Two brits four wheels

September 2009

I tried to learn how to thermal in Algodonales but ended up sleeping badly on a camp bed that led to me pulling my back and being unable to fly. This was galling!

So, I arrived in Annecy, wanting some additional training and ended up being drawn into a thermaling course. So for four days I was in a small group being driven around five wonderful flying sites in close or nearby proximity to Lake Annecy.

Flying ‘at Annecy’ is a bit misleading just as flying ‘at Brighton’ is not really accurate as no-one actually flies in Brighton either: ‘near’ but not ‘in’. Anyhow I took of from sites overlooking the lake, or in nearby mountain ranges, from ski-stations 2,000 metres up and small dynamic bowls, like the ‘Magic Bowl’ at Cormet de Roseland’.

Each morning we practiced pitch control by making the canopy unstable and then having to bring it under control. When I first did this I thought I was either going to be sick or just refuse. But after a few launches and doing this is became ‘OK’. Then each afternoon once the thermic wind had begun to calm we set off to undertake thermic flights.

I undertook this course mainly because I find flying in bumpy air very unsettling: firstly because I do not know how my paraglider wing will react and therefore what it will do (to me) and secondly because the sensations are unpleasant in themselves.

At the end of this course I had developed the appropriate knowledge and some practice but was still flying away from thermals rather than towards them!

September 2009

Whilst paragliding near Lourdes in the Pyrenees a pilot mentioned the St Hilaire free flight fair that was going to happen three weeks later. Great, I added that to the itinerary and finally arrived there a week before the event opened to the public.

St Hilaire has two great take-offs (one north and one south) and overlooks a lovely valley. The take-offs are about 600 m above ground level.

My first flight there on a hot Sunday afternoon left me shaking – literally – as the glider went up like a rocket immediately after take-off due to the thermic conditions. Well that’s what you get for flying at 2pm on a hot day in France; I knew better but did not think it through!!

The rest of the week was an improvement as I became accustomed to the site and where the sources of lift are. A top landing requires a pilot to get some considerable lift so most of us had bottom landings at the designated landing field at Lumbin. Getting back up involves hitch-hiking or taking the very convenient funicular railway from Lumbin right up next to the north take-off.

Then the festival started: the Coupe Icare or, en Anglais, the Icarus Cup. What a festival! Coupe Icare is the world’s largest free flight exposition. Last year 8,000 pilots visited and 73,000 non-flyers. St Hilaire hosted the exposition of free flight products and services including paragliding wings, hang gliders, harnesses, clothing, footwear, instruments, insurances, cameras and just about every flying accessory one could think of. There were paraglidng acrobatic displays, plane and ultralight air displays, costumed piloting, air balloons a cinema, lots of food and drink, music and a great, great atmosphere. We met many lovely people from France, Spain, the States, the UK. It was a wonderful event.

August 2009.
Having spent several months now overseas watching how the Spanish, the Portuguese and the French teach their students I am so glad that I ended up finding a first rate teacher in Pete Bernon of Airports Paragliding School in Brighton.
Pete has been teaching paragliding for many years, under the name of Purple Haze and has recently re-branded to Airports. His teaching style and emphasis on safety really worked for me and I am glad that he was not running one of these larger schools that just push you through to get the numbers through the door.
The paragliding teaching on the continent is quite different to the UK. Often the paragliding rating is based on number of flights or hours rather then the UK model of the tasks, ie competence, that you achieve.
In Portugal the ‘instructors’ can be an assistant instructor, giving (overseen) lessons, with no former paragliding experience of their own. That scares me! In France I have witnessed students being sent off launch sites at over 1000m metres, running very slowly with their hands down and collapsing their canopies as the reach the edge of the precipice. That was ‘miss a heartbeat time’ for me.
If you want to find out more about Airsports then click here

Today we celebrate 100 (and one) days on the road!

We have done this with customary alcohol from every country we visited. hick!

So, looking back, what have we achieved?

A chip eating tour of the continent. Try and avoid patats bravas/batatas bravas/frites at your peril. No matter what you order, people shovel them on your plate.

Exhaustion: from driving lots and being awoken by continentals who think it is cool to be up until 1 or 2 am and then again at 8 or 9 am. Well, it’s not!

Being befuddled from having four languages and lexicons swilling around one’s head instead of plain old English.

Trying to be tolerant of the differences between us English and our European cousins.

Accumulating every type of sand possible in shoes and sweeping same off the carpet.

Learning – ‘I am a vegetarian – no meat please’ in every language and dealing with the look of astonishment that follows.

Reducing bank account from fuel bills, eating out, vehicle maintenance, shopping and sight seeing.

Do we regret this and would change anything about the trip? No!

Onwards and eastwards!!

August 2009

Really bad wif-fi access. Signals up and down up and down and really slow or no connection

Children of primary school age who cry at the first sign of not getting what they want – and keep on crying and cryng and crying

Push button showers that last for about 20 seconds and always run out when you have shampoo running down your face

People smoking nearby all night

Loud people and loud children

People using the communal washing up area and leaving food scraps everywhere

Lots of people cooking on barbeques so that your motorhome stinks of beef fat

Emptying the chemical toilet – yuk!

We have officially left Portugal and are now back in Spain. The difference is very noticeable and I am not happy!!
Our current first night is a campsite at Santiago do Compostela to do some internet stuff – again!
Basically the satnav has failed and not having this abroad is a major inconvenience.

August 2009
I purchased the Airush DNA 2009 two month ago in Tarifa, Andalucia, Spain and did not have the opportunity to try it until arriving at Praia Cabedelo in Viana do Castelo, Portugal.
This kite replaced a Naish Boxer SLE 2007 12m with which I was having great difficulties even staying up in the water let alone do much else. This could have been due to having been sold the wrong bar for the kite, the kite being not right for me – who knows. Anyway, the Airush…
The Airush is a Delta C shape.. A summary from another site is’ Alot of the characteristics reinforce the fact that the delta c-shape is a compromise between a traditional C-shape kite and the newer Bow style. Comparing this kite shape to a bow you get more performance, but slightly less depower. Comparing this kite shape to a C-shape kite you get less performance but greater safety. If your looking for a kite that seems to have the best of both worlds, then it may be worth trying a Delta C-shape.’

I will give you what I consider the good features first then the questionable ones.
Set up. The connectors for the pigtails have ‘Right’ on the right hand side to avoid confusion and the front lines can be fixed to either side of the kite, further avoiding any risks of incorrect connection. The kite has a single point inflation system that feeds the leading edge and the three struts. (My little Cabrinha 9m has five struts, so three surprises me). Each strut can be locked off so they remain inflated if you have a leading edge bladder fault at sea for example.
Safety. The kite has a ring on one of the front lines for attaching the leash to flag the kite (arguably the safest leash attachment) and ring on the control bar. This kite can be leashed several ways.
Control bar. It has a nice feel, flotation aids on the rear lines and can be packed away neatly.
Flying. The kite moves through the air well and performs very well in varying conditions; it handles gusty conditions with ease too. One of the big attractions to me was that this kite did scare me in a range of wind conditions.
Water relaunch. In low winds, like many kites you have to concede defeat and self-rescue. I weight 85 kilos and found that the kite needed around 14 knots or more to sea launch. My Cabrinha (9m) relaunches without me even doing very much but that may be due to the wind being stronger when using it of course. The Airush takes a little longer to relaunch but does it relatively easily.
Features I question.
Safety. I really do not like the standard trimming system, which is a jam cleat. I was a very experience instructor use this and he was concentrating on the cleat rather than the kite. The cleat is placed on the chicken loop so it is within easy reach (plus point). However I have used this in the water and it is not easy or for the feint hearted. One major flaw with this system is that you have to hold the end of the trimming rope and once released you are effectively holding onto this again the pull of the kite. So, if you are trying to depower the kite due to howling winds, then you have to un-jam the rope from the cleat and struggle to hold that rope whilst the kite is kicking arse way upstairs. It is not easy or I would say the safest system. I much, much prefer trimmings handles. These hold the trimming ropes in place and you therefore do not have to play tug of war with your kite in a gale.
The second safety feature that I question is the emergency release on the leash. The releasing end (fixed to your [power bar on your harness) has a handle, which once pulled towards you unlocks a series of Velcro attachments. You need to practice with this a lot, for two reasons. Firstly, the handle is very small for European sized hands so you have to ‘find it’, which is not so cool when in an emergency situation and under extreme stress (‘Please kite do not kill me!’). Then you have to pull the handle towards you. Every emergency release system I have had to date you push everything away from you. Then the strength required to release the Velcro is massive. By practicing the second benefit is loosening off the Velcro a little more. Lastley the leash strap and handle are all black so the opening where your hand goes in is also harder to spot when under stress.
Kite bag. Airush dudes. It looks like you just could not be bothered to finish off the project and decided to get cheap single pocket rucksacks for a kite bag. This means I have to push my control bar and pump back into the same space as the kite whilst trying not to snag it and tear it. This is not good. I am now looking to buy a better bag from another kite manufacturer.
Summary. Good points: set-up is quick, straightforward and the lines reduce risk of mistakes. It is good to fly, stable and relaunches well. Questionable: the jam cleat trimming system, the leash emergency release and the kite bag. Would I buy this kite again knowing all this: ‘Yes!’

August 2009
Many folk take to watersports for a sense of freedom, speed and excitement. This means that they think and act in a particular way, at least when on the water. Many people seem to be eager to progress onto tricks, such as carving turns or getting some air through jumps. All good stuff!
However – before getting to the advanced stuff, try and get the basics right. Consider that a kitesurfer as 30 metre lines and a whopping big kite at the end that swoops through arcs up and down. This means that when turning you might need a clear radius in excess of 30 metres upwind, downwind and across wind from when you even begin to make your turn. Well, you know what, it really helps if you look where you are going to see that it is clear and safe to turn.
I did this myself at first: fixate on the kite and ignore other considerations. Howevver, I read books, watched DVDs, got training, watched other people – basically I learnt!
Go do the tricks, do the advanced moves but hey, get the fundamentals right and make sure you are safe on the water first.
Look over your shoulder, check that no-one is behind you, then make your turn. It really is that easy!

August 2009
This has common features other Orbiturs. However there are very few toilet and shower facilities given the number of people rammed into the site. There are lots of tents here (people without access to showers and toilets of their own unlike us motorhomers) yet the site has (spread across only two blocks) four showers for men, four for women and six that can be used by anyone; this equals seven showers for each sex. Considering there are nearly 100 tent pitches, plus caravans, plus motorhomes, this is woefully inadequate. Thumbs us for beach access; thumbs down for facilities.

August 2009
This is considered to be one of Portugal’s top windsurfing and kitesurfing beaches. The beach is on the south side of the Rio Lima to the south of Viana do Castelo.
We stayed in the Orbitur Cabedelo (see that post) for each of access to the beach and to have facilities to rinse off the salt and sand from equipment after use.
The prevailing Nortada (squeezed between an Atlantic high pressure system and the Iberian low) works each day starting around 1pm. The beach receives very little in the way of waves however, perhaps through the approach of a front or thermic effects, the wind was very qusty.