Flying near Vedi

Today, I went with Anton and Sascha to a takeoff near Vedi. The forecast showed not much Wind in the area. So the termals were dominating. The takeoff is a nightmare, but I managed to get in the air more or less save.

The flight was brilliant. I had some low passages, but I could always get to cloudbase somehow. On the first part, a bombout would mean walking a lot. Fortunately not today. As i approched Mt Hatis, I had a lot of backwind. At this point I knew already that flying back would be difficult. It was strange to see the N wind close to the ground 1km beside the mountain. But the plane in SE is slightly higher, so it did not kick in there. While flying back in full bar, I couldn't grab any thermals, so I had to land. I was invited immediately to beer and cigarettes. Then I went back by bus and taxi.

Anton did a nice 70 km flat triangle, i managed to fly 65 km. Tomorrow, we go again. The forecast looks great!

http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:Toha/10.07.2013/09:46

http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:pesca1/10.7.2013/09:41

Sevan vol. 2, Yerevan

Monday, we went again to Lake Sevan for soaring. I tried to go W, but after 4km I couldn't get higher than the ridge. Then I decided not to let blow myself to the South, too risky.

Tuesday, I went to the city. Was not that special. Maybe I just generally dont like big cities... At least I have now an Armenian number. Swisscom sold me an iPhone with sim lock, cunts! Was cheaper to buy a new phone than to jailbrake the other.

At the evening I was invited by a sympatic Armenian Girl to Moscow Cinema. Life is nice!

Paragliding at Sevan

At 10:30, Anton and Sascha picked up Roman and me at Balcony Hostel. The Dutch came as well for a tandem flight. At the landing spot, lot of people are already waiting. So we went up to the takeoff. They didn't swich on the chairlift, we had to take the car.
Sevan is a good soaring spot. Easy to get up and more difficult to get down. There's lift until the middle of the valley. On the last flight, I got good lifty lines. But I needed to land, Anton is already driving down. Over the edge of the lake, it was like 2 winds from different directions getting together. Was a bit turbulent close to the ground so I choose to land on a big field near the gas station.  It was a brilliant day! I met so many good people. It's gonna be good 3 weeks here in Armenia!

Just arrived

After a little late night sightseeing and asking a few people, the driver finally found the place. I slept well, and in 1 hour Armen will pick us up.

Stop over in Kiev

I love free WLAN at Boryspil airport in Kiev. I'm gonna arrive late in Yerevan, I hope the taxidriver knows my hostel. If everything works fine, I go already tomorrow paragliding with Armen ;-).

Further posts will follow.