http://yeli.us/Flash/Fire.html

Maybe you like this, thanks for sending Peter Fox (Sussex paraglider pilot)

We flew this morning at the cost, thermic air. Sporty to get a toplanding in. Later in the afternoon, more.

Indeed more. Thermic air still, till late. The beaches are not so crowded any more. Still 32 degrees today, water cristal clear and lovely temperature to cool down after the flying.

Tandem passenger was so excited she almost forgot she was flying !

Season started, that's for sure. Thermals more clean, inversion broken. Cloud formation, cloud streets inland.

Some of the local pilots went to Monte Cabrer and achieved personal bests with 50km XC flights. Others stayed more local and enjoyed the freshly new-season thermals at Palomaret.

Our 74 year old John is our prime guest for the moment. As dinosaur in our sport, ex XC hangglider pilot, and paraglider pilot he has been flying for decades. But unfortunately his knees are not what they used to be. So everytime he needs assisted launches. And cannot walk up any hills. So we choose the most user friendly site today, and had a hell of a time. It felt all fresh.
Maybe difficult for you to understand. July and August have been awesome, only 5 days not flying it must have been. Two months of relax near beaches, swimming pools, ice creams, lots of tandems and late afternoon flying when things died off.
Now we have the more higher cloudbase already and the fresher thermals.

Promising for the pilots from Wales who are down here next week.

When I guide I do like to have a look at the sea, at the clouds forming over the mountains behind my house early morning. I want to see if there is dew on my plants, if there are a lot of flies (lots of flies = low pressure ... ).

This foto is taken at 7.30 this morning, and already some clouds and eastern wind. So knowing cloudbase was supposedly be low today, we choose for soaring and see that the rest of the day would bring.

Cabo at first, then swim in the sea, lovely, then lunch, superb, then flying inland under the clouds, doing several tandems, landing with happy folks.

John, Gary and Henrik and friends. Inland thermals. Again a hot day, having to enjoy the cristal clear mediterranean water , before heading inland to fly in the refreshing breeze. Feeling alive.
There is just so little stress about the flying this time of the year, the flying is so much guaranteed, it doesn't matter if you are early or late, it'll fly anyway for hours.

The after party

Every village whereever you go had some fiesta going on. Every day of summer somewhere you hear fireworks, you see bands playing in the street, there are fiestas around.

Some bigger than the other ,but all superb to join in for a while.

Some are accompanied with bullfights, some with bull-runs like in Pamplona, some are more devoted and carry another Hola Virgin around the village.

But everywhere there are happy families, happy villagers, having a break during their hard life ... . Everywhere there is a relaxed atmosphere. Everywhere people enjoying having drinks outside, watching the parades and all that comes with it. I love Spain.

Been flying tandems last couple of days. Weather is fine. Nothing epic, but filling your boots as much as you want.

But have done some things with the family.

If not flying there are loads of things to see in the region. We did visit the caves again. Went swimming in the mountains. Been hiking to the spring of the river Vinalopo yesterday.

And some gardening of course. Trying to cultivate some grapes, bananas, olives of course, pommy granites, oranges, and too many lemons.

After 4 years I could harvest my first banana.

Precious time with the family.

And a drive to the baños near Ontinyent. Fantastic place. I do love the beaches, but nothing can beat the fresh waters of the rivers in the mountains.
Fly and swim, that's also what we do when on a roadtrip to the Pyrenees. On nonflyable days we love to jump in the ice cold water to freshen up.

Friday some guests arriving, can¡t wait to spend some time in the air with them. See you in a couple of days !

You don't mind us having a break do you ?

We are taking a break till the 6th of september. however we are around, so if you are in the neighbourhood, you can count on us.

It will be flyable almost every day, we have seabreezes to get us flying in Benidorm, Calpe or Santa Pola. If you prefer to feel alive, call us and join us on the hills and get some nice thermals in.

un abrazo,
Nick, Kath y Paco

early day flying - tuesday 18 august 2009

I hope you flew as well today. Thermals, cloudbase not too high, and all at its best later in the afternoon. Pretty hot again, and a wild sea with huge waves. Feels like heaven.

No foto's from here , just some shooting and foto's, I found on the net about flying elsewhere.

You've got to see this. It is what paragliding is all about. Hard to understand for non flyers, but so touchy for us, who love to fly. He expresses what flying is all about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kdl5NDbiWs

And there is some more good news about Afghanistan, amongst all the bloody news, the horrible situation out there, check it out :

http://skateistan.org/

Flying over the cliffs, with Italian family. Again lots of pilots around. All knowing that the family will be happy in Alicante. Fiestas, playa, beach, culture, good food, and enough hours to get the flying in.
Sea breeze guaranteed for the pilot who want to soar, and guaranteed mountain flying for the pilots who prefer to feel more alive.

Down below a foto of the Moros and Cristianos fiestas.

Below, a foto of our local hair dresser / peluqueria. Included in the price of 360 euros, rent a car, accommodation, fly guiding for you, and something extra, a haircut at our local hair dresser. Who dares !

Vladimir with his wife with a name 'I cannot pronounce right, nor spell',

Dimitri and Inma

pilots at Cabrer today, together with Augustin, Chimo, Ismael, Alex and some more locals.

Views, heights, thermals, hours. Sometimes you wonder why this site is not more popular. In about 50 times i have visited this site, only 4 times we didn't fly it.

Fly-boys, kite-boys, surf-boys, beach-boys. Time to chill, do some sport, chill, fly a bit, surf a bit, kite a bit, beach a bit, chill a bit. Change gear so. Ease down.

Lots of pilots around. Madrid-boys, Barca-boys, Murcia-boys. Flying till sunset.

From the cliffs you can see the island of Tabarca. Worth a visit, some foto's. It is a small island with no traffic on it. The best paella is served, and a couple of bars to get your daily vino tinto in.

.

Hola,

weather is fine again, winds favourable to stay up as long as you wanted.
Coastal or inland, there was a choice today.

Or you sayed near the cliffs and soared for hours, or you could fly the smooth thermals later in the afternoon inland on different sites.

We got so much flying in this summer, we need to push each other to get out and fly, get out and go to different places. Tomorrow I hope to get some locals awake to go to places we hardly ever fly any more. Gary Stenhouse is here, if family permits he'll join us I hope.

Clear skies again this afternoon, but still a wild sea and very gusty winds. Not so exceptional in winter. I do remember having guests this time of the year, always been a mix beach, kite surfing, and paragliding.

Tonight we're off to sleep on our mountains and watch the falling stars, every year on my dad's birthday, 12th of august.

Landing field in Alcoy Cocentaina, mountain Monte Cabrer.

This could be interesting for British pilots living near Birmingham.

Ryanair gets you a flight at 10 euros to Alicante

Dates
Birmingham - Alicante : 21 - 22 - 28 - 29 sept and 5 - 6 october
Alicante - Birmingham : 25 sept or 2 - 9 - 16 october

http://www.ryanair.com/

Also cheap deals at 10 euros, from Bristol, Liverpool, Leeds, Duncaster and lots more.

This could be interesting for all belgian pilots and french pilots living near Brussels Charleroi.

You can get a ticket at 5 euros now from Brussels to Alicante on next dates, with no taxes, no facturation costs whatsoever, and refuse the insurance so keep it at 5 euros.
- Brussels - Alicante : 16 - 17 - 26 -29 -30 september
- Alicante - Brussels : 13 - 14 ocotober

Check it out www.ryanair.com

Orange weather alert, posible heave torrential rains over Alicante. Not a drop till late in the evening. But not flyable though. Winds from the east and too strong.

But didn't sit still, it is time to kitesurf. And Jose Bombero gave me some tips. Together with Paco we went to the beach and conquered a 50 km breeze. Waves were huge to our standards. Red flags everywhere for bathers. Jose showed us how to rig a kitesurf and talked about the windows to fly it in.
Never tried it, although this coastline is excellent for it. If it is not flyable we can kitesurf. But my knee doesn't permit it any more. Old sports injury, never really taken care of. Always playing or on the dance floor. Never gave it a rest. Now I pay the price, damn.

Tomorrow we get rid of the most boring clouds over us, Stratus nimbus clouds. Only grey, grey grey, I hate those clouds. Tomorrow sunny again, but windy. We'll see, vamos a ver.

All foreseen, as I blogged a couple of days ago. The extreme hot weather lately, had to come to an end. And with the very high temp of the sea, the slightliest bag of cold air coming in, could spark huge thunderstorms and torrential rains. Up in the norhtern parts of Alicante they got it. Down here it was cloudy all day, and very very windy. Gusts up to 60 km per hour.

Tilting point in summer, a couple of days where the air will cool down before autumn. The sea looses its turquoise colour, waves bringing in seaweed on the beaches. Time to relax, time to have a break from the hotness. In a couple of days of course it will be sunny Spain again. But if you arrived today, you could not believe yesterday we had a bright blue sky and a clear blue sea.

Major tourist attraction Alton Towers in England, has banned Speedos and other types of tight swimming trunks at its Staffordshire site on grounds of taste.

It noted that Speedos, favoured by the likes of Rod Stewart and footballer Cristiano Ronaldo are "more suited to Spain than Staffordshire".

Hey, belly button show off on our resorts. Talking about grounds of taste eh. So fine, lets swap.

That's todays. All you wanted. Early morning or late afternoon, your choice, hours.

Inland too cloudy and even possible thunderstorms. Next days could be nasty, cloud formation, and possible rain inland. Tilting point in summer ? Might be. In August there is always a change of weather. Temperatures drop slightly, the bright blue skies dissapear, more cloudy. Beaches change, weeds wash ashore, sea gets a bit rougher.
Still summer though, but the weather looses its sharp edges.

My oldest passenger ever yesterday. A gentleman named Jan de Jong flew with us, took the commands himself and a wonderfull experience. The honour was on me.

Again eastern winds. Just strong enough to carve the sky with not too many pilots .... as it was saturday local schools showed up later in the afternoon when winds came down.
I was humming the song 'who the hell send those missiles ...' from The Sound, band from the 80's. Because from then on we had to zigzag between the students not having a clue what priority rules are.

This is gonna pay out. Lowairtime pilots having their flights at Santa Pola. Precise toplandings, touch and go's, wingover it, etc. The confidence built up will be noticed soon, when temp go down and thermals get sweeter inland.

That's when cloudbase gets higher, when nights gets cooler. Hopefully soon, giving the lower airtimers a hand, guiding them to better flying.

The older generation of local pilots in Alicante are slowly fading away, the younger group is ready to take over I guess. We have Dimitri and Vladimir, Alex and Carmen, Antonio, Carlos, Jose. Soon they will be bored doing their stuff at soaring sites and will want more out of their flying. Lets hope this autumn, winter and spring we have a group of locals pilots who are eager just like the older ones were years ago, to go far and high. To explore the region, to fly on hills they didn't know there was a take off on.

Like this one,


or this one,
or this one,

I think for flying, pilots should have a minimum of fitness level. It will undoubtedly result in better, safer flying. Your reactions will be quicker, decisions more alert. Mens sana, corpora sana.
That's why when not flyable we like to do some excercises on the beach of Santa Pola, before hiking up for flying.

Col de Carrasqueta near Jijona. Don't walk around in sandals, cause scorpions even do get on your vario.

Some local pilots look like they are getting feathers.

If it is hours of experience that counts, well some of our local pilots do have them under their belt these last two months, no doubt.
It hasn't stopped lately, choosing your site, whether it is thermalling or soaring. Whether it is thermalling and coping with the heat, whether it is soaring on your local hill, or cliff near the beach, having a dip in the sea afterwards. It is all flying, and it is your choice. Social thing, sport thing, acro thing, .... , all the same. Fill your boots.

It's a paragliding paradise it is. Summer, what a concept.

Not so nice being woken up by an English voice telling me Kath had an accident and hearing an ambulance on the phone.


Luckily only minor damage, Kath is home, bruised, and only limping a bit. Her Vespa, of which she is so proud, is badly damaged though.


It is always tricky driving near airports. And surely near Alicante airport, where lots of tourists don't know where they are going, or are not used to drive on the right side.


Of with somebody on the road, making a 180 turn, because he missed the exit, auch !

Shit happens. So we have to be careful.


Today stayed home, took care of my girlie, who I love to bits.


Flyingwise today ?

You took take your pick. About 10 sites were flyable today. Carche, Alhama de Murcia, Fortuna, Hondon, El cid, Palomaret, Carrasqueta, La Cortina, Onil, Villena, Caudete, ... enough no ?

Satelite foto, Eumetsat

And a chart with the sea temperature. Sea water temp 27 degrees celsius.

If a bag of cold air is gonna pass by, we're gonna get it again. Gota fria.

Cabo de Santa Pola

Coastline of Santa Pola. Nice to snorkel in the morning, and superb to fly in the afternoon. That's what we did today. Pilot is Paul, who achieved his goal this weeks' flying, no doubt.

We had southeasterly winds earlier in the day, and more easterlies in the afternoon.

Lately we organised some 'toma de contacto parapente'. We offer non-pilots or future pilots a tandem flight with instruction. Let them fly the tandem themselves, and brief them about our sport. Brief them about which schools to attend, what flying paragliders is all about.

Lets hope soon we'll have some newcombers on our hill.

Paragliding Spain

So strong today at the coast. And so cross country looking like inland. I called my buddies to go to Monte Cabrer or Carche to try out a XC day today.

But they decided to have a flight and take their chances at Palomaret. I thought chances of flying XC would be better more inland with higher cloudbase.

And after all we fly enough at Palomaret, and it is good once in a while to leave the 'social centre' and go to foreign territory, other hills.

So didn't join them. Focused on getting some tandems done at Cabo, earning the necessary buck. And yes, if you would wonder, crisis is hitting us as well. Lot less bussiness lately, so if there is a buck to be earned I have to go for it.

As you see on the above foto's, I cannot do all this without the help of my friends. I am gonna buy some good bottles of wine and please them, the least you can do for friens who are always there ready to give a helping hand.

It was fun, lots of pilots, sunday pilots hanging out with their wife I guess on the beach and then have a late afternoon flight. Boating along, above the mediterranean sea, wing over-ing it above the lighthouse.

And then Pepe called, they achieved one of their best XC from Palomaret. 50 km, from this 'coastal' site ain't bad at all. Ismael, Bartual and Pepe flying in team, landing near the highway of Valencia. Don't know more details. Just Bartual shitting his pants by the roughness at 2600 m ASL.

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Below another hurdle for Paul, our guest. First foto he took letting go of his brakes. Step by step Paul, you are getting there. Your flying nothing compared how it was 5 days ago when you came in. Superb.