Today was a rather eventful day I must say. Yesterday we finished the SIV safety course for paragliding. But we still had this day left, with safety boat and instructors at hand. So we could practise whichever safety manoeuvre we wanted, or try some acrobatics.
I opted for the latter and took off to try a manoeuvre called SAT. Not that I expected any success, but why not try when you can do so in a safe way?
Of course, I did not succeed. Instead I ended up in a spin, got my lines thoroughly twisted and in the end I had to throw my emergency parachute and land in the water. The safety boat was there within seconds. So I did not learn to do a SAT but I did get to practise throwing the emergency chute, a very valuable experience.
By now, me, my glider and my emergency chute were soaked with water. But the sun was warm and the breeze good so soon everything was dry and we could pack it all and go flying again!
The conditions looked really good so several of us launched and went cross-country flying. Wow! Good (if somewhat turbulent) thermals took me to cloud base at almost 2500 meters of altitude, more than 1200 meter above take off. Here, I cruised from mountain to mountain and ended up over the massive and snow clad La Tournette. Here I thermalled with an eagle above me and three sailplanes below me.
It is hard to describe the beauty and feeling of freedom, you just have to be there. Maybe the photos give a small idea.
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