A beautiful day of flying at the coast

Sky. Sea. Sun. Lots of fresh air. Beach. Dunes. Waving to children. Smiling when seeing dogs at play. Saying hello to a sheep or two.
Flying is a magic thing.


Yesterday, I planned to go flying, but the forecast never came through, and we baked gingerbread instead.

Today, it was the other way around. The forecast was bad, but all the real life-readings looked good, so I took the train out to Wijk aan Zee anyway. And got some really good flying! The sun was out most of the time, the wind was right and not too strong, and the first hour or more, I was all on my own in the sky, except for numerous sea gulls.

As last time, I started with flying North to Egmond aan Zee. Maybe two thirds there, at a tricky part of the dunes, I had to land. But luckily, I had a smooth restart and could continue all the way to Egmont aan Zee. There I turned around and flew back to Wijk. On the way back, I met two other pilots, who I took photos of. At Wijk, I turned around and flew to Egmond yet another time. Then going back to Wijk aan Zee again.

This time, it was a lot harder to make it. At a tricky part, the wind suddenly dropped and I found it impossible to stay up in the air. Another pilot had just landed at the same spot, probably for the same reason. Now, we were both trying to get airborne again, but with difficulties. You need a certain amount of wind strength to stay up – when the wind hits the dunes it is deflected up, and that up-wind is what keeps a soaring paraglider in the air. If the wind is to weak (or if it is coming in on the dunes in the wrong angle), there is not enough upwards energy to keep us “floating” on the air.

After I think three frustratingly short flights, the wind finally picked up, and I could fly back to Wijk aan Zee, land and pack up. It was time to go home. Waiting for the bus, a Dutch pilot, Peter, who I met both in the air and on the beach while packing up, kindly offered me a ride. Thanks!
This way, I got home a lot quicker, which was good because my dear Femke was hungry as a wolf but wanted to eat together and so waited for me.