aus gegebenem Anlass....

 

;-)

Danke an Andy für den Link!

(Hier noch das Original von Udo Jürgens)

Daneben hat Andy noch ein speziell für mich personalisierte Version erstellt, die mir sehr viel Freude bereitet - aber eben, sie ist für mich personalisiert ;-)

Fanas (Wednesday)

Just a short flight in Fanas. The (S/ SW-) wind has not been too strong, but could be clearly felt and hindered progress.

Restaurant 'Sassauna': excellent rhubarb tarte

overhead Saas - looking West (towards Küblis)

Today I have not been in the mood to search for thermals close to the terrain / the ridges, so my flight ended (too quickly) in Saas :-(

I had to choose a flight line, which always kept me within reach of a landing close to a road/ public transport, as my left leg/ knee wouldn't permit a longer (downhill) walk; unfortunately this excluded a line closer to more 'potential' thermal sources ;-)

But looking at the flights for that day on XContest, nobody really has made it very far (due to wind, as some have remarked)...

For the same reason I gave up my 'slot' on the gondola in Fanas for Sunday, as I have been told to 'go easy' for a while; doing so, my left leg would probably get better sooner.

And then I'll be in Italy again for 3 weeks - together with Ruth (and without my paraglider).

'the race'

By chance I have received a copy of an 'old' film made by Uli Wiesmeier: 'the Race'.

Very nicely done.

...a 'real film' - not a 'video' ;-)

if you're interested you can contact me and I'll send you a dropbox link.

iCamp (Fri/ Sat)

Friday/ Saturday. unfortunately the wx didn't play along :-(  So, lots of interesting theoretical stuff by Gudrun and Michael - with clarifying comments thrown in by Peter ;-)

One of Michael's favourites: 'the pleasure of flying in turbulence' - a lesson more than worth hearing. Luckily I'll get a pdf-document with the highlights, as I have not been able to write everything down.

Instead of flying - or better: for compensating the 'non-flying' - a daily visit to the local gelateria (at least)...

Gelateria 'Dolci Promessi'

After a last lecture this morning, the iCamp ended and people started heading home; some as far north as Flensburg (D), near the Danish border. Fortunately not me - I just had to drive about 2 hours East to Romans d'Isonzo (Friaul/ Friuli), where I met my longtime friends Nicole and Alby. I'll be staying at a B&B for the next 4 nights before heading home as well.

Tomorrow the wx fcst is not looking very bright, but beginning next week conditions should be improving.

'Tapetti'

Conclusion:

- personally: one of my targets for the week has been to improve my launches and landings (adapted to the reduced possibilities of my body). And I think I have made some progress - with still some room for improvements ;-) I also flew some spirals with ROD > -10m/s; the wing-overs this year have not been very satisfactory: one or two have been ok, but never a nice sequence of 4 or more in a row.

- generally: it has been a very rewarding week with 3 absolutely outstanding instructors: Gudrun, Michael and Peter complement each other perfectly  - kind of a 'dream team' (at least for me). And it has (again!) been a great pleasure to be with and around them. There is nothing about paragliding they wouldn't know and be able to explain.

Luckily the didn't cancel this week, even though the forecast at the time they had to give the 'go ahead' for the camp, has not been very optimistic (to say the least). What they did instead has been moving the camp from Levico Therme to Bassano. Here it has been flyable until Thursday, whereas in Levico we could have made only a few flights or would have had to drive to Bassano daily (about an hour each way)...

Remark: The whole week I have been fly my Leeloo Mk2; the Mk1 I have given to Michael to have it checked after about 125flights/ 120 hours. For reasons whatsoever, the brakes have been a little too short, which -at least partly- explains why my launches with the Mk2 this week have been so much 'better'/ moree consistent (almost no blown launches) than with the Mk1. I should get the Mk1 back by end of May, as I want to take this glider along to DK in August and the US in September.

iCamp (Wed/ Thur)

Wednesday: one more day that -in the end- turned out much better than expected :-)

Morning flight from Casette (with a little West wind) and then, 2 hours later, a flight from Panettone. I had big problems with my left knee: it was almost impossible for me to tie my left shoe. On the second flight I didn't much like the aerology (due to the westerly flow); this combination (knee/ wind) led to a lack of motivation, so I decided not to go for a third flight. The rest of the group went up to Panettone again, but in the end didn't fly - so actually I hadn't missed anything...

...the sky at 1700...

Thursday: again 2 flights from Panettone: we would call them manoeuvre flights, where all pilots could fly the manoeuvres they wanted to fly: so for me more spiralling and wing-overs...

Panettone at 1000

Throughout the morning there has been a pronounced Easterly wind. After a short break, we headed for Antenne-Costalunga, best suited for the actual wind direction. Some pilots have been flying, but didn't really advance much against the wind. So, only 3 from our group launched, the rest headed for the gelateria ;-)

iCamp (Mon/ Tue) -Bassano -Feltre -Bassano

Monday: today we have been told to be ready for departure by 0800; driving to Panettone for a morning flight. Light SE-wind permitted an easy launch; just a sledder to the landing at our hotel. Spiraling (with outer Ear closed) from 1050m to 500m in about a minute (max -12.2m/s; 3.4g) :-))

View from Panettone (looking SE)

Second flight then was from Antenne Costalunga and lasted about 1.25hrs in nice thermal conditions.

Briefing at Antenne Cosatalunga

Third flight from Tapetti: unfortunately it started to rain soon after my launch :-( Another spiral (-8.4m/s) brought me back to 'terra firma' after only 13min - but still my wing got a little wet.

We went for a fourth flight (from Tapetti), but most of us did elect not to fly (due to wx cond: strongish E-Wind right after launch).

...checking the wx (on Delta ramp)

Tuesday: today we had be ready by 0900 and the 'target' has been: Feltre/ Mte.Avena. The only time I have been here before has been in 2008.

Mte.Avena, pano looking SW

Launch

Pano looking NE

Very nice and strong conditions! Some of our group also toplanded...

LZ 'Boscherai' -now main LZ for Feltre

Shortly after 1200 we have been told to head for the LZ, as there was a chance of overdevelopment.

After a visit to the local gelateria, it was decided not to wait here for conditions to improve, but to drive to Panettone, where we could see that the 'worst' had already passed. Once we got there, we started immediately to launch and all could make a nice flight into the evening. In the end I spiralled down almost 700 meters in around 2 minutes (max ROD > 13m/s), followed by a series of wing-overs.

iCamp (Sat/ Sun)

Today (Saturday) my iCamp'22 started in Bassano at 1400.

But in the morning I was able to make a very nice flight (almost 2.5hr; Tops at 2250m) :-)   >> unfortunately no pix as I inadvertently switched the memory card of my camera to 'read-only' the evening before :-(

After initial briefing/ introduction of trainers and trainees, checking/ adjusting the harnesses in the simulator we drove up to Casette launch (west) for a first (short) flight.

our trainers: Peter, Gudrun, Michael

Sunday: while having breakfast we have been told to be ready with our flight gear by 0900. We drove first up all the way to Panarotta, only to find the wind there coming 'from all directions'...

Briefing at Panettone

It was decided to descend to a lower launch: Tapette/ da Beppe: here conditions looked much steadier with the wind coming straight-in. But the dark clouds above indicated that we could expect strong thermals...

Michael (with Aline) 'playing' wind dummy (on a Leeloo Tandem)

looking NE

Lift could therefore be found almost everywhere, be it over the mountain, at its base or out in the flats; even though the thermals have been pretty strong (> 5 m/s) they have been (mostly) surprisingly mellow. Michael told us on the radio to stay near the LZ (Garden Relais), so we could land quickly if need be. Contrary to last August I got to the ground early enough, so I could pack my glider without everything getting wet :-)

In the afternoon there was an attempt at ground handling/ reverse launching - but it didn't really take off due to a strong and gusty wind; so an extended theory session about reverse launches and thermal flying took place...