Video

Here's the first video. Shot at 2.7k on go pro 3 black and edited down to 1080p

http://youtu.be/d0MxcY92VoY

Level 5 in the bag

So, they skipped me level 4 and just did Level 5: This is one instructor, full release and I have to do 2 360s.

Went perfectly, so they are skipping me on to level 7 which is my second last jump before course finishes then it's a matter of me doing solos till I get my 'A licence' which lets me jump anywhere with other people.

Here's me (right) waiting to exit:

and here's my instructors:

and here's me in flight and right after I deploy:

Level 3 complete

They skipped me over level 2, so this morning was level 3: the first time they let me go completely and I control my own stability. It went fine, I kept stable and on heading and had a nice float down under canopy, so they are skipping me a level again to level 5 as my next jump.

Level 5 is down to one instructor. And my aim is to complete 2 360ø turns - one clockwise, one anticlockwise.

Right now, we are waiting for some clouds to clear.

Helmets

This is the first state I've been in recently that seems to have taken to the bicycle again : there are actually bike lanes!! And quite a few cyclists around.

However - a very very different sort of demographic cycles over here. For a start they ride these things that look a bit like mountain bikes, but have curved frames and handlebars.

And wait for it: no gears and no brakes.

yup, that's right: no brakes. at all.

seems to be some sort of fashion thing.

Which leads me to who rides em: 20 something hipster types.

Christ knows what the accident rate is: basically your choice is: have accident on bike or jump off and have accident next to bike.

Ah.. and helmets.. Now, the helmets for sale and worn in the UK are a joke: a bit of polystyrene sitting perched on top of your head like top hat on an elephant. No protection for the other 90% of the head, and hardly any for the bit they do cover.. and they are all streamlined as if it matters a damn: is a motorcycle helmet streamlined ? no.. and we don't cycle along at 8mph.

However, over here I don't believe cycle helmets actually exist! If they do I've not seen one… So we have these folk riding around on bikes with no brakes, and no helmets, and the traffic of course mainly consists of 3 ton flat bed pickups. quality.

Motorcyclists are also in abundance. Mainly of the Harley variety. Unlike cyclists, they all adhere to the same sort of protective clothing:

- tshirt
-shorts
- bandana (to keeps spilled brains in).

Again, not a helmet to be seen.

It's amazing natural selection hasn't eliminated them all yet.

Fiat 500

So, they gave me a Fiat 500 hire car. 

Well, they gave me a choice of a toyota yaris and a few other things, but I fancied the 500.

The thing is - they must have just started importing them over here. I have literally not seen another one. Maybe there are a few in Orlando (where I picked it up), but not down here on the coast.

Not only that: but I've not seen anything else as small either: there are no 'smart cars' over here for example. Basically I've got the smallest car in Florida I think.

Plus - this is Florida: home of the 'true american' : whereas on the west coast you'll see tons of japanese and european cars - over in Florida they are the minority: it's still Harleys, full size trucks, and hideous big Buicks and Cadillacs that look like they have been designed by a 5 year old. Some of them are truly awesome: yesterday I say one that had a vinyl roof !! 

Anyhoo - driving this thing around is making me feel like a celebrity! Folk stop and stare! Younger folk (<40) seem to like em - kids give me the thumbs up, etc. However the died in the wool american republicans (and Florida is full of em! - churches, and religious radio everywhere) not so keen…. I had some old bloke out cutting his grass, stop and give me the thumbs down! 

Admittedly it's not the best colour: sort of 1940s green.

Quite what they did to it to make the american model though is a mystery: the thing is automatic, has been given typical american 'steer with your finger' light power steering, and seems to drive like a car twice it's size (which is not a compliment). They have somehow 'americanised' it to drive like every other piece of shit american car.

On the plus side - it's got cruise, aircon, iPhone connection, leather seat, etc, etc. 

 

It's just that any 'nippy', 'fun-ness' that it may have had is gone: truly stunning that they've done that to it. I imagine if you drove a mini over here it would feel the same. Even the doors feel like they have been loaded up with lead to make them feel heavy and 'sturdy' or the americans.

that aside, the driving position is weird: it's like an old Lancia: you are sort of pointed at an angle with your legs angled off out to the side.

Level 1 complete

cool didn't think I'd get a jump this morning as been raining, but just had my first jump for 4 years. Jumped from 13000 with 2 instructors. Went nice.got my stability again pretty quickly so they are skipping me up to level 3.

Wind has got up though - landing was straight down as 20mph wind and the canopy only flies at 20mph. I wanted to show off and land on their target spot but they told me to limit my landing pattern to not flyover the concrete so I had to land somewhere else.

skydive canopies are fun to fly - not like paragliding canopies at all - you can basically chuck em all over the sky -spins' etc and they are totally stable.

Anyhoo. Now waiting was wind to ease off. . .

Day 1 in not so sunny florida

Well, got to the DZ (drop zone) this morning at 8am. Windy and cloudy here in 'the sunshine state'.

It's now midday and I've done all my ground training refresher and passed the test, but I don't think I'm gonna get a jump today - the wind needs to be 14mph maximum for student jumps, and at the moment it is around 17 gusting to 22. Forecast says its gonna stay the same for the rest of the day.

Tomorrow looks much the same, though maybe calming down in the evening.

So today - I'm gonna hang about the DZ just in case. Tomorrow, I think it will be do other stuff till the afternoon, unless they particularly thing that I could get a jump in the morning.

The plan is to have me to a 'level 1' jump again. Thats the first freefall jump you'd usually do - 2 instructors, one either side of you and you are focusing on stable falling, altitude awareness and good canopy control and landing. Hopefully if I get that right we can skip some levels.

It's not stopping more experienced jumpers going though, which is annoying.

coming home early

weather still foggy in san diego. Nick and Whitters are gonna hire the Harleys for a day tomorrow - drive up the coast - stay the night, and come back the next day.

I've done it before though a few times, and am not really too bothered about doing it again - for the money I'll save not doing that I can buy a new carbon propeller for the Bailey. Plus, I don't have any of my gear with me and don't really want to wear one of their badly fitting piss-pots. Plus no leathers at all and I doubt they'll hire them - so it'd be riding in trousers and a regular jacket - not really very good protection - especially on roads you don't know. So I'm gonna give it a miss.

As it is, I've changed my return flight to Wednesday rather than the original Sunday. It'll get me home 4 days early - and who knows - maybe a few spells of decent weather at home will get me out on the bike or into the sky.

I've had a couple of days of thinking about alternatives, and can't really think if anything I really want to do - We might have been able to hire some paramotors in Phoenix, Arizona but it's 400 miles away and would probably have just been flying around an airport. I considered hiring a car and driving up to Lake Havasu (home of the 'London Bridge') for better weather, but it would still have been an extra 5-600 quid or so which could be used for other things if I come home early.

So - a bit of a messy trip really - Some nice flights in the end - I think my total was 5 or 6 long flights. Plus I got a bit better at low level flying. But it wasn't the mecca of paramotoring holidays that I expected it to be.

San Diego

So - I was booked in for another week at the ppg place - but the room was rubbish, and the weather is rubbish so I decided to call it a day.

I'm back in San Diego now with 3 of the others. One guy, Alan,  is flying back tueday and the other two (Nick and Whitters) are here for another week like me.

We don't really know what we're gonna do for a week to be honest. There's talk of hiring some Harley's but we have no kit with us so we'd need to hire all the  stuff too.

Alternatively could just find a nice hotel and chill for a week, but it's not very warm here - not sitting at the pool weather.

Checked into a Holiday Inn Express near the airport for tonight and tomorrow, not cheap, but it's nice to have a clean room with aircon after being constantly damp for a week.

So, the flying bit is over for sure - and was all very much of an anti-climax. I got 6 flights in the end which was nice, but I can't say I learned anything new really.

last day here

well - another long flight - 1 1/2 hours on friday morning. I was hoping to get over to a large jesus statue and fly around it, but I just didn't have enough fuel. I made a call and turned back, and made it down with about a coffee cup of fuel left.

I did do some spirals and wingovers though which was cool.

quad

here's a wee one from riding the quad wednesday and climbing the lighthouse at the end of the marina.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRC3T0QxLZs

sea flying

Here's a few shots I took of one of the guys flying below me.

drying your clothes - mexican style

I wondered what the hell this was - mexican hieroglyphics ?

day5 - fog fog fog

christ almighty I ain't doing another week of this here I'll tell you that.
Yes - it's flyable, but hardly wonderful flying. I think I'll be trying to organise an alternative plan for week 2.

GPS track from today (thursday) flight

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=1333145

fog don't stop me

Here we go - flight numero 4 from yesterday. Flying along the coast, inland a bit and into the cloud.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn4oMTjhwyk

Also had another flight today - a long one. 1 1/4 hours along the coast. total of about 45km or so. Not too bad - even made it into the sun for a couple of minutes. Was bloody freezing in the end though. Landed with about 2 litres from a full tank.

day 4 - it's morning in mexico… and it's…. yup: foggy

Right, getting decking sick of this fog now. I think we all might mutiny today….

day 3 - guess what - it's foggy

yup, another foggy cold day in mexico.

The morning was spent helping Jeff shoot a stunt video - with him flying his paramotor and landing it on a moving truck. I was one of the photographers - sitting in a shopping basket in the front of a quad bike while the driver drove it along behind the truck along the beach.

Got some great video of that - but since it's going on Jeff's new DVD I can't really post it. But here's a still:

In the afternoon I went for a bit of a cross country flight - flew over into a valley and spied a bit of sunshine hitting the top of a mountain. So up I went in search of it. When I got into it I could see the sun for the first time (LITERALLY) since leaving the UK. The cloud was more sparse here, so I went for it and flew up through the cloud into the sun. With the sun behind me, my shadow was on the cloud and I had a circular halo rainbow around me!:

It closed in though, and I had to fly down through the cloud to get back down - there was about 10 seconds where I couldn't see a thing, but it was so smooth and benign that I made a call that it was safe…. cough. don't try this at home kids….

anyhoo, got back ok and it was a nice flight. I yup - I landed on my feet again for the 4th time. Getting the hang of this now :-)

3 flights later

yup - got another. thats 3 in a day. not bad. all good takeoffs and landings :-)

best of all, on the last flight, I saw a mother dolphin and 2 babies. and around them were about 30 or 40 little rays (about the size of dinner plates). Obviously dolphins don't eat rays… so that was pretty cool. As I dropped down over the sea closer to them, they came to the surface - I think they must have felt the vibrations of the noise. Sorry no pictures. hopefully when it's sunnier later in week I'll get some pictures.

So, all in all, not a bad day 2 even with the cold and crappy fog. Fingers crossed that tomorrow the weather gets better.

Here's the motor I'm flying. An old fresh breeze thing with a snap100 engine. plenty of power, and quiet - just shitty high hand points.

Day 2 and in the air!

Well - bloody foggy again today, but not as much - so into the air we went!

Fluffed the first forward - wasn't used to the high hang points being soooo high.

Next attempt fine, power on and up I went. I'm flying a snap 100 engined thing. It's actually a very quiet motor, and I only need just more than tick over to fly level.

Once up it was nice and smooth, but visibility was around 500m only.

I stayed up for about 30 mins. And.. wait for it - landed on my feet!!! yeh :-)

A bit later I had another flight - another forward - up first time and had more of a play around. The wind was getting up though, and I was more or less hovering by the end. Which at least made the landed easy. Again managed to land on my feet.

Wind picked up now, and getting a bit more gusty as we sit here having lunch. We'll have to see what the afternoon holds….