Isle of Wight slopes

[oipigface]

I'm a bit late for this, but does anyone have any knowledge of slopes on the Isle of Wight? I'm going tomorrow for a short break. I'll be staying in Freshwater, and the winds are forecast to be W or SW.

[Rooster-X]

Time to get the trusty OS map out John, let us know what you find, there was talk of having an F3F race on the island next year...

[Bobbyr]

Blackgang chine John,

Only place ive flown , but its a good fly , with a cliff path and big field to land , SW to W so should be great.

Have a good time mate

Bob

[simon_t]

I'll email you something John.

Simon

[Bobbyr]

Glad you found BlackGang John ,

Its a nice cliff isnt it , Cracking Field to land , and a coffee/Tea - Burger Van in the carpark aswell .

Was it West over there today ?

Or was it more SW mate?

Just cant remember what direction it was blowing when i was over there .

Bob

[chuckit]

Freshwater itself has a good slope, up behind the golf course on top of the hill facing the sea.

Blackgang Chine is the cream on the bun.

Culver Down is good, soaring over the white cliffs.

With a S wind I would try Limerstone Down, just never had the luck with the wind on my trips to the island. It is a very wide slope.

Enjoy your break. :)

[isoaritfirst]

Behind the holiday camps on the Military road the small crumbling cliffs fly very well.

[oipigface]

Thankd for your suggestions, folks. Here's a full report on IoW trip:

Five days, four flying sessions, one plane - Halfpipe.

Despite Bob's recommendation, I didn't fly at the site overlooking Blackgang Chine, I parked in the carpark for St Catherine's Oratory (which looks like Wallace and Gromit's spaceship), and walked up to St Catherine's Hill (Niton Down). Tried two or three places along the westerly ridge. The best site was just past the Hill, where the land becomes more ridge- than hill-like. Flew for about an hour, until the sun got annoying. Nice smooth lift with a large flat grassy landing area immediately behind.

Friday it rained.

Northwesterly 15mph wind on Saturday took me to Headon Warren. Parked in a lane called Headon Lea, with a flat walk to the slope, which has views over the Needles and the Solent. A three-masted sailing ship came sailing past as I was flying. This is an excellent slope, although rough under foot. There's quite a lot of gorse growing on the top, but there is also a largish heathery landing area. You have to extricate yourself from the heather at the slope edge to walk back to it. Flew for about an hour and a half.

Sunday and Monday winds were stronger and SW, and I went to Compton cliffs, which are flyable for a several miles. Sunday I went to Brook Bay, which was overwhelmed with kitesurfers, and walked half a mile along the cliff to a point where the wind was directly on. The cliff here was about 60 ft high with quite a wide area of landslip in front of it. I started off with maximum* ballast (8oz) because the wind was 30+mph, but took 2oz out after an initial flight, because there didn't seem to be enough energy in slope to keep the 8oz going. Less weight and the HP went faster.

Monday I parked in a NT carpark just SE of Freshwater bay. Most of the carpark was closed off for the winter season and provides a huge area for landing. Cliffs here vertical down to the sea and only about 40ft. I think this is the lowest slope I have ever tried flying from. 4oz of ballast in a 20mph wind, kept the HP going nicely until the time to take the ferry home arrived.

*HP will take 16oz, but I've never tried flying it with that much.

[andyharrold]

10 years later and I am off to the IoW.

Taking my Moth, similar to HP sizewize.

SE-SW winds all week.

Any updates since 2012?