Quixada -Friday

Günter Hansinger (AT)

Today was not my day: I didn't feel too well.
Furthermore, at one time my GS (ground speed) fully accelerated (!) fell to almost zero... And as the forecast called for increasing winds till about 1500, I decided to land at the hotel.
The forecast winds didn't 'materialize' and a few pilots (again Beat among them -he flew 208km yesterday) got beyond 150kms...




A few impressions from 'Juatama', the small village, where our hotel 'Pedra dos Ventos' is situated.

Quixada -Thursday

Today was very windy in the morning - only Arduino took off early (at 0900) (with winds gusting to -an estimated- 50+kmh).
Later the winds slowed down a bit and I took off without problems at 1230 (as the last pilot in our group).
Unfortunately I couldn't take advantage off the conditions which gradually became better: Beat flew more 208km (with one -very- low safe)...

The video shows Philippe taking off, having a few collapses in the beginning, which he handled expertly.


Less than 10min after I had to land, this nice little cumulus cloud had formed above my head!

Quixada -Wednesday

Overview: left: Monastery/ Ramp (TO); background: city of Quixada; right: bail-out LZ (lake)

Finally the winds have dropped considerably. By 0720 (Sunrise at 0510) the first guys took off (I launched at 0740). At that time the lift was smooth, base around 900msl; when base rose to 1000msl the first pilots (Arduino -again) departed. Base rose continously: at 1200msl more left. As it was (again) completly blue I decided not to go for XC and landed after 2 hrs flying -before thermal activity became too strong...

Marco (Nicole)

Quixada -Tuesday

Sunrise at Hotel 'Pedra dos Ventos'
Unfortunately another day without flying for me (and most). Only Arduino, Nicole, Burki, Robert and later Günter and Philippe took off. Strong windsfrom SE-SSE, so taking off has not been easy. Also penetrating against the wind was hard. The sky was blue without any clouds and the thermals rough...

Quixada -Monday

As already yesterday, the winds on TO have been rather (too) strong, so only Arduino and Nicole took off; later the wind speed increased further, so nobody else flew...
Arduino landed after (about) 220kms.

Quixada -Arduino (IT)

Yesterday Arduino (Persello) -aka 'Bimbo'- finally had his first (?) great day. On all precious days he landed around 55km from TO. We already have been joking that he had a brasilian girlfriend hidden there somewhere... But on Saturday he flew for more than 8hrs and flew an impressing 278km! The retrieve car brought him back by 0100 in the morning. So most probably he didn't mind too much, that we couldn't fly on SUN, because it was too windy.

You can find his flight here.

Quixada -Nicole Fedele (IT)

Nicole getting ready for her record (?) flight

7 days after her arrival here in Brazil (and 5 days after the rest of her luggage finally arrived!) Nicole made a (Italian female opem distance) record (yet to be confirmed).

On the first attempt she was too early and had to land again. So for this great flight she was taking off rather late. Contrarily to some other (female/ BR) pilots who had somebody fly with them, showing them the way and the thermals and when necessary also coaching) Nicole did this flight completely on her own! Furthermore it's her first visit to Brazil and to this site and only her 5th or 6th flight here. So: many congratulations!
I'm extremely glad that I could help her getting here by partly sponsoring her trip.

her flight
See all of her flights (XContest 2011) here

Quixada -Paolo, "king of the site"

Paolo

Paolo is the "king" of this site.
Without him it would hardly be possible for most of us to depart safely from this TO!
When a pilot is ready he comes to give you the "go".
he always goes through a very clear/ precise sequence which can be "read" by looking at his body posture and finally he will point his hand and call "GO!!"
This is the momentt (and not 5 or 10 seconds later!) to (reverse) launch your glider as he unfaillingly (!) senses a window of opportunity coming up.
For us bystanders it's almost like a small wonder how he does it, because on top of the launch it could be blowing 40+kmh when he gives his command.
And he is also capable of "adapting" his command to the abilities of the pilot: so 'good' pilots would get a "go" in somewhat stronger conditions than 'unsure' pilots.

Paolo: many thanks already now for safely getting me/ us in the air!!!

Quixada -Thursday

Today looked rather promising in the morning, so Arduino (of the 'squadra italiana') took off early, climbed quickly to base and started flying (high) West. Unfortunately the conditions (again) became 'blue' later in the day and he had to land about 10k before Madalena.
Except Günther (250+k) and Nicole (125+k) everybody sank out in the first 40k.
As the conditions have been very typical for a day here in Quixada (on TO high winds with gusts up to (an estimated 50+k)) I decided to wait till later in the day.
I finally took off at 1400 -much too late for XC-ing- and sored for little more than an hour, landing 5mins from our hotel (Pedra dos Ventos), were a "cold little blond" was waiting...

A Brazilian TV crew showed up in the morning, taking videos and interviewing some of us.


Beat being interviewed by Brazilian TV


Marco


Looking down on TO/ towards Quixada


'Urubu'
Urubus are the local vultures here, sometimes showing us where the thermals are...


Football field/ LZ near our Hotel "Pedra dos Ventos"
(looking East towards TO -behind hill)

Quixada -Wednesday

It looked VERY promising: nice cloud streets, little wind...
...but quickly it turned completely blue and most of us sank out
- only Thomas (Blatter) made a good flight (> 170km).

Quixada -Tuesday

Nicole, Arduino, Marco: la "squadra Italiana"

Todays was (at least for me) quite a good day: I fle almost 70km.
Some unfortunately sank out..




as LZ I choose the square flield in the middle

I landed about 10km South of Madalena. Immediately after touch down some guys appeared and offered to help me pack my glider. One of them took me on his motorbike to the 'rodoviaria' (bus station) in Madalena. After about 45mins one of our retrieve-drivers arrived and eventually drove me back to the hotel.

Quixada -Monday

Yesterday Günter flew 216.5km (beyond Nova Russas) -congrats!
Especially in view of the fact that he was flying here for the first time.

Today the wind was a little less strong and I got off without too many problems, though the groubdspeed sometimes dropped to almost 0 (accelerated!).


Burki ready to go...

The flight itself was too short in regard to the good conditions, but I'm happy none the less, as the landing was smooth and safe.


above launch; looking E


"wild ride"

The ride back to Quixada on the "bus" was almost as bumpy as the flight ;-)

Quixada -Sunday

Todays is election-day in Brazil; for this reason - and as it's the first day the whole group is together - we departed rather late (0900) from the hotel; normaly we should leve by 0630/ 0700 latest. The wind at launch already was quite strong and still increasing, so not all were able to launch. I as well decided not to try -maybe later this afternoon the wind will drop enough to permit a relaxed TO and flight...

Quixada -Saturday

The drive from Paracuru to Quixada - via FOR airport- took about 4 hours. After checking in at the Pousada Pedra dos Ventos, at 1515 we drove to the Quixada TO. The wind was unusally weak so we got off fast and easily. Landing was on the big football field right below our pousada.

Paracuru

In Paracuru we stayed 2 nights at the Pousada Sol y Lua
At this time of the year, Paracuru is well travelled kite-surfing spot.

across the South Atlantic

Sunset at Mid-Atlantic

The flight from ZRH to LIS had 2 hours delay due to the strike in France. We made it to the gate almost on time, but the flight for FOR (Fortaleza) departed LIS with 1.5hrs delay. Until the luggage was delivered it was almost 200LT in FOR. It took another 1.5hrs to get to our hotel in Paracuru.

ready for new adventures - Brazil...

After almost 7 weeks without paragliding, I'm now ready to leave for Brazil. Tomorrow (28.10.) the adventure starts by flying with TAP: ZRH-LIS-FOR. In Fortaleza I'll be picked up by our 'guide' and 'organizer': Andy (Flüeler). 1 day (FR) at the coast to get acclimatized; then on SA we'll drive to QUIXADA, where everybody is supposed to arrive/ meet in the (late) evening. We'll stay there for 2 weeks, trying to fly as far as possible... My friend from Italy (Nicole, Marco, Arduino surely have ambitions), but I'm certainly not going to break any records except eventually mine: 150+km would be nice, but first of all I'll have to get of this windy mountain...

Canazei/ Col Rodella/ Dolomiten

Langkofel


Langkofel and Sella


Belvedere,Marmolada


Marmolada

Canazei in the heart of the Dolomit mountain was my final flying site on this autumn's trip. Here I also met Masa (from Japan) again with his group of PG pilots. The first day was unflyable ("Nordföhn"); but on Saturday this north wind had stopped and permitted some excellent flying with base at/ above 3600m!
The longer the day wore on, the easier it became to go wherever you wanted. I used this opportunity to make lots of pictures, which I then stiched together (>> see my Flickr photo page).
Unfortunately after landing I was told that one of the Japaneses (lady) pilots suffered a very bad accident upon landing. I heard that a rescue helicopter overflew her quite low and that her glider collapsed in the rotor's downwash -she didn't stand a chance! She was flown to Trento for treatment. In the evening I accompagnied Masa to the Santa Chiara hospital in order to help him with translations. After dinner I left for home at 2200, where I arrived shortly before 0400 on Sunday morning.
Apart from this accident, this 2 weeks were quite successful, as flying was possible about every 2nd day.


Chopper waiting to transport JPN pilot to Trento

Bassano (del Grappa)

Next 'station' on my way north/ back home was 'Bassano del Grappa'.
Even though the wx fcst for that day was very unpromising -it turned out to be a very nice flying day...

Castelluccio

On the way to Castelluccio I wanted to fly in Campo Imperatore (Gran Sasso), but the cablecar had already closed for the season and anyway it looked as the wind would have been too strong...



having arrived in Castelluccio around noon, the winds there had also become too strong, so on MON no flight was possible.

Next morning Castelluccio presented itself in its usual Autumn way: the plains fog covered with only the village sticking its head out.


Castelluccio di Norcia

But in the late afternoon a good flight with toplanding near the Refugio Perugia, where I stayed, was possible.