Sunday: Calima / Taucho

Even though the Calima was still 'on', we headed up to Taucho, as we saw many gliders in the air.

Launch was packed with pilots (mostly locals) preparing and launching, but the visibility was very bad: LZ at Leroy Merlin could be barely made out, LZ at the beach in La Caleta could not be seen...

I had a good launch in light wind and after several attempts I finally made it over launch and headed towards Ifonche.

Over the 'Fingers' at Ifonche I turned around as further towards Conde most pilots were flying low (too low in fact for my liking).

Ifonche

So I headed back towards launch, but I could feel that the wind was picking up and climbing also became (even) more difficult. Thus I decided to head out towards the LZ near our villa. I seem to have chosen the right moment as I just made it with enough altitude to the LZ :-))

This has been Hartmut's and Gaby's last day here; tomorrow they'll fly back to dampness, coldness, clouds and wind ;-)

Friday: Taucho (again) / Saturday: Calima (again)

Friday: a great looking morning with very few clouds hanging over the mountain made us hope it might be a better day than yesterday...

Sunrise, looking direction La Gomera

...but half an hour into my flight it started to rain again and the wind picked up quite a bit, so I landed just outside our villa (in front of 'Leroy Merlin).

Pano looking towards La Gomera (seldom seen without clouds)

Let's see what tomorrow will bring: if it's similar to today, than we hope to do a sunset flight ;-)

Saturday: unfortunately it was not to be: Calima again, though not much wind here in the south of Tenerife, but very lousy visibility -so we didn't fly.

Instead I drove along the old main road (TF-28) all the way to Güimar, so I could have a look at some flight areas: Jama, Fansia and Güimar.

In Güimar the launch has been improved considerably since my last visit.

...and also the LZ seems to have been moved (not confirmed!)

LZ 'Valle' looking towards 'la Ladera de Güimar' (and launch - about middle of pix)

Thursday: Taucho

Once more flying at Taucho, but this time a really nice fwd launch. Our timing has been a bit off, as it started to rain about 1 hour into the flight. Otherwise nice thermals and a good landing right on the beach :-)

over Ifonche : Conde left

la Caleta: Playa Fanabe (Beach Bar)

Tuesday: (Ifonche) / Wednesday: Taucho

Yesterday (Tuesday) we drove to Ifonche. Clouds were hanging low and it even rained at times. Hartmut had a good launch and a nice flight, landing right outside our villa.

I on the other hand had nothing but problems with my launch :-( And as the wing got wetter with each attempt, the less success I had - finally I packed up completely bathed in sweat...

Ifonche (West)

Wednesday: together with Ivo and Janet we drove to Taucho. The launch has been improved a lot since my last visit here in 2011.

Again I didn't get away on the first try, but eventually I had a nice flight until it started to rain again. Then I headed out towards the beach overflying our villa.

parking space of Leroy Merlin

our villa lies at 0430 of the big swimming pool

Beach landing

I didn't land right on the beach as many pilots attempted to land there at the same time, but found a really nice (grassy!) feld just 300m short of the beach :-)

Very unfortunately there seem to have happend 3 accidents involving paragliders: one right on the beach, another one below launch where apparently 2 pilots had a mid-air collision. About the third one I haven't heard any details. But it doesn't come as a real surprise when you look at the way some pilots fly: not following rules of way, turn direction in thermals etc...

Monday: Transfer VDE - TFS / N.P. del Teide

After 1 week on el Hierro we moved today to Tenerife. The ferry left early (0700) and arrived even some minutes ahead of schedule in los Christianos :-)

looking back to el Hierro

As our Villa wouldn't be ready before 1500, we decided to take advantage of the unusally clear weather and visit 'Parque National del Teide". Before driving up into the National Park, we had a look at the LZ's as we remembered them; but in the last years so much has changed here, that we haven't been able to find anyone of them :-(  Later I've been told, that for Taucho there are no more 'official' LZs. So tomorrow we'll scout for possible landing places...

We also wanted to ride the cable car to (almost) the top of Pico Teide (3718m), but for reasons unknown to us it was not running... We also had a look at the launches of Izana, but they have been covered by clouds. We returned to Adeje by the way of Puerto de la Cruz; at least here it still seems possible to land at the harbour, although much of it is covered bay parking areas.

Puerto de la Cruz (looking up to Izana-launch)

Sunday: (Tinor/ Charco Manso) Dos Hermanas

Already our last day here on el Hierro :-(  Time has passed way to fast as there is still much more to see.

As the sun needs time to heat up the 'el Golfo'-region we explored some more launches: first 'Tinor' (which eventually would have been flyable) and then 'Charco Manso'. But here we didn't find the launch...

Tinor - looking towards the harbour of Valverde (left side)

Charco Manso

Then we headed back to Dos Hermanas.

Clouds were slowly covering the launch. But Alvaro had told us that this happens very often and that they still would fly: just keep heading 'North' until you 'drop' out of the clouds...

dropping out of the clouds a 900m (1.8km from launch)

Just to be on the safe side I took along my old Garmin-GPS (beside the Flytec6030) ;-)

Mirador de la Pena

coming back from Mirador de la Pena

Once I had gotten out of the clouds (it even had rained a little) it has become a very nice flight with smooth thermals. The flight could have been extended for much longer, but I landed after 1.25hrs at Los Sargos where Hartmut and Gaby have been waiting :-))  A very nice conclusion of our visit to this island with its friendly and helpful local pilots. They don't even ask for a fee from visiting pilots!

Many thanks also to Ondrej, which really helped us to get the most out of the few flyable days. It's a pitty, that we couldn't meet personally!

Saturday: Dos Hermanas

...a very nice day with little wind and (almost) no clouds. Hartmut has made 1 flight; I could make 2 :-)

Nice conditions on launch with some headwind. On the first flight thermals have still been a bit weak, so I landed after about 40 minutes. On the second flight thermals had been much stronger, but still very small: I needed to make tight turns (close to the mountain face) in order to center my climb. But I was able to fly out to Mirador de la Pena before landing at Los Sargos.

looking back to launch (Hartmut getting ready)

LZ Estacion (in Frontera)

'Ireland'

Mirador de la Pena

looking SW (Frontera)

Today I also have been able to finally meet in person another of my contacts here: Renan. He has been very helpful in locating and correctly naming the flying sites here on el Hierro.

Dinner at 'La Pasada' another recommandation by Alvaro: this restaurant serves some typical local dishes: Lapas (Napfschnecken), Cabrito (Ziege)...

Lapas

Friday: (Malpaso)/ Sightseeing/ Dos Hermanas

In the morning light winds from SW - so no real good flying site...

But at Malpaso - the highest point on el Hierro (1501m) - we've found a place where I could groundhandle a bit.

The further SW we drove, the clearer the sky became.

Mirador de Bascos -Sabinosa

El Sabinbar - these are some of the oldest plants in the whole of spain

Arenas Blancas (looking towards Frontera)

Driving back to Frontera we had coffee with Alvaro, one of the contacts here I had been given. He recommended some good restaurants and also suggested that we should drive up to Dos Hermanas for an evening flight (- thanks for all the tipps!).

Dos Hermanas

When we got there, the clouds, which had covered the launch most of the day, had dissipated. With a little tailwind (and a long run) Hart and I both managed good launches :-) I even could find some weak thermals to extend my flight a little before landing at Los Sargos as the sun was setting.

LZ los Sargos

Sunset at los Sargos

All in all a long, but very interesting day which we finished off with a good dinner at 'la Bodeguita del Fà'.

Thursday: las Playas

Even earlier than anticipated the wind finally died :-))  It's not back to the 'normal' wind pattern (NE - Passat), but at least flying has become possible again.

Yesterday we had visited a site called 'Las Playas' (close to Mirador de las Playas') but totally blown out. According to 'Windy' this site looked doable today, so that's where we headed. On the way wepassed 'Dos Hermanas' and a groundhandling Playground (for SE-winds).

Dos Hermanas

Playground for SE-winds

'Las Playas' - looking South

looking back to launch

no designated LZ, but a road with almost no traffic...

Hartmut landing

Interestingly almost no thermal activity, so just an extended sledder. Later in the afternoon the sky became overcast and it even rained a bit on the Frontera side.