IHPA Free Flight Spring 2013

FreeFlightIHPA

Official magazine of the Irish Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association SPRING 2013

IN THISISSUE

Flying Wave A particular flight, on a particular day, under particular conditions • Ager Dorin Borodescu tells usabout his trip to Ager in July 2012 • Site Guide Lacken, a great site for all skill levels • Hot Shots Get the T-ShirtiSITES Investigate a new site from the comfort of your own home • Fly SAFE John Welch focus on safety issues

FROM THE

editorFREEFLIGHT SPRING 2013

PAGE 2IRISH HANG GLIDING AND PARAGLIDING ASSOCIATION

Hello all...Welcome to the second edition of the newly resurrectedFree Flight magazine. We hoped to get this edition outat the close of 2012 but, as is often the case withvoluntary efforts, life got in the way a bit. It's surprisinghow fast time can slip by especially when there's adeadline to meet. Not to worry, it's still in it's infancyand no promises have been broken yet.

So here we are with a new look thanks to Pearse Cafferky who approached me with an offerto help a few months back which I was very happy about. After the first edition I wasbeginning to think I had bitten off a bit too much, given my complete lack of experience ofputting a magazine together, with a scarcity of free time and very few ideas of how to moveforward. Luckily Pearse brings with him a wealth of experience in the area of printpublishing and ideas are no longer an issue. We've set up an account with a system calledMailChimp, a website designed specifically to help manage Newsletters and have setup aFree Flight mailing list. You have all been added to this list initially as members of IHPAbut we hope the list will expand in the future so by all means, please forward the magazineto anyone you think may be interested and ask them to sign up.

My thanks to everyone who contributed to the articles this time round. This is the lifeblood of the magazine, we're a small group of pilots in Ireland but everyone has a story totell. This is your magazine, these are your stories and the telling and re-telling lets us all livethe moment again; a great xc perhaps or your first experience of free flight; a closeencounter maybe; a view from cloud base or an hour soaring a hill as the sun sets and thefeel of the air on your face as it cools. The moments we all remember. Put your thoughtsdown and send them in - it doesn't have to be a candidate for a Pulitzer Prize.

Finally, a word of caution. 2012 saw a number of serious accidents and we would like tosend our best wishes to all involved for a safe and speedy recovery. As the new year beginswe will all be a little rusty coming through the winter months so be careful as you get backout on the hill.

I hope you enjoy this edition and look forward to seeing you all on a hill sometime soon.

ContentFlying Wave 4A particular flight, on aparticular day, under particularconditions

Fly SAFE 6John Welch focus on issues toinsure safe flying for all pilots

iSITES 7Investigate a new site from thecomfort of your own home.

Site Guide 10Lacken, a great site for all skill

levels.

Ager 11Dorin Borodescu tells us abouthis trip to Ager in July 2012.

HotShots 15How to win a T-Shirt

THE EDITOR David MayE-mail: [email protected]

DESIGN & PRODUCTIONDesign Focus, The Warehouse,26A Mount Eden Road,Donnybrook, Dublin 4.

Free Flight Magazine ispublished by the Irish HangGliding and ParaglidingAssociation Ltd to inform,educate and entertain those inthe sports of Paragliding andHang Gliding. The viewsexpressed in this magazine arenot necessarily those of theIrish Hang Gliding andParagliding Association, theirCouncil, Officers or Editor. TheEditor reserves the right to editcontributions.

ContactSend your articles, jokes,comments, sketches,suggestions etc to:

[email protected]

OnlineIHPA

www.ihpa.ie

Packed full of essential information for all free flying pilots in Ireland.


Rossbeigh is a beautiful coastal site in Kerry that rises aboveGlenbeigh Village with views of the Rossbeigh spit, theCormane peninsula and Dingle bay.

Glibert Mc Glennon and Donal Cashman arranged to meet at theRossbeigh launch in the early afternoon ofMonday 11th June 2012. They were notexpecting much out of the day - a gentle soarperhaps but nothing more.

Gilbert took off first, choosing to use thelower launch known as 'The Wire' as thewind was a bit strong on top. The Wire atRossbeigh is a tricky spot. The glider has tobe laid out on top of ferns and heather andthe ground falls away very steeply to the front.One mistake could be very serious. On theday in question the wind was quite light atThe Wire which did not make for the easiestof take-offs.

Once in the air lift was weak and Gilbert barely managed to gainthe 50m to the top of the hill. He flew east to the next hill, againbarely scratching his way to the top in weak ridge lift.

“Then the wind dropped off altogether. There was a ‘funnyness’ in theair and the glider started to behave oddly” Gilbert recalled so hedecided to land to reassess the situation. Donal, who was still on

the hill, came down to pick him up and they both set back up thehill without any more expectation for the day than before.However, in the space of 45 minutes the day had changedsignificantly and this time when Donal took off he went straightup without turning. The reason became obvious as small lenticular

clouds started to form over the beach -WAVE.

Donal flew over to Drung and waited whileGilbert prepared to take off. Unfortunately, ashort while later Gilbert came on the radio tosay that the wind had picked up even moreand it was now too strong to launch. Donaldescribes the rest of the flight:

“Normally on our main transition from Drungmtn to the lake above Kells bay, we only makeabout 50m above the top of the hill and this isjust enough to get us across the 7km gap toKnocknadobar. On this day however, as I pushed

out from the hill I found I had risen to 100m above our usualmaximum height and was rising steadily. I was conscious of theincreased wind at the lower level take off but as I was penetrating wellI continued towards Kells bay and the monster that is Knocknadobar.Unusually there was clag on top so I kept well out as I passed westwards.

I found myself flying over the water about 500m out from the hill with

Flying Waveat Rossbeigh

Gilbert Glennon and Donal Cashman share their experiences of a particular flight, on a particular day, under particular conditions.

There was a‘funnyness’ in theair and the gliderstarted to behave

oddly

FREEFLIGHT SPRING 2013


plenty of height, the sun going down in front of my eyes. I glanced overmy shoulder and saw this crazy sky behind me, many layers of cloud ofdifferent shapes, sizes and colours and in between were a few lenticularsfor good measure. It really was a meltingpot and I was sorry I didn't have mycamera in my pocket as I usually do.

There was a headwind as I arrived atKnocknadobar but passing the along thehill for another 4km the wind slowlychanged to be at my back and I just keptclimbing all the way until the end ofKnocknadobar. I decided to do an aboutturn across the middle of CoonanaHarbour and to try the almost impossibletask of returning to Rossbeigh 18-20kmback up the coast.

In 10 years of flying at Rossbeigh manyhave tried the return and many havefailed. In fact I have only managed to achieve this feat on two otheroccasions, one of these accompanied by Gilbert and Kevin. Today was aday when I again succeeded.

Gilbert, who was still at Rossbeigh, came over the radio and asked why Iwas flying so far out to sea. I replied that the whole place was going upand that I was higher than I had ever been at Knocknadobar. I foundmyself sandwiched between the top of the the clag and the next layer ofcloud about 200m above. so I decided to push out from the hill furtherthan I normally would.

The return crossing of Kells Bay is usually the deathknell for all PG's asthe 5km distance to cross back to Drung is a bit too much for whateverheight one can get and any hint of a northerly wind will put even the bestpilot on the ground in no-time. On this day however, I had a bucket loadof height at Knocknadobar to see me safely onto Drung and then back toRossbeigh.

Top landing was out of the question due to the 30km wind Gilbert advisedme of so I flew down to land on Rossbeigh beach. Another good day outfor my little Icepeak. Distance flown 39km. Max height 1100metres above

sea level. Incidents/Collapses NONE.Smiles? Just one really BIG one, whichlasted quite a while”.

� � �

Frank Manning, another pilot who hasexperienced wave at Rossbeigh had thisto say of his flight “Rossbeigh is one of themost beautiful sites I have ever flown, no xcbut was lucky enough to fly in Wave forsome time while the Lenticulars formedabove me. While in phase under the cloudsit was smooth and constant lift. Noturbulence, but when it came to landing itwas gusty and I descended straight downwith no forward penetration. It was such a

beautiful experience to be able to maintain height over the beach, relaxingwhile watching a basketball match that was taking place below.” �

Editor’s Note: My thanks to Gilbert, Donal and Frank fortaking the time to describe their experience and hopefullythere will be more like it in the future.

For those who are not familiar with the site, we will berepublishing an article in a later edition of Free Flight writtenby Gilbert Mc Glennon which describes the route fromSeefin, above the Caragh River to Ballycarbery castle, justNorth West of the town of Cahersiveen, a 27km flightaffectionately know as ‘The Rossbeigh Run’.

KellsBay

Donal’s Outward Track

CoonanaHarbour

DrungMountain

Rossbeigh

KnocknadobarMountain

Donal’s Return Track

“I glanced over myshoulder and saw thiscrazy sky behind me,many layers of cloud ofdifferent shapes, sizes

and colours”

FlySAFEFREEFLIGHT SPRING 2013


I’ve read several articlesrecently about theimportance of your

reserve parachute and mostof them have been pretty

well written, however I think that byfocusing on reserves the bigger picture isgetting overlooked. If we start with thereserve and gradually expand our focus,perhaps the next piece of equipment thatyou should think about is your harness. Ithink most of us are aware that the widthbetween hang points can affect recovery,especially if you exceed the certificationtest limits but how carefully do you checkthe condition of your harness, especiallythe webbing and buckles? Have youthought about whether the impactprotection offered by your harness is reallyadequate? Unquestionably the “air bag”type harnesses offer much better impactabsorption. Modern air bag harnesses aremuch more streamlined than the olderones and are inflated as soon as you putthe harness on. Although it’s not really a

safety issue, air bag harnesses tend to belighter and pack up smaller than the oldstyle foam protection harnesses. Some ofthe best ones will turn inside-out anddouble as a glider bag. While you’rechecking your harness you should followthe reserve bridles all the way to theattachment points. A few years ago I waschecking over someone’s kit on one of ouroverseas trips and despite the fact that he’djust sent it off for a repack, the bridlesattached to the reserve weren’t attached tothe harness.

Do you get your glider inspected annuallyand inspect it yourself properly beforetaking off? I’ve come across a whole rangeof defects on gliders; some are obvious likeholes in the fabric, burst cell walls ordamaged lines but some are less so. Areyou aware that if you get your lines wetthey’ll shrink then when you fly the gliderthe A’s and B’s stretch out again (becausethere’s more tension on them) but the C’sand D’s don’t. The net result is that yourglider flies slower (and nearer to the stall

point) and inflates like a dog. I’ve alsocome across a glider whose fabric was sowarn out that you could poke your fingerthrough it.

Then there’s the flying. I’ve seen manyaccidents that have occurred as a result ofan inappropriate response following acollapse. Could you deal with a bigcollapse? Do you know how to recognisethe symptoms of an impending spin orstall? In nearly everywhere else in theworld it is accepted that once you’vegained your basic qualification and have10 or 15 hours you’ll go on to do a SIVcourse. I really believe in the value of thesecourses and if you haven’t done one I’dreally urge you to consider it.

I hope this has made you think a little bitmore about some of the things that youshould be doing to improve your safety.

Good luck to you all and safe flying.

John Welch, CFI Flight Culture,www.flightculture.co.uk

IHPA AGM 2013Tom Maher's Inn, Templemore, Co. Tipperary, Saturday 6th April, 8pm - 9pmFood and drink are available at Tom Maher's, and there is likely to be a session after the AGM, so bring your instruments if you play one!

ParachuteRepack

Garda College sports hall - Templemore, Sunday 7th April, 11am (at the front gate)A parachute repack session will be held in the Garda Training College sports hall on Sunday morning.Please be at the front gates of the college by 10.45am.

It’s a date...

John Welch, CFI Flight Culture, reminds us of the issues to focus on to insure safe flying for all pilots

The price of safety is eternal vigilance


Have you ever wanted to check out a new flying site, oneyou may never have flown before (or perhaps nobody hasever flown before) without having to travel to the site

itself? There was a time when there was no alternative but to gothere in person. Nowadays there are a number of tools availableonline that can provide a great deal of information on a particularlocation before you ever leave your house. In particular, I find acombination of the following tools to be very useful:

1. Google Maps: Terrain View and Street View(http://maps.google.com)

2. OSI Maps: Ortho View and WIND (topographic) View(http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer)

To illustrate the process I will take a site I scouted out in Mayo in2010 - Lough Nadirkmore in the Tourmakeady Mountains. At thetime there was little to no site information for the Mayo regionand I spent a lot of time looking through maps, etc, to findpotential flying locations. In this particular exercise I wanted tofind a site that could take an Easterly.

The first step is to open Google Maps (http://maps.google.com),browse to the area you would like to examine and turn on Terrainview (Fig1). This view allows you to see how the terrain isorientated into wind and quickly identify sites of interest. For thepurposes of our example I have identified a likely candidate for anEast wind with a red box.

Zooming in on that location we can see more detail (Fig 2). A steepeast facing bowl with a flat top and quite a bit of level ground atthe bottom that could provide good launch/landing options.Activating Street View by dragging the ‘little man’ from the redbox on the left and drop it on any road to get a view from that spot(Fig 3). we can check out the road network close by and also get aview of the mountain itself (Fig 4).

Fig 1. Google Maps, Terrain View

iSITES

Handy online tools to help in your search for new flying sites

David May explains some tools and techniques to help you investigate a new site from the comfort of your own home.



Fig 2. Google Street View showing the public road structure around LoughNadirkmore. I dropped the ‘little man’ near a possible access road to thebowl – see the images below for views from different points.

Fig 3. Google Street View: a view of where you turn off the main roadtowards the mountain (next to the ‘little man’ in the image above). It’smuch easier to find your way through the back roads if you have seen thevarious turns beforehand.

Fig 4. Google Street View: a different angle giving a better view of thebowl itself. Note how steep it is, the lack of trees and the abundance oflanding options.

At this point in the process, we have a good idea of the site: orientationto wind, height, how steep it is, the terrain (bog, forest etc), possibletake off/landing options and how close we can get to the site via thepublic road network.

Next open the OSI Map Viewer and zoom to the area in question.There are two very useful views available via the OSI Maps

• WIND view (topographic)

• Ortho 2005 (aerial)

Fig 5. OSI Maps: WIND (topographic) view.

The OSI WIND view is a topographic view of the terrain and as suchprovides good information on the height and steepness of a particularsite. From the image above we can see the site is East facing, 600mhigh and very steep. It has a relatively flat top and a lot of flat groundat the base. The WIND view can also provide extra information suchas forestry (in the case above there are no forest areas marked) andpossible access routes to a site - note the dotted line that runs fromthe road in the bottom right up into the middle of the bowl. Thissuggests some sort of road or forest track, well worth a closer look.

If it is drivable, it would bring us another 120 metres higher and closerto the site than if we had to park at the end of the public road andhike the rest.

Next switch to Ortho 2005 view to get an aerial view of the site:

Fig 6. OSI Maps: Ortho 2005 (ariel view).

From this view, we can see that there is definitely some sort of roadleading right up into the middle of the bowl (I added the red arrowto highlight the road in question). You can zoom in quite a bit usingOrtho 2005 view – it provides greater detail than Google SatelliteView and full coverage of the country.



Switching back to Google Street View, and following the side roadthat we identified earlier (fig 3) we see the road quite clearly as it leadsaround the shoulder and into the bowl behind:

Fig 7: Google Street View: road that leads up into the bowl, with Binnawin the front.

As it turns out, there is a gate on the road at the far hedge line but isnot locked and the road is accessible by car. You can drive right upinto the bowl which is large and flat and provides ample landingoptions.

So, there you have it. Before setting a foot outside your house youalready know how to get to the site, it’s characteristics (orientation,height, type of terrain, launch/landing options etc), you’ve had a goodlook at the mountain itself and the various landmarks, turnoffs alongthe way so that you can find your path through the back roads withoutgoing astray.

This particular site I have not yet had the chance to fly. As far as Iknow the bowl has never been flown so, if you are in the area and upfor a bit of adventure, why not give it a try. I have hiked to the topand flown the south face (Binnaw) that you can see in fig 7 above. Bewarned, it is a tough hike and very steep. Beautiful view once you getto the top though. �

Photos of south side of Lough Nardikmore and Binnaw. © Dave Tweedie

SiteGuide FREEFLIGHT SPRING 2013


LackenBlessington, Co. Wicklow

A great site that suits all skill levels and is only50 mins from Dublin City Centre.Overlooking Blessington Lake and giving spectacular viewsof the Wicklow Mountains, Lacken is an ideal site for thenovice and experienced pilots alike. From the car parkthere is a commanding view of the midlands to the west

allowing you to track the approaching weather and confidently gage windstrength over the lake.

For beginner and novice pilots the western slope (A) is perfect for short hopsthat perfect all those early take offs, landings and ground handlingexperiences. Indeed on weather-right days Fred Lahiff can usually be foundthere putting students through their paces.

For more experienced pilots Black Hill is were the best flying can be found.A ten minute walk up the path from the car park leads to a large slope areafor take off (B). It suites W-NW direction but avoid if wind is any morenortherly as rotor can come from Lugnagun, the small hill out in front.

The Landing Zone (C) is the large area in front of the car park but cansuffer from venturi, so care is needed on approach. If to strong, fly out andland in basin (D).

While Sorrel Hill (E) takes SW direction it requires strong conditions forsoaring which can lead to rotor in the LZ, so best to avoid.

Wind Direction:

General Information:GOOGLE MAPS CLICK HERE

GPS COORDINATES: Take off: 53° 7'54.07" (53.13169)N;

6°26'33.19" (6.44255)W

Landing: 53° 8'14.15" (53.13726)N; 6°26'29.51"W (6.44153)W

ELEVATION: Take off: 441 m.

Landing: 276 m.

TAKE OFF: From Sorrel Hill (SW) or Black Hill(W-NW), depending on winddirection.

LANDING: Anywhere.

GETTING In the village of Lacken, need to THERE: turn into the narrow road (next to

the shop) and drive about 2 km upto the carpark.

WEATHER Mountain area - weather can HAZARDS: change quickly.

FLIGHT Airspace in the area needs to be REGULATION: closed for helicopters - to do so

phone 00353 1 4037514 andinform about flying activities.

N

S

W E

E

A

D C

B

CarPark

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=+53%C2%B0+8%2716.96%22N,6%C2%B026%2727.64%22W&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sll=53.137709,-6.462193&sspn=0.040934,0.132093&t=m&z=15&iwloc=near


My trip to Ager started back in March when Ifirst began thinking about possible flyingdestinations for 2012. I liked the idea of

taking part in a competition, not for the competitionitself but rather for the simplicity of it; pay the fee,show up on the day and fly; the rest is taken care of. Ialso liked the thought of flying with and learning frommore experienced pilots. So I checked the competitioncalendar and decided on the Ager Nordic Open in July,dropped an email to the forum to see if anyone elsemight want to join, booked the flights and then…waited.

Finally on July 18th my girlfriend Chelsea and Ipacked our bags and headed to the airport with all theattendant excitement at the start of a new trip. Therewere issues at Dublin airport with extra baggagecharges and again in Spain with the rental car companybut we put it all behind us once we got on the roadand headed into the mountains.

Arriving at Ager at 3am we promptly put up the tentand fell asleep to a beautiful cool breeze and dreams offlying. 3 hours later I was already awake and sorting

my kit. The forecast was good and I could already feelthe buzz as I gazed up at the ridge and launch at Colld’Ares.

There are four main launches at Ager. Access to thelaunches is by a newly surfaced forest road that windsup the mountain in a series of hairpin bends. It takesapproximately 30 minutes to get from our base at thecampsite Vall d'Àger to the main Coll d'Ares launch.

Soon I was in the air and cruising the ridge (AbovePhoto). I noticed at the end of the ridge some glidersgetting pushed back with the stronger wind so Idecided to attempt the crossing to the next ridge bypushing well out into the valley first. A few othergliders followed me and 4 of us attempted the crossing.Turns out they were following me, thinking I was alocal and knew what I was doing, as I was taking acompletely different path than the others. I arrived lowat the far side and had to scratch my way up again, theproximity of rocks and the hot air gave me 2 bigcollapses but happily the glider responded well andrecovered fast.

Ager 2012...

...a dream holiday!Dorin Borodescu tells us about his highs (over 3000m) and lows (a few close ones) of his trip to Ager in July 2012.



Once back on top I was rewarded with abeautiful view (Photo 1) and as I wasalready pleased with my first flight Iheading for Vilanova de Meia to land(Photo 2). But at the village I picked up anunexpected thermal so I went with it,drifting back onto the main ridge and downthe valley for a very enjoyable 43.8 Kmflight. Rounded off the day with a swimand relaxed as the sun went down! Perfect.

Next day 20th, with more confidence Idecide to go further taking off at 12:30 inlight conditions. I followed more or less thesame path as before but faster this time,pushing along the first few ridges quite lowuntil almost at the end I finally managed topick up some height and jump back to thehigher ground.

I followed the main valley, passed the city ofIsona and linked up to the main ridgeAbella de la Conca , with its amazing 2towers and stunning view. I consideredfollowing the ridge (I discovered a few dayslater that the route along Abella de la Concawas the way to Organya) but the waylooked very remote and I decided against it,turning W instead out into the valleytowards Trepm (Photo 3). Conditions wereimproving and I was maintaining heighteasily as I passed La Pobla and on toSenterada. The valley began to narrow atthis point (Photo 4) and I lost height as Ipushed to the next ridge. What happenednext was not my best moment.Concentrating on pushing further along theridge I did not pay much attention to thebig power line that was running along thevalley on a converging course. Soon I foundmyself low on the ridge, below the height ofthe power line and no lift to be found! Ipassed under the lines without anydifficulty but it was only then I noticed theother lines further along which wereblocking my exit. I had effectively boxedmyself in with very little room tomanoeuvrer and very little time to think! Ihad to circle down quickly and focused onthe only landing option I had – squeezinginto the tight strip of land where the treeswere cleared for the power line. Far fromideal indeed but the alternative did not bearthinking about. Luckily I landed safely withnothing damaged but my pride and abroken seatboard.

My head was spinning; how on earth did Ilet myself get into such a situation?Tiredness played a part and a lack ofconcentration; in the effort to extend myflight I did not pay attention to the terrainas the valley narrowed and landing options

all but disappeared. Oh well, a lesson learnt!On the plus side, the flight was 73.2 km -my best to date. Chelsea came to pick meup and we went for a swim in one of themountain lakes, had a bite to eat and thenback to base and a well earned rest.

The next day (Sunday) we took a breakfrom flying and did some sightseeing. It’s abeautiful region and we had a great timejust taking it easy. Monday 23rd was thestart of the competition. More than 100pilots, at least 50 of them accomplishedcompetitors (http://www.nordic-open.eu/2012/). The task, my first evercompetition task was 71.5km to goal. Ilanded 6km short – my lack of anycompetition experience was obvious,relaxing too early and losing valuableheight. Over 80 pilots made goal on thefirst day which showed me the high level ofthe pilots and I knew I would have to learnfast if I was to make any sort of showing atall.

The next day was a difficult task and manyof us got caught low in a strong valley windjust 14km out and had to land. Meanwhile,Chelsea took a tandem flight, her first everflight and she had a great time flying alongthe ridge with the main gaggle.

Although the competition was over for methat day it was still early afternoon so Idecided to fly again. I took off at the lowerlaunch site (Raudoral) this time as the windhad increased and I quickly got to 2500m. Idecided to take a different route than beforeand switched to the east side of the Valley,continued to Tremp and along the lake(Photo 5) that I had passed on the oppositeside just a few days earlier.

Ager was quite hazy in the distance nowand cloud base was rising all the time andsoon I was at 3000m and heading into thehigher mountains (Photo 6). The viewswere amazing and conditions looked goodand I started to think I might even be ableto cross the mountains all the way toFrance! But, I decided against it as I didn’thave a Spot device and it would mean along retrieve, I would more than likely missthe next day of the competition.

So I changed direction, crossed the valley tothe east and connected with the far ridge.Just as I arrived about 50 Griffen vulturestook off and we flew together for a bit. Itwas quite a show – luckily they were moreinterested in the carcass of a dead cow thanin me (or my wing) and I headed on to thenext ridge without incident. I was low againnow but I had learnt my lesson and was

4

5

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1



more patient this time. I was rewarded witha super thermal that brought me right backup to 3000m, unreal. I continued on foranother 10km, forest in all directions so Iwas careful to follow a road just in case.Another thermal and I was back at 2800mwith a smile from ear to ear. I could see theimpressive Pentraforca Ridge in the distancebut I decided to call it a day - it was already6pm and I was happy with the flight so Iwent on a final glide, landing near Seud’Urgel (Photo 7) at 6:30pm not far fromthe Andorra border. A 98.3km XC, WOW,I was over the moon. As ever, my eternalthanks to Chelsea who came to pick me up.

The next day we all watched as a 3 year oldchild took off on a tandem flight (Photo 8).He was so happy, screaming “I’m Flying,I’m Flying” … and I thought to myself thatevery time we take off we are just like him,maybe not shouting it out loud but the joyof flying is the same. The task this day was adifficult one and after 55km tiredness ledme into a bad decision, choosing the wrongroute that left me with a big flat area offorest to cross before goal so I said NO andlanded.

Thursday was cancelled due to a storm andwe watched it pass from the restaurant incandle light as the power went out. Therewas still time for a relaxing restitution flightin the evening after it passed – Ager is wellknown for that.

Friday 27th was cancelled also just after thestart, but I was already heading to land atthat time as I didn’t like the look of the sky(Photo 9). So Chelsea and I took a bunch ofthe guys swimming to the mountain lakewe had been at a few days ago – we had alaugh on the way up as they hadn’t a cluewhere we were going and the lake is quitehigh in the mountains. It’s a beautiful spot,the water is crystal clear with lots of fish anda few of the group went scuba diving andtook some movies under water. Despite thebig NO FISHING sign there were 2 policemen fishing happily. The LAW – I guess it’sthe same everywhere, eh?

28th Saturday was a 58.5 km task with anstart early to avoid the storm front. The taskwas an elapsed time format so you chosewhen you cross the start line and start theclock! I decide to start early and it paid offas I got to goal in the beautiful area aroundOliana (Photo 10). Only about half thefield made goal on the day so I was veryhappy with my efforts. I started tounderstand the way to approach the tasks asit is a completely different story from a

classical XC. Some parts need to be fast,some parts you need to take slow and bepatient and every now and again you needto take a risk to cross a difficult section, Iwas happy to reach my first goal but moresatisfying was the feeling that I waslearning.

Sunday 29th was the last day and a 64.7task was called, probably the most difficulttask of the comp. The top pilots were allvery close in points at this time so achallenge was needed. Lots of the leadingpilots landed out on a crazy 7 km sectionwith a strong head wind and going to thelee side of a mountain! It was a difficultsection: if you got high you hit the strongwind and would lose all your height againas you push forward without gaining anyground! After 20 min of this game, Ichanged my approach and stayed low onthe lee side, away from the wind, keepingjust enough height to stay up but no moreand worked my way along like this until Ireached the top of the mountain. At thispoint, I got as high as I could and went forgoal! Just 38 of us reached goal on the finalday (Photo 11, next page) – hard workindeed but very satisfying.

That evening there was a barbeque and theprize giving with lots of talk and laughter. Icame 66th overall of 105 pilots and 13thout of 34 in my class (sport class with wingsup to EN C). I was thrilled with the resultand loved the experience of competitionand flying with so many other pilots.

We still had another 2 days of vacation andI was pumped to try and get in a really bigflight – studying maps and getting somelocal knowledge but it wasn’t to be as thewind turned SE which doesn’t suit so I hadsome fun flying locally.

Overall it was a great holiday and a fantasticlearning experience with more than 30 hairtime and more than 530 km XC in total.I have uploaded the main flights on myLeonardo page athttp://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/tracks/world/alltimes/brand:all,cat:0,class:all,xctype:all,club:all,pilot:0_7748,takeoff:all

Not the easiest conditions to fly in thoughwith 1 or 2 reserves thrown most days inthe contest, 2 of which were quite close calls(one reserve opened only a few secondsbefore the ground) and the helicopter wascalled twice. Happily though there were noserious injuries.

I had quite a few collapses over the courseof the week and I started to get used to

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them after a while, just dealing with theglider and continuing on. I was flying lessaggressively in thermals after the second day– normally I try to stay tight in the core butthis didn’t work so well as you end upfalling out of the thermal almost stalling theglider! After the first day my arm hurt somuch as the thermals were strong andbanking in required a good pressure on thebrake so I started to wrap the brake line towork with my arm higher as it gave me astronger position to work from.

Finally the time came to head home. Weleft the camping gear there as I intend to goagain next year (camping facilities weregreat), for more flying. Ager is a super flyingdestination with lots of potential for XCwith many different routes and of course,the restitution flying was something else.Highly recommended.

Fly high in LIFE... and in HEART!

Dorin � 11

Ager is situated around 140km NW fromBarcelona in the beautiful province ofCatalonia at the foot of the The Serra delMontsec mountain range. The Serra delMontsec is a limestone system that ismore than 40 km long and covers a totalarea of 18,696 hectares, spreading acrossthe districts of La Noguera and El PallarsJussà. The rivers of La Noguera Pallaresaand Ribagorçana have left their mark onthe landscape in the form of thespectacular gorges of Mont Rebei andTerradets, which now divide the sierrainto three separate parts. From west toeast, these are: Montsec d'Estall, andMontsec d'Ares and Montsec de Rúbies.

PARAGLIDING EARTH CLICK HERE

GPS COORDINATES: Take off: 42°2'47" (42.0464)N;

0°44'45" (0.7461)E

Landing: 42°1'1" (42.0171)N;0°44'44" (0.7457)E

ELEVATION: Take off: 1560 m.

Landing: 741 m.

AgerCatalonia, Spain

A

C

B

Ager

A = TAKE OFF (COLL D'ARES)B = LANDING FIELD (PIG FARM)C = CAMPSITE

http://www.paraglidingearth.com/pgearth/index.php?site=7366

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