The Pre European
Wish the news got out faster but internet is not so
available in this Eastern European Nation. It is not
like anywhere else I have even been or flown and I say
that with a smile. It’s the little differences that
make this place so unique. Little differences….and
big forests. Driving into this country the first
thing you ask yourself is of course, “Where could you
land a hang glider?” The second question you ask is,
“Where could you land a PARAGLIDER?!?!”
Now that I have flown I can admit that there are
fields to land in, they are just small. Really small.
Like really really small. At the start circle I
found myself facing a mental block trying to pick my
courseline. I was further into the valley then the
main gaggle and couldn’t decide which route to take.
First I used my regular standard of at least one 200m
field within glide, without crop or power lines, and a
nearby road. Well, that left me no options. So I
settled for less. On my next glide I faced the same
dilemma. Where to go, no acceptable landings.
Mentally this caused a great internal struggle. My
flying strategies were turned entirely upside down. I
could evalutate lift, clouds, courselines, etc with
this constant sticking point. The computer was
kirking out. But the funny part is how I resolved
this problem. I noticed with each glide the decisions
got easier. 200m became 100, no powerlines became no
big powerlines, no crop turned into no grape
vineyards. By the last glide of my flight I was
having no problems at all! As I laughed to myself I
realized life was so easy now because of my new
standards….green. It just had to be green. Trees,
crop, grass. As long as it was green. Ha Ha. Its
not as bad as I make it sound. With a drogue or RLF
approach I can land my new glider in the tightest
places. I actually picked a runway 3 shoulder widths
wide and 20m long to land in and it was perfect. I am
no longer a boy. I am now a MAN.
The task was very difficult. The first 2 days were
canned due to strong north winds. Apparently the
north launch is no good. Today it is more North West
so we can use the west launch. There are clouds over
the high terrain but not much out in the flats. The
whole area is a peninsula surrounded by the
Mediterranean Sea. Climb above launch and it is right
behind the ridge. Over the back means a cool dip in
no time. On the far side of the course you can see
the Sea on that side as well. It is a narrow strip of
land. At the start I headed more away from the ridge
following some clouds. The gaggle was up against the
ridge. My first glide led me to broken weak lift that
couldn’t even compensate for the strong head wind.
The next thermal wasn’t much better and my third one
found me stuck over a small 300m hill with the ground
about 200m below. The only thing this knoll had going
for it was a strong wind. I could ridge soar sections
and find some bits of convective flow either up the
front or up the shoulder. This knoll was my new home
away from home for the next hour and a half. To my
right I could see the main gaggle stuck on another
ridge trying to soar in a 90 cross. My only relief
was that they didn’t seem to be going anywhere.
Eventually some good cycles came through and got me
about 1000m above my little knob. Some pilots were
climbing off the ridge upwind of me so I joined them
for a taller climb. In my favor, this ridge lead most
of the way to the first turnpoint and was clearly
ridge soarable. I bolted for the turnpoint and noted
the massive numbers of gliders in the bombout field
under the other launch. Back to the ridge I took the
same line the pilots before had. Ridge soar down to
the bowl, then thermal up to about 1400m. That hooked
me up with a good line to some other bowls as I did my
best to milk it cross wind. Closer to the second
turnpoint there wasn’t much to fly in terms of ground
sources. The clouds were hours gone and it seemed to
me that there wouldn’t be anything strong enough to
overcome the wind away from the small ridges. I
milked what I could, and even tried to soar a small
town on top of a bump. I clung to that until I feared
spearing myself on the lightening rod atop the clock
tower (I am kidding, I left because I wasn’t getting
up…but the rod was getting closer!). I tried the
downwind end of a narrow valley where the trees were
shaking extra hard. I found some light stuff but had
to chuck the drogue and hit the deck. A couple of
gliders that had been following me were able to milk
that after coming in a little higher. They eeked out
another few kilometers.
Unfortunately I got the results from this task late.
The scratching paid off for me, I placed 7th.
Kev
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