First bit of cross country!
We went straight back up the chairlift to make the most of the good weather. When we got to the top the conditions were still good. Zabdi then pulled a bit of a fast one on us, she announced that we were going to have a competition. She said that if we wanted to have lunch we then we would have to fly to the restaurant on the other side of town! I think I crapped myself a wee bit when she said that.
The restaurant is beside a big lake about 5km from the chairlift. She pointed it out to us and there was a nice big field beside it, so at least landing would be no problem. The only problem is that in order to reach we had to cross over the town of Sopot. We would also have to fly east into a slight headwind. To manage this we would have to gain enough height by climbing a thermal or two.
Chris took off first and did really well, he climbed a thermal straight away and almost got to cloudbase, he then made his way over to the restaurant with plenty of height to spare. I saw him then climb another thermal and was cruising about for about an hour.
The next guy that took off didn't do so well he never managed to get a thermal so ended up landing down by the chairlift. Timing the take off was important because by this time there were a lot of big cumulus formed and they were causing a lot of the valley to be in shade, not good for thermalling. So I waited quite a while before there was enough sun before taking off. My take off was a bit mess, I kind of drifted out to the right but then managed to swing it back and head out off the mountain.
There are 2 main ridges as you come off the take off site, and I decided to try and use the one on west, which is slightly flatter and more rounded. There was a wee bit of lift but it wasn't strong enough to gain any height from, I was descending down the mountain and was too low to make the flight to the restaurant. But I decided that I'd cross over to the east ridge to try my luck there before giving up and heading down to the landing site. I had to cross over the valley between the ridges where there was a lot of sink so by the time I got there I was only about 400 feet above the trees and no where near high enough to cross the town. Zabdi came on the radio I said I should fly down to the regular landing, but I wasn't beaten yet!!
I saw an exposed rocky cliff on the ridge that had the sun on it, a good recipe for a thermal. When I got there sure enough I felt a huge gust of warm air coming up. So I immediately pulled a hard right hand turn to try and catch the core, and catch it I did!! I was doing very steep turns to keep on the core, it was very similar to doing a spiral dive, with the same G-force but you go up the way instead of down. After a few minutes I had managed to gain so much height that I was way higher than the take off site. I could see over the back of the mountains behind the take off site which was quite spectacular, I was not far off from cloudbase and I think I could have made it, but I felt the thermal dying so I decided not to push my luck and risk losing any height so headed east towards the restaurant.
It was really rather cool, there was a about 4 or 5 paragliders all flying in the same direction over the town. I had even managed to climb higher than some of the more experienced pilots, it was very satisfying!! I reached the landing field with loads of height to spare and it had to do a lot of figure of 8 turns to lose height. I landed gently into the wind about 30 yards from the restaurant, what a way to make an entrance!!! Total flight time was about an hour. Awesome!!
The restaurant by the lake, the landing field was just off to the right. Most satisfying lunch ever!
The restaurant is beside a big lake about 5km from the chairlift. She pointed it out to us and there was a nice big field beside it, so at least landing would be no problem. The only problem is that in order to reach we had to cross over the town of Sopot. We would also have to fly east into a slight headwind. To manage this we would have to gain enough height by climbing a thermal or two.
The blue arrow is pointing to the landing field beside the lake. The restaurant is on the edge of the lake. That is the town of Sopot to the right of the arrow, a lot of buildings to fly over!
Chris took off first and did really well, he climbed a thermal straight away and almost got to cloudbase, he then made his way over to the restaurant with plenty of height to spare. I saw him then climb another thermal and was cruising about for about an hour.
The next guy that took off didn't do so well he never managed to get a thermal so ended up landing down by the chairlift. Timing the take off was important because by this time there were a lot of big cumulus formed and they were causing a lot of the valley to be in shade, not good for thermalling. So I waited quite a while before there was enough sun before taking off. My take off was a bit mess, I kind of drifted out to the right but then managed to swing it back and head out off the mountain.
There are 2 main ridges as you come off the take off site, and I decided to try and use the one on west, which is slightly flatter and more rounded. There was a wee bit of lift but it wasn't strong enough to gain any height from, I was descending down the mountain and was too low to make the flight to the restaurant. But I decided that I'd cross over to the east ridge to try my luck there before giving up and heading down to the landing site. I had to cross over the valley between the ridges where there was a lot of sink so by the time I got there I was only about 400 feet above the trees and no where near high enough to cross the town. Zabdi came on the radio I said I should fly down to the regular landing, but I wasn't beaten yet!!
I saw an exposed rocky cliff on the ridge that had the sun on it, a good recipe for a thermal. When I got there sure enough I felt a huge gust of warm air coming up. So I immediately pulled a hard right hand turn to try and catch the core, and catch it I did!! I was doing very steep turns to keep on the core, it was very similar to doing a spiral dive, with the same G-force but you go up the way instead of down. After a few minutes I had managed to gain so much height that I was way higher than the take off site. I could see over the back of the mountains behind the take off site which was quite spectacular, I was not far off from cloudbase and I think I could have made it, but I felt the thermal dying so I decided not to push my luck and risk losing any height so headed east towards the restaurant.
It was really rather cool, there was a about 4 or 5 paragliders all flying in the same direction over the town. I had even managed to climb higher than some of the more experienced pilots, it was very satisfying!! I reached the landing field with loads of height to spare and it had to do a lot of figure of 8 turns to lose height. I landed gently into the wind about 30 yards from the restaurant, what a way to make an entrance!!! Total flight time was about an hour. Awesome!!
Formation flying to the restaurant!
The restaurant by the lake, the landing field was just off to the right. Most satisfying lunch ever!
posted by Neil @ 5:52 PM
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