Archive for April, 2009

HD Movie Experiment

Monday, April 20th, 2009

Edit: Wednesday and Friday were as good a day as predicted, however it was a little rough on Wednesday and I experimented with an HD camera and moveable swing boom arm. They are the start of an ongoing project for a new collection of movies.
Friday I flew without the cam and tested the Mercury again in Spring conditions. Felt very good and I enjoyed flying in the  Zillertal Open with it. Finishing 11th the first day but got too low on the 2nd task and landed with most of the field in the tricky stable/windy air. Local crack Hannes Huber won the day and the competition. Also just heard he finished 4th in his first PWC task, this guy is on fire. I’ll write more about him in the future for sure.

The coming week is looking extremely good. With Wednesday and Friday as far as I can see looking some of the best days in the season so far. Stefan Steigler has already been out on the hunt for his first 200k flight this year.In the next few weeks I’ll be pushing for 200km myself. So if you’re in the area come and say hi. I might be able to point you in the right direction.I’ll post some lines on what happened this week and if it was as good as it looks.KF

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Axis Alpine Course

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
Looking north to the end of the Zillertal valley, Axis master class 2009Today was the first day of the Axis Master Class. Conditions were strong from the start, we crossed into the sunny side of Penken and found 6-7m/s shortly before midday.

I’d set a 102km task, however the wind was not on our side. I pushed out to a mountain 10km to the North there I encountered a pretty violent spring leeside thermal. I advised that the task was cancelled as the guys were a few km’s behind and much lower. Not wishing them to come too close to the terrain that was lee side.

I figured that “the Offen” would be a tell-tale of the conditions in the big mountains, which is where we were due to go next if safe.

Joe(on the Course), Mark Watts and I regrouped and worked on a safe way forward, by taking a climb in the middle of the valley then take a WIDE line onto the windy side.After the Offen it was just windy, NE direction. We then pushed to the mouth of the valley and back. It was a lot faster on the way back.We landed together back at the Bruggerstube after just under 50km and 2,5hrs.

Most guys flew a few km up wind but the challenging conditions meant few flew further than the LZ. However Colin crossed to the safe windward side of the valley and managed to work his way following the wind back to over the Ahorn Spitz, well done Col!!!

I flew the Venus 2 today and was happy for it’s safe characteristics in the Spring lee side climb.
More tomorrow.

EDIT: The foehns wind unfortunately broke thru and we’ll possibly get something in tomorrow afternoon. The weather for the upcoming Zillertal Open is looking promising, just not sure of wind strength yet. The guys are doing some theory about the sport side of things with Mark Watts and Nicky. More later…

KF

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Bassano: 6 out of 6 :)

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

Edit: Sorry I didn’t have a chance to update the blog everyday due to flying everyday and being tired. Anyway we flew a total of 6 days straight.

Conditions ranged from strong spring thermals to constant smooth glass off restitution in the evenings.

Being rusty from the winter lay off the guys have a bit of a baptism of fire really with some very strong conditions the first few days (5-8m/s).

They coped well and although they bailed out before completing any of the routes we’d set I think it will make back home seem tame in comparison.

So hopefully when it gets strong in Wales this season they’ll be able to make the most of it and be ready
to go XC with a higher bump tolerance.

I’ll post some new pictures on the website’s gallery over the next few days… Over and OUT…

Well again I’m in Bassano del Grappa and yet again the forecast is good for the entire week.
Fingers crossed they are correct.

It’s pretty busy here with the Easter holidays approaching. Conditions started wet and breezy in the morning then drier out and we flew for about an hour on the ridge the flats weren’t really working and although there was a strongish east wind I saw that some pilots had pushed way along the ridge and then had a fast glide home, good work.

Tomorrow is looking similar to today but with less wind and a 5 for UV index, pretty good :)

I’ll be posting updates on the weeks XC Course here this week.KF

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