5.5 m sec thermals end september halelujah

As far as we can see no bad weather coming in yet. A long long long summer we have. Still hot, baking in the sun at the beaches, and cooler on the hills with its 28 degrees.

5.5 m sec thermals registered today.

We were in time, before the breeze kicked in to enjoy the rock'n roll and end up waltzing down at 6 pm.

Swedish, norwegians, english and belgians guests-friends, all there.

Monte Cabrer

I call it the goat mountain, because at first I thought Cabrer meant goat in Valencian. So we kept it calling the goat mountain.

A goat mountain with lots of potential in september to have those clean thermals and a high cloudbase.

Today 1700 ASL, 700 m climb above take off. Teto and Pepe as local pilots present, Oyvind, Henrik and Peter, norwegian and swedish pilots.
Quality flight.

Postcard

What to write on a postcard.

Mom, we flew this morning at Cabo, had lunch, a spanish siesta, and then flew till dark at Palomaret. How is daddy ?
Oh, and Nick said something about Monte Cabrer or Fortuna tomorrow. Can I go mom ? Pleeeeeaaaaaase ?

96º in the shade, real hot

Nightswimming to cool down, not too bad as alternative for not flying, winds too strong, hot very hot.

The gaggle

The gaggle. Comp at Palomaret, a more than friendly comp at our famous site. Not national, but always great to see the comradry amongst the pilots.

Task was not the most difficult this year, Maigmo Ventos, and land at the village of Agost.

Excellent task, almost all made it.

After the task, conditions were back to everybody's level, breeze kicked in, chill and fly. Awesome, but I use that word too much maybe.

This is Pepe's new machine. One of the latest Gradient Avax Machines.

My family

One of my friends, the ever friendly Teto.

More friends, who became fathers .... bit my bit were more and more adults ....

Thanks for the day you all.

Alicante at its' best

Fortuna has two sites, a lower take off El Bordillo and a more challenging one up in Sierra del Corque. Both flewn today. And check out the foto, cloudbase was not that low today in Fortuna. An absolutely top day.

Swedish pilots visiting, welcome once again !

Henrik launching at Bordillo, Fortuna, where we flew early afternoon.

Cactus flowers in september

View from landing near Sierra del Corque, Fortuna.

No reward

No reward today after waiting long hours for the winds to die off at the coast. Today was coastal choice, we were gonna wait till eastern winds died off to do some relaxed soaring before heading back inland again tomorrow.

Monte Cabrer

We have to enjoy the flying at Monte Cabrer, in a good month it'll be more difficult to fly this site. It is an easterly site, and this means a more cloudy hill from november on, due to the air coming in from the near sea.

Cloudbase was nice, 2000 m ASL, which means a 800 m climb. Enough height to go XC, but winds in the back would have blocked the distance.

Super day for our swedish friends around.

Hot still, and flying tits off

Waiting till late afternoon to fill up the boots. At the coast, over the mediterranean untill a full moon was rising over the sea.
It doesn't get much better.

9/11 paragliding

On 9/11 ten years ago, we were flying Carrasqueta. During lunchbreak we saw some footage on TV, it took as a few minutes before we realized what happened.

I don't remember us flying afterwards.

Today we flew tandems and took our swedish pilots to Palomaret.

Awesome summer

Leaving an awesome summer behind, with at the most 6 non flyable days in july and august. All the others days, pilots were flying on their home site, at the coast, or inland chasing thermals.

More than 20 sites to choose from, some more exclusive than the other.

Now ready again, from today to host visiting pilots wanting to experience the flying in Alicante. For 12 years keeping the promise to give you the most airtime possible during your stay. A promise to let you enjoy more than the usual sites, and get to know the local pilot community.

It has been a pleasure that only a few do fly our sites without our guidance. Together with the two locals schools, Alicante paragliding and Kasana , we work hard to keep the sites open and clean. Behind the scenes lots of negociating, we'll spare you the details, it is our stress ...

so thanks joining in again this year. We are open all yearround, although some roadtrips to maybe Morocco, maybe southern Spain, definetely our yearly Pyrenees trip, could bo on the do-list by Doyouwanna.

If yo want to enjoy the biggest world' spa The Mediterranean with its coastal cliffs, its inland sites, don't hesitate to come down. Chill and fly with us in Alicante. Un abrazo, Nick, Kath y Paco.

Closed for a week

We are not guiding till the 10th of sept. Charging up the batteries for our upcoming season. Meanwhile we do daytrips to different areas down south.

We have visited Baza, Yeste and Yelmo. This three sites are situated not so far from each other. All are in amazing nature landscapes, and very different one from the other.

I am thinking of maybe heading that way for a week-roadtrip. If anybody interested let me know. It would be early spring, march.

Hope to se you soon,

september booked up, october still few places, november few places left so far.

Foto taken 7 pm, Alicante beach.

Flying hard

There is a new initiative by the local federacion of Valencia. Newer pilots will be trained to do little XC's, together with older pilots who know the way. I can only applaude this initiative. Hope it will bring older and younger, newer pilots together, achieving some of the bigger XC that haven't been set this summer.

Daily flying this summer,. but all lazy and late in the afternoon. Not the 2 pm chase to get high and far. Understandable with lesser pilots due to family commitments, and the ever suffocating heat during july and august.

Summer is ending now, more and more clouds, could mean easier climbs, or at least easier to find lift for the lesser experienced. More relaxed flying, more and more pilots will get out again.

Soon some local comps are gonna kick off, always nice to see, watch and fly it.

Argentinian pilots and their maté

Ché having some herbal maté. Still very common under our Argentinian pilot friends down here.

When trying you have to suck hard on the silvery straw to drink the somewhat bitter whiskey of the Argentinians.

The loud sucking noise is not considered to be rude. When holding the maté too long for yourself, they give you a hint : hey buddy, this is not a microphone ..

A habit I would never have consedered to have known not living in a spanish country with still lots of south-american culture mix.

So next time you're around flying with us in Alicante, we'll have a try on maté.

Yesterday Giles' last day, on his Delta. Maybe I should have chosen this glider instead of my Skywalk, don't know, each time I see it flying it looks like I want to have one of them.

Green sky - tja

It is always green sky, and the flying has been so consistent all summer long, needed a change.

Giles was doing good under his Delta, instead of boxing it around, he is now on his third day knowing the glider, and is lots smoother in the turns. Even his take off could have passed elementary pilot exams in Spain. Big round applause for another happy customer under an Ozone Delta, great wing. And all ready to surprise the sky next week in Laragne France.

Blue sky, tja

A bright sun,. hot tempeatures, inversion. We had to wait till some breeze was gonna kick off the heat in the valley. It was all quiet till 6 vpm. then a gentle breeze made it all happen.
Meanwhile we had enjoyed the beach, the pool, the paella, some beers, a siesta.
Down below a fantastic foto sent to me, of the Acro Comp in Villeneuve last weekend. Great shot.

Happy flying

35 degrees celsius, and already talking about the end of summer. For us it is, the sun is not that yellow bright any more, it has a more golden look, especially when the day goes by.

Sunrises in not yellow, not orange, but more pearl.

Another good day inland today, filling our boots.

El Viejo

This man loves the sport as much like us. He is frequently spotted near Equihen, northern France. Unfortunately we heard he had a little accident that will put him out for some time.
Hope you recover soon brother !

Reconco - Onil

Summers' second half. Winds are getting stronger at the coast. Soon the beaches will be covered with algues,making the beaches ready to protect itself from erosion. Storms usually hit us end of augustm, beginningf of september.

So or flying very early in the day, or wait till the heat is more bearably and move inland to fly Reconco for instance, meet the locals from Ibi, Castalla, Onil.

Doyouwanna parahawking

The parahawking project in Alicante has come to an end. This noble project is still to be experienced, soon again in Pokhara Nepal.
Check it out on their website parahawking Nepal
We wish them all the best.

From now on, full on focused on the upcoming guiding season, which kicks off from the tenth of september. And you all know what this stands for. We go the extra mile to make your flying trip abroad most succesfull.

Alicante paragliding

Smooth, almost too smooth thermals. Temperatures way too high on altitude, no temperature difference between valley and take off. And the seabreeze didn't kick in to get us nice dynamic conditions.
But we're spoiled and don't realize it, it cannot always be fantastic.
We have to get those days as well, back to reality and be patient.

Next upcoming days could be a bit windy, easterlies, nothing exceptional.

I've been out

I've been out, watching the flying at Cabo. Lots of tandems once again, and TV crew filming, giving us a chance to have some exposure.
It is not that busy, lesser pilots than other years. Crisis, could be.

Tits on a bull

I am starting to feel more usefull than tits on a bull. The pain is gone, and I have started with some light aquagym exercises in the pool.

Meanwhile Kath is taking guys up the hill, get them and her flying. She must be knackered. Soon I'll be cooking my family my pastas again, untill they take over ... .

Inland flights all over, lots called and asked where we were going, it looked like several sites were visited today.

The weather is just fantastic, all summer it has been the best. Hot during the day, then at 5`pm, well you know Spain wakes up at 5 pm, thats when it all starts down here in summer.

Guadalest paragliding

Surprise, surprise when we flew over Guadalest, a small aircraft was being rescued.

One of our most beautiful sites, flying over the cracked in two village, by an earthquake.

summertime

It's summertime and the living is easy
Fish are jumping and the cotton is high
Your daddy's rich and your mama's good-looking
One of these mornings you're gonna rise up singing
you spread your wings and take to the sky

Sam Cooke

but I prefer Miles Davis' version, whatever ...

we flew again and again and again .... like Oliver undr his Sky glider

Paragliding tandems in summer

Antolino, amongst the girls, always ready to give a helping hand.

Jessica helping us out doing tandems, she is also member of the parahawk piloting team in Pokhara Nepal.

Weather is brilliant, as it has been all summer. High temperatures, then dying off at 5 pm, to give all the airtime you need.