Waiting for ferry

We are at the port waiting for the ferry enjoying the sunshine and a last beer!
Looking back at the competition it was a mixed bag for the Brits;
Jamie Messenger flew a blinder, getting goal every day that anyone made it and Finishing a fantastic 2nd place,
Mark Hayman flew extremely well but not quite as fast as Jamie, finishing a fantastic 9th
I managed 29th in only my 2nd PWC with a 10th place one day
Tom Payne flew well but was unlucky with the 'Drama Dice' roll!
Craig Morgan had a nightmare, landing early then bashing his leg on take off on the last task. A trip to hospital for stitches was required but he should be back for the Italian competition next week.
As a nation the Brits finished 4th in the national rankings which is good considering the few numbers of British pilots competing compared to the alpine nations we beat!!!!!!

Chilling

We are camping next to the sea near Mt Olympus, chilling, swimming and a bit of flying thanks to Stellios from Olympic Wings. There are loads of flying sites here facing all wind directions and compared to Drama this is a metropolis!
Will catch an overnight ferry tonight to Brindisi in Italy then drive to SAN POTITO SANNITICO tomorrow.
The information on the website for the location is rubbish so it will be an adventure finding it! Anyone know where the camping is?

Sat 26th - last task

ANOTHER day of rolling the dice! I had an awful start, the gaggle I was with pushed nearer to the start before the race, trying to get into a good position. It did not work and we ended up lower scrabbling for altitude whilst another gaggle sat at cloud base in the flat lands. Woops!
After a lot of tentative thermalling we ended up with altitude to get the first turnpoint in the flats. Then a glide to the next turnpoint with a good strong climb saw us at base and in pursuit.
We saw the leaders at the next turnpoint and flew over them as they were heading back towards goal. The 'Drama Dice' came into play - lots of shade, no thermals and a glide to the deck. Woops.
I thought that would drop me way down the rankings but thankfully I only lost 9 places!
Result - 29th overall! Not too shabby in this level of competition.
So Sunday we will think about heading off. We are planning to go to near Mount Olympus for some flying and beach time then we have a ferry to Italy on Tuesday night. Then it is the Italian PWC the following week.

Friday 25th - What a difference a day makes....

Another poor and fickle day today but the roll of the dice went my way for a change! A low save after a glide through the gloom saw me with the leaders while loads of others landed. A conservative time with the gaggle and then a glide into the sunshine. From there it was plain sailing with a great climb at the last turnpoint then a long full speed glide to goal. I came in in 10th place! This has moved me up the overall ranking from 49 yesterday to 20th today!!
Result, but I know there was a good dose of luck too!
Hopefully fly tomorrow, hopefully with good conditions for a fair race for all.
Fingers crossed ;-0

Thurs 24th - second task

Another task today. Another poor sky - overcast and tricky. A good start, poor thermal and poor glide saw me slow, low and fighting a headwind towards the coming rain. I bailed out, flew back downwind and landed back at the camper van.It started raining 2 mins later! The task was stopped but scored. 69th for me. Rubbish.
I do not like this place and the flying is poor and fickle.
Off to sulk now!

Wednesday 23rd - First Task at last!

We had a task today. All went up and waited for the wind to start blowing up the take off. Eventually we started. The sky was pretty overcast and the thermals almost non existent on course. I was with the leaders well out in front when we went on a long, long glide with nothing. We fanned out with me on the left. The furthest right glider caught the faintest of thermals and as we all landed he squeaked out. Good lad. So, good try, poor result. 50th.
Only 12 pilots from 108 made goal :-(

Visited the local caves

We went to visit some local caves today. Intresting, and one of the few tourist things to be done. And then it rained again.

Tuesday 22nd - RAIN

Well, as I type the rain is bouncing off the roof of the van :-(
The day has already been canned - no task today. Time to do some running repairs to the van. There is a worrying smell of gas!!!
The tyre fire is still burning, even the rain does not douse those flames!

Monday 21st - First Task

We had the first task today. Forecast was for wind and storms – we eventually got both!
We all went to take off, task was set and we were off. I had a reasonable start and stayed near the front of the field to the first turn point. The leaders maybe a minute before but much lower. We all turned back and flew back along the course. Then the wind hit. Even with full bar I saw my ground speed was only 18km/h. Coming off bar saw only 4km/h (forwards or backwards?!!). I decided that the task would probably be stopped soon (for safety, wind and paragliders is not a good mix) so I pinned the bar to glide as far along the course as possible to get maximum points but as the task was too short a time duration it does not score according to the rules. Shame, I was doing well until then.
I landed and was soon followed by another 30+ gliders. In the distance the clouds had grown enormous and there was rain coming. And what rain!!

We quickly packed the gliders and hid under some trees by the side of the main road, waiting for the retrieve transport. A very hot and steamy ride home with lots of other damp pilots followed.

The camping (free camping at the football ground) was flooded by the downpour. Some pilots had an inch of water in their tents :-(

Weather is the essential ingredient in our sport and it never ceases to amaze me how a day can change!

Sunday 20th - 1st day of the PWC

We went up the hill today, stood on take off for 20 mins in cloud and smoke then all came back down again.

Saturday 19th - Practice day for Greece PWC

We set up camp at the football pitch, free camping with fair facilities - showers, wifi, electric etc. Bargain!
We went up to take off today after the poor looking sky cleared out in the afternoon. The sky was full of gliders, some practicing for the PWC and some competing in the last task of a competition from the previous week. Nice flying.
That evening the clouds built massively and at 1:30am we were woken by a storm of MASSIVE proportions! The thunder was almost continuous sounding like an empty truck rumbleing by and the lightening was amazing! Not a good night for the campers!!
In the morning the sky had a black stripe accross it. The local tyre recycling plant had been hit by lightening (although there were rumors of arson :-o) and a plume of acrid smoke crossed the sky. As I write (Monday PM) the fire is still burning.

Now In Greece!

We packed up in Slovenia just as the weather turned - storms, lightening and rain! We were very lucky with the weather for the competition, poor weather the week before and great during the competition!
After a lot of thought we decided to take a ferry from Venice to Greece instead of driving the 1200km to Greece. I would love to have done the drive, through some amazing scenery and interesting countries - Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria - but it worked out that the ferry would be quicker and the cost about the same. iVan (Wendy's 16 year old Talbot Highlander) is pretty underpowered and struggles up anything other than a gentle incline. No, that's not true - a gentle incline is a problem too ;-)
The ferry was great, sunning our selves and swimming in the pool as the world went by! It leaves and sails through Venice so we got to do some sight seeing too!
We arrived in Igoumenitsa in the evening and set off on the nearly completed motorway towards Turkey. Being incomplete meant the toll booths were not completed and the journey was free! The bad news was the price of fuel. Due to Greece's terrible economic situation the government have put fuel prices up dramatically. A staggering €1.46 (cheapest)!! That's £1.22 a litre. It was recently as low as €0.80 a litre!!
We travelled to Olympic Wings at Neos Panteleimonas and stayed a day. Wendy has borrowed an old Swing Arcus to fly - she has had so little air time in recent years she is not happy flying her new Niviuk Artic 2. Shame as it is a superb glider. So she is looking at a trade in or to sell the glider;

Niviuk Artic 2,
http://www.niviuk.com/eng/glider_product.asp?prod=artik2
EN C/ LTF 2,
Size XS (60-80kg) in 'Skate' colours (red),
7 hours
New in November
for sale, offers in the region of £1995 please!!!! She may part exchange for a 1-2.

From Olympic Wings we drove on to Drama. I am competing in the Greek Paragliding World Cup round here starting on Sunday. Unfortunately, as I write the rain is falling, lightening is flashing and the sound of thunder is almost constant. Doh :-((
Fingers crossed for some better weather for the competition. At least we can watch England thrash Algeria tonight in the bar!

Saturday 12th, the final task

Another good day today. I was pushing hard in the lead gaggle with two pilots in front but low. We had to negotiate a small triangular section of the course and having reached two of the 3 turnpoints we had to return to the main mountain to find a climb. Having finally made enough height to reach the final turnpoint we set off only to discover the slower later pilots had found a climb on one of the turnpoints! This meant they could complete the triangle without coming back to the main mountain first and suddenly there were 50+ gliders in front of me! Doh!
Lots of speed and cunning flying saw me carving through the field to finaly come into goal in 10th place! Not too poor!!
The Team results were good though, with Team Sick & Wrong winning!!
So the comp finished with a prety awful overall result for me but, oh well, there is always the next competition....
Tomorrow we leave Slovenia and drive to Venice to get a ferry to Greece where I will be competing in a round of the Paragliding World Cup (PWC). These are the highest level competition and will be a steep learning curve for me. Can't wait!

Friday 11th - Disaster!!

Well, that is it. Blown it. I pushed very hard at the start of the race - too hard - and landed very early on. This will give me lousy points, too bad to be able to pull back from so the comp is finishd for me. I'm now looking at a low 20's if I'm lucky.
This also puts me in a bad position in the Championship. The Championship is made up of two rounds - here in Slovenia and another week in St Andre Les Alps in France. The total of the tasks in the two competitions gives the final placings in the chmpionship. You can discard your worst task result (one discard). So, I'm stuck with a poor score from the 65th place as one of my tasks. Rubbish. Against the competition I am unlikely to pull it back. :-((
Oh well.....
At least it's fun!!
Tommorow is the last day so with nothing to loose now I'll be pushing hard!
Wish me luck!

Thursday 10th - Another good result!!!

A great day, good task saw me fighting it out with the fast French pilots in the seccond gaggle of gliders coming into goal. Got 3 out of 4 of them and finished in a great 6th place! After dropping in the overall rankings to from 8th to 16th after the last disasterous task I pulled a few places back to claim 11th place overall. Getting there! Stroll on tomorrow.........

Wednesday 9th Oh Dear!

Another good task today but there were issues. I was with the lead gaggle of about 6 gliders, well in front when we made a mistake. We flew back to the take off ridge. It was windy and turbulent. All the time we were discussing the huge Cumulo nimbus (cunim) cloud about 20 km away. Cunim's are very bad. The power of a storm cloud can suck gliders high into the atomsphere - people have been killed by them! The storm cloud drifted away and the task was safe, but we had a hard decision, monitring the cloud to ensure it was safe.
Being stuck on the ridge lost a massive amount of time and I finished a lowly 65th. Rubbish!
Oh well....

Tuesday 8th - no task

A very active sky saw us (safety committee) looking hard at the posibility of setting a task. We decided it was too unpredictable to fly and canned the day. A mass fly down saw the landing field full. Unfortunately some people were packing in a field just adjacent to the official landing field - an irrate local farmer ran over their equipment! Police we called and the farmer was fined!

Monday 7th - Another good day!

Another good task today, VERY fast flying and another 7th place!! Happy Day!

Two glorious days! and some work :-(

Friday, after spending the week chasing the weather without much success we decided to have a day off. We went for a bike ride in the morning, part on road , part off, then returned to Kobarid to meet up with Calvo.
For those who do not know, Calvo is the Bitish Team Manager and the British Championship Meet Director (amongst other things) and plays a crucial role organising and managing the competitions. The name? That comes from Spain where the local pilots nickname 'Calvo Loco' which means 'Mad Bald One' Quite apt!!
We spent the afternoon setting up computers, networks, GPS download equipment and a 20+ foot aerial for the radio coms.... Phew!

Saturday the weather finally improved enough for some good flying. Every man and his dog had turned up ready for the start of the competition the following day and the sky was full of people I know. Wendy and I flew till early afternoon then landed- only to get roped in to processing pilots for registration for 3 1/2 hrs. :-( This essential process includes checks on licences, insurance and other contact details, address whilst in the competition, mobile phone numbers etc. Quite tricky when people come from so many countries and all the associations have different (unreadable!)cards.

Sunday 6th and the first task. I had a superb flight pushing on with the lead gaggle of 6 gliders till a poor glide put me lower and chasing them on my own for half the course, costing me time on the leader (maybe 5 or 10 mins). A 7th place overall was a great result though, 5th Brit!
A lot of people had problems today, mostly self inflicted. The second turnpoint was on a ridge with very few landing options and many flew in low. They were unable to glide out and some (one, maybe 2?) ended up landing in trees! Not a good day out. The sensible ones glided out of the area to land safely but efectively having to give up on the task. At least they will fly again tomorrow!
Wendy had a great flight, sensibly staying high for the first turn point and then completing half the course for her 3rd longest flight! Result!
The forecast for the week looks good so I am looking forward to more tasks on the mighty R10!!
Cheers,

Slovenia poor weather but some flying

Yesterday we took a ride to Stol take off. I nearly had my kit out (paragliding that is!) when it started spitting with rain. Wendy and I packed and went back to the van and watched the locals (school and free fliers) take off and glide down through the rain. NOT a good day out in my books!
Today we went back to Kabala take off. Poor looking sky and I took off early(ish) and had a 40 min flight. Later pilots including Wendy was caught coming into the landing field in the rain. Doh! When we got back to the landing field we strung up the washing line and pegged out Wendy's wing to dry!!
Tomorrow is looking poor again but Saturday could be epic. Hmm, believe that when it happens!
We are enjoying Slovenia though, the scenery is superb and the area is a mecca for kayaks and white water rafting. The water is so unbelievably clear - and cold!! Wet suits are a definate!
Fingers crossed for the weather......

Flew Today

Fully instaled in a lovely camp site in Kobarid, Slovenia. There are two camp sites near the gorge, Lazar and Koren. Koren is 8€ per person + 4€ for electricity, Lazar is €10 per person +5€ electricity.
There is a 'paragliding taxi' service - minibusses which will come to the camp site (if booked) and take you to the flyable take off hills locally. Easy! About €10-15 depending on where they take you.
We went to Kobala today. Nice grassy take off. Nice 1.5 hr flight in very weak conditions changed dramatically when I eventually managed to get to the into wind sunny edge of the ridge. I was rewarded with a 4m/s climb to base! Nice. Glided against some other wings today and absolutely blitzed them! If only I was the only one on an R10 I'd be laughing!!!
Not looking so good for weather tomorow :-(
The countryside is beautiful, the people freindly and some things (booze and fags) are cheap while others like eating out looks expensive.
We are here for the next 11 days so fingers crossed for some good weather. Will post again soon
How about some comments?
Cheers,
Sonic