Nicky's Journal / Blog 2012

2012-01-27T22:06:00.000+01:00

a late Sushi lunch then ... lots of silliness at gol :)

Gol fun - estilo Aleman / Italiano / Tirol :)

the recipe for ... the speediest feet in the west! :))))))

2012-01-27T20:59:00.003+01:00

Day 3 - 103km task
The base today is incredible - the volcano is about 4400m & base is sitting about 600m above!
Its a new start position & a new turnpoint out at B38 today :)
Some of the climbs out from the launch were slow but once established were constant to freezing point ... I had no intention to reach base today it's far too cold up there!
Again, a really nice and smooth flight - perhaps I was believing all the turbulence stories too literally - but my ballast emptying itself inside my harness wasn't in the plan. After finally landing my surprisingly lively glider when underweight in these conditions I was met by the locals to helped me pack, asked a million questions about flying and then wanted to carry my glider to the waiting armed-truck!
The retrieve support here has even more fire-power than in Colombia! ;-)

PURE firepower! ;-)

I guess many people want to hear of the task etc ... but sorry, we are too busy having a lot of laughs at the gol! ;D

2012-01-27T02:32:00.001+01:00

Day 2 : task 2 92km triangle task
Soooooooo cold last night & then this morning ... I need even more down jackets & woolly hats!
Much involves food to keep warm in these cold mornings ... huevos mexicanas & lots of coffee to start the day then a coffee top-up on the way to launch and we are ready for it all to begin!
Briefly about the task: Lots in goal, a couple of rescue deployments but happily no swimming today ... then chilling with Coronas & chips in the goal field until the sunset too much and we ran back home to get warm again. Each day Judith sets me the challenge of guessing the task time for the first in goal ... on day 1 the error was 4 minutes & today 7 minutes wrong - they are flying even faster than I think they can! A year of watching / following and racing to goal & i'm getting pretty good at judging where they will be and when ... its nearly 'Livetracking' from the Nickipedia! ;-)

The view from 'home' at sunset :)

Still on the topic of food; I am too hungry to write much now ... more words after we have dinner ... or maybe after breakfast! ;-)

Relaxing at 'home' - just Merlin missing for a perfect evening!

2012-01-26T04:39:00.003+01:00

Day 1 : Task 1 62km
An extremely early breakfast today in the chilly morning ... its REALLY cold here first thing! An then up to launch for another sunny valle day. Though today the wind appeared pretty strong from launch and base was forecast to be 200m lower than yesterday BUT as with most things, they are not exactly as they might seem! Base was more than 600m higher than expected though the wind was still strong at altitude.
The task committee of local guru ;-) Ronny, Pepe & Raul came up with a shortish 62km task for this first day with goal at the lake.
There were some dramatic 'lift-offs' from the take-off as the gusts rattled through stronger & stronger but all the pilots were in the air pretty quickly and waiting for the +1:30hr start.

Goal at the lakeside

The armada arriving over the lake was an impressive sight made even more interesting by a few minor 'dunkings' in the water ... the rescue boat was on standby to fish out & ferry pilots to dry land! ;-)

Eduardo kiting/flying/drying ...

The services at goal included a local 8 year old boy groundhandling the wet wings & then packing them professionally all for a few pesos!

The unintended arrival statistics sit at: 3 in the trees & a few wet wings, but all are safe & accounted for and ready for battle to recommence in the morning!
Hasta mañana!

Task results here

2012-01-25T04:25:00.000+01:00

Practice days ...
Its been warm, sunny, slightly windy and averagely bumpy here these days!

playing at the Peñon with pepe as the day ends ...

flying too close to the sun ;-)

Tomorrow see's things kick-off for real ... we are all waiting to see if the solar flare / gamma radiation storm will fry GPS's overnight & we have a maps / photos task for day! Maybe someone 'upstairs' is trying to tell us something ... ;-)
The opening ceremony extravaganza with the Totonac 'flying men' from Papantia Veracruz was an amazing spectacle in the light of the stting sun ... & they probably think we are crasy!! Who in his right mind would stand completely unsupported on top of a tree trunk 25m in the sky and play the pipes & drum?!

The slightly bonkers Totonac flying people!

the descent to earth ...

2012-01-22T08:35:00.003+01:00

!! Viva Mexico !!
After a night of torrential rain in Pereira and a 4am start I was hoping to catch up with some zzzzzzzz's on the flight from Bogota. But the scenery was amazing and kept me glued to the window as the plane followed the archipeligo north from the Carribean coast of Colombia, over Panama, Guatamala and up to Mexico following the 'volcano route' northwards. I wasn't expecting to see an active volcano south of mexico city ... lots of new suprises :)

Turquoise carribean seas from 37000 feet

Smoking Vulcano south from Mexico city ..

After a long wait in the airport and a seemingly even longer wait as we collected the rental car, navigating out of Mexico City with German route instructions - 'thankfully' Judith as the back-seat navigator who understood them - and my Garmin proved surprisingly easy but even so we arrived in Valle at 2am ... the door-keeper of the hotel wasn't entirely happy to see us so late!

Dream-time - the hotel was lovely surprise :)

I could get used to this life! :)

... the terraza

It was a lovely first day, with a lie-in, fruit for breakfast, a visit to the Monarca butterflies, a long idyllic lakeside lunch and then flying ... its a good life :)

Butterfly snow!
Not a great picture but an incredible sight ...

Monarca flutterby
just imagine millions of these flying all around you :)

I seem to have something caught in my lines! ;-)

My first Mexican flight
Pepe & the Peñon at sunset :)))

Valle was filling with pilots and buzzing till the early hours but jetlag and a nice flying forecast sent us early back home ...

2012-01-17T23:45:00.006+01:00

PURE relax in Piedechinche :)
Yesterday a group of us moved south to the site of the goal we used last week during the competition ... Piedechinche is one of my favourite relaxing places to fly here - stunning scenery, mountains, waterfalls, tropical plants and sooooo many flowers. There truely are 10,000 shades of green here in these mountains and maybe as many hibiscus & heliconia flowers in crasy shapes, colors and sizes!

Piedechinche - a beautiful site

Last evening & night storms raged across the valley lighting up the sky and waking up the local cockerels who seem to be existing on European time ... flash bangs and a cockerel chorus kept me awake until 6am. But thankfully its relax time & no need to get up for breakfast until 8am :)

Relaxing in 'Eden' as the storm begins!

moody skies after the storms

With all the rain its was obvious that it would overdevelop early so while the group were making a recce flight & then relaunching I scooted out into the valley for some PURE relaxation, playing in soft thermals up to cloudbase and criss-crossing to see interesting lakes and villages and fly with the birds.
Flying is soooooo much FUN!

Crab-Claw Heliconias

2012-01-15T16:40:00.002+01:00

There was a great party atmosphere last night at prize-giving at the HQ ... lots of tired happy pilots, bbq, music and dancing and they even gave me flowers ! :)
The best Rolda party so far!

Prize giving party :)

Flowers from the organisers ...
& thank you all for making it a great week ! :)

Now its time for the holidays to start!
... first a day to relax and then tomorrow I can fly :)))))))))))
The plan is Piedechinche for a couple of days then back to Rolda until Friday when I go to Mexico ... I am looking forward to lots of laughing, flying and fun in the sun!

2012-01-14T20:45:00.014+01:00

Day 7 Task 7 : 45km race to goal
Quote of the day & so true; "... here in Colombia we have 10,000 colours of green"

The morning was unexpectedly sunny which bizarely is a bad sign here!
We arrived on launch in sun but were quickly surrounded by cloud from the heated valley.

Following the soup to launch!

Layers of stratus cloud started moving through bringing shadow and some rain over Roldanillo as the free-flyers were in the air.

The early morning sunny sky effect! From this ...

... to this after the start!

We discussed various options for tasks to keep pilots safe from the forecast wind, but when it came to it, the 100% cloud cover appeared to be more of a problem!
We finally reduced our original 65km task to a 45km race due to the completely dark overcast sky ... we did think that it might very probably be stopped or cancelled, but the weather Goddess was playing nice today!

Task 7 :)

A start over Roldanillo to make the local people happy, then to Toro in the north and goal at Zarzal.

The MD's eye view

From the launch it was possible to watch progress of the task and just 40 minutes in we saw 2 lonely Mantras speeding ahead of the pack on the return leg from Toro to goal ... not surprisingly Steban & Julian were racing again ahead again, this time with the company of Matty Senior & Daniel Vallejo :) These Colombian guys are in F1 mode, Julian & Steban are virtually untouchable in the rankings here!
Some pilots are flying back from goal now, others will be back soon in retrieve buses.

Update: Todays task had 68 in goal - amazing on a day we thought would be a no-task day!

Our Official Ice-Cream man
There is no competition without Ice-Cream!

Prizegiving & the final party is at 8pm ...

What a week!

7 days, 7 race tasks to goal (none stopped)
522 task kilometers
A winner with 6803 points out of an available 6960 ... incredible! In the words of other World Cup pilots here - "it is impossible to fly a paraglider faster than these 2 guys (julian and steban) ... " We all hope that the experience fills them with confidence for a fantastic results in Valla Superfinal!

Tired but very hapy greetings from the amazing Rolda Wonderland :)))))))))

Task 7 results:
1. Steban Novoa COL (R11)
2. Matt Senior NZL (R11)
3. Daniel Vallejo COL (R11)

Overall results:
1. Julian Andres Carreño COL (R10)
2. Steban Novoa COL (R11)
3. Brad Gunnuscio USA (R11)

Serial results:
1. Sebas Pardo COL (AirDesign Pure)
2. Guy Anderson GBR (Gin GTO)
3. Arnie Frankenberger USA (M4)

Womens results:
1. Daria Krasnova RUS (Axis Venus3)

Its been a long hard week! ;-)

2012-01-13T23:33:00.004+01:00

Day 6 Task 6: 70km
Today was looking pretty grim at 6am, with a very low base, rain to the south of us and a forecast of west wind early in the day. By 9:00am it wasn't looking much better though the risk of the Pacific wind was less to the north.

Task 6

With this in mind, we decided on a goal at Cartargo Airport and planned a route to get us there as soon as possible without too much flying into the areas where the Pacific wind falls over the mountain.
The start around La Union and return to the cantera at Bolivar were really slow. Pilots flying back low were already feeling some the influence of the falling wind and a few were flushed into Roldanillo. Those who stayed high had a much easier time ( as always ;-) ) and were rewarded for their patience with an easier transition and back again past the take-off. A few level 2's were reported in the area south of Roldanillo but once away from that area the conditions were mush easier and less broken.
The 1st group of Steban (lower & in front on full gas as usual) and then Julian & Brad (wingtip to wingtip) passed back in front of launch on the last leg to goal about 15 minutes ahead of the next group which was ALL serial wings. The rest of the Open class were mincing around with the free flyers back near the 1st tp in survival mode ;-)
We had a couple of unintentional landings in the high ground near the 1st tp and 1 rescue from a free-flyer but today the pilot focus seemed much more on safety of others and thankfully, many pilots reported the 'arrivals' back to earth.

Once on course towards goal the pace was still slow with many pilots getting stuck in all sorts of places and talk of low saves over lakes & floods, vinefields & fruit orchards.
The winners (Steban, Julian & Brad) arrived in goal way ahead of the 2nd group and to receive a very frosty reception from the airport authorites who seemed to have taken offence at floppy fabric wings littering their nice big runway.

Gol - with high wire fences to keep the pesky pilots inside! :D

The pilots were behind a 3m high wire fence with no exit (except for the very tall who managed to climb over) the retrieve and organisation were outside...

There followed alot of loud latino-style 'discussion' and waving of arms but the fault lay within the civil aviation authorities own bureauracy. We had contacted Cali Tower for approval, had sent all coordinates for the task and been fully authorised to proceed after 11am today. However in the 150km between the 2 airports the message had been lost in the ether and the locals decided to flex their 'little big man' muscles and make a scene.
After 'stroking the ego's' of the local bosses, the matter resolved itself and our 'captive' pilots were released.

So, a great week so far and still 1 day left to fly. 6 tasks in 6 days, lots of tired but happy pilots and many envious friends sat in Europe in the cold & rain!
Super Rolda strikes again! :)

Task 6 results
1. Steban Novoa COL (R11)
2. Brad Gunnuscio USA (R11)
3. Julian Andres Carreño COL (R10)

Overall after 6 tasks
1. Julian Andres Carreño COL (R10)

2. Steban Novoa COL (R11)
3. Brad Gunnuscio USA (R11)

2012-01-13T03:05:00.019+01:00

Day 5 Task 5 : 105km

A great forecast but not such a great looking day. The high cloud was getting thicker as we waited on launch but in true Rolda style the sun burst through at about 10am and inspired the task committee to adventurous things!

100km day ?

We decided to set 2 alternative tasks, both with the same start but with different goals depending on how the sky looked.
Plan A = Piedechinche about 100km to the south, Plan B = Tuluá airfield goal approx. 50km.

Task5

When it came to decision time, we decided that it was pointless to waste the day with a short task ... if conditions didn't improve, pilots would be landing close to Tuluá anyway. But there was always the good chance that the sky would clear and then we would be well on the way to Piedechinche.

For me, the car journey back down to Rolda from take-off was an adventure in itself with my driver trying to impersonate Juan Pablo Montoya ... but only in 3rd gear, on muddy dirt roads filled with holes, small furry mammals and whole families on motor scooters. The staff boys in the back were ready to throw themselves out of the pick-up to preserve their lives ... inside the truck we were strapped in & totally silent hoping to survive as far as HQ!

As it turned out, the slow start and weak conditions continued and progress was slow throughout the day. It was interesting to see the different route options taken, some in the western mountains, some in the valley and others in the east.
The task was won by Swiss pilot, Lukas Gantenbein in 4 hours 22mins. Lukas made a remarkable recovery after Heli-ing his R10 near the cantera after falling out of a thermal with trimmers full closed. Everyone close was expecting to see a reserve deployment but he calmly composed himself and then jumped back into the climb and raced ahead!

Task winner - Swiss Lukas

Following very closely behind, were Brad Gunnuscio & the local hereos, Julian and Steban showing consistent world class talent. These Colombian guys will be ready for big things in Mexico Superfinal!
Approx 15 pilots made goal with a large number about 15-20km short after 6 hours of flying!

Retrieve close to goal turned into another adventure with a strike at a nearby factory town. The atmosphere was slightly tense as darkness fell, bonfires and people demonstrating in the street, others building temporary tents to sleep in ...
About 15-20 pilots were grounded on opposite sides of the demonstration and vehicles weren't able to pass so many kilometeres were driven trying to get contact on each side of the happenings.

All pilots are now reported safe (some having been beaten with the naughty stick for failing to report on time ;-) ) though not all back yet at HQ, downloads are happening and I hope we get results out later tonight ...

Task 5 results
1. Lukas Ganterbein SUI (R10.3)
2. Brad Gunnuscio USA (R11)
3. Julian Andres Carreño COL (R10)

Overall after 5 tasks
1. Julian Andres Carreño COL (R10)
2. Steban Novoa COL (R11)
3. Brad Gunnuscio USA (R11)

2012-01-11T18:05:00.011+01:00

Day 4 Task 4 : 99 km

At 4am the windows started shaking and it sounded like elephants were running over the roof ... a storm was directly over Roldanillo.
I have to admit that at that moment the thought went through my mind of how nice a rest day would be.
So when I woke up again at 6am to see a completely sunny sky it was time for plan B = get up, get ready & go to work! It's a shitty job but some one has to do it! ;-)

All the forecasts were predicting overdevelopment in the early afternoon so we planned a provisional, short, closed-circuit task in the valley in front of town. But as we drove up the mountain the sky was clearer than expected, base higher than expected and the early morning storms to the west weren't as big as expected. So filled with confidence for a better day than expected the task grew and grew to a massive 151km ;-) ! Super Rolda strikes again!

Classic Rolda Skies, again :)

Then some realism came into force; today was the worst forecast we have for the rest of this week! So, after some juggling with tp's and cylinder radius' we managed to just keep it below 100km and hopefully achieveable for a good % of pilots. Though the possibility of a stopped-task was still pretty high.
Not to miss an opportunity for a joke, I wrote up the task board with the full task distance, leaving out the cylinders. The shocked / surprised faces as they programmed GPS's was enough to make me smile for a long time :)

Task 4 - after the joke! ;-)

Start was a 7km radius around La Victoria to send pilots early into the valley and away from the greatest storm risk, then 10km radius around Bugalagrande, back North to Obando for a 10km radius on Zaragosa and gol south of Zarzal.

The start was very slow, weak and smooth with low base due to the early morning rainfall. The first 40km ish took close to 2 hours even for some of the pilots early in goal. On the track back north, the sky improved and pilots found climbs up to 6m/s close to the last tp. The final glide for some began 25km out at Obando, some missed, most made goal. The more cautious took 2 or 3 climbs to make sure to cross the line. The Colombian's Julian Andres & Steban Novoa seemed to glide faster than we could drive down the highway on the final stages and arrived well ahead of the pack into gol - again!! ;-)
30 happy pilots made goal with a few just short in the final kilometers.

Local hereos, Super Speedy Steban y Julian

Task 4 results:
1. Steban Novoa COL (R11)
2. Julian Andres Carreño COL (R10)
3. Matt Senior NZL (R11)

Mathieu 4th overall - doing good for the 'Old Guys' ! ;-)

Overall after 4 tasks:
1. Julian Andres Carreño COL (R10)
2. Steban Novoa COL (R11)
3. Matt Senior NZL (R11)

My Police escort before the dramas
a rifle & an ice-cream are essential equipment here!

I had plenty of excitement to keep me busy on the take off while the last pilots were getting ready to launch. Out of the north through a small col & just 100m above hill height came a roar of engines and a small plane dived at us, waggled his wings and made some aerobatics in front and below take-off.

Not cool guys!
An 'authorized' filming fly-past today :(

*!@!+*$!!!****!! The Military Police next to me were as shocked as I was and radios started squarking all over as questions were asked of the relevant authorites. As we gradually recovered, to our horror the plane crossed the valley and flew between and around the gaggles in the flats. Pilots were squarking, we were making a war dance and the Police controller was trying to pin down the appropriate idiot who authorised the flight.

As the plane appeared to fly of east we relaxed a little and started to get the last pilots ready to take off, when again it appeared. This time the reaction on take-off was nearly atomic ... I was swearing in all the 'Espanglish' words I know, the police were jumping up and down, the local boys throwing rocks at the plane, radios and phones all going at once ... I tried to convince the guys with guns to shoot the ****** down, but apparently that isn't really allowed here any more!

WTF!!
The hands say it all ... the 2nd fly-past

Finally, we were told by the air-control-tower that we should not worry at all, the pilot was a professional, filming the competition and have been authorised to fly close-terrain in the area ... WTF!!!
Long and complicated questions are being asked tonight!
More fotos ...

AirProx
Foto: Alejandro Villa

... & they look so relaxed inside ... F!@!!*^

Foto: Linda Bildt Andersson

2012-01-10T17:47:00.003+01:00

remembering Waikiki ... laughing & winning!! ;-)

2012-01-10T17:18:00.010+01:00

Day 3 Task3 : 71 km
Quote of the day "...its the best place on earth for racing paragliders"

The morning looked like most Rolda mornings. But just to stop us getting bored or relax too much, the weather Goddess threw in some sunshine and back-wind at the take-off to make things different from the earlier days. Dust Devils took a few gliders for a spin, twist and stall while we were deep into the task setting discussions. Its incredible how well these things recover without anyone interfering with them ;-)

Thermal generator ;-)

My handsome task setting committee of Adam, Hugo & Jonathon (they asked me to make mention of that ;-) ) & I discussed a few interesting options for the day and finally since we had a forecast of more west wind decided on a mainly valley task with various route options/decisions.
An exit start over Roldanillo, next to Obando airstrip, La Paila, El Molino in the east, back to Rolda antennas and then goal near Zarzal.

Task 3 - Gol in Zarzal

The sky opened after a slightly slow start with beautiful fluffy clouds and for the first time this week good solid climbs 3-4m/s all along the task route and finished as the pilots arrived in goal with so much lift that gliders were going up in big-ears as if they were thermalling!

A sky that dreams are made of :)

Again, lots of happy face in goal, about 80 pilots made it, and many many comments about another great task. To finish the day/night we are all invited to a Colombia Cloudbase party to celebrate the days adventures.

This is probably one of the very few Open Class competitions that will be allowed to be run this year.
The incident score so far;
0 open class gliders - 4 serial/sports class wings.

These 'safe' gliders seem to be more trouble than the 'scary' comp wings in the generally fluffy, mild conditions we have here this week ;-)

Crasy chica of the day award goes to Ukranian Olga.
The story ... after getting near to a cloud and not escaping with big-ears & speedbar she was sucked inside. After some time she started to be disorientated and didn't know where the mountain was and she was still going up ... so her next manoevre was a B-line stall. Unfortunately, after after some unintentional acro, the glider went negative and she realised that she couldn't get it out so threw her rescue.
A long journey to earth followed which put her on the ground just metres from the high-voltage electricity cables halfway up the mountain - lucky girl!!
After getting herself together mentally & physically she packed up her wing and rescue and "decided not to bother the organisation" and started to walk/climb down the mountain ... 4 hours later, in the dark, after an epic scramble through forest, over rocks and down gulleys she reached farmland and cows but after walking some more she couldn't find a road.
In her own words, that's the time when she "decided to cry, but it didn't help " so she them called organisation to come find her!!!
A scary cloud experience, and SIV without the 'S', a reserve ride, a 4 hour walk down a mountain with a glider on her back and when I just asked her why she didn't ask for help; the answer was "I am STRONG girl" ... WAY stronger than most of the guys here I think ;-) !! :) :)

Task 3
1 . Brad Gunnuscio USA (R11)
2. Julian Andres Carreño COL (R10)
3. Mathieu Vermeil FR (R11)

Overall after 3 tasks
1. Julian Andres Carreño COL (R10)
2. Steban Novoa Smith COL (R11)
3. Mathieu Vermeil FR (R11)

Task result here
Overall results here

Every girl needs a trusty Willy! ;-)

2012-01-09T17:18:00.007+01:00

Day 2 Task 2: 77km Race

XC Skies for today ... tomorrow ....

Today was a good looking day with more blue sky than grey sky at 06:00, when I got up. It's not like anywhere 'normal' here ;-) The task was set by 10am with start at 11:30am!

11am and most waiting for start! La vida loca ;-)

So... a start like yesterday over Roldanillo, then La Union to the north, over into 'tiger country' in the east at the 'finca la bonita', then Tuluá airport, back to Gelatinas 9km north & back to gol at Tuluá.

Task 2 : Gol en Tuluá

It turned out to be a fabulous day with 45 pilots in goal.

Life here is full of surprises - this one from the goal line ;-)

There were a few incidents (none related to the Miltary Police deciding to drop in) that left me slightly stressed and questioning resources but those in need are in good hands ...
Mañana mas! :)

Task 2 results here
Overall results here

2012-01-08T18:34:00.003+01:00

Day 1 Task 1
You can really rely on Roldanillo - it will be grey and damp in the early morning as I try to wake up at a ridiculously early time, some blue bits will start to show as we go up to the mountain at 07:30.
By the time we get there cloud base will have risen to completely cover the launch and we will sit in cloud during the next hour or so.
Then after a few tentative glimpses of the valley base lifts and we have sunshine and fluffy clouds ...
Thats the way it goes day by day ... :)

So, today's story ...
Get up at 06:00, look out the window. See that the above description is true again!
Up to take-off, a general safety briefing with all the 'boring' rules, technicalities, penalties and do's & dont's of flying a competition here. After that with Adam, Hugo & Jonathon set a provisional task, wait a while to see how conditions improve, revise things a little & off we go!

The SuperGirl Cafe at launch

Today's task was a 55km (approx) race starting in Roldanillo, then north to Higuironcito, cross the valley to La Paila and goal in Obando at the airstrip.
The conditions at start were light & put a few on the ground but quickly improved into a great Rolda day. The top 3 pilots made it into goal probably 20 minutes in front of the next gaggle and were followed by maybe 40 more.
Lots of happy sunburnt faces in the goal field and thanks for a good task :)

The armada arrives in goal :)

Download & scoring are going on now ... more later!

Results here

2012-01-07T22:29:00.001+01:00

Practice day:
Lots of work, very little time play.
A fantastic sky sprinkled with gliders that I repeatedly tried to avoid looking at, a beautiful rainbow over HQ during registration a rain shower that delayed play at the General Briefing & Opening ceremony at the Museo Rayo & a shark in the plaza central!
Then sleep ...

The weather Goddess is smiling on us tonight at registration

Reyes fiesta

2012-01-07T09:57:00.001+01:00

Practice day skies - its looking good :)

Light winds, wet air, low base - GREAT flying. Must be Rolda :)

With a forecast like this it should be a great week in Rolda!

2012-01-06T18:23:00.030+01:00

C-O-L-O-M-B-I-A :)
The sunrise over Barcelona as we drove to the airport was mind-blowing ... an intense blood-red changing to bronze as it got lighter.

Sunrise over Barcelona, 5th January

a beautiful start to a long day of travelling ...

In total contrast the sky above Bogota was menacing! Lightening was flashing on both sides of the very shakey plane and apocalyptic amounts of rain were beating down. All flights out were delayed a minimum of 2 hours if you were lucky enough that they hadn't already been cancelled!
And then, arriving very early this morning in Pereira, I found my driver from last years World Cup waiting with rolls of plastic at the ready to waterproof my bags for the trip to Roldanillo - it was as if I never left!
The only difference is that I now know the correct protocol for dealing with a night-time army road block!

After a couple of hours sleep and the breakfast I have been dreaming about for a year it was back-to-work!
It was amazing that as I walked through the town so many local people called out to say hello & ask if I had been away somewhere, they hadn't seen me for a few weeks!! ;-)

From this ...

... comes this :)

With Lucho at the wheel of the truck (always an 'exciting' experience!) we checked out the goal fields to see if 1. they are under water or 2. full of sugar cane.
The flooding is extensive though possibly not quite so high as last year - the sugar cane is green, spikey and just as tall as before ;-)
As we drove back from Cartago in the evening storms were dumping heavy rain but here in Rolda it's a warm dry evening ... but my eyes need matchsticks to hold them open so its goodnight from me!
Hasta mañana!

Happy 2012 ...

2012-01-02T16:49:00.003+01:00

an evening of girlie giggles ...

Cava & 'baby-burgerli'

.. followed by a day of sunshine, sand, sea, flying and friends :)

sunshine & smiles

A PURE New Year day :)

aviatrix

picnik on the sand & a stroll in the sunshine

Countdown to Colombia / Mexico / Brasil & ... lots of fun! :)

2011-12-29T16:56:00.006+01:00

Local time in Roldanillo (-6 hours)

2011-12-28T20:30:00.006+01:00

Fun @ Sta.B today :)

The year is nearly over and we are still playing aerial dodgems in a very busy sky at Sta.B ;-)
Sunshine, smooth thermals, blue sky and friends
Flying is FUN! :)

2011-12-19T09:37:00.006+01:00

After lots of debating and consideration of all the events of yesterday we decided to run a task. The family and friends of the deceased pilot were supportive of this and so back to Pampoenfontein we went.

'Briefing!'

Some elected not to fly, some free-flew but the majority flew the task to Constriction goal.
There were concerns that base might not get high enough to cross safely and various routes were seen on the tracking as some pilots scrabbled through the terrain rather than over it but the day saw a large number on goal with Andre Rainsford securing his Valle SuperFinal ticket.

I think in terms of adventure I had the most excitement of the day trying to find the goalfield in the 'Noddy car'. As one point after whizzing through dusty, sandy orange groves I managed to get the car on top of a semi-hidden rock with all 4 wheels of the ground!
Fortunately, with the assistance of 4 small boys I lifted it from its perch and then had a river crossing that looked like it might wash the car away. With plenty of revs and hanging on the steering wheel we made dry land.. but only just!
A Chevy Spark Lite really is a true go-anywhere 4x4 all terrain vehicle ;-)

Its not been the week we were expecting, more weather than is usual for South Africa, less flying and then the tragic events of yesterday but tomorrow looks nicely flyable so we plan to get up to Dasklip for a flutter before heading back to Cape Town and the cold European winter.

... and then I guess i should get some flights book for South America & Mexico :)

2011-12-16T15:45:00.022+01:00

A Classic Porterville day (we were told) ;)

To match the optimism an 84km race to Clanwilliam was set. Again, conditions on launch were light & fluffy and not at all Portervill-esque! There was congestion at start as the base didn't lift as much as hoped and the thermals were particularly noticeable by their absence!

Race to Clanwilliam

24 hours later with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight and after talking with experienced HG pilots who flew, the task was over-optimistic as conditions really didn't turn on at all during the day. The hangdanglers gave up after taking 2 hours to reach Constriction reporting no thermals in Citrusdal valley and only just enough base to scrabble over the ridge before Bumpy.

Sadly, the day brought tragedy as a pilot launched without his harness straps done up. We watched as he tried to get his feet into the pod. Everyone was holding their breath and hoping that what we collectively and subconsciously knew would happen, was not going to happen. Time seemed to stop for the duration of his flight but came back in fast-forward as the inevitable did happen just after the wing stalled :(
The task was cancelled before start time and after some 'relax-time' at the waterfalls we spent a sombre afternoon of discussions and making calls and arrangements.

It was decided that a decision regarding the competition would be delayed until the following morning to allow all to reflect and consider the options without too much pressure.

2011-12-15T22:39:00.005+01:00

... & it was flyable :)

A 62km valley task with goal at the Flyers Lodge.
The tactical decision of the day was flatlands v mountain. The ridge meant flying further (approx. 5km extra each way) but was a 'safer' bet. In the end, to the surprise of the leaders on the ridge, the flats won the day.

Even the best pilots in the world are learning stuff here ... ;-)

2011-12-14T19:50:00.002+01:00

Day 4
Organisation SMS "Day 4 cancelled. Prediction for Day 5 flyable" :)

In spite of wind and rain all morning we were confident that we would fly. More harness adjustments, lots of tea and coffee and pleadings to the weather Goddess and at 4pm we drove up to Dasklip expecting that there would be at least 20 people there. Wrong - just us!

Sunshine & shadows - evening soaring for 2

Anyway, it was short & sweet soaring together for about 10 minutes and then the wind picked up about 5-6 km/h more. Going forward on bar at max 6-8km/h against a very rocky ridge isn't my favourite place to be. Not going forward at times was even more exciting.
As the sun came through so did the thermals + the wind, so after sitting hovering through a few rainshowers I wussed out and headed towards the valley to try to land. It took a fair while to get my feet on the ground and eventhough it was short ploof it was so nice to be playing in the sky today, even briefly :)

The local farm kids helped me pack and taught me some Afrikaans dancing in the street while I waited to be rescued, again! ;-)

2011-12-13T21:00:00.004+01:00

Tuesday:
Organisation SMS "Day 3 Cancelled. Suggestion is to go to Lambertsbaii"

Wind, showers & more wind. With Des & Arnold we headed over to Langerbaan for lunch & to checkout the South African kite surfing mecca. Surprisingly, the Noddy car managed the trip and having 4 of us inside glued us to the road better in the gusting wind ;-)
On the way back the sunspots racing alongside were traveling at a similar speed to us; 120km/h, a VERY windy day!
But hopefully tomorrow we fly :)

The dark-side of Arnold ...

... & Pepe's nuts: the biggest in town?! ;-)

2011-12-12T20:30:00.002+01:00

Task 1:

A bright sunny day & a 68km task to Constriction.
After hanging around on take-off to see how things worked & how quickly the comp was airborn I had an easy transition to start with 13 minutes remaining. Some of those who had been waiting for a hour had had a different experince with a few local hereos decking at Porterville when bizarely the town didn't work at all.

PURE fun :)

Strangely, it was a theme through the task. The lead gaggle including Pepe & Andrew Smith didn't find anything over Citrusdal and grounded, only to watch 15 minutes later as the 2nd group climbed out above their heads and made goal. Sometimes you just need luck! :-/
Task winner taking a lonesome route in the hills was Andre Rainsford,

My harness still isn't right! There is an improvement but for some reason I have a problem with yaw... each time I hit any bumpy air i'm swinging all over the place and can't get centred & stable. Turning is an issue as well - apologies for flying in straight lines instead of circles! ;-)

2011-12-11T09:33:00.003+01:00

Day 1 Task 0
weather 1 - comp 0
Organisation SMS "Day 1 cancelled. Suggestions are Tulbagh for a nice lunch"

African comp skies :(

But we waited and waited & finally it cleared enough to decide to go to see if we could fly.
We were the only ones at take-off & the cloud shadows were whizzing past on the ground at very high speed so after deciding to wait some more we made a tourist excursion to find protea flowers on the mountain.
After plenty of excitement at the number of varieties of flower we spotted ;-) we were just too late back at launch & missed the brief window of opportunity to get into the air before it howled with wind again.

Protea

crazy colours

Dew drops after the rain

I like white ones :)

2011-12-10T22:00:00.004+01:00

African skies :)

Practice day - ok so now I believe in the stories of the launch nightmares - strong gusts, side winds & generally unpleasant conditions. After rescuing people getting wrapped in gliders & blown all over the place, through rocks, bushes & nearly into vehicles I ran bravely away to relax at Robs. The practice task in the valley wasn't achieveable with the strong south winds so generally those who attempted it decked at the farthest away point. Those more conservative / experienced in the site / tired from travelling kept to the ridge and then landed early before it stated howling.

Rego went relativey smoothly with a few exceptions (there really are some 'personalities' here! ;-) ) and much joking was had at the expense of the big South African guys squeezing themselves into the slinky-pink comp speed sleeves :D

Information transmission seems to be a lottery - no notices boards, no details of safety briefing etc. It seems that a good proportion of us missed it all!
The weather for tomorrow looks distinctly European not South African, we will wait to see if tomorrow brings us a task or not ...

A Classic piece of marketing at the Porterville Hotel :D

2011-12-09T18:33:00.004+01:00

As I woke & lay waiting for the sounds of wind gusting all around I was surprised by the silence ... the air was alive with noise of all the creepy crawly beasties but not a whisper of wind - yipeeeeeee!!
Friday proved to be my day for harness testing & boy did I have it set up all wrong :(

Launching from Pampoenfontein wasn't at all as we had been warned ... a light fluffy breeze & not a gust in sight made getting airborn a pleasure but getting 'settled' into the harness just didn't happen. What had seemed super comfortable hanging from straps turned into back-pain & pointy bits sticking in me while flying, so a valuable flight but not exactly a comfortable one!

"International-rescue" Porterville style ;-)

After calling 'international-rescue' to come rescue me from the hot sun, we spent a relaxing afternoon catching up with friends arriving from all-over, talking parabollix about EnZo's, certification and all that malarky and in spite of plans to get the harness re-adjusted just kept socialsing until it was way past bedtime!

2011-12-08T09:50:00.006+01:00

My wake up song of the trip is 'Flying' :)
"Look at me I'm riding high, I'm the airborn master of the sky & everything beneath me seems to fade without a trace without a shade, ooohhhhh I am flying ...in open space :) "
Its a nice way to start the day!

Rain showers and wind rocked the cabin all last night so it was a very nice surprise to wake up to sunshine and little wind this morning!
The forecasts all seem to be different, strong wind, light wind, sunshine, showers ... so I think I will chose the one I like best and believe in that.

The last time I was here in Porterville was 10 years ago, little has changed! Its a small town, not dissimilar to Manilla in Australia in terms of size, layout, amenities and atmosphere. Though Porterville does have more eating places ... but only just & the mountain is substantially bigger!
There is an additional take-off slightly to the south of the old Dasklip launch that takes more gliders but apart from that all is pretty much as I remember it. Rob Manzoni is as affable as ever, the people are really friendly and the poor girl in the store has patience beyond all reason to cope with the numpty foreigners trying to buy / install local SIM cards in their variously locked/unlocked phones!

9am ... All the positivity down here didn't seem to have an affect on the weather goddess upstairs - the wind is strong again :( But the fluffy cloouds starting to form in the valley look beautiful.
Plans are afoot for rock climbing, wine drinking, kite surfing ... lots of things ending in 'ing'. I think I will be work-ing

10am ...its howling! From being just slightly on the breezy side of flyable its gone to a howling strong southerly in just a few minutes. Definitely a day for being on the ground wishing to be in the air than the other way around!
After chatting with Rob I realised the reason for the light-wind first thing this morning ... the place we stay is just at the foot of the mountain and exactly in the lee of the south-easterly wind. The town was getting the full effect of the wind from early-on while Peace of Africa was peacefully sheltered.

Weather from yr.no

2011-12-07T19:06:00.004+01:00

Brrrrrrrr!!! Windy & cold, this wasn't what I signed up for! ;-)
It's been a frustrating couple of days of fiddling with my new harness and hiding from the wind 'parawaiting'. The mornings start with a strong catabatic wind hurling itself down the mountain but once the land heats up and the thermals start, the wind gets blocked. At least that is the theory!
Today, rain showers littered the valley but we remained optimistic. As the thick cloud layer broke up, and sunny patches started to brighten up the valley the wind became stronger and after all the talk of arranging airspace permissions for record breaking FAI triangles, we ended up running bravely away for lunch and vino tinto in the local winery. The non-flying activities here aren't so bad! ;-)

Home Sweet Home :)

the end of another windy day in paradise ...

South Africa ...

2011-12-05T18:42:00.005+01:00

At the pwca Autumn meeting in Geneva it was decided that I would come to South Africa as the observer for the Winelands Pre World Cup starting at the weekend.
So after some rapid logistical manoevering here I am in the southern hemisphere summertime, listening to cicadas outside and evicting the extremely tenacious cockroaches who seem to have taken a liking to burrowing in my trainers!
The flight over was a nice experience thanks to Rich Westgate :) a high-tech comfy flat bed to sleep on & as much 'room service' as I wanted. Suddenly travelling doesn't seem so bad when you can watch movies 'in bed' while guzzling champagne.

Leaving London on a jetplane

An early morning arrival into Cape Town meant I had time for some paragliding 'site-seeing'. Signal Hill & Lions head were completely lost in fog by the time we reached the launch site and with the strong wind forecast to increase we ran bravely away to check out a beach-front paramotor site before being forced to admit defeat and go for coffee instead. Table Mountain was crystal clear as we drove into the city but within a short time was lost in a swirling mass of lenticulars that became cumi's that became lenti's again.The weather changes fast here!

Table Mountain wearing a fluffy hat!

While the local tandem guys sorted out the politics of paying-passengers I went for a walk on the beach and dipped my toes in the ocean before being shuttled up to Porterville where I am staying in beautiful accommodation overlooking a grassy garden with free-range Tortoises wandering around like they own the place. A bed made of tree trunks and a film-set bath, views of the mountains behind and the flying playground in front. Its all looking pretty fine from where I am and for sure will just get better! :)

I 'LIKE' this bath!

2011-11-04T12:15:00.002+01:00

It seems that i finally got something right ... ;)

Catalunya today ...

& @work near Innsbruck, 26 degrees & SUNNY! :)

2011-10-17T18:14:00.009+02:00

The sunshine persists this October so instead of sitting out the week of rain that I was anticipating and getting some much needed work done - "it "always" rains for 1 week in October! " - Judith & I planned a French 'mini-break' after the stress of 3 working days last week ;-) Saturday in the Cerdanya valley & Sunday at the Cathar castle of Peyrepertuse.

The 'duvet' effect over the Cadi

Saturday was seriously inverted in Cerdanya with an incredible duvet of cloud falling over the Cadi.

After launching into a sink cycle I plummeted down the slope until hitting some pint-size bubbles of rising air with sharp edges to them that pinged me back up again. I'm still working out how to get the best from my new wing so it wasn't the most comfortable flight ever but bit by bit I am learning more! After being bounced around the sky for a while I've come to the conclusion that I am just too light. So, 5kg of lead are now stashed in the cockpit and we will see what happens next ...

Sunday dawned sunny & warm again! We sat in the garden watching the sun hit the top of Canigou as we drank our morning tea moaning that we hadn't had any rain or bad weather pretty much all summer and how nice it would be to have a week of dull and dismal conditions - how bizarre we are!
The journey from Prades to Cathar country took an hour or so through vine-infested valleys with no landing fields anywhere. As we passed Queribus Castle the valley behind looked a little more friendly to dropping paragliders and we were greeted with the sight of Peyrepertuse on the rocky spine-back ridge. From afar the castle is almost impossible to see, its so well camouflaged amongst the rocks walls. As you get closer the towers and battlements appear on the skyline - the castle is totally stunning from the ground and even more so from above!

Those Cathars certainly had a good eye for a defensive position. Thermalling above this place is one of the most amazing experiences ever.
Flying in golden light over so much history is almost unreal ... 2 of my top 3 flights just a few weeks apart. This sport is incredible, we keep learning flight-by-flight & experiencing new levels of amazement!
And aside from all the scenic stuff, just for those interested in my weight issues ;-) the lead made a huge difference, but I still need another 3kg I reckon to really get to grips with turning/thermalling efficiently.
So the choices are eat a lot of pies or go back carrying too much ballast ... and since i can't afford the shopping trip that would result from 8kg extra flab its going to have to be more lead - ho hummmmm :(
But each day is like having a new wing as I get the weight balance sorted out ... :-)

Having the chance to fly 'just for me' again is wonderful - I've done so much working-in-competitions this year and not enough flying in them. So these lucky great weather days are a major luxury :-)
I'm almost 'happy-happy!'

2011-10-11T11:50:00.003+02:00

October & its summer again :)

2011-10-10T19:13:00.002+02:00

Flying ...
The high wind warnings of in excess of 35 m/s at the coast and the the wave bars building over the Pyrenees meant it had to be a Sta. Brigida weekend.
This magic little corner is really the only place to be when according to the forecasts you really shouldn't be flying!
Apart from some controversy with a pseudo-British flying 'school' who turned up, broke half the site rules and generally did nothing for anglo-catalan relations, I had a lovely weekend floating about above a squadron of Niviuk gliders and generally failing to come down! ;-)

Sta. Brigida as the sun set

& floating ...
Tomàs 'globo' has been promising a balloon flight all summer and finally all the pieces of the jigsaw fell into place.
I loved it - its not a sensation of flying at all, even though at times we were climbing or sinking at more than 4 m/s. I had thought that the lack of harness and being strapped in would make me feel insecure but apart from having the slight urge to jump out of the basket it was all far more relaxing than I expected. Perhaps base jumping is next on the bucket-list! ...

The sun rising over the Mediterraean Sea

skimming treetops

2011-10-01T20:49:00.001+02:00

October skies :) The day wasn't exactly as planned since the levante wasn't forecast anywhere ... the dust devils on the top were immense, 'gift-wrapping' more than a few of the visiting French & German pilots :D

A few crasy French guys decided to hurl themselves into the rotor from Coll d'Ares but after watching them fight their wings all the way to the bomb-out I bravely ran away to Franceses. Its funny that when there are 5 tandems in the air and local pilots on a different ( but visible) part of the mountain the tourists were still trying to take off in 90degree cross-wind! In the late afternoon we had a scoot around the rocks and some very close encounters with the Mare de Déu de Pedra.

Mare de Déu de Pedra

... slightly too close & slightly scared! ;-)

2011-09-28T11:12:00.004+02:00

It was a rapid dash up to St. Hilaire via Judith's to arrive just-in-time to meet the new French AirDesign Importer, find our house for the weekend and then back for Xavier's party in the big-top ... a great evening of music, green beer and lots of friends :)

... drinking to Xavier!

Thursday was 'work' day setting up our stand before the real work began - lots of AirDesign chat, meeting producers, importers, distributors and a little bit of flying too to show off what we do!

AirDesign stand at St. Hilaire

St.Hilaire is always a great place to catch up with people I haven't seen for years and this year was no exception and as always with the new friends you meet here its a very social weekend ... as well as hard work!

Support for AirDesign from the highest levels!! ;-)

We were exhausted each evening after 10 hours on the stand each day so the partying was minimal though we did demolish a few bottles of vino tinto back at the house.

Home Sweet Home

All in all, it was the best St.Hilaire in years, helped largely by the good weather and great company but also due to the number of paragliding brands represented ... in recent years it has become dominated by the motors which wasn't so good for those with no interest in flying with a noisy whirly-thing strapped to their back.

The 'glider without name' : our new AirDesign tandem

Lots of happy pilots demo'ed our gliders and feedback was really good from pilots of all shapes, sizes & interests.

Sunset on the Belledonne mountains

Dents de Crolles in the early morning

Slinky Lycra windmill !

Next stop on the AirDesign roadshow, Tegelberg in Germany ...

633 Squadron in Àger ...

2011-09-21T10:23:00.006+02:00

...madness & mayhem is the only way to describe the week with the British boys! It started off pretty silly and just got crazier! ;-)

633 Squadron Leader & Barnes Wallis

Conditions this week have been amazing - its not usually like this!! Cloudbase up to 3800m, 100km flights, 34 degrees temperature and its late September!

Lakes all around us :)

The flying has been more of the full-on summer variety with sharp strong thermals and enough turbulence to keep the mind focused on hanging on to the wing at all times. It wasn't quite what the guys expected but they all coped remarkable well with the exciting conditions.

Looking back at the Montsec ridge

The predicted cold front delayed its arrival until the weekend and suddenly the summer became winter overnight as temperatures dropped 20 degrees, the wind switched to the north and everwhere developed an autumnal feeling.

'Autumnal' evening fun!

We tried to fly the last day but resorted to a spot of tourism instead ...

Castel del Mur

Its been a busy summer ...

2011-09-18T10:36:00.027+02:00

...& 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! :)

2011-07-21T16:00:00.007+02:00

The last few weeks have seen too many broken and lost pilots :(
I can't find words to say how I feel about it all, so for now I won't.

I'm now in Bayramoren, Turkey for the next World Cup. Its been tough already.
Last year I arrived in Istanbul with Mr.X and was metophorically rowed across the Bosphorus by an Ottoman Warrior. Xavier didn't realise/didn't care that the Ottoman army didn't use water for transport, nor was he perturbed by the fact we were on the ferry ... in his inimitiable style we crossed the river with him mimicing rowing whilst 'discussing' the fascist dictatorship v the democracy.

1 year on the FAI v PWCA arguement may become more relevant and now the emotional black-hole left by the most aggravating yet loveable rogue I have ever known gets ever bigger as we face a World Cup without Xavier.

So ... "stiff upper-lip" and all that British malarkey and back to work trying to squeeze 130 pilots into a third of that number of beds here at the 'Thermal' Hotel - great name for a paragliding competition HQ!
This could be a very 'cosy' World Cup here in the raging heat of the Anatolyan Plains!

Hot 'n sunny!!

2011-07-04T18:43:00.005+02:00

Piedrahita dreaming ...

The truck is packed and Merlin is following me anxiously in case I try to sneak away and leave him again.
A long drive awaits tonight but I hope to see the sun coming up tomorrow morning from somewhere near Arcones ...
After a couple of weeks of shall I / shan't I / will I / won't I and so now many messages from friends already there, I am going to Piedrahita to hang out at the World Champs.
... and get my shiny new glider :) It's going to be fun!

Lookin' pretty good... :)

2011-06-10T10:30:00.001+02:00

World Cup week in Lienz :(

Its still raining in Àger, theres no flying here in Laragne and now the next week in Lienz looks to be slightly damp ...

2011-06-08T10:00:00.005+02:00

Dawn, wetness and wave over Laragne

It was a very early morning awakening as Merlin spied a wild beastie in the garden and started shouting about it!

...and then a raid on the strawberry patch for breakfast :)

2011-06-05T10:00:00.001+02:00

The weather has broken ... until forever! :(

2011-06-04T21:14:00.000+02:00

I have just encountered the mathematical formula that apparently cancels out sound!

I can't hear you ...!

Do you think if I write it on the task-board at the next comp all the whinging will stop? ;-)

2011-06-04T09:07:00.008+02:00

Tolkein-esque view from the window this morning

The Chabre Open starts today in Laragne; its not looking like the best flying conditions ... but its 100% better than the forecast so far! Its finally stopped raining and there is some sunshine.
There is a short flop-over-the-back practice task with goal at Laragne Camping before the predicted strong gusts, strong rain and strong hail hits town.

The week to come ... not ideal comp weather :(

14:00 - BIG clouds all around! The day has developed and just 'over'-developed. First thunder and rain sploshes at 2pm at Col St.Jean. Hail at 2:15 and what a lightening show!!

13:30 - Overdeveloping over Chabre

Update: Task was cancelled at 13:30 because of storms everywhere!
The carnage list for today stands at 5 gliders in trees and 1 on a power line ... let the fun & games with chainsaws begin! ;-)

2011-05-24T09:42:00.006+02:00

The sky as I arrived back in Laragne from Korea was spectacular and became more so as the sun set.
Its been a emotional week ... I want to hide for a while!

Storms over Chabre

Sunset through the storm

2011-05-21T01:22:00.001+02:00

Last day and its raining and forecast to do so ALL day ... :(

2011-05-20T15:54:00.001+02:00

No task today :(
We waited on take-off in the low cloud, light rain and changing wind hoping that some sunshine might come through but it was not to be.
The task was cancelled at around 12:30 and pilots taken to the nearby National park or to the zip-wire and shooting ranges for some fun.

The Korean + Japanese teams + Pepe all flew until a storm stopped the fun. I wished that I had taken my wing with me, but this morning we were expecting to task. Conditions were lovely for a test flight ... maybe later ...

Pepe. before the storm...

Quote of the day from Gin on seeing Pepe's 'baby-shark' iphone cover "to you its something good ... to me its just a little fish!! :D "

The Big Papa's of Paragliding :)
Gin and Mister HanGai

2011-05-19T15:54:00.004+02:00

Task 4 : a day of task setting but no task flying.

Flying inside the rainbow

After a stressy time trying to deal with the fall-out of yesterday's not-stopped task, I wasn't much in the mood for more marginal conditions today, but the weather boss isn't playing very nice with us at the moment.
With Pepe, Denis and Seyong we worked from the time we arrived at take-off until well after 2pm to construct a task pleasing to all (and of course still failed! ;-) )
Finally, after too much discussion, too many provisional tasks and too much time 'agreeing' for the sake of keeping arguements to a minimum we proposed 2 tasks, chose one and then promptly changed it just before window opened. Too my mind it was not a professional way to carry on, but the power struggle between them 'n us is reducing the 'behind-the-scenes' work to kindergarten level.
The wind on take-off really wasn't helping matters, blowing directly along the hill from the south.
About 10 pilots had launched when yesterday's day winner, Lucas Bernadine reported 25km/h wind at 800m in the valley and level 2 - 3 conditions. Pilots launching had been making a good impersonation of 'speed-riding' on their R10's and Boom 8's. Pilots on take-off were becoming slightly wary and along with the turbulence from the small hill in front of launch we cancelled the task.

Should we have cancelled when we did? Personally I don't think that we needed to cancel immediately and certainly the local pilots are of that opinion as well as the organiser (when given a nano-second to consider matters without an emotional finger-jabbing Frenchman in his face).
But World Cup is a melting pot of personalities; which is much of the reason for its success. However some are very well established, strong and noisy and believe their opinion is the right one - always. Trying to reason or mediate in that situation is impossible. Black is white and white is black depending on what they want to do.
In trying to avoid a situation like yesterday where there were 2 camps of opinion on the validity of the task the 'knee-jerk' reaction was to cancel.
As Meet Director the final decision is mine. 'I' cancelled the task. But the reality is somewhat different.
The 'responsibility' for all, is for sure mine ... in past events i've have watched the ratty tails disappearing as the ship sinks.
But the 'power' to act is certainly not vested in the Meet Director. There is a protocol (whether official or not - i guess not, but that is only becoming clearer the less naive I become in these matters) that requires all decisions to be ratified before being communicated to the pilots.
However, when all the blah-blah-blah starts, he who wishes to be the shining wit of all social circumstances, the protaganist of the pilots, the representative 'of the pilots for the pilots', is the first to say "... its not my decision, the Meet Director is responsible"
Cynicism is becoming a way of life! ;-)

Many pilots flew, most agreeing that while it was obviously flyable, conditions were not taskable / it was turbulent / at times level 3. Others living in their self-absorbed little bubble of contrariness said it was light wind and easy flying for all and no reason to cancel the task. "The Meet Director is incompetent!" was published for the world to see! There is a theme emerging here.

Now, unlikely as it will be, I need to find some time to relax before more of the same tomorrow, though with nearly nil-wind forecast and possibility of rain we hope it will be easier!

2011-05-18T18:00:00.008+02:00

Its been a day of contrasts - strong wind forecast for the area at all altitudes but none on launch. (Though wind above and below!) Happy pilots and some very grumpy pilots.
Those who launched early took good climbs to 2500m+. Some started late (due to the elapsed time format) and didn't really get much height from take-off and were playing catch-up from the beginning in conditions that didn't allow mistakes to be made or climbs to be ignored. Many of the early group pushed for the direct line back to the take-off tp, got very low in the lee and landed early in turbulent conditions whilst those making more tactical decisions and staying above take-off height enjoyed a relatively turbulence-free flight. The following groups were able to learn from the mistake and top-up altitude before making the return to the take-off turnpoint. 1 pilot was grabbed by a particularly vicious thermal and after a brief cascade landed with scratches and grazes but no other injury in the trees below launch.
The 'pressure cooker' of pilot opinion in the landing field was calling for the task to be stopped whilst those flying were saying conditions were OK.

Sometimes being MD is a really lonely task - you can never please all and trying to do so will often end in tears and tantrums! Safety of all pilots is ALWAYS my 1st priority but from the ground it is imposible to understand exactly what is happening in the air. Many pilots having problems low didn't call-in with conditions reports or they claim to have reported but didn't come through on the safety frequency (some were using 'imaginary' radios, radios that don't transmit, other frequencies .. its amazing what you discover when you feel the need to go check out some of the allegations of a deaf / ignoring Meet Director!) The pilots flying were almost all saying level 1 and 2. The guys in the bomb-out were saying level 3 ... ... ... ...

Anyway, the task ran to its conclusion with about 25 in goal, and about 70 below 20km. I have been told both that I am a shitty MD who ignores pilot safety and been complemented on holding-my-nerve under stress!
Most of the goal guys and girls said it was never anything above level 1 / level 2 but for sure, as one pilot put it "if you wanted to fly in shit there were places to find it" !

The only thing that is now sure is that the GIN party tonight is very very welcome!! :)

Quote of the day from Seyong " for those pilots who survive the turnpoint it will be easy!"

2011-05-18T07:47:00.002+02:00

Finally!!! ... Welcome to FLYING land :))))))

We tasked, we flew, we had lots of happy goal pilots :)
In the car to launch we talked with Gin, Pepe and Denis of a task that would take pilots away from the mountains and wind as early as possible and into the flatlands to the south.
To reduced time in the strongest and most turbulent air in the valley we set the start close to the launch / landing area and then away. Some pilots climbed to over 3000m before start and made an easy crossing to the flats, those lower had more wind to contend with but generally without many in-flight incidents. 1 japanese pilot threw a reserve and landed totally unhurt, though the roof he fell through was slightly more battered!! It must have been a schwarzneger type moment for the farmer sitting in his house - when a large Japanese ''dropped in to say hello" and sat swinging in his harness inside the room!
1 more reserve was thrown on final glide close to goal but the pilot landed without any damage.
A few dramas on launch had gliders decorating the small bushes below the take-off but no-one was physically injured - pride, however took a bashing in a few cases!
A number of visits to airspace left pilots with zero points but in general the feeling was of a great task with lots in goal.

1. Dean Stratton (Ozome)
2. Jimmy Pacher (Boom 8)
3. Pepe Malecki (Ozone)

1 female : Marina Olexina (Boom 8)

2011-05-17T01:21:00.004+02:00

Day 2 :
Weather 2 : World Cup 0

We tried but the wind Gods were stronger :(
The task committee of Seyong, Denis, Pepe, MrX and me came up with a 63km task with start at 14:00.
About 20 pilots were flying but strengthening thermals and slight crosswind made take off very difficult. After a few launches became close catastrophes we closed the launch and after 10 mins cancelled the task as the wind/thermals increased.
Pilots flying were reporting strong conditions ( level 1 in the valley but level 2 close to the mountains ) and when landing had to cope with turbulence close to the ground.
We tried to free-fly in the evening - many pilots haven't yet flown their new wings - but gusts of 48km+ kept most on the ground, though a few flew as the sun started setting.

Today we try again.
Its a beautiful sunny day with potential for strong climbs but the forecast has changed again with a prediction of high wind above 2000m and very high wind above 2300m.

Possibly we go to a smaller take-off in the flatlands.... a decision will be made at 9am.

2011-05-16T01:19:00.003+02:00

Day 2 : Hopefully task 1 :)
The day started sunny and hazy but winder than expected in MunGyeong town. On the take-off it is "just not quite enough for soaring" so we are getting ready to move to the mountain.

Gin is briefing the troops at HQ, the lunch ladies are preparing on take-off, the military are here to keep a watchful eye on us and the printers are rattling away spitting out weather reports and ranking lists.

More later ...

2011-05-15T07:51:00.014+02:00

Day 1 : Task 0
The opening ceremony last night at the Tourist Hotel was a big success with paragliding senior politicians, smoke bombs, tick-a-tape and slinky violinists ... and all that excitement followed by a massive buffet and far too much rice wine ;-)
As the buses dropped us back in MunGyoeng the masses converged on a small shop and drank more fire- until well after a sensible time!
The wind was still howling as we staggered to bed BUT at 05:45 the Gin team were seen outside on the river bank preparing gliders ... the wind had stopped and they then flew from until 9am (During this time we were still nearly unconscious and trying to ignore the daylight and the distinct lack of rattling trees ... )
Needless to say, after the festivities, the 10am 1st briefing this morning was a subdued affair as most pilots were still sleeping, even those in attendence were not totally with us! Aspirin had little effect on the aftershock from Russian and Norweigan hooch!

As we met at the landing field it became obvious that the wind was picking up and along with the forecast of strengthening wind in the afternoon we decided to cancel the task without going up to the mountain.

Task Committee: Denis & Pepe ;-)

The general feeling was relief as pilots had time to relax in the warm sunshine at the landing field, pimp gliders, stick numbers, sleep and all indulge in all the silliness that usually happens on a non flying day!
2 pilots did have the cojones to free-fly but conditions looked unpleasantly wobbly to say the least - after Ogi had been bounced around for a while a 'level 4' was called even for free-flying! ;-)
We have some time now for dealing with small teething problems and then a full week of flying ahead of us :))))))))

2011-05-14T03:02:00.008+02:00

Finally - Blogger lives!
After a nice 'fusion' style breakfast (western style eggs with korean rice) practice day / registration starts with mild chaos ! ;)

Again its sunny, but we have far to much wind for flying so we will start with the pilot briefing this morning followed by lunch provided by the ladies society of the village next to the landing field and then registration this afternoon.
In the evening we have to be on 'best behaviour' for the official opening ceremony ...

Most pilots seem to be here now though a number were absent from the morning briefing citing 'illness' due to drinking Russian Fire Water - even the 2 Austrian's missing-in-action in Seoul have been spotted in town, though have yet to make an appearance at HQ ;-)

Tomorrow looks like it may 'possibly' be a flying day :)

Pepe has 'set' the task already! 'FULL RACE' ;)
More later ...

2011-05-12T12:09:00.000+02:00

The PWCA staff arrive and after some silliness playing with the Karaoke machine I think we are getting organised ... Gin and Ulric are trying hard to look serious ;-)

2011-05-12T03:34:00.000+02:00

The poster represents the Oriental Year of the Rabbit - we are trying to guess who the pilots look like. Answers on a postcard!!

The Love Hotel - organisation accommodation!

2011-05-11T03:03:00.013+02:00

We are back in MunGyeong city setting up the HQ, meeting with City officials and generally trying to bring some order out of chaos. Though in fairness this is the most organised chaos I have seen so far in competition organisation.

Pilots are arriving, the rain is pouring from the sky, the rice fields are all flooded again and the river is huge and brown!
At least water in the rice fields makes it obvious that they aren't a great place to land ... last week they looked dry on the surface but all the sticky brown stuff was waiting below the surface to suck you in ;-)

The forecast looks much improved for the week to come ... prayers have been offered to them upstairs for a fine, sunny, light wind week :)

XC Skies 3 day forecast

2011-05-10T03:08:00.004+02:00

Happy Birthday Buddah!

Buddah lanterns in Seoul

2011-05-09T17:32:00.001+02:00

2011-05-09T16:58:00.002+02:00

Today was the biggest chopstick challenge so far - noodle soup! :-D
I am probably wearing as much of it as i managed to eat but it was fun in a messy kind of way! ThoughI am sure Seyong will disown me soon. The table after I leave looks like someone has been trying to feed a baby and failing; soup, rice and bits of all sorts everywhere! ;-)

Its been an enlightening and entertaining afternoon with Gin talking about the 'future' of paragliding and paraglider design and more amusingly his past and more recent exploits (:-\) on all types of flying machines.
I do wonder where we are going with this sport when probably the worlds most experienced designer, test pilot, competition pilot and biggest manufacturer says the best thing for paragliding is to build gliders that fly down and that the current trend in 2-liners will take paragliding towards its decline, in a similar manner to which hang gliding has dropped in popularity.

But aside from the doom-and-gloom future; the ceremonies, parties and entertainments for world cup are now planned and hopefully we will manage to appease Mr.X with the general logistics and launch arrangements! ;-)
Korean telecom systems are remaining a challenge as regards live-tracking, which in the eyes of some employers may be a good thing since productivity at the desks of pilots at home hits an all-time low!
Alternative systems are being configured with the aid of competition sponsor Samsung ... we will see what we manage to come up with, hopefully something!!

2011-05-08T23:03:00.025+02:00

Sometimes the body says 'STOP - enough is enough!' Today was that day :(
The last few weeks have been very busy and at times stressful. I just counted up, within the last 3 weeks I have been in/passed through 7 countries, driven many thousands of km's and flown half-way round the world ... its all been fun but today my body demanded some time-out.
I hadn't realised how dehydrated I had become until the mother-of-all-headaches started at dinner last night. Today, all of it, was spent in bed in the dark :(
But now I am rested, rehydrated and bouncing back :)
Today was a good day for GIN pilots. The top 4 in the league here were flying Boom 8's. My baby-sitters ;-), test pilots, Seyong and Taro were 1st and 2nd.

Seyong ( middle) 1st, Taro ( left) 2nd

While in Germany, smiley Jamie Messenger won the German Champs 1st round on his Boom 8.
Last night after the closing ceremony of the Korean League we stopped for dinner in MunGyeong to wait out the traffic jams on the highway before we left and moved back to Yongin near Seoul.
Its the first time I have ever eaten acorns!! A feast of acorn pancakes and acorn jelly stew was set in front of us and i have to say its great! At home acorns are fed to pigs to make the best 'jamon bellota' - I certainly ate like a pig ;-)
Tomorrow is Buddah's birthday so a national holiday here which means the only place we can get any work done is at planet GIN.
I'm now living in the GIN factory and ready to get on with more preparations for the World Cup starting at the weekend...

2011-05-07T11:59:00.004+02:00

Task 1 of the Korean League and I don't think I have ever heard so much flapping cloth or seen so many near misses, midairs and improbable recoveries in my life!
Surprisingly the carnage toll was just 1 Icepeak5 and MantraR in the trees ... I think they may still be in the trees 3 hours later :-\

The rain and strong wind this morning meant a delay in tasking until mid-afternoon. Still jet-lagged I decide not to fly though I'm sure it would have been much more comfortable in the air than watching/listening from the ground.

The only conclusions I can come up with today are:
1. This is a strong and turbulent place to fly
2. Boom 8's have a miraculous habit of recovering when the odds say they shouldn't.
3, Korean pilots have very large cojones

They start training young here!

2011-05-06T07:05:00.003+02:00

Breakfast was dried fish soup, rice and seaweed, funny salty spicey fishy things, spicey cucumber, kimchi and pickled chillies! Already my aim with the chopsticks is improving but I'm yet to pass the seaweed/rice roll test.

After brekky Seyong took me for a tour of the area to check out the new organisation centre :), the general layout of the town and visit the hotel where opening and closing ceremonies will be held and the venue for the Gin party.
A blur of korean restuarants passed me though many probably weren't eating places at all - i have become so accustomed to seeing korean/chinese/Japanese type characters only on food-places in Europe so with my inability to read a word, they all became as one!

The first task of the League was set as we reached the take-off. After just 2 Boom 8's had launched, ballooned around for a while, at times going backwards, at times going backwards and up/down/side-to-side, the task was cancelled.

'Sandwiches' - Korean Style! :)

I didn't get to fly the new GTO, Gin has loaned me but it was worth going up just for the best lunch-packet that I've eaten at a comp, ever :)

2011-05-06T00:50:00.008+02:00

GIN-land-ea

From leaving Laragne to arriving in Seoul was a 24 hour journey and now I am finally in MunGyeong where the World Cup starts next week.

Somewhere over the Alps

After being collected from the Airport bus we drove directly to GIN HQ and then to the local landing field to meet Taro.

Boom8 landing at Sunset near the GIN Offices

I mentioned to Gin that he needs some new rules at the site behind the company offices - the first gliders I saw were from Gradient and Aircross!!

The Korean league starts tomorrow in MunGyeong so we loaded up the GIN team pilot bus and set off ...
The journey was broken by a dinner stop and some SPICEY Korean tofu stew with Kimchi , rice and seawood, I think the guys were quite surprised that 1.I liked it and 2.could actually eat it - all! By the end of the time I am here I should be acclimatised to real spicey stuff and be a bit more proficient with the chop-sticks!

The second intro to Korean life was in the toilets - a heated seat and a full menu of available toilet services!!

loo with 'options' ;-)

Talking with Taro afterwards he told me that the integrated toilet machine was originally a Japanese invention but when the designers started out they weren't actually sure where the bidet function aimed since it was a 'lady-thing' ;-) and needed redirecting for the male form. So purely in the interests of scientific research, they visited strip-clubs to get a closer look at the relevant parts of the female anatomy! :D

Now I am in a great apartment with #3. new experience; a traditional sleeping mat on the floor - these next weeks are going to be very good for my back!

2011-04-28T22:55:00.005+02:00

North wind, East winds and Cu-nims :(
Thursday dawned as expected with sunshine but a stronger wind from the North East and storms predicted in the afternoon.
We waited it out on take-off through north wind, east wind and dust-devils before opting for lunch instead of launch.
After a hilarious vino-fueled menu at Maciarol with the Berlin 3-some, my faced ached from laughing so much :)
The 'Berlin boys' didn't quite believe me that there were real fields full of poppies so to prove I hadn't spent a night drawing them in photoshop we went poppy hunting!

Lots of poppies!

The evening was spectucular with Cu-nims all around as we explored the old tracks and ruins surrounding Àger ...

Cu-nim south of Àger

... east of Àger

We even remembered to make a table reservation with Josep for dinner. He had no reason to chase us outside this time ;-) !!

2011-04-27T16:19:00.003+02:00

Stormy Monday was followed by even stormier Tuesday! Cunims to the front of us, Cunims to the back of us, Cunims to the left and to the right of us ... Oh, I almost forgot, wind over the back too - it just wasn't to be a flying day.

Schaust du Dem windsack ins maul ist etwas faul !!

Fortunately we were all looking forward to Big Wednesday and thankfully the forecast delivered just about what we were looking for :)

'Pure' takes to the Àger skies

Sunshine, blue sky and the possibility of Jonny and Lizie getting their feet off the ground by more than 3ft!
The day wasn't entirely as planned since the west wind was stronger than expected, the north wind was stronger than expected and the inversion was thicker than expected but even so all the guys were able to fly from La Nueva take-off in the morning.

Smiley Jonny - 1st flight since 6 months

More later after the hoped-for evening flight ...

Update: To continue the theme of the day the evening conditions were stronger than expected!
The wind was gusting to an extent to keep the wind-acclimitised Brits on the ground until just before sunset when we threw ourselves into the darkening sky for a silky smooth float around close to the cliffs. A near-disaster was averted when a pilot too focused on flying with his dog managed to clip the dog in securely but failed to do up his own leg straps ... fortunately his ground-handling skills were appalling enough that we saw the problem while he was getting dragged around the launch but it was a very close thing :(

2011-04-25T09:26:00.006+02:00

Moody Skies on Easter Monday

Wave to the east of us, Wave to the west of us ... the weather Gods are not playing nice with us this week!

Some bright colour on a very dull day

2011-04-24T17:02:00.003+02:00

It can only get better! ;-)

rain...rain...rain... and just to make it more exciting, an east wind too! :(
There was a beautiful blue sky this morning at 07:30 but by 09:00 the clouds were building and closing in. Coll d'Ares was lost in the fog and Tablones was only just below cloud base. With cumi-congestus out in the valley and an east wind the group collectively chose not to fly so Merlin and I walked back down the mountain to Àger while the others went kiting at the lake. The sign at the top says 2hours45mins to town - we did it easily in 1 hour30minutes even allowing for lots of evasive action to escape downhill mountain bikers in the annual VolCat 3 day stage race. These guys race for 3 days over 200km and 5400m of ascent ... they must all be slightly bonkers! At some points even Merlin with 4-paws to balance was sliding over the muddy tracks out of control and then a blur of shiny lycra comes by at warp speed. Since we didn't see too many mangled bikes and bodies it seems that they can actually control mud, scree and gravity!
Fingers are crossed that tomorrow we might get to play in the sky...

2011-04-23T17:44:00.005+02:00

Not a pretty picture!

Its been a cold wet St.Jordi today and doesn't look like its going to get much better this week ... I have never before seen rain forecast each day for a week in April. Even after a hour of searching the internet I can't find a forecast I like :(


A never before seen forecast :(

We are sacrificing ourselves and drinking to the weather Gods ....again. It could be a looooong week of excess vino! ;-)

2011-04-22T16:54:00.004+02:00

Wave advancing over the Àger ridge

Crazy clouds while kiting at the lake

Sunset wave over the Àger ridge

The 'Berlin Boys'

Its been a bit breezy the last 2 days and slightly damp today so my German lessons are advancing, frisbee catching is improving and the kite has been out at the lake ...
I blame Josep Mª for the crappy weather - ever since he put up the new windsock on top of Camping its been Easterly each day. He obviously bought a cheap ' levante' windsock ;-) its time to invest in a shiney new 'south westerley' one !!

2011-04-21T12:33:00.005+02:00

The Montsec (Àger) ridge from the south
Foto: Mark Segal

This week we will mainly be practicing cross wind take-offs!

We haven't been rewarded with the best weather this week - the strong north wind at the coast translated to East here in Àger. But even so we have amazed the locals by flying every day so far!
Tuesday started with sunshine and light winds, rewarding the guys with nice smiley flights in smooth air but not much going up! Bill's smile after flying the AirDesign Vita lasted all day :)
After some hovering and serious scratching in small, weak, thermals from a surprisingly mellow Hells Kitchen we reconvened at Franceses take-off. But, whilst it was launchable/flyable it wasn't much fun once out of the thermals at Tablones and was positively exciting in the valley as thermals and strong east wind mixed and bounced us around the sky. Dirk and I only just made it back to Camping in the cross-wind. Thomas decided to enjoy nature by landing in the almond groves and Mark ran bravely for
'Tomás the balloon' joined us for the day to celebrate his 30year aniversary of first flying in Àger (on a delta) and enjoyed his first PG flight here in 20 years!
The evening saw Mark 'ballooning' in the strengthening and gusty wind causing the rest of us to run bravely away down to the bar!

Evening soaring
Foto: Mark Segal

Yesterday, the easterley continued here so the plan was to fly Organyá if possible. .. though it was by no means a certainty. After a site-seeing journey through Boixols following the join-the-dots cross-country route from Àger to Organyá we arrived to find light wind (very spooky!!) on launch but the building wave-bars over the Pyrenees was enough to focus the mind that conditions might not be all they seemed to be!
The Organyá launch is challenging when the wind is coming up the face but the 90degree crosswind from the WEST made it a interesting for us all - the local guys sitting it out in the landing field were treated to a display of ground-based 'acro' ;)
We all enjoyed a dynamic/thermic flight as the day started to heat ... Ian, once again managed to climb out where no-one previously had found a sniff of a thermal (I think he had Tomás fill the glider with helium!) and floated around the valley as the day strengthened. We were all waiting for the inevitable "I dunnae ken how tae git doon..." as the Muntanya Magicá did its stuff!!
Eventually, he managed to find enough sink to land and decided that enough was enough. The Berlin boys and Mark went back up for a flight and all landed wishing they had not bothered again. Organyá is a very special place in that we can fly when its not flyable anywhere else ... but that in itself kind of tells you something!
Probably the only pilots in the air in Catalunya were the Brits, Czechs and Germans ...with the Catalans all sat watching!

Today, the Low has settled over us so the guys are out and about playing in the lakes, gorges and mountains ... Tomorrow is another day!

Àger week with Peak Airsports ...

2011-04-18T16:59:00.004+02:00

The week started as they all do with a getting to know the area briefing ... since the clients had yet to arrive this involved a tour of all the bars in town and finished up well after midnight in the 'pub'!
Mark was intent of integrating into the community and quizzed Jordi on all local customs, dodgy practices and words that can't be used in polite company ;-)
The first flights are always 'exciting' for both me and the visiting pilots but an evening float about from La Nueva settled everyone and followed by the big Barca v Madrid match on the big-screen at Camping was a full-on introduction to Àger life!
I am flying with my most senior pilot so far since working here, the 70 years young Ian, who is outclimbing the local-heroes and scooted up to cloudbase yesterday for his first cross-country flight :-)

Ian - 70 years young and outflying the local hereos :)

Evening floating in dreamy skies

Flying from dawn to dusk ...

First xc's, new height gains and lots of smiley sunburnt faces - its a tough job but someone gotta do it!!! ;-)

Russ trying not to smile too much
after his 1st cross-country flight!

XC Bill just lovin' it!

2011-04-06T12:53:00.005+02:00

I am back in Barcelona, the sun is still shining, the birds are singing, its flyable everywhere and I am packing ready to head to Austria tomorrow and the next day ... its a looooong drive! And knowing my luck it probably won't be flyable at all! ;-)

I am hoping for sunshine and thermals since I am to get my mitts on the first small size AirDesign 'Pure' to be born ... the wing looks beautiful, hopefully I'll be able to post my impressions here soon :)

Àger has shown her many faces this weekend and was one of the few flyable places in Spain!

Catalunya - the only place in Spain (and most of Europe) that is sunny!

The sky of my dreams on Friday, getting bumped around the sky in the 'levante' on Saturday and watching from the safety of the ground on Sunday as the local hereos, nearly became zeroes by trying to outwit a full-on Easterley.
Its wasn't nice to watch, we all felt sick as the pilot's feet lifted higher than his head with the force of the gusts and rotor and it seemed he would be tipped over backwards stalling the wing in the process as he tried to stay head-up.
I had been explaining the previous day why Easterly isn't a good direction here - we were treated to a full close-up demonstration of all the reasons not to fly.
Needless to say, Mark, Nils and I were completely Zen about the whole thing and ran bravely away for dinner of more calçots and vino! ;-)
Its been a great weekend with old friends and new friends ... the most 'outstanding commute to work' award must go to Mark, who works in Interlaken, catching people at the bottom of a canyon! He goes to work upside down on the end of a rope ...how mad is that!! ;-)

2011-04-01T22:44:00.005+02:00

Can it actually get much better than this...?

April started with 27 degrees, fluffy clouds and a perfect flying day followed by an amazing evening flying with vultures and landing as the sun set.

flying to Terradets at 7:30 in the evening!

A beautiful end of the flight

I've met up with Nils and Mark here and am learning much from Mark about 'zen and the art of parawaiting' ;-)
However, I think we are gradually convincing him that being at one with his wing and the sky will involve getting his feet off the ground, eventually!

2011-03-31T21:15:00.003+02:00

wtf! Are we mad? Who would fly in this...?

March ended with a beautiful flying day in spite of many early indications that the weather men had been lying!
The wave over the Pyrenees was impressive in a kind of 'wtf' are we doing going flying kind of way! But the weather God was certainly listening to Oriol and Tomas...We had a lovely day in spite of initial doubts of myself and Judith and Geoff!

You know how you make mental notes of things that you need to do, when youre messing with things - mental note to self !! - when you have been fiddling with your FLYMASTER remember to put the settings back to how they were!
I took off and into a great climb ...in silence. All the way up to the inversion in silence ... all the way down to nearly the ground with the vario in silence but my swearing and moaning getting louder and louder as I got more frustrated.
Just at the point when I had no chance of reaching anything that resembled an official landing field my 'internal vario' beeped - FLYmaster still silent...a few turns and i was able to see over the low hills in front and few more turns and some random hitting of buttons and beep, Beep, BEEEEEEEEPPPPPPP finally I found right key! Its not hard - its totally obvious but today 'my' circuits were shortcircuiting! And just to prove it ... as well as this mess I'd managed to put the batteries in my camera upside down! Thanks to Judith for the photos :)
Back up from nearly the ground to the top of the stack and more fun to be had!

Over the back of Bellmunt

It seemed that this was my day for practicing all the things that i am truely bad at - soaring and weak climbs. After some playing around and a small detour into the valley I was at the landing field happy that i'd had a fun flight..... when buzzzzzzzz...bip. buzzzzzzz, bip bip buzzzzzzz the vario was starting to make happy sounds as I connected with the 2nd low save of my day.
Just 0.5m/s at first but then turning into a smooth solid climb back to take-off height.

Happy Days, but a last flight with my best winter playmate ... come back soon J!

Springtime ...

2011-03-27T21:52:00.004+02:00

Almond blossom

... after a storm this morning the world was all washed clean and shiny.
Photos here

2011-03-20T11:20:00.007+01:00

The moon is made of cheese!

We may be in different countries but we all play in just one sky!

2011-03-19T09:47:00.031+01:00

Friday 18th: Sta. Brigida with Judith, Geoff and various Catalan friends, Joan, Sergi, Tomàs ... It was a classic StaB day with strong north wind at the coast so we expected good flying :)
The wave over the Pyrenees was spectacular and much closer to us than is usual so there was some uppy-downy stuff going on!

Alien spaceships!

After getting unceremoniously, high-speed splatted into the rocks after getting picked up and spun round into a full twist, I sat out most of the afternoon :(
Smiley Xevi is back from his year and a bit in Mexico so there was lots of chat and catching up to do when he wasn't skying out on his shiney new Peak2.
By evening, the initial pain had gone and the sky was too nice to miss so Judith and I flew in silky smooth, but still thermic air playing with shadows and trying to get the best wave-bar pictures.

Tomàs

Joan

2011-03-16T16:57:00.002+01:00

Who's there ...?

Merlin's new playmate in the garden today;
the laughing piglet

Àger Womens Open 2011

2011-03-15T09:10:00.002+01:00

It's been a struggle at times but finally after a few months of indecision and 2 full days/night of peering at the PC the website is live and registration is open :)
www.agerwomensopen.com
'Fortunately' the shitty weather actually made it feasible for Judith and I to spend the time glued to skype/email/computers without too much flying fun to distract us!

Working with Judith, Sandra and Anja is great - they are so full of enthusiasm for the project and are also committed to actually 'working' and not just talking about working!
The PR machine is about to be kick-started, the ideas are flowing, pilots are registering and the sponsors are eager to give us goodies. Its all good - I can't wait for it to happen :)

2011-03-13T16:06:00.001+01:00

It's a tough day at the office ...

After 24hours of rain yesterday the sky is bright and shiny again :)

2011-03-09T13:55:00.008+01:00

The Spring has sprung in Àger :)

Almond blossoms everywhere ...

Springtime sky

The weekend was full of flying and fun. Even though the sun was shining the temperature in the air was freezing! After an hour I was so cold that I had to land. We had planned to top-land having left merlin guarding the truck and the apres-vol red wine ;-) but the thermals were making the top launch too strong for me to get back down so being forced to opt for the greater of the 2 evils I eventually managed to park myself fairly near to Camp300 on the plateau.

Look at that sky!!

I always say to pilots flying here "... avoid landing on the plateau unless its absolutely necessary because if its thermic or windy its in rotor and you will need to be prepared for anything to happen during the approach" I generally promise to inflict severe physical damage to anyone who even considers landing there if there is any easterly in the wind .. and now the But ...!
Given that the other option was land at the bottom and try to get a lift back up and probably miss out of my vino tinto and tapas, I went for the roller-coaster ride. It was strong, it was quite easterly and lumpy and times it was pretty windy and exciting but it was good fun in a slightly mad kind of way :-D
More importantly 10 minutes later I was back up top.
Various landing attempts later we all back at the truck with the pup, the wine, lots more clothes and big smiles!

... another top landing approach!

Agua-Truck

Monday was just too windy and east again so after watching the tandems 'parked' and a fly-down / fly-off between a new Mentor2 and a very old Ozone dhv1 wing, we headed to the lake where an afternoon of relaxing and some silliness kept us amused.

2011-03-04T20:40:00.003+01:00

I'm back in Àger now that the temperatures have started rising...saying that, yesterday it snowed here down to the ermita on the ridge at less than 1000m so its not quite summer yet!
Fortunately the tent is not one of the accommodation options this week!

Home Sweet Home :)

The valley is carpeted in pink and white just now from the almond blosson blown from the trees. You probably guessed from that, that its a tad on the breezy side today ;-) But since its North-Easterly its been a no-fly day anyway.
As the sun is setting the wind has dropped and so the pesky paramotors are out in force!
The forecast is looking good for the next few days so its time to have some springtime fun :)

2011-02-06T22:30:00.005+01:00

El Mont from a passing light aircraft on Sunday
Foto: Santi Font Bosch

While we were getting ready in Geoff's case, thats Geoff setting up on launch, or dithering in my case ;-) two light planes flew by taking pictures of us while we took pictures of them!
Its funny, in this foto, the launch doesn't look anything like as small and steep as it really is!

2011-02-06T21:03:00.004+01:00

Merlin has become accustomed to Louises waking timetable so at 07:00 he started knocking on the door to go for a walk - arrrghhhhhhh!!! :(
By 09:00 I was able to cope being vertical with eyes open and prepared for the icy-cold so we headed out....

Icy leaves

What is this flower ... ?

After breakfast we decided to head for El Mont. Today is the Aplec at Sta. Brigida so flying would be minimal and chaotic, while socialising and drinking would be at maximum. The prospect of playing arial bollards with 50 semi- drunken Catalan pilots convinced us to play alone today!

El Mont launch is a hang glider ramp with just enough room to lay out a paraglider but NO room to run or to stuff up a launch! I had vertigo just standing on the ramp so ran bravely away to hide while Geoff prepared to throw himself over the edge! A hangy launched just before us and for the first time ever I felt physically sick and dizzy at he launched... Geoff waited for a good breeze and launched perfectly but to gradually slide down towards the village in very stable conditions.
By the time I had recovered some composure and could actually stand on launch without getting dizzy and falling over the wind had gone over the back :-S ... next time I'll be ready!!!

Merlin thinking poetic thoughts helped
by Jacint Verdaguer!

It was a stunning day with amazing 360 degree visibility to the sea at St Pere and Roses, the Pyrenees and Canigou, Pedraforca and with the lake at Banyoles shimmering in the distance - Wow!!! :)

Canigou and the Pyrenees

Roca Corba, Banyoles and the volcanoes of Garrotx

2011-02-05T20:12:00.006+01:00

Heading home ... it was a sunny beautiful day so after a snowy start I decided to enjoy the drive instead of slogging down the motorway. From B & L's we crossed the lavender fields at Sault and drove through Carpentras, Avignon and then Tarascon and Beaucaire past ancient bridges and castles before crossing the Rhone on the stunning modern Beaucaire Bridge before hitting the fast road south at Nîmes.

Snowy Dormillouse from Col St Jean

Somewhere in the Rhone valley ...

Tarascon Castle on the Rhone

Tarascon Castle

Beaucaire bridge

With a stunning blue sky and wall-to-wall sunshine it was a lovely drive finishing on a high with a splash in the river Fluvia for Merlin while bats whizzed above my head and then dinner and wine at Judith and Geoff's house in Castellfollit.

2011-02-04T23:19:00.006+01:00

Not a bad view to wake up to!

I woke up this morning at 09:30 with bells clanging in my ear ... my phone was ringing! After a long night on skype meetings it was a slow start to the day ... especially as the coffee didn't arrive! ;-)
Another cold and sunny day, mostly spent dealing with (missing) FAI Sporting licences from the Roldanillo Word Cup pilots and then snow-shoeing (fotos later) up the hill in front of B & L's house

The lace-tree..soon to be a tree no longer!

and finally back to cook dinner for 7 friends. Even Merlin had fun tonight with his 'chupa-chup', Pelikan the small punky dashchund to play with!
Its been a fun evening of slightly too much wine and many laughs! :)
Tomorrow we head back to Spain to Judiths and the Sta.Brigida Aplec fiesta...its going to be ( another) silly weekend! ;-)

2011-02-03T18:29:00.053+01:00

Shiny new tyres!

On a mission : France and my favourite furry friend!
The north wind was so strong at times I feared that I would be blown off the motorway, I can't ever remember having absolutely no control of the car - due to the wind, before. I've been out of control more than once ;-) but never blown over the limit!
The spindrift trailing off the top of Canigou made a white helix like a corkscrew high into the sky. Finally as I crossed into the Rhone valley 4 1/2 hours into the journey I could start to relax and not need to fight the steering wheel.

Now settled into B & L's cozy warm farmhouse in the snowy mountains its time to relax, eat well, drink wine and play in the snow with my pup ... who has adopted a comfy armchair by the fire, just for himself!

Part of the 'eating well' revolved around shopping at Laragne market this morning, then snow-shoe adventures on the slopes of Chamouse to work up an appetite! :)

Very smelly cheese :)

Not quite as exotic as the Colombian fruit stalls
But very juicy!

Lots of yummy stuff :)

Sugar and spice and
all things nice!

Sweet stuff...

Big hat, big boots and big coat - its chilly!!

Ice scultures in nature

2011-01-30T18:26:00.013+01:00

With Kenny operated-on, plated and stuck back together there were a few days remaining to fly and to enjoy / explore the area.

Each day since I arrived has been flyable and conditions are gradually getting better as the flood waters drop and the ground starts to dry out. It was sooooo nice to get some relaxed flying without needing to be anywhere at a particular time :) Sometimes, when I am having so much fun flying in circles all thoughts of flying just disappear and instead I am transfixed by seeing things - patterns in the fires in the sugar cane fields, reflections of the sky in the flood water, fish swimming in the lake ( yes I was that low!! :-D ) cool villages to land in...its not an efficient way to fly but its fun and often an adventure!

Landing friends - Little Niko & bigger Nicky!

Other days 'reality' sneaks back and too many thoughts of stuff going on / things I need to do / what the future will bring / other peoples problems etc just invade me and I can't fly at all. The glider goes everywhere it wants but nowhere I want, all the thermals are for other people and all the sink for me and after a short battle I have to admit defeat, thats its just not my day and go to land.
These are the shitty days that don't happen very often but usually have some other mishap attached to them....like forgetting to unclip my kocoon and not being able to put my feet out to land and then getting splatted by a dust devil crossing the field or not realising that the Pacifico wind has come in 2 hours earlier than usual and going to a reliable place to climb and getting battered in the lee before landing in the 'only' available option after a hit and miss, backwards and upwards, push through wind and rotor!
So, its been a week of all extremes! Highs and not-high-enoughs ;-) and just a couple of lows..... but even the days with lows have always ended on a high so the balance was always happy, fun and positive.

During the competition I was always following the task in the car so that I could know 'first-hand' what the conditions were like on course ( though from the ground obviously! )
A few times as we blasted at high speed along the road trying to catch up the gaggles on their direct route we passed through amazing countryside that wizzed by in shades of green but with little chance to stop and enjoy. So, one of the 'change of plan' missions was to enjoy the scenery slowly..... the first attempt at renting a motorbike was just a little too 'slowly' as it stopped and died near Zarzal!

Coffee, citrus, banana and bamboo near Caicedonia

The friend of a friend of the chap who offered his "new, very good conditions, all papers, new tyres and working lights" 125cc wreck came up with his own bike for a couple of days so off towards the mountains we went.
Through coffee farms, banana plantations, orange groves ( with armed guards - what was hiding behind the citrus trees???? ;-) ) through green green hills, past lakes and over streams, past bamboo forests and Brahman cows walking up the central line of the main road. Getting lost, finding the way again, enjoying sunshine, avoiding late afternoon storms and arriving back as it became dark, cold sea wind on the journey ' over the back' and back to warm breeze in the valley, it was a FUN 2 days :-)

My last night in Rolda saw the Gran Cabalgata parade through town in the twilight. I have never seen so many silicone enhanced, high heeled, big hatted, drunken women on horses in my life! :-) Boys, you really missed a treat!
The only requirement was a horse (though a mule was acceptable) skin tight jeans, high heeled stiletto boots, a big hat, a very small shirt, a movil phone to take pictures of yourself and lots of Aguardiente!!

Never been on a horse in her life!

Horses, hats, heels and lots of hooch!

The only girl who knew 1 end of a horse from the other!

For hours after dark horses pranced, kicked and squeeled through the main streets of Roldanillo.....followed by the street sweepers cleaning up the streets before it all turned very nasty in the rain!

Now all too quickly the adventure is over ... back in Spain its cold and dark and all my thoughts are in the fun and sunshine of the last weeks.

Àger launch - from sunshine to snow in the blink of an eye :(

2011-01-23T21:11:00.008+01:00

After the World Cup ...
The best made plans often don't turn out the way you expect them! ;-)

"The Plan" ... that became a plan for next time!!

All the plans for relaxing on the Caribbean coast beaches had to be changed when Kenny got wiped out by a local free-flyer on the final Saturday :(
Since we had flown 6 fully valid tasks during the first 6 days the final day wasn't flown as a task.
There are many opinions about this rule, these are just my personal views:

The last day is usually a Saturday and therefore a 'holiday' day when the local people can see the event. Not flying a task deprives them of involvement and the spectacle. The PWCA have rest-day rules for Superfinal that state that a rest day can't be during the last 2 days ... in effect this was a rest-day and the final day even though strictly speaking the competition had finished. The rest day rules don't apply to the individual events that form the tour but perhaps it would be reasonable if they did.

During task days in Roldanillo we have control of the launch - who has access, who flies, who doesn't ...
The take-off on the final 'no-task' day was stuffed full of World Cup pilots wanting to get as much flying as possible before returning to the colder, darker countries they call home as well as locals, wannabe's and downright menaces.

The only accident of the week occurred when a local menace flew directly at a pilot who then crashed while taking evasive action :(

So, instead of enjoying a fun free-flying day with friends and a relaxing prize-giving party I was all day trying to arrange emergency care and hospital treatment and waiting all evening to hear that he had been safely transferred to a 'real' hospital.
In this regard, we, as the competition local organisation failed completely ...
No-one on launch had 'authority' to request rescue. When I arrived to the accident, no-one had called for assistence assuming that there were paramedics on launch. No rescue staff were in attendance on launch because it wasn't a task day. On asking for a heli-evac (we had been promised a military Black Hawk on stand-by) I was told no helicopter was available.
After waiting for an 'ambulance' to be dispatched from Roldanillo Kenny was finally bounced for 1 hour down the mountain in the back of a 'truck' after already waiting for medical attention for over an hour lying on a barbed wire fence where he had fallen. This was a really bad situation for a guy with a fractured pelvis and dislocated femur, in agony and unable to receive any pain relief since the paramedics aren't licensed to administer it.
In spite of promises of immediate medical transfer to a 'good' hospital in Manizales I spent the next 7 hours coaxing, pleading and finally shouting and ranting with the local hospital to demonstrate a minimum level of medical knowledge and allow Kenny to be transferred to somewhere where they actually understood trauma care. The French team doctor had offered important medical advice but was basically told to be quiet - things are different in Colombia!
Money seemed once again to be the 'big issue' though was in fact no issue at all since the UK insurance company had guaranteed a minimum of 24 hours treatment ... a bigger problem was the ridiculous need for hospital paperwork before any consideration of patient care.
Finally, after far too much screaming at ambulance and hospital staff for incompetence Kenny was released to a hospital 2 hours away. After over 3 hours of driving, an ambulance driver who didn't know where he was going, a paramedic who couldn't insert a morphine injection into a cannula and a ridiculous 12 hours after the incident, he was finally admitted to the care of people who knew what they were doing.
The prognosis is now good, he is improving each day and will be allowed to travel home next week under medical supervision.
What isn't good is the total lack of experienced medical attention in Roldanillo or the attitude towards trauma care. Maybe this is different in the cities but we don't fly in cities!!

For me, this day spoilt my entire trip and harmed my deep affection for Colombia and the people.
Words are of no value ... a lot of words get spoken, a lot of assurances made but the reality repeatedly showed a totally different picture.
Roldanillo offers some of the best flying in the world but the cost of human pain isn't quite as we perceive it in Europe!
Changes need to be made in accident provision care - the organisers have been asked to investigate ways of contracting with a Colombian Healthcare provider.
If this can be provided and guaranteed I will be back to play in the Rolda-Wonderland again.
If not, inform your insurance companies in advance of your intended location in Colombia and request a contact for their 'local' representative/office so that when you arrive you can make contact. Be prepared to max. your credit card extracting cash to pay for treatment if needs be, but most of all take good care!

......and be prepared for you insurance company to request a drug test before they agree to pay for anything! ;-)
The image of Colombia in the eyes of those who want to avoid paying for your mishaps is firmly fixed on coca!

2011-01-22T04:10:00.002+01:00

Sorry to anyone who might have been interested in goings-on here the last 2 days. My computer had a critical battery failure and presented me with the blue screen of death! Fortunately there was a resurection and I am now in contact again :)

Task 5: Can't remember much about it - I have been to sleep since then! We started over Roldanillo so that pilots could drop streamers to celebrate the towns birthday. After rain on luanch it turned into a classic Roldanillo day. Nearly everyone was in goal :) (Though typically this was unfortunate since we didn't have permission to us the goal field!)
We were negotiating with the land-owner until the lead gaggle were visible on final-glide. At that point it became necessary to take action, so out came the goal line just seconds before the first guys 'crossed-it'!

Task 6: 110km around the valley in the best conditions of the week. This is the last task since World Cup rules state that the comp is over after 6 fully valid tasks. Primoz threw his reserve again just in front of launch to make a score of 2 tosses this week. It seems this is a difficult proto.
During the crossing to the tp at El Molino, Keiko exposed her washing followed by Clayton just before goal. All landed unhurt and were quickly rescued by the SAR team working with us this week.
Smiley Marcus won his first world cup task, followed over the line by Pepe with Yassan 3rd. Lead out points changed the order and final results are now out.

The overall Roldanillo World Cup ranking is now:
1. Michael Sigel
2. Russ Ogden
3. Peter Neuenschwander
4. Xevi Bonet
5. Pepe Malecki

Girls:
1. Renata
2. Elisa
3. Keiko

The prize giving is tomorrow evening...now i go to sleep with no bells to wake me tomorrow and then i fly ! :)

2011-01-20T00:18:00.004+01:00

Day 4 Task 4. I woke up a little slow today after a bottle of wine with dinner yesterday - I am almost becoming accustomed to the 'detox diet' of fruit and juice!

Smiley dinner!

The meteo today looked good for a task to the south - in previous days the cloudbase has been too low to attempt heading too far south.
A 138km task with the first part in the mountains to the north then south to Mediocanoa and goal at the very beautiful flying site of Piedechiche near Cali started at 11:30.
The clouds were building south of the 2nd turnpoint so i parked myself there for quite a while watching and waiting. Pilots were taking advantage of the available options to either fly the mountains ( under the very large clouds shadowing everything out ) or try to valley where sunspots were rewarding those willing to take the risk with good climbs to base.
A few of the leaders suffered with the mountain decision as they missed the 'suck' and slide down to land. Those catching the lift were needing to pull big spirals to stay out of cloud.

There were a mix of 'level' reports with it being obvious where pilots were flying from the varying level 1's and 2's.
As we approached Buga a cell to the east burst and sploshed down briefly... the task was stopped soon after at 15:26 with no-one in goal.

Results on the world cup website here

Most pilots seem to have enjoyed the flight, its just a shame that we didn't get the weather Gods to play nice today.
A front is forecast to pass through tonight or tomorrow so things may be on hold for a day .....

2011-01-19T02:22:00.004+01:00

Day 3 Task 3. The 'torta" task - for those completely confused you need to keep reading! ;-)
We needed to get started pretty early today as there was rain forecast for the afternoon. The task committee agreed with the requests from the pilots for a short today - everyone is tired after the constant flying over the last 10 days.....its not a bad way to become tired!!
A 'short' 83km task was set using a new turnpoint arrangement where the pilots had to enter a turnpoint at Tulua airport, then make a 15km radius point in any direction before goal back at Tulua. It has become known as the 'torta' task because the pilots were coming in and out in the shape of pieces of pie!
The idea was to give an opportunity for different decision making, I guess it worked since 108 pilots made goal. Although personally, I think it would be a more tactical in flatlands with wind and the need to deal with crosswind flying instead of on a nil(ish) wind day. Even so it was fantastic to see so many gliders landing at goal.

Goal at the airport

As I drove down from take-off to Roldanillo the cloud above us burst its sides and rain poured down behind the mountain and all the way down to the outskirts of Rolda. I was becoming slightly concerned if we woudl be able to run the task to its finish but as we reached the valley floor there was a line on the road - rain and shadow on the west side and sun and fluffy clouds to the east :) Certainly a 'usual' mountain task would have been stopped very early.
The gaggle were really racing in the great valley conditions - i arrived by car just 10 minutes before the leaders made the turnpoint at the airport!
First to cross the line was Yassen, followed by Jack Brown, Russ and then Pepe.

Just 5 minutes before the leaders crossed the 200m goal cylinder the Military Police told us that they were going to take-off in their plane crossing our turnpoint, its a good thing that we hadn't put the line out at the tp! ... after some ' discussions' we agreed their launch plan so that we didn't scatter the gaggle on final glide! Each day has its challenges!

Its nice to get back to HQ and have the download done and the results published before dark. Most pilots took advantage of the swimming pool and spent the afternoon splashing.
The west wind is now blowing a hoolie and the valley is ringed with storms.

Task results:
1. Yassan BUL
2. Jack Brown USA
3. Russ GBR
4. Frankie Brown BRA
5. Pepe DEU

2011-01-18T01:58:00.005+01:00

Things are running more smoothly! We now have chairs and tables for task committee, the launch is properly set-out and even the toilets are clean ;-) The task committee met early and agreed on a task without the usual 'to-ing and fro-ing', briefing was on time but even so we could have started earlier. Tommorow....... siempre hay mañana!

A long task today, GPS 139km, actual distance 123km. The early part allowed different route decisions. It was great to see gaggles converging on the wpt near Armenia from different directions. A big storm cell behind caused shading as pilots turned to return back towards the 'home' valley, but even though there were many rainbows we didn't experience any rain on course as far as I am aware. Pilots were calling level 1 in the area closest to the storm.
Just 1 incident which resulted in a reserve deployment close to start but the pilot landed uninjured and is now in HQ drinking beer and smiling.

No one actually crossed the goal line. :-(
We watched as a group of 15-20 pilots floated gradually towards goal but no-one managed to get enough height in the 'late day' conditions. I sat on the goal line waiting and watching, willing the pilots over the last few km's.
Closest to goal was Pepe Malecki, just a few hundred metres short ... we wanted to run up the small hill with the line to bring it closer to him but the hill was just to steep ! ;-)
There are pilots scattered over a huge area today so retrieve is taking a while. Some are returning on donkeys others in the company of locals while, camera-man, Philippe is apparently out in the mountains drinking with 'men-with-guns' - I'm sure there will be a movie in that somewhere!
Downloads are going on now and we hope to have results before midnight!

2011-01-16T22:10:00.004+01:00

Day 1 Task 1: A mixed fruits brekkie at 06:45, weather reports at 07:15, up the hill at 07:30. Its not like a 'normal' comp here in Rolda!
We have a forecast for light west wind (the usual!) dropping to nothing during the afternoon, no risk of over development but not the greatest cloudbase at a maximum of 2300m. The pilot committee of me, Xavier, Raul Penso, Greg Blondeau and Flori proposed a task of approx. 95km ( GPS 121km due to a big start cylinder)
We started in the mountains to the north of take-off close to La Union then south to Ricaute followed by crossing the valley to Zaragoza and goal at Cartago airport.
All pilots launched within 25 minutes of window opening :)
After the lengthy safety briefing and task discussions and general 1st day faffing, we were late with the timings which made the task tricky in the early stages as the stronger 'Pacifico' west wind came through in the south of the task area.
2 hours into the task we caught up with the lead gaggle nearing the final turnpoint. The clouds were starting to grow in the hills surrounding the valley so alot of monitoring conditions was going on. I have a click in my neck from so much staring skyward!
So much for no storm risk! The goal chief reported storms to the west in the mountains, whilst pilots on course reported storms to the east! Fortunately nothing was fast moving and stayed within the higher ground until after 17:00 when we drove home in torrential rain for a short time.
Russel Ogden crossed the line first followed by Miki Sigal, though with lead out point Miki is likely to win.
Some pilots loved that they landed on a runway, its not an opportunity that happens very often in Europe!

37 pilots made goal before the task was stopped at 16:23 as the wind increased due to a developing storm cloud. A few fell short, a many more landed out all along the course at around the 55km mark.

One pilot had a close encounter with power lines after hitting big sink but fortunately landed in a tree unhurt, though the glider was destroyed. Otherwise, a good 1st task with minimal stress apart from the appearance of the Pereira shuttle plane on final approach close to goal which caused some (quite justified) squealing on the safety channel as some pilots thought is was headed for 'our' airport! There will be 'talks' with the civil-aviation co-ordinator tomorrow!

A nice relaxing dinner tonight with lots of laughs, especially about the "dos potatoes de agua por favor" in an attempt to order more bottles of water! ;-)

Time to sleep now before the fun begins again at 6am in the morning....
Tomorrows forecast...