March 2008
Monthly Archive
Monday, 24th March 2008
Judith 25 Mar 2008 | : Boring stuff
The weather forecast was sunny but windy today.
There was an outside chance that it would work at Santa Brigida and we planned to go out later in the afternoon. We started to be able to hear the wind at 12pm and wave bars started to appear soon after.
Meteocat did give SE from 4pm, but by this time we couldn’t be bothered and stayed at home and did stuff.
Sunday, 23rd March 2008
Forecast was for sun then snow/showers/wind. I looked at the forecast and immediately said it was an early day, with the only chance of flying being before lunch time. Having said that, we promptly piddled around all morning and got to Santa Brigida at 12.30pm to see Marc high up and going XC. The sky looked good but the clouds were growing fast.
We drove up double fast and got our gliders ready. It was still looking good towards the east, with big clear blue patches between the clouds. To the west it was starting to look ominous. Marc had decided to turn around and was heading back to launch, sometimes climbing with big ears on.
He top landed and reported very strong thermals and getting sucked into cloud, with the blue bits being as lifty as the clouds. Within 10 minutes of us chatting it had overdeveloped and we could see rain in the distance. Udo and Jenny had arrived from France and were looking at the conditions from below. Time to pack up and go for coffee.
We had lunch and a couple of hours later the sky had cleared and the sun was shining, there were little fluffy clouds and we headed back up Santa Brigida only to find the wind howling.
We gave up for the day and went to Rupit for dinner.
11th March – 21th March 2008
Judith 22 Mar 2008 | : Flying, Skiing, Walking
Friday, 21st March 2008
Windy everywhere and we were not hopeful, but Geoff managed to squeak in a cheeky flight at Sant Julia de Ramis before it picked up.
Thursday 20th of March 2008
We went skiing. It was crowded, slushy and full of stones. Two runs and that was it! We scratched our skis to bits. So much so that we had to take Geoff’s skis to be repaired, as they wouldn’t turn any more. If there’s no more snow, that’s it for the season.
Instead we went up to Targasonne to have my glider serviced. We spent the afternoon at the Chaos de Targasonne. It’s a huge area of boulders and is famous in bouldering circles. For us it was a mixture of a maze, adventure playground and climbing wall. It was brilliant. There were loads of people bouldering, hanging upside down and clinging on to tiny ledges.
We played around like kids for a few hours and then went to collect my glider. Clean bill of health. Phew!
Wednesday, 19th March 2008
I wasn’t very well so stayed in bed and read my book.
Tuesday, 18th March 2008
Went walking at the coast. We walked from Port Lligat to the Cap de Creus, which is the most easterly point of the Iberian peninsula. All the spring flowers were out and it was a warm and humid day. We walked for 5 hours and had a nice cold beer as a reward when we got back.
Monday, 17th March 2008
We worked!
Sunday, 16th March 2008
We went to fly at El Mont. The forecast was great. Hot, sunny, cumulus… It all looked great until we got to the top, where it was blowing mostly north, when it came round more it was east. I didn’t like it. Aldric thought it was ok to launch in the bitty thermals which brought the wind on for seconds and he managed to get off ok. Matthias fared less well and put his glider in a bush before getting off the hill in an interesting fashion.
We decided to go to Santa Brigida, but should have gone to Roca Corba instead. It was gusty at Santa Brigida and we waited and got to fly late in the afternoon.
Saturday, 15th March 2008
We stayed at home and worked. Shock, horror!
Friday, 14th March 2008
Flying at Mare de Deu del Mont (El Mont). We hooked up with Jordi, Pedro and Jesus the HG pilots and Geoff took his HG too. I was the only one with a PG and I took off first.
It’s a tricky launch for a PG, although perfect for a HG. I fluffed my take off for the first time at this site and had to get Geoff and Jordi to help me get the glider back onto the ramp.
Once airborne, I climbed up to the inversion layer 700′ ATO where it got a bit rough. El Mont is a 1015m high, south-facing spine back and it can get rough; this never really bothered me too much on a hang glider, but I’ve seen what the site can do and I usually give it a lot of respect.
After the initial thermal I didn’t find much on the ridge and I headed out into the valley. All the usual valley triggers worked, so I thermalled around, playing on the lower ridges, heading off towards Besalu and coming back. I got beer suck in the end and landed next to the van. We spent the rest of the afternoon basking in the 24C heat, drinking cold beers and eating peanuts and then going to Banyoles lake for a snooze in the sunshine.
Our friend Jesus added some videos of us to YouTube. See here for a video of Geoff launching, and here for a video of me flying.
Thursday, 13th March 2008
We hooked up with our friends Udo and Jenny from across the border in France and went flying at Sant Pere de Rodes. It’s a beautiful site; a spine back ridge with sea on both sides. Southeast you look towards Roses and north you look towards Port de la Selva.
On the north side of the ridge is the stunning monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes, lovingly restored and open to the public. Right on top of the highest point of the spine is an old castle ruin.
When we got there Matthias was already flying and doing well. It looked smooth and nice flying. After briefing Udo and Jenny, I launched first and got a thermal off the rock in front of launch. The thermal took me to cloudbase at 1200′ ATO, but this didn’t feel like enough height to allow me to fly into the headwind and get to the beach at Roses.
It was such a nice day, visibility was excellent and I was having such a nice time taking photos that I let myself get too low and sunk out. What a plonker! 
The others launched one after the other and all managed to get above the castle. Geoff flew for ages and had the best flight he’s ever had at the site.
After packing up, we drove back up to collect the car and we went to the bar next to the landing field for tapas. Big, tasty portions.
We spent the evening walking on the beach in Roses, watching the sunset and spotting fish from the pier.
Wednesday, 12th March 2008
Went flying at Santa Brigida. Bit rough at first then smoother later.
Tuesday, 11th March 2008
We went skiing at Masella. It had snowed (allegedly) in the Pyrenees, but we couldn’t see much evidence of it. It was the by far and away the worst snow conditions I have ever had the misfortune to ski on. The snow was really sticky, so you would manage to get some speed up and actually ski and then you would hit a less steep bit and come to an abrupt halt and lurch forward. It was atrocious. We managed about 2 hours of this (and that included a long coffee break) and then we headed off. Some things just aren’t worth the trouble!
We went off to Targasonne in France instead to have Geoff’s glider serviced. A long lunch in Llivia and a snooze in the sunshine later, we were off home to sunny Spain.
Exciting week… 2/3/08 – 8/3/08
Saturday, 8th March 2008
Another epic forecast. After some deliberation we decided to go to Belmunt, near Torello. The sky was a brilliant blue as we were driving there. We crossed the Col de Bracons, and headed to the Plana de Vic. There was a strong wind blowing up to, and down from, the Col and I looked up at Puig Sacalm (the highest peak near Olot), hoping that today I would get the chance to fly over it.
We’ve been to Belmunt many times and never flown it, so I was determined to not have another wasted trip. There were already 7 people waiting and we all piled into a couple of cars for the drive up. Three hang-gliders had already set up and the first launched and went straight up. The first paragliders launched, but it was very turbulent with collapses and swinging around. I was having a nervous day and waited. Reports from the air were saying that it was strong, and a few pilots started drifting over the back. 
I took off at 2.30pm when some cumulus started to form. Because I was having an unconfident day my pull-ups were a bit half-hearted, but on the third attempt I pulled myself together and launched well. I hit a strong thermal straight away and went straight up to 8461′ AMSL (4721’ATO).
Having never flown the site, I was unsure which route to take to fly back to Olot, but with Geoff relaying advice from Enric on the ground, I took the southerly route over the Col de Bracons. There were two layers of cloud forming and I was under a beautiful cloud in the higher layer, and clouds were forming under me as I went on the glide over the Col. 
A hang glider passed underneath me on the way back from an out and return and although I was really looking forward to seeing Puig Sacalm from high up, I never saw it as it was covered in cloud.
Once in the Val d’en Bas I decided to fly south towards Santa Brigida, but I encountered a headwind, so I turned round and headed north towards Olot. I thermalled and glided the whole length of the Val d’en Bas, and started to get ambitions to fly to Sant Joan de les Abadesses, but I was downed just outside Olot. Geoff had a nice flight, but sacrificed an XC flight to come and pick me up. He met me with a cold beer and a ham sandwich. A perfect day! A long held ambition fulfilled, I couldn’t stop smiling for a week.
Friday, 7th March 2008
Still windy, but we managed to fly at Santa Brigida again. Top landing was interesting in a strengthening wind and I sat hovering 5m over the landing for about 5 minutes before I could get the glider down.
Thursday, 6th March 2008
After the excitement of the previous flight, I decided I just wanted a nice floaty flight, relax, look around, that kind of thing. There was strong N wind everywhere (gales at the coast and in the Pyrenees), but at Santa Brigida it’s almost always flyable and hey presto – it was south, not too strong, seemed nice. Being mid-week, there were only three of us at the site. I launched first and promptly sank out. I was just making my approach about 100 feet above the landing, when I hit a little bitty thermal which got me back up for my lowest low save ever. Very satisfying.
I got back up to ridge height and hit lots of lovely lift so I went for a jaunt into the valley. I was all smug thinking I was off on a little XC when I hit convergence. Big lift. Real big lift. I was going up 7m/s, straight up, smack bang into somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be. I pulled on full big ears and was still going up 7m/s!
Running for it wasn’t an option because of the strong northerly wind everywhere outside the valley. Eventually I managed to get out of the lift and hit 8 m/s sink.
A couple of minutes (it felt like hours) later I was back over the landing field, but the wind had turned N and it was very turbulent, lots of collapses, and guess what… the only other guy in the air was landing at exactly the same time as me. More avoiding action!
Wednesday, 5th March 2008
Still not feeling 100%…
Tuesday, 4th March 2008
Still felt a little shaky and ill, so stayed at home.
Monday, 3rd March 2008
I had a relapse with bronchitis and needed to go to the doctor. The medic gave me something to help me breath more easily but within an hour I started shivering. 20 minutes later I looked as if I was in the advanced stages of Parkinson’s disease. Different bits of me were shaking at different speeds and in different directions. Within a few minutes I couldn’t feel my fingers or toes any more. It was very scary.
Back at the doctors they treated me for an allergic reaction to the medication and I recovered within 24 hours.
Sunday, 2nd March 2008
So the week that inspired all this musing started with a chest infection which turned into bronchitis. Sunday the 2/3/08 I felt better so we decided to go flying at Puig d’Afrou. The forecast was epic. The place was packed with pilots all keen to make the most of the day.
I was feeling better, but wanted a nice easy flight, nothing too turbulent. There was a huge inversion and the day turned out to be not turbulent enough. We were on the south launch and the wind turned progressively east. We waited til thermals were wafting up the face, but these were getting fewer and fewer as time passed.
A bit of breeze wafted up the hill and I took my chance to launch. Unfortunately, I launched into the tail end of the thermal and immediately sank. The sink I got was the same as the gradient of the slope so I hit a tree with my boots. This put me in a sink/tree oscillation…
I hit the second tree with my knees, the third with my thighs; by the fourth (up to hip level) I was getting a little worried!
I hit the fifth, and final, tree with my full body, but it never caught my lines, so I came out the other side unharmed – only to find myself below a ridge I needed to cross with nowhere to land other than trees if I didn’t make it. I got a smidgen of lift and crossed the ridge about 30 feet above the trees. I got some small thermals on the other side of the ridge, but nothing spectacular, so I decided to cut my losses and fly down, only to find someone landing exactly the same time as me and we had to take avoiding action.
I had a nice flight at Santa Brigida later…