JESSOPS SMASH RECORDS

You’ve probably heard that Ruth and Ulric Jessop had an amazing day in the big blue room recently. They had launched from the Cairnwell on the morning of 3 June and after initially sinking out, relaunched and headed north to a hill with a cu forming over it. This turned out to be the stairway to heaven, and took them to base at about 2200m. The next 40k were spent in 0.5 down glides under a bloody great big cloud motorway with the occasional top up, and they ended up at Knoydart, 108 km away. Not only is this a new Scottish record, but it’s also the new British tandem record. There’s also a record involving turn points of 110 km in there somewhere, and Ulric’s (And Ruth’s) first 100km in Scotland. The flight took 3.5 hrs, and the retrieve was a longer epic, starring Ans Khan and the Craigmiles, taking 6 hours. Needless to say, there was much merrymaking and celebration that evening, and Ruth says she couldn’t have done it without Ulric. Congratulations from all of us, and keep up the good work.

P.S. Ulric has been selected for the British team to compete in the European Champs in Garmisch, and is probably flying like a man possessed at this very moment.

Electric Newsletter

A small exclusive group of you have recently started receiving an e-mail bulletin from us, full of the stuff we think of the minute the newsletter has been posted. If you’re interested in the rantings of a bunch of plonkers, e-mail us at bulletins@another-planet and we’ll include you. This isn’t the newsletter, but a wee taster fix to get you through the gaps between.

New Club Pilots

Steve and Midi's News

Only after a radical review of technique by his sex coaches can  Steve and Midi announce the pending arrival of Fairgrieve-Godfrey version 1.0. The bairn’s ETA is February, and is the result of months and months of healthy living, organic food and no alcohol. By the way, Midi, Stevie used to stuff his face with chocolate biscuits and guzzle wine every time he came to the shop. Anyway, congratulations and we’re all looking forward to meeting the wee nipper.

STOP PRESS

Sup Air Shocker

Sup air prices are down from last year; most harnesses are about £20 less. This is bad for us, but good for you. At the moment we have a good selection of different models, as the last of it has finally arrived, so if you’ve been thinking of a new harness, come on and try a few on for size.

Aircharts

Just when you thought we had everything, we get more! Recently we received the following charts. Everyone should have his or her own copy of a current airmap.

1:500 000 
Scotland and northern islands
North England and Northern Ireland
Southern England and Wales

1:250 000 
North Scotland East
North Scotland West 
Borders (Edinburgh to North York Moors)

The 1:250 000 range has a lot of useful topographical features, similar to the OS Travelmaster range, but doesn't show airspace that starts below 5000ft, while the 1:500 000 range gives a good overall view of the country. They are all very recent editions, and cost £12.99. We also have chinagraph pencils for those of you who want to do the Advanced Pilot exam. 

Jules and Roddy

Congratulations to Jules Knight and Roddy Webster who did the marriage thing on 29th July. Roddy is a hangie pilot, but should see the light soon, and they've headed off to France and Italy and Germany for six weeks flying honeymoon. Romance ain't dead.

Tom's Tent Library.

If you need a tent, but are too tight to buy one, we have a couple of new ones available to rent for a tenner a weekend - they sleep two comfortably, or three or more if you're good friends. Call the Wake up in Tom's Tent Hotline, 0700 078 2589.

Demo Wings

We still have a few demo wings kicking about, a large Gin Bandit, XL Edel Promise, (both DHV 2) medium Edel Confidence, (DHV 1-2) medium Gin Bolero (DHV1) and a small Ozone Electron, (DHV1). If there's any wing you'd like to try on for size, let us know and we'll get one up for you. We still have two of Edel's classic Atlas in stock, a large (90-110kg) and a small (65-85kg) for just £1500. (Each.) These are still in the wrappers, and are excellent value for money. We're still trying to get hold of a Freex Mission (DHV 2) but haven't as yet managed to get our sticky little paws on one.

Competition News

Scottish Nationals Borders Leg

The only words guaranteed to make the weather turn even worse than using "barbecue" are "paragliding competition" and "Scotland" - the Borders event on 10/11 June was blown out. The people involved went for a walk, and then had a safety talk at the Gordon Arms by Dave Thompson. The event was sponsored by Another Planet, but the organisers hired a truck to send the prizes back until next year.

Swing Scottish Open & BPC Killin

his event was held over the weekend of 1&2 July, but wasn't a massive flying success, again because of the weather. Some folks flew, but not far enough to validate the comp or encourage Swing to give away one of their nice new Arcus wings. Dave Thompson took first place, while 3rd and 4th were shared between about 50 people all together. All of our roving reporters said it was a very enjoyable social event, and the organisers would like to thank Daniel Subhani for his single-handed banzai charge on the weather gods.

Ochils BPC

Held over the weekend of 28/29 July, this coincided with the Extreme PG School's Paragliding Exhibition. Saturday was misty and clagged in, but a few people flew between the mist clearing and the cu nimbs appearing. The rain started about 15 seconds after Colin took the plastic cover off the Barbie, but stopped not long after. On Sunday, an 18k task was set, from near the Yetts of Muchart, and 3 people made goal. Every one flew at least 10k, and the rain held off until the task was finished.

SMPC Stuff

As you are probably aware the SMPC web site has a noticeboard where people could announce where they are going flying, where they have been flying,etc, etc. One of the problems was that people who only had email facilities could not join in. They have moved to eGroups where subscribers can send messages to all other members via one email address. Members can choose to receive messages as they are sent, or via a daily digest. Although set up for SMPC members it is hoped that others will use it. People can subscribe by either visiting the SMPC site or by visiting; http://www.egroups.co.uk/invite/SMPC and click the "JOIN" button.

STOP PRESS

We have the latest news from the European Team Championships in Garmisch after 2 days of competition. All the British lads, but not lassies, made goal on the first day, with Ulric in 56th place. The second day saw him come in 13th and he is currently top Brit overall, in 20th place. If you want to check on the team's progress visit wwww.em2000.dhv.de/english/index.html

Any old Skywings

Recently, Charlie Fyfe made a very generous donation to us, in the form of his Skywings collection dating back to 1990. There are a few missing though, so if you have copies of the following issues, and would like to give them to The Parapente Ecosse Historical Archive, drop them into us at the shop. We will reward you with a cup of tea and a trip to Tahiti at your own expense.

1990 Feb
1991 Mar
1992 Jan, Sept, Oct, and we have a June to swap
1995 Jan, Aug, Nov
1996 June
1997 Feb, Mar, April, Jul, Dec
1998 Mar, Jun, Aug
1999 Feb

SPAIN

We're off on another Paragliding Safari into deepest, darkest Alicante late in September, but due to other, pressing demands, we'll only be out there for a couple of weeks. We will be down near the coast at Dom and Yvette's place with their unique poolside hospitality. Provisional dates are 27/9 to 11/10, and cost is £320. Places are limited, so get in soon and book a place. Call the XC Manana Hotline, 0700 078 2589for more details.

TORRIDON

The picture below shows the view from the beach at the cottage on Loch Damph, up in Torridon. Tom and Mark recently closed the school for a weekend - the first summer weekend off in 5 years. They had a well-deserved break, and even managed to fly on Saturday, before the mother of all Barbecues in the evening, and we spent Sunday chasing the wind around the Applecross peninsula. The area is absolutely stunning, and has great XC potential. Call us on the Midge Central hotline, 0700 078 2589 and we can tell who to talk to about accommodation. There are lots of stunning places to camp, as well.