Was told this morning that someone would be flying to Ullapool today, under a parachute towed by a fast boat. As it's a nice, sunny day, I head off into town to view the event from a nice vantage point. However, the crowds I had been warned to expect at the launch site, Cuddy Point, were nowhere to be found. On the way there, I passed the lawn in front of Lews Castle where a very colourful chut was laid out. In the Inner Harbour, two fast boats were manoeuvring between North Beach and Cuddy Point. By 1pm, the parascentist (that's what it said on the boat) had finished his on-camera interview and proceeded to his chute. A cable was rigged up between the towboat and the chute. This was deployed using the force 3 easterly wind. The boat gathered speed * snap * the line snapped. The parascentist dropped to the ground and the whole shebang had to be rigged up again. Two seals bobbed about in the harbour, very inquisitive as to what was going on. At 2pm, we started from the top. Unfortunately, the chute got caught in a gust of wind and veered off into the trees. The parascentist crashed to the ground, taking a few branches with him and thereby breaking his fall. He ended up on the bench, but was not hurt. The chute was left hanging in the tree. It was quite some bother to get it down, and it was torn. Brand new and all. The wife told the spectators, all ten of us, that the man was quite devastated. Everybody drifted away after that. I went to the library to have lunch (a bit late at 3 pm) and update this journal. Went back to mrs B. Ended the day with a colossal stomach upset, which took some time to subside.
Postscript: Read in the Stornoway Gazette on Thursday 30th June that a Good Samaritan had been found, who had supplied a new parachute. A picture featured in the Gazette, showing the man flying past the Beasts of Holm, 2 miles south of Stornoway. He arrived safe and well at Ullapool later in the day.
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