Brazil update.....

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AlastairW
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Brazil update.....

Post by AlastairW »

11pm here in Brazil, and an early ish night for a change.

The weather is still by no means brilliant, and indeed today we nearly cancelled the trip up the mountain because the forecast was so bad. However we did go up on a 50/50 chance of flying, and fortunately for once the weather goddess smiled on us and we got to fly.

We took of at 12, and fortunately I got a good climb straight over take off, to about 1000ft ato. The clouds were already starting to get big, so we were limited to flying 500ft below base.

There are three instructors on the course, Jocky Chris and Tim, and the procedure is to take of in groups behind an instructor, then fly with him. That is the theory anyway…… I took of with Tim, and when we got high three of us set off for the "Crocodile Ridge" about 4k SW of TO. Jocky had gone of first, but most of his group bombed out… they probably were about 10 minutes early.

As the skygods in the club will be well aware, the technique in flatland flying is to work anything…. Half ups, zeros, and even half downs, in the expectation that the air will start to rise. Constantly watching the sun on the hills, how long has it been cooking…… is it likely to trigger..?

2K from take off I got zeros and half ups on the vario, and circled a few times, just maintaining height. The other guys in the group didnt get that, so we all arrived at crocodile ridge at roughly the same time, but I had at least 500ft advantage over them.

It is then a question of watching, waiting, and looking out for signs of lift…. The ridge itself is about 2k long, and facing East. It normally dosnt work well, but wioth the easterly wind there is at the minute any thermals tend to be drifted up the ridge and trigger at the top. An obvious sign is to watch for birds thermalling….. there is a type of bird here (whos name I forget) who only thermal… lazy buggers basically, so if you see them flying you head straight for them, as the air is going up. Today I was in a flock of at least 50. Unfortunatley no one has told them the etiqutte of thermalling, and they were all turning in different dirtections! A decent climb there, but again drifting back in the wrong direction,, so it was a question of pushing forward and finding more lift…. Again marked by the birds……..

By this time the forecasted rain was very obvious on the horizon, so it was a question of trying to find something asap, as we would only be flying for 30 minutes.

I pushed out towards the main road, with Tim flying beside me ( he took the pics pasted on the board…) going down all the time. Looking for triggers…… a hillock facing East with a fairly large bare patcjh of soil on it….. I headed for that and arrived at no more than 200ft above ground level. Sure enough there was something there, but at that height it weas VERY rough and broken, the wing trying its hardest to get away from me….. I managed a small climb berfore loosing the core, and going in to land.

Frustrating….. yes…. Big distances……no, but as a learning experience absolutley brilliant. I would Highly recommend it to anyone interested in flying XC.

Landing can be fun…. There are fields of elephant grass, which from the air look lush and verdant, which indded they are, but the grass is about 8ft tall, like bamboo. As Jocky said, if you land in one of those fields you immediatley join the fcuk tribe…. It is a good idea to take a picture before landing so you can work out where exactly you need to walk. The heat is intense….. by the time you have landed and packed your glider, you will be absolutley drenched in sweat. It is essential to carry lots of water for the walk outs.

As for Brazil itself…… the place is incredibly cheap. For example, I have been out tonight, eaten in a restaurant, drank a coouple of beers there, then went on to a bowling alley where we had two games of 10 pin bowling and more beers, and the total cost for the evening was 30 real, or £7.50. The people themselves are very friendly….. I landed out today, and a group of 10 kids ran up the hill in 35degree heat to help me pack up. They then carried the glider down to the road, where I was going to catch the bus. Absolutley amazing children, who probably dont have two pennies to rub togehter… It makes you think…! I didnt get the bus, as someone stopped and offered me a lift. About a 30 minute ride into GV, and he dropped me right at the hotel door. I offered him money for the ride but he refused to take it.

Oh… and by the way…. I outflew Mr Sanderson today…..
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John Wallis
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Post by John Wallis »

Oh… and by the way…. I outflew Mr Sanderson today…..
Good lad keep doing it. Good write up Alastair keep them coming. Let's hope the weather improves for that big flight.

JW
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“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”
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gary stenhouse
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Post by gary stenhouse »

been looking at flights on google from the new site and it looks to be a wonderfull place i hope you get some epic days to follow. sounds like a great place to be for a couple of months given how cheep it is to live. you have been missing some epic flights at east hill with mad dog getting above steve and me getting open xc over the first fence i meen why would you want to be in brazil

keep on smiling and keep in the right hand box and all will be good in the end

cheers gary
paolo
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Lovely tale

Post by paolo »

That was really good Alistair, keep sending these e mails.
I'd never being before in Brazil but everibody sais the same, it's a great place to go flying, and guys, all south America it's great and there is awesome flying places, and all of them really cheap, the most expensive places in South America are Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, the rest of it it's by far cheaper then these three.
In general everibody is very friendly and in many places it wont be difficult to find English speakers.
In Argentina for example, there are three or four spots were the flying is outstanding and meat and wine..really cheap, and really good, in Chile there is a place called Iquique, a ridge 5 miles from the coast 2500ft high, it's the dryest desert on earth, more than Sahara, never rains, but NEVER, once each five years can just drizzle for a few minutes, many houses have card board roof! because it's useless! is a Flying paradise and you CAN'T fail your trip it's flyable every single day, all year , it's true, the flyable places open like a store, Alto hospicio it's flyable from 10 am Palo Buque from 2:30 pm and for God sake it's like that, and also, really cheap.
Brazil, well there is some places were apparently if you don't fly, doesn't matters because the beach and places are so beautifull that you can anyway enjoy that.
I look like a travel agency but, I think if you guys do not know south America..well it's a really nice spot, and it's cheap enough, it's worth a try, appart from the airplane tickets (avoid Dec, Jan,Feb) the rest it's really cheap.
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