Some of you may be wondering "What the hell has happened to Dudley?" well let me tell you, this is what happens if you live at the wrong end of Cyprus:
1. You're 1 1/2 hours from arguably the best Paragliding site on island. This means you have to be spot on with your Met or you'll spend alot of time on the road and not much in the air.
2. Your on Shift! This means that no matter how good you are at deciding weather it's good to fly, you are invariably at work or due to long hours your sleeping off (I have been flying on my sleep day but I can't reccomend it).
There is a 3rd but it was my choice to have a family and I love them dearly.
Well today I woke up late (around 10:45) and went downstairs to make some toast and have a look at what was going on on FaceBook and also to check the weather as is my way. I had thought about flying today but after looking on weather underground was just thinking I should maybe can it when Dave popped up on FB chat and said he thought it was spot on and he reckoned it would be like that for at least another 3 hours. Well not one to pass up an oportunity to fly, I ate my toast and salami, finished my cup of coffee and jumped in the car.
On arrival (about 14:00) I could see it was doable but on the stronger side so I had a little walk to the sandpit to assess the conditions there and found it to be perfect. I rushed back to get my kit and headed down to the sand pit to try out the latest addition to my kit. A GoPro Helmet Hero (Video to follow).
I was amazed how easily my wing came up and was also surprised how I didn't get torn off my feet as is the norm in the sandpit on stronger days. I just pulled on the A's, braked and turned around, by then I was off my feet and gently floating around the sky. There was lift everywhere and I managed to fly out to the beech a number of times with ease and no fear about making it back to the hill.
Around 15:30 Dave arrived and minced around take off waiting for a tandem passenger he had lined up. Elenor had to leave and so Dave shouted up to see if I could give him a lift home. I told him I could as long as he thought he could get all his kit in with mine as I was dubius. a few minutes later his pax arrived and they launched with very little difficulty and were able to fly around for about half an hour and I even noticed some pitch and roll control manoeuvers.
After a couple of hours I was getting quite cold so I headed for the beech to land, it took quite alot of effort getting down but I manged to land on the beech. nothing exciting to report today but a very nice day topped by Tea at Daves and Cauliflower Cheese and carrots which had been lovingly prepared by Elena, Thank you guys for a great day!
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