October 2008
Monthly Archive
Friday, 17th October
Our first visitor of the year arrived, Richard Westgate, bringing with him bad weather. We did some tourist stuff whilst waiting to see if the weather would improve, so we went to the hollowed out volcano of Croscat and to the medieaval village of Santa Pau for lunch. We took a trip out to Santa Brigida, because it looked as though the sun was coming out; we got there, and the sun promptly disappeared. All the surrounding hills were clagged in, but Santa Brigida was clear. It was a little windy at first, so Richard flew his speed wing down. By the time he walked back up, it was flyable, and OK for the next hour or two, though base was only 2 or 300 feet ATO. But at least we flew. (Later on, we found out it had been a really epic day in Targassonne!). Back home; I did some work, and Judith took Richard to see Besalu. Then dinner and a lot of wine.
Thursday, 16th October 2008
Forecast said a warm front would be heading our way from the west, so it would cloud over by the afternoon. Best plan then is to head as far east as possible! We decided not to bother taking the gliders and went to the beach instead (after a couple of hours work), for a swim, read and snooze in the sun. We left at 4pm when it did indeed cloud over. It was raining by the time we got back to La Garrotxa. Worked on the conference until very late.
Wednesday, 15th October 2008
Hot, but not humid today. 27C. We decided it was about time Geoff got the hangie out, so we went to El Mont. I’ve been having trouble sleeping, so was tired. We hooked up with Nils and when we got to the top of the hill the car park was completely full, which is unheard of mid-week. There was nowhere to rig, never mind get a hang glider to the launch. We also discovered that the launch is overgrown with sharp thorny weeds which catch and snag your lines. It took me a few goes to get off and next time we go to El Mont, we’ll have some gardening tools with us to tidy the place up a bit. There was a lot of hang glider shuffling around as people needed to get their cars out and eventually there was enough space to rig and get to the ramp.
I launched straight into a thermal and pootled about at 800′ ATO, where it got a bit rough. I deal with roughness better when I am not tired and when there is a purpose to the flight (i.e. going XC), so I decided to fly out into the valley to the lower ridge which normally always works and where you can play around with the birds. When I got across the quarry there was nothing but strong sink and a stiff headwind and I descended the last 400′ nearly vertically. For the first time ever I didn’t make it to the landing in Maia and had to land in the forbidden field right at the bottom of the mountain. I walked back to the restaurant to get the car and drive to the HG landing field (saving a praying mantis on the way), where there was a strong easterly wind. It was so hot in the landing field that we decided we couldn’t wait for cold beers until we got back to the cool box on top of the mountain, so we headed for the bar, and then had a picnic back at launch later.
Geoff’s comments: I was last to launch, seeing Judith then Nils off. Either it was my incompetence, or they just launched at a better time, but they both got well above the launch, and I didn’t. I managed to maintain for a while on the lower ridge, and even climb a few hundred feet, but it was a bit disappointing for me, especially since the sky had promised a really good flight. Sometimes, you’re just unlucky! Nils did land shortly before me (through choice, unlike me), and carried his hang glider off to the side. As I was more or less at the start of finals, intending to land next to him, his glider ground looped a couple of times (without Nils, fortunately). Either the wind had picked up a lot, or it was a big thermal kicking off from the ploughed field where we were landing. Anyway, I changed my approach at the last minute, and landed slightly cross wind, but still on my feet. Could have been a bit tidier, but in the circumstances, OK.
Tuesday, 14th October 2008
We opened the conference to presenters this morning, so had to do some work, but sent a message out on the Girona parapente mailing list to say we would be out flying at 2.30pm. Marc called to say he would meet us at Santa Brigida. The forecast was for possible thunderstorms in the Pyrenees, but that doesn’t mean it’ll overdevelop here. I saw some nice fluffy cumulus at 1pm, which is fine, not too early. However, on the drive to Olot, we could see the clouds starting to develop a lot. On arriving at Santa Brigida, the air out front was clear. Marc launched and I got ready. Once I was airborn I could see a massive cell over the back which was turning into an anvil and the big clouds were slowly drifting closer. It was smooth enough, although entering and leaving some of the thermals was entertaining.
I am a complete wimp when it comes to big clouds. I find it puts me off flying, as I spend most of the flight worrying about what’s happening around and above me. As the wind picked up, I decided I’d done my bit so went off to land. Marc elected to bottom land, but got big lift in the valley, so had to keep flying out to find sink. He got down fine. We decided to wait around a bit to see if the clouds would decay again, but a big clap of thunder in the not too far distance had us packing up and heading home. We met the rain about 3km over the back. Geoff, very wisely, had decided not to fly at all.
Monday, 13th October 2008
Judith 13 Oct 2008 | : Boring stuff
We woke up to rain, so we spent the day working (the conference we are running in November opens to presenters tomorrow). By 5pm we had screen burn and needed to stretch our legs, so we did the cliff walk, which is a circular walk around Castellfollit. We’ve not yet, this year, been down by the river which runs in front of our house and although it looks like there is little water in the river from the balcony, we were amazed how low it actually is. The tributary from the back of the cliff isn’t there any more and plants have grown in the river bed. There are trees in the Fluvia. Better not moan about the rain… and anyway, the forecast is good for the rest of the week, so we should be out flying the next few days, in between doing conference work.
Sunday, 12th October 2008
Judith 12 Oct 2008 | : Boring stuff
Rubbish weather, so we worked. The conference is getting closer and I had to do the most boring, repetitive job ever for it today, nearly giving myself RSI in the process. Still, that’s what hard-core dance music on iTunes is for… to relieve the bordom of just such situations.
The folks are coming round to dinner tonight, so food, drinks and lots of silliness to look forward to.
Saturday, 11th October 2008
Crap weather… pah! It was beautiful, sunny and hot. However, the one drawback was that it was east. Great for Roca Corba, but Geoff wasn’t keen to fly the hangie, so we decided to revert to the standard weekend plan, Puig d’Afrou in the morning and Santa Brigida in the afternoon. I was still feeling a little under the weather, so I was going to drive for him, if necessary, and then fly at Santa Brigida later.
We drove past Santa Brigida and it was north (it was still early!) but at La Cellera it was south. When we got to the bar where everyone meets there was no one there. The only reason could be that the forecast had people making other plans. The flag above looked like there was no wind at all. We headed up and on top it was east, as forecast. It wasn’t that there wasn’t any wind, it was just that the flag was so decimated by the sun that it looks from the bottom like there is no wind. We won’t fall for that one again!
The thermals were bringing it on for seconds on both the N and S launch, but never enough to actually be able to get off. It was very iffy for a long time, but once the cycles got stronger I got ready, only to find that the east wind set in. We got a phone call from Roger to say it was flyable at Santa Brigida, but the sky above us was just getting better and better. I couldn’t bear the thought of driving down and missing the next hour of the day. Half a sweaty hour later it finally wafted up the south side and I was off. I dashed straight round to the east face and found weak thermals in the gullies. I bimbled about and didn’t make enough of the conditions, mainly because the drift (in weak thermals) was taking me straight towards the dam at Susqueda. There are no landing places there – not even the road. Half an hour later I landed at the bottom and we went to Santa Brigida, where we hooked up with Roger who was flying in his airline pilot shirt, minus gold epaulettes, having just landed from a return flight from Poznan. Very cool. We all had a couple of flights and the conditions got better and better. On my last flight I struggled to get down. A few others turned up for a post lunch flight at 4.30pm. Then the wind turned east and got light so we canned it and had a cold beer while we packed up.