In southeastern pyrenees right noz. Still on a roadtrip. This late afternoon joining Udo from fly1166.com . We should be flying over the chateau de Peypeteuse. Looking forward to it.
Per; I did get your message, I hope you got my response. See you in october so.

Still hot and warm, we have been very lucky with this trip. Not a drop so far.
Weather looks nice for flying, high pressure. Although some contrails indicating that a front is near. Contrails as you know are clouds made by airplanes, with them as feathers you can expect front approaching.
Newt week friday we should be back for flying in Alicante. Beso.

Hola,

got to q cyber cqfe in Millau. zith azerty keyboqrd....

We flew in the french part of the Pyrenees already and now in Millau, France. Later on we will try to visit and fly with UDO from, fly1166.com in the eastern pyrenees next week.
For now we had, afternoon flights with max 4 m/s thermals, nothing too big so. Evening soaring, but not like everybody told us it would be. Again : you should have been here yesterday !
Doesnt matter, we have a great time. Paragliding, and all other outdoor events are fully backed up by the tourist bureaus, the village town halls etc ... . What a difference back home in Alicante, where we have to lobby, even to get our sport going.
There issome work to do so in Alicante, and I hope I can contribute to sponsoring, promoting the sport for all of you.
I have been thinking about it; and I hope I can talk in all seriousness with our federation, and move them to act more constructive and promotive. Or better start using the knowledge of local pilots on certain subjects , and benefit from years of professional experience of some of us.

But for you guys and girls, it is of most importance that as visiting pilots you will be welcomed as always, as you have proven to be of most importance sharing your flying experience, and helping out financially keeping the sites open for all.

And by the way, we have been contacting climbing instructors, to help us starting up side activities like rock climbing, via ferrata's, night hiking on the mountains etc.. . In short, lots more outdoors than ever thought before in good old Alicante.

See you all soon, from september the 7th our doors are wide open again.
Un beso, un abrazo fuerte,
Nick, Kath y Paco

hola chicos,

we are in the pirenees. Doing crazy stuff like canyon-ning. And it is a blast. We also tried speleologie and it scared me to death. didn't like to see no exit, all dark, smelly caves. But I can understand it can be lovely for those who live this of course. Next days we are heading for Castejon de Sos or more towards Catalunia to fly. this will be more relaxing than jumping of 8 meter cliffs .... I tell you these last few days have given me lots of respect for the sporters who do canyon-ning etc... .
Meanwhile we are gettting ready for our season soon. If anything please call on 0034 606 781 180.

Hasta luego,Nick, Kath y Paco

We are not here till beginning of september. Ready to guide again, high season starting till may/june 2009.
It will be difficult to get to our emails. However if you need to book or order equipment you can call in the evenings on 0034 606 781 180.
Hope to see you all soon.

Nick, Kath y Paco

Last week we flew at Carrasqueta near Jijona. Today Carmen sent us some foto's of what happened with the site today. Part of the hill got burned today.
The fire must have started near the gasstation (abandoned, closed gasstation), where our main landing field is based.

It must have moved along towards the alternative landing field near the old house. It is always sad if you see a bushfire, especially in dry regions like ours. The only vegetation which has struggled to survive in this drought is gone, wiped out in an instant.

Most fires start by the neglicence of people though. Maybe someone threw out a cigarette, maybe a piece of glass caused the fire. Very sad.

Thanks Carmen letting us use your foto's, and informing us.

Looking for opportunities when everybody is talking about crisis and recession ... and bad weather ... ?

Well I got one for you. Look at the foto's, and see if one would suit you in the near future. Because we still have room for some of you from september onwards.

Opportunity why ? Because price is still very democraticly set at 350 euros for a weeks' paragliding in one of Europe's most reliable areas, Alicante Spain.
Quality accommodation, quality guiding. And above all that, beating all other flying trips, you get a rent a car included in the price. This for a whole week, yes 7 days/nights.

Check it out, Alicante is an easy to get destination from all over Europe. The door is wide open. Good friends, good flying, no hassles, no stress.

Missed Jose Luis, Dudo, Antolino, Conrado, Carmen, Alex today. Haven't seen them for a while. Lazy summer I guess. Hope to fly together soon guys, os hecho de menos.

Fun inland. Where gusty winds kept you awake. Especially on tandems trying to explain where in the hell that wind came from at times.

In the end cirrus clouds were forming and screening the sun. Thermals just stopped as if someone pulled the plug. But it was enough. Again the sun was hard and hot during the day, so we waited for the evening to get the flying in.

This summer has been fabulous, almost not missing a days' flying. On the contrary of what I hear and read on several forums, we must have been the most reliable region again.

It is 10 pm now, still 30 degrees outside, heaven.

A day out climbing nea the canyons of Sella, swimming in the pond near Sella, and flying at Sella.

We were actually out with the better pilots to look for a new landing field for our site near Sella. Most impressive site we have near Alicante with 300 m sheer cliffs, at take off overlooking the valleys towards the sea, with magnificient views of Puig Campana. Our old landing field is built upon unfortunately. And other options are rare. Nevertheless three different landing fields were tried out today. Lets see if one of them will be usefull in the future. Still some cleaning up, and talking to the landowners maybe.

Top foto is me, earlier flying with a UP Gambit overflying the valley of Sella, amazing flight.





In the near distance near the alternative landing field we spotted a view of the highest mountain around 1400 ASL Puig Campana.

Below, the flying today.

Daniel (British pilot, Gradient Golden2) and Bartual (one of our better pilots in Alicante, Niviuk Peak)

Rafa buddy at climbing on the ground. Pull me up goddamned !

Looked nasty, but got to do some flying at the coast. The sun was hard and hot again today.
Inland, we didn't bother, cloudbase was low, no surprise there.
Early morning it was very cloudy inland, just burned off a bit by midday, but with the eastern winds blowing that hard yesterday, lots of moist had to be burned off to get a higher cloudbase. Wasn't the case so.

It was nice to meet Raul's and Felix Rodriguez father again, telling us he became grandpa of his sons' kids. Congratulations Felix. And of course the daddy's world champions Raul and Felix, enhorabuena.

Went to Cirque du Soleil tonight, and it was a super show again. With all the rubbish, the trash there is on the bloody TV, it is nice to go to a show like this, sit back and relax. I could recommend it to anybody who appreciates a venue with top acrobats, music and theatre.
http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/default.htm

http://www.northern-paragliding.com/northern-news/safety-notice-harness-buckles-2.html

For those who bought this years harnasses of sup'air, you better read above notice. I copied it from a club in england. Have no idea who they are. I needed to, because I couldn't find it in english on the sup'air page yet.

Where are you guys ? This doesn't stop. Flying every day. Again hours in the air when things calmed down. At the coast, because inland it was too cloudy and nasty. Strong at take off, but if you have the skills, meaning as well if you know how to take off at Cabo de Santa Pola, it shouldn't be a problem.
Basilio was trying out his speedglider with succes. Others were waiting and watching.
Just worrying that non local pilots tried to take off, when us locals waited it out. Worrying because the site is still very fragile after the tragedy two weeks ago. And when you see those absolutely/of course very welcome non pilots struggling, it is not a nice sight. But it is so hard to tell others to wait it out, to ask if they have the skills, if they have done it before. Because we all have the 'vacation-feeling' and want to get out there and play.
Tomorrow looks again good good good.

Two shots of Gradient Golden boy Daniel.

We left afternoons. Again, waiting for the breeze to cool things down so we could at least get some cloudbase in.

Some russian pilots were present as well, and a portugese pilot.

Thermals 4 m/s still, southwestern winds as soon as you got above the crest of Palomaret.

A typical summer day in Alicante.

Tonight temp should go down and strong winds should hit us tomorrow. This for one day, saturday back to normal again.

Henrik, if you read this, thanks for the olives, beer and wine, you are a star !!

Hot today as you knew, 40 degrees. Air from the Sahara, windstill at times. So the best thing to do was a siesta under ceiling fans, ice cold drink aside.
Then wake up at 4, get a coffee in, go inland, take off and hope the breeze was gonna kick in.
So it did, late afternoon, at around 5.30 pm.
Smooth late afternoon flight.

You know hot it is ? It is as if the sun gets up in the morning, climbs above your head, sits there for 12 hours, and will only slowly leave late at night. 40 degrees, Hemingway would have his daiquiri now.

Enjoyable, but not epic. Temperatures were high in their thirties, inversion very obvious today. So we left for a high hill to get some soaring in this afternoon. And this was Carasqueta.
Daniel, Henrik, Chris, Alex, Rafa and Sofie, Kath and me.

I flew as well, although a roasted chicken could have done better. Took off when things started to calm down. Was surprised by the sudden gust, got a collapse, rocketed up, flew backwards a couple of meters, luckily landed on my feet but had to stall the glider asap not to be dragged on the spiky bushes. Damn.
Each time I found a thermal I banked it in too roughly, or flew next to it. Crap. When landing, my reserve handle got stuck and threw out my reserve. Damn, I hope I won't fall over tonight, jesus.

Kath and me, after flying
Nice foto eh
Suzanne happy after the tandem flights
Checking Amanda's, and briefing before taking the 77 year old girl for a tandem flight, very brave girl.

Two princesses of visiting pilot Daniel.

Today we flew our hours at Palomaret. Nobody there, just good old Rafa of course and Eggi showed up. Dominique as well with his U-turn machine. It was nice of course, what else do you expect me to say. We climbed in smooth thermals, untill the breeze kicked in and made it more rock'n roll. But nothing to worry, it is a daily routine if you know the site.

Again a lovely flying day, it doesn't stop, again summer is proving to be one of the best times to relax, beach, kite surf and fly !

Women helping out packing a glider, there's still hope...

shot overlooking from the alternative take off, in the distance Pedro from Calpe with his Vega Axispara
Driving down, when Henrik, Daniel and Michael are still over the ridges direction Cocentaina

There was a 1000 m climb over Monte Cabrer today. The thermals were smooth, the only comment I got was some rocking air over the ridges heading towards Alcoy. Registered 4 to 5 m/s climb, just what we needed. It was a superb day. Best performance for good old Rafa with his Niviuk Icepeak and Ismael with his old Gin Zoom. Further along definetely Daniel Gradient Golden and Mustang2 Henrik ! Others were merely struggling to stay in the air, and couldn't get to cloudbase.

We counted the sites Henrik from Sweden has been flying in Alicante the last years as a regular visitor from Sweden.
Lets sum up the sites :
Cabo, Palomaret, Col de Rates, Toix, Cortina, M Cabrer, San Antonio, Fortuna, Carrascoy, El Cid, Hondon south, Hondon north, Caudete, Villena, Peña Rubia, El Plantio, Ager, and some more.
Henrik goes all over the world to fly, from Asia, to South America to South Africa. Nowhere he said it is possible to fly that many sites in the same region. Well things have to be said about that. Thanks Henrik for the living publicity you are for us, cheers !!

Superb, cojonudo, magnifique, fantastic the day was. Lots of happy pilots rocketing after take off, veering right to the lighthouse, overflying each other and the lighthouse. Just what the doctor ordered !

Happy times indeed.

That's the way, aha aha, I like it, aha aha ....

or

Have a little flight, do a little dance, make a lot of love, get down tonight, get down tonight

see you KC !

A loooooooooong day.



First I went to the beach early in the morning. Having a cafe con leche, and watching older ladies having their daily aerobic lessons, actually the only thing I always see them doing, is holding up their arms.

More fun was flying later in the morning at Cabo with a 77 year old girl, called Amanda. She loved it and I loved it.

Then having lunch, getting ready to beat the heat inland. Another two hours and a half for half-local Henrik from Sweden. He just loves flying, doesnt he ?
Thermal nice and big. Playtime for hours so.

It was fantastic today.

And nice to meet Edu, Toni and others. Also Gary Stenhouse arrived, well known as Geordynut. Finished it off with an ice cold Budweiser.



You know what the difference is between making love in a canoe, and having a Budweiser ?

No ?

Well there is none, they are both damn close to water.

See you all soon, I hope, big hug.


One of the towering cumulus clouds in the back, but didn't bother us.