in to my flying, I'm not interested if the weather is almost perfect for it, it has to be spot on 6mph max for me! Not sure where you are but if you're in the west then you're welcome to join our gang and come and have a look with your wife. And talking more to Francis would be a good idea too!! Malc

Joe I think that feeling is normal whether you've already done free flying or not. I didn't actually 'enjoy' my first 5 flights as such but each time I'd be a bit more relaxed at another aspect of it and knew that I had to get through this to get to where I was comfortable. The 6th flight I really enjoyed and started 'gently' experimenting with low passes and slightly tighter turns and I felt completely relaxed the whole time. On the 7th flight I was so darn relaxed that I started to look at the various things that were holding me up there and whispered a few what ifs to myself, nota good idea but it made me think more about the importance of pre flight checks. I also reached for the reserve handles behind my head and decided that if I were in a flat spin then I probably wouldn't have a hope of reaching them so my next purchase will be a front mounted container! I'm over my fear of landing now because I know that even if I stuff it up my wing lets me down pretty gently even if I flare 'after' I hit the ground but of course I will now concentrate on perfecting this. It has to be alien to all of us, we're not meant to be up there and if ever I didn't feel nervous or didn't feel that alienism then that would be the time to stop, its what keeps you focused. For me want to do this for a long longtime and I'm happy to just float around up there because I can, not bothered about the sporting aspect but thats me. We're all different but all the same if that makes sense! You'll relax soon enough! Malc

I'm considering it but just too damn busy mastering a song for the last one at the moment, it's tough being an artist you know! I guess the next one will be Paramotoring Matilda

That's the correct attitude to start out in this sport with in my opinion, paramotors are replaceable, money is replaceable, your life isn't! Good luck! Malc

Hi Joe I believe they do come with all the necessary fixings as a friend just updated his, in the region of around £100, I think. Cheers Malc

Hi Joe My advice would be to do what most other Pap owners have done and go for the new moulded arms with built in offset, this old system as you've already noticed is somewhat dodgy and is widely seen as the one downside of the last generation of Pap chassis. Give Skydragons a call as he probably has them in stock, you can see a pic of them here http://lh4.ggpht.com/papteam/R4-TD1kNzs ... G_9307.JPG Cheers Malc

Can't agree with you there Dave, I'd drive a second hand car or motorbike no probs but never in a million years will I buy a second hand wing nor probably a motor, i want to know that whatever history it has it is only my history and I know it all. There's a lot like me. If you do buy second hand then make sure you get it serviced properly by an expert first!

Thanks chaps, yes Dave I think I remember Andy. London is fine with me providing it is on a day I can take off easily and before 13th October! A good engineer is really important as they'll be able to translate my bullshit into something technical!

Thanks Wait til you hear it with mandolin, bass, harmonica on tight harmonies, you'll have to pay to hear that though! In the meantime, as I'm now an official sponsor, here's a quick plug! www.myspace.com/thesodburys

Ok, i'll let them hear the rough demo but appreciate that this wasn't even written at 9am this morning so its a bit ropey with several mistakes click the link below and your music player should start playing automatically http://www.malcolmshipp.co.uk/flyinhighfirstdemo.mp3 Here are the lyrics, a few of which have been changed since the recording as they flow better! FLYIN HIGH While playing in my garden, I’d look up to the sky Watching all the little birds, I wished that I could fly Each night I’d lie awake and I would listen to the breeze Dreaming I was in the air I’d fly above the trees I’m flyin high, I’m flyin high With my wings upon my back I am taking to the sky I’m flying high, as high as I can be I fly above the neighbourhood And they don’t know it’s me As the years they passed me by, those dreams were just as real I looked up to the mountain tops, and wondered how I’d feel Floating on the thermals, flying like a bird of prey Then somebody showed me that there really was a way I’m flyin high, I’m flyin high Got my engine on my back and I’m taking to the sky I’m flying high, as high as I can be I fly above the neighbourhood And they don’t know it’s me So pretty soon my dream came true and I could be up there Hauled my wing above my head and ran into the air I flew above the traffic jams, the rivers and the boats And on a windy summers day I flew Land’s End to John O Groats I’m flyin high, I’m flyin high Got my engine on my back and I’m taking to the sky I’m flying high, as high as I can be I fly above the neighbourhood And they don’t know it’s me I’m flyin high, I’m flyin high Got my engine on my back and I’m taking to the sky I’m flying high, as high as I can be I fly above the neighbourhood And they don’t know it’s me © Shipp/Levan 1st October 2008

Hi Guys After a brief conversation with Simon on Sunday he tasked me to write a song about paramotoring (has there ever been a song about it before?) for the dvd. This morning myself and my fellow band member wrote, rehearsed and recorded a rough demo which I'm pleased to say got a big thumbs up from Simon. BUT, although I have some fancy digital recording kit I'm pretty hopeless at using it so we need urgently to find a proper studio with an engineer that will hopefully donate their services for a day or maybe even half a day. Some of you chaps might have some connections somewhere, I've spent the last 2 years just writing and rehearsing so am a little bit out of the scene. I go on holiday for a week on the 13th and this has to be done before then, probably the weekend of 11th and 12th would be handy! Please help out and make enquiries if you can. If Simon allows me I'll post the lyrics or maybe even the rough demo up here! Cheers Malc

I don't think we need the ukelele do we boys?

Saw this posted on Facebook today SkySchool is looking for someone to help out in Spain to do some cooking and general maintenance this October. They will be paid every week as well as accommodated and fed for free. They will also have the opportunity to do some flying. Anyone interested should contact info@skyschooluk.com or +44 (0) 7747097527.