My Nucleon and I

Tuesday, 28 July 2009

Yesterday was forecast to be a gorgeous flying day,with a light Northerly wind and some nice thermalling conditions.

I had planned to go paragliding on my local hill, Devils' Dyke near Brighton, but on a North wind, the cross country potential is limited due to the proximity of the sea to the South.

Instead I decided to attempt the paramotor distance World record for limited fuel in a closed circuit.

The current record was standing at 102km and having so far only claimed speed records, I was looking forward to attempt a fuel economy record for a change.

Over a year ago, my official observers, Dave Smith and Nigel Thomas, had weighed some avgas into sealed containers with the maximum quantity allowed of 7.5kg (about 10 litres). At short notice I called Dave Smith to bring the sealed fuel to the Waterhall rugby fields on the outskirts of Brighton. For records you need to be observed to launch from a perfectly flat field, not always easy to find.

By 10:45 I was airborne on my Bailey V4 and my beloved Dudek Nucleon 31, heading to Devil's Dyke where many paragliders were already soaring in early thermals.

My plan was to follow the South Downs as far as the airspace near Winchester, 70km away, as a way to use whatever ridge lift I could get along the route. The Downs are facing NNE but the wind soon backed to NNW giving me a bit of a headwind component. Progress was slow as I was flying as economically as possible.

Some good thermals allowed me to climb away from the ridge to help save fuel. After a couple of hours I had flown 60km and was approaching Butser Hill near Petersfield when the wind backed further to the West and was getting stronger. I changed my plan and flew 17 km NE along the A3 to Liphook where I decided to thermal back towards Brighton.

The conditions were perfect and I shared several thermals engine off with sailplanes from my near-by gliding club. I knew that as long as I was returning back to Brighton I would have beaten the World record, and with the wind pushing the thermals back towards home, all I needed was to stay airborne and enjoy myself.

The Nucleon 31 is such a nice glider to thermal with, it feels so much like paragliding. It likes to be banked and turn, with much lighter brake pressure that the ReAction had. Fuel economy records are definitely more fun that speed records. Switching the engine off is the best thing you can do on a paramotor, when birds of prey will be happy to thermal with you.

Eventually I flew back to Brighton to land by my van after just under 4 hours airborne and with 2 litres of fuel left in the tank. I should have gone further upwind before turning back, but I had not foreseen flying back with the engine switched off for so long.

Dave Smith downloaded all the logger data onto his computer, to indicate that I am able to claim a World record with 130km.

I am already planning various routes to try to better it, as I know that with my Bailey engine and my Nucleon 31, I have the best combination for such records.

The open distance record with limited fuel is also on the cards.

A brilliant flying day for late September, when night is already longer than day.

Michel Carnet