Algo 2014 Day 11 - Afternoon delight

Peachy's view of a day in Algo'

Martin checks out the washing and somebodies smalls ....

Day started early...   Flying for me.. early "preflighter"...then back to bed.. important to get it the right way round...
Talk of ja ja binks, launch totty, town totty, goats and their udders...

Yep enough said

in your dreams ....

Colin returned with a barrow of bread while Kaz played with a buzzing instrument in the ladies bathroom...don't ask...
Simon joined us at the breakfast table after two days sitting on the dunnie.. the team was again whole.. off to the hill after the frikkin sandwich prep....zzzz
Two more " preflighters"..third just wind..feeling more confident....why are bathrooms so echoey?
Sandwiches made. .colins would feed an African family for a week... must have hollow legs.
We headed up the hill..Julie unfortunately feeling squiffy stayed in bed.

Simon with a boys one .....

Colin with a mans one

Phippsy starts another day at the office

Strong wind on the hill.. out of faze wave...or a combination of nervous farts.. who knows...we waited. ..

Hill candy .......

then there is Carl

Back for round two

Looking better we flew... prolonged top to bottom we returned for a second flight into convergence over the landing field Michel joined the melee first, peachy launched but chickened out only to watch simon, Martin, Michel and carl circle over the field for the next 2 hours...like a paragliding washing machine...epic sight.

getting going

Heading for the washing machine

Sharing the air with Martin and Michel

from the landing field

Martin finally comes down

Kaz went to swim in the lake coming back lemon fresh to the digs where we all sat in a sweaty heap...carl reviewed near misses and Martin dried his sweaty suit....
What a day....roasting. ..

Michel as enthusiastic as ever ;))

end of a lovely day

Quote of the day "All of you out there I ................."

Algo 2014 Day 10 - Stick insects and fast running

Peachy starts the day with a spot of spot squeezing

After yesterdays excitement we looked forward to a quieter day. Breakfast over, bread collected and rolls under construction Colin and myself headed off to see the deal on hi wing which had come off worse in yesterdays incident. Our pigeon Spanish got hings underway and hopefully it will be back in action in a few days.

Carl after an evening out with Julie .......

Another day on Lijar was on the cards and off we headed via the fountain where once again there was no sign of the “gaurdian” that had been present in previous years. On launch things were already a little off to the right so the side launch was the one to go for. It took a while for things to kick in but little by little the lift appeared. The guys legged it off one by one with varying degrees of success, all getting away cleanly, no bush munchers so far then.  Martin had a fine time after climbing out from launch then losing it then finding to stay up and get some excellent thermalling practice in.

Martin floats away into the blue

Michel chases Julie off the hill as they climb out

Julie set up and had just laid out nicely when Michel appeared in front of her and did the same …... looking out a couple of Vultures circled nicely, Julie inflated, smiled as she ran past Michel and did a first class impression of Peachys flight yesterday climbing nicely with the birds. Michel was off behind her and the pair of them circled up and away above launch just loving it, nice.

Kaz as neat as ever gets a "perfect" from the French

Peachy was already in the landing field checking out the bar room totty when Kaz launched to also enjoy some nice thermic lift as she floated over Algo'. With the wind going further to the west we moved over to Ponientte where the sun was on but the wind on the drop. Hoping for better things we held back, it did not work. One by one we legged it off in nil wind with all getting away cleanly to have a very smooth flight down to the noticeboard field where carl took the landing of the day, good one.

The Circus arrives

Kaz chills

We mull

Beers and cheers at the landing bar before we headed home, another day in Algo came to an end.

Quote of the day “never heard of him” 

Algo 2014 Day 9 – Nasal Hairs & Hankies

Morning Glory

With the sacrifice made and Mr K back in the UK the sun shone and the wind dropped. A beautiful sunrise greeted us along with the morning bonfires giving a different look to the sky. Spirits were high and after last evenings meal surprisingly most were up early. A noticeable absence was Simon S who was suffering a little but not due to excess alcohol or food poisoning as far as we could make out, more a case of the squits..........

morning van loading under Martins watchful eye

The cars loaded with a bit more space to spare as Simon decided to give it a miss and spend the day recovering we headed to top up at the fountain before heading to main launch. Getting a good parking space was a good idea as soon the masses began to arrive and gliders got laid out. Nice to see some hangies on site staking their claim in the middle of the area slowly getting surrounded by Paragliders. With no rush to get off the hill there was time for some personal hygiene in the form of some excess hair trimming including eyebrows nasal and ears all of which Peachy seemed far to happy to be involved with.

Peachy enjoyed it far too much

the challenge

The Hangies made a break for it before they got totally hemmed in and the flying began. The early birds used the side launch then as the sun heated the hill it switched back to the main one. A few launches later and it went back to the side before veering even further. We made the decision to bundle and trundle to Ponientte which proved wise as some of the later launches proved quite exciting as it fell into the rotor.

Hangies on launch

It was still early for the west launch and the lift was spasmodic but with Peachy in a go for it frame of mind he stood and stared. Half a K out the Vultures circled, Peachy fidgeted, they circled he fidgeted and finally he was gone out and down, the hill watched. Down down down then …...... a bit of rock and roll a crank to the right and he too was circling upwards accompanied by a loud yelp. That was it the fun begun with gliders stating to launch with varying degrees of success.

Peachy sets the ball rolling

Carls gets set to join in

You looking at me

The guys held back but as the lift filled in they began to get up there with Michel boating around and giving regular updates. Carl. Martin, Julie all got out and up playing with the thermals as the sky filled with circling wings. A sink cycle saw it clear a little and kept Colin on the hill whilst we waited for it to return. 

Colin waits

Wheres Colin ?

 Sure enough it did and gliders climbed again. With the everybody bar Michel in the notice board field Colin got off and climbed away to enjoy plenty of thermalling in the lifty conditions. Another sink cycle saw gliders mass in front of launch and things get tight and just a little tight for some, a rustling sound and It was time for Colin to throw his Hanky having become embroiled with a French Lady who also got hers out just as car two arrived back at launch hearing it all go on on the radio.

They both landed fine and after a bit of bush work were returned to launch unscathed. It took a while for everyone to get back onto an even keel then it time to fly again. A lovely evenings flying was had by all including myself having a just what the doctor ordered peaceful fly with the Vultures before we all landed in the Noticeboard field for beer and chill out. Phew …...

An “interesting” day and one that hopefully will pay dividends for all concerned, every cloud has a silver lining, you just have to find it ;)

Quote of the day ” “ well naturally that one is unprintable

Algo 2014 Day 8 – Cross Risers and Trespassers

It was a little Perky first thing

A good forecast soon looked like not quite as good a day so we got a few things sorted and had a further review of the previous days epic flying before we moved out. Cloud base was low and the wind fresh, we opted for a spot of ground handling in the noticeboard field which saw Carl move ahead with more advanced techniques and Simon starting to break old habits and adapt to new ones ;)

Boys at play

Lunchtime and we made the decision not to head to the coast for a dogfight with the Luftwaffe but to take the day “off” and head for a spot of sight seeing and exercise. Heading south we arrived at the now famous dry Dam which despite the rain was still as dry as ever. A spot of gate climbing, mountain goat track walking saw those with a head for heights make their way out to the dam. Graham K gave us an engineers view of the construction and the problem and concluded that it could all be sorted with a couple of cans of expanding foam.

Dry dams and Engineers

Enough said !

All returned safely and next it was off down the steps and into the valley below where it was amazingly calm and quiet, spooky........ The cave was still there and as I was the only one to have been there before it was fun to see the guys slip and slide over the rocks to reach the lake before showing them the easy way back, he, he. The stroll back out of the lost world saw us sweating but certainly burned up a few calories allowing for some 43 this evening.

Cave dwellers

Heading home we stopped off in Zahara where those still with energy left headed up to the castle, well actually that was Colin, whilst the rest of us chilled out in the square. Popping plants followed with Peachy having the top action getting some good explosions and sending seeds everywhere.

Competitive or what

With plenty of time to spare we opted for a group meal in kindly cheffed by Peachy assisted by Julie and what a fine meal it was seeing everybody well full. The wine flowed , the stories flowed and all in all it was a first class evening. Shame Graham K missed out having left for home at the end of his week, thanks for your company and glad you enjoyed it.

Feeding time

Drinking time

Story time

Rounding off with Michels “Donkey” story saw us in stitches before the party wound up and Casa Zahara fell silent.

Peachy checks on his smalls

Quote of the day “ you could hang your coats on them"

Algo Day 7 – Full House & Bouncing

Early decision and with an improving forecast we moved out slightly later than normal and headed to El Bosque in high hopes. The westerly launch looked tempting as we drove by but sticking to the faith we carried on arriving on the lower launch to find the wind off to the north …........ Still we are here now and once again the clouds are in the right direction (ish).

The guys were keen so we carried up to a deserted launch and laid out towels in the best places :) Within minutes we could hear other cars arriving and sure enough a steady stream of pilots emerged from the bushes and the place began to fill.

Martin stakes his claim

Colin gets turned on by Carl

Spelling mistake

Colin was first to be ready and keen as ever to give it a go. The wind flicked vaugely on then off, a couple of pilots launched in a 45 degree cross wind and flew out into bouyant lift. That was enough Colin went for it and made a super launch doing just what was needed and flew off towards the left where he sunk out before finding lift and was up and away.

Colin gets away ......

...... and climbs out

The launch got busy but with out usual efficeiency we got our pilots off and they all did a fine job despite some carnage going on around them. Carl & Colin both had amazing flights in bumpy enough conditions experiencing some rock and roll strong climbs and views from cloudbase, welcome to our world ;)

Julie pretty as ever in Pink

With pilots circling all over the Sky Peachy headed down and as the pilots landed scooped them up and retyrned them for round 2. I sneaked off for a flight and had a fun time pushing out front towards the upwind hills getting a stunning view back over the Mountains to Algo' looked like you could touch it. Kaz took off with the keys for a nice flight after seeing the second round off the hill whilst I was landing in a green and pleasant field surrounded by a high fence and locked gate.

Kaz swans in as the evening draws in

Happy chicks ......."probably my best flight ever"

Peachy found me wandering around and we set off to pick up the others that had landed before heading back up for a third a final flight. Everyone was in the air by the time I saw Peachy and Simon off , with Martin J commenting on how nice carls wing looked from above, to join in the evening fun and it was great to hear the voices over the radio sounding a bit more relaxed than in the morning. The lift was everywhere and pilots flew for as long as they wanted before heading down as the sun dropped to round off a super day, what more can you ask.

Whilst one car headed home the other detoured via the supermarket to top up supplies for week two and get food in for a mass cook in session. By the time we got back to Algo' it was a worn out bunch that headed to the Pizza Place although to be fair they werev a little more lively by the time we returned to play the Peg game!

Pain and Pleasure ???????

A full on day with some excellent flying to be had by all, that's what it is all about

Quote of the day “why do that ? ”