Soaring can only be soaring. Unless ! Unless the winds are strong and the climb is epic.

Today was one of those typical winter days, dense air. Just borderline wind at take off, gusting 25 km per hour.

Lift everywhere, even over the sea and climb up to 435 m above sea level. For a cliff with max 150 m height (near lighthouse) this is almost three times the height today.

Normally soaring gets you twice the height of the cliff, and a little bit more. If we only fly with dynamic wind this is.

Today we had ice cold air on top, although the swedish said it was nice and fresh actually.

Rainy this morning, not so warm today, that's why hardly any local pilot showed up. It was a lovely flying day today buddies. Day 16, consecutive. Madre mia, good old mother I almost need a break.

This excellent foto shows you how the flying was like. As you can read the sky, the sun was screened all day. Cirrus clouds blocking the sun, so the needed strong thermals never appeared.

Cloudbase therefore low.

But we flew from midday till 4 pm, testing demo gliders like the Airwave Sport4, Advance Sigma7.

After 4 it all got weak, so early back home today. 15th day in a row of flying.

Foto of the last part of the day, cloudsuck, and the whole swedish school below our feet.

Early afternoon, it was pretty gusty. But after our cafe con leche, in the hacienda de Palomaret all could enjoy the thermals.

Marcel, belgian pilot and usually staying in Alicante all winter, was turning his Artik in zero's. Flat, horizontal turns, staying in the buoyent air, waiting for lift.

After these last couple of weeks of flying, he is in good shape. With his sup air Vamp harnass, he found the right combination for the glider.

Today you had to stay away from the ridges to find lift. More out, it was better to center the wide areas of lift. Staying in the weak lift, not flying nerveus, waiting for it to develop bit by bit.

Cloudbase in the end at 1275 m ASL still, needed to big ear or spiral down at times, not to be stuck in the clouds. With some many Sweeds around, you better not bump into them in the mist.

At the coast we could have soared as well, but different tastes do get you a better apetite.

Now something else.

Minds are like parachutes. They only function when they are open.

So, probably god doesn't exist no ? Well check out this film and let me know with an open mind, what you think now.

holy shit, I think he exists

Day 14, still flying. All afternoon if you wanted. It was up to you.

Lovely soaring on the cliffs, dead easy to topland, have a chat, have a bite. Again if you wanted.

I took two passengers in the air, tandem flight. It was their first experience, and they were thrilled.

I saw students from 'peter', swedish school instructor, having a blast, just doing top to bottoms.

Today we all got closer, to what paragliding is all about. It is not always about huge XC's, high cloudbases, acro flying. It is about all sharing the same passion. How can I describe it. Doing something in a way all mankind has been dreaming of. Flying. Paragliding.

The other day, one local big shot pilot down here, on our forum, resumed the last two weeks of flying as this :
Down here, little flying is done. For the moment nothing big. Just ridge runs from one peak Maigmo to the other El Cid....

What a sad statement, after two weeks of consecutive flying. All over, we flew about 6 different sites, and this for hours. We had great times, achieving personal bests for some of us. But that doesn't even matter. I met local pilots, got to know them better, wanting to join us, these pilots wanting to fly different sites than the 'home' sites like Palomaret, Santa Pola.
Local pilots and visiting pilots eager to explore the region, our hills, new take offs, new landings.

What's more lovely, than flying with your buddies. Scratching ridges, aiming high, bumming out, high fives after a good day, chatting about the flight. Giving each other hugs, another round, hows' the girl, family's allright ? See you tomorrow on the hill, no ? I love you all, try my wing.

So much shit going on, after pilots starting to be competitive. It is not about who has the biggest, it is about who has the most fun with it.

13 days consecutive flying so far. Not so bad for winter, I wonder if any winterdestination can say that. I doubt it.

And it was bingo again today. After watching the calm sea, we were heading inland to fly at Carrasqueta. Thermals were present, as cloudsuck was. Good flying in the learning curve of Marcel German pilit and Ronny Swedish pilot. Take off at Carrasqueta is always a bit challenging as winds are always strong at 1100 m. But in no time, Marcel Belgian pilot was following Rafa to make the transition to the village of Jijona. While Ismael, Ronny, and other Marcel were enjoying the wide views at Carrasqueta.

Toplandings to get the cars back down, just before the clouds were reaching the top of the hill.

Carrasqueta will be cycled again in the Vuelta (tour of Spain), Contador, Valverde, Armstrong and other dopies will struggle to get up that 'col de Carrasquete', also famous for its weekens motorbike racing.

It was nice up there. A bataclava on was not a bad idea. Gloves neither. Especially not when flying at cloudbase, kissing the clouds. What a day. Great.

In the morning we left Cabo, it was getting too strong. Definetely dying off in the afternoon, but preferring thermals inland.

Thermals up to 3m/s, cloudbase not so high. Rafa proved again, and this with his old beaten up Wings of Change glider, that he is a top pilot and doesn't need huge cloudbases. Landed near the lake of Ibi. Dudo must have been second best, as I was racing with my 4x4 to pick up bummed out pilots, he was already racing back in the air to take off.

Marcel, other Marcel and Ronny swedish pilots, are getting their first thermals in of the year, and what do you think. They are enjoying it, like like little babies, having their tummies full.

Agost in the evening.

Maria, paparazi.

Marcel, our iron man is looking tired. Daily flying, in between parties at flamenco concerts are paying its toll. Today again he had to fly one hour and a half again, in thermals, the poor guy. He stays for another week, then he can go rest back home in Belgium I guess. Because this week he's gonna go for an overdose, a huge fix, flying coastal or thermals. He may choose.

Meanwhile he is turning into a tanned youngster, too much sun. At times he's so fit and ready, people do not look at him any more, they stare !

Call us tomorrow at 9.30. We'll have a cafe con leche and be out again. Un saludo.

Food for thought :

http://www.paraglidingforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=23320

r

Cheers, Jos !

Juan Pedro, pioneer in hangglidingm, paragliding in our region.

Lots of sites flyable today, but definetely the best must have been near Monovar. Again we saw the red glider Apco (Juanma ?) flying over the village. Each time I think it is a paramotor at first, but then having a closer look it is him flying over Monovar, coming from behind.

Not a very popular site, as it is a 45 min walk up and almost half of it pathless.... .

We just stayed at Peña Rubia, met the locals of Ibi and Onil, celebrating with Cava our 10th year of guiding.

Everybody flew.

Flying till late, till the sun was gone gone gone.

Cabo for us, tandem flights with enthusiastic lets hope future pilots. Others waited till 5 pm on Palomaret, for winds to die off.

Knackered, still gotto go to flamenco concert tonight. Get out the castañettes, et bouger bouger !

Hondon east it was. 30 km gusts at take off, but mellow intervals in between. So easy take off for Marcel and me. On our own, no local pilot felt like joining. No worries, we had a siesta in the sun, waited for our window to take off. I think the bloody walk up to take off is withholding lots of pilots to fly this one. Come on you youngsters !

If you clean your monitor you can spot Marcel flying, just under the cloud.

Marcel landing his new Niviuk Artik, together with his sup'air Vamp harnass, a harnass which I really recommend for pilots who wants comfort and performance.

Hey reader,

Its been 10 years today, since we arrived in Spain to start up this paragliding business. Unfortunately I cannot meet up have a drink with you. But I will raise my glass tonight and have a good one, on your health.

To all of you I know, who I will know in the future, who read my blog :

I love you all, and take care !

Inland, western winds as usual in the morning, but they seemed to be stubborn and didn't want to give way to the more eastern winds heading from the coast. Later on plain eastern winds, great for the cliffs. I told you last week, we were gonna have an excellent week of flying , and we do. I think our buddies from up north could fly on Col de Rates. That's probably were we should go tomorrow. Or Agres, or Monte Cabrer, or Sant Antonio, or Hondon north, even La Zafra could be working.


For those who are interested in some meteo next images.
Images comparing the jetstream maps with the isobarmaps.
Jetstream flows are present on high altitudes lucikly, approximately 10 km above us.
Due to the curves in the jetstream, some of the air is pushed together from various directions. This 'converged' air, results in an increase of the weight of the air on our surface, results in more pressure on our planets' surface, meaning higher pressure. That air is descending, so pressure is increasing. Very obvious to see on these maps.

But, action an re-action. Under some other parts of the jetstream the air is dispersing, going in different directions, causing lower pressure, causing cloud formation. The effect of this on our planets 'surface, is causing fronts. In combination with our satelite images, we can easily spot where these fronts are situated. We hate them don't we.

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Hey guys. Look at that, sounding at 12 am today.

South-southwestern winds at surface but veering to northeast upper winds, at 850 mb which is appr 1500 m ASL.

Flying at our southern site like Palomaret would mean turbulence, once nearer to cloudbase.

It is very very interesting to know how to read these charts. It gives you more knowledge about what's going on. And more knowledge is more safety isn't it.

This chart lets yo calculate cloudbase, what kind of clouds you'd probably meeting that day etc... etc .... .

If you are interested and understand/read Spanish, you should definetely have a look at my friends' Jose Luis Segorb's page, he is our meteo-star.

http://www.luisso.net/index.php/meteografica

If your spanish is not so great I advise this one :

https://www.meted.ucar.edu/loginForm.php?urlPath=mesoprim/skewt

My son had a bad tummy this afternoon, so I had to pamper him. Marcel, Rafa, amongst others, flew and both said it was turbulent especially at the beginning of the afternoon, then later the breeze took over and all got mellow.

Headstart at the cliffs, eastern winds, nicely in the sun. Tandems, and throwing the glider around.

Later on we moved inland. The nearer we got to the hills, the more dark clouds, totally different scene than at the coast. But Dudo was flying them, no stress.
More and more sunny spells, and thermals, smooth thermals were present.
It was not my best day, I just couldn't manage to get a toplanding in. Tried hard, but 6 kg above the weight range, maybe wasn't ideal. No pancakes for a couple of weeks.

Spain paragliding, on a sunday afternoon. Eastern winds, clouds inland, but still playtime at the coastal sites. Soaring, after all it is sunday.

A bit of a rough night last night .... see you again soon Toni.

Interested in learning about meteo, here is a great website for it :
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream//atmos/atmos_intro.htm

Well, lots of flying, springtime thermals. Nice and easy all afternoon. A step away from heaven it felt.

Lots of pilots, it was saturday after all, lots of pilots eager to get their wings out, after that winter spell we had. Lots of Niviuks in the air, obviously one of the better sold brands all over.

Alicante at its best, you'd love it.

Rafa overflying Cocentaina.

Roadblock driving up to take off Monte Cabrer. Surprise, surprise, huge rocks fell off the mountain and blocked the whole road. After menpower we could continue on the deteriorating drive up.

Once at take off a slight breeze from the northeast gave us opportunity to fly at Cabrer for the first time this year 2009.

The charts this morning showed us a clear convergence line.

Northwesternwinds in the morning , with eastern winds pushing from the coast. But realizing it is still winter, it wasn't gonna be XC. But low cloudbase especially at the coast, were eastern winds were bringing in lots of sea air. So we choose for some thermals at Monte Cabrer. Cloudbase at 1350 meter, Pepe saying it was difficult to core the thermals.

Oh, almost forgot to say. Marcel had a late flight with his brandnew Niviuk Artik. Congratulations.

I still do have an Artik Medium for sale at an incredible cheap price. It has 10 flights ... .

Today I made my choice after analyzing the charts at www.theyr.net

Chris Wileman is back, and was top of the stack today at Hondon North. Got up to 250 m above take off, which was quite an achievement.

It was a bit of a chase today. Inland too much norhtwest wind and gusty. But winds were supposed to die off during afternoon. We got phone calls from buddies that there was a slight breeze kicking in at the coast, so headed back towards the coastal sites. But no inversion was too be seen, all looked too clear, the air was still looking too 'west', dry air, no sea air. So doubted, and took the Paris-Dakar road up to take off Hondon North. Bingo !

Simon, who regularly flies with Extreme Paragliding, visiting the Alicante region, welcome Simon.

And I checked weather forecast. Listen if you want to escape winter, check out your Air Berlin, Ryanair, Easy Jet websites. It looks like you will be flying daily for a week. So worth to get out here, for a winter break. It'll be good for flying.

After the sail yesterday, we were gonna have a chat about emergency chute deployments and the importance of airbags, pro and contra.

We went downtown, had a tapa and later in the evening, had a drink in downtown Alicante, in the Coyote bar. Unfortunately the slot machines made too much noise, and the chat had to be postponed to a later date. Lucky me.

So windy, the cats were sheltering from it in waste bins. We went for a sail to the island of Tabarca today.

Some foto's of our activity today. If not flyable, as you can see, you shouldn't be bored. There are always things to do. Like sailing for instance. We'll take you on a sailing trip to the islands, or whereever suits you. And this for only 10 euros a day, minimum 3 persons. Big fun.

Windy weather, nice and warm, but that's about it. Good enough to chill and sunbathe, but not to fly. Toni arrived, yes boomerang Toni.

Via ferrata for the Fenix club. Too windy, too tricky with the CB's surrounding us by afternoon.

See you later guys. I am off to the hot springs in Archena for the weekend, gotto relax in hot baths once in a while, outside in the open amongst the mountains.

Talk to you next monday again. Nice to have had you guys, hope to see you all back. Un abrazo.

For swedish pilots visit : http://www.fenixflyg.se/

Another taste of Alicante. All over Spain, warning weather forecasts. Strong winds up to 80 km per hour, and severe snowfall. Not for us fortunately. We had some good hours of flying under our belt, when sun was setting.

Sweden happy.

First part of the day. Arriving at Toix, briefing, lets go.
All in the air, most of the pilots above Sierra Bernia, epic.

Second part of the day,

why not go soaring late afternoon, done.

Strangely enough there were local pilots at take off not taking off. Too strong winds. It didn't feel that way, but hey listen to them, they're my buddies. But I had the impression that one was making the other one more nerveus than needed. And that happens amongst humans, we have that 'sheep' attitude don't we.

But after some waiting, it really felt good, so all in the air.

Third part of the day,

yes beer o'clock, this is the swedish group present, who all had a fantastic taste of how Alicante can be.

Below Lars who organised this whole trip.

What impressed me the most, was the excellent handlings at take off. Swedish schooling, so obvious.
It needs to be said, part of the local pilots could do with some more groundhandling. Local pilots, yes friends of mine, who fly since years, sometimes still fuck up at take off. Or maybe they shouldn't fly that class of glider, maybe they should downgrade their glider, and have more fun, and confidence.
Anyway by this, probably upsetting a local buddy, but it is all about safety.

Who I am not gonna upset today, is good old Dudo, who flew from Palomaret to Almudaina, XC in february, respect !