Its been a busy summer ...

...& today is the 1st cloudy, slightly wet day since mid July, so I finally have some time to talk to my blog ... sorry mum!
So, Turkey World Cup came & went in a flurry of rescues but happily, few injuries. Bayramören is certainly a unique place. The launches overlook a huge canyon so you need to climb out from its jaws to escape onto the flatlands. Ulric commented that its the first time he has needed to climb 2000m just to glide back to the organisation hotel!
After Turkey, I returned to Àger to start preparations for the World Cup and 2011 Women's Open.
The 'work' was broken up with some summer-partying, Catalan style with plenty of fiestas, fireworks and lots of noise & mayhem.

CorreFoc in Àger - Fire & Devils at Full moon!

Festa de Gracia!

The days before Àger World Cup started to heat up slightly ;-) with temperatures reaching a massive 44degrees and extreme hot weather warnings for the area. Cloud base of 4500m cooled every one down a little but on the ground it was becoming crasy hot! We had storms all around us but nothing actually entered our playground.

Storms to the east of us ...

Conditions were good for 5 tasks and fortunately during the week we saw very few incidents - thankfully a nice way to end the World Cup Tour with Open class wings.There were the usual tantrums from the usual suspects but I think we set some pretty good tasks ...
The competition was won by Jeremie Lager with Stephan Morgenthaler 2nd, Xevi 3rd & Pepe 4th. Results here

I am working!!! The gaggle is above me!

Being Meet Director is always slightly stressful particularly when you are the only one in the organisation who speaks English & Spanish, but I was helped enormously by Judith. Massive thanks girl, for being there to deal with all the stuff I didn't have time, or inclination ;-0 for ...lost keys, forgotten sandwiches, missed buses, bar bills ... the list was practically endless! and also to my favourite resident breakfast-chef & Merlin walker :-*
I finally had chance to fly my new AirDesign PURE on the registration day of the Women's Open :))))

My new PURE at sunset in Àger

Wowwww - what a fantastic glider but I have a small problem with getting down! The sea-breeze convergence lifted me and lifted me until way after dark and I couldn't get back into the Àger valley to land. After blacking out twice in spirals and exhausting my ability to hold in BIG-big-ears I bravely ran away south to try to escape the lift. Finally, finding some sinking air under the wave at about 21:20 I landed in the dark at 21:40  and was expecting to spend the night sleeping in my glider bag but a wander around the landing place & I got enough signal to call 'international rescue' ;-) ... It was a huge relief to see the truck lights bouncing through the forest  40 minutes later (... & thanks for all the advice on "just find sinking air & stay in it"! ;-)) The biggest joke was that I had pinned up notices for the competing pilots telling them there was no retrieve that day ... & then I was the only one who needed it! :-s
The sea breeze the next evening was amazing, marked by rapidly forming convergence cloud. We sat on the take-off at sunset watching the cloud swirling & racing past us. It makes you realise that we are playing with something far bigger than we are, when we fly!

Sea Breeze convergence at sunset in Àger

The Àger Women's Open was probably the last Open Class competition for 2011. With girls flying all shapes and types of gliders from dhv1 through to Open class 2-liners! Our world-cup windummies philippe & pepe did a great job, even though they claim it was tough job at times! They were under strict instructions to stay behind the girls and resist the temptation to lead out - anyone mis-sbehaving would be sent to St.Andre immediately! However, the 'lateral' thinking of some of the female pilots challenged the alpha-male brains at times! ;-)

Pepe playing at St.Alis waiting for the next chica to follow!

Big congratulations to all the girls who came here to fly, you brought so much fun & enthusiasm with you and made our job an easy and fun one!

Class of 2011 - Àger Women's Open

The competition was won by the very very smiley Yayoi Ito on her first trip outside Japan, with young French chica Laurie Genovese 2nd and Nicole McLearn 3rd. Results here.

Finally, I had time for a few days holiday ...

Chill out time in St.Andre

... relaxing in St.Andre for the final days of the Pre Europeans and then facing my nemesis - the Dormillouse run from St.Andre to St.Vincent and (nearly) back again.

Cheval Blanc "You are close only when the stabi ine & the shadow touch!"

Face-to-face with my nemesis ...

...& happy new emotions about St.Andre :-))))

Arriving at St.Vincent :-) Time to turn around & do it all again! :-/

The way home ...

Getting up close and personal with the Cheval Blanc and Tete de l'Estrop scared me half to death but what a totally fantastic flight even though I did kind of lose the plot on the way back in the strong valley headwind. It is the flight of my life but thankfully I was just the passenger and in the very capable hands of the world #1 ... if I had been on the controls we probably would have poked a toe onto cheval blanc and then landed in the Thorême valley on the way out!! Skimming along with my ass so close to the rocks was aversion therapy at its extreme ... but I now do believe you can fly the Dormillouse without turning. I am truely a wimp in these big mountains ...particularly these  exact mountains but ghosts have been laid to rest now and I am actually looking forward to coming back to fly here ...strange but true! :-/

Now I am back in Àger working and with that 'after the holidays' feeling. But flying has been great this week and I am practicing getting in close to rocks and flying fast without turning ... its all a bit scary but fun too in a learning new stuff kind of way! :)