December 2008
Monthly Archive
Saturday, 13th December 2008
Judith 13 Dec 2008 | : Trying, but failing, to fly
Forecast looked good for flying before the front came in. It was sunny when we woke up and forecast was for NW backing to SW later. Not too strong either. When we were getting ready we could see the trees moving on the ridge opposite the house, but no matter. What happens here doesn’t necessarily bear any relation to what’s happening 15 miles away. Roger called us and we agreed to meet at Santa Brigida at 1pm. We left a sunny Castellfollit, but in Olot is was really, really windy. We carried on, as this doesn’t mean it isn’t flyable…
Past Olot there was lots of low cloud and it looked horrible, but we’d brought lunch so carried on. We could see low cloud over the Puig Sacalm ridge, which curls over the top and which we unscientifically call the ‘duvet effect’. It’s usually a sign of very strong winds and it is rarely flyable when this condition occurs. At Santa Brigida it was howling. I opened the van door and it was pulled out of my hand, it was so windy. We waited for Roger and all had our lunch in his truck whilst looking at the photos of his month’s trip to Morocco, and then went home to paint the bathroom.
Massive wave bars on the way home and proper duvet over the ridges. Ho hum. Worse forecast for tomorrow.
Friday, 12th December 2008
Glorious day, so we went skiing at La Molina. We stopped off at the Snow & Mountain shop on the way for Geoff to pick up some new skis to try. We had completely forgotten that there is the female slalom world cup on at La Molina this weekend and a few of the pistes were blocked off both for the racing and the spectator stands.
It was windier than we expected, but by lunchtime the cable car to the top of the mountain was open. I loved Geoff’s try-out skis (Dynastar Contacts, or Dynarod, as Geoff calls them). We both tested them and they turn beautifully. I was trying to persuade him to let me have them and he can have my skis, but he wouldn’t part with them. We handed over the cash on the way home.
Thursday, 11th December 2008
The forecast for today was windy, but there was little evidence of it. By 11.30 the updated forecast confirmed this and we headed out to fly. In the depth of winter Santa Brigida works best when there is high pressure and a strong tramuntana wind at the coast, as the winds curls back inland to make a nice southerly in the Amer valley.
It was the best day we’ve had for a couple of weeks. Strong thermals, great visibility and you could push way out into the valley. When we arrived Sergi was getting ready to fly and he got high immediately after launch. We followed as fast as possible. It was cold in the air, but we were rewarded with views of the sea and snow covered mountains at the same time. We both landed to warm up and then flew again. It wasn’t quite as good this time, Geoff getting a low save whilst I went down. Roger came out for a fly later. Geoff managed to fly until nearly dark. Nice day…
Wednesday, 10th December 2008
Judith 10 Dec 2008 | : Trying, but failing, to fly
Bloody forecasters! The weather prediction for today was pretty bad. Cloudy in the morning, with snow in the afternoon coming down to 400m (that’s 50m above our house), possible thunderstorms and very strong winds at the coast and in the mountains. Perfect working weather.
The 8am update said the same. By 10am the sun started shining. The 11.30am weather update then predicted sunny weather, light winds in the interior and no precipitation! The ski resort web cams were showing beautiful sunshine. Arrrggghhh!
It was far too late to go skiing or walking, so we went flying instead, but there wasn’t enough wind to stay up. So we missed out on doing anything fun due to appallingly crap forecasting. How can they get it so wrong?
Tuesday, 9th December 2008
Judith 09 Dec 2008 | : Boring stuff
Rain, rain, rain. Miserable day.
We worked. A lot.
But a good forecast from Thursday.
.
Monday, 8th December 2008
Judith 08 Dec 2008 | : Miscellaneous activities
Today was Michaela and Wayne’s last day and the forecast looked to be the worst of their stay. Wayne decided he wanted to go horse riding, so I arranged this with Willem. I usually go riding in Batet where you get fantastic views of the volcano of Croscat and the snow covered Pyrenees, but under this morning’s leaden skies, we were robbed of the nice views. We caught our horses in the field and then went on a tour of the volcanoes, fields and forests around Batet. Half way around the ride the sun came out and it was beautifully clear.
Meanwhile, Geoff and Michaela went around Besalu, exploring the river side, Jewish museum and baths.
We wanted to go for a last flight on the way to the airport, but the wind was north and there was nowhere we could go in the remaining time. Instead we went for a Spanish lunch… 3 courses, wine, water and bread for 12.50 euros. I won’t need to eat again for a week!
We had a lovely time with M & W and were sad to leave them at the airport.
Sunday, 7th December 2008
Geoff writes: Not a brilliant forecast. Eventually we decided to start off at Puig d’Afrou. Earlier, it had been clagged in, but was clearing. Judith was going to drive us up before going to pick up her parents from Girona, but they arrived a bit early so we had to take up the paragliding taxi for a highly expensive 8 euros each – we don’t normally use the taxi, and will definitely avoid it in future! Quite a lot of people up there. Wayne and Michaela managed to get off for an extended top to bottom, after which the cloud came in, the wind dropped to nothing, then went off to the east, then over the back. Judith came and picked me up – nil wind launches off the ramp on the back (north) side are not for the faint hearted.
So off to Santa Brigida, where it was, as usual, working. Scratchy, but working. Wayne flew and managed to slope land on the bit of slope which isn’t tree covered. I launched, got up, lost it, went down and bottom landed. Whilst I waited for the other non-existent pilots to arrive and take me up, Judith, Wayne and Michaela eventually re-launched and had a nice fly around – not much height, but very buoyant.
At the end of the day, Wayne finally did what he’d been promising to do for years and flew down naked. Photos below. If you can take the excitement…