rob_jones

HAHA - I think I actually missed off "....hard drive never crash", I actually wrote a longer write up after hitting post it vanished and I couldnt be assed writing the whole thing again.

Just thought I would pen a few words to give my view on this "too good to be true" offer. Like most I guess I am fairly sceptical when I see what is a blatant punt for business on a forum site, but of course it just so happens that I have an ever growing library of Go-Pro footage and images that I cannot seem to contain. I have various 2TB seagate drives that I keep saving data to and no matter how regimented I try to be in backing them up I just cannot keep up with the volume of data generated. After a little research of Excipere and a chat with them I thought why not give it a shot, you dont have anything to loose and £20 for a year of unlimited storage isnt something to be turned away. I signed up and was given a portal link with a username and password, all very straight forward. A quick download of the plugin and I am ready to start. You can select the files and folders you wish to back up and trigger the scan, it really couldnt be any simpler and I have been watching my files copy onto the portal site. Downside - well I hadnt realised how poor the upload speed is from my ISP and its taken 3 days for 18GB to migrate, on the flip side this is forcing me to priorities the items that I must backup versus those that I might like to backup. The utility seems to be chugging away in the background and even as I type this I can see 2 more files just completed. I really couldnt recommend this solution and I consider it to be a critical step in anyones workflow, you will only realise how much you miss those photos once its too late and anyone whom believes there hard drive will realise the truth one day. Great product and service

well i guess theres lots of ways, one easy answer is to just join the army - you will be presented with a whole range of lads with a similar mindset the army will provide the channels upon which you can then explore that extreme element and in most instances they will train you to run/ski/climb/fly....you name it they will do it. Of course in return you need to be prepared to work long hours and maybe pay a price most others wouldn't. Alternatively you just need to hook up with some people doing it, that guy in the UK video had never flown before and only spent a few hours practising his launch before he decided to jump. Its all about the risk and reward, you need to weigh up how much risk your willing to take. I would also suggest you get a good job as all of this costs money and you once your into the gear its never ending

try this bad boy - they get a little more extreme [youtubevideo] [/youtubevideo]

just to keep it on topic (with motor) This is a flight Morgy and I did a couple of years back - was a good laugh and we had a stonking run back to the landing field [youtubevideo] [/youtubevideo]

You cannot knock your enthusiasm Michael and its nice to see you searching and exploring all the options. The only barrier to you achieving what you set out to do is yourself, so just keep going and you will reach your goal. I dabble in lots of different types flying - plenty of adventures to be had here is a little Saturday fun session and no motor needed [youtubevideo] [/youtubevideo]http://youtu.be/bIyi16O7bfE

I think your safe to assume that you "can" take off from any field, whether your strictly allowed to is something all together different. That field is so open and has people riding dirt bikes, flying remote control planes and kiting, I have not had any problems to date and as I mentioned the parks enforcement actually swung by to see what I was up to. Maybe once your kitted up and ready for some flights you can give me a bell and I will meet you over there.

Hey Morgy, I was actually down in Bracklesham on sunday making the most of the winds and a 12m Kite, should of popped round and said hello. I remember you and I looking for nice fields to take off from whilst I was driving down there. As for Hankies and flying, I actually downgraded this year from a 14m wing to an 11m which made it interesting out in Chamonix, a tad faster. I was thinking with all this wind we have been having what would happen if I slapped the motor on my back with the speed wing, that would be fun.

Thought I might share my experience last night with my first flight in over a year. I have been so busy (thats my excuse) with other sports and hobbys that I just cannot seem to find the time to go flying. Like anyone whom is into lots of different sports, especially those costing a bit of cash, you feel compelled to use the kit you have worked hard to pay for, so the fact I had this Bailey Motor sat next to my kites/climbing/paragliders/speedwings....bothered me that I wasnt using it. I think deep down I was also looking for excuses not to fly as unlike other sports using an engine gives you a certain predictable outcome - so you know if your going to fly you will fly, where as climbing a mountain with a speed wing on your back it takes luck to get conditions right to jump off. Anyways last night I finished work early whilst gazing upwards at the silky sky thinking......you know its doable... Right im going to the park to "just practise" ground handling with a motor (knowing in the back of my mind I was kidding nobody and im gonna just go for it) Remember I have not even started the engine in over a year so I can feel the butterflies building as I drive to Purley Way Playing Fields just outside Croydon. These fields are the old airport and just perfect (they are massive and a bit of a hub now for wind sports and remote control planes). To my left I can see some kids playing football and up the top a family are having a BBQ. I set up just outside a changing room feeling the the wind is just coming down the line and at least here I can be hidden from the spectators that always gather. Im getting close launching and suddenly someone from the parks enforcment group comes walking across, he talks like ex military, we share war stories and I do the Jedi mind trick, he wishes me luck and claims never to have seen me. I had 3 attempts to launch but due to the proximty of the trees the week is not inflating correctly, this is frustrating so I decide to stop faffing around and just get on with it. Carrying all kit to the middle of the field I can feel the constant breeze and I know this time I will be up. I should really do a reverse launch as its a nice breeze but decide the set is all set for forward so I am just going, pull on the A's and feel that sharp tug as the wing comes up and pulls me back slightly, maintain the pressure on A's and the wing is above me.....Gun the engine full power and away I go. Observations, firstly I forgot how far back the wing sits when your under power, so I am looking back thinking jeez is this thing going to stall, no just calm down and keep the power on. I have a Vario on my wrist (one of the watch type ones) and I know I have surface > 2500ft here (amazing considering this is London) I am planning to fly to around 1000ft and go down to the M25 and back, the vario is clocking up the height but I can see its on 400 and I am looking way down below thinking gosh this feels high for only 400ft - then I realise the vario is in metres and suddenly I am approaching ceiling. As it took me so long to take off I can see the sun is setting so I decide to just hang around at 2000ft and enjoy the hustle and bustle below. To the North West I can see the planes taking off from Heathrow, to the north I have the towers of Canary Wharf and the Shard sticking up. The air is as I suspected super smooth and actually quite strong as I can see me whizzing downwind. I decide its time to enjoy the peace and kill the engine, sat in my own private world watching the floor slowly rise up to meet me (and of course the little white faces staring upwards) I come floating in and touch down with a perfect light touch landing, big smile on my face. I pack up just as the sun sets and a remember just why I bought the set up. On the way home my brother in law phones me to say he has just seen some nutter flying a wing just like the thing I have over Croydon.......I let him believe there are more than just me out there.

you know we have quite a strong Speedriding community in the UK now and a few sites where the guys are throwing wings around in a similar manner. Main sites are down in South Wales where they are using the seabreeze to good effect. The site in the video is in New Zealand

I seem to recall sitting in s field watching Pete try to take off and his prop slice open a fuel tank which burst into flames. Wasnt the injury from that a broken leg and burns? Due to not doing me pre flights and having the speed line pulled in on one side. the strobes I had on the frame ignited the petrol not the prop I would say without the prop slicing off the filler throat and then the fuel vaporising as it got sprayed over the field it wouldnt of blown - was quite impressive all the same and not everyday you see someone effectively blow up.

I seem to recall sitting in s field watching Pete try to take off and his prop slice open a fuel tank which burst into flames. Wasnt the injury from that a broken leg and burns?

Some footage of the Paramotor/Jet - from about 3.00m in http://www.xcmag.com/2011/06/lakes-char ... sary-bash/ http://www.xcmag.com/2011/06/lakes-charity-classic-anniversary-bash/

Ah yes it is a biggun, great fun blatting around in it and just going places. Well I have always speedrode and paraglided and actually enjoy this more than the PPG. I am in the process of changing jobs and will hopefully have more freetime to get some PPG in. Have been loving your photos of the IOW trips and i wouldnt be suprised if one of those dots in the Solent wasnt me cutting around. Interestingly (although not ratified yet) but we could now have the UK speedriding record with 17 pilots in the air at once Eric the Jetman was pretty awesome and even just the noise of the roaring engines was enough to put goose bumps on the back of your neck

Not sure why the Youtube is not displaying http://youtu.be/pxDZRPyvD1c

Guys not sure if anyone made it up to the Lakes this year for the LCC bash, we had 2 Acro Paramotorist playing over the lake and a special display from Eric and his homemade jet pack - basically a 12m ITV wing and 2 mini jets strapped to his ass, very impressive and a good rate of climb. Short video of the speedriding, I will dig out the jet footage [youtubevideo] [/youtubevideo]

Cracking flight and write up, Although I never have any free time I am still here and about. Over the winter I bought a 6.3m Offshore RIB (blow up boat) if you want some safety cover for a french crossing I will either get a skipper and fly with you or pilot the boat myself. Now theres a challenge!!!

[youtubevideo] [/youtubevideo]I didnt create this video but if you skip to 29sec you can see the take off

Not much to tell really, every year there is a camping flying gig up in the Lakes (on the shores of Buttermere) It is mainly free flying but they love anything flying, I actually attended as part of the speed riding group and did some fast flights down the hills. They put on a helicopter display and giro-copter and of course everyone loves to see Paramotors buzzing around. I was the only one last year with a Paramotor, pretty neat cruising round. They also had Felix Rodriguez last year running D-Bag demos from the helo and attempting the world infinity record - one or two tumbles are great but after 150 they get a little boring. I have some photos and I am sure there are some videos knocking around of last year. Oh and not to be forgotten is the big piss up on the Sat night with band and ale

Have people thought about joining the Charity Lakes Classic, cracking turn out las year and plenty of space to fly from. I took off from within the arena and had a cracking flight along the lakes and peaks.

Check this out [youtubevideo] [/youtubevideo]

possibly I spoke too soon - turns out the chick made plans for Sunday, but I am hoping they do not really really need me there. Prop - well I have filled the tips, I dont think its as bad as I first thought, guess I need to get in the air to see - although after seeing Seymore rebuild what was clearly a splinter job I am sure mine is fine.

So far I am also free on Sunday so will be there (Weather permitting)

this was me last feb - [youtubevideo] [/youtubevideo]

I went to the Dune last year with paraglider and motor, you defo cannot fly the motor down there as its surrounded by large pine trees and any engine out is going to see you hanging from them like a monkey. As for canopy playing, just get out there and get amongst it. There are some shacks on the side with paragliding schools so no doubt you can ask them for some instruction. Take a harness and you can get some cracking runs done and a bit of "Waga" going