Flygirl, Des, Arnold and Joe have arrived in Pieve D'Alpago, Italy.

We are hugely excited.  It is beautiful here - the mountains, the greenery, the flowers, the old buildings and the people.

Des and I free flew yesterday in an attempt to lessen the nerves for today.  Take off had our hearts pounding.  900m above the landing with a very steep grass slope. So steep you can only see for a short distance before it drops away out of view and the next thing that comes into view is the tops of the pine trees.  Get the take off right or these trees will catch you or you will roll down the steep slope if you attempt an abort.  Some pilots set up on the slope above the level spot that is between these two take off options.  I choose the cliff type launch in front with Des and a few other pilots.  The wind is 90 degrees crossed, light and we wait for it to straighten up.

This was yesterdays free flying: 

Pre Czech Open Flying - Friday, 06 July 2007

Des is amped to get in the sky.  She lays out her Mistral 4 and is off, soon the highest in the sky.  I am delayed as I have to make changes to my newly fitted Quick Outs.  Arnold pointed out that I had fitted them incorrectly on my risers.  When ready I set up my glider and prepare to do a reverse launch like the two pilots in front of me, lower on the steep, oh so steep slope.

The mountains of Pieve D 'Alpago are steep and so is the take off I am now preparing to launch from.  The little wind that comes through is most often at right angles to this grassy cliff, gently blowing in from the left of take off to occasionally straighten up the steep slope.  I had seen the results of a pilot getting it wrong the previous day - a yellow glider bunched up in a tangle of branches and leaves from at least two different trees and a broken wrist in a fresh cast.  Apparently this happened on launch although the language barrier makes it difficult to know whether we understood one another correctly.

So with this in mind I look down the steep mountain slope again.  It is grassy, but I can only see a short distance and then it drops off out of sight and all too soon the next thing I see is the tops of the fir trees. A breeze comes through and I pull up my glider in a reverse launch, spot a big knot and immediately drop it.  With help from some friendly pilots, I clean up the tangle, check my lines and pull up again, only to snag the few rocks in the area.  My heart is pounding and my nerves are making themselves felt.  The pilots in front of me have launched, one of them changing to forward launch and I decide do the same.  The forward launch is a simple affair with the ground falling away fast. 

The thermals are punchy as I battle to get into my harness.  Something is wrong.  My speedbar lines are tight . The  'A's are not pulled down but there is heavy tension and I can feel the first step digging into my legs above my knees and the tension on the lines running into the back of my harness is forcing me partially out of my harness.  I try to thermal whilst I figure out what the problem is.  I know I can pull the Quick Out Speed Bar release lines if necessary, but that means no option of speedbar later if required and I have heard much about valley winds in the afternoon and have seen the powerlines everywhere so I decide to fly 'as is' for awhile longer as it does not appear to be too much of a problem.  My flying is awkward and not fluid and I don't hold the thermals well and often break away from close thermalling the cliffs and trees.  Still, I am lucky and get up fairly quickly.  As I rise above the ridge, I take my first look into the back mountains of the Dolomite.  WOW!

I am used to long ridges with big spaces in between - but the Dolomites are massive and sprouting up all over the place.  As I thermal I can barely drag my eyes away from them.  The Dolomite are impressive.  I battle to grasp the idea that people actually fly over these mountains.  It seems impossible. How can you land safely in that mindfield of big mountains?  The air becomes rougher and I guess that we are hitting the sheer layer.  We have taken off leeside and are flying leeside which is a mind bender for me.  I find myself in even stronger lift, but the pilots I am thermally with leave the thermal and head down the ridge right of take off.  I hold on a bit longer not understanding why they are leaving the thermal, but when the third pilot shouts something to me and straightens out to follow the others down the ridge I decide to follow suit.  Perhaps they did this because the sheer layer was rough and maybe if we got higher it would be worse?  I am not sure, but seeing as it is my first day flying in the Alps I decided to follow more experienced pilots than myself.

As we glide down the ridge the air becomes smooth.  Strange, it was only thermic in front of take off.  The others are pulling ahead and I decide to try push speedbar.  I can't.  It's stuck.  I dig my heels in harder and I can just move it slighty, but the force is immense, something is wrong.  With the air being so smooth I can take my hands off the brakes and feel around a bit, but cannot figure out what the problem is.  Decide that seeing as I cannot push speedbar, I may as well pull the release lines for the speedbar quick out release system.  Works well. The pressure in the seat of my harness disappears and  with the pressure off I pull at the steps but the line is still very tight.  There is a lot of drag on the released lines.  Start to untie the steps but then figure out that I am not going to be able to rethread them whilst in the air and turn my attention back to flying the glider.  Can I pull down the speedbar lines with my hands.  Work out that I can, but it is difficult and decide to make sure I do not get into a situation that requires speedbar.

The two pilots who left earlier are losing height fast as they cross the gap.  The pilot I left with is flying closer to the ridge and getting enough lift to actually rise above me.  Coming from South Africa, I generally cross gaps in mountain ranges well out in front to counter for the venturi effect, but there appears to be little of that in this crossing.  Without speedbar though I am still hesitant to adjust my line and follow the glider with the better lift line.  We all reach the other side and the others get up.  If I was more settled and committed, I think I would have gotten back up the cliffs as well, but now I am looking for safe landing options whilst half heartedly attempting to thermal the broken, narrow lift bubbles.  Gravity wins and I make a tight landing in a sloping field with scattered trees, lots of powerlines and electric tape next to the road.  On landing I collect my glider and immediately set about checking my speedbar thread.  I then remember that it had been suggested to me that I was not using all the holes in the guide system and I had rethreaded my lines, not taking into account that the longer route would shorten my line length to the first step and well as cause more drag.  Had broken two pipe guides on both sides in my effort to push the speed bar.  I reroute everything back the way I had been flying it for the past 3-4 years there and then.

What follows is a 10 kilometer hike followed by a lift from an Italian who drove completeley and utterly out of his way for the next 8 kilometers into the mountains to drop me back at the Base Camp landing.  Alberto said that when he saw me weaving along the road, he thought I looked in need of help.  And I was.  What a lovely, thoughtful person.

Although the walk with a heavy pack was hard, it was beautiful.  Italy is amazing.  It is so green with wild flowers everywhere.  The houses are made of many different kinds of exposed brick and stone - a mixture of new and old over the years.  Pieve flying is in kind of a bowl so I could watch all the other pilots flitting about in the sky and the changing clouds and increasing wind.  A British pilot I spoke to in the evening mentioned that he had tried the crossing at about 3pm and got caught in strong wind on full speedbar and massive sink.  He did not make it across the gap, but had to land int he river bed on a narrow stretch of rock between two fast flowing stretches of water.  There was a narrow collection of rocks that allowed him to cross the rest of the river safely so he was ok, but it does highlight the changing conditions and need for being aware.