November 2008
Monthly Archive
Sunday, 23rd November 2008
Geoff writes: Woke up to no power, the whole village had no electricity. So no access to forecasts. There were huge wave bars around, and we eventually went to Sta Brigida, where, as usual, it was flyable. The weather was not great, pretty cloudy, and very cold. This hasn’t been the best year for weather. I launched first, it was thermic and smooth, nice flying; Judith launched, and it got rougher, and the wind began to switch a little to the west. Eventually, we both went down.
We went back up again with Vincent who turned up straight from flying in Morocco; it was soarable, Vincent and Joan (who also turned up) both flew; but nothing special, so we went off to eat a late lunch. Today was the fifth day’s flying in a row – not brilliant flying but OK – so we weren’t desperate to get every last minute. Tomorrow looks like it might rain a bit; we’ll have a day off and do some work.
Saturday, 22nd November 2008
The forecast was for NW 6/8 tramuntana winds at the coast and when we woke up we could already see massive wave bars heading our way from the Pyrenees. The only place that reliably works in those conditions is Santa Brigida.
We had to go up to Rupit to check my parents house this morning, since the central heating has gone a bit flaky. A quick wind check showed that the wind in Angles was negligible and south, so we headed out. Pep, Joan and Enric were already there and said conditions were excellent. Easy, smooth lift.
We got ready and found it a little bouncy. We flew around for a little while and then it got sinky, Geoff and Enric top landed and I made an approach, got loads of height and decided to stay in the air so deliberately overshot. Two minutes later I was in the bottom landing field. Arrrgggh!
Geoff collected me and Marc turned up. He’s a lucky beggar and 10 mins after he arrived the sun came out. We all got very excited and launched to find it thermic. Entering the thermals was interesting, as they were still getting their act together. Geoff and I top landed when it went a bit scratchy, but they seemed to be getting up again, so I went back to launch. I remarked to Geoff that the strengthening wind didn’t seem to result in any lift. God knows why I didn’t listen to myself, because hey presto, two minutes after I launched I was in the bottom landing field, again. I have been in the bottom landing field more times in the last couple of weeks than I was in 3 months last year. I wasn’t the only one getting drilled. Marc and Enric both landed with me, and all of us had a bumpy ride into the valley. After this the sky shut down and the wind was turning more east, so everyone else canned it for the day.
Friday, 21st November 2008
We got a phone call from Joan to let us know that Coma Negra was on today, so we met at the bar opposite the cliff. Lluis was already there, so after a quick bit of breakfast we headed up the mountain. Considering you can see it from our house, it’s a hell of a drive. We dropped the van off in Beget and took Lluis’ 4×4 up to the top. From there it is a 20 minute hike up to the very top, which is also the border with France. It’s a 4700′ high, south-facing mountain which works best in north winds. So long as the winds are not too strong there is never, apparently, rotor. The topography of the mountains, coupled with the northerly tramuntana winds, means that for a large part of this area, it is safe to fly from southerly facing sites, even though the wind above is northerly. The same thing happens at Santa Brigida, when the tramuntana blows.
The wind was wafting up the face, but Joan and Lluis assured us that it would be better to wait until the valley heated up and the thermals became established. We saw only one bird thermalling (the others were flapping), so this seemed sensible.
Clouds started to form and this would have been the time I would have chosen to go, but I didn’t want to launch too soon and then sit in the bottom landing field whilst everyone else sky’d out. The cumulus was growing straight over the valley being fed by a thermal which was coming over the back. We knew that because a gaggle of 28 vultures came over high and thermalled to cloud base. Then the wind started to blow over the back and we realised that we would probably have to go whilst we could.
Joan and Lluis launched first and went down. I waited until a breeze came up the face and launched straight into a thermal. I was too close to the ridge to circle, so tried figures of eight. I got up about 100′, but then lost it. The sink after it was horrendous. You have to cross a ridge to get to the bottom landing, but you can land by the cars. I had agreed with Geoff that I would fly down to check it out and he would top land by the car to drive it down (to save about an hour). As I was heading out it became clear that there was no way I was going to make it across the ridge. It seemed to be rising as I was sinking towards it. It was a split second decision whether to carry on and hope for the best (with a high likelihood of being in the trees) or turning and landing (more likely crashing) in a grassy gully near the cars. I chose the grass. It wasn’t anywhere you would EVER choose to land if you had an option, but it was 2.30pm and I didn’t fancy my chances of being rescued from the middle of nowhere, up an inaccessible ridge in a tree before nightfall. I got down fine, no crash, but the glider overflew me straight into a bunch of thorny bushes and bracken, so I spent ages getting my lines out and then ages untangling them.
Geoff had to wait until it was launchable and didn’t get up. He landed by the cars and we drove down together. Still, at least we flew a new site, one we’ve been meaning to go to for, literally, years.
Thursday, 20th November 2008
Still a tramuntana blowing at the coast, so another day at Santa Brigida. When we got there Joan was getting high on his Zoom, so we raced up. On top was Xevi, whom we’ve not seen for months, and Joan had just top landed. Joan reported that the cycles were well spaced, with lots of sink in between. Xevi and Juan took off again, and promptly went down, so I drove down to collect them.
On getting back up, conditions had improved and Geoff climbed straight from launch. Xevi and Joan only needed to spread their gliders, so I was last in the air and high cloud came in shutting the thermals down. We top landed and sat it out for a while. I launched again and went down. I got a lift back up with Fran, who is very low airtime but happy with a TTB. I flew a third time, but again, just down. Overall, it was an OK day, and was probably soarable for a couple of hours.
Tomorrow we are hoping to hook up with Joan to go to Coma Negra. We can see it from the house but have never flown it. Fingers crossed!
Wednesday, 19th November 2008
First thing this morning, a balloon floated past our balcony. Which was nice…
Sunny today, with strong winds (Tramuntana) at the coast and in the Ebro delta. The coast was having winds of 5/7 on the Beaufort scale, but it is high pressure, so perfect forecast for Santa Brigida.
We did some work and then tootled out, via the bank to pay for our ski season passes. It was perfectly on, although a little on the light side. After a spot of lunch we both took off and had a bit of a fly around. I got into the sink behind a thermal and went down, whereas Geoff was at the other end of the ridge and stayed up. He top landed and came to get me, but I wasn’t in the mood for flying again, so left him to it. He had another two flights, with conditions getting better and better. He chose to land at the bottom in the end.
Geoff’s comments: a classic Sta Brigida day. A little weak at first, but just got easier. My final flight had lift everywhere, thermals, but also what seemed to be valley lift. Took a while to get down.
Tuesday, 18th November 2008
I’m still feeling under the weather from the food poisoning, and the weather was a lot worse than we expected so we did a days work. I’m recording a podcast with Anja Kroll this evening, so something to look forward to.
Monday, 17th November 2008
Judith 18 Nov 2008 | : Holiday
Having only the morning in Naples, I wanted to see the National Archaeological museum, where all the finds from Pompeii, Herculaneum and other Roman sites are held. We got up early to be able to be there at 9am, but first we had to negotiate Monday morning rush hour in Naples. A Swiss woman whom we got chatting to on Vesuvius told us that in Naples a pedestrian’s life was worthless. That is an understatement. There is a pecking order which goes something like this car > bus > moped > pedestrian. Nobody is stupid enough to ride a bicycle in Naples.
Crossing a road was a major undertaking. Zebra crossings are a waste of paint. No one stops at them. I saw the whites of more drivers’ eyes that you can imagine. It took us a while to suss out how it works. Basically, if you look for a gap and then scuttle across the road, this brings out the hunter instinct in the drivers. Never run! If you just step out and walk across with panache, they stop – probably only because blood stains are so tricky to get off the paint work. They see you off with a feisty toot of their horn though.
The museum was brilliant, although some of the exhibits we were looking forward to were out on loan or had been taken away for restauration. What a treasure trove though. It would have been amazing to see all the mosaics, paintings and statues in situ at Pompeii.
We headed back to the train station and Naples is even dirtier than Ercolano. There was a refuse collector strike in Naples a few years ago, but it would be difficult to see the difference, since the locals don’t seem to mind the streets being full of litter the rest of the time.
On getting to Rome airport we went through the gate and had to board a bus to be taken to the airplane. The bus drove in a circle around the plane depositing us just 20 meters from where we had boarded the bus in the first place. This seemed a surreal safety precaution given the traffic fun we had had in Sorrento and Naples!