Yesterday -instead of going to Fiesch as originally planned - I went to 'Scuol' (or: 'Schuls').
TO Motta Naluns in Scuol
Arriving at launch I could just watch another glider climb away. Later it proved to be Michi Müller, the top XC pilot of our PG club (see his flight here.)
For reasons still not very clear to myself, I didn't manage to make a halfway decent flight.
But at least I got to see the 'Bernina' again -from far away ;-)
Last SAT/ SUN - as I was driving home from Manchester - I stopped at Lewes in order to finally pick up my "new" (second-hand) Airwave Mustang 2 (XL) from Carlo& Nancy. They had told me during our trip in Maroc last February, that they had an XL for sale with only about 30hrs.
So on Sunday morning, after they had to help me jump start my car (- I had left the lights on overnight...) we drove to Mount Caburn. Of course here in Switzerland we wouldn't really call this a "mount", because for us it's no more than a small hill. But anyway, we could fly there for more than an hour before the winds became too strong. In the evening we had a very nice steak at 'the Ram' in Firle. Next morning I then took the ferry from nearby Newhaven to Dieppe and arrived at home shortly after midnight.
...no - it's not me (unfortunately).
For the last 6 days I've been playing golf with Alastair (> picture) in the Scottish Highlands. Even if the temperatures have not been very high (max 15ºC), we have been spared major rains...
Sorry for the short entry -but internet access is not frequent.
Epic! :-)) Unfortunately only in German...
Das Video in HD Qualität findet man hier.
For the first time I saw a "real" Arcæopteryx.
They call it a "class 2 Hang Glider" or "Microglider". With a weight of 45-50kgs it seems a little heavy for me to foot-launch it, but I can envision its potential with a battery powered engine. This would be a nice 'toy' with a 1:30 glide ratio...
A video (in German) can be found here.
More detailed info can be found here.
If you want to see the video in HD this is the link.
Bernina (Palü, Bellavista, Zupò, Bernina, Rosegg)
As "Gleitsegelwetter" had predicted, today proved to be an excellent XC day with high base, nice thermals and very good visibility for pictures!
This time I was able to complete the 100km FAI triangle out of Fanas (see: 24.4.2010 "Fanas"). It's a pitty, that I was (again) unable to take any pictures of the eagles which flew a couple of times in the same thermal as I did... 6hrs/ 105kms.
Lenzerheide
If you feel like doing something different, here's an idea...
Für einmal schmücke ich mich hier mit fremden Federn und möchte Euch auf die herrliche Geschichte "Flug 69 nach JFK" von NFF verweisen.
Zugegeben, 'leicht' überspitzt, doch eben halt nur 'leicht' -Viel Spass dabei!
"Bähnli" Fanas-Eggli
Today I was incredibly lucky: I had a reservation for the gondola in Fanas for 1215. I arrived by public bus at 1045 and because some people didn't show up on time I got a seat in the 1100 gondola...
This permiotted take-off at least 1 hour earlier than anticipated.
As expected there were many pilots, but the TO area at this time of the year is wide enough for everybody.
looking back from "Chrütz" towards Fanas/ Sassauna
The flight was really great, even though I didn't make it back to Fanas/ Schiers due to shadowing in the 'Landwasssertal/ Davos'. I still haven't figured out yet how to fly this area in the afternoon: most probably in the middle of the valley.
Detail here: almost 80kms in less than 4hrs...
For some days now "Gleitsegelwetter" is predicting good xc conditions for Saturday (23.4.). "Gleitsegelwetter" is a specialised forecast for PG (and HG), which during "high season" appears twice daily. The guy who makes it (Stephan Hörmann) does an excellent job and I hope he is right on the spot about tomorrow :-)) He'd even send out text messages if a "hammer day" is to be expected...
The only problem: as the winterseason has ended last weekend, there is only 1 (!) cable car left running (Fanas) and its capacity is only 32 persons/ hour :-((
I forgot to make an early reservation and so I'll have to wait untill 1215 before there is a space available for me. (They run at full capacity starting 0700!)
So TO will be earliest around 1300 - a little late for a really great flight, but still permitting me a theoretical 5-6 flying hours; and that's generally more than enough for me. All the 'cracks' will take off around 1000 (or earlier)'till 1100(latest) and I expect to see different 200+kms-flight in the XContest.
Last Saturday I was finally able to make a flight I had in mind for many years: flying "around Arosa". Details here
Even tough I was able to close the triangle, the "cherry on the cake" would have been to land again in Arosa, which due to my impatience at the end of the flight I didn't - so there is still some room for improvement.
I had planned this triangle with XCPlanner in detail and I knew that in order to make this an FAI-triangle where the last turnpoint had to be. So to be on the safe side (as there was not that much room for error), I pushed this turnpoint a little too far and then I was unable to find the last good thermal again...
On the same day people flew quite some distances/ triangles from nearby 'Fanas' and I could also have made a longer flight if I wouldn't have flown this (selfimposed) task - but after so many atttempts in doing this I'm more than happy with these 53kms :-))
By coincidence I've found this video.
That's something we (unfortunately) cannot do with our PG's...
I do not mean flying close to the ground but so fast.
...cool sound too...
Here is the link to the "original -if you want to see it in better quality.
looking South from Arosa towards the 'Bernina'-massiv
The long wait is over! 3 good flying days in Arosa with some short xc-flights.
As (almost) usual the eagle(s) sometimes showed where the thermals were - unfortunately all attempts to take pictures failed...
over 'Litzirüti'
How a tree landing looks like from the pilots point of view can be seen here.
Eagle, sitting on top of a mountain...
It has been more than a month with just short(er) flights. Finally, today in Arosa, the conditions permitted some XC-flying. Even though the wx-fcst called for much better/ clearer weather, after waiting till 2pm the conditions looked promising enough to launch from the 'Arosa Weisshorn'. The route is also somewhat new, as normally I don't turn around near Chur, but try to continue. But with cloudbase beeing so low, I didn^t want to continue and sink out; instead I tried to make it back to Arosa - but due to cloud cover I had to land short.
On the way I took the picture of that eagle.
Today I had the opportunity to meet 'Rolf' from Advance.
And he was able to show me, that "hidden" under the seat there is about 7cm of additional strap. Thus by lengthening the legstraps to its maximum, the geometry of the whole harness is going to be changed in such a way, that even I would -most probalbly- comfortably fit in...
So this spring I'll be going to thest this harness again.
Today I had the opportunity to test Advance' latest harness "Axess "L".
PLUS: weight; craftmanship; large stowing space; good protector;
NEG: even if I fitted right into the specified range for this harness (1,88m), ALL straps (shoulder-, legstraps) are way too short: I was unable to stand upright on launch; furthermore I was unable to slide completely into the harness while flying: always sitting on the "edge"... (luckily I had a stirrup - otherwise it would have felt really uncomfortable!)
>> so if Advance is going to lenghten those straps, I'll certainly give it another try.
Thomas bei einer Akroeinlage
DO, 25.2.10, unser letzer Flugtag vor der Heimreise am 26.2.
Das Wetter war endlich so, wie man es sich für Marokko und diese Jahreszeit eigentlich vorstellt: schön und angenehm warm. Diese Bedingungen wurden durch ein grosses, fettes Hochdruckgebiet verursacht, was (leider) auch zur Folge hatte, dass die thermischen Verhältnissen nicht speziell "üppig" ausfielen...
Nebst den vom letzten Jahr her bekannten Fluggebieten wie 'Aguergour', 'Nigel's Place', 'Legzira' und 'Sidi Ifni' kamen heuer 2 Neue dazu: während der Grossteil unser Gruppe mit 2 Fahrzeugen zur 'Plage Blanche' (Tan Tan Beach) zum Dünensoaren und Groundhandeln fuhr; blieb der Rest (Peter, Carlo & Nancy, und ich) in Aglou; dh wir entschieden uns kurzfristig 1.5std ins Landesinnere zum 'Col du Kerdous' zu fahren. An sich war nur schon die Fahrt dies Reise wert, daneben gab es noch eine Abgleiter in 'Kerdous'
und einen kurzen Thermikflug in 'Thigmi'.
Sehr interessant hier war zu sehen, wie die Kinder, dabei sehr viele Mädchen, sich auf 'Nancy' konzentrierten - fliegende Frauen sind offensichtlch die grosse Ausnahme.
