March 2009
Monthly Archive
Tuesday, 24th March 2009
Judith 24 Mar 2009 | : Boring stuff
The good news was that we got the phone call to say that the van would be fixed today. The bad news was that the part would only be arriving at 3pm. So no going out today.
It was a little windy today, but probably flyable. We stayed in and worked and I have finally finished all the summaries for the new book (International Perspectives on Educational Interpreting – available in few good book shops soon!). It means summarising about 270,000 words of discussions, which takes a long time. Now I just need to put it all together and edit it properly, then publish it!
Monday, 23rd March 2009
Judith 23 Mar 2009 | : Boring stuff
For the last week we’ve had a funny noise round the back wheel of the van and not wanting to break down on the drive home we thought we better have it checked out before going off to fly at Berga today. Geoff took the car in and the nice mechanic confirmed that our copious use of WD40 had made no difference at all to the broken suspension spring and knackered shock absorbers. When asked if it would be ok to drive to Berga his response was a withering look. This means we are grounded while we wait for the parts to arrive (hopefully tomorrow) and the work can be done. To be fair, the van gets a lot of off-road use going up Santa Brigida and Puig d’Afrou, so it’s hardly surprising that it needs a bit of a make-over sometimes.
So despite the glorious weather, it was work for us. Although we did sneak out for an hour lying in the sunshine having lunch. Nicky went to Berga, and was the only one to fly. All the blokes were too chicken!
Sunday, 22nd March 2009
Geoff 22 Mar 2009 | : Boring stuff
Geoff writes: we started off by going to Sant Pere de Rodes, even though the forecast was getting worse for there – tramuntana forecast for late afternoon. In fact, by lunchtime it was already blowing 20 kmph. We did set off, but turned back when it became clear that it was almost certainly too windy, and, in retrospect, we made a good decision – it was too windy except for the people there really early.
On the way back, we saw people going to El Mont to fly hang gliders, but thought it was probably north there, and it only has a south launch.
We did consider going to Santa Brigida (where we heard later it was, inevitably, flyable) but didn’t bother – went and sat in the sun instead in Besalu, then came back and did some work stuff. So no flying, but a very warm, sunny day.
Saturday, 21st March 2009
Geoff writes: After yesterday, which was a bit of a stressful flight, and the good flying we’d had earlier in the week at Berga, we decided last night to have a day off, and to go for a long walk with Judith’s parents. On the drive up to their house this morning, it became more and more clear that this was going to be a great flying day (obviously that would happen once we’d written the day off for flying). By the time we left their house for the walk, the cumulus were regular, and nicely spaced; and winds reasonably light. The sky looked epic – a much over-used word, but accurate in this case. Our walk took us up the high ridge of Aiats from where we could see Belmunt, Puig d’Afrou, Santa Brigida and Roca Corba. On top of the ridge we got a call from Roger saying he’d just flown over the area in his Ryanair plane to land at Girona, and seen lots of paragliders flying between Puig d’Afrou and Santa Brigida. Sure enough, a few minutes later, we saw about eight in total, in different gaggles, well on their way to Olot. Some turned round and headed back towards Santa Brigida – the rest continued, were very high, and could well have gone a very long way! No doubt we’ll find out tomorrow.
Despite seeing them, we had an excellent walk. We climbed up Aiats, had a picnic and then traversed the ridge to climb up the steps to the mountain of Cabrera. Stunning scenery, and, as ever, very few other people around, except when we came to the cafe in the church on top of Cabrera. There seem to be churches on top of most mountains here, not all of them with cafes, but quite a lot of them (Belmunt and El Mont also have churches and cafes). It was a wonderful walk, one of the nicest I’ve done here.
Friday, 20th March 2009
We had to return the Artik 2 to Niviuk this morning, so headed to La Cellera. Lots of people were meeting to go to Puig d’Afrou
and there was room for us, so we headed up too. The forecast was east and once the first person launched you could tell that although it was on launch it was east in the air.
Launching conditions got progressively more difficult as the wind seemed on and then you pulled the wing up and it would whip round to the east. I (and lots of others) needed several attempts to get off. I was starting to think that it was proably too far off and getting breezier, but people were getting high, so I launched. I was flustered after the launch attempts and it was bouncy in the air. I thermalled up, but hit the edge of the thermal and my glider started to twist – enough for me to put my hands up to block it, although it wasn’t necessary. The thermal was drifting NE, which is the boonies. I stuck it out for about 5 minutes and then decided that I was actually being a sheep today. If I had been on my own I would not have launched, so why had I? The drift was strong and the choice was to put up with the rough stuff to get high to be able to fly along the valley or to just abandon the lift and fly to the landing field. I did the latter.
You don’t have to be full-on desperate to be in the air all the time and I just didn’t want to be flying. I crawled out into the valley, at one point thinking I wouldn’t make it to the official landing field. I did, just.
Time for a proper day off, so we’re going walking with my parents tomorrow at Cabrera.
Geoff writes: I didn’t think it was particularly rough in the air, but there was a fair amount of wind, which seemed to be increasing. I launched, climbed 1300′, and went on a glide – and promptly hit really, really big sink – so much so that far from jumping across the reservoir across the valley to the next ridge – an easy glide usually – I was beginning to wonder about landing on the road next to the reservoir! But then I got a bit more lift and did make it out into the main valley where the landing fields are. I decided to abandon the XC – the drift was too strong, and the valley gets narrower towards Olot, and I thought the wind might be stronger; so I decided to land. I headed to the official landing field, but after a while thought I wouldn’t make it, so turned downwind and headed for one I’ve landed my hang glider in previously. Of course, having decided to land, there was nothing but lift, and it took me a long time to actually land.
But for the wind, today would have been excellent. As it was, strong wind and strong thermals are not a good combination.
Thursday, 19th March 2009
What a day! We went to Berga with Nicky and Mark. The forecast this morning was for high cloud, but Mark assured us that this wouldn’t come in until late on and it could be “ok, maybe even very good”. He wasn’t wrong. It was very, very good indeed. This is a long tale, so if you want to skip straight to Geoff’s views on the Artik 2 or look at the photos of today, just click on the [Read more] link below.
We went up to launch at Segunda Maria (which is a tricky launch – the wind around your knees is doing something different to the wind on your wing once it’s above you) and set a task: a triangle from launch, the Novena Maria, the monastery and back, in either direction. We decided to go to the monastery first, which is on the ridge behind, and I thought this was a good plan as you can then use the higher ridge to cruise back some of the way until you drop back down and then head along the lower ridge to the other turn point. There were cracking cumulus building above us, the first we have seen in a week, so we were all pretty keen to get in the air.
Nicky was first off and climbed straight out and headed for the monastery. Mark second, but scrabbled low before getting a good climb and then heading for Novena Maria. I went to launch, pulled up and the glider spun above me, putting a double twist in my lines, and I fell a little down the hill, cursing all the way, until Geoff rescued me by holding onto me before I slipped further. This didn’t bode well, but on my next attempt I got off perfectly using As and Cs and then got low. I thought, here we go… I blow a launch and then everyone skies out while I sit in the bottom landing like a numpty. So this made me really determined. I soared the ridge and took the first climb I got. It was very weak, but it was going up, and I stuck with it, going low over the back. I topped out at 1000′ ATO and dropped onto the back ridge below ridge height. I flew along the sheer rocks, heading for the gully which I was certain would work. It did and I hit a big climb which took me along the ridge to the first turn point and to 2700′ ATO. Read more »
Wednesday, 18th March 2009
Judith 18 Mar 2009 | : Beach, Trying, but failing, to fly
Big discussion on what to do this morning… lots of options. People were going to El Mont and we talked to Nicky about going back to Berga, but couldn’t face the drive two days in a row (so we are going tomorrow instead). In the end we went for the lazy option and went to the beach and then flying.
When we got to Roses, there was a cold on-shore breeze, and being east, there is no shelter. Reading in the sun wasn’t much fun, so we went for an amble to the end of the bay to look at the fish. When we got to the marina, the place was full of army vehicles and people getting into wet suits. They were the least likely looking army blokes, most of them looked as if they spent more time in the mess hall than on the training ground. Some where also a little old and one was bearded! There was a lot of groaning and stretching going on as they squeezed bits of themselves into neoprene. Then came the helmets (amazingly, since the words ‘health’ and ‘safety’ are never used in the same sentence here), so by this time we had forgotten about the fish and were intrigued to see what they might be up to. They lined up in pairs and then staggered (they seemed to think it was jogging, but you could have fooled me) about 30m to the edge of the marina. I expected a manly jump into the water, but they sat down and carefully lowered themselves into the water! After 1 minute the instructor got out of the water and then helped the rest out by pulling people back up whilst two or three others would push the more portly ones up.
Throughout this spectacle, Geoff and I were discussing if they could really be in the army and what the UME logo on their wet suits could possibly stand for. Turns out they were the Military Emergency Unit. But trust me, you’d only call them if the emergency involved running out of sticky tape or you needed a light bulb changing.
We headed up to Sant Pere de Rodes at 3pm to see if I could get a fly. Although it was east at the coast, and the forecast was south for the day, it was actually north when we got to the launch. It promptly dropped to nothing as I was getting ready and then started switching from one side of the hill to the other. The wind then played musical take off with me while I carried my gear from one take off to the other in the heat. At 5pm a dust devil came through and Geoff jumped on the glider while I tried to pull the lines in quick. In the end I had enough and decided pack up and carry down.
The day ended with us having a beer watching the sunset over the bay at Port de la Selva. I’ll miss that view when we leave in 10 days.