We contemplated heading to Lake Bled today but since the skies were mostly blue, Garth and I decided to try to fly first and then maybe we’d head off in the afternoon. So for the fourth day in a row, we met Wolfgang at 9:50 (and always within a minute of that time) and then we drove to the cafe by the landing zone (also part of the ritual) and then off to launch. This time it was to a different launch as supposedly there was a north launch so instead of the Stol, we went to a north facing launch called Srednji Vrh (don’t ask me to phonetically write that one out!). It took almost an hour as well to get up to this launch and it had a stunning view of the ridges we had previously flown. The problem was going to be that it was already close to noon and the sun was no longer heating up the ridge in front of us. So the options were to tuck around a nearby corner and hope to find something there (although Wolfgang had briefed us that you had better be a good pilot to attempt that) or b-line it for small knoll near town or the end of the ridge that the other launch was on.
Other pilots seemed more confident about the day than Garth and I were as they began to fly off. I watched 3-4 pilots try the option of going around the corner but that wasn’t working. Garth launched and I was about 10-15 minutes behind him. Wolfgang had mentioned that one thing to watch out for was as the day progressed, the other side of the mountain that we were on would start to be heated by the sun and thermals would flow up the other side and cause a downhill wind where we were and then you’d be riding back down in the van. Sure enough, as I and two other pilots were ready to launch, we started to see downhill cycles. Thankfully there were still a few coming up the front and we all launched. I headed straight for the end of the ridge where the other launch was and arrived about 2/3’s the way up. I found lift but had to fight a bit or rotor here and there to slowly climb up. I was pleased to see that Garth was just above the ridge, where I wanted to be. We flew around for a half hour or so there but it was tough going. Neither of us had a wing collapse but it was a constant battle to keep the wing above your head and with a strengthening easterly wind, we weren’t going to be going anywhere. We headed out to land and it was quite strong down in the landing zone but it still was a fun flight.
Garth walking up to launch:
The view from the new launch:
The hopefully fliers:
Garth's launch:
Flying towards Kobarid:
The campground from above...Betty is the white dot on the left of the main patch (yes, difficult to make out but you get the idea):
Holly met us at the cafe and we decided that we would head to Lake Bled in the morning if the conditions looked bad for flying, otherwise we’d definitely head there in the afternoon. It was only 1-2 hours away so we would still have all of Friday there and then we’d be off to the capital, Ljubljana on Saturday. That late afternoon Garth and I had three entertaining games of chess (with a stalemate and a win each) and Garth and Holly prepared a beautiful stir-fry. Gotta love these kind of days.
Garth lovin' Slovenia (they have a slogan here: "I feel SLOVEnia" which his t-shirt describes and the beer can is for the World Cup, saying "I feel South Africa"):
Holly enjoying her book and a glass of wine:
While Garth and I duelled it out on the chessboard:
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