Forecast was for tramuntana winds at the coast, but light inland. We could see wave bars forming in the mountains when we left home…

The Parapente Girona forum is starting to be used more, so lots of people arranged to go to Puig d’Afrou today. This was nice for us as we are getting increasingly bored of the same view when flying. There was a huge number of pilots already waiting in the car park when we got there, with more arriving after us. Shame it was windy. There is a wind phenomenon in La Cellera called the Col de Gri, where the cold air from the central depression flows down the rivers and reservoirs, and as it flows through the gorges it strengthens due to the venturi effect. When it flows out at El Pastoral it is very, very strong. Today was a classic example of this. We drove out of Amer where there was hardly any wind and 3km down the road it was howling. We all spent lots of time debating whether we should go up or just go to Santa Brigida, which was full of French pilots, as it’s been too windy in France for some days.

By 12pm the wind had died down and we went up. The sky was full of wave, but there was also a strong inversion, and Xiliu assured us that the inversion would cap the wind speed at an acceptable level. I launched fifth and had a nice boat about in weak thermals, getting above launch a couple of times. No one launched after me for ages, and I assumed the wind had changed. However, after I landed, everyone had got off successfully and was flying. By the time Geoff got off the sky had clouded over but he managed to maintain in even weaker thermals and he was the last to land.

Everyone but us went to lunch, but we could see people flying at Santa Brigida, so we headed there for a bit more air time. It was light, and busy, so I waited until everyone got flushed and then launched. With the ridge to myself it was easy to maintain and top land. It got even lighter and a couple of low airtimers went for a TTB. Jose flew out into the valley and went up. I followed and thermalled up 300 feet. The wind had turned NW in the bottom, but was still south on top, so a little convergence helped. I flew around all on my own for a bit and then landed completely the opposite way we normally land. Nice ending to the day.

See photos of today.

1 Comment »