If you do what you've always done, you get what you always get.

To fly this route in either direction see below the article:-
or email francis@jfdiuk.com or check out the details here

Episode 1 "Tasked, loaded....grounded!"
Parajet Macro, Independence Excalibur, Seven Up reserve, Garmin 76S, IQ
Comfort alti/vario, Magnetic Compass, Fujitsu Loox running XC Soar flight
computer, Inflatable Life Vest, 50 mil map and a page from the AA road
Atlas!
I set up on the cliffs at Chale, just below St Catherine's Down
facing the SW wind at 16 mph. Its 2:30 and I'm about to clip in when
the rain starts. I pack away and call Simon at Lambourn to suggest we bin
the task, but other pilots are on there way from Cornwall to meet at
Lambourn for the Saturday task and cannot be recalled. Maybe I could drive
up in the morning in time for a possible task or at least to meet and
discuss tactics? I have one last look at the met on the internet and
see nothing has changed; the rain is light but widespread,
falling from a blanket of alto-stratus at 10 grand-ish. I flick on
the rain radar to see how heavy it is out of curiosity and when I
run the time lapse sequence for the prevoius three hours I notice a
widening gap in the return. The rain that had stopped me at
"condition = definite maybe" is petering out and the gap before the next
blob is at least an hour wide and widening!

I immediately set up again as the rain stops and take off. I
figure I will climb steadily as I head north and make a decision
about crossing the Solent once I pass Newport and can confirm
that I can attain "crossing altitude" of 5000' and maitain
visibility. I climb through scattered cumis being kicked off by the
Downs that run across the centre of the Island but they are well
dispersed and small. Once I pass Newport and am less than two
miles from the coast at Cowes I know I am at "commitment" point. Any
further and I will not make it into wind back onto the Island. I'm
at 4800' and still climbing steadily as I had been since take off. The
engine, steady at just under "high jet kick-in", had not missed
a beat since firing up twenty minutes earlier. I circled once to get
a wind speed reading and bearing on my flight computer, "XC-Soar". 18
mph and 45degrees off my port aft-quarter, I was making 40 kph across
the ground and heading, as Norman's nav tutorial briefing had taught me,
just over half my max drift of 60 degrees; my track needed to be 360 so my
heading was 330. (I think I got that right????)

By the time I was back on track after the mental gynastics I was
approaching Cowes and at 5500',
my computer said I could glide with no power from here and land north
of the M27! So I was now crossing the four looooooong miles of grey
water and there was no going back. The air was smooth but damp and my
face was now starting to smart with the cold. I eased the speed bar
out of its keepers and pushed out to a comfortable and sustainable
two thirds. I know that this is the most efficient downwind glide
speed on my Independence Excalibur and I eased the throttle wider so
the fast jet kicked in; this boosted my speed to 57 kph across the
ground and gave me a comforting 1up climb rate. By the time I was
more than half way across I was at 6500 and thinking I would now have
to delay whilst losing height to get under Solent CTA6 which is 2500.
I shut down to a tickover and kept the bar out (it stayed out for
most of the rest of the journey). I arrived over Hill Head exactly on
course and 2000' too high. I circled as I drifted inland losing
height at a modest 2down. I arrived at Solent CTA still with 1000 feet too
high and XCSoar gave an "Airspace proximity 500metres" warning. I was
now dead impressed with this software, it is so precise and gives you
all the info you could ever need. I headed back towards the coast by
elongating my circles into wind, in no hurry now as I my worst case
scenario had moderated from drowning (or, even worse, losing all
my flying kit), to landing out on a drizzly day with no hope of an
easy retrieve. I was now feeling I had accomplished something, even
if it was a complicated and expensive journey home.

Episode 2 "Global Warming"

Once at 2500 I "proceeded in a Norherly direction" still losing
height through TITCH Titchfield Common)waypoint and over the M27 at 1800
feet. I am bang on track in the 2 kilometer gap between Solent CTA and
Fleetlands ATZ. Then the air gets bibbly; hello whats this? why is the
air unhappy here? theres no ground featurs to kick it off! Then I
smell it and feel the heat wave..... burning rubber and fumes from
the fairly sparsely populated motorway. I think all sorts of noble
thoughts about flying free and polution free then remember I am
paramotoring not free flying and anyway my wing is made of the
products of the petrochemical industry (why they call panties "tree-huggers"
is beyond me). The ground seems to be going by faster but my
computer still says 57kph, I am just closer to it, is all. I
start to shiver and the rain starts, not heavy but more than
the mizzle that had been present since I left, actual drops of water,
real rain....I can no longer pretend that I am in a weather window
and realise that I have decided to fly to Lambourn "in the rain". The
wing feels perfectly normal, no sogginess, no tendency to lag behind,
but my legs were now soaked through to the skin and the cage is
covered with droplets as is my map cover. I start looking for
landing sites and wondered if I could persuade the guys to drive the
35 miles down to pick me up. There are plenty of places to put down,
plenty of roads to land near, I know my location precisely. Then the
rain peters out and I think I might press on to the M3 and get
north of Winchester before binning it and calling for the rescue
team. I am approaching the corner of Solent CTA2 and the turnpoint.
The new track will bring the wind almost directly off the port beam
and I try to calculate the drift from my all too brief reading of
Norman's tome. I can't pin the numbers up in my head and keep
drifting off to other thoughts. Why isnt my brain working? I had been
shivering for some time now due to the wind chill on my wet legs, and
I could feel a draught up my right side where my flight suit zip
sometimes opens up. I started to think of Whitter's lecture down on
Dartmoor at the Tip to Tip trainining weekend trying to remember what he
had said about hypothermia. But what would he know he's just a paramedic
on the Cornwall Air Ambulance ( a registered charity which the Tip to Tip
is supporting - all donations gratefully received)
Did he say it is a pleasant way to die? Not today!!!! Ha...that brought me
round....close up your kneck string and stop the through
draught....release your trapped legs from the speed bar and get some
blood flowing...."I'm walking in the aiiiiiir trala la". Change
throttle hands and flex your fingers....... alternate tensing and
relaxing biceps and pectorals....why didnt I do this earlier, not
only does it warm you, it also amuses you ( I was now laughing out
loud at my antics in the seat, I must have looked bonkers kicking and
wriggling). Not that there was anyone to see me; one lone passenger
jet out of the East somewhere. Where am I now? no clue from looking
at the ground and the map...the computer says I've drifted East of my
track but not by much, turn more towards the wind and Bing Bing
"approaching turnpoint" then Bing Bing "airspace proximity warning",
oops Ive been climbing and am now bumping my head on the ceiling (my
wing is in Class D airspace but I'm not .....your honour). Back in
the land of the living I am now "Just Focussed on Doing IT!" my ground
speed has dropped off to 31kph, not bad considering the side wind but
we can do better than that. Tuck the bar under the boot heels and ......all
the way out, increase throttle to just over half revs. The engine
has faded to the background long ago and I realise that I have not
even thought about it since being over the water, it has just purred
away behind me. Now its tone has picked up and I like listening to it
singing and the blade humming the "Macro note". The extra speed means
I'm not climbing and the ground is now pushing past at 48kph (not the
57 I was getting earlier but still not bad). I am past the front face
of the 2000 ceiling of CTA3 and increase the revs so I can climb at a steady
half up. By the time I get completely past Solent CTA I am bang on 2500
and the proximity warning flicks on again, I acknowledge it with a tap on
the
screen and the warning flicks off. I'm past the airspace now and can
climb to "happy height" once more. But my legs are now wobbling from
holding the bar out so long and I can feel a cramp starting to bite
me under the left thigh. Thats all I need a cramp...I hate those
things and whilst flying that is not a funny thing at all.

Episode 3 " The long and winding road."

With the bar back in at two thirds and my legs settling again my
speed is down to just under 40. I keep the throttle at two thirds and
keep climbing. It has started raining again. This time I have no
thoughts of quitting, I will get there even if I end up rowing the
damn thing. I am cold but not getting colder, my chin is clamped down
on my chest to keep the cold air out of my kneck and I have had the
brilliant idea of using the mapcase as a windshield. This came to me
as I was turning it over to see what lay beyond the fold and the wind
splatted it to my chest and face. Ooh thats quite nice actually..... the
grinding cold of the wind chill suddenly stopped and I felt the blood
return
to my cheeks. I actually dont need to look where I'm going at all.
I've had my nose pressed to the lcd screen watching the little
airplane crawl imperceptibly nearer to the WITCH (Whitchurch) waypoint for
ages now and only occasionally looking around, releasing the neck of my
flight suit from under my chin, getting a blast of icy damp air down
my front and tucking it all back in again, vowing never to look up
again.
So I leave the map case plastered to my face and peep out the side
every once in a while to get a glimpse of the downs before my glasses
get sprayed and I cant see diddly. I am now over Witchurch and look
to see if I can spot Andover. It looks so small from six and a half
grand. I have climbed to this height as there are more scattered
cumis ahead and I figure it will be dryer above them. This turns out
to be a "bold assumption" , completely missing the point that this is
"Manchester rain"; the whole sky is dull grey at ten thousand feet
and leaking like a seive. As I am looking over the top of the map
case at the offending clouds way above me, the sun disc materialises
then is gone. Then its there again, greyed out but definitely the
sun. Its still high up in the sky and I look at the time on my vario.
gone six forty five, but this is the longest day(nearly) The gloom
made me think it was dusk but its the early evening on a mid summers
day in ......England!

Episode 4 "Finals,,,,,, "
The rain has stopped the sun is almost visible and I am surviving the
cold. I am actually enjoying this now. I've thought up a new
game...."Where Am I Now?" You get to look at the map and then try to
figure out whether what you can see matches it......it doesnt. Try
again....still doesnt. Cheat then, look at the computer 'cos obviously
you are way off cousrse since the last time you cheated two seconds
ago. Nope the (slightly wiggly) wake of the snail trail is almost
exactly over the dead straight track line. So where are the roads
that should be there and there and there? There is a tiny little
track and its right where the damn A 303 should be and there is
another..... must be a farm track right..... where the damn A34
should cross and there is a tiny branch line where the Great Western
line should be....wait a gosh durned moment, I am looking at stuff
that is over a mile away... perhaps "happy height" is a bit too happy
today, ok so Ive been climbing steadily since WITCH and I've
dismissed the penultimate waypoint and my computer is on "final
glide" to Lambourn and I'll be darned if it aint saying I could
actually glide there from here! cool, except that I'm quite a long
way away, perhaps its malfunctioned or.........the wind has picked up
a tad???? Duh. Well that will make landing "interesting" then. I have
passed over the familar bowl shaped valley behind Coombe Gibbet and
can see Hungerford passing by under my left boot. Well ........wind
does increase with height so why not descend a bit? Membury services
drift past and the M4 looks like a winding country lane. Much too far
away to smell it. I am eating up the ground at over 50kph crosswind
and I "head up" a bit so I dont get blown past my goal. It now
says I will arrive over goal with 4000' to spare which is just too
outrageous. I cant see any cars or tents or vans; they are probably
down the pub or gone home. But when I look back at the M4 I cant see
any cars on that either; there are lights, so they I must be too far
away to see. I am circling over Lambourn "ATZ" at tick over, elongating
into wing and making very little progress. It says the wind is over
20 mph, I gently weave about losing height in the turns, the glider
must be saturated but is flying perfectly normally. I dont risk any
radical actions to lose height as I fear the heavy fabric may cause a
parachutal stall, or a b-line may not start flying again on release.
Then I remember Whitter's "legs" briefing and unhook them from the speed
bar. They are stiff and dont feel like they want to land in a strong
wind or do anything much more than dangle. I start kicking and walking on
air for as long as I can before realising I'm drifting backwards and
need the bar on again. Gently pumping the bar in and out gets me the
speed I need and the blood flow. Then I spot the little huddle of
cars and vans and tents and realise that they are as mad as I am.
They, in turn, realise that I am on approach and that the wind is a
bit enthusiastic. In a flurry of tiny dots I see a wind sock, once put to
bed for the night, now finds itself pointing an accusing finger at
the North East. It is immediately followed by another upwind and I
find that, yet again my trusty XC Soar has given me accurate
information, this time wind direction; I am lined up perfectly with
the rampant socks. As I come down through 1000 the air gets rougher
as I feel the rotor from the hill in front. This is not the best
direction for this site and I briefly toy with turning tail and
finding a flatter smoother spot; they surely wouldn't begrudge a two
mile retrieve, its on the way to the pub after all! But the air
doesnt get any rougher so I keep on descending, giving a bit of bar,
a bit of throttle, I'm making about 2kph across the ground and coming
down very nicely. The team assume positions like a well-honed-oily-
machine-rag-thing as I land in the centre of the coven. Down comes the
wing and it is pinned to the deck. I unclip it and it is bundled away
like a miner from the picket line. They lift the motor off my aching
back and give me the time honoured greeting reserved for the true PPG
hero....."Are you F"""""g mad mate????? "
".....As a box of frogs" I reply sardonically, "now whats for tea"?

Waypoints:-

NAME,ID,LAT(dd.ddd),LONG(dd.ddd),ALTITUDE(feet),LAT(DMS.s),LONG(DMS.s)
Lambourn LAM 51.5315 -1.57755 550 51°31'53.56"N 1°34'39.19"W
HeathEnd HEATH 51.3557 -1.41455 3500 51°21'20.48"N 1°24'52.39"W
Whitchurch WITCH 51.235 -1.35879 2400 51°14'6.00"N 1°21'31.64"W
Kilmeston KILM 51.033762 -1.159564 1800 51°02'0.55"N 1°09'35.06"W
Titchfield TITCH 50.850998 -1.237833 1800 50°51'4.09"N 1°14'16.13"W
HillHead HILH 50.8189 -1.24924 0 50°49'8.04"N 1°14'57.26"W
IoW IOW 50.7657 -1.27606 5000 50°45'56.52"N 1°16'33.82"W
StCats STCAT 50.5914 -1.30315 727 50°35'29.04"N 1°18'11.34"W