The last time we were in Lanzarote, 1996, we were talking to Josie about what they did at Christmas. The reply was that it's a normal week with paying lodgers and that she gets to do Christmas dinner for 26 people. Since Wiz and myself were fed up with the Christmas weather in England we decided there and then that it would be a good idea to go for Christmas 1997.
We booked the holiday in February 97 and only just made it into the farmhouse, as Josie was taking loads of bookings and was now about to start placing people in apartments else where but nearby. The price had gone up by £10 per person but this was the first rise for a number of years.
The working year came and went, I did lots of flying this year and was looking forward to lots more over the holiday period. We flew out on the Thursday before Christmas day, the 18th. It was chucking it down with rain in England and the thought of the 75 degree temperatures in the Canaries was very welcome. The plane was on time and we got to Lanzarote in about 4 hours, slightly longer due to the headwinds caused by the low pressure out in the Atlantic. During the flight I had my GPS switched on with a Lowe external aerial plugged in. This gave our ground speed as 400 mph. The Captain had mentioned the 130 mph headwinds and so I suspect the GPS was working really well as the cruising speed of the A320 was given as 530mph in the brochure in the seat pockets.
Having arrived at Arrecife we were out of the airport within 20 minutes of the plane coming to a stop, this must be a record. Greg, Ray and Josie's Son, met us and took us to the farmhouse (N28.94732, W13.70338) , we stepped out of the wagon and was immediately greeted with insults from a Stiffy (hang glider pilot). We later found out that that this was his normal manner with people. We went inside and introduced ourselves to the 2 couples who arrived earlier in the day and then we set about the first round of beer drinking. Tony broke the ice very early on by telling stories of how he had crashed his hang glider, and then he kept on going about all the other incidents. I thought I should keep well out of his way. Michelle, Tony's wife, was sensible to make up for his lacking, she was a paraglider pilot. She has also been dual flying as pilot in command without the Pilot rating or the Dual rating, she's pregnant!!! Did I say sensible? Ralph was a stiffy too, but like Tony, had seen the light and got CP rated with a paraglider as well. Jo, his better half, was in the process of learning to paraglide.
It was around this time that I discovered I had lost my watch, one of those Casio monsters with the barograph etc. Good start to the holiday I thought. We then heard the rain belting down on the newly installed roof, which has made a new room to the building out of the courtyard. I had another beer.
Day 1
We had to go and get our hire car which this year cost £62 per week. We then went to the shops for essential holiday supplies (beer) and I also bought myself a new watch, the latest model of what I had lost, £78 bargain in Lanzarote. We knew that the others had gone off to Famara to fly, but the clouds were fair shifting so I gave the flying a miss for the day. I still had the crash in Crete well and truly in my mind and I wasn't about to rush into the air, I waited until I knew the conditions were right.
Back at the farmhouse Jo finds my lost watch amongst the gravel where the cars were all parked. Typical :-( The hole where the strap pin sits had enlarged allowing the pin to pop out. Anyone want to buy a watch??
Day 2
The clouds had slowed a bit and so I went with the others to Famara. Ray led us straight to the lower take off (N29.06499, W13.57615) where the wind sock was horizontal. I had flown in stronger winds but wasn't about to be the wind dummy at a site I had never flown before, did it once, cocked it up:-(( Ray took off with ease and so I followed. No problem, I was much happier now as this was the first flight abroad since the crash. I then top landed and watched Ralph take off with the assistance of ray, who landed shortly before me.
Ralph was newly qualified in paraglider flying but was extremely experienced on hang gliders. He demonstrated typical launching abilities that all newly qualified CP's do (we've all been there, bag of washing gathering, going for a drag etc etc). He reversed launched the wing with a fair bit of energy. He went straight up vertical and Ray who was supposed to be anchoring him, had to let go. As Ralph went higher he was hit by a thermal which pushed his wing right back behind him, the thermal then passed him and his wing dived forward with a lot of speed. There was no attempt to damp the dive and then he hung in air somewhat like elephants don't.
He hit the hard gravel deck both feet first and fell to one side using his head to arrest the roll. He was not moving. I ran over with my canopy all gathered and got out of my harness. I shouted to someone to keep control of my glider whilst I went to assist Ralph. This was second first aid job on the hill since I qualified in April 97 after a 4 day intensive course. (Good idea for all pilots to do one). Ralph hadn't moved by this time but I could hear a groaning noise from him. The other pilots around, including Michelle who was also a first aider, had by this time got to him and he was just starting to come round after knocking himself out. He wanted to sit up but we stopped him until we had decided that he was ok to do so. He eventually took off his crash hat which was split down one side. It saved his life. He had a couple of grazes from the rough ground but hadn't broken any bones.
After about 5 minutes we helped him up and walked him to the car. He kept telling us that he has no idea of what happened. I suggested that he is likely to go into shock and that something with sugar in it was a good idea. He insisted that although he was shaken up, he was ok. I left him with Jo and went flying again. After I had landed I was told that Ray and Jo had taken him to the hospital, good idea I thought. It was only after that I realised that a first aider ought to have gone with them, but it was too late now. The wind had eased a little by now and so I went up to the top take off and had another hour and a half flying.
Later, back at the farmhouse we learnt that the hospital had CAT scanned Ralph's head and X-rayed all sorts of bits and put him on a drip. He then came to his senses and wondered why he was in hospital. He doesn't remember a thing, can't remember trying to take off, can't remember the crash or the chat in the car afterwards, can't remember the car trip to the hospital. He probably won't. They kept him in overnight and left him on a trolley all night.
Moral of this story; if you don't want to spend the night on a trolley, don't take off in conditions you aren't ready for. This, and my accident in Crete, goes to show that there should always be a first aider on the hill. I was lucky, I had 2 professionals in my group, Ralph had 2 amateurs but he survived to hear the tale told, after all, he can't tell it because he doesn't remember.
Day3
The winds were quite light but managed a good hour and a half with some quite nice thermals.
Day 4
We
tried Famara top take off (N29.08094, W13.555670) first but the wind was
off the hill to the right, so we went to Mirador (N29.21984, W13.47295)
at the top end of the island. Here there was no wind at all. So I decided
to accompany Tony down on a nil wind alpine launch. We both landed on the football
pitch and had just got packed away went the retrieve drivers arrived.
Wiz and I decided to head off back to Famara in the hope the thermals had pulled the wind more onto the hill, it had. I took off ok and caught a thermal straight up to cloudbase. The air was very rough and the cloud threatened to over develop. Fortunately it didn't and I flew off to the lower takeoff and then went home for a beer.
Day 5
We all went off to Mala (N29.11084, W13.47694) and only the hang gliders flew as it was too windy for paragliders. The two of us therefore went off to find a nice beach. We chose one which was close to Orzola. From here we could see the stiffies flying off of Mirador. I later spotted a paraglider inflate for a few seconds and then it was down again. This happened a couple of times but he never got airborne.
I then got bored with the sitting around without a beer so we went back to the takeoff at Mala. A few more paraglider pilots had turned up but it was still too windy. At about 16:30 the wind started to ease off as the contribution from the thermals decreased. A German chap was the first off, followed by a Swiss. The take off's were very critical but they both got off unassisted, so I had a go. I had a 5 minute wait with the wall built, just waiting for a brief lull in the wind speed. It came and I was away without incident.
Considering the size of the cliff face that we were flying and the wind speed, there was no dynamic lift at all. It was all thermal lift. I tracked across the face of the cliff as close to the cliff face as I dared, my feet only a couple of metres away from the rocks, I had about 2mph ground speed and 15mph airspeed, yet I wasn't going up at all. Ray told me that this site was superb for the thermik lift and is probably the best site on the island, but unfortunately I couldn't make use of it when the thermals were coming off. The Swiss pilot and I then spent a little time helping one another find the "magic air" well out in front of the hill as the sun went down. We both landed and got packed away before it was too dark to see what we were doing.
Day 6 Christmas eve
No
clouds and the prevailing wind from the north east was light enough to be offset
by the thermals going up the hill at Macher (N28.95324, W13.71194). I
had a 2 hour flight with thermals going to 6up. I had most of the air space
all to myself. The stiffies couldn't keep in close and slow enough to make use
of the very light lift between the good thermals and so they all ended up landing
in the bottom field. Top landing was a doddle, I had some lunch then took off
again. Eventually I landed just outside the farmhouse.
Day 7 Christmas day
Not
a cloud in the sky, I went back up the hill at Macher, just behind the farmhouse,
and phoned home on the mobile (dam the expense). My dad said the rain was bouncing
off the roads and it was a typical British Christmas day. I said what a shame
and then went flying. Photo on left shows what a lovely day it was compared
to that of England. The air wasn't very exciting so I landed outside the farmhouse
and then we all went off to the beach for a swim in the sea and a spot of sun
worshipping. 3 hours later I was bored again so I went back and took to the
air again.
Josie cooked Christmas dinner for 29 people, a new record for her. We all ate in the newly constructed courtyard room and we were split into 3 tables, us in the farmhouse, Henry's motley crew who were staying in a German pilots house whilst he went back to Germany, and then all the other hanger-ons who were spread all around the local area in apartments of all sorts. Beer and wine flowed like a river and we all had a good time with a superb Christmas dinner.
Then
the fun started. Ray had several bottles of a Rum called Stroh, or something
like that. The idea was a team table game where 5 members of the table had to
dip each of their fingers into a glass of this stuff after Ray had set light
to it with a match. They then had to hold their hand up to show 5 flaming fingers
to get 5 points. This sounds quite ludicrous but isn't that difficult. The next
game was a drinking the lighted stroh, again it is quite easy as long as you
don't hesitate. John, another stiffy pilot set light to his beard and moustache,
and someone else set light to the table when they knocked the glass over.
The last game was to pick up a canister from a roll of film with your
mouth. The rules were as follows; take one normal dining chair, put the canister
behind it on the floor, and the person playing must not touch the floor with
any part of their body. If you have long legs it's easy. Try it.
Bedtime at 2:30am Boxing day. Was I pissed or what?
Day 8 Boxing day
Headache, thirst, tiredness, ground sucking.
Day 9
Gale hanging at Famara
Day 10
Had
a flight on a Firebird Barracuda 32. What a bus. Didn't like it, so I landed
after 10 mins.
Got back to my Alto and took off again. By this time in the holiday I had finally sussed the way the thermals were working. The way to go about getting high was to use one thermal and then go out away from the hill and wait for another. OK, so you loose a bit of height but the sea birds were very good thermal markers. In doing this I managed 1500 feet ATO but in doing so I drifted well back behind the ridge. I looked inland and there were so many jet black fields, I thought I was onto a winner. I went with the drift of the wind slowly getting higher towards Teguise. I radioed back to take off and sorted out my retrieve driver before I went too far. Then disaster struck, 6 down sink. I speeded up to try and get out of the sink but it was everywhere. I landed by the main road 3.2 miles from take off.
I was a bit annoyed but Tony came and fetched me and then I went back to try again. The wind had picked up somewhat during this time and so I went to play around down by the bottom takeoff. I had seen one person earlier in the week get from the bottom takeoff to the top take off by scratching along the cliff edge and jumping the two sets of power lines. I thought I might have a go. I made tentative explorations of the terrain up to the power lines but the thermals were not good enough to take me high enough to safely clear them. I turned back to towards the lower takeoff but lost loads of height and found myself -160 feet. The flat plain was only another 100 feet below with a very gentle slope to it from the steeper sides just below the takeoff. I was determined not to go down. I kept on thinking "UP", just like Butterfly taught me, and all I got was silly little thermals that I could just turn in to maintain height. My feet were only 20 feet above the rocks and I was out of my harness in case I suddenly hit sink. Then the big one came through and within about 30 seconds I was back above take off, so I top landed and got Wiz to drive me back to the top takeoff.
The wind was quite strong up at the top and there were a lot of paraglider pilots standing around watching one other pilot wrestle with his canopy in the wind. This was a new bunch of people as I hadn't seen them before. They were probably waiting for a wind dummy to point the way so I happily obliged them, since I had got used to the conditions by now. I launched and very quickly picked up a large thermal. It was marked quite well by the big black cloud above it and so it took me back to 1600 feet ATO. There were 3 stiffies up with me as well and just one of them and I went for the XC again.
Read the 3rd paragraph above again as to what happened. I landed about a quarter of a mile further along the same road as last time. The stiffy got about 2 miles further on due to better glide, but all the same, he came down.
I came to the conclusion that all the air was going up, by being forced over the cliffs, it then all came back down again inland. Some sort of huge rotor effect. Later I spoke to Ray about it and he said that the inland ground cant heat up quickly enough during the winter to set off good thermals. Next time we go to Lanzarote I'll try staying out in the flat plain and take my chances there and head for Tinajo.
Day 11 and onwards
Blown out or squally showers was the order of the day. New years eve was a bit of a non event. We went to Puerto Del Carmen for dinner and then onto the bars down on the Strip. There were more Brits down there as Hustlers for the bars than were on the beaches during the daytime. It was certainly not our idea of fun. We had a beer each, watched the fireworks at midnight, and then went back to the farmhouse.
Last day New Years Day
Our flight was at 18:00 and every one else's was much earlier. We spent the day lounging around finishing up the beer and the wine. I passed 17 bottles of beer onto Ray as we couldn't finish them all.
We boarded the plane on time but the couldn't get the door shut. Meanwhile one passenger took ill and was removed from the plane by a doctor. Just as well we hadn't taken off on time as we probably would have diverted or returned to Arrecife. We landed very smoothly, which is more than the others got when they flew home earlier to Manchester. The gale force winds threw the plane around and they only just managed to avoid a disaster.
We finally got home and climbed into bed at 01:45 2nd January 1998. Wiz was up at 07:00 to go to work and I got to stay in bed for a few hours more, I had the day off :-))
In total I got 13 hours of flying in and could easily have doubled that if I had wanted to, but theres no point in gale hanging, it gets boring.
If you want to go and stay with Ray and Josie, then email them r.cooper@teleline.es or phone them 00 34 28 51 26 04.
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