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Help with flying sites please


poz

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I've spent a few hours this week researching a local flying site. Problem is, I'm not doing my course until next month and therefore I'm finding places that I think look ideal, but at the moment, what do I know :? .

I'd appreciate it if some of you more experienced paramotorists would have a look at the pictures of the 2 beach sites which are very close to each other, and 1 over view (all from Google Earth - bloody marvelous tool), and if possible, from photos, give your opinion of whether or not you think these sites look suitable, mainly from a space point of view.

This beach is 5 minutes down the road from where I live in Marbella in Southern Spain. It's a great spot, but the down side, is that there is nobody here really paramotoring. No clubs, nothing organised at all. Therefore, once I have finished my 2 week course and bought my kit (likely to be a PAP Ros 1400 and a Dudek Synthesis), I'm going to be flying these sites all on my own right from the off, without any support, (ie: new sport, new equipment, new unknown site etc), the thought of which, quite frankly makes me a little nervous :shock:

As I said I'm not sure if you can help just from a couple of pictures, but feel free to ask me anything.

Also, is there anyway of posting the imagaes of this site directly under my text?

Thanks

Poz'>http://picasaweb.google.com/posnertour/FlyingSiteNrMarbella#

As I said I'm not sure if you can help just from a couple of pictures, but feel free to ask me anything.

Also, is there anyway of posting the imagaes of this site directly under my text?

Thanks

Poz

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Hi Poz

Nice to have a beach launch site :)

The sites look ok in a SW or NE direction, plenty of running room. South looks ok as well especially with a bit of a breeze. SE is going to make it a reasonably tight take off in a nil wind situation but should be ok in a breeze. Other directions (NE to W) should be treated with caution depending on the lie of the land due to turbulence and rotor off of the land features in a breeze. The Northerly directions would be very tight takes offs as well.

The other thing to obviously be aware of is pedestrians, dogs and other animals and the cars that you would be very close to when setting up on take off 2...not the ideal. Avoid them if you can and be aware of potential damage to cars due to wing mishandling, stumbling, stones and picked up by prop etc etc.

Be also very aware of your launch 'point of no return' when flying out to sea. Don't take chances where water is concerned.

Also, regular flying on sand can really bugger your wing so make sure it is shaken out after each flight.

It will be nice as a launch option but it would pay you to look for alternatives as well so you can vary your flights/launches :)

Hope that helps and others may have a different opinion

Cheers

Mark

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Just looked at your third pic as well. Pretty much the same as my other comments except there is more room giving your greater margins of error. The North direction looks a little more forgiving as well if it is just a field. Watch out for rotor again and also for thermals rolling in from the land.

If the breeze is primarily on shore as per your comment you shouldn't need to bother too much about the northerly directions.

Cheers

Mark

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Foil tape or a fibreglass leading edge mod to your prop can really lengthen it's life in a sandy environment. A thorough rinse of the wing once in a while to remove salt crystals which I have read can be very abrasive and damaging. Watch out for offshore breezes developing that might catch out the unwary. An onshore breeze off the sea is likely to be really smooth and laminar, giving you take-off opportunities in perhaps slightly stronger winds than a lot of us could contemplate when there is the possibility of gusts.

Consider a life jacket, or an Agama flotation device, and maybe even a small epirb (just in case).

Not much use on the flying site information I know, but hopefully stuff worth thinking about.

Phil.

PS if it's stuff you've already thought about, please forgive as I tend to think with my fingers on the keyboard, and a painful hip stopping me sleeping gives me too much time to do it.

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Ref: Agama flotation device

Bailey who used to sell the Agama flotation device have now stopped importing it.

Anyone know where I can get a couple (could do with them yesterday)

SW :D

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