Guest Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 All, Simon Payne posted this picture... http://paramotorclub.org/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=453 (if this link is not working, join (for free) and log in. ) It explains fairly well why I tend not to paraglide anymore, all fighting over the same thermal, I would rather be stuck in traffic on the ground than in the air. I am not dissing paragliding at all, I know how much fun it 'can' be. SW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dantheman Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 It's like that down at Devils Dyke sometimes, I think you would be avoiding collisions more than enjoying the view. Still I bet those times when you can soar alone with the wind whistling through the lines more than make up for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 That looks like a comp gaggle. That is a different thing to hill soaring. Gaggle flying makes thermalling easier as it marks the lift (and sink) they look close but vertical separation and the distance from the lens suggest they are actually not that close together. It is a deliberate ploy to stay together (a kind of formation flying- with its own rules of etiquette and disqualification sanctions) and the trick is to jump gaggles (catch the gaggle ahead of you); thats what the winner(s) will do. Devil's Dyke is convenient place for southerners to go but its easy access makes it oversubscribed. There are many many places that take a bit more getting to where you are the only pilot.! and the mountains!!! oh the mountains, where I go in the pyrenees you can be the only pilot in the air and Bassano, Italy (away from the take off ridge) it is similar ;100 airbourne pilots but you can only see a few, the arena is so big. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 I agree, it is not the same as soring a ridge at all. Because then you have even less space to work in and a big object below you and by the side of you. Combe Gibbet, is a lovely place and a lovely (PG) flying site (Please do not visit with PPG unless well over it by a 1000ft or more!) but on a 'good day' or 'bad day' which ever way you look at it.... there will be 50 people in the same space of air all fighting for the thermals. In fact this is one of the main reasons I chose to stop Paragliding in the UK. Again, not dissing it.... I do miss it a little bit just once in a while.... (so I pop under a cloud with my motor and then turn it off ) SW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon_payne Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Hi all Five minutes after taking the photo i was one of the gaggle which had grown to 40 pilots. This was the only thermal at takeoff which was working and everyone used it to get high before going xc. The pilots were all compitant and had good seperation in the thermal. I took the climb to cloudbase before going on a glide to the next thermal. The following week they held a compition from this site with over 150 pilots in the air at once Nice flying for Febuary ah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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