SHPF Blog
19 February 2010
More speed gliding in Scotland at The Nevis Range recently :-
11 February 2010
SHPF- Scottish Nationals and X-Scotia dates 2010..
Diary-2010-Scottish-Nationals.doc
Labels: 2010, date, nationals, paragliding, series, SHPF, x-scotia
6 October 2009
Scottish Paragliding + Sites guide
Labels: book, flying, paragliding, photos, scotland, SHPF, sites, submit
15 August 2009
Updated Scottish Flying sites page ....
Labels: hang-gliding, paragliding, scotland, sites, webpage
30 May 2009
X-Scotia 2009 pilot list and pack weights
| 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
28 May 2009
X-Scotia 2009 30-31st May 09 -Sponsors
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
11 May 2009
BPC status evening of 12th May
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
9 May 2009
BPC latest status .... 20:00 9th May 09

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
BPC Tibbieshiels status at 1400 9th May 09
Labels: BPC, paragliding, St Marys, status, Tibbieshiels
6 May 2009
BPC / Scottish Open and British Championships
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
11 April 2009
X-Scotia 2009 entry list and links ...
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
9 March 2009
Paragliding on tv: - BBC2 9th March 09 19:50
Labels: bbc2, chamonix, paragliding, tv
19 February 2009
Dates - Scottish Nationals Paragliding Series 2009
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
18 February 2009
Scottish Paragliding Open 9-12 May - details and entry form.
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
4 February 2009
SHPF AGM minutes from 24th January 2009
Labels: 2009, agm, hang-gliding, minutes, paragliding, SHPF
25 December 2008
Merry Christmas
Labels: christmas, flying, hang-gliding, paragliding
22 December 2008
SHPF Gathering Booking details
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
31 August 2008
Scottish Nationals Paragliding photos 30th Aug 08
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.
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| Scottish Nationals Paraglidin |
Labels: borders, nationals, paragliding, scotland, Scottish
28 August 2008
Scottish Nationals Paragliding Series this weekend
Labels: August, borders, paragliding, scotland, Scottish, series
14 August 2008
X-Scotia 2008 on TV
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
6 August 2008
SHPF Committee meeting minutes
Labels: 2008, meeting, minutes, miskin, naomi, paragliding, SHPF
21 July 2008
Photos of The Scottish Open and BPC Saturday 12th July, Abington
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
17 July 2008
BPC & Scottish open photo galleries
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| BPC- Borders round & Scottish Open July 12th 2008 |
and on Sunday 13th July - Broughton Heights, near Broughton.
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| BPC 080713 |
Labels: BPC, galleries, open, paragliding, photo, pictures, Scottish, tos, veitch
13 July 2008
Lots of pilots about to be in flight at Broughton
BPC & Scottish Open Paragliding Task set .....
Race to Goal, Takeoff ~T09050 1312", Multi launch, thermal right, Window open 11:45, Close 14:30. Race start 12:15. Goal close 17:00, Land by 17:00, Report in by 17:30, Check in asap and closes 19:30.
Task:-
Takeoff - T09050 Broughton Heights, Prestart2.5km radius round T02055 (TP1) then 4.14km I think to Race start which is a 10km radius circle around M24016 and start of speed section. End of speed section 2km from the goal G09017. Total distance 44.9km.
Labels: 2008, BPC, july, open, paragliding, Scottish, task 2
BPC & Scottish Open - Setting the task
Broughton - BPC &Scottish Open 13th July 08
Conditions - light slightly SW expected to get better during the day.
Labels: 13th, BPC, broughton, july, nationals, open, paragliding, Scottish
12 July 2008
BPC Borders & Scottish Open - status 16:10 Race start
Labels: BPC, event, open, paragliding, race, route, Scottish
BPC Borders & Scottish Open - status 14:30
Quite a few paragliding pilots went free flying as there is apparently going to be quite some time before the task is started. There had been some discussion about moving site because the wind had veered a bit West but the decision was made to stay put.
Labels: 2008, BPC, open, paragliding, Scottish, status, whiteside
BPC Borders & Scottish open -12th July - Task set
Takeoff - T07035 White Hill - external cylinder 2km radius - with takeoff within 1km.
Turnpoint M0404 2.8km down the ridge - 400m radius then speed to Goal 25.7km Go2011 near Moffat - 1km radius.
Elapsed time multi launch attempts allowed, thermalling direction leftWindow and race start 12:30, Check-in closed 17:30. SMS or voice check in.
Labels: BPC, open, paragliding, Scottish, task
BPC Borders & Scottish open - 12th July 08 status
Well everyone has decamped to T07 - White Hill- near Abington and at least 18 pilots have taken off for a free fly :-
Labels: abington, borders, BPC, hill, open, paragliding, Scottish, whiteside
8 June 2008
X-Scotia 2008 Videos Part 3
Labels: 2008, event, May, paraglider, paragliding, paragliding event 2008 scotland, Scottish, videos, x-scotia
4 June 2008
Chris and unexpected travails during X-Scotia 2008
Labels: 2008, Chris, event, paragliding, scotland, x-scotia
3 June 2008
Add a thing to show the SHPF blog on your iGoogle
Labels: feed, google, igoogle, paragliding, scotland, SHPF
1 June 2008
X-Scotia - videos - part 1
X-Scotia - 10th + 11th May 2008 Videos Part 1
Below you will find the first of a series of a tables containing links to numerous videos and their respective sizes ... Please right click and save as to view. I hope that you enjoy and all comments gratefully received.
Labels: 2008, events, May, paragliding, SHPF, videos, x-scotia
11 May 2008
X-Scotia 2008 - Winners , Prizes and Sponsors
1st Overall - Steve Nash - Sup`Air X-Ride Light Speed Riding Harness & SHPF X-Scotia Trophy - sponsored by Northern Paragliding
2nd Overall and Longest Flight 2008 X-Scotia - Paul Myerscough - 1 week at La Basse Beaumettes - sponsored by Ulric and Ruth Jessop of www.pottyplace.com
Highest % Walking and 3rd Overall 2008 X-Scotia - £300 Voucher - Mark Leyland - sponsored by Niviuk UK
1st Female 2008 X-Scotia- Skywalk Overall Jacket + Sunglasses - Jitka Polechova - sponsored by Northern Paragliding
2nd Female 2008 X-Scotia - Teva Shoes - Helen Gant - sponsored by TEVA
Special 2008 X-Scotia Sportsmanship award - Teva Shoes - Nick Ogden + Julian Robinson - sponsored by Teva
Heaviest Pack 2008 X-Scotia - Subscription to Cross Country Magazine - Peter Will - sponsored by Cross Country
1st tandem 2008 X-Scotia 2008 - Teva Shoes - John Newton- sponsored by Teva
All pilots competing received T-shirts and other small prizes.
Labels: 2008, awards, events, hiking, paragliding, prizes, winner, x-scotia
X-Scotia Pack weights more information ...
Just a bit of fun but I took the previously posted data on X-Scotia pilots and their pack weights and generated this - interesting ?.

Labels: pack, paraglider, paragliding, scotland, weight, x-scotia
X-Scotia - some recent things ... 12:30 11th May 08
4 Bob M No reports last seen in Killin boozing
5 John N In Lochearnhead heading for Ben Vorlich at 12:15
7 Paul M - on Tarmachan 1 hour ago
8 Helen G 2km 2 Killin heading North 3 hours ago.
10 Dave T Just landed North of Lix Toll
11 Adrian S - 579346 at 0917 this morning
13 Johan 590365 near Killin 9am
14 Dave H heading towards Killin at 9am 548310
25 Andy M at 10am at top of pipeline at Tarmachan
21 Scott R With Jitka - through Lochearnhead heading for Loch Vorlich
24 Peter W at 917am at 579346
28 Patrick A - heading for Ben More Hotel
30 Jitka P - 2 turnpoints done currently heading up Ben Vorlich
31 Ian W - with Paddy A also heading for the Ben More Hotel.
35 Gordon S - about to launch from lower down on the Tarmachan
Finished
Steve Nash - unofficially reached goal First
Paul Myerscough - " 2nd
Mark Leyland - " 3rd
Julian Robinson - equal 5th?
Nick Ogden - "
Retirements.
Mark Harrison, Chris Miles, Peter Shields, Billy Casson, Crawford Coulson
Labels: paragliding, position, results, scotland, status, x-scotia
Some photos from X-Scotia 2008
Here are some of the photos that I have managed to upload very slowly of the first day of X-Scotia 2008 event. There will be lots more to come along with videos later.
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| X-Scotia Paragliding Competition May 10th + 11th 2008 |
Labels: 2008, paragliding, pictures, scotland, x-scotia
X-Scotia status as at 10am Sunday 11th May 2008
06:25 Mark Leyland landed in the finishing field coming third. This was after having walked up Ben Vorlich during the night and flying down at first light. Luckily although unexpected he was spotted and the cameras caught the action - pictures soon...
Julian Robinson and Nick Ogden landed equal fourth - with lots of stories to tell- video to come.
Peter Shields and Billy Casson retired near the Killin Land Rover garage at 1:15am. Other retirements Mark Harrison, Crawford Coulson,
Loads of people staying in Killin at B+Bs.
Labels: 2008, paragliding, results, scotland, status, x-scotia
X-Scotia Winners..
Steve only just managed to get a flight in from the Tarmachan with what sounds like the very last chance before the weather closed in...
Paul it seems may have had the longest flight of the competition .. all to be confirmed with the GPS / picture data tomorrow...
Labels: 2008, competition, paraglider, paragliding, Paul Myerscough, SHPF, Steve Nash, winner, x-scotia
10 May 2008
X-Scotia 2008 Status as at 9pm Saturday 10th May
Fist Steve Nash who is awesome - having completed all 3 turnpoints and he is expected to complete before midnight. This is an estimate after he just reported his position as just North of Killin a few minutes ago and he is still running ...
Second place - an interesting situation is becoming apparent between Julian Robinson and Nick Ogden - both have completed 2 turn points but in different directions. Julian having gone clockwise to Ben More / Tarmachan and Nick has gone anti-clockwise Tarmachan - Ben More and both have very similar distances to go and the final climb of Ben Vorlich - this will go down to the wire.....
Fourth contenders include - Paul Myrescough currently on Ben Vorlich having done Ben More.
John Newton - on Tarmachan, and a few others.....
Ladies - Both Jitka and Helen are about the same distance from the finish though both have followed completely different routes it will be very interesting to see how this pans out as well ...
Everyone else - well basically a lot of people near Killin with a few staying out on the hills overnight ...
Retirements - Matt Church, Mark Harrison, Crawford Coulson.
Labels: 2008, May, paragliding, scotland, status, x-scotia
X-Scotia - 2008 The leadership contest as at 6pm 10th May
Clearly in the lead Steve Nash - first to round 2 turnpoints, and apparently a close race amongst Julian Robinson, Chris Myles, Mark Leyland and John Newton for the following places.
Labels: paragliding, scotland, x-scotia
X-Scotia 2008 Where are people now 2.15pm Saturday 10th May....
Pilot 1 Mark Leyland, 444197 at 11.55
3 Steve Nash 11.05 Balquidher Ben Vorlich achieved
4 Bob Mathews 13:10 Ben More
5 John Newton 11:05 Ben Stoibhienen?
7 Paul Midgely 11:35 Ben More
8 Helen Gant 12:45 Rounded Vorlich, Balquidher
9 Julian Robinson 12:00 430230
10 David Thomson 11:30 492232
11 Adrian Smith 10:39 454188
12 Mark Harrison 11:55 511230
13 Johan Kritzinger 13:05 585234
14 David Hutchinson 10:48 Kirkton Glen
15 Nick Ogden 13:45 Killin having rounded TP2 Tarmachan
16 Paul Myerscough 13:35 Leaving Ben More
21 Scott Rigg 12:27 Ben More
24 Pete Will 13:45 Cleared TP3
25 Andy McGregor 13:55 535298
26 Cris Miles 13:45 Killin Road,
28 Paddy Angier 11:50 Balquidder Braes
29 Peter Shields 12:45 Rounded TP3, Lochearnhead
30 Jitka Polechova 14:05 439210
31 Iain Wallace 13:30 534237
32 Billy Casson 12:45 Rounded Ben Vorlich now Lochearnhead
34 Crawford Coulson 13:45 Ben More
35 Gordon Smythe 12:45 Landed near Start/Finish having rounded TP3
36 Matt Church 13:10 494821
Labels: locations, paragliding, scotland, x-scotia
X-Scotia 2008 Status - tactics becoming apparent..
Tactics and routes are varying quite significantly ....
There have been a group who have headed West along the road towards Ben More and then headed North into the spurs of Ben More. And an equivalent group headed into the Balquidder Braes and then apparently planning to fly towards Ben More.
Another group has headed SE up Ben Vorlich and have flown down to near the start finish line again. Who are then splitting to either head West or Nortth to the other turn points.
1 person at least headed from the start straight North to Ptarmichan (Nick Ogden) and has now turned South West heading for Ben More having rounded turn point 1.
More soon ....
Labels: live, paragliding, scotland, x-scotia
X-Scotia 2008 Race on... Status as at 1315 10th May
What has been happening at base whilst all the competitors are doing the hard stuff well...
Computing crises - especially wrt to GPS tracks from different types of machine and connectivity and Google Earth issues (This should be put into context as there was a relaxed breakfast earlier of course.
Lots more pilots reported their positions by radio or text message and even after looking out there glasses!....
X-Scotia text status as at 11am, 10th May 2008
Last night the pasta party was a huge success and the chance for everyone to start casing out the competition. Then the briefing from Steve Durkin, Cliff Smith and Dave Thomson (who summarised a very complicated weather situation very clearly and having already had the invidious task of choosing the weekend of the event must have felt some pressure..) hopefully you will soon be able to see the video of this. Most people went to bed fairly early in the tents or campervans based near the Lochearnhead Watersports Centre in preparation for an early start today.
Saturday morning 10th May- X-Scotia 2008 - race weigh in - Heaviest pack wins a prize - results for this fun bit of fun will be shown below asap.
Race start - at 07:30 this morning - different strategies apparent from the onset, most notable being Steve Nash who must win the lightest pack competition if there were one! with a running start. And just a few minutes ago he reported that he was above Balquidder and had just rounded the TP3 - the first reported TP rounding. Just 2 more to go!
Labels: 2008, live, paragliding, scotland, x-scotia




