The forecast was for sun and moderate N wind, but not Tramuntana. I am desperate for a change of scenery from Santa Brigida and all the forecasts indicated that the north side of Sant Pere de Rodes would work for at least a soaring flight. Geoff was extremely skeptical and voted for Santa Brigida, but agreed to an alternative day out. I have only flown off the north side of Sant Pere de Rodes once before, although Geoff has flown it a few times more. The issue is that when it is north it is mostly far too strong to fly or if there is little wind, then the sun brings the wind up the south side of the spineback. The north side is undoubtedly the prettier, and you have the advantage of landing on the beach at Port de la Selva for a sunshine beer. So today seemed the perfect day for my second north flight from Sant Pere de Rodes.

We got there and there was no wind in the car park. None at all. Not a breath. What did surprise us was the amount of cloud just above and along the ridge. We walked up and there was a light waft coming up the north face. My theory is that you can do a top to bottom at any point in the day, so you might as well hang on and wait to see if the day gets better, so I got ready (Geoff volunteered to let me fly first; if it was just a flydown, he would drive rather than fly, since retrieving the car is a real pain here) and we waited. The wind started to pick up a little at 2pm and two little cumulus formed below us to the west. Two minutes later it had developed into extensive orographic cloud and we were clagged in. We could only barely make out the monastery below, but couldn’t see the sea at all. This has happened to us before, and it does clear, this time in just 10 minutes. As soon as the sun came out, the south side warmed up and the wind changed 180°. I carried my gear over the spineback and launched. I managed to get above launch height briefly and maintain for a little while, but the hill hadn’t warmed up enough for the thermals to form properly, so I went down.

Meanwhile Johnny and John, the skydiver dudes from Empuria Brava, arrived and offered Geoff a lift back up for the van if he wanted to fly. It was still sunny, and he got ready, but then it started to cloud over again and the wind became switchy between the two faces, so he didn’t bother for what would definitely have been a top to bottom, and drove down. In retrospect, we should have gone to Santa Brigida, where they got to 1050m in 3.4m/s thermals. Still, it was nice to see some different views for a change.

This evening we’ve been on the other side of the mic and we’ve been interviewed for a podcast about hang gliding and paragliding for Steve Cooke’s Flying Podcast. Can’t wait to hear the result of someone else’s editing.

See photos of today.

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