Scuol - mit Peter W (Leeloo SM)

PeterW with his newly aquired Leeloo SM

Saturday: day trip to Scuol (Motta Naluns) with my friend PeterW; we met at Schiers, where I had parked my car and then rode the train to Scuol. On launch me met some other 'Arosa pilots (Marlies and PeterN): that made 4 Leeloos on TO :-)  This was the first day the gondola in Scuol has been  running after the maintenance break, so quite a number of pilots have taken advantage of an easily reachable launch.

Pano NE to SW at ca 3000m

Cloudbase in the beginning has been rather low, so only the 'eager' xc-cracks have launched early. But (as forecast), base rose steadily (my Hmax: 3450m). The N-/NE-wind (Bise) could be felt throughout the whole flight, which resulted (for me) in a not too long flight without venturing too far from Scuol; landing after 1.25h at the Eastern LZ. 

Scuol: Eastern LZ (long, light green field)

According to XContest, quite a number of pilots have made long flights here that day.

Alp Scheidegg

looking West

Mon, 22.5. the best therapy against Jetlag: go flying ;-)  Together with Andy an hour long flight from Alp Scheidegg. Thanks to the hiker who has driven me to launch!

JP'23 - actual trip data / acknowledgements / numbers / maps (places visited)

Places visited

>> First and foremost, my thanks go to Ruth for 'letting me go' on this long trip!!! <<

And then to the many, who have helped in any which way to make this such a successful voyage:

(by 'order of apperance' in Japan)

Chikako

Atsushi

Tak-san and Shoichiro

Yuko

Rick and Leanne

the many unnamed Kyushu flyers

Peter and Tekko

Ogi-san

Koba and Yukkiko

Maebori-san and Joshito

Koji and Mari

Masa

several unnamed Honshu flyers

The 'weather' is intentionally not mentioned here, as without Rick's more than expert advice (!!), I would not have been able to make so many flights - maybe not even half...

some numbers

Flights: 19 

flight areas: 14, whereof 6 new :-)

...Yuko says, that in 2 weeks we have driven 3'500km around Kyushu, but that has been the 'price' to be paid for getting in all these flights and flight areas (despite the wx)... 

Onsen: 20*

Sushi: 8*

Soba: 7*

Conclusion: 

Has it been worth it? YES! 

Of course there could have been (always) more flying. But meanwhile I have come to accept the 'weather induced' restrictions on flying ;-)

But at least as important: meeting again many old friends and making new ones!

Flying wise: my Leeloo behaved flawlessly and the flying has (almost) always been on the very safe side.

JP'23 - Narita (2 nights) / return flight: NRT-ZRH

Friday: overcast, later rain. I just went to Narita 'village' in the afternoom for beard trimming (less than 7chf!) and Unagi dinner.

Saturday: travel day...

waiting for boarding

Flying NE just outside Russian airspace until reaching US airspace over the Bering straight (near Nome, Alaska), where the aircraft turned North and having passed the Northpol continued more or less South (direct ZRH).

Bering straight

Landfall near Bodo (Norway); flight time 13h50min.

JP'23 - Aoki / tx NRT

Wednesday: after an extensive (Japanese) breakfast I have been picked up, driven to Masa's house and then to launch. 

missing: Miso soup, rice, fruit salad...

Here I've met also Nakajima-san and Muroga-san, 2 Japanese pilots I had the pleasure to have met already several times - be it in Italy or here in Aoki. I could make 3 flights, but nothing really worthwhile; then back to my hotel for onsen. Later dinner with Masa (Yakitori).

Thursday: after onsen, traditional breakfast (for the last time on this trip), then again up to launch. I didn't join the student pilots for the sledders to the LZ, but waited, hoping for better conditions than yesterday ;-)

As I finally had made up my mind - hoping the conditions would be good by now - suddenly a kind of 'gust front' appeared, making flying absolutely impossible. Masa has had his problems of getting the last students safely to the ground. They had launched while nothing indicated such a drastic change. Thereafter flying has been stopped (once more)...

On the way to Ueda for my train back to NRT we had a Soba lunch.

Soba

Shrine at Ueda

Unenventful train ride to Narita; Sushi for dinner at the hotel.

JP'23 - Happo-one, tx to Aoki

Tuesday: for a moment I feared that the fcst would be wrong again, as in the early morning the sky has been completely obscured, but on the webcam it could be seen, that it has been only low stratus covering the valley floor... Soon all was gone and I was on my way to launch. The only option (as mentioned in yesterday's post) for flying was Happo-one; though I would have loved to fly Goryu, as here in 1993 I had met Koji. Of course Kizakiko would also have been interesting as a new site...

Ready on launch around 1000: I faced the 'dilemma' of either waiting longer for the thermals to become stronger but risking that the increasing N-wind would make Maebori-san shut down the flight area after noon, or launch now and risk sinking out. I have chosen the former.

It took me quite some time to get above launch, but slowly the thermals became stronger - as well as the N-Wind.

Getting back to 'terra firma' proved to be rather tricky: windy and lift almost everywhere, but in the end I managed a decent approach and landing.

Spaghetti - real Italian style (by Mari)

At 1400 Yukkiko and Koba arrived and I had to leave Mari and Koji and their hospitality and great cooking. On the way to Aoki we passed Lake Kizakiko, where I at least could have a look at the LZ.

Kizakiko: LZ, looking to launch (near highest point)

Lake Kizakiko

a last glimpse of the Japanese Alps

In Aoki they have 'dopped' me at Masa-san's place and then headed home. Before driving me to my hotel for the next 2 nights, Masa has shown me the new alternative LZs, as his regular LZ  also can become tricky in the afternoon.

traditional Ryokan

After onsen a sumptous dinner; I have lost count of how many dishes I have been served; and the camera ran out of power 2 dishes before dessert ;-)

JP'23 - Rain and more food

Unfortunately, for once the fcst has been correct ;-) Rain on Sunday and Monday...

Sunday: Yukkiko spoiled me once more with an excellent breakfast and later with tea and 3 different home-made cakes.

traditional Japanese breakfast

Then time had come to pack and leave this extremely hospitable couple and their very special house :-(  They brought me to Koji and Mari, just a 15 minutes drive away. I had stayed here already in 2019 for several days and this time they kindly hosted me for 2 nights. 

'Unfortunately', also Mari is an excellent cook - so no chance of shedding some weight ;-)

Okonomiyaki, a Kansai (= Osaka area) speciality

Monday: more rain and clouds, just for lunch there has been a short spell of sun; later onsen and dinner at a Chinese Restaurant.

Hoping that the fcst will again be correct, as presently Tuesday/ Wednesday are supposed to be sunny and warm; the wind fcst is not very accurate... Hakuba (Happo-one or Goryu), Kizakiko, Iksaka or Aoki would be available, but Goryu is closed for maintenance, Kizakiko open only on weekends and at Aoki nobody there... So most probably once more flying at Happo-one - if at all. Maebori-san will advise us in the morning.

JP'23 - Happo-one

Another 'masterpiece' by Yukkiko: breakfast: almost everything home made and bio...

Contrary to any fcst I had seen 2 days ago it looked flyable :-)  So back to LZ and by shuttle bus to launch, as the gondola presently is stopped for maintenance. But the infrastructure looks rather run-down to me...

Some thing that very rarely happens: I launched first ;-) I also launched from a position nobody else launched from in these conditions: crosswind (almost 75° from the right). But my reasoning went as follows: where would I lay-out and launch from if I came to this place on my own? - without being influence by anybody else. Joshito, the local flight instructor agreed with to desicion...  After waiting a while to have at least a little less crosswind I had a clean (reverse) launch and immediately found a nice thermal :-)) 

my chosen launch position with the x-wind from the right (left side in the picture): at 5 o'clock from the brown platform and to the left of the 2 white gondola pillars, so I had the whole slope in front of me; all other pilots launched from the left side of the platform, having the cables of a chairlift on their right side...

LZ: the 'white' field at 4-5 o'clock of the ski jumping

Something that very rarely happens: I launched first ;-) I also launched from a position nobody else launched from in these conditions: crosswind (almost 75° from the right). But my reasoning went as follows: where would I lay-out and launch from if I came on my one to this place (without being influenced by anybody else). Joshito, the local flight instructor, agreed with my desicion...  After waiting a while to have at least a little less crosswind I had a clean (reverse) launch and immediately found a nice thermal :-)) Flying for a bit over an hour. Joshito had announced a window of about 2 hours before the wind (again) would be too strong; later it was going to rain anyway...

Onsen with Koba

...and again for dinner Yukkiko did an outstanding job!!