Algo 2014 day Two

What a thing to wake up to ... still some of us are used to it

The sun pops up for a look

First breakfast in Casa Zahara and yes the Golden Grahams were lovely Bill ;)) Everyone emerged in various states of undress with Peachy and Graham K vying for the underpants competition, think Graham has a little catching up to do.

C'mon Bill see what you are missing ;))

Kaz gets going on the first of many as a Paramotor flies by

As everyone settled into the breakfast organisation Kaz started on the first of 140 packed lunches, fortunately not all today. With the basics sorted will loaded the vans and headed out on a varying forecast, decisions, decisions and we decided on a trip to Ronda LV. After dodging the normal road slips we arrived to find Fly Spain having just set their students off on a top to bottom. A site brief gliders out and the forecast wind filled in and went off, hmmm not ideal. Ok Pack up and lest head off, back to Lejar and to the notice board field. Windy so no trip up the hill but useful time spent with some ground handling and German dodging or not as the cast may be, Simon S got friendly with them and exchanged phone numbers …....

Michel shares the knowledge whilst martin contemplates

Lunch eaten Germans sorted and we headed off to have a look at El Bosque with the hope of some evening flying, maybe, possibly. Driving in and it was a bit breezy but the sight of a lone Paraglider taking off saw us head straight up and an enthusiastic bunch pull out their kit and walk up to launch where we found about 15 pilots sitting and waiting.

Waiting for it to come on a bit

The wind a bit cross and with thermal gusts we could understand why. 10 minutes to “asses” conditions and Michel got his kit out determined to get off before the wind dropped …...... 5 minutes later he was off and away and soon climbing out away from the ridge in good thermals. He had a fun time hopping from lift to lift as he worked his way upwind towards the south end of the ridge where he climbed out. We amused ourselves by trying to assess how far out from the ridge Michel was revealing that Carls 9 inches is somewhat larger than most peoples, a great disappointment for both him and the ladies ;)

Graham K chases Michel

Graham K got itchy feet and was next off again dealing with the cross wind well and finding the same lift as Michel in bouncy thermic lift. This encouraged a foreigner off then another and soon we had a que. Peachy stepped forward off and upwards followed by Kaz. Julie and Simon followed in quick succession with Julie being the only one to launch forward and making it look easy peasy and in my humble opinion the right way to go.

the que 

Martin J got off and punched the head wind confirming that it would be fine for Carl and Colin to follow. With the wind on the drop and the Sun getting lower in the sky conditions got trickier at launch. Carl had to wait patiently but finally his chance came and he took it again going straight out into lift to enjoy a super flight. Colin was set and we waited and waited along with a couple of hangies that had arrived. The wind flicked but never came on and despite our patience it never got sensible enough so a sthe sun set and our other pilots landed we called it a day and headed down.

The Pink lady has landed

Happy Bunnies tucking in

It was a happy bunch in the landing field with stories of flying with Vultures, height gains, thermal rates and 10 out of 10 landings. Michel racked up nearly 3 hours which was strange as after an hour and a half he had announced that he had had enough and was heading off to land !

With everyone collected we went to eat in the town and had a cracking meal a great relief after lasts years potato salad incedent.

Back at home at 23.30 it was an “early night” and quickly to sleep for most.

Quote of the day “how much meat do you want?” I can see a theme starting here.