SHPF Blog

X-Scotia 2009 Matt Church	X-Scotia 2009 by Mark Robson
X-Scotia 2009 R Veitch

Labels: 2009, Mark Robson, Matt Church, photos, Robert Veitch, SHPF, x-scotia

The winner of X-Scotia 2009 the incredible Steve Nash. From 07:33 until 21:14 on the 30th May 2009 Steve left from The Watersports Centre and then ran/ flew round Meall nan Tarmchan, Ben More and Ben Vorlich - 2.5 hours faster than last year and in completely different conditions.

Well done Steve - more details to come later ....

Labels: 2009, Steve Nash, winner, x-scotia

Pilot No.	Pilot	Pack weight Kg
3	Julian Robinson	12.5
7	Iain Wallace	18.87
8	Paul Myerscough	11.95
9	Nick Ogden	11.4
12	Adrian Smith	15.54
16	Paul Midgely	16.5
18	Scott Rigg	12.48
19	Bob Matthews	15
20	Mark Robson	12.57
21	Steve Nash	9.3
22	Gordon Smyth	20.2
23	George McGhee	20.91
24	Dave Thomson	16.97
25	Jitka Polechova	16.94

Labels: 2009, list, pack, paragliding, pilots, weight, x-scotia

X-Scotia 2009 photos by Matt Church

Labels: 2009, Matt Church, photos, x-scotia

The second ever X-Scotia event is happening this weekend the 30th and 31st May 09. This is a Paragliding and hiking adventure race, based at Loch Earnhead and involving rounding the 3 Munros of Ben Vorlich, Ben More and Meall nan Tarmachan.

The prize list has been mounting and we are really grateful to the following
for their support of of this event:-

Basse Beaumettes - Ruth and Ulric Jessop
Border Crossings - Dave and Beth Thomson
Northern Paragliding - Neil Cruikshank
Cross Country - Bob Drury

The main (but not all) of the prizes for this event are ....



1st Overall - Week in Les Basse Beaumettes

2nd Overall - Weekend with Border Crossings

Northern Paragliding are supplying a raft of prizes:-
3rd Overall - Charly Hotliner Flying Gloves, 1st Female - Ozone Saucisse Sack and for the Longest Flight - Jetboil Personal Cooking system.

Heaviest Pack - Cross Country Magazine Subscription

Red Bull will also be there with rocket fuel and their inflatable start
arch, so no-one can miss the start or finish.

Labels: 2009, basse, beaumettes, borders, crossings, Earnhead, Loch, May, northern, paragliding, prizes, sponsor, x-scotia

Apologies for the delay in getting this information relayed out - however...
Sundays brilliant task to Hawick 46km was won by Chris Harland with another 15 pilots getting into goal. Full results and track logs etc should all be available in due course here.

Monday - no task set as winds too strong for local hills though. Group decision made to not travel further North where it would have been epic.

Labels: 2009, 9th May, BPC, paragliding, status, Tibbieshiels

12:00 Window opened for a race (starting at 12:30) to Goal which is a 3km cylinder around Hawick from a 2km cylinder around Broughton.

Labels: 2009, 9th May, BPC, broughton, hawick, race to goal, task

Well there was a quick briefing and advised leaving from here at Tibbieshiels base camp at 08:45 heading for Broughton.

Labels: 2009, BPC, May, status, Tibbieshiels

Well the rain has stopped and the wind has eased markedly - so much so that kite flying has become difficult. Dinners have been ordered and the beer is now flowing very nicely ...!


As an aside there are quite a few other attractions in the area that you should probably need to know about ..

http://www.roxburghe.net - Floors Castle South of Kelso

http://www.teviotwatergardens.co.uk and http://www.teviotgamefaresmokery.co.uk - for a tranquil garden and fine smoked food - located about half way between Kelso and Jedburgh on the A698

http://www.rbge.org.uk/dawyk - These lovely Botanical Gardens located 8 miles SouthWest of Peebles and near Stobo are well worth a visit.

For a multiplicity of other links the try http://www.visittweedvalley.co.uk

Labels: 9th May, BPC, links, paragliding, status, Tibbieshiels

I have just received more information for those people who may be interested in fishing on St Mary`s Loch - a good place to look is by clicking the above link ...

You may also contact the Loch keeper (Harry Brown) on 01750 42243

Labels: fishing, Loch, St Mary`s

Hello All

As usual I have opened both windTalkers up for free access over the BP Cup /
Scottish Open period.

Tinto LiveUpdates are on
http://windtalker.co.uk/LiveUpdates/Tinto/default
and Broughton is on
http://windtalker.co.uk/LiveUpdates/Broughton/default

You can also phone in on 0796 4446105

Please remember though the Tinto Talker does under-read when the wind is not
from the North or South because of the trees. (Well that?s my theory
anyway)

Now lets hope the wind drops off enough to let us get out flying again.

Cheers
Stephen

Labels: broughton, Pegler, Stephen, Tinto, windtalker

Well over 50 pilots already arrived and registered with lots of waypoints downloaded. Campsite filling up and Dave Thomson gave a talk on general flying points in the Scottish Borders. Imaginery task set and GPS button pressing session followed. Current weather close to attrocious with rain and strong winds ... but the forecast is looking very good for flying on Sunday and Monday 10th and 11th May 09. Live music by "Closer than you Think" scheduled for 9pm.

Labels: BPC, paragliding, St Marys, status, Tibbieshiels

Just to advise that the above page has been updated with some more detail on what is happening over the coming week. Various media organisations have also been advised of what is happening with a short press release etc copied below...

Flying high over Tibbieshiels

Have you ever fancied flying high in the sky like a bird, well this week (9th - 16th May) you may well see some world class paragliding pilots doing just this. They will be up in the air just above Tibbieshiels by St Mary's Loch and maybe flying 50Km or more over the Borders. The British Paragliding Cup/Scottish Open and British Open Championships will be taking place from 9th -16th May. These top championships are weather dependent and so if the wind is too strong then these human birds may not fly. However here is hoping that there will be a very competitive and enjoyable event, with some spectacular flying. The Borders will be well represented with some excellent pilots who hope to do well in these competitions. You never know you may well be inspired to join these top fliers in the future.


For more information

What:
British Paragliding Cup (BPC) and Scottish Open 9-12th May, followed by the British Open Paragliding Championships13-16th May 09

Where:
Based at the Tibbieshiels Inn at the end of St Mary`s Loch

More detail :
The BPC is held at various locations throughout the UK during the year but this is the only round being held in Scotland this year. For more details please see http://www.bpcup.co.uk/borders.php or http://www.shpf.co.uk/shpf-British-Championships-09.php Scottish pilots competing in this competition can also opt to be considered for the Scottish Open. Currently there are 104 pilots registered for this event http://www.bpcup.co.uk/pilotlist.php

Some photos and links from last year :-
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/LLSC/browse_thread/thread/93817c7ee02b9b5e/cad783b2abc45b29?lnk=gst&q=scottish+open#cad783b2abc45b29
http://picasaweb.google.com/BobVeitch/BPCBordersRoundScottishOpenJuly13th2008#
http://picasaweb.google.com/BobVeitch/ByRikMcHargBPCScottishOpenParaglidingBroughton13thJuly08#
http://picasaweb.google.com/BobVeitch/BPCBordersRoundScottishOpenJuly12th2008#

British Open Paragliding Championships
This is the highest level free flying competition to come to Scotland for 12 years - (a FAI Category II competition) where pilots are competing for World ranking points. A competition of 3 rounds with the other rounds being held this year in July: Piedrahita - Spain and in August: St Jean de Montclar in France.
Currently there are over 50 pilots registered for this event.
http://www.pgcomps.org.uk/

There are a number of Scottish Pilots from the Borders area - perhaps one of the most significant being David Thomson who will be heavily involved in both events especially with respect to weather and flying site choice each day.

As paragliding is such a weather dependent activity if it is bad then all these people will be looking for other activities to do in the Tibbieshiels area - if you have a website to which you might want a link then please feel free to email it to webmaster@shpf.co.uk

To learn to paraglide in Scotland there are 2 schools to choose from - Cloudbusters and Flying Fever links here :-
http://www.cloudbusters.co.uk/
http://www.flyingfever.net/index.html

A Borders pilot who will be heavily involved in the site selection and or weather related decision making activities during these competitions will be David Thomson at http://www.bordercrossings.co.uk/

Regards,

Robert Veitch for the SHPF

Labels: 2009, borders, BPC, championship, May, paragliding, SHPF, St Marys, Tibbieshiels

By clicking the above title you can get to the list of entrants to the X-Scotia Paragliding and Hiking Adventure 2009 event as of 5th April.
Applications for entry will still be accepted despite what some application forms may say.
More details on the event are available here and an application form is available here.

Labels: 2009, entries, entry, hiking, list, paragliding, pilot, race, The Adventure Show, x-scotia

Please find in this link the most recent minutes of the committee meeting held in Edinburgh on 19th March 09.

Labels: committee, march, meeting, minutes, SHPF, x-scotia

Steve Durkin has prepared a summary of the work he and others have been doing on our behalf with respect to Airspace within the Glasgow / Edinburgh region.
For his full final report please click this link.

Labels: airspace, Gargunnock, NATS, SHPF, summary

Just to let you know of the revised but hopefully final dates for this year's Nationals -

23/24 May - SMPC - May change as too close to an X-Scotia weekend but fingers crossed
20/21 June - Aberdeen
04/05 July - Arran
11/12 July - Highland
25/26 July - Borders
08/09 August - Tinto
05/06 September - Ochils

George

I am looking to prepare an "uber gallery" consisting of your best 3 to 5 photos from all time related to free flying. To help in this endevour please send an email with your name and a short description if applicable to webmaster@shpf.co.uk
Thankyou in advance.

Labels: 2009, gallery, request, SHPF

As you may be aware Steve Durkin and others have been in discussion with NATS re aispace especially around about Gargunnock. The proposal has now been amended and if you follow the above link there is far more detail from Steve.

Labels: airspace, amendment, CAA, Gargunnock, NATS, Steve Durkin

I know this is last minute but tonight at 19:50 there is a 10 minute programme on BBC 2 where Graham Bell and Ed Leigh are paragliding at high altitide over Chamonix.

Labels: bbc2, chamonix, paragliding, tv

Please find in the above link the full 2008 results along with details on the scoring system used for the Scottish Hang-gliding and Paragliding Federation Trophy.

Labels: 2008, federation, results, score, scores, SHPF, system, trophy

23-24th May - SMPC
20-21st June - Borders
4-5th July - Arran
11-12th July - Highland
25-26th July - Aberdeen
5-6th September - Ochils

Labels: 2009, dates, nationals, paragliding, Scottish, series

Entries have now opened for the Scottish Paragliding Open. This will be held within the Borders round of the BP Cup based at Tibbie Shiels Inn, at St Marys Loch in the Borders.

It will be a 4 day competition and costs GBP 70 (or GBP 60 if you are a newcomer to the BP Cup ), and requires Pilot Rating.

Full details and Entry Form are available by clicking the above link.

As of 23:00 on Feb 17 there are already 50 entries for the competiton, so its pretty clear that there isn't much time - If you are interested, get your entry in quick !

This info courtesy of David

Labels: 2009, details, entry, form, open, paragliding, Scottish

To open the minutes from the Scottish Hang-gliding and Paragliding Federation AGM, held at the EICA, Ratho on 24th January 2009 in a new window click here.

Labels: 2009, agm, hang-gliding, minutes, paragliding, SHPF

We anticipate more than 50 people using the zipline on Saturday - a great turn out but it does mean we'll all have to be slick and quick on the turn around.

Gordon has assembled the list with approximate timings and this can be found here.

Remember Aerofix will be providing a professional repack service from about midday.

John Silvester is psyching himself up for his first chat north of the Border. Please encourage friends (especially climbers or anyone interested in the Himalayas) to come along for this talk.

On the Sunday there may be a comp simulation session, with tasks around Ratho to show what happens at a comp - downloading tasks and uploading logs etc. Please bring your GPS and any associated cables.

See you at Ratho

Cheers

Mike

Labels: 2009, Gathering, repack, reserve, SHPF

Click the title above to get more details on the location of the SHPF Gathering, reserve deployment, repacking, AGM, John Silvester talk and events for the Sunday 25th January.

Labels: EICA, Gathering, information, John Silvester, Ratho, repack, reserve, SHPF, update

The 35th Celtic Cup is taking place in Bunclody, Ireland at the beginning of May this year and they are wanting to give it some publicity in Skywings. So, the next edition will carry some features, a bit of history and some fun. and they wonder if any Scottish pilots would like to contribute a few words to make up a compilation of funny stories.

The Irish (under Geoff McMann and Dara Hogan) have already committed to taking the piss (in print!) out of previous Scottish teams at the Celtic, so consider the gauntlet thrown down ...

Anyone out there with past experience of the Celtic Cup and a neat line in taking the Mick (literally) should send stuff to colin@skywingsmag.com

Your country needs you.

And maybe you also want to consider a trip for some Guinness, craic and possibly some flying in May...

Labels: 35th, Celtic Cup, Ireland, may 2009, Skywings, stories

The Chogo Lungma Crossing - 150km across the high Karakorum .... from Hunza to Skardu, by paraglider (with an extra fleece)

An illustrated talk by John Silvester as part of the SHPF Gathering on Saturday 24th January 2009, Edinburgh International Climbing Arena.

Where is this - well here is a Google Earth KML file which takes you to roughly the Chogo-Lungma area.

Labels: 2009, Chogo Lungma, EICA, Hunza, January, John Silvester, SHPF, Skardu, talk

Just wishing everyone a fantastic Christmas and a wish for lots of suitable hang-gliding and paragliding weather during these holidays.

Labels: christmas, flying, hang-gliding, paragliding

I think that everyone should already know about this event planned for 24th + 25th January 2009. But have you reminded your loved ones, partners, friends etc that this would be an ideal Christmas present - deploying your reserve parachute, repacking it as well as inspiring talk by J Sylvester and more - follow the above link to read more details on how to book....

Here is a link to an excerpt of video showing some deployments at Ratho last year - courtesy of R McHarg.

Reserve deployment excerpt 49MB

And here are each of the 4 quarters of the complete video each about 269MB
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Labels: christmas, deployment, film, gift, hang-gliding, idea, paragliding, paragliding event 2008 scotland, reserve, video

Well X-Scotia 2008 featured on tv a little while ago and if you missed The Adventure Show on BBC2 on 31st August here it is on Google Video.

Labels: television, The Adventure Show, video, x-scotia

Photos by R Veitch,
Why not send links to your personal photos or videos of this event to bob at SHPF.co.uk or add links by commenting to this post.

Scottish Nationals Paragliding Borders 30th August 2008

Labels: borders, nationals, paragliding, scotland, Scottish

This weekends round has been relocated from the Highlands to the Borders for weather reasons - get more details by clicking the above title.... See you there. Bob V

Labels: August, borders, paragliding, scotland, Scottish, series

For all you X-Scotia athletes, your moment of TV glory approaches.

The Adventure Show is doing a big piece on the X-Scotia in their next
programme.

Here's an early heads up on transmission, although date and time could still
change.

BBC 2 Scotland, 18.00, Sunday 31 August.
(If you are south of the Border, it is also available on Sky channel 990 I
think).

There'll be a further reminder nearer the actual transmission.

Cheers


Mike

Labels: 2008, paragliding, paragliding event 2008 scotland, programme, tv, x-scotia

Please find here a link (which opens in a new window) to the most recent SHPF committee meeting minutes prepared by Naomi Miskin.

Labels: 2008, meeting, minutes, miskin, naomi, paragliding, SHPF

Paragliders spotted by the public and evidence provided here ...

Quoting Nigel and Sue Pacey,
"We were on our way back home and stopped to see the very impressive display of paragliders as we turned off the M74.
I am surprised you didn?t cause the odd accident as you were all very visible from the motorway.
I am a keen amateur photographer and took the attached photos which you might like to post here....
With the grey sky you were not the easiest to photograph!!"

Nigel Pacey

Labels: 2008, abington, july, open, pacey, paragliding, Scottish

Photos by R Veitch on Saturday 12th July - Whiteside near Abington.

BPC- Borders round & Scottish Open July 12th 2008

and on Sunday 13th July - Broughton Heights, near Broughton.

BPC 080713

Labels: BPC, galleries, open, paragliding, photo, pictures, Scottish, tos, veitch