True 3d Movies

So.. I might not have mentioned that I have been shooting most of my video in true 3d.

That is - I have 2 identical HD video cameras mounted next to each other either on my helmet, or on a pole and all video is shot as left and right view.

My hope was that with some experimentation with parallax seperation and tow in, I could create some truely cool 3d paragliding video - maybe the first time it's been done ??

Anyhoo, just got back to blighty today and had a quick play with a few sample clips I took, and bugger me it works amazingly well. I'm using optimised colour magenta/cyan anaglyph technique at the moment (you need a pair of glasses like the latest 3d films use - carolyne, etc). I just watched some of Gericke's point and it truely looks awesome. Some clips will work better than others - I playted quite a bit with the toe-in of the cameras. I should be able to knock together a pretty stunning 3d video in a week or so - you will need glasses to watch, but they can be got for 50p for ebay.

The End of the Hol

Well, all flights accounted for this morning, and I only needed one this morning.

So we went over to the Dunes and I got one in.

Test passed (93%), so I am now an official paraglider pilot with a south african rating. I should be able to convert that to BHPA when I get home.

wahee!

Just call me Commander Stu.

sedgefield ahoy

Well.. 30 mins after the last post the wind changed and we were off to sedgefield in the hope of some thermic flights.

5 hours later, and I've set a new record with Jan of 11 top to bottom sedgefield flights in one day.

I also got 2 >10 min thermic ones in there hopping about the thermals. They were all over the ruddy place right enough. One of the other students took off and landed in the trees. I had a few close shaves too.

So I think I now only need 3 flights to get my certificate which can be wee bunny hops I think. However we've still to check Jan's record of flights with mine, so there is always the possibility of a few ones not recorded.

So.. we will see.

stu

The last Day

Well.. it's now noon on saturday... my last day unless we can get a couple of hours in tomorrow morning... and the wind is non-existent.

So we are sitting waiting for it to do something. Doesn't look too promising, so I might have had my last flight yesterday. Still, fingers crossed.

stu

Gericke's Point - the return

Well today was the day - over an hour of soaring over Gericke's point.

frecking awesome scenery.

I even did a few spirals :-)

I tool loads of video on a big long stick, and took loads of 3d footage too, so I think I've got the raw footage to make a freckin' awesome video.

As a teazer, here is a little clip, plus some stills.




Some stills:













Today, I felt like a paraglider :-)

Day 5 of crap weather for flying. Roasting in the morning so got some sun. This is the fifth day not flyable. Humph

Gericke's Point

Here's a video of a flight at Gericke's point (the far eastern end of paradise ridge). This time I managed to not land in a tree.

Wind was too light to soar. The take off is 125m up where the arrow is. In front is basically a 70 degree cliff down to the indian ocean. You jump off the cliff, then pull into the side to try and get lift - there was none so I landed down on the beach. The most spectacular scenery in flight so far.

feck

what is worse than getting back to your room to find a spider literally the size of your hand on the wall ?

answer: failing to squish it and now not being able to find it anywhere....

feck feck feck.

Parawaiting

Today was spent sitting for 5 hours on the top of a hill waiting for the wind to get stronger or change direction.... yeh.. really.

it was, at least sunny, and the view was great (sedgefield) so I at least had summit to do.

There was a bloke there with an 18 year old paraglider... a paraglider old enough to vote! You could breath through the thing..

I reckon you could make a fortune selling dodgy old UK gliders over here.

Flights of the dodo

so, yesterday I actually managed to get 8 flights in. 1 from the end of Paradise ridge in the morning - basically a 125m cliff facing the sea. You jump off the cliff and then try to get some lift from the wind coming off the sea into the cliff.

There wasn't enough wind.

So basically I just went down to the beach after a couple of minutes. Stunning scenery though - it really is pretty dramatic jumping off a 125m high cliff with the Indian Ocean below you - whales frolicking in the waves.

- Video will be posted later.

Map of Africa Video

I finally managed to get the HD video of a Map of Africa flight uploaded last night.

Its more or less a top to bottom, but I have not put any music on it for 2 reasons:

1) hear the silence - bit of a difference from paramotoring
2) to appease the music haters out there.

You'll have to click on video to take you to you tube if you want to see it in full HD.

take offs

One comment I do have i that I hate paramotor take offs - I hate the palaver, the farting around, the failing to launch usually meaning you have to unhook and lay yer wing out again because you're so cumbersome with the motor you can't abort cleanly, etc.

On the other hand - free flying I just always do a reverse - I can take my time, turn or not.. and if it goes wiffy I just turn back and lay it down ready for the next attempt. Take offs almost become a pleasure.

Botlierskop Game Reserve

It's a far cry from Pilanberg (see posts from last year below), but a
few days ago I went along to Botlierskop game reserve - it's the
nearest place to see 'big game' but its a very small park - feels more
like a UK safari park really.

The lions for instance are in a seperate enclosure and are not free to
roam and hunt like in Pilansberg:

You are driven round in a big truck. Saying that, it was still interesting. Didn't really get many good shots though - again look at my Pilansberg piccies for better ones. Here's a few of em:

Here's two Giraffe's fighting:

An Ostrich ...

And a white Rhino (check out the size of that horn - you wouldn't want that up yer arse!):

Woolworths

Woolworths is still one of the biggest department stores out here by
the way, it's just the UK that closed (they are in states too).

my, I am full of fascinating facts me......

Whales

Here's a picture of the whales I saw at the top of the Map of Africa -
long zoom shot so you'll have to use your imagination a bit.

Paragliders have been known to actually spot land on the whales - then taking off again. Local rumour has it that the whales are being seen more and more frequently here and like playing with the pilots.

- I made that bit up.

The Map of Africa

The Map of Africa is one of the main flying sites here. It's a hill at
the back of the town of Wilderness. So called, because the river to
the back of it is sort of shaped like Africa.

The take off is not too bad, though there is the possibility of not
getting enough lift and not clearing the forest in front of you.
Assuming you do, you find yourself flying over the main dual
carriageway around 200 feet up. You can follow the road back and forth
along the ridge, and if the wind is strong enough it is forced up by
the ridge and you get lift. i.e. you can soar. With enough wind you
can fly back and forth all day.

When you've had enough you come out the lift band and head for the
beach, landing next to the car park for a lift back up to the top
again - trying not to land on the topless totty sunbathing on the beach.

Here.s the hill (we launch from just off to the right):

and the landing is just to the front of this picture here:

I've had about 10-15 flights off 'the map' so far. Problems with it are: wind needs to be pretty much SE or it is not flyable. Too light - you risk crashing in the trees, too strong you risk being pulled over the back of the ridge (like I was at the other beach site).

Sedgefield

Sedgefield is one site that has some awesome views from the top and on
the way down.

You start from the top of the hill with a sort of open river valley
below you, and in front of that, the Indian Ocean:

I posted a picture of it a few days ago too. I've only flown there once so far (2 flights), both pretty much top to bottoms (i.e. no lift - so no soaring). At the bottom is a nice big field to land in and the take off is pretty easy. Only issue is that it is pretty much a cliff face once you are in the air , full of massive pine trees - so on the one hand you want to stay close to the ridge (and hence close to the trees) to maximise lift. One other other hand, you don't want to land in a tree. It's very different from Paramotoring, where I am always >500 feet away from the ground unless taking off or landing - paragliding I'm having to get used to my arse being 5 foot above the top of a pine tree... a few times you get a bit of sink and think...'arg prepare for tree landing' which is a bit of a buttock clencher.

View from the House

So, been a bit lacking in posts for the last few days - blown out
today so I'll make up for it a bit.

From my balcony I look out over a river valley between a set of hills
and another set of hills just in front of the sea. In front of the
house is a large tree with loads of herons in it. Here are a few
photos of them:

On the right, right next to the balcony are some trees full of little weaver bird nests. They birds are bright green and they are just making their nests just now. In fact I watched one being made over the last few days. Have to say - it really is bloody amazing how they make them - it really is weaved together - not just stuck together with spit or something.

Here's one starting it's nest:

And here is the same nest finished:

cool eh ?

another blown out day

Looks like today is going to be blown out again. So setting up the
blog to email post so I can add a few more details and stuff.

here's a picture of the sky from the house today: