What if Jesus was a female ?

If Jesus was a female,

would pope be a four letter word ?

Christmas in Alicante this year

Lousy, lazy today. Lots of winds in the morning but dying off to zero in the afternoon. It got all overcast and rainy in the end. Xmas was better spent at the table I guess.

Press article Doyouwanna

This week this was published in the Costa Blanca News down here. Nice for us.

A warm december day

A lovely day, without flying though.

An ugly morning with clouds and rain. But a beautiful afternoon, sunny and 20 degrees down here in Alicante.

But winds were too strong and southwest.

http://www.parapente.cl/video/91/raul-jugando-con-la-ladera

There is only 1 Raul ... enjoy !

This is a sunflower growing in my garden. The result of the warmest november, beginning of december month in last decades. Climate change ? Who knows, but strange though. I also do remember that Norwegian pilots told me, that the tree line on their hills was higher than when they were a kid. Before some cabins could be seen above the tree line, now trees were surrounding the cabins.

As paragliders we spend huge amounts on our hills, we pretend to be all meteo guru's. On the very busy and active paragliding.com forum I would like to ask if paragliders all over the world if they noticed any change in climate during their flying carreers. Soon I'll open this thread for them. It is just so surprisingly that while Copenhagen was so hot, nobody asked this question on the forum.

Tuesday today, rainy in the morning, late afternoon sunshine. I passed Buenos Aires at 4 pm and it must have been flyable. It is not one of our 'main' sites, but above an urbanisation near Elche. A winter site lets say. Good to fly when sun burns through and winds are weak late afternoons.

Costa Blanca under a grey carpet

Grey sky, with just a sunny spell around midday. Was not the best day to go out and fly.
Surely some drizzle on our hills inland. Stayed home, no pilots around this time. Next week a couple of pilots will visit Alicante, and it looks lots better than this week for them.

Take care.

Winter flying Alicante, indeed thermals

Told ya. High pressure, blue sky and thermals would be there, and they were.

Good old Kike, Egi, Toon and me in the air. Some winter thermals, made it all possible to fly till hands froze off, and topland.

For Carlitos it was too cold to fly, he just watched us dancing the po-go to warm up.

Toon's last day today, who made his stay in Alicante all worth it.

Pretty cold in Alicante

We are right under the center of the high tomorrow at midday. We should get some flying in. As long as it ain't too cloudy we should even get nice thermals in. But I don't want to bet on that though.

Peña Rubia, Villena flying

Ismael, Toon and me, feet off the ground this time at Peña Rubia. This must have been the only place where the winds were on. Not strong enough to have hours of flying up and down to Biar, but still Toon had his four flights in today. Which kinda made his week, together with daily 20 k hikes in the mountains near Xorret de Cati.

Sunrise Alicante

red sky in the morning

sailors warning

lets see what we'll get today

Alicante marina

Blue sky and 20 degrees in Alicante today, but too much wind.

chill out alicante

Feet up, too windy.

Snow in Alicante

Yes, it has been cold. Yes, it has been snowing. A remarkable day for us. Our tophills in the snow and what a pretty sight it was.

Downtown, business as usual.

Alicante

Ok, it is not flying, so lets have a laugh, for all those who fancy,
a male striptease.

Costa Blanca

Tomorrow sunshine again after a good day of rain. Colours will be back, after a grey day.

Alicante winter

We are hit by winter weather. Mountains are under cloud, just at the coast it didn't rain today. Although we could need a bit of moist. As Alicante together with Almeria is one of the dryest area's in Spain. Desertlike on our near southerfaced hills.

Kitesurfers were having fun, as winds gusted up to 50 km per hour. A break so, and it'll be so for more than one day. Upcoming week will be cold as well.

Cabo de Santa Pola

Cloudy all over, mist, take offs in the mist, that's the info we got early morning.
All news is about the cold that is gonna arrive. And in our houses this means cold ... . As spanish houses are badly insulated, or not insulated at all.

So we are ready, have firewood and got the old electric stoves out just in case next week it is really gonna be freezing. Temperatures will drop to 6 degrees celsius and this feels cold. A different cold than up north, it gets to your bones.

Anyway, we had to choose to go inland and hope for some sun that burned off some cloud, or stay at the coast and hope for an easterly breeze at the cliffs of Santa Pola.

We stayed at the coast and had half hour of flying in. Not so good today, but again feet off the ground. Lets hope you all had some flying in as well.

summery day

A very inverted sky. Almost able to cut through with a knife. Hardly a thermal, scratching and waiting for a + 0.5.

We flew at Palomaret, there were more pilots around than thermals.

This week was an all in by Skywalk it looked like. Cayenne3, the mountain glider Arriba, and the proto Poison3.
It was also the week of Ian, who did superb under his new wing Ozone BuzzZ. So what is said on different forums is through, this is an awesome glider, and lots of pilots shouldn't doubt getting this one.

Toni Swiss pilot under his Swing glider.

Peter Gick under his Skywalk C3.

Bernt in the sky, always top of the stack, and Reinhold ready for launch at Reconco.

Lots of pilots, local pilots will not believe we took these photo's this afternoon. But actually we did of course.

Why ? Well it was so cloudy at the coast, it was hard to believe we were gonna find a decent site to fly on. But we did, of course ... .

We left for Reconco, as the sun was shining there since early day. And not like at the coast only from midday onwards.

So up to Onil, to enjoy some hours of decent thermalling weather, meanwhile watching towards the coastline and seeing clouds building up.

Thermals up to 5 m/s were second were registered. Not so bad for a lousy Alicante december day I would say.

All german pilots present and only one british and one swiss pilot. I have to buy Der Spiegel and practice my Japanese-German.

How about us Copenhagen ?

Peter Gick, one of our german guests, also flying Skywalk, Cayenne3, on his way back from Maigmo.
Today was a fantastic december day. Thermals were present, sun was shining of course, and flying was more than soaring up and down the comfort zone. The trick was to get over the hill ridge, and then use the lee thermal. I do have lots of respect for lee thermalling. I need height before I feel safe. Had some close calls before, even throwing my reserve once flying too sportive in a lee thermal. So this was not my best day today, but for those who adventured it, it was fabulous. We flew from 12 am till 4.30 pm, and it is december the 8th.

Bernt Staht, ex team pilot of Advance, and since april 2009 team pilot of Skywalk. He let me fly his Skywalk Poison 3, the trimmed one, the race model.

I loved it and felt alive. Sometimes I feel I should go back to the dhv 2/3 models again. But guiding, taking foto's, microphone in hand, sometimes it is too stressy for that.

But, I love the feeling, the liveliness of the machine.

Come on, lets be serious, if you have an Alfa Romeo under your but, you feel more alive than driving a bullet proof VW Golf diesel no ? That's what I mean. It feels more challenging, it gets you a value, it is all just more sexy. Especially if you compare this all, with my Ozone Addict2 I have, I think it is the most dull glider I ever had. Anybody wants it ? 1000 euros it is yours. Why did I buy it ? Beats me. Had no money and had to decide quick.

Choosing Peña Rubia today. Western winds early morning, knowing they would die off this afternoon. But timing was off. They only died off when it was dark.... .

So we enjoyed our fellow rock-climbers near the hill. Wauw, what a skill they have. And they do not need the right wind etc. they can play whenever they want.

It is december and weather is still fine, but winds are less predictable.

Ian happy trying out his brandnew Ozone Buzz Z, thanks for buying chez doyouwanna Ian.

Cayenne3 from Skywalk flying at Carrascoy Murcia. Amongst us as well the Skywalk Arriba, mountain glider, and specially trimmed Poison3. All from german brand Skywalk. Fantasticly finished, with quality stitching and eye for design.

We choose Carrascoy, another taste, another view. The day was not promising, but we made the best out of it. We flew !

Iceland girls on paragliding world trip

Two Iceland girls going on a world trip, paragliders strapped on, leaving the comfort zone and going for adventure, on the side some help for a good cause,
can only support this, check their website here , the flying effect.

un abrazo
Nick

Mr. Blauvent flying at Peña Rubai

Where are my breaks !, Shit got to get rid of that habit, letting go of the breaks. Got to look at the spanish, learn from their take off techniques. They do so much better.

Look at this guy, dance included.

So many pilots, all at the same site. Peña Rubia, actually our, doyouwanna's most favourite site. And those who have been here before know what I mean.

Again it was nice. Although december we could just go to Biar and back as much as we wanted.

Lots of pilots from Zarragoza, and some of the province up norht Catalonia. Our German pilots visiting, and a couple of local pilots. Awesome. Summer feeling.

Omega6, still one of the better Advance machines. Here at Alhama de Murcia. Where we didn't have too much luck with the wind. It turned too much to the east. So no good.
At the other side of the valley, Carrascoy, winds from the back. So no luck today. I think you could have chased the wind everywhere, and be wrong. It felt that way.

Down below, three brothers in arms from Germany.

Enjoying the warmth during the day when 22 degrees , cuddling during the night when temperatures drop to 12 degrees.
But mainly being patient, waiting for those western winds to get less aggressive. Soon we'll play again.

Local pilots, clubs and federacion have been working hard to keep our sites hassle and stressfree. However, an amount of pilots have been visiting our region and haven't had a clue about our restrictions, rules, behaviour on our sites.
We therefore found it necessary to hand out a leaflet for pilots, who are visiting our region, not making use of guidance.
Let it be once and for all clear, that flying with locals, is the best way to fly safe and make the best out of your stay abroad. It is all about common sense.

Soon, this leaflet will be published on every known forum, to minimize future hassles on our sites.

Here we go :

It is vitally important that all visiting pilots from abroad, read and abide by this code of conduct.
.
The local pilots, have decided to hand out this information for the benefit of all.
Only when visiting pilots obey these rules can we keep on flying together without further problems.



1 Only come and fly here when in posession of the proper licence and insurance to do so. An official licence issued in your own country. Allowing you to fly without instruction abroad.
2 Always fly wearing a protective helmet and carry an emergency chute
3 Ask local pilots for advice on the weather conditions and any current site restrictions
4 Respect at all times the priority rule
5 Never fly over or near to the adjoining houses,. Always keep your distance
6 Please prepare your equipment well behind the actual take off zone
7 Before launching. Please look behind your shoulder for any incoming pilots. Priority must always be given to tandem pilots
8 Never leave your glider open on either the take off or the landing areas. Please pack your equipment ASAP
9 Don’t park vehicles in the vicinity of the take off zones.

At Palomaret : Only park behind the take off zone, out on the road
At Cabo de Santa Pola : When there are no spare designated parking spaces in the urbanisation of Olivo de Oro, Please park outside and give parking preference to both local's and local pilots


10 Keep dogs on leads at all times and never leave them unattended
11 Help keep our sites clean, Don't leave litter, If you see it. Bin It. Thank you.
12 Never start fires on our hills (Only use BBQ's in the designated BBQ areas. High Risk's of Bush fires exist here)


If you're a visiting pilot and want to help us maintain the sites of the Valencian Community by keeping them both stress and hassle free then you can contact the local clubs, schools, guides or local pilots and buy a sticker for the price of just 5 euros. Purchasing this sticker will in turn help us with the constant upkeep to ensure our sites remain open.

Thanks.

On my way to Peña Rubia I saluted our saint, and greeted the bull.

Hoping the wind would die off and get us some flying in.

It worked, Ismael under his Factor flying at Peña Rubia.

On my way home I enjoyed a golden bright sunset.

Although lenticulares are not the clouds we want, still they do not look boring. They can be very clear, very sharp outlined. And when they vanish, they have that blur look, as if you need glasses.