Arvid, always at cloudbase with his brandnew Nova Factor. Really believe this glider is top in its class, together with the Cobra maybe and the Aspen3.

Anyway we had again fun. Thermals were all over, and clouds later in the day pointed out where to head for. A steep climb in learning process of Pol, and others.

I think Andy Shaws' students from Green Dragons had a supertime. Was quite impressed by their flying and (here I go again ...) skillfull take offs.

And I met good old friend Wilfried, 70 years now. Was one of our first guests back in 1995 when we started organizing trips to Alicante. Nice to have you back Wilfried.

Bar Castello in Agost, known by all visiting pilots by now. The old mens' bar, known for the debrief.

foto Jim

By the time the french were in Elche, admiring the palmtree park. And by the time the english and swedish pilots were climbing up the castle of Alicante to have a view over the old city with its bullfight arena and churches, I had to call them that against all odds, it was flyable again .... .

So for hours, from 1 pm till 5 pm, soairng under a blue sky over the Med. Although early morning it was raining hard, and clouds didn't look like they were gonna give up.

But the sun was still strong, the Med got its colour back, that light green-blue, and eastern winds were climbing up the hill, to give us our play.

New guys from Green Dragons England just arrived this morning and had their taster.

Peña Rubia, Villena La Solana, Fortuna, Cabo, Palomaret, Hondon, and today Carrasqueta. I count 7 sites we flew last 7 days-. And all tops.

Today we choose for Carrasqueta near Jijona. A huge 1000 m rigde overlooking the valley of Torremanzanas and Jijona, spectacular panorama.

Thermals and dynamic later on in the day.

With Pol best performing. He, as low airtimer, with lots of respect, managed to get a great flight in, including take off with strong winds, and a almost perfect toplanding. Twice !!

Well done , Pol.

All the others managed to fly as long as wanted, and made little attempts to get to the peak near Jijona. Challenging again.

////////////////////////////////////////////

We had a great time at Carrasqueta today in dynamic and thermic breezes.

Fantastic views front and back with a road half way down made interesting scratching when coming back into the hill to climb back up, nice.

A little bumpy as the dynamic wind shifted slightly to the right. Marcel first tried the task to the big peak but found little lift on the ridge early on.

Paul and Per did better with some patient skillful flying getting 300m ato as did norwegian on factor, good effort all round. Jim pushed out in front trying to make triangles and looked very low, twice below the bottom landing even, but lucky jim found some nice thermals from the friendly spanish land.

London paul flew well in tricky conditions getting good top landings in and french lady flying more confident by the day. Dimitry found a scorpion on top landing too.

Thanks nick for another great day, youre a star.

Cheers jim

Chili Skywalk and Niviuk Hook

That kind of day. Lots of clouds and sometimes tricky. We needed to fly smart. And knowing our maneuvers in case we needed to get away, not to get caught.

As you can tell sky was pretty active. No wind below, no wind at all on surface but cloudsuck all over.

A good day, with again achievement from Jimmy, who on his Gradient golden2, flew to El cid and back.

Per flying his Artik, foto Frans Deschaene

Hi Tim,

thanks for the good words about last weeks' flying. And indeed the foto is very nice. It shows a very happy Toni in the air.

Toni this one 's for you ! Cheers ! My friend, our friend Toni.

Per after his XC flight near Hondon. Everyone else bumming out, having 6 min flights. He did it, got the right thermal in, got to cloudbase, followed the clouds and got away. Impressed Per. So there is life after 50.

Later as much as we wanted, flying till sundown. Some have gone home now, big kiss and hug you guys and girls. New french pilots from Lyon now in the house. Bienvenue !

They already had their first flying in just after landing at Alicante airport.

Mañana mas.

Lots of flying in today. And it all felt like summer. Let the pictures tell the story ok ?

Just below Tim and Paul at Cabo.

Klaus from Germany. He hasn't been here for years, but finally back. And how a pilot he became. He is flying one of my favourite gliders previous generation, the Apco Bagheera, remember ? He visits us with his new girlfriend Moni and friend XCcrack Dani.

Richard, Tom and Jimmy, keen pilots.

My wife Kath, without her I would never ...

Beer o'clock

The whole sky just for us. Our local club left for Algodonales, so only a few local pilots. It felt like we had it all for ouselves.

Bart the Man from Belgium.

Thanks Frans for those lovely pictures, here is your friends' bum, Marcel's bum.

Me, salud ! NOT an example.

Half hour southern winds got us to Santa Pola itself.


Bart de Man, second foto, cute boy ain't he.

Parawaiting till breeze kicks in.

The Iron colonel from Belgium, Marcel. Our new bulletin board at Cabo, thanks to Carmen and Alex. Respect !

Just got back from dentist, so if I talk funny, it's my lip is still thick.

Got up this morning and it was looking horrible, foggy, slightly rainy, no good. But had trust in the forecast that around noon inland it was gonna become more and more sunny, blue skies, fluffy clouds, thermals on our western sites.
So we had the choice. Or going to Murcia NW-site and an hourdrive, Calpe SW-site but half of us would like to fly there, or inland NW-site where at least two take offs would suit all of us. All three sites were a bit of a gamble, but you have to decide at one point. And of course, we have the buddies living nearby, like Ismael who is always happy to get his nose out and check for us. Gracias Ismael !!

Peña Rubia actually my favourite hill was working today. And how it was. First Ismael XC to Ibi, 16 k I guess, then Richard 20k to Banyeres and last but not least again Jimmy XC 28 k to Bocairent. Nice achievements on a day that was looking dodgy.

And there was more, winds veered and we could even fly La Solana till some weather was coming too close and we had to land.

A thank you to Alex that took our pilots to La Solana while I was retrieving pilots from their XC flights.

Cordian from Poland, in his previous life a ballerina, you can tell. Still making pirouettes, but now in the air.

JImmy, winner of the task. Task was BBBB, which means brigde, bar, bowl Maigmo and back toplanding. He did it, won the task. Gets a nice bottle of wine Rioja Crianza. Well done Jimmy, actually a bit impressed by the flying you do now, after I met you just a year ago. Superb.

Paul And Rich, sweating it out. 30 degrees today, so hot.

And if yo don't know who this is, you haven't been around the last couple of years. Horacio Lorentz, world champion acro flying. Yes world champion acro flying, nephew of Raul and Felix Rodriguez. He was flying with us today, doing his tumblings, low to the ground acro stuff.

More about him : http://aerofly.es/

So as you can read, another good day I guess. Punch at times, not too much cloudbase. Strong punchy thermals trying to get through the inversion, with no success.

But still fun, after all hours of flying can't be bad can it.

Knackered. Flights every day, hot hot weather again, 30 degrees celsius.

Not complaining but when I got home, I was ready to hit the sack.

If girlfriends read this, all the boys are behaving and are doing well. They all had their flying in today. And when beer o'clock was presented there was no moaning. We all sat down and enjoyed an ice chilled beer in the heat, after lots of playing around with our favourite toys.

Knackered.

Frank Skywalk Chili

Please pull your socks down, my wife says it is remedie against sex and I believe her always.

The group, Roger, Tim, PeteSteve, Riss, Paul, Danny, Volker, Ernst, Frank, Moni, Toni, Klaus, Jane and Marcel. International again, english, irish, germans and belgians. Thanks joining us.

And that was the site. Fortuna, sierra del Corque. Asking them in the morning if they wanted to go to the usual hills, or some adventure today. Almost unanimously, spontanously, please Adventure !

So off to La Fortuna on our way to Murcia, where we have two take offs, one below when it is strong and more east, one on top of the hill after a 4x4 ride when it is more south.

Whole afternoon flying, overlooking the valleys of Fortuna, looking back at Sierra de Pila and Sierra del Carche.

Fortuna profits of a huge bowl-shaped mountain. So the littliest wind or thermal makes the take off bit daunting. But once in the air it is all so comfortable you hate to go land. Lovely.

First shot in the morning, 8.30 am. Fog, hardly could see the palmtrees in my garden. So off to a soaring site, higher up. Cloudbase is gonna be low. But we have to wait for the sun to burn through. Chill.

Last foto of the day (Peter Steve). Frank fronm Ireland under his Skywalk Chili soaring the 'cresta' late afternoon. As you can see cirrus clouds didn't help to generate thermals. But we only need a little bit of sun in Alicante for those thermals to kick off !

Carrasqueta at noon. A new site for most of us. A 1000 m high ridge above the valley of Jijona. A flight with a view actually. We flew it untill breeze kicked in, so no more thermals.

Then we joined the competition gang at Palomaret. Conditions were weaker than yesterday, but most managed to get above the crest and again enjoyed a view. Back the nature reserve Le Cati, and in front of you, 50 pilots strugging to get up.

Around take off, and the bowl, it felt like Picadilly Circus. Too many pilots to be good. Scary with the tandem at times.

Also, at the end of the day, there were tandems flying with base jumpers falling off ! How could I forget.

Comp task was Maigmo, and then Agost. I think Nacho and Bartual won it, haven't a clue yet.

That's them :

Tim

YoungErnst and older (76 years) Ernst, flying like it was their first flight.


Riss, Roger, Frank and Irish Toni.


Two brothers in arms, Pete Steve and Paul.

Competition at Palomaret. Nice to see pilots from Valencia, about the only time we can see them flying on our hills.

The task was Palomaret - Maigmo - El Cid - Maigmo and then XC to Ibi.

By the time we left, no winner was known yet.

Conditions were lovely. Here and there a wake up call, but nothing serious. Cloudbase was not too high, that was a pity.

Lots of pilots in the air, and once a thermal was spotted, all raced to join in. Made it sometimes somewhat stressfull. But was also a good way to learn to fly in traffic. You have to approach it positivily.

Foto of Paul flying his Mentor Nova.

Summer is back, and the forecast looks great for lots of upcoming days.

See you again Jan, I think you loved this trip as well !

Foto Peter Stevenson/Steve Peterson, flying Carrascoy above take off

Easier today. Western winds, and unstable up north of Alicante. So down south Murcia it would be.

Splendid day at Carrascoy. Having flights near Murcia, fillip up our boots.

Some said only 2 m/s thermals, others talked about 6 m/s thermals. Doesn't matter all had a good time, and hours in the sun thermalling.

Some said it was rough, some said it was allright.

Some said it was awesome, some said it was ok.

Anyway had a good time and felt relieved that Jan Bernaerts had his thermalling in. Had to push hin a little to fly in central hours but did it. Later in the afternoon, he was the only one who got again above take off. When conditions were scratchy and smooth, and that's the way Jan likes it scratchy and smooth honey ....

Toni skygod, Frank under his Skywalk doing great, Samson Artik-ing his new wing.

Roger and Paul and Riis under their Nova's. Good old Peter Stevenson or is it Steve Peterson under his baby blue sigma7.

Off to the fiesta in my village. We are celeberating the holy saint San Franciscus de Asisie, greesy calamares and beer it will be. Have to integrate and talk to the neighbours don't you.

And how about this take off, the new Carrascoy take off. We cannot thank the guys, fellow pilots of Murcia enough for taking care so much of their sites. They deserve lots of respect.

I think this could be an example for our Alicante sites. We try hard in Alicante, look at Palomarets' take off, but lets get better.

And it was funny to see my friends from Sweden at the site. I told them about restrictions on the site. And it was obvious they knew some things about it but not all. I had a very friendly chat with one of the help-instructors. But was surprised when he asked me during the chat if they needed to call if they were gonna fly a site down here. I was so surprised about this question.

I think it is all about common sense and politeness if you come and fly in a region that you first go talk to the local club no ? Imagine we show up at a Swedish site with ten of us Spaniards. I think before consuming a site we would ask if all was ok to fly their site, any rules, any fee to be paid ? But no problem, I think that's just the way things are. Hey no worries eh, we all flew together and had good fun. Tomorrow I have a private chat see if he understands us.

Thanks fellow pilots from Murcia to be welcome to fly your fantastic site Carrascoy !!!

We do have a 8 pilot large group of good pilots this week. A group who can achieve XC, who can go to different sites than the usual ones.

So time to take them to Calpe, Toix. After all weather forecast was southwest so good for that one. Meanwhile we left the strong westerly wind behind in Alicante.

Surprise surprise, no wind at Toix, and more and more southeast instead. So off to Cortina near Benidorm where some Swiss students were doing top to bottoms. Look at my buddies faces and there was like no one eager to go up and to those TTB's.

Off to Palomaret then, a classic, hoping the breeze was kicking in after this westerly wind. But it never got to the hill. Instead we had a horrible cloud besides us, telling us who the boss was, who was in command.

Alex called Peña Rubia was flying, but off to the left, too much west. Went home and beach. Enough parawaiting, enough paradriving for us.