Closed till 8th january 2012

We are closed so, around Xmas this year.

Thanks for the last 12 months. It has been good again.

Good friends, no hassles.

We won't be easy to have internet access upcoming weeks. So if we don't answer immediately you know this is exceptional. We do our best.

Still some places available for jan-febr 2012, in case you want to book.

Have great parties. Nick, Kath y Paco.

Sharing same sanity

Nothing exciting happening flyingwise down here. Just summer temperatures but lots of winds during the day.

Zebra's ass

Zebra's ass is the not official name of the isobarmap equivalent of what we are having this week.
Huge winds over the central parts of Europe. Down here, winds west, not the best direction and gusty. Temperatures nice though, again 22celsius this afternoon and very sunny. But no flying.

Peñu Rubia late afternoon

Only one guy flying late afternoon. That was good old pioneer Juan Pedro.
Glad to count him in as a friend. He is one hell of a pilot, and has one hell of a family. Just one hell of a good guy !

Peña Rubia with brandnew take off

New take off Peña Rubia, my favourite site by the way.

Today was west, Peña Rubia. With its brandnew take off. For that we have to thank all the pilots from Onil, Ibi, Biscoy for the work they did. Thanks guys. It'll prevent loads of broken lines and ripped gliders.

Above us good old Antonio from Alicante, under his Hook2.

Gorgeous mountains

This mornings' inversion was a jewel. The fog, the mist in the valleys were pittoresque.
It let us parawait a bit, but we enjoyed the scenery around us so much we didn't care at all.
Later on we flew from La Solana near Villena.

Toon, leaving tomorrow flew 4 out of 7 days, which ain't bad, hell we're mid december.

Ian, Tony, Toon see you all again soon.

Inversion, warm weather and smooth thermals to play with

As you can see, it was another day out flying our paragliders. High pressure over Spain, gives us airtime in december as much as we want.

Cloudbases not so high, but thermals present.

Holiday today, inmaculata, something catholic. So more pilots than usual on our mother hill.

Flying till moon was out

Flew till moon was out. A bit busier than usual as yesterday and tomorrow is a national holiday in Spain, so lots of visiting pilots from Madrid. · They'll be back.

Summery feeling

It feels like summer with the bright blue sky and the 20 degrees plus temperatures. And definetely when thermals are around like today at Carrascoy.

Heaven, or at least a slice of it.

Ian trying out his brandnew Delta, Toon under his lightweight Ozone and other Toni under his (not known) Sol Synergy4.

I had a super day, I hope the boys had as well.

The world is racing by ...

The world is racing by... All gets so much speed. People running, beeping horns, traffic jams. Time is money, now - not tomorrow. Quick, quick. White lines, poppers, do this do that.

Gear down .... !

Flying should be gear down. Flying should be being on the hill without being rushed to take off. Checking out conditions. Chilling with the buddies. Getting all prepared for a lovely flight. Take off when you please, no rush. Super float, super fly, super climb. Land smoothly. Take a bow, be humble, thankful, and (extremely) happy.

No speed should be involved.

But still. Roses of the day in the paragliding world are handed out to the fastest, the biggest, the highest, the furthest.

I am very impressed by Karel Vejchodský , under the brandnew Gradient Aspen4, he managed to fly 9 hours with an average speed of 43 km per hour. Got 372 km in.

But ain't it all too fast. Are we really that impressed ?

No doubt he plays in another league to say the least, but how many pilots are personally impressed by this achievement. Ain't it all a bit too much.

Did we really pick up the sport, to race ? Didn't we want to get out in nature, watch the sky, spot the birds, fly with them. See the world from another angle.

If you're with me, the door is wide open. I love to fly daily and for hours, but no rush.

I love Messi, he is as lightning fast ...

Gear down always ....

Alacalle en Alicante

Things you could do today in Alicante. Get your boat out. Have a stroll on the beach and look for eye candy.

Fly off Toix, fly off Serella. Picking mushrooms.

Or go for a huge walk upon the crests of Le Cati.

One of those days windy here, no winds there, right winds there.
Foto's of the day.

Oh my god

What was that bloody .... doing there anyway !

Don't know where it was shot, but auch ... I feel my collar bone again ...
this week has been good, flights on tuesday, wednesday and thursday. Yesterday friday and today feet up I guess, although the day is looooong.

Inland flights

Some friends were flying inland yesterday, others took a day off. Mostly because conditions weren't as good on the western hills, what the prevailing wind was.
Some flew in the lee, smooth, no stressy at all.
Today friday, it started raining by evening. By monday all should clear up again and be flyable.

Go-Pro or not Go-Pro

I am probably the last commercial tandem pilot who doesn't fly with a Go-Pro camera stick. And I believe it is not gonna happen soon either.

I stopped flying tandems with a instruments, like vario, long time ago. Because each time I had to explain what the beeping was about. Besides being bored explaining it, it took part of the flight away. The passengers should enjoy, look left, look right, look between his/her legs and smile, enjoying the views.

All over the world tandem pilots fly with Go-Pro nowadays. And I could earn bits more money if I did too. Not that I would mind earning some extra's here and there ... .
But the hassle, the stick, the checking battery, the power on, all the hassle I can do without. It would distract me from having a pre-flight check and from flying as well.
And I am sure the passenger can do without the extra as well.

So will I ever make the decision to ask for a Go-Pro for Xmas ? I don't think so, although I sell the bloody things as well. So business-wise, not such a good idea.

Everybody has to do what suits him best. So this is just my personal point of view, opinion. And I am only talking tandem flying, not solo flying.

And it is a wonderfull camera, no doubt.

Northwestern winds

Gotto move inland. Peña Rubia, Almudaina, Carrascoy. Afternoon sites, as sun is on the take-off sides later in the day.

When blue sky, and sun heats up valleys in the afternoon, and that cold norhtwesterly is blowing, we get afternoon thermals nice and smooth.

Syria - paragliding

I don0't think it is the best time to visit Syria right now. But paragliding is done in the dessert mountains. If there is a chance I'd love to go visit that country and fly it.

Maybe we meet ?

Reconco

Inland flights for us. Reconco where Kath showed us her skills.

A lovely area, greener than the coast, trees bigger than knee-height, and here and there some water.

We all loved it.

Paragliding schools

Early flying at the cliffs, later on it got a bit stronger. Easterly winds. Stronger at coast than inland, so there was a choice.
More inland even slight westerly winds, so Peña Rubia, my favourite was on !

On film some tuition by NOT one of our local schools. If you are looking for schooling, get in contact with us. We'll introduce you to Raul or Café, both running local paragliding schools in Alicante.

Weather back to normal

Again 20 degrees during the day. The cold spell is late this year. Although we had enough rain lat days, more than average which is zero..., temperatures are still high.

Flying possible behind the big hills

of Alcoy. Even Villena had slight easterly winds yesterday afternoon.

Foto of one or our small coastal sites, near Villajoyosa

Fliegen macht Frei

Not that free feeling today of flying. Pitchdark clouds in the north, sunny spells in the south of Alicante.

But winds too strong from the west to play outside.

Fotocontest Doyouwanna 2011

A good month later and the year is over, so is our fotocontest. If anyone still wants to join the contest please send your foto's in. Three foto's max per pilot, foto's taken during your stay in Alicante.

These three foto's are from Sascha Nowak.

Best for walking

Not those top days we can get in november lately. Today it is raining, honestly. At last local say, but not so nice if you are visiting the area. The only good thing is the cheer you meet in the bars, because it is .... raining.

Indeed, we get so little of it, it is always good to have some for nature, your garden, the farming.

We just had a big walk with the family, up to Tibi. On foto my thirteen year old Paco.

Santa Pola gleitschirmfliegen

We were flying close to pitchdark clouds. We saw huge curtains of rain near where we were flying. No thunder and lightning but severe weather.

But we had the sea in front of us, the clouds lesser angry above us. We watched each other, and had it great.

Lesser experienced local pilots asked if all was allright. I said yes, but do yo have speedbar connected.

Yes, but never used it.

No, what is a speedbar ?

I have one, but at home not with me.

No worries, we all were there before. Euforic about the flying. Euforic about wanting to be in the air.

I hope in years the will think like us, bloody hell, remember the days went it just didn't went wrong ?

It was a splendid day, yound and old, hairy and bold, sweet and sour !

Love you all, it was a bliss flying today.

Cabo Santa Pola Paragliding

Early day flying for us. Soon those hard eastern winds kicked in.

Our lovely cliff over the mediterranean, urbanisations on one side, and virgin cliffs on the other side.

Piece of heaven our homesite.