And the winners over all. Left 'bombero' from Valencia, right Dudo, you all know if you flew with us, and in the middle Nacho, we usually fly with at Toix, or Benidorm.

Congratulations, but not only these three, but everybody else was here this weekend.

One more thing, my good friend Antolino landed pretty rough yesterday, had to be taken to the hospital. He needs to take it easy for at least 4 months. If you have a spare second, send him a message, just short, it'll give him so much sympathy. Yes indeed, he's the one who is always there for a helping hand, retrieval watsoever. I know it will do him good,
his phone number is 0034 619 222 640.
You want to do this for me ? Thanks, you're a star !

Sunday. Second day of the competition. No task, too much eastern wind, not possible to have a suitable task valid.
Ok, just get in the air then and play. It was great. Smooth thermals, lots of lift in the valley. Way up to cloudbase for everyone.
A 50 minute flight with my new tandem, checking it out before I take it in stronger air. Hours of flying for the rest of us.

Aah, life is good isn't it ?

These some shots from my brandnew tandem glider, the Niviuk TAKOO in the air.

Who am I ? You want to know how I feel flying this one ? Well here we go. I fly tandems professionaly for over 5 years, approximately 150 flights a year.

I flew a Apco Futura tandem, a Windtech tandem, a 'don't remember' oh yes a Paratech for gods' sake, and till yesterday UP Sherpa. Well I was best pleased with the UP Sherpa. And I only quit flying it, because too many patches, tears and broken lines.
So I was looking for a good, new generation tandem glider. So you can consult many forums, talk to other tandem pilots (preferable professional ones who fly very regularly), and had to choose between the Gradient Bi-golden or the Niviuk Takoo.

I saw the Gradient, seen it flewn by good pilots etc..., read good reviews etc... bBUT, I don not want to wait goddam 4 months before delivery.
I ordered a Gradient Bi-golden last june and still don't have it in the house for one of my clients. This is a no no ! Gradient can't be taken serious if they need four months to deliver a glider. Sorry, that's me being straightforward, as always.
So I choose for the Takoo Niviuk. Here and there good reviews but not overwhelming. But as with the HOOK and the ARTIK, the best publicity is just trying one. So I went for the TAKOO because I am extremely happy with the quality of the gliders, the flying of course of my other Niviuk gliders and the professionalism of the Niviuk Team.

Ok, it flies fantastic, but which glider doesn't fly fanstastic eh ?
I easily outflew my fellow tandem pilots under a GIN Beetle tandem, another Pro-design tandem, and my friend Bartual under his APCO tandem. And not only once, but 50 minutes I was chasing them to see who was the fastest and who climbed the best. Gave me a kick, even not knowing the glider well yet.

Now the critics, I will not use included Niviuk T-bars any more. With the Niviuk T-bars the handles are just a bit too high for me. I prefer having it all closer down to me, so from tomorrow onwards I will fly it with NOVA T-bar. That should really let me race my new baby.

Other things, easy use of trimmers, ears a bit hard to pull, but once pulled dead-easy flying.

Happy with my new buy, so why don't you go sit on my lap next time.

Big competition weekend in Alicante. More than 40 inscriptions, 6th of world ranking present, and 4 out of the first 10 spanish ranking present. Promising !
But all got their ass kicked (kinda ...) by local pilots. Winner of the first task was little Toni, you remember president of the local club. Congratulations.

On the foto, the briefing of course, a Niviuk Ice Peak present to compete,
foto taken at the end of the day, time to do tandems etc... ;
shot taken at the haciendo of Palomaret, where we had good and lots of food and drinks for no money.
Same night the trophees were handed over for best distance during the year and other achievements.

Fantastic. At its best. Thermals +4, flying high in the valley. Not the usual dynamic bits, but more thermalling weather.

In the morning it was 'nippy', some 15 degrees I guess. Flying without gloves was not an option, as I can witness.

It was warming up though, and clouds were burning off. As soon as that happenend, we got some rock'n roll. Popcorning up, not knowing what the glider was wanting from us.

But this was only for minutes, then it was smooth as a baby's bum.

Time for the café con leche in the Hacienda Palomaret.

Back up for more after half hour. Winds were more on, strong, but we could take that.

All in the air, with the visiting pilots from Madrid, Valencia etc... here already for this weekends' competition.

It was fantastic till 7 pm, when lift was all over in the valley that late. What was it, cloudsuck, some convergence, who knows who cares, it was great.

Parts of the day were violent, parts of the day you needed to pilot actively, parts of the day you had to struggle to ge up, end of the day there was magic lift as dessert.

Well some photo's above can tell even more.

Hi guys,
I have problems with my emails. I can send but do not receive all my emails. Sorry for this. Please use doyouwanna@telefonica.net ok ? Thanks.

Couldn't deliver. Was hoping for a last flight for James, Lucien and Dave, before leaving for colder and wetter England. But couldn't deliver.

Winds were offschore at first, but were gonna change to onshore later in the day. It did, and how.

Windless for about 10 minutes and then a wall of air coming from the sea, violent change of direction and strength.

Good for our safety nowadays that we have the internet. It was forecasted that the winds was gonna kick in very strong in a short period.

But the three musketeers can't complain, flew every day, and go home with new toys ! Hope to see you again girls andboys.

Foto of de coup'icare, with Remi representing us, cheers, santé, salud !

Niiiiiiiiice ..... and nobody thought it would happen. But Alicante showed his good side again. The sun strong enough to create smooth thermals over the cliffs. Some pilots got 300 meters lift over the 120 m cliffs.

In the morning it was very windy though, but we knew it was gonna die off. Just this, weather forecasts are always right, just the timing is off some times.

The light from the setting sun was amazing. The bright sharp contrast of the sky with all the colourfull gliders would have made the best foto for promoting the sport in the area.

Other good news !!!!

At last we have a date of the final ordeal about our precious site Cabo de Santa Pola. After 4 years of sue-ing to defend our precious site that we all love, we will know if the judge will be astonishingly corrupt or interpreted the facts as they are. Lets see the 15th of december will be most important for us. Fingers crossed, all of you !

And already thanks to all, (and you are numerous), who helped financially defending the most known soaring site in Spain.

Those who refused to pay a penny, should be embarrassed.

Re-touching the signs, road up to our hills.

We were at take off by midday and flew till 4.30. Thermals +4, but not a high cloudbase enough to go any place. We enjoyed the ridge runs though.

A large group of visitors were still in the air, when locals showed up, tooooooo late.

Cloudformation from the east, covering the peaks of our mountains. And it went fast, most of the just arrived pilots, eager to fly, had to make big ears, or spirals if they could to get out of the 'mist'.

A obligatory visit to the hacienda El Palomaret early evening. All happy.

Dave tried a Hook, bought one, other Dave tried an Artik, bought one. Niviuk doesn't need publicity, just try them out.

No stress today for us, as you can tell.

The weather looked promising, even looking like a nice XC day. So we went more inland to profit from a hopefully higher cloudbase than daily at Palomaret. So left early for Peña Rubia, where Jose Luis was checking out the conditions. Weak north, but already buzzards thermalling the valley.
We waited till that northern wind would finally kick in a bit stronger. With a cooking valley it should work.
But it was not on our side, thermals stayed weak. Although all around us clouds were forming rapidly, we couldn't profit of any instability to leave the site.
At the end of the day, we flew as well at Solana. A forgotten site.
Foto's were taken at Solana.

Pete ready for take off. One of the older pilots of Britain, still eager to get as many hours in the air as possible. A pioneer.
We all flew for hours, Femke,Stef, Paul and Thijs, we'll see you all again I hope. Wished you'd stayed just one day longer... .
Have fun.
It looks like the bad weather that hit us, damaged lots of personal goods, houses, crops etc... . For flying it cleared the inversion and lets hope we all have decent flight with high cloudbases the upcoming days.
Big fun today, different pilots trying out the Niviuk's gliders.

Torrential rains we had today. Floodings here and there, cars wrecked, Granada got the worst of it.

We couldn't fly, so took the bike out and checked out some old houses in the sierra. Sometimes I do find some old posters, sometimes old precious bullfights posters, sometimes old newspapers, just a hobby of me nosing in the old houses. It gives you a good idea how people lived out here in the past.

But no flying, all day bad. Strange day for september.

Grey day outside, colourful indoor markets. Something to do when not flyable.

Alex showing off in front of the girls at take off.
Ok Alex, we got ya, you show' off. For about half hour showing how controlling the glider is done. That's how to master the skill taking off in strong conditions. You show' off !

Got early at take off and flew till late afternoon at the cliffs.

All visiting pilots from abroad today, and two pilots from up north Vitoria, Basque country.

Thanks for assisting my tandems Miguel !

Heavy rain today unfortunately. During central hours some sun, but didn't permit us to play. Chill, relax, siesta. No stress.

Orographic cloud above Maigmo. Orographic clouds you can only have where there are mountains. These clouds are formed by the air that is forced to get up due to the mountain. Once the cloud is formed it sinks down the other side of the mountain. It sinks, the air gets warm again and forms other clouds in the back of the mountains.

When winds are strong a the coast it is the thing to look out for. Inland we usually can fly, like today.

From 5 pm till 7 pm, all happy after a touristic trip in the region.

Roadblock.

A shepherd. You would think a shepherd only has sheep no ? Wrong.

Shepherds have goats and sheep.

How can you tell the difference between a sheep and a goat ?

A sheep has its tail up, a goat has its tail down. Easy.

I know this because Femke is here, she is a vet at the Monkey Zoo in Dorset.

Everyday we are learning something.

So up is sheep, down is goat. If any welshmen could verify please ???

We flew hours and hours and hours in thermals and thermals and thermals. From midday till 6 pm, just a ice chilled coca cola break, it was hot.

All grass scorched by the endless hot summer.

We took it easy. No strong stuff for us today. We didn't join other locals inland, where conditions were rough, and cloudbase was not sufficient to do anything.

We stayed at the coast, and enjoyed some strong wind take offs and hours of soaring, wing overing, etc... . Fun on a sunday afternoon.

And it was Paul's birthday, so drunk to that, cheers Paul !

A mix of dutch, german, rumanian, and english pilots toasting.

The competition that was supposed to be held at Palomaret this weekend was cancelled. This was a decision made totally backed up by the weather forecast we had for the weekend. In terms of chances to fly, in terms of setting tasks, and in terms of safety for the pilots.
Such a decision is always hard and unwelcomed, but brave.
And was accepted by most (local) pilots. However, just a few boneheads spoiled the party by critisizing the decision and whining about it on our forum. Sad.

But you want to know if we flew yes ? We did, some of us flew at Palomaret, but for me it was too rough. I didn't like it at all. Getting minus 3 m/s at landing approach and then popcorned back up again for some seconds, olé !
So we drove down to the coast and flew again. But the weather forecast was right, in just a very short time it started to get very very windy. Windlines on the sea warned us to get down. So we stopped flying, again.
Later on some local pilots flew at Palomaret, some of them with success. But this doesn't mean at all that the decision should be regretted. Not at all, the decision had to be made yesterday and was fully fundamented.
Only due to freak of nature we and some others managed to fly on our hills.

There was a more than big window to fly today, but you had to be early. We arrived at around 11 am, and saw it was very unstable already inland.

But no gain, no pain (joke !), so took off to check and god, it was 'surprisingly' good. But as you could see during the afternoon, after we all had our flights, the sky deteriorated. So had a meal at the Hacienda El Palomaret, after all the suspense.

Foto was taken during testflight early morning. We were very aware of the forecast, so flew with a big enough margin, not to do an 'Eva'.

Listening to local advice is important.
You could read that last monday, we didn't fly because conditions were too strong. Well the visiting pilot was warned by several of us not to fly, it was too strong. But he knew better and kept on flying. He failed in his attempt to take off in conditions we as locals would never even consider taking off in. He failed and bounced on our spanish grass, untill the walls stopped him. Auch !
Some friends had to take him to the hospital with a more than bruised shoulder. Luckily the damage was limited.
Attitudes, not always the right approach towards flying, and especially not if you're a visitor. And definetely not in Alicante, where there are professional guides, and lots of helpful local pilots who will all welcome you to fly safe.

More and more overcast by late afternoon. Winds were getting gusty as well. And at the coast we had news that it was over 30 km per hour.

So after a while all down and enjoying a chat, a beer.

Ajaj, this is a bad week,
again winds were strong. The sea looked more like the norhtsea than the mediterranean.
It can only get better now.

www.theyr.net is the website I will use again from now on. Paying a 50 euro anual subscription fee, you get the best information, windwise, rainwise, temp wise and cloudwise.

Before this website was free, but since almost a year you have to pay. And I am happy to pay if it is only 50 euros a year. It is really worth it, especially for us who have to be on the right spot on the right time. Not to lose a minute of flying, not to dissapoint our visiting pilots.

More charts like 500 hPa, isobarmaps, are used as well. But also, and this is important, your local knowledge. You feel the heat in the morning, you watch the sea, nerveus or calm, are the plants wet, lot of flies, etc... etc... . It all helps to determine the weather locally.

Like today, a nerveus sea, overcast, high cirrus cloud, with now and then a sunny spell.

No flying, too strong.

Sea pretty nervues from morning onwards already. Still, a german pilot found a 5 minute window to take off.

We couldn't, winds were more than 30 km pèr hour gusting.

Decided to relax on the beach and keep an eye on the glider.

Wing overs, big ears, speedbar, hard for him to get down and get forward speed at times.

All felt a bit strange, the wind for us locals was way too strong, knowing the site.

Beach so.

Little sun, but thermals. The breeze later on in the afternoon helped us. The dynamic lift near the hill, gave us time to spot other pilots thermalling in the valley. Half speedbar get underneath them and turn.

A sunday, lots of sunday-flying. Had to keep your eyes open, they came from left right, under, above. But big fun.

Spain yes ? So bullfighting yes ? We watched a bullfight in the old man's bar in Agost. Again chatting, talking about the cruelty, of the fight. Again I sensed during the talk, that if you were born here, it is hard to be against it. Morally you can have your doubts, but you have been to those fights with your granddad. And it was always during the fiesta weeks. Having ice-cream, getting presents, merry go rounds in the otherwise never-anything-happening village of yours. Going out with the family to the fiesta. And later in the day, if you were big enough you could go with the adults to the bull fight and cheer olé ! I understand.

Another topic that always comes back in one of those 'discussions', is that the bulls in a bullfight were treated as kings during their life. They were given the best food, lived freely in wide valleys, with big trees for the shade. Totally different to the bulls that are bred for food consumption. And when asking, but why do they torture the bull before the matador comes in ?? Because the bull weighs 600 kg, so we have to weaken the bull to have an even fight.

Ok, ok.

But it is not civilized !

Oh, but having a hamburger in MacDonalds is civilized, knowing the animal had a horrible life and was sentenced to death in a slaughter house getting electric shocks ? Fox-hunting civilized ? Sending the prince (Hans Emmer of zoiets) of Holland to Spain to go partridge hunting because in his own country it is illegal to hunt partridges ? Killing whales ?

Oh my god. It is a never ending talk about the bull fights.

I live here, I just have an opinion. I just don't want to go to the bullfights. But I am not positioned to interfere with the culture, existing for centuries. I am an immigrant, a guest, and privileged to live in another country, a country as beautiful as only Spain can be.

And I love flamenco and their dances. And a lot of dance steps are similations of the matadors' steps.

Foto's, one of Palomaret,

one of the game they played in the village, a regional sport called pilota,

and a photo of good old Antoniet, at the old man's bar, where we always finish our flying day having an ice cold beer.

Sunny day from starters onwards. 28 degrees during the day, and at night it was lots cooler, so promising thermals again ?
Yes, surely, again + 4 m/s thermals nice and smooth, this till 6.30 pm.
Then sink cycles for most of the pilots, one by one bumming out.
But all of a sudden while scratching we saw pilots circling up in the valley. Magic air, restitution lifted us back up to 1300 m ASL, nice and smooth, up to the orographic cloud which was forming above the crest.
Wonderful day. Volker and Ernst had more than two and a half hours in the air, just arriving. Thierry who as been here several times before was present as well, eager to go XC.

Back home. A couple of days earlier than we thought. Paco's school started today instead of what we thought next monday.

But it was fine, today exploring the sky under 5 m/s thermals at times. Great fun. Blue sky, nice and warm. At night it starting to get colder, down to 20 degrees. So temperature gradient is more different than weeks before. Lots better for our thermals. Aha-aha I like it, aha aha.

Foto of the valley and foto of my baaaaaaaaaaaby ......... who took care of me again in sometimes rough conditions.

Joking with my son, Paco, the most important of all in my life.

Back home in Alicante. Ready to fly again with you guys. Batteries all charged to take you in the thermals, going XC if you like. Aiming for our numerous sites down here.
September and october are usually are after-summer months with some surprisingly great epic days in it. Fingers crossed, hope you are here just then.

Roadtrip to northwestern part of Spain. Portugal.