Thursday 4th Jan 2001 (I think)
I decided to try the green dragons site today as the wind was being reported as a east south easterly and Thurnam could be a bit tricky with that direction and I still need to get familiar with the cage. The wind was very strong when I got there but would also gust down to virtually nothing. The new greendragon’s instructor (Colin) was there with a couple of students down at the bottom of the hill and he pointed out that if the wind picks up much more, there was a risk of turbulence as there are a couple of small ridges near the bottom of the hill that tend to stir up the air in strong conditions.
I set up at the top and made a few beat across the hill but couldn’t stay up in the variable air. Colin came up a little later and started off the same as me but did manage to get a bit more airtime than me. The wind quite quickly picked up as was demonstrated when I got pinned at the top of the hill and couldn’t penetrate. Colin yelled to land at the back of the hill as there is a reasonably sized field making a fairly safe landing area. As I was pinned I heard a rustle, looked up and saw that I had about a 30% wingtip tuck. The cage had got a little light on the right hand side and I heard a rustle. I pitched up on the collapsed side and it popped right out.
It was now very lumpy up there and I followed Colin’s advice and allowed the wind to carry me backwards over the fence onto the field. When I got above the field I spun in my harness so although I was going backwards I was now facing forwards. It was now that I remembered the big ears and I drew them in mentally kicking myself for not remembering them earlier.
I touched down without incident but the canopy was still inflated above me and tugging very strongly. I remembered the strong wind deflation and decided this was the best bet. Without hesitation I let the ears go and pitched down as much as I could and watched the front edge curl in on itself and at the same time, run towards the canopy and quickly pitched back completely killing the canopy. It worked perfectly first time and I was chuffed to find I didn’t get dragged at all. I packed up and climbed back over the gate to the hillside.
I did try a few more times, further down the hill but I didn’t achieve anything else and it ended up quite a frustrating day.