We will have several days of non flying now. Winds are west, and strong for at least 5 days. Not so abnormal, as these are our first hits with cold fronts coming from over the Azores.

Usually some november days get hit by bad weather. And colder temperatures. But nothing of that, today even 25 degrees still, and sunny till late afternoon. So we can't complain, we just have to chill and wait for better days to come. All part of the game.

Thanks Dudo for the info. I was in Elche, shopping, I was at the beach Playa de Pinet, having a drink. And winds were dying off. But had no idea how it was inland. Until Dudo let me know he was gonna head for Palomaret.

Later got a message that the sun was trying to burn off some cloud, so teasingly southerly breezes up the hill.

We choose for El Cid, a high take off, a spectacular view.

The road up is bad, but soon repairs will be needed to bring up the cars and 4x4's for maintenance. So hopefully local pilots were re-enjoy this fantastic site with its potential. We had a good taste today.

Life was not too bad today. My good old friend Joost came to visit us yesterday by surprise.

Today we went go-carting in Finestrat as winds were too strong at Toix.

Later on we had our little bit of flying near Palomaret. And there, no wind at all .... . Life was not too bad at all today.

We flew Reconco again today. It is november, late november. The weather is still unbelievable. Warm sun, blue skies. But thermals get more watery. From now on, we will need more wind to have some dynamic help to fly sportive.

Foto shot on our way home. Sunset was so pretty.

Hold the leading edge tight, so it can't escape. I see it, down here in the middle. A triangular headed snake must have crawled in the canapé at take off. Flying it down, clearly viewing it in the trailing edge. About 30 cm long, and Frank staying cool holding the canapé steady right above his hear till landing. Smooth turns, hoping not to have a surge... imagine screaming in flight having a snake around your neck.

All this after a parawait, because westerwinds were on till breeze took over. Had a feeling guiding could have been better. Maybe should have chosen for Peña Rubia or even Almudaina. Don't know, that kind of feeling. And especially when I was in the air and felt the air.

Front right above us. Winds from our least favourite direction which is west. Some of my friends went up hiking to Serella, but I can't imagine they could fly.

Temperatures were still very nice at the beach, actually some families were still swimming in the sea. A bit weird for the time of the year, but excellent if you are on vacation of course.

Old foto from Serella, a northern site, which actually is not one of our better spots to fly. North is usually strong and gusty.

Guiding visiting pilots is not going to a picknick.
May I ?

Guiding is knowing where the best site and when the best time is, to give a maximum of flying pleasure to your guests.

And I think we succeeded once again. We were soon decided to go inland to Reconco, where a cross eastern wind, was gonna give us the most playtime possible near Alicante.
It was about reading the sky, reading why it was so inverted at the coast, having the info inland it was west.

The most beautiful thing is being modest. But I am running a business. A business where visiting pilots rely upon. So have to try to be the best. The best in choosing sites, the best in timing it right. I hope once again I hit 'high score'.

'High Score' ? But only 'high score' after hitting bonus, an extra ball. That extra ball was , the friendship amongst the local pilots who do fly their homesite Reconco. Nowhere it feels so warm, so welcoming with these guys.

Glass if red wine in the hand, inviting to have some more jamon. That's the way !

For those who have never been here, this will mean little.
For all those who have ever been here, you will remember this man. Antoniet, the owner of the old mans' bar in Agost, Palomaret. He died yesterday, so today we couldn't have our beer in his old mans' bar.
I knew the man since 1996, when I first arrived in Alicante for flying. Meanwhile there was hardly a miss seeing him, when we flew at Palomaret. He was always there, sitting in his chair in the end, but always so happy to see us. He got pretty old, how old doesn't matter. The old mans' bar will never be the same.

Foggy, misty. All day. But still flying in thermals. Magic today. Excellent turns, climb up to 3.5 m/s, second half of november. And yes in watery air.

We all had a blast, especially Greg with his brandnew Sigma7.

Although once high it got chilly, we cannot complain, we still walk around in sandals, and T-shirt. Very weird hearing people talk about christmas. It all feels so far away in this warm and gentle climate.

Wind from east, south, north and west. And fog inland, take offs rainy. Not a good day in good old Alicante.

It was supposed to howl today. Strong north to norhteastern winds. But none of that at the coast. Only inland impossible to fly due to hard winds. Winds were blocked, never reached the coast.

So the usual café con leche and chill. And one of the most frequent asked questions on non flying days is, how we think about bullfighting. Well I think in one way it is barbarian and rude and dangerous. And way too embarassing . . .

Fredrik down below, trying out his brandnew Airwave sport4, thanks for buying !

We were looking for a dynamic flight today. Looking for a valley where winds veer up in the afternoon, like near the Vinalopo Valley, near Villena.

And, we didn't even have to wait till late afternoon. Just arriving at 12.30, preparing and flying till 4.30. Nice, all up, soaring, clocking up airtime.

One of the better days at Villena.

Villena is on the highway to Madrid, and has a wonderful castle which you shouldn't miss. Also, a few kilometers further there is Bocairent, with its Arab Caves, you can crawl in and fantasize how it must have been hiding from the christians, and later in history vice versa. Also in Bocairent there is the only bullfight arena cut out in the mountain. No cement, no wood. Just a 'natural' aging old bull fight arena. There, that was your portion culture for the day.

Tomorrow we are supposed to have more autumn weather, more winds from north which will drop the temperature. Today it was still in the twenties. Not abnormal, but not every november is so warm, no complaints there, we just keep enjoying it.

talking about foto's, thanks Remi !

http://www.tristanshu.com/gallerie/blog/2009/vrcrossannecylake/index.html

Lots of foto's I know. I hope you don't mind. But some of them are sometimes so precious, I just cannot withhold publishing them. I tend to take less and less foto's, I just ask my guests to give me their card, so I can make a selection of their foto's. Hope you don't mind.

Some foto's today by Jonathan Tew, and Rob/Ruth.

Again we had a summer day, 25 degrees celsius an thermals. Of course not strong, as it is the 15th of november already and heading for winter ... . But with our southern spanish sun, and numerous hills, we always find a spot to play. Get our wings out and fly for hours. Again, today.

So foto's show some parawaiting, some flying, and the afterparty. Afterparty, chatting about our flights, about our previous trips. with the charming chief of the hacienda de Palomaret, offering us his homegrown grapes today. Sometimes we are more lucky and we get to taste his homebrewn liquer.

Young and old, Ernst and Ruth, both ends.

Arriving at Alicante and immediately flying our Toix in Calpe. Not everyone has this luck.

Morro de Toix, lips of toix, stretching out in the sea, where a rocky take off takes you over the ridge, with astonishing views of Benidorm in the distance and the rock Peñon d Ifach just behind you. Quoted by several books and articles in parapente magazine (french leading paragliding paragliding magazine), as one of the most beautiful sites around the Mediterranean, olé !

This is Toix.

Antolino and Moncho flew over Toix today. Lovely coastal site, southwest.

Inland west, nothing to do.

Take off Monte Casino. Gonzalo's old hill. Abandoned for years, high grass growing on take off, but still managed to take off.

Although not a special day, but a day to remember. 4 pilots having fun, chasing the wind, to find a hill, a little hill where we could fly on. Just like the old days.

Alicante flies again. Two sites, Toix and Palomaret. Alex went to Toix and Dudo went to Palomaret. That's all I know, as I spent my time doing other things today.

Foto's of previous flights at Toix and Palomaret.

Our roadtrip to the Pyrenees is fully booked, pilots are Tono and Frank from Ireland, Marcel from Belgium, StevieG Wales, Henrik from Sweden, and Andy from Mazarron Spain. All

ready to fly the Pyrenees at the end of june 2010.

Back from rainy and grey Belgium, with now and then a sunny spell. But thats' the way it is supposed to be up north. Most important was spending some time with my mom and dad and family. Meeting up 'old' friends, see how they are doing. Everybody is doing well.
Heartwarming it was.

Back home now, sun is shining still 25 degrees celsius, and according to my local buddies winds have died off. Today is flyable, Toix or Peña Rubia. Light western winds so.
Don't know if I'll go, I think I stay relax, listen to some music, pick my olives, cook, read a book. Getting ready for our second part of the season, now till March.


mom and dad

Off for some days,till next thursday, then guiding again. Off to see my parents, family and old friends in Belgium. Gonna have belgian chocolate, frikandel specials, lots of belgian beers.

Meanwhile I have organised some dates for our annual roadtrip to the Pyrenees, Organya - Berga - Ager. Dates will be sat 26th june - sat 3th of july.
Only 6 pilots come along, two places already booked. Toni and Frank from Ireland, first ones.

Other news is that we'll be working closely with instructor and SIV instructor Luc Van Sant. I know lots of you will be interested. He will be down here running thermalling courses down here in Alicante. So 'not yet'- club pilots, be interested.

He also runs SIV courses in Rouen, France. There he operates a winch above the lake of Rouen. Where he lets you climb to 800 m (more than Annecy ...), and let you do your maneuvers under his instructions.
More on my website soon, his website http://www.coolvision.be/

What you see is a day out when not flyable. Most of the time we have individual pilots from all over Europe. This week we have Belgain pilots around, with their family as it is school holidays in Belgium. So what is more nice than having a BBQ in our Rio Seco (dry river...) and enjoy a 'halloween' trip through our dark old tunnels of the ancient Copper Mines.

We even had to tiptoe not to disturb the bats in the copper mine.

All enjoyed it.

No flying today. Western winds too strong.

next days not flyable,
but we have this fantastic voice to listen to

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8-YMpYbRqY

close your eyes and fly safe

A hot summer day and a lightbreeze. Thats' what we had as fly condition today near Murcia.

Arriving at 1 pm, which was a bit too early. Thermals kicked in now and again, but not steady enough to keep on flying over the village of Alhama de Murcia.

Second flight was as much as you wanted. Thermals were stronger and some ridge lift generated by the incoming seabreeze were a great mix for hours of fun.

All belgians today. And on foto my brother in arms for years Luc Van Sant, he was here already in 1996, exploring the sites of Alicante with us.

Feet up today, day off, enjoying a 26 degrees warm day. On a terrace somewhere reading a book, watching the world go by. Because too much wind to play.

Still feels like summer, one of the hottest october months we had, and november started very warm as well. Untill winds veered and all of a sudden we got onshore winds, levante. But too strong to play.

Day before the winds come in ? Hope it is not the last day for some of us. Tomorrow strong western winds for three four days. Which is not abnormal, but of course not the winds you want when down here to fly our sites.

Today we squeezed everything out of the flying. And at the end of the day, earing it down from the clouds.

Foto's from Petra Reijnders Holland, thanks P.

Fog in the morning. Waitng for a breeze, some time some where.

We had some flights at Peña Rubia and later on at Villena. But nothing big. Just parawaiting, chatting and a bit of flying. Not the best day, but for most of us two new sites, which was nice.

Dutch friends gone home, take care guys and girls !!

Landscape at ours and Pedro, good old friend from Calpe

Paragliding Alicante

Can be having his lousier days as well. Today was not the best. Ok, Volker flew one hour and a half, but then he is almost called Vodka isn't he Dave.

Anyway, inversion was thick, no thermals and winds dying off just after they started kicking in.

We all meet at Landy's Bar in Torrellano tonight, and will have home cooked tapas. An ordinary spanish bar, just the way we like it.

Morro de Toix, what a beauty to fly.

Take off Morro de Toix

Ulli Germany

Flying over Toix with Calpe in the distance.

An excellent day at Toix. A beauty to fly on.

Todays fotos by by Volker and Ulli. Lots of dutch pilots under their Swing gliders today got christened on our site near Altea, surely they loved it.

All good

We're a happy family, we're a happy family !

Lots of cloud this morning, but at noon sun burning through. So we had to go to a place where we only need a bit of sun, where the structure of the hill would help us with a little wind to soar up dynamic-lty, then 360-ing in the smoother thermals outside in the bowl. Exactly, looking for a bowl, wher air is compressed, and where some lee-thermals would do the rest.

Fortuna !!!! Sierra del Corque, where silince is deafening.

Well, the family was happy.

Oh god, you do remember don't ya.

Yes cloudbase was easy to reach.

Volker a German champion amongst us.

And Cloud (what a name) another German pilot with lots of skills.

We were ready for an easy day of peacefull flying at Palomaret today. A no stress day, hours if you wanted, or just her and there a flight, a toplanding, a drink a chat.

Nice conditions, so peaceful.

There was a little task set, brigde and then antennas El cid and back. Dave almost made it back, but bummed out near the bar, Volker did it again, and is ruining me having to buy bottles of wine for him. Congratulations.

I loved the day.

Oh by the way, the take offs were excellent.

Volker, Pepe and Ismael yesterday on transition from Onil to Villena/Cañada de Biar. They all got to 1700 m ASL, enough height to cross.

Shot by Jim, taken a couple of weeks ago.

I was too quick yesterday. Today was probably the best day of the month october.
1700 m ASL as cloudbase and lovely climbs over Reconco. Flying with vultures, of which Ismael can tell stories.

I let the choice in the group today. Three choices, waiting for Cabo, or Palomaret again, or going adventure to another site and hoping for higher cloudbase. All fingers up, other site. Loved it.
So off to my favourite site when winds are cross ... yes I do like out southern faced hill Reconco when winds are coming in from left, northeast. It is the cold northeasterly that brings in clouds and super climbs with the southerly valley right down below baking in the early morning sun already. Bingo for all today.

Volker, Pepe and Ismael flew over the back after a 700 m climb. Didn't get very far as southwesterlies were blocking their XC attempt.

Finished the day with a lovely dark brown ice chilled drink, debriefing about how we can better our take off techniques. Tomorrow we'll work on it.

Something to look out for, the glider of TEAM5.

Already best day in october I guess. Palomaret at its best. Lift everywhere, and easy flying to Maigmo for those who never done it before.

Although cloudbase was not the highest, thermals were present at all times. Even flying like a dolphin through the lift was getting you higher and higher. Of course with some skills you got 100m higher, but that was it.

Life was good up there, it gave lots of pilots confidence today, I am sure.

Lots of pilots around, of course sunday today. The odd student looking around, and enjoying, here and there a shout "hey - watch out, not too close", but no harm at all.

Good friends, no hassles .

Kéikelen kéikelen kéikelen... .

Parawaiting, actually cue-ing up for launch, below Wojtek polish instructor down here with his students.

Not expected, so much wind early morning. We had to fill up the gastanks again and head down south to Murcia.

Carrascoy (de sos) was on the menu. 30 pilots altogether, the whole club of Murcia patiently waiting for the right thermal. But no the best day. Some of us really did well and that was flying for half hour in hard to core thermals.

Anyway the site by itself is worth flying for the view, the easiness etc... .

Today was still a bit iffy. Western winds howling at Alicante. So no chance on my favourite site Peña Rubia. So off to our Murcia site Carrascoy. Always careful to fly these sites in Murcia as these sites are most sensitive. Rules, restrictions etc... .
Once there winds were from behind. Hmmm strange.
Northwest Alicante and strong, and down here no wind even from behind ???? What to do eh.

But had the solution, we just had to be lucky and getting a southwesterly southbreeze and we would be ok at Alhama de Murcia. And we did.

Flew for hours, overlooking the castle and village. One out of the hat today.

The only sad thing was the childish behaviour of the Hungarian group visiting our region this week.
Alhama is restricted to 10 pilots max. We were all getting ready to fly, our group 14 pilots. But Hungarian visitors, who arrived later at the site, found it necessary to hurry up and take off before we launched. So they could be in the pack of '10' max pilots. So childish. To me, I truly believe it is the difference in culture, education and behaviour. Elbowing your way in. Elbowing your way in, part of their culture, recent history. It was the way to get things done. Although they are very nice, I met them before, there is that missing link... it 's called respect, or call it politeness.

Flying in Alhama de Murcia, with its 'carpeted' take off.



The group this week, Guy, Roland, me, Gerhard, Liz Sampson, Bill, Ian, Tone, Willem, Henrik, Wilfriend and Rudy. No not at a golf course, but at the take off Carrrascoy. Artificial grass, what an effort by our Murcian buddies.

Below, Michel. He hurt himself groundhandling, believe it or not. A windgust caught his wing and hooray he met spanish grass on his way ... . Take care Michel.