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February 2000
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Spain in MayThe big news is that the May trip is actually in April(it’s the metric equivalent or something) and we’re not going to Alicante, but to the Mecca of Paragliding Piedrahita.We’ll be using the services of Steve Ham, who knows the area like the contents of his trousers as well as being a Spanish and European Record Holder. The trip is from 1st April until the 15th April, but if you arrive any day but Saturday you’ll need to make your own way from Madrid to Piedrahita. We only have a block booking for 2 weeks, so it’s best to arrive and leave on Saturdays. The cost is £200 per week, and for this you get bed and breakfast, retrieves, airport transfers (Saturdays only) and expert guidance from Steve and ourselves,. Evening meals will cost £8-10 so it won’t be too expensive, and a weeks flying in Spain should get you in tune with your glider so you can come home and make full use of the spring thermals here We need a deposit of £50 per person, per week ASAP and payment in full by March 15th Call us on the OOH YES, COUNT ME IN Hotline – 0700 078 2589. Do it soon, or you’ll just get sick of hearing the stories. Places are limited, so we can only confirm your place when we receive your deposit. As this newsletter hits the streets we have only a few places left. Don’t be disappointed.
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Guess What!Picture the scene –Midnight, on Hogmanay, 250 000 onlookers, a fireworks display, one drink too many and before he realised what he was doing, Tom asked Christine to marry him. At first she was stunned into silence and just ignored him, and to give an indication of how drunk the two of them really were, he asked again, and she said yes. It’s a fairy tale romance, but more Beauty and the Beast, or maybe Quasimodo and Esmarelda, than any old rubbish involving Prince Charming. The date has been set for 28th October this year, so set the 29th aside as a day to lie in a darkened room, listening to your head throb and swearing you’re never going to drink again. Tom swears he’s not going to. |
Stripy Stewart comes up with the goods!Stripy Stewart has sired a couple of strapping young lads born 5th January, and named Conal and Moray. Congratulations etc etc to Stewart and Stella and we hope it will be less than 4 years before your sleeping and flying patterns return to normal. Incidentally, Stewart, have you seen our range of kids clothing and toys?
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SITE NEWS
Hamburger and ScroggyWe've paid last year's fees for these hills... have you? The agreement with the farmer at Coates farm is that if you fly at these sites it’s £10 a weekday and £20 a weekend day for an unlimited number of pilots. The farmer insists there are NO other agreements so if you fly there you must arrange to pay. Whenever the school is flying at Hamburger or Scroggy consider the fee for the day paid. Which is pretty generous really? |
Hillend.If you sent in your Hillend fee before the end of January, thanks for getting off your chuff and making the effort. You should find this years card and Contact List with your newsletter. All of the monies we received before the end of January go to Swanston Farm, which means we print up the cards (we take the photos, download them into the computer, spend hours printing the cards and laminating them, and then make sure they get into the right envelope) just for the love of the job. If you haven’t sent your fee, and you are going to fly Hillend this year, please send a cheque for £10 for Parapente Ecosse to the shop and we’ll forward the Hillend fee to Swanston Farm. The other five quid will be put towards the bottles of Christmas whisky that Parapente Ecosse give to the farmers whose land the local flyers use. These sites include Dunsyre, White Hill and others which the school hasn’t used in the last year, but which have been flown by others. As a club membership fee, it is the cheapest in the UK and covers less than 25% of the costs involved. This means that qualified pilots have their flying hugely subsidised by Parapente Ecosse. Please help us to avoid the usual fees saga, the excruciating pain of which can surely only be appreciated by the Treasurer of Misers Anonymous, or someone recovering from consecutive haemorrhoid and circumcision operations. If you do find yourself in the position of having to pay a tenner ( the price of 4 pints at the Steading rather than 2) then we hope you’ll have the nice warm feeling you get from knowing you’ve helped the local flying scene a little bit more than everyone who paid a fiver. Hillend is registered as a BHPA site, so if you fly there without paying a site fee your liability insurance is invalid. The daily fee is £2. All correspondence between Parapente Ecosse, the farmer, and Air Traffic Control is available for viewing at the shop, if you still don’t understand the conditions for flying here. |
LambingHere’s a list of the lambing times at some of the sites we fly – lambing is a stressful time for sheep and farmers alike so let’s not piss anyone off by flying when they don’t want us around. Don’t fly during Whiteside 7 April - end May Gallow 1 April - 20 May Trahenna 1 April - end May Dunsyre 1 April - end May White Hill 7 Apri - end May Don’t fly these sites during these times, and just before or after you must check with the farmers, and be prepared for them to say no. If a site isn’t on this list don’t assume there’s no lambing. We don’t want the wee lambs getting upset before they get their throats slit and their guts torn out, minced up and turned into Haggis, do we? |
Mendick
I have a vivid memory of a cold Winter’s day 7 or 8 years ago. Fred Robinson landed after flying for more than an hour, and despite his fingers being completely numb his face was a mask of delight. “I’ve just doubled my airtime “ he burbled.
We were on Mendick Hill, just outside West Linton, and having just completed his CP at a school in Fife, Fred was more than a little happy to be giving his new canopy the longest flight of its life. The hill is an isolated lump, giving a great variety of directions to lob off in, and a beautiful SE face which is extremely easy to soar. It was one of our most used training sites, and it was a huge blow when, in 1993, the farmer asked us never to come back. The numbers on the hill, and the selfish behaviour of a few individuals became, for him, intolerable.
We continued to deliver the whisky, and timidly asked every year whether he’d forgiven us, but it wasn’t until Christmas 1999, that we made a breakthrough. Mr Farmer Junior wanted to give his girlfriend a Gift Voucher, and after an hour long phone call, is now keen to learn to fly himself. To cut this saga a little shorter, we can tell you that a limited permission has been given to use the hill again. Yippee. Right on dude. That’s the good news.
The limitations are that the school can use it, and that there will be valuable consideration for it’s use. We will not park vehicles anywhere on the farmer’s land, and we must phone him before every day’s flying. That’s the bad news.
In effect, as long as the school is using the hill that day, there is no problem if you join us there. You will, however, need to pay a daily site fee. Under no circumstances should anyone use the hill if we are not present. It doesn’t need a rocket scientist to explain why. This site was lost to everyone for 6 years. Please let us never lose it again. As time goes on, as trust is re-established, and as Farmer Junior becomes a Club Pilot, we would hope for the rules to relax.
Last Sunday was our first training day back on Mendick, and it brought back many memories – of old faces, great days, great flights, great old gliders. It was wavy and gnarly and SSW but we had to do our duty and test the air for the students. It was horrible. It was brilliant. Let it not be the last flight we have there.
Neil MackayEarly in January we were shocked to hear that Neil had taken his own life, on December 13 1999. I remember him as a very funny person who was always good company, as those of you who came to Turkey with us in 1994 will recall. He came to paragliding through flying kites, and on my first trip to Scotland I remember he was one of the guys who got out flying as often as he could. His ashes were scattered on Whiteside, as that was a place his family remembered him being happy. When you fly there, remember Neil the Sausage.
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Midweek FlyingIf you’re CP rated or above, and are lucky enough to have time off during the week, get in touch with us at the shop. Some days it’s flyable and we don’t have any students booked in so we might be able to nip out for a cheeky afternoons aviation, or put you in touch with someone else who’s skiving. Call us on the “I Have to go to a meeting and I may be out of the office some time” Hotline 0700 078 2589. |
Davron 808Anyone out there with a Davron 800 series vario can pick up a bargain. Due to a wee misunderstanding one of our suppliers has a large no. of harness mountable vario holders going very cheap. Give us a ring, and we’ll order one or two. |
Tom and Mark’s Used Gear Bargain Basement BinWe have a selection of gliders that are pining for good homes at the moment. We have 3 Sigma 3 wings, priced at £600 each, 2 of them are large (95 – 105kg) and 1 is medium (80 – 95kg). If we don’t sell these they will have to be put to sleep. Another item lurking in the cupboard is an Advance harness, mint condition, with back protection and a 38m reserve parachute for only £300. Hurry in and buy this one before the lads realise they’re making money backwards here. Also, we have an Edel Saber, Medium (75 – 95kg ) which is a DHV 2 wing. It’s in new condition, with NO hours on it, and if you have a wing you’d like to trade, get in touch with us. The worst we’d say is no, and you may be surprised at how reasonable we can be. |
S.I.VWe’re organising an SIV course in July or August, based at La Clusaz near Lake Annecy. The good thing about doing the course over a lake is that if you end up in the water, it doesn’t ruin your canopy like salt water does. The course will help you get more out of your glider, as you’ll be able to realize when you’re about to do something daft. It’s a relatively expensive holiday, but it will bond you forevermore to your glider! Call us for details |
SMPC BashThis years Scottish Mountain Paragliding Club xmas party was held at Killin, and was the third in a row where people have flown both days – let’s hope the trend continues. (That should be the kiss of death for that, then.) A small group took a chance and found a flyable site in Glencoe on Saturday, and on Sunday Aonoch Mor or Killin were the places to be. We heard a report of someone landing in a tree, and we’d appreciate an eye witness report, or photographs for the next newsletter. Apparently the meal was a relatively subdued affair without any revealing pictures taken. |
Insurance
If you’re heading off flying overseas, or want to insure your glider or body parts call Mike Cobbin on 01770 850 201. He’s an independent broker so he can get the best deal for you.
Shop News
A recent trip to Lahndin and the British Toy Fair will ensure that in the next month or so we will be inundated with loads of new stuff – old favourites like Aerobie footballs and kites as well as new stuff like Frisbees you can program to flash a message while flying. Be the first in your street to buy one! They’re only £9.99, but it’s probably a bad thing to get for your dog. We’ve also got the latest Oakley shades just in, and remember, with your 8% loyalty discount you won’t get them cheaper anywhere in town. We have stainless steel flasks (no glass, so they’ll withstand anything this side of a Kenny Logan goal attempt) starting from £14.95 – using the latest in NASA technology these can be programmed to keep hot stuff hot, and cold stuff cold. Don’t ask how they work though, as that’s still classified.
We’re in the process of building up stocks of shiny new kit ready for the 2000 flying season, and are expecting goodies from the likes of Sup Air, Brauniger Gin, Edel and Ozone. We’ve got a Confidence demo wing available to test fly, which is the Edel DHV 1 – 2 wing, and we also have their DHV 2 wing, the Promise, to try as well. Also available for test flying is a Medium Nova Phelix, which is their DHV 1 wing. By the time you read this we should be raving about the Gin Bandit, their new DHV 2 wing that should be arriving any day now. The Ozone Octane is another DHV2 wing that should be available very soon, so we’ll have a good range of current wings to try. In the future we won’t be dealing with DHV2/3 wings very much, because they’re not necessary unless you’re a full on comp. pilot who will honestly need the extra performance.
Also in stock we have the Platypus range of sports rehydration systems (er …drink bottles) that are probably the best value-for-money water bottle you can get. I personally used one on Hogmonay, but it can’t have been big enough as I was still very thirsty when I woke up the next day. They’re ideal for in-flight refuelling.
You may have read the review of John Sylvester’s video about his Nepalese flying trip, in the Feb Skywings & XC Mag and want a copy – we have them in stock at £20. From Nowhere to the Middle of Nowhere is a ripping yarn, filmed by tandem passenger Alun Hughes, and covers the pair as they outrun Himalayan storms, fly with Griffons, meet the locals and fly over some pretty amazing countryside as well. Call in and get one, or your friends will start avoiding you. Alternatively, come along on Wednesday 1st March, to the shop and watch it on the big screen in surround sound. The show starts at 7.30PM and afterwards we’ll be doing a test drive of a new pub - The Waiting Room, at the big intersection at Morningside. Which brings us nicely to the next point.
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After extensive research and testing, we’ve decided that from 1st of March, we’ll be meeting at The Waiting Room, in Morningside at 2100hrs every Wednesday night. Usual procedures will apply, but see below for details of the activities at the shop earlier.Weather Websites
Inverness fruit and veg tycoon, Gary ”Oh what a lovely bunch of coconuts” Williamson, has a very extensive website with lots of stuff about weather. Check it out at http://freespace.virginnet.co.uk/weather.forecast/index.html where you can also see pictures of those zany funsters from Parapente Ecosse in action on holiday in Spain. It’ll make a change from doodling on EuroPG when you’re supposed to be working.
Ulric has a site that’s worth a closer look, www.pottyplace.com/weather should get you access to the CIA’s satellites, amongst other things.
Wednesday Nights - Slides, Videos, Lies and Sex
We decided the Cloud Basement at Another Planet wasn’t being used enough, so we managed to rope in a few stars and have scheduled a select number of the very best.On Wednesday 15 March, Andy Gray will be giving a talk and slide show, detailing some of the humorous times and experiences he’s had in the fleshpots and prisons of Asia. He will also show some of the scabs from his most recent trip to Laos, as it’s pretty unlikely they’ll be healed by then. The shows will be at the shop so BYOBs. Midi Fairgrieve is going to be giving a talk about her travels in South America. Ulric will be doing a talk about a recent trip to Ikea and the intricacies of flat pack furniture, Stevie Codpiece is going to give us a few pointers on photographing trains, and we’ll be running an Instability evening. Intrepid traveller Neil the Hat will be telling us about his recent gun running exploits in Azerbaijan, so check the table of dates below, and we look forward to seeing you at the shop. If you think you’d be able to entertain 30 – 40 people for an hour or so, give us a call on the Instant Fame Hotline - 0700 078 2589 and we’ll get you on the road to infamy in no time.
After the shows we’ll be off to the new pub, The Waiting Room, for drinks and the hilarious consequences.DATE TIME SUBJECT BLETHERER
March 1 7.30 John Silvester’s Wicked Himalayan Film The TV
March 8 7.30 Paragliding Photography-Slides & Advice Stevie Codpiece
March 15 7.30 My Life as a Drug Smuggler- Slides & Chat Andy Gray
March 22 7.30 Corbetts, my continual challenge- Slides Ulric Jessop
March 29 7.30 Big Hills in Peru Midi Fairgrieve
April 5
7.30
A talk about Whales
Russell Leaper
April 12 7.30 Instability, SIV Videos and Advice Tom the Duf
April19 7.30 More flying things Gill Hartley
The Creature Colin is preparing to run another First Aid Course, on Thursday nights over a period of 6 weeks. The cost is normally £50 but Colin will do it for you chaps for £30. You will ultimately sit a small exam. He intends to start at the beginning of May. Get in touch to book your place as these will be limited. Winners The Postcard competition is swelling our mailbag to bursting, and the judges have some difficult decisions to make. The winners all receive a night out with a Parapente Ecosse TI. If you drop by another planet you can view our selection. Furthest Away, Smelliest, Most Boring, obscure Postmark, most delayed. We currently have one from that lady called Horse, from the band Horse, so we’re opening a new category; From the most famous person. We’ll announce the winners soon and send your prizes round by bicycle.
Telephone: 0131 337 0072, FAX: 0131 337 4753
Postal address: Scotland, UK: 34 Ashley Terrace, Edinburgh, EH11 1RE
Electronic mail: Support, Sales, General Information: info@another-planet.com
Web Master: Good comments (bad ones you can keep): webmaster@another-planet.com
Last modified: April 23, 2001