Dragonphotographic

After the last one that's not enough firewood Count me in. With any luck I'll be airbourne by then too

Shocking news Pete. Hope the insurance pays out mate. As someone said, this is a very small world and it's bound to turn up sooner or later. I took this at last summers windfest and Bambi barbeque. I think it's yours? Hope it helps someone recognise it when they see it [/img]

Stop complaining Malcs, at least you made it into the credits Great DVD guys, brought it all back.

Nice post Dave. Apparently one of my specialities as a kid was jamming my Dad's ignition keys into live plug sockets. After doing this a couple of times my parents decided to NOT let me play with them any more. Kids today will never know the adventure of flying across a room in a big flash and then having the trauma of watching their parents trying to soothe all the neighbours who's lights had suddenly gone out

Great to see the manual continuing to take shape. Well done guys

Pete's always flapping

Anything that costs less than a tenner for half a display hall and then doesn't rip you off for £8.00 to park your car 3 miles away has got to be a good start

After such a superb job on the trailer, the DVD is going to be awesome! Well done Lynwen and Dave. The reactions from the crowds of folks watching this trailer at SPLASH were impressive enough. Looking forward to the reviews of the main event

Sounds familiar

Many Happy Returns on the day mate

You two REALLY need to get out more

Is the new engine going to be available in the Dragonfly ?

I WANT ONE! I can't afford £1300, but I can afford a £20 punt

I think the bubblewrap idea has merit. You'd land looking like you've just been bought on Ebay

Fella goes to his doctor and says "I want a sperm count" The doctor says "Don't be so daft, how old are you?" "I',m 86" "How old is your Elsie?" "She's 82" Doc "Don't be so stupid, you don't need a sperm count" At this the old fella gets angry "Look doc, I've been reading up on it and I'm entitled to a sperm count if I want one!" The doc hands him a bottle saying "OK, take this home, get some sperm in it and we'll do a count" The following day the doc sees the guy back in the surgery "How did you get on?" he asks "Well.." said the old boy, "I tried with my left hand, then with my right. Elsie tried with her left hand, then the right. She tried with her teeth in, then with her teeth out, and we STILL couldn't get the f'kin lid off that bottle!!"

I would favour the raffle route myself. However, it may come under the lotteries and gaming act and be subject to tax. (I'll check out the latest regs if you like. I used to run raffles for the air ambulance regularly) The advantages are obvious, you pays a little money and someone gets a great result. As long as you set your minimum to the mentioned £1300 plus any tax liability the idea's a great one.

Blind fella walks into a bar. The barmaid serves him. As he starts to drink he says "Does anyone want to hear a blonde joke?" Barmaid says "listen Mister, this is a Lesbian bar, my patner is the owner, she's a black belt at Karate and she's blonde. The woman next to you can break steel girders with her teeth and she's blonde, I am a professional boxer and hold the world title and I am blonde. Because you are blind I'll cut you a break. Do you REALLY want to tell that joke?" "No!", says the man sheepishly. " Not if I've got to explain the damn punchline three times!"

Hmm, I seem to remember seeing some bits lying around in a barn one wet and windy August

I've just been talking to a very nice chap who regularly accompanies swimmers across the channel and he brought up a very valid point. Does the figure you have been quoted include a qualified channel pilot? Obviously being one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world it would be all too easy to fall foul of the authorities on either or both sides of the channel and a qualified pilot should go a long way towards making sure that doesn't happen. On another note, I have been looking at possible take-off and landing sites. Sangatte would still be my favourite for a take-off. Big wide beaches and fields if the tide is in. As for landing, the area between Folkestone and Hythe looks ideal. Class G airspace and there is a big sports field complex at Sandgate which is just under a mile inland. Total distance in a straight line is 28.15 miles.

Tracey, best of luck with your adventure. All other things aside, it may be best to avoid Dover and move along the coast a bit. Purely from a traffic point of view. You would also have a better choice of landing site because farmland is nearer the sea as opposed to ferry terminals and truck parks/trading estates. A great place to head from would be Sangatte as opposed to Calais for the same reason. Sangatte is a great little seaside town that is very used to mad English people doing nutty things to cross the channel. Attempts to/from there in the last couple of years have included canoe crossings, pedaloes, single seat hovercraft and of course Top Gear's nautical challenge, crossing in a modified Japanese pick-up truck. I have a mate with a 12m fast RIB, I'll ask him if he's up for lending it as a support vessel

Whilst putting something like warrenty return on a parcel may work, technically you are still liable for import duty and VAT on any import over £18.00 I once spent weeks arguing with HMRC because they stung me for an item from the USA that was just over $18.00 but I did get my money back in the end. As PeteB says, you will also have to pay a collection fee to the courier too, (Usually 10% but I heard of more) and that is also subject to VAT. Generally speaking Barclaycard covers purchases made abroad, so if you have no other recourse you can make a claim through them. It might be usefull to check if your credit card offers a similar safety net. Personally, I would prefer to buy here in the UK. With more dealers signing agency contracts with manufacturers it makes more sense to go for the peace of mind. I know a very nice farmer in Devon who sells the excellent Flat Top

I'll have one as well please

Not quite the same Simon. The photos I have supplied to you for Ebay are to help raise the money for the chosen charities. I would not therefore expect a credit, or put my logo on them. Raising money for the charities was one of the reasons I wanted to get involved with the Tip to Tip in the first place. Publications like Paramotormag are a different proposition. They publish for a profit. As such, like any other magazine or newspaper, they "usually" rely on contributions from freelancers and have a set policy. I read that policy before submitting anything, and it is the same as any other 'for profit' publication I have submitted to for over 20 years now. Legally, they are allowed to use (or not use) anything submitted in such a way, BUT they have to at least give a photographer credit. It's infringement of copyright if they don't. Plain and simple. Watermarking (Not the same as an imprinted logo or signature) is NOT an option. It increases file size at the same time as degrading quality. Mags will not accept watermarked images as a rule because of this. They certainly won't accept any image with a logo on. Copyright data is contained in the Exif file of all digital images. If you open one of the ones I've sent you, it will be there under properties. I didn't draw your attention to it because it isn't relevant to images I donated for charitable purposes, but you can bet anyone who, in a professional capacity looks at those images with a view to using them would look at the Exif to check status before pinching and publishing.

Well, personal experience has shown me that it would be bloody impossible to make a living taking photos of paramotoring. Even when someone uses both your photos and article, they don't even give you soddin credit for it! http://www.paramotormag.com/news/510/ Ho hum, won't bother doing THAT again!

Hi Sth Welcome to the site. I live not far from Torbay, and have secured a flying site near Newton Abbot. I am unfortunately away fro home until at least saturday, but fell free to give me a shout early next week and we'll see what we can do