Did it! Smashed my personal paragliding cross country best distance by 34km. Flew 87km from the Pena Negra launch to Villacastin in bumpy, strong thermals after van breakdowns and shifting winds on launch.
See this flight on Leonardo. Batteries went flat on the GPS but the first 60km are still good.
My new Advance Impress 2+ harness was great, kept me toasty warm topping out just under cloudbase at 3250m. Just got a sore shoulder from being too tense in the rough Piedrahita thermals after a winter of armchair flying. This was actually my first flight in about six months, so breaking my personal best was an added thrill.
Cranking it: 25km/h tail wind, 8m/s thermals in the Ambles valley
See this flight on Leonardo. Batteries went flat on the GPS but the first 60km are still good.
My new Advance Impress 2+ harness was great, kept me toasty warm topping out just under cloudbase at 3250m. Just got a sore shoulder from being too tense in the rough Piedrahita thermals after a winter of armchair flying. This was actually my first flight in about six months, so breaking my personal best was an added thrill.
It certainly didn't start fast. Started flying at 1pm, and the first couple of climbs on the hill were weak. Flew over to the big spur, normally a reliable house thermal, but nothing was happening. Down into the valley to Steve Ham's house, which he told us was usually a good thermal trigger! There was a weak climb there, and I drifted slowly with it until I spotted some of the French world champs team pilots in a bigger climb. Nice 2.3m/s climb right up to 2700m, which was enough to glide straight to the plateau to the north at the pass. It doesn't get that much easier than that to get over the pass at Piedrahita.
Climbing out: Steve Ham's house (thermal) is right where TP2 is marked.
After a couple of slow climbs out on the Plateau, I was thrilled to see the French contingent on R11s and a Nuivik Icepeak racing across the valley on full speed bar, from the high ground on the other side. I'd flown 20km faster than a group of some of the best pilots in the world!
From there I flew somewhat off course towards Villaneuva del Capillo, as the only cloud in the entire sky was forming there over the village. The thermal was bumpy and broken, but eventually cleaned up and took me back to 2700m again. I went on glide towards the windmills, and got pretty low before finding another slow, bumpy thermal just 200m above the huge windmills turning majestically in the northwest wind. The tailwind was about 15km/h and it was bumpy and messy, so I headed towards the valley where a few more clouds were forming.
Cranking it: 25km/h tail wind, 8m/s thermals in the Ambles valley
Still up on the plateau I found the biggest thermal of the day, rocketing up 1450 meters in just ten minutes, right up to cloudbase at 3250m. This thermal was one of the roughest I'd ever climbed in, with the climb rate varying wildly, and peaking at 8m/s at one point. Because of strong tailwind, my groundspeed while in the thermal varied from 0 to 50km/h. Once up high, I knew I had Avila in the bag and went on glide, hitting a top groundspeed of over 70km/h with the tailwind, which is not bad for a 1-2 glider. Avila and a new personal best was just one more thermal away, and that one was easy to find just before the town.
Avila - flying past my previous personal best of 53km
Steve (up ahead on the tandem with Ido) got on the radio about Avila, and talked me round the airspace, as we had to go a bit to the north and keep under 3000m. The classic Ambles Valley convergence had set up, so the flying got easier and easier. Set a line, fly straight with 20km/h tailwind until you were starting to get low, then suddenly more lift would appear and up you'd go again.
Several times in the 20km after Avila I thought my luck might run out, but then close to the big line of windmills visible from the AP-51 highway to Madrid, I spotted a couple of hawks thermalling. Despite being below the ridge level and a little intimidated by the massive row of windmills up on the ridge, I followed the birds closer to the wooded ridge. They led me to massive, super-smooth 2/ms elevator, that started well below the ridge,but which I could ride all the way back up to 2500m again.
Steve and Igo were setting up to land at Villa Castin, and further on things were overdeveloping. After 3 hrs flying, I decided to call it a day and go on glide to where I saw they had landed. I was very tired, as the flight had been rough most of the way and the bigger thermals had required every ounce of concentration. My GPS batteries had given up, so I didn't even know how far I had flown. This was only the third time I had flown more than three hours duration, and over double my previous personal best at Piedrahita.
Flight stats:
Glider: 2005 Windtech Pulsar DHV 1-2
Harness: Advance Impress 2+
3hr 15mins
87km open distance.
Takeoff altitude 1900m
Max height 3250m
Max speed over ground 75km/h
Max climb 8m/s (according to vario - 5.3m/s on GPS)
Max sink 4.8m/s
Several times in the 20km after Avila I thought my luck might run out, but then close to the big line of windmills visible from the AP-51 highway to Madrid, I spotted a couple of hawks thermalling. Despite being below the ridge level and a little intimidated by the massive row of windmills up on the ridge, I followed the birds closer to the wooded ridge. They led me to massive, super-smooth 2/ms elevator, that started well below the ridge,but which I could ride all the way back up to 2500m again.
Steve and Igo were setting up to land at Villa Castin, and further on things were overdeveloping. After 3 hrs flying, I decided to call it a day and go on glide to where I saw they had landed. I was very tired, as the flight had been rough most of the way and the bigger thermals had required every ounce of concentration. My GPS batteries had given up, so I didn't even know how far I had flown. This was only the third time I had flown more than three hours duration, and over double my previous personal best at Piedrahita.
Flight stats:
Glider: 2005 Windtech Pulsar DHV 1-2
Harness: Advance Impress 2+
3hr 15mins
87km open distance.
Takeoff altitude 1900m
Max height 3250m
Max speed over ground 75km/h
Max climb 8m/s (according to vario - 5.3m/s on GPS)
Max sink 4.8m/s