Ouiiiiiii
?
I'm back ! Sorry, long silence, but after coming back from the West, spent 2 days in bed, sick like hell ! Not even able to move :!:
Much better today.. And at work... :cry:
Anyway, great week of flying in Co Clare, will definitively come back for more next year with the family !
So, here are a few photos...
First, in base camp, Lahinch (or Lehinch... :?: ) manage to start the day flying at the beach (low tides in the morning this week). Launch from the promenade, and land on the beach... at this time of the year, you will only see a few seagulls and a few surfer dudes, so all safe. Flew the Algebra here without any problem.
Slope is the pile of rocks between the promenade and the beach, and might be something like 3 to 4 metres high, but wind coming from the sea, very laminar of course, make it great to fly smallish models without any troubles.
The beach slope :
When you are at the beach, on your left, you can see a cliff. So, I tried to fly there... But not great, especially for the approach walk, bit scary at time, but don't really worth the effort at the end anyway, as you can fly the same models you can fly on the beach. Landing zone is not great but ok for smallish machines with srong airbrakes...
Cliffs :
Ok, so, that's for Lahinch... Now, time to move to Kilkee... Coastal sloping paradise for the week !
I flew at a place called West End on the GPS, at the end of the road, at the back of the Golf Course first. Checked on the GPS and map, and flew Westerly winds.
Great place to fly, lots of birds come and join in after a few minutes. Landing zone is betwen the car park and the cliffs, but only for small models with good airbrakes, as you have to land between benches, but plenty of space, and really smooth landing ! Great flying sitting on the bench, can stay hours !
Then, the other days, I went for the "big" walk to fly the cliffs (George Head I think is the name... :?: )
Well... Great !!
Can fly anything here, any size. Great space to land ! Only thing is that you must not be affraid of launching your pride and joy here, as there is no possible recovery if yo go down... But that add to the fun !
Flew mostly on the West side of the head, but went around and you can fly from South to North by West. Was surprised as Ger said thet was S, SW, but checked that with GPS at the slope and on a map :?: I might not be at the right spot, as accross, you can see more cliffs, but haven't tried to get there...
Anyway, fantastic spot !
Alas, was not able to meet the guys on Wednesday, as the weather was just hawfull !...Up untill 4pm... Where I start flying again in Kilkee
So, Kilkee was my main flying spot for the rest of the week, but went to look for more.
And with a little bit of communication, everything is possible ! Was driving back to Lahinch, by the coastal road of course
when I saw a possible spot to fly... Stopped the car for the famous "last one" and off I went to the cliff and fly, when a local farmer came... Show him the thing, advertise that a clean, quiet, harmless hobby... And got the authorisation to use his field to fly if we need
The spot was near Breaffy / White Strand, and that's a Westerly.
Beautifull place, where you can se Dolphins hanging around
The path near the Cliff is public, but if someone need the details to contact the farmer, let me know !
Well, that was a great week... But cannot really leave without flying at the mother of all cliffs... Yep...
After much consideration, I decided to do it relatively late in the evening, not a lot of people around for safety, and off I went to the Cliffs of Moher
Well, when you see sea water coming up straight at the edge, you know you will not have any lift issues !
Not a lot of people, and chatted with a guy responsible for something (did not catched up what...) and told him I was going to fly. We agreed on a spot (on the left when you have the tourist centre on your back) on the sort of bowl. Just a quick 5 - 10 minutes if the glider survive the trip to the edge !
Best technique here, was to launch the glider a good 20 metres behind the edge (well, you cannot get right at the edge anyway anymore...) and let the glider go... You know when the glider is at the edge as that go straight up for 50 / 60 metres in less than 2 seconds ! :shock:
But flying was smooth once passed that, and I enjoyed pure dynamic huge massive lifts... Sweet.
Time to land, not going too far behind, landed on the cow field on the left without a scratch with a big smile on my face, and a few people watching. Stayed another 20 minutes to answer all the questions after that !
That was good, bit scary, but really good !
On the photo, you can see the launching spot on the left, on the bowl, and a column of sea water right in front... Impressive !
And well, that's it really... A really good week of flying, and really hope to do it again, even more, next year !
