Veintitres

Ahhh, the perfect morning sky. Average is usually epic. 

Gear is prepped before going down to eat breakfast. 

I am flying tandem with Phyllis today. Her husband Lars is in my group so it should be fun to thermal together. 

It's a big grip this week so Marge and Farmer rode up top on flaco's rig.  Others rode up top on the Cipri rig as well. All seats were full. 

"Keep calm and soar on" says my shirt I bought at my youngest daughters' school. Coincidence that the school mascot is an eagle? I think not. 

The day was great, but it wasn't easy. Most of my group got up, one landed after a heck of long time being low, and finally landed. The rest of us moved north to La Union where another got low, hung on for a while but then also landed. 

The clouds were getting big at times and shading a lot. My two remaining pilots and I hung out near La Union with Brian's group for a long time, getting a low save together and finally all topping out as a group. One more of my group got low and radioed up to us that he might be landing. The rest of us flew out towards La Vitoria. In the middle of the valley we got a climb. Amazingly, Dorian who was about 200" off the deck when we left, caught a climb and reported he was at cloudbase and on his way.  Nice!

We were all together again and caught another climb over La Vitoria. I moved south towards Zarsal to the huge clouds over that way.  Brian, (also flying tandem with Johno) pushed out front with me and we connected again to base, while Dorian got low again we were all hoping he would somehow connect again but this time he did not.  After landing he reported he was safe and asked if it was okay to launch from the small hill he landed on, to fly again and hopefully get back up.  I said it was up to him, and he took that as a yes. After landing the 2nd time he radioed up that he was finally finished for the day. Awesome effort. 

Hugh staying high and close, right to the end. 

At this point Rob Sporrer came on the radio and reported strong wind at La Union out of the west. Nice to know, and we already expected this due to the length of our flight. We opted to land in Zarsal and even that far away from the mountains we landed in 10-15mph winds.  Everyone was safe. 

We had nice welcoming committee in Zarsal. 

Matt "Farmer" Beechinor giving a talk. 

The sky turned dark and rumbled with thunder into the night. 

Dinner was yummy. 

Carrot soup. Mmmmm. 

Fruity, cudtard like desert with cookie at the bottom.  Mmmm 

I fly tandem with Christian tomorrow. 

¡Hasta pronto!

Martín

Veintidos

The sky was remarkably clear this morning at 6 am. I was concerned it would be very strong and may draw in the nasty north wind. We all pulled together to get up top on time. 

The disco that is part of Casa Blanca was packed full of people even now after a night of dancing, drinking and general partying. Wow!

This is a sample of the party scene I shot on the walk home from dinner last night. It was empty until around 1:30am or 2:00 am and rages through the night. 

Flaco (I've been spelling it wrong it turns out) put air in his tires with his onboard air compressor as we readied gear to load. 

The easy way, unless you are the horse. 

Hiking up the stairs was strenuous, but even with the tandem today, I was pleased with my performance after a week away. Whew!

With such unisually sunny conditions we ushered out pilots into the air asap to get them out in the air before it got too strong. I was last off with my tandem "Rich" as the launch shaded and blew down a bit.  Meanwhile two pilots in my group landed out below launch or just beyond the bailout LZ. Eventually we got a good cycle, launched and found our first climb. Finally we got to cloud and rendezvoused with Dorian and Hugh, my remaining two, and picked up a straggler from Brian's group (Rob) to make three. 

Flying tandem with Rich. 

We made it just west of Roldanillo still high in the mountains, climbing up to cloudbase and recycling there until Rob made it over with us. Dorian 'hoovered' into the cloud, eventually popping out at over 8,000' pointed east. I had him take advantage of his mistake (and his height) by encouraging him to go on glide for the valley crossing with us just behind him, not to mention encourage him to manage his exit strategy better next time to avoid whiting out.  It happens. 

Roldanillo. 

It was sinky away from the mountains and we all Ianded together in the middle of the valley. 

Rob landing with our group at the "Airstrip LZ" just off to the side of the road to Zarsal.    

Destin and Jim were also there waiting In the shade ,having landed just before us as well. We Flagged down a bus and were sipping smoothies and eating empanadas in Roldanillo in no time. Cipriano was there to scoop us up just as we finished slurping up the local citrus, and whisked us away back to the hotel. 

The pool was the ticket for many.  My cool shower brought me back to life, that and café con leche. Mmmm.  

Everyone is accounted for and safe. A group meeting is in one hour, and there are many happy faces (and a few disappointed ones too) milling around at the end of today's flying. Strikes and gutter balls is often how it goes here, but I can't complain, it is paradise here and I know it. Grateful is all I have to say about that. 

¡Hasta mañana chavelotes!

Martín