Avila for Marcella

The passage of a cold front has cooled  and moisened things somewhat an this morning the clouds have been below take off level.  This should change by late morning and by mid afternoon we should have thermals to 2500m,  probably rising to a little above 3000m by late afternoon. The W winds should once again allow us to fly towards Avila, though getting over the pass may be a little more difficult as the thermal heights are lower than yesterday.  However, a Flight to Avila is not unrealistic for todays conditions.

What happened.

Well very nice, but low initially and eventually a pass crossing for all three of us at around 2600m.  Marcella managed to make El Fesno just to the SW of Avila.  Almost beating her personal record.

West wind. Marcella over the Pass

A high pressure day with the winds now in the west, probably not in excess of 20 km inour flying levels. Good thermal quality and good potential for open XC towards Avila and beyond. Thermals to around 2500 and going to 3000m by end of afternoon in hot spots. We will talk a bit about the airspace before we go up.

Wind at take off at 10am very light NW.. so far perfect.

What Happened.

Quite sting conditions with climbs to near 4m.s.  An easy route to the Pass, but Marcella got drilled on the other side unfortunately landing near El Carrascal.




				

3100m base, light N&NW.

It should be a better day than yesterday with a little less wind and the orientation more N or NW.  We can probably travel either towards Barco or Avila, we will see once we are in the air.  Not such a need for an early take off as unlikely to blow out early in the day.

 

 

Down to Barco with Marcella

We have high pressure centred over the Azores which extends across to western Europe.  There is a heat low in the south of Spain and an isolated depression over the peninsula which will move east.   This will make the atmosphere more unstable but only cause problems with storms to the south east and later in the week in the Pyrenees.    In our area conditions will be reasonably stable.

Today a light to moderate e N.NE, lightening this evening and going more East.  Cloud base at 9am is forming below take off height, but later in the day should rise to approx 3000m.

 

What Happened.

Nice morning XC with a low and slow flight to just past Barco  with Marcella on her first XC outside of Brasil.  Great clouds but just a bit to low early in the day to commit beyond Tornavacas.

 

Lord of the Himalayas

Cross Country´s magazine Ed Ewing interviews Sir James Mallinson discussing Bir and flying in the Himalayas.  My final bit of sketching before I get back to my day job later this week.

 

Off line for a bit there

We had a bit of a Doman name crisis over the last 24 hours when our website and e mails were removed.  However, back to normal now.

A later start to the season for us this year.  However, we get going this weekend and thankfully the weather is looking pretty good for next week here.  Just me and Marcella from Brasil next week so far.

These posting should bet a little more regular now

Dauntless Dan the Teeny Weeny Paragliding Man

If you read the Beano, Dandy, Whizzer and Chips, Wings, Skywings, XC Mag any time between 1950 till now you should sort of get this.   This year makes 20 years since my first emergency parachute deployment.  This is also kind of included as well.   I hope you like it.

 

Lock Out

Here is the completed lock out scene from my Seasonal Frustrations animation.  I did not quite finish it for the Christmas Eve deadline, so no  snow.  Here is the final version with animated windy snow and a bit of  animated  text.  I was asked by a school in Derbyshire to put it out separately so that it might be used as a training video.  You don´t hear of these sort of accidents much these days, but 20 years ago it was perhaps not so uncommon.

[youtube]//www.youtube.com/watch?v=STE3zcoYc_8&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

Seasonal Frustrations

[youtube]//www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIJYS4vnb3Q&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

More wind and even rain

Huge wave bars this morning.  Could not be worse for Paragliding (excepte maybe tomorrow!)

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