June 2005; 26 flyable days out of 30 days

special offer on Airwave Mustang DHV 2, see shop ...

mostly late afternoon flying due to too strong conditions early day

photos on :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/doyouwanna-paragliding/

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30th june

Late afternoon flying, safe at Palomaret. Thermals still punchy at 7 pm, 4 m/s. Nice to fly with Rafa, Pedro, Pepe, Juanpe and visitor Richard from Wales

29th june

Some locals and visiting pilots from Tenerife flying near Calpe today. In Alicante it was extremely hot and blowing a gayle southwest.

28th of june

Day off for me, no guests around. Lazy afternoon, cold drinks, ice cream and dips in the pool. I saw a couple of gliders in the air at the cliffs. all afternoon it was sea-breezing. maybe my buddies flew inland, didn't hear from them yet. It is a bit hot for all of us.

27th june

Cabo abandoned. Although conditions were perfect, there was nobody. I flew a couple of tandems, and winds were fine. Strange, nobody there, and it was already 6 pm, way past the holy siesta. Temperatures are in their thirties, one more week before the beaches get crowded.

18th june till 26th of june

Arrived at the lower pyrenees on sunday. Had a flight of Ager, big ridge facing south.

Next days I followed an SIV course at Entrenuvols, a school in Ager, who was recently awarded, having the best SIV teaching courses in Europe. I can tell, it is true.
They use a big lake (pantano) in the Pyrenees, towing you up to 800 meters. Nu cueing like in Annecy, no stress with different schools and other pilots in the air. No salt water like in Oludeniz Turkey. No German food in the evening after following a course. Miguel and Jordi, the two instructors ony speak Spanish though (Castellano and Catalan).
From minute one, you feel safe. A severe check on your equipment, parachute for starters. Then a comprehensive briefing on all the maneuvers we were gonna go through.
The nice thing and not the least important is the size of the group. They do not take more than 6 pilots per course. So a personal approach in guaranteed.

From acceleratted assymetrics, full stalls, B-lines, flat spins introducing helicopters, etc ... etc... . A 4 day course, from early morning till late in the evening. 8 am leave and at 8 pm, analysing the mistakes in school by the tapes, then all together a meal, exhausted.

SIV courses are so much more than what they used to be. If you choose an SIV course, make sure to get good info about the course. Where is the location ? How are their safety regulations ? Price not too greedy ? Small group or large group ? Burned out instructors or wide awake ?

From monday 27th june again, flying every day near Alicante, and I tell you it is damn hot.

friday 17th june

It was a cracking day ! That's what the guys said after the barbeque we organised last night.

Early morning start in Fortuna. Very strong conditions, made us to go land. We had to chill for four hours, we knew that. So we had to chill in the public swimming pool of the village. There unfortunately Leen was bitten by a wasp and couldn't stay for the afternoon flying.

At 5 pm, my wife Kath arrived, so we went back up the hill after the relax.

Paul, Keith Martin, Collin and Kath had a wonderful flight. The pictures were taken at 8 pm in the evening. For Martin, the take off was a bit too challenging. Good thing he knows, groundhandling is the secret.

Paul and Keith, repeated guests have been flying 13 out of 14 days of their stay. Nothing exceptional. It has been great fun to have them back, Paul as the noisy ice cream man, Keith as the quiet donut boy. Martin, the joker and filmmaker, also has been here before couple of times, too bad his lovely misses couldn't make it this time. Collin woke me up the other day, recognising him from a two year ago visit.
Jos and Leen our Belgian pilots, also flying back home today. Last time they visited us, Jos had a bad foot, this time Leen didn't bring her glider, she had a bad foot. I hope we see them back with 4 happy feet soon.

No today section till 26th of june. I am off, to ge the last up-dates on SIV courses in the Pyrenees Spain. Kath will do the emails.
Remember, if you make reservations to fly in Alicante for next season (sept onwards), and do this before the end of june 2005, you can still get all of our service for only 295 euros.
From september onwards we need to slightly raise our price to 315 euros.

Have a good time guys, and be careful and safe !! Un abrazo.

thursday 16th june

You had to pop your ears once in a while, when you were coring the themals well this afternoon. +4 m/s at 6 pm

Some pilots looked a bit tired, not concentrating, not flying efficient. We had some long days behind us, so it was good only to fly in the afternoon today. In this sport, you have to be focused all the time.

Tomorrow looks promising, for an early start. Mañana.

This is a site sent to me by pilots from Iceland, interesting foto's, a bit nippy to fly there at times isn't it :
http://pgiso.fotki.com

wednesday 15th june

Looked allright, to go inland. High cloudbase, no wind, good themals after the storms we had the last two days. So we got together with a few locals, to try out Sierra de Olivos. This sierra is a huge mountain near the village Caudete, known for its hanggliding competicion.

We got at take off at 12 am. We all got ourselves rigged, to take off soon. Paul, Keith, Martin flew on this mountain, with on top its windfarm. The windfarm didn't bother us at all. Actually with those windmills, there are roads all the way up to take off. These mills turn when there is only (of course) sufficient wind. So from down below you can tell if there is enough, or no wind, or too much wind. As well the wind direcion at take off is to be seen, by the stand of the arms. I am not gonna discuss the view. But I tell you one thing, we arrived on the hill, and it all looked a bit spacy, and Jimi Hendrix was playing Purple Haze on the radio driving up.

Anyway, Rafa local champ flew all the way to Castalla (45 km) and climbed up with 6 m/s thermals to 2800 meters !! Suby flew direction Valencia, all the way to rio Jucar XC 65 km and 2650 meters climb. Superb.

Later in the afternoon, drove back to Palomaret on our way home and another good hour of flying. Martin had his best flight of his life, he said. Superb.

tuesday 14th june

We had a plan today. Leaving early afternoon to go have a swim at the waterfalls. The water is always ice cold, and we can have that with nowadays high temperatures.

Later on we were gonna go fly, when the winds died off. Pictures tell the story.

monday 13th june

Very unstable. Thunderstorms inland. Too risky to get in the air.

sunday 12th june

Instability inland, was given us the thought to leave early to one of our main XC sites, Caudete. Hoping to get good conditons for XC before the storms. But it caught us, below a picture of the sky.

Later in the afternoon we had big fun at our traditional site Palomaret. Some active thermals, till it died off and gave us terrific restitution conditions. Too damn hot again between the early start and the late afternoon flying. We chill tomorrow and leave later in the afternoon.

saturday 11 th june

This morning there was a parade in my village El Altet. Beautiful horses, some thoroughbreds, all decorated, made their way to the chapel on the beach. To give you an impression I took some shots. I hope you enjoy them.

Then all afternoon flying at the Cabo, because inland too bloody strong. We all loved it.

Soon you will get a notice translated in English for you from the federacion, to help out with the site of Cabo de Santa Pola, We have to be very careful with this site, because of its problems. Just now, when 4 schools operating today, to help their students to fly safe, two visiting pilots from abroad (Belgium), found it necessary to use the site without guidance, without following a course with one of the local school

Resulting in a slide over the rocky terrain, damaging my pilot Paul's glider. A few hours later, the girl tried to take off again. After several attempts, causing many heart attacks, she managed to take off, and struggle her way out in the air. Luckily she flew a very good and forgiving glider. Meanwhile getting bad looks from the locals, I had to explain them they were not with me.

- But they are Belgians, just like you ?
- Shut up, Gonzalo !

For a very reasonable price of 60 euros for a whole week of flying with guidance in the region, you get to fly so much more safe, briefings on the sites, respect from the locals, and contributing to keeping the sites open and free. Come on, give us a break.

friday 10th june

Traditional day in Alicante. Morning flying at the coast, waiting for cloudbase to get higher inland. Later on in the afternoon though, it didn't come out. Pressure has been dropping the last few days, so more instability inland.

Soon it was clear that our afternoon (flight) plan, wasn't like the previous days. Instability was too much, inland they must have had thunderstorms. We were stuck with the tails of the cumulus nimbus clouds, so smooth lift, a bit too smooth the time we got to the site.

thursday 9th june

Left early this morning at 10 am to head for the waterfalls in Algar. Soon we saw some white caps on the sea, eastern wind, so time to check out Cala de Finestrat Take off is only 35 meters above the sea. You need to get the first lift right, otherwise you cannot reach the landing field, which is the beach. So I can only take very experienced pilots to this wonderful site. If you do not reach the beach, there is no option. Only the sea to land in, and again this is no option.

You need to take off with a 25 k/h wind and get it right first time. Don't miss the first lift or you are fucked.

You head for the cliffs on your right and soar up to the old Moorisch outlook tower. From there up you overlook Finestrat, Benidorm. And on the other side you can see the coastline towards Alicante. It is an astonishing view, the colors of the sea, the cliffs, the seagulls flying a couple of meters in front of you, even Benidorm looks nice from above.

Another challenge is to fly to Benidorm and overfly the swimming pools on the roofs, giving the girlies some shade, which was done as well today.

Then landing on the beach, away from the sunbathers, because this could "hurt" the site very badly.

I was the only one who flew this today. Keith, Paul and Bart were not quite ready for this, but good to know what they can aim for next visit.
On the first picture on the left, you can see the nasty clouds coming in from inland pretty fast, part of the reason I came in to land, another reason was the red flag that was raised on the beach by the baywatchers. To spot the take off, you need to look on the right picture. Just on top of my compass, that's where it is. So I hope you know what I mean. Never, ever fly this without us, or without one of our local experienced pilots.

Oh, I almost forgot. Keith, Paul and Bart flew at Palomaret later on. Some punchy thermals still at 6 pm, active piloting. A long and in the end very sunny, fantastic day.

"Life doesn't get any better does it ?" : quote mister ice-cream Paul

wednesday 8 th june

Some pictures of today. Early morning sunset, 6.30 am. Flying at cloudbase over the valley of Agost, 7.30 pm. Heading for Maigmo 6.30 pm.

tuesday 7th june

Holy, after I took a dip in the sea, there was a whole tribe approaching. Mommie, help!!! Had to run back to my truck, luckily I was in the air soon, so couldn't catch me. Out of breath now.

monday 6th june

A day tour today. An early leave for Carrasqueta, all of us flying. Till it got too strong. Then went down to the coastal sites and flew above Benidorm. Not exactly an epic day, but a very hot spanish day for flying.

Inversion kept us from XC, a very hot day, just about 35 degrees celsius.

sunday 5th june

Very strong thermalling day at Palomaret till 5 pm, then it was smoother and everybody kept on thermalling till 7.30 pm. Before we had to chill on the beach, siesta, cafe con leche, ... .

saturday 4 june

Nice thermalling above Palomaret, testing out the Bibeta3 Advance tandem glider. Just sold it to my british friend Keri. A very "advance"-like handling though. Very good glide, lovely flat turns, but Jesus, If I had to us this glider on a dialy base doing several tandems a day, I would be knackered. I fly a UP Sherpa tandem glider, which is a lot easier on the handling, I keep it.

Exceptional on our hill was, that there were 4 girls flying amongst us boys. Nice to be surrounded by smooth flying, gentle turning ladies, who showed us the way in the thermals. Solvi, where are you ?

friday 3 june

Happy people I would say no ? Remi and friends from Paris. Picture taken after a good week of flying, relax, fun and sunshine. We flew at Palomaret today with the local champs. All did very well, and I was amazed about the take-off skills. Nicely controlled, something to say about french schooling. Actually that's where I was taught, in the Vosges and down south near Lac de St Croix, France. Long time ago. You know what ? They surprised me with some bottles of superb white wine. And right now I am nipping of a Pouilly-Fumé, excellent white wine, salut les copains !!! Open up a bottle, cheers !

thursday 2 june

Chilling at the beach, too much wind today

wednesday 1 june

Early flying inland near Alcoy, San Antonio. Winds were weak, but soon it was gonna be strong. At the coast it was already blowing 30 km/h. No locals arrived, only the french flew in the nice but not too smooth thermals. If you ask me, this was one of our XC days at San Antonio. My guests unfortunately are merely paramotor pilots, and do not have any experience in distance flying. some of them actually didn't fly due to the lack of experience to fly in thermals. So safety first, as always ! Finished the day off with two hours flying at the coastal site. French, Brits all together.