Stories
Flying Stories – Downhill sloping 09/03/07
Authour: Gerard Cosgrove
There were discussions on the forum about precision flying under ropes, which I have seen before at Shorncliffe. I have seen something similar on TV once with hang gliders, gliding down the slope through flags which acted like gates. These hang gliders had to fly between these gates at a certain height, too high and they would get points deducted. They of course would do this at a neck-breaking speed. And then there is the RedBull Air Race in which pilots have to fly through gates - same theory. The only difference is that they must fly through some gates with the plane vertically on its side.
With all this ticking around in my brain, I thought I would love to do something similar with slope gliding. I already had the tall, bright coloured flags from a tropical pool party several years before. Andrew gave me a phone call to see if I would like to go flying at Woody Point; the weather was perfect and I couldn't resist.
I surprised Andrew by turning up with brightly coloured flags, well he was foaming at the mouth to give it a go. It took some readjusting to position the flags correctly on the slope but once they were right, we were flying down through the gates.
It took some practice, and I thought it would be easier than what it was. The main issues were the turbulence on the approach and the speed at which we went flying through the gates. Another factor was the rule to fly under the height of the flags - above didn’t count. The flags aren't massive, which added to the challenge to get through below the top and avoid bottoming out onto the grass. There was a lot of grass cutting and clipping to see who could get the lowest - Andrew won that award with the photographic evidence on the gallery page (and below).