Learning to Fly

Narrow Top Landing

Daniel dropped me off at the bach early in the morning to sort out some things with the groundsman. As we were turning up there we noticed how much drier things were getting as the wet season is coming to an end and there were already 30-40 buzzards circling behind the bach and it was barely 10am.

Daniel went to pick up his nephew Juninho and then we went up the ramp together and got there around 11am. It wasn’t quite as good looking from up there as it was down below so we waited for an hour as everyone decided where would be best. Guto turned up and we decided to take off in the light southwesterly breeze. The clouds looked like there were some thermals around, but it wasn’t quite as reassuring as I had expected.

Daniel and I both took off from the Southern ramp and he headed left along the ridge and I went out toward the valley. I was hoping the southeasterly breeze would be pushing the heated air up the valley, but kept an eye on Daniel as I wasn’t too sure of myself. When I got there I started to rise and circled for nearly 10 minutes but never got more than 50m above the level of the ramp. The thermal died and I headed out over the flat in an attempt to find something. There were a half dozen other guys flying but I saw most of them struggling too. There were a couple of other guys really high but I knew from where I was I couldn’t reach the thermals they were in.

I put my foot on the accelerator and tried to get near the eucalypt plantation where I’d had luck before, but there was only a small bubble which burst along with my hopes. I landed on the other side of the swamp from the official landing spot and had to walk all the way around. Daniel and a few others weren’t having much luck either though and quickly filled a car going back up. I ended up having to get a lift up with Ronaldo, which took a while as the road was really cut up from the rains over the past months.

When we got back up things were changing and the wind was quite a bit stronger. It was already after 3pm and Guto had just landed on the Southern landing spot where I had left from. I thought about driving down to pick him up, but I figured we’d only get back up at the time for dark, and there wouldn’t be any flying left, so I prepped and took off for a quicky along the ridge.

The wind wasn’t as strong as I had thought and for the first 5-10 minutes I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to make it back up to the ramp to get the car. I struggled and struggled in a valley trying to get a bit more lift from the channelled wind in the narrow top. It was enough to keep me up for a bit and then things started to change. I had my eye on 2 buzzards and they gradually started heading further and further out from the ridge, but never lost any height. I thought it stupid at the time but went after them. The further I went the more I started to rise. The sun was almost touching the horizon and I couldn’t believe it was going to last at all so as soon as I had the height I made a break back for the ramp.

I made my approach and went way back almost over the trees to try and lose some height to land on the ramp. The area is really narrow and I struggled sifting left and right with the brakes pulled down firmly for a few minutes before I got close enough to actually land. The ramp was quite full and I don’t like landing there when there are so many people but Daniel and Guto were already in the bar in Andradas and I had to get both cars down. I managed to get Alex to drive one down and although I could see the conditions just getting better and better and Marcelo and Miguel flying higher and higher, I got in the car and drove down with Juninho.

Total flight time: 45mins