Some good flying here in Manilla lately, yesterday I went 166 km north, from Mt. Borah to Cootiai. Stein-Tore flew 150, and Per-Arne 134. Conditions were OK, but broken thermals, and weak tailwind. I landed in the goal-paddock for the comp, there was a electric fence made of a thick wire across the LZ, unbelivable! My chase crew tried to warn me, but their radio went flat and I flew over dragging my knee into the wire at high speed. No flying today as I’m waiting for my knee to heal enough to be usable again, I think it’ll be good enough to go flying tomorrow.

The day before we got off in a bad cycle, Kjell and I landed 19 km out, in a field with giant thistles, giant spiders, no radio contact, and 40 degrees. Olav busted and only got 7 km.

3 days ago Kjell and I flew XC and got lost, as we had not had time to prepare maps and GPS, but spent 4 days trying to get hold of a roof-rack for our car. We followed a road to a town, and went down from cloudbase in fantastic conditions to land, 48 km out. We checked the map, and thought we were in Boggabri, only to find out later we were in a town 40 km away… So much for navigating over the flatlands.

Little John Durand won the comp, Dustin Martin on second, and Conrad Lothen third. The comp is over, wich is good for us so we can launch when we want. Some of the pilots here are real launch potatos, they stand in line for hours blocking the start while everyone else is going up and getting away.

Today is blue, and I’ve spent the day preparing my GPS and planning routes. It’s supposed to rain on Tuesday.

The Litespeed’s have been performing great, we outclimb and outglide everyone we have been flying with. Yesterday the glide-ratio at high speeds gave me the possibility to catch up with every gaggle ahead of me without getting too low to catch the thermals. But it’s not a glider for “Sunday” flying, it’s stiff and quite demanding in the thermals. With the VG on it glides really fast without loosing altitude, but it’s nearly impossible to turn.

Oh yeah, we have seen kangaroos! Even got some on film…

If you want to fly hang- or paragliding in Spain, then Algodonales is the place! Thermals all year, but best from march to november.
Contact Paco in Albergue Al-Qutun.
Paco:
-collects you with your equipment from the airport (Seville, Malaga or Cadiz).
-has accomodation in his Albergue, including storage for the gliders.
-has all the info of the flying sites in the surroundings
-takes care of transport up to the sites and collects you after XC-flights!!!!

THE ONLY THING YOU HAVE TO DO YOURSELV …. IS FLY!!

Take a look at Paco’s website http://www.fenpa.org/al-qutun/
Mail him at al-qutun@eintec.es
Mail me at erik.vermaas@c2i.net and I can tell you all about it.

My first entry on this page. I am Erik, currently on ‘vacation’ in Norway and staying in Øyvinds appartment in Oslo. Please visit my traveljournal at http://home.c2i.net/erikv2/evic.htm

Last sunday, Robin and I drove to Moelv for winching on the frozen lake ‘Mjøsa’. We were drawn up to 500m over the ice. There were about 10-12 other pilots and some guys with a barbeque with ‘varme pølser’. I took a skatingtour to the other side of the lake. (this means the other long side – the lake is 150kms long and 2kms wide).

I found a Internet Cafe here, so on with the news;
The first days here in Manilla have been quite gray, but everyone have been flying. The task in the Manilla HG comp have been around 100 km’s, and a few pilots have made goal. There’s a warm front passing, so yesterday and today have been quite gray, it’s supposed to be better tomorrow. It’s warm, around 35 degrees, I’ve never been drinking so much water.

The Litespeed’s were here when we came, and after some investigation my new harness also showed up at Tamworth airport. We have flown the gliders 2 flights each to get everything adjusted. The hangpoint was way to far back on my first flight and I could hardly control the glider. Olav took out a DT on the first landing as he came downwind downhill. After moving the hangpoint and adjusting the harness I feel ready to go XC soon. The gliders look and feel fantastic, can’t wait to get high and go far.

Manilla is a great place, flat, warm, and friendly people. (Except those bastards who broke in to our room and stole all our money!) Now we’re off to the hill again, it’s soarable with easterly winds, so it should be a nice day, if the cirrus breaks up it will be a really good day.

We’re off! Manilla next. Check these pages for reports and updates in the near future.

Lots of people flew at Sundvollen last Sunday. I was in Vågå for our club’s annual meeting, and for the beginners course. The weather did not cooperate, so we only got a few flights on Sunday.

Now I’m packing for Australia, I’ll be leaving Friday morning. If things work out I’ll be posting news here from Oz. If there’s internet problems Erik will handle the postings for me.

I will try to upload some images if I can find a decent internet connection in Manilla, the GSM is a bit slow for that.

A new links page is up with improved software that makes it easier to admin. I’ve moved some of my old links, and will add the rest shortly. Please add links yourselves, you will receive a email when it’s validated and put up on the page, usually within a day.
Check it out on the links page.

Another weekend as instructor, great fun. We had snowstorm on Sunday, but found a hill where the winds were calm enough. Tommy drove 580 km from Arendal to learn hangglding, that’s the spirit! (580 km back as well on Sunday night)