Friday (Day 6)

Up again at 6am to get to the airfield whilst the wind speed was reasonably low, which was an ordeal in itself today, but one that I'll elaborate on shortly. The temperature felt a fair bit higher than on previous mornings, but there was quite a heavy dew that had the effect of adding weight to the wing as it seemed to absorb the moisture like a sponge, making it heavy to launch and control in what had become a very low wind. When I mentioned to my wife I had problems "getting it up" she was more than a little surprised to hear me say that, what with me being in France with eleven other men. I put her right on what I meant....

Anyway I worked hard on my reverse launches and they have shown a huge improvement since I rolled up at the airfield on Sunday morning. Alan left me alone to work on the launches and handling that, with the exception of one absolute disaster, worked out quite well. I also tried on a motor for the first time and fired it up which was a new experience for me.

I could have quite happily have stayed out there all day and just worked on my ground handling, the weather was just perfect, but as always happens there was a sudden change with a bit of rain falling, so we packed up and returned to the house to sit an exam that, happily, all of us passed. I had a short de-brief with Alan and I have to say that he is one of the most patient people I have worked with in years. Even with me constantly messing up, particularly in the early part of the week, he stayed calm and ran me through th various drills as many times as it took for me to understand them. There's no doubt that Alan is going to become a very good instructor and a lot of people are going to benefit from his guidance in the future - I couldn't have asked for a better person to look after me this past week.

Tonight we are all off for an end of training meal and many of us will depart early tomorrow morning for the long haul home. It has been a hard week, with early starts, but definitely of immense value. I came over here knowing nothing about paramotoring and leave with a much better understanding and, importantly, belief that I can now go out and buy myself a training wing that I can safely operate. I'm hoping to finish off my training with Simon Westmore down at Lambourn over the coming months, which will then mean that I'll be safe to fly.

As for the struggle in getting myself out of bed this morning, last night I had a lengthy conversation after dinner with a guy called Paul Haxby, who travelled here on Wednesday to see out the final few days and aprove the instructors. Paul has been flying for many years and has a passion for paramotoring that is infectious; it's that infectious that we sat with what seemed a never ending bottle of red wine until 2am! If after chatting to Paul about the sport you don't feel an urge to instantly get yourself out onto an airfield, then you really don't want to fly. Paul is just one example of the people I have been surrounded by and Piers, Alan, Simon, Paul, Pete and Witters are a pleasure to be around, as are Ken, Eddie, Dave and Tim, my fellow trainees. I want to thank them all for their never ending support, plus Norman who put together the superb training materials and syllabus we have worked with all week.

My final word has to go to Dave, who this morning went through a take off run with a motor on his back. It created enough lift to take him up an inch or two, which we have agreed is a flight (the same criteria worked for the Wright brothers!). I say "we have agreed", well except Eddie, who thinks it should be something more significant. But then we can see through him as if he was a glass pane - he wants to be the only person in the car tomorrow who got up into the air and we think he just can't stand the competition....

Thursday (Day 5)

Up bright and early to get down to the airfield for some more ground handling whilst the wind was down nice and low. For me it was a few forward launches (which all went well), followed by some reverse launches, which also went as well as could be. We managed to get about 2.5 hours in before the wind kicked up and it was then a return to the house in readiness for a presentation by Witters on a subject that escapes me as I tap this out. Hopefully the wind will drop down later today, meaning we can all get back out to the field. I'm also hoping that I'll be able to use Alan's motor later to try out a hang test, but we will see.

Special mentions have to go to Eddie, who completed a cross-country (which we are never going to hear the end of - apparently he downed a couple of Messerschmitts on the way back to base....) and Ken, who also completed another solo this morning. I half expect both David and Tim to take to the air by the time we finish tomorrow, but in all honesty I can't see myself getting airborne, but you never know - miracles do sometimes happen.

For me, throughout the many highs and lows of this week I have learnt much more than I have given credit for. My launches this morning were generally good and I have started being able to keep the wing above my head, which of course helps a great deal if you want to fly with it! As I say, hopefully we'll get back out there later today and I can push on from there.

My one overriding thought so far today? I need a good shave!

Wednesday (Day 4)

Well what started out positive ended up a bit disappointing with a pain in my back. Ho hum...

A bit of a rush this morning with everyone expecting a blank start to the day, but after Alan drove down to the airfield for an inspection it was panic stations to get down for some ground handling before the wind blew up. We managed about ninety minutes on the field in reasonably strong (to me) wind and my reverse launches seemed to have come on a bundle. I was enjoying the all too brief time we had and realised the wind was getting a little too strong when I was blown over and dragged along the ground. Thankfully Paul and Alan were on hand to help get the wing down, although I was in the process of pulling the wing towards me via the lines, which is what we have been trained to do. Although I was on the ground with a bloody big piece of material flapping in front of me, I never felt for a minute there was any danger. There again it's easy to say that when Paul and Alan were on hand to save me!

The morning was taken up with admin and Tim, Dave and I managed to escape to the SuperU supermarket in nearby Thouars to stock up on essentials - these being toothpaste, water and beer. We also managed a lightning visit to the local McDonalds just to check that their burgers were as bad as those in England. Well it was late morning, we were hungry....

This afternoon we had ground school and covered Air Law (Alan), Human Performance Factors (Witters), Flight Principles, Communications and Paramotor Comparison (Paul) and Met (Pete). By around 6.30 it was evident that some more ground handling could take place so it was of to the airfield, but with some twinges in my back I decided to miss out on the hour and get myself in better shape for tomorrow and Friday. A bit disappointing but I'd rather look at the longer term.

Tuesday (Day 3)

Woke up to it being far too windy to work at the airfield, so after a lay-in we started some ground school, which took up pretty much all of the day. Many topics were covered such as first aid, take-off and landing, pre-flight motor checks and meteorology. All interesting subjects and it was worth taking the time out to listen in to the advice given by four experienced instructors.

Thankfully around 5pm the wind dropped so it was a mass exodus down to the airfield where almost all of the instructors got into the air, as did Eddie (again) and Ken, another one of the trainees. For Dave, Tim and I it was more ground handling and I had the benefit of Piers experience helping with a few reverse launches. Piers is overseeing the instructors here and although my launches were hardly textbook, they were vastly better than yesterday. I even managed to keep the wing in the air for about ten seconds, a huge improvement on previous days. Because the light was getting low there was just enough time to run through a couple of forward launches overseen by Alan, who had had a brief flight beforehand, and these went really smoothly. It's too early to tell whether I have "cracked it", as the guys here keep telling me I will do, but it was reassuring to get things right.

A special mention must go to Ken, who has a talent as an after dinner magician. So far there has been the levitating bottle, disappearing salt and length-changing rope. If only he could make his snoring disappear it would be the mark of a great magician. No such luck so far....

Monday (Day 2)

Two words sum up today - "bloody awful". In fact "bloody disaster" would be a better summary and Alan, my instructor, must be wishing he was back home in Saudi after today's woeful efforts at trying to control a wing on the ground. After a few disastrous attempts at a forward launch I finally got one right, so it was on to the reverse launch where things went rapidly downhill. For whatever reason my co-ordination went to pieces and although I could marginally achieve the simple things, such as building a wall prior to launching, keeping the wing in the air was beyond me.

After a bit of foot stamping, a girlie tantrum aimed at myself and a bit of lunch we returned for the afternoon session, well four of us did. The second lunch sitting disappeared never to be seen again, leaving the four of us to guard a collection of motors, wings and other kit for three hours whilst they dined and had a siesta. Lovely.... In the end we returned to the farmhouse to do a bit of ground school as the winds were far too strong for any work outside.

Good news of the day was that Eddie, on of the trainees, managed to get in the air. Ok he's a Londoner AND Chelsea supporter, but we forgave him and were pleased he managed to make a few circuits and get safely down again.

All in all a day to forget for me, but still a nice day out in the fresh air and not in the office.

Onwards and upwards they say.

From Ok to Awful

Well today was the day I had waited for, so after a sleepless night (and fourteen hour journey yesterday) I was up at 6am, grabbed a piece of toast, sip of tea and then down to the airfield at 7am for the start of our training. I never knew how difficult keeping a piece of fabric in the air could be and Alan, my instructor, showed the patience of a saint as I repeatedly sent his £2,500 wing crashing into the ground. Still, I managed a few good launches and even at one point was lifted a whole inch off of the ground as I ran along with the wing above me.

Unfortunately this afternoon wasn't so good as a migraine inducing headache put paid to any great concentration, as did a fairly strong gusting wind. I spent ten minutes trying to tame a small practice wing, but by then any concentration I had had long since gone and I was sent back to the house to grab a bit of sleep and shower before the rest of the gang turned up.

Hopefully tomorrow will see some improvement and my aim for this week remains the same - to be able to safely ground handle a wing. No thoughts of actually taking to the air as that will have to wait for another time

Only Sixteen Days To Go....

... and the anticipation is getting far too great! I posted on the paramotorclub.org forum today that the last time I was so nervous/excited/looking forward to something all at one time was before I married Donna almost twenty-three years ago. The days are being ticked off and the 21st March can’t come around quick enough.

The topic of conversation at home has changed and whereas before it usually revolved around our kids discussing the merits of the latest CD’s by “You Me At Six”, “Metro Station”, “The Blackout” or any other band I’ve never heard of, now the tables have turned and it is me discussing (or rather stating) the merits of my SpeedAir helmet, whether I have the right colour flying suit and so on. The kids and their musical preferences are no longer a match for paramotor training in France!

So I’m running through my checklist of what I am taking with me and it looks like David and Tim, the two guys sharing the car down to Airvault, are going to be restricted to a small bag each (only joking fellas!). The TomTom already has the site programmed into the memory and I’m waiting. Isn’t it funny how time always drags just when you don’t want it to?!

Ah well, only sixteen days to go....

My Paramotor Training Blog

At the request of my good friend Quek I am going to use this site to keep a record of my paramotor training, which takes place in Airvault, France during the 22nd to 27th March 2009. Here I will keep a record of my progress, or lack of, and record my attempts to crash into trees, buildings, cattle and flocks of birds.

Fingers crossed I'll come out of it ok....