Friday, 28th January 2011
Posted by Judith on 28 Jan 2011 | Tagged as: Boring stuff
A miserable day. Wet, cold, dank. We worked. Not much else to do…
Thursday, 27th January 2011
Posted by Judith on 27 Jan 2011 | Tagged as: Boring stuff, Work
Brrrr! It’s cold.
We were supposed to go skiing today, but the forecast front came in early and they were predicting sporadic snow above 400m. We’re fair weather skiers, and couldn’t be bothered with the cloud and lumpy snow, never mind possibly having to mess around with snow chains on the way home. Instead we got on with some overdue work. It was grey here and there was some rain – the first since the 23rd of December. We’ve had the heating on all day, which is pretty unusual.
Worse weather tomorrow. We may even get some snow here.
Wednesday, 26th January 2011
Posted by Geoff on 26 Jan 2011 | Tagged as: Flying
Geoff writes: we had considered going skiing today, because the forecast is getting much poorer towards the end of the week. But it improved slightly for tomorrow, so decided to go skiing tomorrow instead, and today walk, work or fly. Oriol suggest Bellmunt, so we did some work then met him and Dai (who in spite of his name is Catalan) at the bottom. It was very hazy, inverted, and very blue. We went up, sat around for a while, and then Judith launched first. She maintained, then quickly got up, and we all followed. A bit weak at first, it gradually got stronger, with some very strong thermals. It also got rougher.
Judith followed some birds into the valley, they flew off and she got a bit low, so went to land. The rest of us managed to get up again. After an hour or so, it was cold, it was getting bumpier, so I went to land too, followed by the others.
Good spring flying though. When Judith landed, she impressed one of the local residents, who was shocked to see a woman flying, the first time she had ever seen one.
We ended up with a nice beer in the bar, then back home for our club committee meeting tonight (which we attend via Skype).
Tuesday, 25th January 2011
Posted by Judith on 25 Jan 2011 | Tagged as: Skiing
Skiing today with our friend Debi. We got to Masella at a reasonable time and hit the slopes at 10.15am. Debbi was working in the afternoon, so we only had 5 hours at the resort. With the cold temperatures they have made loads of new snow and we skied basically all of the 50km that is open. Snow quality was excellent – best so far this season.
Nice and sunny day too. Nice to be out.
Monday, 24th January 2011
Posted by Judith on 24 Jan 2011 | Tagged as: Flying
We were hoping for a change of scenery, but the north wind was still blowing strongly in France, so Ceret was out. Instead we agreed to meet Mike at Santa Brigida. We were late leaving home due to conference work and when getting close, could already see two gliders high up.
It was lighter than yesterday and the day before and Geoff and Mike nearly went down before they both got a low save and then both got over 1000 feet ATO. I mislaid a glove and had to unpack everything until I found it and then I nearly went down as well. I got a weak thermal that meant I had to do ovals, not circles, so as to avoid hitting the monastery, but I got up eventually. I climbed to about 800′ ATO and then played around until we all got low again. It took all my skill and perseverance to get back up, but I did. Very satisfying. I celebrated by top landing and having a rest.
Geoff flew again later and barely got above launch and it looked like it was just ridge lift. Geoff said as much when he top landed, but Mike and I then promptly got over 1000′ again and punched through the inversion. Geoff joined us and the three of us had a nice fly around before tea, biscuits, beer and cashews in the fading sunshine.
Sunday, 23rd January 2011
Posted by Judith on 23 Jan 2011 | Tagged as: Flying
After hearing how good it was at Bellmunt yesterday, we seriously considered going there today. Looking at the forecast though, we decided that today was different and that convergence was less likely and with less wind, the chances of it being really good would be less too. Some high cloud was also forecast, so we decided to go to Santa Brigida instead.
On driving past Puigsacalm (the highest peak near Olot), we could see three gliders climbing and assumed that they had flown from Bellmunt. We were kicking ourselves that we hadn’t set off earlier and given ourselves the chance of a lift share up Bellmunt, until I phoned Oriol to get a conditions report. Rather than flying to Puigsacalm, they had walked up it. It’s roughly 500m in height difference, so a long slog. We’ve known people to do it once with a normal paraglider, then they either purchase lightweight gear or go fly somewhere else. It seems Jesus, Aldric, Matthias, etc. are in training for the mini X-Alps trek they have planned for May, which goes from Batere (in the foothills of Canigo) to the sea.
We carried on to Santa Brigida, where the wind seemed light, but on. Nobody was flying, and we saw why once we got to the top. The wind sock on launch kept swinging in all directions. Geoff wanted to be first off, but waited until the conditions got a bit better. After a half hour wait, Xiliu went off first and got straight up. Everyone followed. Enric was the first to get mega high and he set off to St Helena, which he made easily. He didn’t leave himself enough margin to get back though, so bottom landed.
Marc meanwhile set off over the back, came back, flew to St Helena, across to Amer and back for an even bigger triangle than he did yesterday. He top landed back at his car full of beans. Geoff and I had several flights, getting high, then low, then high and generally playing around. For some reason I wasn’t super motivated today. Hoping to go somewhere different tomorrow, just for a different view.
Saturday, 22nd January 2011
Posted by Judith on 22 Jan 2011 | Tagged as: Flying
Less windy today and the high pressure is getting closer… good Santa Brigida conditions. And so it was. We got there to find it packed. Nearly all the Niviuk staff seemed to be having a day out and were flying all sorts of different machines, as well as Dominique flying the new Niviuk proto harness. It looks like (and is probably as aerodynamic as) a kayak. Apparently you can sit up in it without creating as much drag as an open harness. It certainly seemed to carve through the air pretty smoothly.
It was a bit up and down at first and then, as usual, it just got better and better. By 2.30pm the thermals were well established, pleasant and took you through the inversion. It was cold up there though. We have a cold weather warning (cold by Spanish standards, anyway), and despite my seven layers and three gloves I got cold above 800′ ATO, so I stayed below that, although others headed up and around a triangle.
It was flyable all day, and it was a really sociable day with so many people out.
[10pm edit] Just heard from Oriol, they went to Bellmunt and got up to 2200m AMSL in thermals and then hit convergence. Some landed in Olot. Never thought that Bellmunt would work in north wind. Amazing. Spring has really started.