Fin

The last day of flying for the second group dawned beautiful and we anticipated a "best yet" kind of day.  For a few of us it certainly was, for several others it was just too challenging due to shade and overdevelopment.

Nonetheless, much was learned and everyone stayed up for as long as possible, landing safely with smiles all around. 

Jim over Zarzal.

Truck went the furthest with me though Scott and Shawn hung in there till the last move, where we shot out near Roldanillo and scratched just a few hundred feet off the deck over the valley. Just after Truck's landing it finally perked and Farmer, one other pilot and I cored up to near base and went on glide for Zarzal with Dawn, Jim and Rob in tow. 

Working together we got up deep in the foothills east if Zarzal, Farmer chose to go even deeper, inspiring me to backtrack to the valley. The others split the difference and took a diagonal line that looked like it could work towards La Victoria. Two of them landed on the transition leaving Rob Milley an farmer to join me in the valley. A slow climb got us all up again and I opted to straight line it to 'home' while Famer and Rob tagged La Victoria and arrived to towering cumulus and increasing west wind. My landing went well, but it had my full attention. Rob wisely chose to pick a larger field near the valley to avoid the huge lift and strong wind. Farmer landed with me and concurred that Rob made the best choice. 

A juice bar visit was our lunch, followed by a tuk-tuk back to the hotel. 

Classic cars lined the town center from a nearby car show. 

We all watched the Super Bowl as dinner was seved and played poker until late.  

Matt found a giant bug, a cicada?

Another amazing group!  It was such a pleasure to be with everyone. The energy was really wonderful and I will miss them all. 

My knee was still bothering me after one week after jabbing a thorn into it.  Marité took me to the local hospital where I got antibiotics and some pain meds.  I've been soaking it in with a hot wet compress laced with salts morning and evenings and the improvement is like magic. I'm supposed to rest it, but I find that flying around in a pod is the equivalent of elevating it on a chair so I am convalescing at cloudbase. 

Rehab at it's very best.  

3HR

The day dawned clear. I was up early to see a lone star in the wee hours.  Unusually clear it seemed. Nice. I am to fly Xavier today tandem. That makes my fourth this week. All good.

We aimed to be out the door at 7:45, rolling by 8am today. We left right on schedule.  Just as we rolled into town we realized there had been a mixup on the tandems.  We shuffled a few people around and sent the small jeep back to grab gear, turned around and were on launch ahead of the Cipri with time to spare. 

We readied our gear as usual but today in full sun, with nice cycles of wind rolling up launch allowing us the luxury of inflating our wings to clear them and lay them out.  Reverse launches were used also, a rarity here. 

The group got up and away and our armada headed south along the mountains finding climbs along the way. It was nice to see every pilot up, at base and under way. Nobody sunk out in front of launch today. Sweet. 

Xavier is a cinematographer by trade and he burned through both his gopro cameras before we even got past Roldanillo.

Two of my three guys got stuck on the big valley crossing while one (Shaun) made it across went on ahead with the other groups. Eventually Shaun landed ahead of us with some of those ahead of us and I opted to wait for the stragglers. Scott, who went the farthest yesterday, was next to land and Truck dug out of his hole and met me at cloudbase, which was my holding pattern for an hour or so with Xavier. Serendipitously, waiting as we did allowed the day to heat up and the clouds started streeting up, allowing us a "stress-free" crossing over Roldanillo and out to the flats.

We tagged Zarzal and headed North towards La Victoria.  A slow climb allowed us one more trip to base, and we were within glide of La Union. Victoria looked blue above and so we opted to cut the corner and set our sites on the soccer field near the lunch spot.

The glide was easy and fast and the wind looked steady at the field until the last second when it perked and a thermal broke off at the field. We had to make a last minute change and landed outside the stadium in the mostly dirt field next to it, downwind. Ugh!  We slid to a stop and when the dust cleared we were both fine but a little dustier than we had hoped.  Nonetheless we were still stoked on our three hour flight and walked to the grass and shade to pack with Truck, who also landed after us but right next to us, in the opposite direction, soft as a feather. Well done.

Marite. 

John Dudley, who went tandem with Brian.

Truck, Xavier, and yours truly.

All I could think about was fresh grape juice and lunch so we hiked over as Marite and rob Milley landed an packed. 

Lunch was amazing and included chicken, beef and pork (chorizo), rice, salad, a small baked potatoe with guacamole sauce on it and a baked banana chunk for desert. Yum!

This weekend is the bicentennial celebration for Roldanillo, and the fireworks should be impressive. Can't wait to see them tonight or tomorrow night. 

Reversible blue/black/white Serape. I like.

I'm happy and tired. I miss my wife and kids. It will be so great to see them all in one week. Having the time if my life. Wishe you all could see what I get to see here every day. Proceless. 

YEA!

Today looked gloomy to the eye, yet veteran pilots agreed it would be good today. They were right!

Launch was draped in cloud as we got there early. It felt cool and refreshing after the stout hike up the stairs. My solo glider felt light on my back and I felt nervous excitement. 

I was off early with Farmer and we climbed to base on a straight glide from launch. This was a welcome change from my sinky fast launch.  

Cloudbase was at or below launch level, so we stayed busy staying up, but not in the clouds. 

My group and I chose to chase the xc group and we did a great job all the way back towards La Union. Shaun landed first, distracted by a noisy radio and opted to fly out to fix it. It was the right call, but it cost him a lengthy flight this time. 

Two left in my group now, as we crossed west of our town and the next transition looked reasonable enough, yet it proved to be the crux of the flight.  One more in the group landed safely here. 

Somehow my last guy, Scott and I dug out and got to cloud again with the remaining handful of pilots, who were poised to cross the valley to La Victoria. I found a weak climb that Dawn spotted but left and gained a few hundred feet.  Scott couldn't get it and landed  safely near La Victoria in the middle of the valley. 

Feeling bold I cut the corner to a spot where it looked milky above in the blue sky while the others climbed slowly over the town. My climb never came and I limped back over the town just a few hundred feet over the town center. 

A soccer field accommodated yet another pilot on the city edge. Suddenly there were birds (vultures) everywhere turning in light lift. They saved us all. 

Eventually we all topped out and I shot south to some lovely clouds and was in lift for the entire transition. Yes. 

The call to go north was very much abandoned at this point as we all headed south. The new plan was to continue south to tag Zarzal, cross back west to Roldanillo and then back north to our town of La Union. Dawn opted to fly back at this point as she had enough fun for one day. Thankfully, she remained at the soccer stadium calling wind conditions on radio as we headed around the new course trying to arrive before the strong west wind pushed through. 

Brian's last pilot landed near Roldanillo, and after confirming he was safe, Brian joined Farmer and his last guy, Jim. We caught a patient climb then I shot to the mountains carefully looking for signs of the west wind. Not here yet. Good. 

We landed hapy and tired after a 4.5 hour flight for me, and 4:50 for Famer. The kids were curious and exited to see each of us as we landed. 

A half mile hike to the town center and we found Cipriano in the big jeep. Yes! He kindly hauled our gear to the hotel while we hit the favorite juice bar where Dawn and Jim had already ordered us fresh French fries (papas fritas) and kindly treated us to fresh juice.  Yum!

We hopped a cab back to the hotel, where Dawn and Farmer each gave great presentations for an hour or so each.  Dinner is just minutes away, and the weather looks super for tomorrow. 

I'm in love with my wife and kids, but Colombia is a close second! Cheers. 

Big

The sky was a giveaway this am with towering cumulus visible on the Eastern side of the valley as early as 6:30 am.

Not ideal, I think to myself. Pay attention!

Several pilots were seated at a dining room table looking out at the sky hoping for another great day. I was hopeful and optimistic despite the conflicting signs. 

We got to the take off right on time, and started our hike into the mist of the low clouds that were quietly wafting upslope.

Today I am flying my solo wing, and hoping it won't get wet.  It looks like just a matter of time before the sky uncorks a bit of rain somewhere around here. 

We realize we have to decide quickly wether to get ready or not to fly.  If yes, we need to be quick. If no, then time to keep the gear packed so it will be easy to reload on the truck. 

Rob Milley was first to take off then me.  Farmer was right behind and soon we were radioing info back to those getting ready on launch. At one point it looked like a comp starting as many gliders launched in succession to escape the approaching west wind from behind the mountains on its way here from the coast. 

The sky grew gray and darkened. Climbs became weak and the towering cumulus were tamed for a while.  

A handful made it back to La Union and the rest were distributed evenly on the ground along the route or were driving down from the top due to wind over the back from 5-15 mph as the mountain went Into full shade, unable to block the wast wind. 

Roldanillo was the call for the afternoon as there was a huge horse parade that lasted to well after dark. Amazing! The sky unleashed a deluge and the people took cover, and waited it out with music and beer. We found a dry place to play pinging and enjoy the rain delay. 

The ride home in the Cipri was no less entertaining with strobe lights and music like a mobile disco back to the hotel. 

After another fine dinner Brian gave his talk and later everyone seemed to go there own way and relax. Tomorrow will be great. 

Run!

Another tandem for me today, this time with my flying monkey friend Sam. 

Everything was mostly charged and breakfast was once again very nice with fresh fruit, ham and eggs scrambled with the fantastic coffee here and fresh juice.

The ride up was dark at times with towering cumulus forming right away. Word circulated that today could "OD" (overdevelop), meaning that the clouds cold grow too tall and become thunder-storms. 

We made the call to launch ASAP and land in the ultralight airport below. The instructors stayed up and surveyed the situation and tried to render help when 2 pilots from another group landed behind the power lines low on the hill and were unable to make the glide out due to poor choices being made durring their flights. A third pilot landed into the side of a small foothill, clearly trying to make the glide over it to land with all of us. Had

he looked around he would have noticed one of our pilots landing safely behind him in one of our bailout landing zones.  He must have been overwhelmed at the time. The leaders of the other group seemed unconcerned about their missing pilots and turned down our offers to help. Go figure. 

Meanwhile Sam and I punched out front to escape the strong turbulent air of the mountains behind us and found a weak climb on a spine leading to our group LZ. After a few turns it became stronger and we were back up to cloud base in no time.  

Having altitude to burn, we did some big wing overs and some high-G turns.  Fun. 

Sam nailed the launch and we stood up the landing no problem as well. We were pretty stoked that we were all safe on the ground with plenty of time to pack up and relax. 

The owner of the field is super nice and has an ultralight in a hangar he built. 

We all landed together (except one). The shade of the hanger was a welcome retreat from the sun until our ride came to pick us up and take us to our favorite lunch spot. 

The owners were very hospitable and treated us like guests.  Super cool. Big dog!

Back at the hotel, I'm parked under my fan and it's lovely. Outside it looks like a flyable day, but only for top pilots with tons of experience.  The "tell" today was the absence of any local pilots on the take off. We all got off and landed safely, and avoided the long drive down with time to spare. Unfortunately, those other 2 to 3 pilots are sill dealing with their situation. 

A short day to be sure, but a safe one for everybody in our group, so we can always try again tomorrow. 

Cheers!