Henriks' new glider arrived. His brandnew Airwave Cobra was flown in. A Bruce Goldsmith product, yes Bruce Goldsmith who flies better under a handkerchieve than us under top gliders. For a review of the Cobra, maybe read the forums or articles by test pilots.

Our impression was that it had nothing to do with the previous dhv2 of Airwave before the Mustang2, who Henrik flew for years. I think the RA was pretty revolutionary in its field of designing gliders. Although still I wouldn't want, not even my mother in law, to fly the RA. Saw too many things happening with this glider. But that's over, they made an excellent dhv2 by designing the Nova Factor (is it really zig zagging on speedbar ..??).

I think lots of designers peeped over the wall, copied things no ?

We had another beautiful day, a hot day, early morning at the beach, waking up, stretching, sit ups, push ups, cafe con leche, siesta and flying, filling up our boots. Till late....

Lean left lean left, lean left.

A long wait till conditions were safer. Only Kike and Suby flew in the rougher stuff. Both landed at the bottom and didn't like it at all. So better wait with those two wind dummies on your side. Kike flies about 400 hours on our sites, and Suby flies national comps all over the world.

Funny to read the aggressive note from a british pilot on my guestbook, that he hated to wait till the air was buoyent. Imagine we let these pilots fly when even us, local pilots, who have so much more experience with these conditions on our sites, decide it is better to wait it out. The pilot from England who was recently qualified as club pilot, and had max 50 hours+ maybe. Sorry, but he has no idea of what these bity thermals can mean in southern Spain. And I think that's where our responsibity, our concern, our worry comes in. To let everybody have a great time, a great time of their life, but safe. We do not want anyone to risk anything on our sites. Our sites are too precious, too beautiful to have a visiting pilot messing about.

And again, for us flying is not at all about who has the most firm, the longest, the highestThere is always a tilting point for pilots.

I have been guiding now for over 10 years, seen beginners, seen acro, seen comp pilots. And sometimes all of a sudden pilots seem to forget what they are doing, they forget how great, how beautiful this sport is, on itself. They forgot how epic it was flying on huge hills near sunset, flying with eagles around.
Flying with your buddy in the same thermal, almost intimate, wingtip to wingtip, smooth circling near the other, with full respect for one another. This is all so much more than only focusing on the max height you got, on the most far distance that could have been achieved that day. Ok, its' part of it, but never let this be your only value. There is so much more value in the flying itself - nature, friendship, thermals, smells, view, birds, weather, air - that lots of pilots after years of flying forget.

Pilots dancing the pogo, or a waltz, doesn't matter, as long as they dance when landed.

It was great to get in the air, with Juan Pedro, Carlos, Henrik, Toni, Suby and two russians. We all loved it. It was super to get a whole box of Tshirts by Marina, to hand out this weekend at the event. It was great.

Hey, tell me if I'm wrong.

Southwestern winds and overcast. Our seaside near Calpe was too strong for take off, inland till last minute westernwinds, southwesternwinds.

We didn't fly today. We have a front coming in, and maybe tomorrow we'll have another day with strong winds. From wednesday onwards it looks good, and actually very good for the event saturday and sunday. Eastern winds, 15 km per hour, lets hope, still 4 days to go.

Flying over Onil, from Reconco. Not too many pilots. Raul teaching his students, groundhandling untill having blisters. Just Henrik, Ismael, Antonio and me on the hill. We had to wait today, till later in the afternoon to have a play. But we enjoyed the hot weather, the chill, the swimming pools, the beach as always. Knowing later on we were gonna move inland and fly.

the only one who could show off today,
we couldn't, too windy for us

Some strong thunderstorms inland, hail even on our hills this morning. Subtropical heat, heavy gusts from the southwest, bringing in hot air from Africa.

No flying, too strong for us.

But enjoyed some views, like the empty beaches near our cliffs, lovely to chill, to hide, to wander.


Having lunch uptown Alicante. Who is this bearded, long haired young man ? It is Camaron, and there is nobody else who I admire more in flamenco music.
He died from abuse, a long time ago, but is still amongst flamenco lovers.

Silly dog, or silly people ?

Barrio de Santa Cruz, parish of Santa Cruz, uptown Alicante. Here I go for a stroll and meet old spain. Having a cold beer, listening to the elderly, look the old men playing domino, with their harsh voices from the smoking and the morning liqueurs.

Two sites today, La Cortina and Carrasqueta near Jijona.

Last one best one. Just the three of us, and that was enough because thermals were small so we needed them all for ourselves. A bloody good day, that's how it felt. Thanks Henrik, thanks Richard. Allan have a good weekend at your event.

And a special thank you for Eric Claessen who is joining our event 13/14 june as trike paramotor pilot. He provides tandem flight over the southern coastline of Alicante with his trike paramotor, his website http://www.air-altitude.eu/ . Eric, 18 persons in wheelchair are counting on you. Cheers !

I have no glider, so I used my friend Warrens' Ozone Geo. A light mountain glider, who did the job for me today. Strange feel at times, as it all feels so light. But it was nice thermalling, no stress under this dhv1/2, a bit of a long brake travel, but you get used to it quickly, and so relaxing this glider.

You have probably seen loads of this foto's, the typical view of Palomaret. Reservoirs, haze at the coast, the colours of the dry southern side of the hills of the valley.

Right foot now Allan. Allan who has been here before is leaving tomorrow morning to fly at the Lake District till this weekend. There is a charity event held, for air ambulance or something. Anything for a party no ?

Well tell the Lake District pilots we miss them all !

After visiting El cid early morning, we drove down again and headed for Onil, Reconco. Where Allan had a very nice flight and was all over Onil and valley.

Later in the day we joined our buddies at Palomaret, and flew the usual sometimes 'snotty' air.

Cloudbase was not so high, as we still have that inversion layer clearly to be seen at about 1150 meters ASL. But nice though, thermalling with four five pilots wingtip to wingtip.

(wingtip to wingtip means 30 meters apart don it ?)

Oh yes, forgot to tell. There were birds of prey around, and I tell you, once you spotted them, flew with them, you easily caught a 4 m up. Lately we have had more birds of prey than usual on our sites. Hush, don't tell the ecologists, it could make them think... .

Another good day.
Early flying at the coast, a BBQ in the mountains and back up the hill for more. Can you ask for more ? I don't think so.

Early day at the coast. A group of young acro pilots arriving. Very young, max 25 years old, full of adrenaline, very greedy. Huge wingovers, collapses, laughing at it. Beginner acro pilot, no reserve. Yes you read right, acro pilot, no reserve. Knowing that Raul and Felix and all the other acro pilots have two reserves, one Rogallo and one Apex. And using them once in a while. So it felt all too stressy at take off Cabo. Toplandings between launching gliders, brrr. Shook up some regular pilots, all that young energy.
We left for having a BBQ in the woods, waiting for the strong bits to die off and fly again inland, thermals.
Once at take off, the young gang arrived as well. I loved it, the young energy, the adrenaline again. The eagerness of doing things with the glider. Somewhat inspiring. Untill a 'helicopter' went all wrong. From what we saw at first, was as if he had a twist and couldn't get out of his stall. The glider was spinning down. His friends were watching, holding their breath. He still had 200 m to go to sort it out, but couldn't. Why doesn't he throw his reserve ? We saw on each side cravattes. He got very low and were all watching and fearing a huge impact. It got quiter at take off, his friends justbeside me hands up, not saying anything. Only 30 meters to go he threw his reserve. It just just opened to slow down his fall a tiny bit. We say him come in hard. Bang, on the ground, hitting the deck.
His friends rushed to their van, to race down and see. I radio-ed my pilot who was near to see if everything was fine... . Yes Nick, he is standing up and walking.
Holy shit. That guy must have a huge and big guardian angel. I am so happy for him. I have seen deployments, unfortunately more than I wanted to, but never saw somebody coming down that way and with such a bang on the ground. How he walked away from it, to me it is a mystery. I think if you are young you bounce better ??

Be careful guys. I know you are young, full of testosteron, looking sharp, six-pack, muscled, a long long life ahead of you, full of energy. But keep it safe.
Tomorrow I think I am gonna have a chat with the pilot who flies without an emergency chute.

Anyway the end was all good. They could laugh about it. Better than cry of course. I hope they have their beers tonight, and have a great time downtown Alicante. Let the music play, turn up the volume, dance the night away, and ask the ladies to dance. Stay sexy !

Big expectations today, and yo hear me coming. It didn't come out. Western winds were blocking the southern breeze too much near Caudete to profit of its high cloudbase.

We had to head back to our site we flew on early morning. There we had another couple of hours of smooth thermals. A good day, and nobody bothered going the extra mile trying to find XC possibility.

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Berlusconi....

This is maybe more a message for the local pilots, or for all visiting pilots through the last 10 years, wanting to know what is happening with the famous site of Cabo de Santa Pola.

Above the result of our sue-ing the town of Santa Pola and the urbanisation Olivo de Oro. As you can read we won the case, with the final result that in a couple of months the bottom foto will be "history".

The road has to be reopened, it was illegaly blocked with the gate and the mailboxes. Although it was a public road, for years we were not allowed to have access to our take off. We had to bear, tolerate insults, hard words for the last 6 years. Lost business, lost loads of tandem opportunities, and this thanks to the disrespect of some politicians in townhall. But this comes to an end now. Soon, we'll raise our glass to the end of this injustice, done to us, local paragliders and you visiting pilots.

Impossible to have some safe flying in today. We could see the instability growing, time after time. Each time when mobile phones were on hold, some towering cumulus were appearing again. A lovely show but feet on the ground was safest.
Tomorrow looks promising, sunny southeastern winds. Hopefully after this bad spell today, we get a high cloudbase so we can go places.

Awful sky this morning, grey, black, Mammatus clouds, distant rainfall. Yuk !

And even then some guys were flying. I didn't, it felt against my nature. Suspicious sky. And you could tell, it was actually interesting. Students, low airtimers were in the air, others more experienced and local pilots were staying on the ground.

It was a bit stressy, when we saw a german beginner flying his old wind, without speedbar connected and hardly getting any groundspeed at times.

He probably thought, lovely, that's how it is played, getting higher and higher ! Holy shit. Scary ain't it.

Anyway we all have been there, and made the same mistakes. Just hopefully nothing happens at this site, because one silly accident, stupid behaviour, could damage our years of lobbying to keep Cabo de Santa Pola open.

Later in the day as I said before, blue sky again and winds veering more and more southwards. So off inland, where we were all alone, enjoying late afternoon thermals. Richard who just got off the plane was carving the sky one hour after touchdown at Alicante airport. Allen arrived tonight.

Should I go or should I stay. Always the question at San Antonio. Landing field is not the biggest, and some obstacles do not make it stressfree.

Toon and Henrik decided to give it a miss. So decision made, for safety reasons. And for me, never ever a problem.

Meanwhile the whole of the Biscoy club was flying over Alcoy, see fotos.

If you read the sky, we do have some cirrus clouds coming in. Usually we get more clouds coming in depending if winds come from the sea of from inland, Castilla La Mancha dry air.

We should get onshore winds, which could mean low cloudbase and only flying at coastal sites.

Bottom foto, two Antonio's, one spanish one belgian.

I don't know if the satelites are all fucked up, or the printouts weren't very clear, or the analysts had a blue day, but one things' for sure, the last two days the forecast was completely off. Madre mia.

We were to expect 60 km per hour gusts. Scary no ?

But nothing of that ,we had the smoothest flights at the coast. It was lovely, bright blue sky, nice and warm, flying of course in short and T shirts.

Olav, Henrik, Toon, good old Leslie from Tenerife, Chris, and Mads from Sweden as guests. Jerry from england doesn't mind sharing our guiding any more and prefers to do his own thing. No problem, I hope he had a great time flying in our region.

Above, Pablo as tandem pilot with his coach in the back, and Antolino my preferred assistent when doing tandems. Pablo has made the Spanish national team kitesurfing and is competing soon in Lanzarote. Good luck Pablo !

Cabo de Santa Pola. For loads of pilotes one of the most interesting soaring sites in Europe along the Mediterranean Sea. Been in danger for years. Now we won after a long struggle with the local community and the nearby urbanisation.

After all these years since two days a bulletin board is put up. With info how to fly it, basic rules etc... . Lets hope it is not gonna be destroyed.

We shouldn't be stressed about it, as most important is the flying of course. But if a site is fragile we want everything to be approached with care.

I hope foreign pilots who visit us, do respect this. We cannot risk losing the site, it is our back garden, where we play so much.

Just like today, when winds dropped and we could fly till sunset. Lovely.

Net, Antoon arrived and is well, and had his first flight in. And more will follow as weather is looking good till november .... .

Now if only Barca would win .... .

A group of local pilots visited the goat mountain today. Have no idea if they flew nicely or not. I used the day to organise things, like the upcoming event 13 / 14 june. That's when we invite all disabled to share our love of flying paragliders and this for free.

Lots of things have to be organised, not only the several tandem pilots have to be contacted and briefed, also the help of other pilots for take offs, landings and retrievals. Cooks for the paella on the beach, and who is gonna sell the drinks. Who is gonna make sure all is run well for parking place etc... .
Nothing like such an event can be organised by yourself. You need help from your friends. And there is one big friend out there that moved mountains already to make sure the event is gonna be run, organised in the most profesional way. She's called Carmen, she is a local pilot, lives near take off Cabo de Santa Pola, and she's a star.
Thanks already for all the things that have been done, amazing.
That's her website :
http://www.carmesine.com:80/


Lets see if we all get some coastal flying in tomorrow, after a day off, can't wait.

Flying on your birthday never is bad is it. Thanks for the greetings, all of you. Not really an age to celebrate a lot, but surely over halfway ain't I.

Enough said, another good day inland. Although we felt the strong eastern gusts coming in already, which were predicted for tomorrow and next days. Lets hope some coastal soaring tomorrow or up to Monte Cabrer.

Flying till late today.

From early onwards in the afternoon till you got knackered and had enough of those never ending thermals. Literally.

It doesn't get much better.

Too unstable today. We all stayed on the beach. Tried to blend in with the Chippendale dancers but didn't work. Left for some soft-ice.

I did see a couple of top to bottoms from the cliffs though, but that's pretty desperate ain't it. Inland, it looked as if any minute hell could break loose. Inversion, and once in a while when the sune burned through we could see towering cumulus.