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INDEPENDENCE DAY RALLY - WIGHT DIAMOND CHALLENGE We are having a paramotor fly-in rally at Butterfly on July 4th weekend in the hope that the weather will allow a mass attempt on the Wight Diamond Challenge, to fly round the Isle of Wight by paramotor. The four turnpoints; St Catherine's Oratory, Culver Monument, Osborne House and the Tennyson Monument are easy to find and the airspace, whilst it is a real issue which must be handled correctly, is not complicated. Simply fly over the top of the Sandown/Bembridge aerodrome traffic zones to the east and underneath the Southampton/Bournemouth control area approach to the west. If the weather on the day is not suitable for the Diamond, we will set other tasks such as: The Wight Star:- a cat's cradle task involving a selection of turnpoints scoring xc distance in a set time, how far can you go? The Wight Height:- altitude, simple, how high can you go? Wight Lightning:- Chale to Freshwater and back, how fast can you go? Accommodation at Sunacre is available, our organic B/B from £25pp, camping at £5 per person and even tipis for hire which can sleep up to ten people! Other accommodation options for motorhomes are at Grange Farm, a couple of miles down the Military Road and Chine Farm which has our training field adjacent available for take offs. Ferry charges are pretty high, share transport to reduce cost, also note that Wightlink and Red Funnel ferries have some discounts available if you look, often a night sailing is less exorbitant. There will be site safety and weather briefings each day and a report "safe" time by which all pilots registered should be accounted for. Party and barbecue at Funacre on Saturday evening, (12 hours bottle to throttle!). NOTES FROM FRANCIS.. He is in charge of the paramotoring side... On Wed, 23/6/10, Francis <francisrich@ rocketmail. com> our paramotor meet head added this: No record has yet been set for the fastest circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight by paramotor. The closest so far is Dean Barker but he failed to return to the start point due to an unexpected rainstorm. its up for grabs and next weekend 3rd/4th July, a mass attempt will be made. Mass? Well three of them so far.....It is the "Independence Day" paramotor meet and Solstice Cup paragliding competetion. Entry for the challenge is £35 including a barbeque and party at SunAcre (PO38 2HL), home of Butterfly Paragliding. Camping (basic with showers) is £5. Non competitor BBQ is £10 I am going down From Oxford) with truck and trailer and room for 6 pilots. Anyone with a camper or want to make their own way - see you there. Altenatively a fly-down vol-bivouac with your kit taken down in the trailer is possible. Anyone interested ? Let me know soonest. Wight Diamond Challenge http://www.paraglide.uk.com/ paramotoring.htm Solstice Cup http://www.paraglid e.uk.com/ paragliding_ club_news. htm I usually fly across from Lee on Solent to East Cowes. If you pass Osbourne House on your starboard and come round the back of it on a right hand circuit, there is a petrol station at 50° 44.959'N - 1° 16.569'W and a landable field to the south a short walk away. The field is on top of a smooth hill and good airflow but some trees at the north end. Crossing here is about three miles and you need a good 4000ft at Lee. If you arrive at Lee and need to fuel before crossing there is a big petrol station on top of the hill at Segensworth 50° 51.341'N - 1° 14.655'W with landable fields just to the northwest across the big roundabout. Other stations with landables on the Island are Shalfleet 50° 42.050'N - 1° 24.605'W with fields all around Freshwater 50° 40.900'N - 1° 30.976'W fairfiedl just to the west Chale 50° 35.804'N 1° 19.043'W with the recreation ground just to the west CARE: dont land in the recreation ground at Chale if the wind is from the sea as there is BIG rotor from the sheer cliffs at the end of the field. Land at atherfield bay holiday camp and phone me for a retrieve. And the big Tesco at Ryde 50° 42.688'N - 1° 8.751'W this is probably the easiest of them alll, on top of a flat hill and landable over small service road from the pumps.   .   WIGHT DIAMOND CHALLENGE Wight Diamond Paramotor Record Attempt On Tuesday 31st, Dave Botha (58) CFI of Butterfly Paragliding School in Chale attempted a new paramotoring record flight round the Island. The Wight Diamond Challenge is to fly right round the Island, via St Catherine’s oratory (pepperpot) , Culver monument, Osborne House and the Tennyson Monumentand back to Chale. A paramotor is a foot launched ultralight aircraft, consisting of a paraglider wing, like those which fly the cliffs near Blackgang, with a small motor attached to the pilots harness. Paramotoring is an increasingly popular airsport as the aircraft is inexpensive, easy to fly, does not need an airfield and can be carried in a family car. A strong headwind at 3000 feet on the day caused some problems with fuel consumption but once he was past the aerodrome traffic zones at Sandown and Bembridge he was able to descend to easier air and make better progress northwest over Fishbourne. The northeast breeze helped as he slipped along under the class D airway west of Cowes and climbed out toward the Needles. After clearing the third turn-point and heading along the White cliffs for home, the fuel finally ran out. A safe landing was made near the thatched church in Freshwater Bay at dusk. Wight Diamond Challenge, 2800 and two feet above Sandown Pier More pictures from the record attempt here