It’s been great weather the last few days here, sunny and warm for the season. Yesterday we flew at Ringerud in the morning and then Sundvollen in the afternoon. It was thermal activity at Ringerud, but just a little to weak to get up in the stable conditions. I borrowed the Falcon, and then Bjørn’s Litespeed later at Sundvollen. Both are fun to fly, the Falcon for the play factor, and the Litespeed for the performance.
Today it was lots of hanggliders at Sundvollen, great weather, but a little to stable. The CU’s were growing nicely, but only from the higher tops in the area. I got two flights again today. It looked like the air became more unstable during the day, and it’s been logged a few good (40-50km) XC flights from other takeoffs. Tomorrow should be a good day again, lets just hope it gets more unstable.
Me taking off from Sundvollen with Bjørn’s Litespeed
Johnny Jr. is at it again, his last Australian record stood for a short time until Rohan beat him the day before the Worlds started. Yesterday he took it back with a cool 496km! More in the Oz report.
I made a hanggliding video in 2000, from the flying that summer. It was filmed with DV and cut down to around 15 minutes. Great fun to make, but it takes a lot of time to cut and edit the film into something that’s short and enjoyable. Recently I dug it out and had a look at it again, I’m happy with it, despite some wobbly camera and way too much zooming. It was the first time I tried a video camera and editing software.
A lot more people have broadband now so it’s possible to download a Divx compressed version. I’ve used the crappy free version of the Divx codec, so the quality it not perfect, but I hope good enough. Let me know if you want a better version.
You need to install the Divx codec first if you don’t have it already. Downoad from http://www.divx.com Take the free version without ads!
I still have a half-finished project from the trip to Australia in february 2000. It was about 25 hours of raw film that I’ve cut down to 4 hours, and from that had a target of 30 minutes finished film. But I never got the motivation or time to finish it off. My computer is about 10 times faster to render and edit than when I started the project so maybe it’s time to dig it out again. There are some really good shots in there, eagles attacking paragliders, trike flying, lots of XC, and more…
I’ve started using Picasa 2 to organize and display pictures on my computer. It’s the best application I’ve found for handling huge amounts of digital photos, with just the right features I need. Best of all it’s free! Download from http://www.picasa.com
Jetta LSK is rebuilding the takeoff-ramp at Espesetra. The new ramp is much bigger and better placed for takeoff, if we can get some gravel to fill in the back it’s perfect for paragliders too.
Espesetra in springtime is a good site with some very strong thermal conditions on the good days. Last May, Arnt and I took off there into some wild lift, I pulled a muscle in my shoulder fighting to stay in a 5-7 m/s core on the way up to cloudbase. I flew almost 100km that day, but the next day I had to land after 30km because of pain in the shoulder.
Arnt and me psyching up at takeoff, pic by Frode Halse
Getting ready for the action! I really hope we get such good days this spring too.
Having to reinstall a server is a good opportunity to make changes and patch up old software. I have made some changes both visible and “under the hood” of the website. Hope you find the new look attractive and easy to use. As always let me know if there are things not working as expected. Feedback is always welcome!
The plan was to go flying in Vågå this weekend, and to test out the new payout-winch we bought. But the weather forecast predicted some wind, and I was asked to be on call for my job this weekend. I hope we can try the winch soon in good conditions.
Blog, pictures, videos, and articles from my flying adventures aound the world. Content in English.
I made a hanggliding video in 2000, from the flying that summer. It was filmed with DV and cut down to around 15 minutes. Great fun to make, but it takes a lot of time to cut and edit the film into something that’s short and enjoyable. Recently I dug it out and had a look at it again, I’m happy with it, despite some wobbly camera and way too much zooming. It was the first time I tried a video camera and editing software.
