Work
Archived posts from this Category
Monday, 25th October 2010
Posted by Judith on 25 Oct 2010 | Tagged as: Work
It’s windy here, really windy. There were pretty strong gusts in the night, but that was just the warm up to today’s wind. I had a walk around the cliff to take it all in and the trees and bushes are a swirling, writhing mass. On checking the updated forecast, they have renewed the weather warning and it’s worse. For tonight they are now predicting winds of up 45m/s at the coast – that’s a staggering 162km/h or 101mph. And they’re not exaggerating. The maximum recorded gust at Port Bou so far has been 41.3m/s (149km/h or 92mph). In Olot, just up the road from us, the maximum gust today has been 20.1m/s (72km/h or 45mph). I looked up the Beaufort scale and above 32.7m/s it’s officially hurricane force winds. We’re only getting storm force 9 here, thankfully! Saying that, we just had a gust that made all the windows shake and I just heard something smash outside.
The noise outside is wild, so we will see what the night brings. To take our mind off the weather we went to Olot to check out cheap package tour in Lanzarote, but unfortunately (for travel agents) it’s cheaper to book on the internet, so our post-conference treat is all paid for. One week flying in the Canaries, from the end of November. Can’t wait.
Sunday, 24th October 2010
Posted by Judith on 24 Oct 2010 | Tagged as: Work
The zoological marvels continued last night as I found a baby Moorish gecko sitting outside on the window sill when I was talking to my mum on the phone. It was mega cute, with its tiny padded toes and titchy ringed tail. We don’t usually see them in Castellfollit and I couldn’t take a photo as they scare easily and I didn’t want to be responsible for it jumping from the third floor in an attempt to get away.
The forecast was terrible with rain, wind and thunderstorms forecast, but as usual, it was completely different. Despite the cloud this morning, there were blue patches most of the day and it was sunny from mid-afternoon. Most certainly flyable, but we worked instead. The forecast is pretty exciting for tomorrow… There’s a severe weather warning for the coast, where they predict storm 8/10 gales, with winds in excess of 125km/h and waves over 2.5m. If it was high pressure it would be flyable at Santa Brigida, but with low pressure in charge, we might get some pretty strong winds here too. I’ve brought the washing in just as a precaution and Geoff’s already fretting about the satellite dish.
Then to Rupit for a very pleasant dinner with my parents, and some new friends of theirs – with whom we know a lot of people in common. Small world…
Thursday, 21st October 2010
Posted by Geoff on 21 Oct 2010 | Tagged as: Work
Geoff writes: we were planning to go to Sant Pere de Rodes today, but the forecast changed a little, and it looked like the sea breeze would come in fairly early. So the only guaranteed place to fly was Santa Brigida. Having been there three days in a row, we decided not to bother, and stayed in and worked all day. Very productive, and it means we can go out for longer, to more interesting places, if the forecast is OK. In fact, the forecast for tomorrow is such that every site locally should work, so – if it doesn’t change – we might try Berga.
It’s getting a bit chilly in the evenings, and we might need the central heating soon.
Wednesday, 20th October 2010
Posted by Judith on 20 Oct 2010 | Tagged as: Flying, Work
So the plan for today was to go to Sant Pere de Rodes. The forecast had the tramuntana weakening, and it could be good for the north side. In the event, the strong north wind continued and it was supposed to cloud over in the early afternoon. A few people said they were going to Santa Brigida, but we’ve got a new policy of not flying Santa Brigida three days in a row, so we don’t get bored of the place too soon, and we settled down to a day’s work. By 2pm the cumulus looked really good and it’s better to make hay while the sun shines, we’d regret it if the weather turns bad again, too nice to sit inside, etc.
Oriol phoned us on our way out and told us the cloud streets were epic and it was a good XC day, so we put our foot down. We met Nani in the car park, as Oriol launched for his second flight and got high. We drove up, but by the time we got ready, the lift wasn’t as good. It was still very thermic and I flew for a short while, but it seemed to be getting weaker and then less chance to go over the back, so I landed when Roger arrived, so I could say hello to him. I flew again, but my heart wasn’t in it really. Too tired and we have flown Santa Brigida three days running now. I know I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth and should be grateful for such a hugely reliable winter site, but I am looking forward to flying somewhere else tomorrow.
Tuesday, 19th October 2010
Posted by Geoff on 19 Oct 2010 | Tagged as: Flying, Webcasts, Work
Geoff writes: another warm, sunny day, with Tramuntana winds, which means, of course, Santa Brigida. We went out fairly late. In the morning, we finally finished the RHADS webcast – about the airspace restrictions and negotiated corridors when flying in certain directions from the Peak District. We also did another few hours work for the JISC conference, which could, quite possibly, be our biggest yet. It is certainly turning out to be one of the most complex.
Then, finally, off to Santa Brigida. It was really nice to meet another friend from here, Enric, who we haven’t seen since last spring. Johnny and Alistair were also out, as was Peter, a new pilot, who lives near here. Plus two French people we had never seen before. So, mostly foreigners, and one Catalan!
The thermals weren’t quite as strong as yesterday, but still there, and it was very easy to stay up, and get reasonably high. As usual, when the thermals died, there was still plenty of dynamic lift, and Judith had the last flight of the day mostly hands off. I drove down, and we all had a pleasant beer together in the landing field.
Another fun day.
Oh, I almost forgot. Judith reminded me it’s our anniversary (of our first date). It’s really just a one night stand that has dragged on for 5475 nights….. we were going to go to the local restaurant for a meal, but got back here and found it now closes on Tuesdays. So it’s a (special) night in!
Monday, 18th October 2010
Posted by Geoff on 18 Oct 2010 | Tagged as: Flying, Work
Geoff writes: a morning of work (the conference is rapidly getting closer!) then out to fly. Very warm and sunny, windy at the coast, probably windy inland, windy in France – the wind was the Tramuntana, though, so a great day to go to Santa Brigida. And so it turned out, flyable there probably until dark. Lumpy thermals when we arrived, but got better later on; then the evening was pleasant ridge soaring, though by then we had had enough and decided to go home.
We met a few old friends, quite a few locals out for a change (given that it is Monday), though most of them launched in one of the few sink cycles. Also saw one of our old hang gliding friends, who also now flies PGs. And Johnny brought Alistair, a sky diving friend, who also flies wing suits and speed gliders. Obviously crazy! He’d done a lot of ground handling of paragliders, and today waited until the thermals had mostly gone, and then had his first paragliding flight – and did incredibly well, once he remembered he was paragliding and not sky diving. Even managed to top land twice.
So, all in all, a very enjoyable day.
Friday, 15th October 2010
Posted by Geoff on 16 Oct 2010 | Tagged as: Trying, but failing, to fly, Work
Geoff writes: as we set off for Ager, it was cloudy, but breaking up – and the forecast was still excellent. As we drove towards Vic, it got cloudier and stayed that way for a long time. But then started to clear, it looked like it would be a good day. Then, about 30km from Ager, it got cloudy again. At Ager you couldn’t see the ridge. And it stayed that way for most of the day. I sat in the bar at the camping, and worked. The sun eventually came out about 5.30pm. We went up, and the wind was over the back. And that was that. Went out for a meal with Nicky, drank too much wine, went to bed. An incredibly disappointing day (Nicky asked me to point out the disappointment was with the weather, not the meal with her ….).