Dave called me to let me know that we had the Red Rocket back temporarily and so he and Tim were going to Lefkara (Kourtellarotsos) for some thermic action. I called Jamie to ask if he'd like to try a tandem flight (as part of my crusade to get everyone at this end of the island to join the club and add some much needed pennies to the clubs funds) and he said he would. Dave I knew would be happy to take him but a courtesy call confirmed my suspicions and we set off. On arrival the wind was looking ok if a little intermittent and we all piled into the rocket and set off for launch. On the top the wind was anything but on. A little from East then from the South then the occasional spot of Northerly and back to South again. We were all less than impressed but Dave assured us that this was normal and by noon the wind should be nicely trickling up the South slope and we could launch. The day was slightly overcast with a fairly thick layer of lifted dust and this was keeping the sun from penetrating all the way to the ground with enough energy to heat it. Thus the small thermic bubbles that were passing through were just that, small! at 12:00 we went for a short walk along the ridge to the Eastern end and found that a very nice wind was pushing up this slope. Unfortunately this slope is not a recommended launch due to the Greek military base at it's foot. The Police have been known to attend the landing field in the past (largely due to Dave flying far too close to their airspace) and asking why we are there!
Anyway I knew this did not bode well for any good flights but we were all now very hot and irritable and decided to return to launch to see if things had improved. Well not really but there was enough of a Southern wind to launch happily and so we decided to go for it even if it would be a straight top to bottom. Dave took off first with Jaimie on the Tandem and quickly dropped out of the little lift that was there and as I watched I feared they would not make the landing field. After some beats along the ridge and then a try for lift in the valley they gingerly eeked as much as they could out of the very small lift patches and managed to scrape into the field with inches to spare Jaimie put his leg into a thorn bush but other than that was very happy with his flight. Tim launched second and enjoyed about 15 minutes in the air before also conceding defeat when his glider decided it wanted to be behind him and not above him any more. He landed very close to Dave's helmet which was laid on the ground as a make shift target. I launched last into some mildly turbulent air and went pretty much straight down! well it's a better way to get down than driving! very nice flight even if it was short!
Here is my track log
Thursday, 26 August 2010
Sunday, 20 June 2010
Lefkara land out
Well Dave suggested that today 19 Jun 2010 would be a corker at Lefkara and we should meet at the landing field! I agreed and packed my glider into the car and headed out to the site arriving there around 10:25. I put my feet up and caught some much needed z's whilst I waited for the others, this was due to just finishing a 24 hour duty at work and only have 4 hours sleep. By the time they arrived I had woken up and felt as though I was ready for a nice days flying. We left the Galaxy in the landing field and headed to the top in the red rocket. at the top the wind was perfect though it was apparent that the strength was increasing steadily all the time. Dave went first, followed by me then Tim and finally Mark. We flew together for about 40 minutes and both Tim and Dave gained some amazing height and went on short cross country flights and back. Due to my low airtime I stuck near to the hill and managed to climb to 1230m which gives me my next goal of flying above 1500m
I flew around a little enjoying my height but then found I was in a world of sink. at around 750m I turned to find the lift I had originally climbed in but only found a small pocket and decided to try over by the Heli pad! this was my big mistake. now quite low over the saddle I quickly found I was in the lee of it and the pimple, the air was turbulent and I fought to keep the glider stable but the wing collapsed on the left hand side which swung me around a bit then it collapsed on the right hand side and by now I was looking to land "But where?" I thought all I could see was trees. It took a couple of minutes but I did manage to find a couple of nice clear patches with a track running between. Due to the lack of penetration I didn't manage to reach either of these patches and instead landed on the track between. I wish I'd had a helmet Cam to capture it all! You can find my track log here
Well now I had a decision to make. Head West up the near vertical hill back to launch about 2km or head SW and skirt the greek military base around the pimple and back to my car roughly twice the distance but on the flat. Well I thought I did not want to go anywhere near the military base so I opted to retrieve the Red Rocket from the top. I had 2 bottles of water in my bag so what more would I need? Well the hill quickly became very steep and was covered in lose shale so my feet would slip on every step. I trudged from shady spot to shady spot and every time I move to the next spot my ruck sack would catch on the branches of the very low short trees sapping what little energy I had. It took me around an hour to reach the top where I stole a can of Pepsi and a Mars bar out of Tim's cool box. Cheers Tim!
Big lesson to learn from this flight is do not fly to the Heli Pad if you're only at 750m as this puts you into the lee of the saddle! and definitely don't fly into the lee of any hills. I can now say this with authority! ;)
I flew around a little enjoying my height but then found I was in a world of sink. at around 750m I turned to find the lift I had originally climbed in but only found a small pocket and decided to try over by the Heli pad! this was my big mistake. now quite low over the saddle I quickly found I was in the lee of it and the pimple, the air was turbulent and I fought to keep the glider stable but the wing collapsed on the left hand side which swung me around a bit then it collapsed on the right hand side and by now I was looking to land "But where?" I thought all I could see was trees. It took a couple of minutes but I did manage to find a couple of nice clear patches with a track running between. Due to the lack of penetration I didn't manage to reach either of these patches and instead landed on the track between. I wish I'd had a helmet Cam to capture it all! You can find my track log here
Well now I had a decision to make. Head West up the near vertical hill back to launch about 2km or head SW and skirt the greek military base around the pimple and back to my car roughly twice the distance but on the flat. Well I thought I did not want to go anywhere near the military base so I opted to retrieve the Red Rocket from the top. I had 2 bottles of water in my bag so what more would I need? Well the hill quickly became very steep and was covered in lose shale so my feet would slip on every step. I trudged from shady spot to shady spot and every time I move to the next spot my ruck sack would catch on the branches of the very low short trees sapping what little energy I had. It took me around an hour to reach the top where I stole a can of Pepsi and a Mars bar out of Tim's cool box. Cheers Tim!
Big lesson to learn from this flight is do not fly to the Heli Pad if you're only at 750m as this puts you into the lee of the saddle! and definitely don't fly into the lee of any hills. I can now say this with authority! ;)
Friday, 18 June 2010
Avdellaro
Well I finally flew Avdellaro on 16 June 2010. When Bitu (B2) and I arrived (around 11:30) the wind was looking perfect with a steady breeze blowing up the face of the hill SSW. However after 10 minutes of assessing time it was apparent that things were picking up with some quite strong thermic gusts blowing through. I set up my glider and attempted to launch but due to the unstable nature of the air 2 attempts later I had decided that it was perhaps prudent to bundle my glider and go and have a soft drink in the local Cafe. I texted Dave to let him know how things were and left it up to him to decide weather he would come along. The Cafe is a Cypriot version of Greasy Lills, it's made out of wriggly tin with a fridge stacked with juice and a few tables spread out on the patio at the front of the shop. Due to the location (an industrial estate) it is very noisy with lorries driving past and a Peugeot garage opposite revving rally car engines and the like! I really like it!
The garage has three flags outside which are excellent for telling what the wind may be doing and we used these as we sat monitoring. At 13:30 we noticed that they were blowing much more gently than earlier so I texted Dave that we would go and take another look at the top.
When we arrived at UN 111 it was indeed much calmer that earlier on but those thermic gusts were still present so I knew I'd have to treat the hill with caution. I set up and launched straight out into some reasonable lift and flew forward to check out penetration it was slow but I was pushing away from the hill so I turned right and flew along to the cliffs where I found a nice gentle lift band to play in.
After 2 or 3 passes past launch I noticed a UN vehicle approaching Bitu and wondered if maybe I'd overstepped the boundary (as Avellaro sits on the boarder of the controlled zone and Southern Cyprus) but the guy mearly said "hello" to Bitu and went about his business. My concentration was re-focused as a sudden gust blew onto the hill pushing me back toward launch allot faster than I am used to on Curium and so I pushed my hands right up and found that penetrating now was very difficult. With my hands right up I turned toward the landing field but as I did I felt my harness drop to the left and I began to turn left, I quickly leaned to the right applied a little right break and looked up to see that 50% of my canopy was flapping around uselessly, 1 long pump of the break later and it rustled itself back into shape and I continued my decent toward landing. It became apparent that I was struggling to penetrate at all at this point so I eased out my speed bar in order to move away from the hill this made things quite bumpy but I stuck with it and eventually landed in the field opposite Bitu's car! I was pleased to have flown for 15 minutes but also pleased to be on the ground where I wanted to be. As I was bunching up Dave texted me to tell me he was coming and was about 20 minutes away. I answered him and told him I had flown and would meet him by the Iso container at the bottom as Bitu was coming for me and the UN were still on the top!
When Dave arrived he suggested we leave one car by the Iso container and take the other around to the bottom landing for Avdellaro proper, then we could all drive up in the clubs 4x4 (the Red Rocket). It seemed like a great idea to me so we did just that. The proper launch is a little less snaggy that UN 111 but still has it's fair share of obstacles and lose dirt to slip on. Launch is also slightly sloped which helps keep the wing out of the wind shadow on top of the hill. Well Bitu set up first and after waiting for a gust to blow through and having a couple of hiccups he launched sweetly and was in the air. Dave and I watched him for a minute or two and then I set up, had a hiccup of my own and then launched. The air was turbulent but buoyant with patches of lift and patches of sink. I found myself a nice little patch of lift and hung around in it to get some decent height but I quickly found that once I moved away from the lift I was sinking fast. I found that I needed to eek out the lift that was there and as soon as I thought I was at the top of it then it was hands up until I found the next patch. This technique worked really well as I found myself way above launch and higher than Dave or Bitu by some significant way! Unfortunately I cannot show you my flight track as I'd left my vario in the car door which was now in the bottom landing field! oh well at least I logged the first short flight.
I'd had about 25 minutes when I noticed that Bitu had landed in the UN 111 bottom landing field and I decided that perhaps I should try to land near my car so pushed out away from the hill toward landing. As I pushed away from the hill I found myself climbing steadily until I was way above the landing field and still climbing. Seeing that this field was a none starter I looked further away and found a nice (newly mown) light brown field near a few old farm shacks and I pointed at that. The field was perfect and I think it's a much better option than the one we picked out.
A new site under my belt and another half hour flight time in pretty tricky conditions. I'm a happy bunny! :)
The garage has three flags outside which are excellent for telling what the wind may be doing and we used these as we sat monitoring. At 13:30 we noticed that they were blowing much more gently than earlier so I texted Dave that we would go and take another look at the top.
When we arrived at UN 111 it was indeed much calmer that earlier on but those thermic gusts were still present so I knew I'd have to treat the hill with caution. I set up and launched straight out into some reasonable lift and flew forward to check out penetration it was slow but I was pushing away from the hill so I turned right and flew along to the cliffs where I found a nice gentle lift band to play in.
After 2 or 3 passes past launch I noticed a UN vehicle approaching Bitu and wondered if maybe I'd overstepped the boundary (as Avellaro sits on the boarder of the controlled zone and Southern Cyprus) but the guy mearly said "hello" to Bitu and went about his business. My concentration was re-focused as a sudden gust blew onto the hill pushing me back toward launch allot faster than I am used to on Curium and so I pushed my hands right up and found that penetrating now was very difficult. With my hands right up I turned toward the landing field but as I did I felt my harness drop to the left and I began to turn left, I quickly leaned to the right applied a little right break and looked up to see that 50% of my canopy was flapping around uselessly, 1 long pump of the break later and it rustled itself back into shape and I continued my decent toward landing. It became apparent that I was struggling to penetrate at all at this point so I eased out my speed bar in order to move away from the hill this made things quite bumpy but I stuck with it and eventually landed in the field opposite Bitu's car! I was pleased to have flown for 15 minutes but also pleased to be on the ground where I wanted to be. As I was bunching up Dave texted me to tell me he was coming and was about 20 minutes away. I answered him and told him I had flown and would meet him by the Iso container at the bottom as Bitu was coming for me and the UN were still on the top!
When Dave arrived he suggested we leave one car by the Iso container and take the other around to the bottom landing for Avdellaro proper, then we could all drive up in the clubs 4x4 (the Red Rocket). It seemed like a great idea to me so we did just that. The proper launch is a little less snaggy that UN 111 but still has it's fair share of obstacles and lose dirt to slip on. Launch is also slightly sloped which helps keep the wing out of the wind shadow on top of the hill. Well Bitu set up first and after waiting for a gust to blow through and having a couple of hiccups he launched sweetly and was in the air. Dave and I watched him for a minute or two and then I set up, had a hiccup of my own and then launched. The air was turbulent but buoyant with patches of lift and patches of sink. I found myself a nice little patch of lift and hung around in it to get some decent height but I quickly found that once I moved away from the lift I was sinking fast. I found that I needed to eek out the lift that was there and as soon as I thought I was at the top of it then it was hands up until I found the next patch. This technique worked really well as I found myself way above launch and higher than Dave or Bitu by some significant way! Unfortunately I cannot show you my flight track as I'd left my vario in the car door which was now in the bottom landing field! oh well at least I logged the first short flight.
I'd had about 25 minutes when I noticed that Bitu had landed in the UN 111 bottom landing field and I decided that perhaps I should try to land near my car so pushed out away from the hill toward landing. As I pushed away from the hill I found myself climbing steadily until I was way above the landing field and still climbing. Seeing that this field was a none starter I looked further away and found a nice (newly mown) light brown field near a few old farm shacks and I pointed at that. The field was perfect and I think it's a much better option than the one we picked out.
A new site under my belt and another half hour flight time in pretty tricky conditions. I'm a happy bunny! :)
Sunday, 13 June 2010
Lefkara Take 1
When we arrived at the top the wind was blowing over the back albeit very weakly with a few weak thermic gusts pushing their way up the Southern slope so we waited until around 12:00 when the valley thermals were finally stronger than the met wind and we could launch. I was third to go and found the air to be quite buoyant along the ridge but not amazingly lifty. Dave came on the radio and suggested I try out to the Eastern side of the bowl where he thought there may be some more lift. He was right of course though I reckon he just wanted to use me as a wind dummy! The lift was short lived as I fumbled for my camera and quickly dropped out of it and ended up bobbing around in the valley between launch and the landing field. I played around with the little lift I could find there for a while before landing just on the entrance to the field a little low over the road for my liking but otherwise a nice soft touchdown.
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Reward!
Well today I was determined not to stay in the house and I was desperate to make sure I eked out as much from the day as possible, so I packed a cool bag with juice, water and a snack of Cheese and TUC biscuits yum! and set off expecting an awful lot of sitting around and waiting. When I arrived at the hill (about 10:30) I was pleasantly surprised to find that the hill was on! a slight Westerly wind and very nice constant wind was blowing and after 15 minutes of watching and assessing I decided to get my glider out and give it a bash! No sooner had I laid my wing o the take off than the wind died away to nothing and a few minutes later it was blowing over the back of the hill from the North!
Oh well I thought at least I was prepared for this! I walked about the hill for a bit and decided to tidy up the mats as some of them had wondered away from their original positions. Quick check of the wind and it was still off so I sat on the rock to the right of take off and it was then that I noticed the Harriers flying out to the ranges from Akrotiri. I know it's cabbagey but I like that sort of thing. a few minutes later there was a plume of water went up on the horizon followed by a whooshing sound hmm? the Harriers appear to be bombing the sea I thought! and this made for about half an hours viewing whilst I waited! Well I waited until 14:00 and had nearly decided to just go home when Dave arrived he took one look at the hill and said "well it's on the strong side but looks doable! you want to go first?" I accepted and gingerly got my glider out! It felt strong but with the added confidence of a buddy standing by I lifted up on my A's and found it very difficult to launch, as though I wasn't penetrating so I pushed my hands up as far as they would go and after a quick step to the left I was off and soon very high over the ruins. Dave followed me up and played around for a bit on the Eastern side.
Graham turned up about half an hour later and I noticed Dave top land to greet him and they made their way to the sandpit to try out the tandem.
Graham was in a fairly good mood as he had finished for the day and is going home in the morning! I told him you're not home until the jet has landed in Brize Norton and then you're at the mercy of MT!
A good launch from Dave and they were in the air (briefly) I top landed and drove down to pick them up! Graham had enjoyed himself but Dave was fairly nonplussed with his flight! he was muttering under his breath about the wind appearing to be good but it's just not enough mutter mutter! we drove back to the top and Dave had a look to see if he could launch the tandem from the top but later decided against it as it was quite gusty there. A quick walk later and a much better launch saw them back in the air for a reasonable 15 -20 minute flight!
I drove down to the bottom and picked them up again and then had a nifty 30 minute flight in very pleasant air before packing up and going for tea at Dave's house. Cheers Dave and Elena!
Saturday, 8 May 2010
Snatched flight!
Today was a mixed bag of conditions, Bitu and I had a look at Avdellaro in the late morning but after a very snaggy and messed up launch we decided that it would probably be better at Curium so we left Bitu's car at the cafe and drove on down.
When we got to Curium Dave had just landed after a short flight and told us that it was better than it had been earlier in the day but it was still a bit bumpy and we would have to work for it if we were going to stay up. Eddie had just arrived and began setting up his hang glider and a few minutes later Tim arrived from the beech where he'd been since his earlier short flight.
Well the hill looked as though it could be picking up and Tim & Carlos set up and launched one at a time and were met with varying degrees of lift and all landed at the bottom after bumpy flights.
I launched and managed to get some lift early on, enough to get quite high over the top ruins and stay up. Bitu and then Dave took off and we all flew about quite happily. I think that we launched just as the hill had come on and managed to snatch the few precious minutes that Curium was willing to give today. I managed to squeeze 38 minutes out of my first flight! which can be viewed on Leonardo (Here). I didn't feel comfortable enough to snap any pics today as it required all my attention just to stay aloft. still I have a couple of snaps kindly supplied by Tim and Lou who had sat on the beech whilst I was flying. Cheers guys.
When we got to Curium Dave had just landed after a short flight and told us that it was better than it had been earlier in the day but it was still a bit bumpy and we would have to work for it if we were going to stay up. Eddie had just arrived and began setting up his hang glider and a few minutes later Tim arrived from the beech where he'd been since his earlier short flight.
Well the hill looked as though it could be picking up and Tim & Carlos set up and launched one at a time and were met with varying degrees of lift and all landed at the bottom after bumpy flights.
I launched and managed to get some lift early on, enough to get quite high over the top ruins and stay up. Bitu and then Dave took off and we all flew about quite happily. I think that we launched just as the hill had come on and managed to snatch the few precious minutes that Curium was willing to give today. I managed to squeeze 38 minutes out of my first flight! which can be viewed on Leonardo (Here). I didn't feel comfortable enough to snap any pics today as it required all my attention just to stay aloft. still I have a couple of snaps kindly supplied by Tim and Lou who had sat on the beech whilst I was flying. Cheers guys.
Friday, 7 May 2010
New Beginnings
Well after quite a long absence from this Blog I have decided to resurrect it! I've been having a few flights from Curium since moving to Cyprus late last year and thought I might as well chat about them!
The Curium Soaring Club based at Akrotiri, has a policy that all new pilots should attain at least 10 hours of flying, in varying conditions on Curium before they venture inland to the more thermic sites such as Stavrovouni and Dora. This, I have been working toward and am glad to announce that I have now gained my 10 hours but have yet to fly any of the inland sites.
Well I'd like to show you photo's of my earlier flights here but alas I have misplaced them, I suspect they'll be on my other machine (I really must sort out the lan connection) anyway you can link to some of them Here as long as you're on facebook.
Well this year in Cyprus has been so far quite bitty and unpredictable as far as the weather goes. The wind has been predominantly from the West and this is bad news for Curium which takes a more Southerly wind. This has made for some interesting and sometimes surprising flying conditions. According to other pilots on the island this year is the worst they've had in the last 5 years. I can only hope it gets better as my obsession with the sport is growing and due to work and the continuing bad weather I haven't enough time to get to the hill when it's 'on'.
Anyway here are a few pics of me on my last flight.
The Curium Soaring Club based at Akrotiri, has a policy that all new pilots should attain at least 10 hours of flying, in varying conditions on Curium before they venture inland to the more thermic sites such as Stavrovouni and Dora. This, I have been working toward and am glad to announce that I have now gained my 10 hours but have yet to fly any of the inland sites.
Well I'd like to show you photo's of my earlier flights here but alas I have misplaced them, I suspect they'll be on my other machine (I really must sort out the lan connection) anyway you can link to some of them Here as long as you're on facebook.
Well this year in Cyprus has been so far quite bitty and unpredictable as far as the weather goes. The wind has been predominantly from the West and this is bad news for Curium which takes a more Southerly wind. This has made for some interesting and sometimes surprising flying conditions. According to other pilots on the island this year is the worst they've had in the last 5 years. I can only hope it gets better as my obsession with the sport is growing and due to work and the continuing bad weather I haven't enough time to get to the hill when it's 'on'.
I've got to work on my pose!
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