CRETE 96

This holiday was a bit of an expeditionary one. Butterfly asked me if I wanted to go but since he had not been there before he couldn't answer many of my questions. The most important one was "what's the flying like". Things like food, accommodation, local "tottie", etc. etc. was an unknown quantity. All I had to go on was that it will cost £xxx, at the end April the thermals will be stonkers and besides "it will be good", so Butterfly said. It was very good as it turned out and I want to go again. I didn't make up my mind for quite a while as it was an unknown flying area. I finally decided after meeting another pilot on the lsle of Wight who said that he was going. Well if it was good enough for him, a 300+ hour Pilot rating, then it was good enough for me. I evicted the moths from my wallet and gratefully received a large donation from my wife's bank account. She was actually paying for me to go on holiday without her! I didn't complain.

The tickets for the flight were all sent to one chap, the one I met on the IOW. If he didn't show at Gatwick airport then none of us were going, except Butterfly of course who went a week earlier to reconnoitre the takeoff's and landing areas, the local beer and wine purveyors, but unfortunately not the local tottie, he had his Wife and Son with him. There we were, all strangers, laying on the floor by the check-in desk waiting for our man with the tickets. The queues at the check-in were getting smaller and we were getting worried. Eventually he turned up much to every ones relief, and we all checked in. We were slightly late for takeoff as one last passenger was late arriving. She came bounding down the aisle on the plane and greeted me and the others around me with "oh you must be the paraglider pilots". My huge pink flying boots which were jutting out into the aisle gave the game away. She had flown down from Glasgow to catch this plane and she was late. She was very much relieved to have made the flight. One of our number immediately went into chat up mode and was to be an embarrassment in this department for the rest of the week.

We took off and then we landed with 3 breakfasts and 1700 miles in between. The airport at Iraklion is not very sophisticated and we had to walk from the plane to a bus that would take us to the arrivals building. I stepped out of the plane and was greeted by a 30kt wind and a view of a perfectly formed, huge wave cloud sat right on top of the island. I was not a happy camper at that moment. We reclaimed our kit and was met by a woman and a bus to take us to Malier. We arrived at the apartments and made ourselves at home. Butterfly had left a message saying he's on the other side of the island checking out a flying site and will be back for tea. We unpacked and 5 minutes later we were all in the bar opposite the apartments having a get -to-know-one-another drinkie. Five minutes later I had been identified as a "racing snake" and was probably going to give everyone trouble due to my appalling sense of humour. I was however outdone by Arnie, more about him later. Evening came and no Butterfly, so we walked a long way from the bar to a restaurant 50 feet down the road. There, we all (most) went into chat-up mode to the waitresses. I was getting nowhere, and when I asked one of the girls why, she replied "you're just a boy". This brought the house down with laughter but made me feel very good since I was older than they were. Baby face racing snake. Butterfly turned up eventually with a plan to have us all flying the next day in some fantastic surroundings.

Day One. We went off and sorted out the transport. Arnie and Tim were latecomers to the event and so fended for themselves and got a 4 wheel drive jeep thing. The rest us were in with Butterfly and so we had pre-arranged cheap transport to keep the costs down. We all shared the driving and all shared the horrors of being a passenger in a vehicle with a madman at the wheel. Those of us that rode motorbikes were a little more careful around the twisty bits on mountain passes. We tended to use the radios a lot and the lead vehicle would tell us what was coming the other way. This allowed safe overtaking on blind bends and the like, but it was still frightening. Every now and then we would stop to look at the potential landing sites that Butterfly had found and we were all briefed on the whereabouts of the hazards, almost invisible power lines etc. Site one was a roadside takeoff, it wasn't that good and you had to be sure of your ability to get away with it. Only 2 pilots went from here. We retrieved them after their short flight and decided to go further inland. We rounded a corner and was met by the sight of snow capped mountain tops. 7500 feet peaks surrounding the Lesthiki plain. We made our way to a site near the village of Avdou. The drive up takes about half an hour along a rough track. There was a gentle breeze at take off and we all got away without incident, but despite the cumulus clouds all around, we all found nothing but sink. My flight lasted 5 minutes, 6-8 down was the average for this flight. Butterfly reasoned that because everyone had a poor flight, even those with hundreds of hours experience and on high performance canopies, the problem was probably due to out of phase wave. The mountains opposite the one we were flying were at the right height and distance from us that all the air was going down right where we were trying to soar and hunt for thermals. This explanation was believable since I saw the huge wave cloud the day before when exiting from the aeroplane. It was now too late in the day to go elsewhere so we headed for the nearest bar for a beer.

The next day was very different. Since we were all disgusted with the previous "days" flying we all vowed to do better. I confidently told every one in our car that I am going to have a personal best flight of lets say about 5 hours. The reply from everyone was such that I can't write it here. We went back to Avdou and one by one we took off. We all soared around for a while and gradually we learned where the trigger points were for the thermals. Some were quite strong and others weak. I managed to get 1800 feet ATO. and could see the Lesthiki plain behind the mountain we were flying. This annoyed some pilots who were slightly lower. About 2 hours into the flight Butterfly decided it was time I got some experience in getting to a goal and then getting back again. He told me to fly out to a small church type building and tell him what the colour of the door was on the opposite side to us. I got there and lost 400 feet from take off level. "Right, now get back again and regain your height". I managed to get back very low on the hill side but positioned myself right over one of the trigger points, a brown dusty patch of earth devoid of all vegetation. I worked the small thermals and eventually found the big one which took me back up to 1000 foot ATO. I felt quite pleased with my self.

Some time later I noticed 2 large eagle type birds circling and heading my way. I radioed to Butterfly and told him and he came over and joined me. The thermal and of course the birds eventually got to us and the 4 us all went up together with the 2 birds opposite each other and Butterfly and myself between them. The birds eventually left us behind but not before I got some photo's of them. On returning home I asked my wife what the birds were, as she is a bit of a bird of prey fanatic, and she informed me that they were Griffon Vultures. I saw some up close later in the year at the Hawk Conservancy at Weyhill near Andover, Hampshire.

The flight went on and pilots landed and came back up for another flight. Butterfly then radioed to me that I should stay up for another half hour and the duration will go towards the FAI Silver Eagle badge. I looked at my watch and found that I really needed another 55 minutes to make the 5 hours. Only then did the thermals start to get weak and less frequent. By this time there were only 2 of us still in the air. Then half an hour before the 5 hours was up the other pilot left the hill and flew out into the valley. This was particularly annoying because he was marking a lot of the lift for me. I kept my eye on him and watched him go up quite steadily over the small village of Avdou. I then realised that this was "magic lift", the cooler air from the mountains was now descending down into the valley and pushing under the warm air of the valley floor. I flew out and joined him and found a couple of small thermals. He then landed and I was alone to find the little bit extra I needed for the 5 hours. The last big one came and took me 800 feet higher. I then flew at minimum sink from then on. I circled the landing field and gradually got lower. I finally landed and looked at my watch, it was 5 hours and 1 minute. I couldn't believe my luck. We all thought I may have the record for duration in Crete but were told later that 7 hours 25 minutes is the longest and held by a local pilot. I was very pleased with myself and had a few beers later by way of celebration.

The next day we decided to go back to Avdou since it seemed quite a good site and everyone was happy about the takeoff and landing site. The air was very turbulent at first and there were a couple of asymmetric collapses for those flying Airwave Raves. The wind changed direction and then died right down to nothing shortly afterwards. In total I only got 45 minutes airtime.

The next day we went into the Lesthiki plain to fly a site at Kaminaki. The plain is 2500 feet amsl. and apparently used to be a huge flooded area that eventually drained. It is extremely green and very fertile, a stark contrast to the majority of Crete. We bribed the local restaurant owner to take us up the mountain in his 4 wheel drive truck. Then there is a half hour hike over large rocks to get to the takeoff. There is very little room there and a reverse launch is the only way to get off. I waited for a gust of wind sufficient to reverse launch and got away ok. One wing tip collapsed but it was no trouble getting it out again. I soared in dynamic lift for 15 minutes and then heard over the radio that Fiona should turn in that thermal she has just flown through. I headed off to where she was flying and picked up the thermal which I worked to 1000 feet ATO. I lost it eventually and returned to the ridge for dynamic lift. Even that died off quite quickly and soon found myself getting lower so I headed for the landing area. Several people had already landed and had pulled in quite a crowd of locals. I had to get this landing right, no point in looking a fool in front of total strangers. There was 2 of us at about the same altitude and heading for the landing field. I put in couple of turns and let the other pilot in first. I landed without incident to a round of applause from the locals. What nice people they are. We packed up and headed for the restaurant for drinks and food, and to pay back for the lift up the mountain. Those of us on the ground sat in the sun drinking beer and waiting for Butterfly and Richard "the amazing Gonzales", to come down. The wind had died right off and there was no way launch. They managed to launch after a long wait and Butterfly flew over the town showing off by doing massive wingovers such that half the wing would collapse on each turn. He was flying a Samba and they re-inflate very easily.

It was now late afternoon and we went off back towards the apartments via a new mountain road. We used the bend in the road as a take off to fly down the valley towards where we were staying. Only Butterfly got away cleanly. The wind had gone katabatic and despite valiant attempts by 2 very experienced pilots, they could not launch. That night we went to a village where the locals play music in the street outside the restaurant. Butterfly joined in playing a guitar type thing and Fiona staggered us all by playing the fiddle, highland fling sort of music. Those of us that were not driving got drunk and we all ate very well for about £5. Very good value.

Next day I had a headache. We drove inland to a very promising site but only a few of us were willing to fly it. The other Richard flew for a while and landed perfectly ok on a very rocky surface. Since democracy ruled the day and some pilots were intimidated by the site we decided to drive on to the other side of the island, to the South coast. Apparently there were large sand dunes to soar. When we got there they were 400 feet high. The village was Agios Paulos and was practically empty. Some of us had a short flight lasting a minute or two from the top where the bushes were causing a lot of hassle on takeoff. We finally gave up and went to the new hotel that had just opened.

Since it had taken us 2 and a half hours to get there we decided to stay the night as the only guests in the place. We took up all the rooms and had to share. There was nearly a riot when trying to decide who was going to share with Fiona, but unfortunately another room was found. We ate that night up the hill at a fish restaurant and had a good evening.

Next day the wind was blowing quite strongly and inland was covered in low cloud. The sun was shining though and we all flew. The site we were flying was a small bay separated from a long beach by a rock face jutting out leaving just enough room to walk past without getting wet. Most launches were with the assistance of an anchor man, but once airborne there were no problems. It was all dynamic lift and we had a nice little circuit pattern set-up. There was one place where you could put the control handles on such that you were "galehanging". Butterfly was not too impressed by this sort of flying and so he set a task for us all to improve our skills.

We had to circle round and come in as if to land back at takeoff, but instead of landing we had to touch with our feet a flying helmet on the ground, and then overshoot and regain height so as not to land on the beach. Guess who won it. Yep, it was Butterfly himself. Appalled by the lack of effort from the rest of us he had to show how it was done. The rest of the time in the air was taken up by testing the forward speed of my canopy with the risers on fast and the speed bar on. I only got 26mph out of it but then I am a bit light for a 29. I compared my speed with Butterfly on a Rave and he was just quicker. In total I got 3 and a half hours airtime there and was pretty tired at the end of it all. We drove back to the apartments at Marlier. We got back in the dark and went out for our last night out.

Next day 2 pilots had a flight from the road up the valley from our apartments The conditions were not perfect and many of us had packed all our kit for the return flight home and couldn't be bothered to get it all out again. It was here that one of the funniest moments of the holiday was to occur. You had to be there to really appreciate it, but basically what happened was as follows. Whilst we were all sitting around waiting for the right time for someone to take off, we made camp so to speak, out of the rubbish that had been dumped on the road side. We had a couple of deck chairs, a centre piece table fashioned out of a rock, and a plant to set the whole scene off. There were a couple of window frames laying around too and one of them was set up overlooking the valley, just as if we were all looking out a sitting room window. Arnie then got up and walked to the other side of the window and stuck his head through it as if looking in from the outside. He then said in a perfect foreign accent "and here is the weather, a manyana il fuego". How close the phrase was to a true language I don't know but we all understood it and fell about laughing. By this time the sun was beating down quite strongly and the sun tan lotion was being well distributed. I was acting as video camera man to record the takeoff's by those wanting to fly and so refused to put any on as the greasy oil would then get al over the camera. Fiona, who just happened to be a Doctor, in addition to being a well proportioned, intelligent, musically gifted pilot, insisted that I had some sun protection on. She then volunteered to apply the, said lotion, to my exposed parts! This annoyed everyone else but I didn't complain, it was strictly a professional gesture on her part. It didn't stop me from enjoying it though.

Eventually it was time for the good times to come to an end and we all set off for the airport for a 14:00 hr takeoff. The flight home was uneventfull. We all went back in June 97 and disaster struck, read about it in Crete97

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