Saturday: VERY windy

Today it has been easy: as the wind during the night had increased more than just a bit, there has been no need to even think about where it would have been possible to fly ;-)

So we did some sightseeing: Jardin de Cactus and Mirador del Rio - both 'created' by local architect, painter, sculptor and nature activist César Manrique. His influence on the island can be seen/ felt in several other places as well.

For Andy it has been his last day on Lanzarote as he's flying back tomorrow; the rest of our group will leave for el Hierro on Monday.

Unfortunately -according to the forecasts- it's supposed to remain (very) windy for the next 4 or 5 days: we shall see...

Friday: Playa Quemada

The fcst for today/ the next few days is calling for stronger winds (Calima?) :-( 

Therefore we left our finca 'unusually early' (just after 0900) and drove to Playa Quemada. Andy and I have been airborne shortly after 1000 and could enjoy nice soaring conditions. For me it most probably has been the best reverse launch so far on this trip: only 1 attempt to get airborne :-))   Landing after a bit more than an hour. Unfortunately Hartmut had to land on the beach below...

Driving back to our Finca the Calima (= a dust wind originating in the Sahara) became more prominent: more wind and less visibility (haze); so this may well have been our last flight here on Lanzarote (ACE)...

Thursday: Macher

Again it has not been easy to find a good flying site: we ended up in Macher, but the wind was alreday blowing quite hard: Hartmut declined to fly, Andy was able to launch from the top, but I needed to descend quite a bit down in order to find a place, where the wind has been less strong. On the third attempt I finally got away :-)

Andy preparing to launch from the top

Conditions became 'sporty' rather quickly (climbs > 5m/s), so  landed after about half an hour...

We moved to Playa Quemada hoping the wind would be good for soaring, but it was just strong enough for some groundhandling...

Playa Quemada

As normally towards late afternoon the wind is supposed to get weaker, after having had 'Kaffee und Kuchen' we tried once more Macher. Conditions had improved a lot, so Andy and Hartmut made a flight. I declined, having carried around my gear already enough for the day...

Wednesday: Mala / Mirador del Rio (Orzola)

Yesterday my friends Gaby and Hartmut have arrived with Condor from Düsseldorf just after noon. That meant that I was occupied for most of the day and could attempt only to fly around 1600. But by then the wind has become strong. Andy on the other hand, which I had 'dropped' off in the morning at Mala could make 2 nice flights.

Today (Wed): the general wind was forecasted to be 080/8kts. This is rather little wind and it meant that it was very hard to find a good flying spot. Andy, Hart and I made a (very) short sledder in the morning at Mala (wind too weak and cross), then we began to look for something 'better'... We drove to Famara (actually a site for W/ NW): it would have been possible to launch from las Nieves (we saw some other pilots) but we were not really convinced that this would be the best option for the day...

las Nieves

Famara (seen from las Nieves)

With the given general wind direction we hoped that Mirador del Rio would offer more consistent conditions; if not we would have gone back to Mala.

Mirador del Rio (launch, looking towards Orzola)

But we've hit the 'jackpot' ;-) 

Nice steady wind on the nose, absolutely perfect for launching and flying. And additionally: nobody else around :-)

Launch (Hart getting ready)

Actually Hart didn't want to fly at first (as he didn't know the site and the LZ), so Andy launched right after me. But as conditions really have been picture perfect, Andy toplanded and could convince Hart in the end to make the flight. He later admitted that he would really have missed something.

Hart (Wings of Change - Crossblade)

 

 

Orzola (and its beach -LZ)

Orzola (left); launch in the middle; Isla Graciosa (right)

The conditions allowed relaxed soaring and the (dynamic) lift extend rather far out over the water. But there also have been some thermals: I could get about 250m over launch. I landed after a bit more than an hour. Driving back we could see that Mala meanwhile also had turned on; but we think that Mirador del Rio has been most probably the best option for the day.

Monday: Groundhandling

Very interesting days: first of all the weather was completely different from the fcst: the whole day has been cloudy, almost overcast.

Andy yesterday organized a lesson of groundhandling with Urs for me. We left our house around 0900 and met Urs at Playa Caleta del Congrio near Papagayo (at the southern end of the island).

Playa Caleta del Congrio

We couldn't start right away as there has been even a little bit of rain and strong wind; then the wind started to drop and before I could even begin the wind was almost gone. After a while it started again and within a minute or so it went from almost nil to too much again. But eventually the conditions became picture perfect.

Urs

 

 

For a while we worked together, then it was up to me to experiment with all the tipps I had been given. I'm really happy with the way Urs is approching this subject and a course (or a private lesson) is money well worth spend for anyone who has problems getting airborne in stronger winds!

 

Thanks Urs for all the hints and tipps!

 

More info to Urs and his approach can be found here (sorry - German only)

 

Sunday: Playa Quemada

 

Casa Galana

Another nice sunrise at Casa Galana concluded our stay at Punta Mujeres as we moved to another accommodation (at Guatiza, named 'Finca de los Abuelos').

Finca de los Abuelos

After having unloaded our luggage we headed South to Playa Quemada - the place to be according to the wx fcst. And -once more- almost all PG pilots had congregated here (the hangies flew at Macher).

Looking North towards launch and Playa Quemada

Again it took quite a while before I finally managed a good (reverse) launch. Andy made 2 flights, I only one (but 1.25hrs): nice soaring conditions: it has been possible to fly out quite far over the water before having to turn back. When the wind started to drop, we (top)landed. On the way back we drove up to Macher, as we saw some HGs flying there, but the wind has been too strong (mixed with thermals), so we definitively called it a day ;-)

Saturday (9.1.): Mala

Finally the wind has dropped - in the morning not enough for me, but Andy could launch and fly at Mala.

Andy's launch

As we had hoped conditions would be better further South, we drove to Macher (too windy) and Playa Quemada (still wrong wind direction). Luckily the island is small enough so almost everything can be reached within 30 minutes driving...

Finally we ended up in Mala again - together with almost all pilots on the island ;-)

...but conditions have been really nice :-)

finishing the day with an excellent local fish

windy...

Wednesday to Friday have been too windy for flying (even for hang gliders), so we just did some sightseeing and looking at the different launches and landings...

Famara

 

Paragliding the Southern Alps (NZ)

From my friend 'Kiwi' I've received some links to YouTube videos about paragliding  in New Zealand: stunning views and great landscapes!

Check out this channel and enjoy!

 

Escaping winter...

In order to get away from the rapidly changing winter weather back home I departed yesterday for a 4 weeks trip to the Canary Islands - flying with Edelweiss to ACE (Arecife/ Lanzarote).

Climbing to cruising altitude over Swtzerland (near Berne)

approaching ACE - and a nice cumuli is 'waiting' for us ;-)

I'm travelling with my friend Andy. He'll stay for the first 10 days, before flying home again.

After having checked-in at our appartement in Punta Mujeres, we first headed to Orzola. But here the wind has been to weak, so we drove to Mala. Here very nice conditions preveiled: the wind not too strong, but strong enough for easy reverse launching and soaring.

Soaring Mala; Punto Mujeres is the small (white) village at 12 o'clock

Andy toplanded and drove our car back down; I landed at the bottom after a bit more than an hour...

Sunset (and dinner) at Arieta

All in all a very nice start into this vacation - especially considering the fact that most probably the next few days might be unflyable due to strong winds.