Yesterday at Laragne, France. POW. LIGHT.

Meandering through France

Friday I drove from Pamplona (Spain) to Annecy (France), the location where the hang gliding sport class and women's open class world championships were held a few weeks ago.  I had no idea what a huge gathering place Annecy is; when I drove through the town Friday night, there must have been at least 100,000 people walking around downtown and the lakefront.  By the way - if you ever drive through France, bring lots of cash - the tolls on Friday were 90 Euro's (about $120) and they apparently only take French credit cards.

Saturday morning I went up to the launches, the drive and the views were spectacular!!  Then I decided since I can't hang glide over Annecy, I can use the help of a motor - so I took a tandem "trike" ride.  A trike is an oversided hang glider with a tricycle carriage, 3 wheels, 2 seats, and a big engine attached.  I found it oddly relaxing - the engine/prop noise was not too bad because of the headphones, and the vibration was not very great.  I concluded it's like hang gliding but without the stress (how will I stay up? where will I land?).

Easy to take pictures when I don't have to fly!

My pilot, Dominik

Saturday afternoon I drove to Laragne, France, the site of the Belgian Nationals - the second comp I had planned to fly in.  The mountains all along the drive from Annecy to Larange (about 5 hours) were like driving through a giant national park in the western U.S. When I got to Laragne, I was surprised by the large number of pilots in the landing zone / campground, not only those here for the comp, but those who come here to free fly during the "season".  Since the pilots in the comp are from multiple European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, and Spain), everything is being conducted in English - much easier for me!!

Saturday night I met and hung out with a German couple and we talked for about an hour (mostly in German), and Sunday morning I met an Australian pilot (who is now living in France) and we drove up the mountain to see the launches (there's no flying today due to unsuitable weather).  They had great ramp launches both north and south, and the scenery was awesome in every direction.

Dawson at one of the north launches.

Cliff at the top south launch.

I had an interesting moment when I was hanging out in the campground with two French couples.  We were joking around about stuff, as they were trying to talk in English, with some funny results.  When they told me they were from Normandy ("Omaha beach"), I mentioned that the father of my wife had flown in the Eighth Air Force during the second world war, that he had been shot down over Germany, and had been a prisoner for almost two years.  Suddenly there was complete silence and then they all wanted to thank me and shake my hand.  I told them I accepted on behalf of my father-in-law, and my father (who was in naval combat in the Pacific).

The Ten Things I’m Most Thankful For (from my visits, hang gliding, and mishap in Spain)

(yes, more photos, after the text)

1. The Graciousness of my Spanish Host Families: I know I’ve said this many times before, but I could never overstate the kindness, graciousness, and hospitality of my two Spanish host families.  I feel kinda badly because, when Sandra and Marina were living with my family (the summers of 2011 and 2013, respectively), we followed the protocol suggested by our American hosting organization, that is, they had to do their share of the housework, and they had to pay for their own entrance into all activities.  Here, I wasn’t allowed to do any work, or pay for anything!  But mostly, it was their enthusiasm to share with me everything of importance in their respective lives, from food to culture to history to conversation.

2. The Design of the Planet: As my daughter, Amy has gotten more and more interested in areas such as astrophysics and molecular biology, she’s passed those interests along to me.  I’ve become more and more aware of the unimaginable hostility of the forces in the universe, and the seeming impossibility of the existence of a planet as stable,benign, and hospitable as Earth.  Just as one example: the air is stable enough that life can exist, but it’s unstable enough that we have wind and thermals to hang glide!

3. The Desire to Fly: I’ve always had dreams of being able to fly, and history is filled with examples of that desire, from the natural (riding on dragons) to the supernatural (magic) to the myth-makers (Icarus and Daedalus) to the engineers (da Vinci, Lilienthal, Wright, et al).  I feel unfairly privileged to live in a time in history and economy where I can fly on an apparatus that is so close to the flying of my dreams.

4. My Hang Gliding Teachers, Mentors, and Encouragers: John, Jonny, Matt, Rex, Paul, Lauren, Ollie, Mike, Mark, Mitch, Linda, and a hundred others.

5. My Flight over Mt. Arangoiti: As previously described, definitely the most beautiful flight of my life!

6. That I Wasn’t More Seriously Injured: From studying the launch sequence photos, and specifically from noting that the flag was still (wind speed zero), I realize that I “pounded in hard” to a surface of mixed grass and rocks at a speed of about 25 mph (40 kmh).  Also, because I was still attempting to attain flight (as compared to a planned landing), I had a firm grip on the base bar at the time of impact, a very bad combination for running into “the edge of the sky” (the ground).  (Oh yeah, the outcome of the MRI - nothing torn, I only inflamed a previous lesion of the rotater cuff, and bruised the bone.)

7. The Spanish Medical Care System: I’m not making this up.  I got no bill from the ambulance because the service is provided by the good people of Spain (I’m unclear about what the bill is for the E.R. and hospital stay).  We called at 4 pm on Tuesday for an appointment with an orthopaedic doctor, and I got one the next morning at 10 am.  When I got there at 10, I saw him at 10.  Then they took me to x-rays, which was the same person as the ortho doctor.  Then they read the x-rays, which was also the same person.  Then they sent me for an MRI at 12:30.  I got the results back the next morning.  They couldn’t bill my American medical insurance company, of course, so I had to pay in cash.  The total bill for the doctor, x-rays, and MRI was 230 Euro (about $300 US).  But it wasn’t just the speed and the cost, it was the attentiveness of the doctors, nurses, and staff, and their patience with my language ignorance, that was the most impressive.  I’m not saying I haven’t gotten fantastic care from my providers in Florida, because I have, but the “system” in Spain is just so phenomenal  - at least it was for me, in this experience.

8. My Family: Obviously it was a big sacrifice for my family to allow me to use 6 weeks of vacation time, and to spend quite a sum of money (all on credit) to take this opportunity to visit and hang glide Europe.  But Anna supports my love for my sport and my belief that if I’m going to do this, I need to pursue it aggressively now, and not wait until I “retire”, because who knows whether I will have the capability (to fly, or even to travel) or even (not to be morbid, but) if I will live to that age.  (My thanks to Bill Beattie for my inspiration in this regard!)

9. God’s Providence: This was my 5th major hang gliding comp, but the first one in which I was out of my country, and can’t speak the language.  At three of the other four, I camped, and in Texas I was in a hotel.  This was the first (and probably the only one ever) where the headquarters was a half-hour drive to a welcoming home.  To have such wonderful care, at a time and place where I was essentially helpless and clueless, was way beyond what I deserve.

10. More Time to Tour Europe: After I had planned out my entire trip, my one regret was that I had scheduled it so tightly that I had no time to explore ad hoc.  And Jenny’s family had more places to take me in Germany than the number of days I had allotted.  So I’m looking forward to this unexpected leeway in my trip.  I’ll hang out at Annecy, France for a few days (probably the most populous hang gliding site in the world), have more time to visit the Black Forest Academy (an American school in Germany), get to visit with my hang gliding buddy Thomas at an awesome site in Austria, tour slowly northward through Germany including a few places I really wanted to see, and have a more relaxed schedule with Jenny’s family.  

When I arrived at HQ, I was met by Latvinia, one of my favorite international pilots,
whom I know from comps in the U.S. and Quest (my local hang gliding site).

At the north launch, Mt Arangoiti, the day before the comp.

On Thursday, the wind was too strong to fly at Mt Arangoiti, so we went to
Sopelana for fun.  This is the launch (folk singers came after we had vacated).

On Friday, the wind was too strong to fly at Mt Arangoiti, so we went to another mountain
about 100 km to the west.

Discussion: with these conditions, and the state of the launch, can we fly?

Let's go!!!  (4 pilots flew).

Not all flew, but all ate tapas.

Near where I landed on Saturday.

Near where I landed on Saturday.

Picking up one more pilot who "landed out".

Marina and her friends at the last night of San Fermin.

The task on Sunday that I didn't fly.

Going to get cash in Spain - from Deutsche Bank (because my bank
has a deal with them).  I enjoyed having the chance to walk through
Pamplona, with my gracious tour guide, Marina.

Pamplona water fountain.  Delicious!!

Saturday: Awesomely Beautiful Flight!! Sunday: Sudden Change of Plans!!

Saturday we went up to the north launch at Mt. Arangoiti and the task was set.  However, due to strong winds and rain scattered throughout the area, they canceled the task and pilots were allowed to "fun fly".

Imagine standing at the top of a tall peak and looking in every direction and as far as you can see are beautiful valleys of wheat and sunflowers, and in one direction a canyon, and in another direction a brilliant green-blue lake sparkling in the sunlight, and mountains in the distance in every direction.  Then imagine floating up 100 meters from that point and seeing it all again - that's what it was like!!  It's always been my dream to fly the high mountains of Europe, and it was every bit as wonderful and spectucular as I hoped; the glory of God expressed in the heavens (sky) and the earth was overwhelming!

I landed in a cropped wheat field, where a Russian pilot took my photo.

The next day they called a 100 km downwind task (launching to the north, then around the mountain, then south).  I was ready in plenty of time and felt calm and prepared and optimistic, but when I got into the launch line and things were moving very quickly, I neglected "the basics".  I stepped up to the line, and launched.  I don't remember setting the nose angle or locating a spot on the horizon to focus on.  The results were predictable, I stalled on launch and crashed hard.  

The next thing I remember I was lying on my back in my harness with people standing all around and they were putting a neck brace on me.  They drove me down the access road to a village where I met an ambulance, which took me to the hospital in Pamplona.  The police, ambulance, and E.R. people were wonderful, even though almost no one spoke English and no hablo español.  They x-rayed my neck and back and nothing was broken, then they put me in a room overnight for observation.

When they brought me food, I realized I couldn't raise my right arm.  Marina's dad brought me home the next day, where I rested all day and night, very stiff and sore and in quite a bit of pain.  This morning I met up with my pilot buddies, where I learned that the glider's keel and leading edge had broken on impact, and they urged me to get an MRI now, rather than wait until I get home (August 6th), so that's my next step.

I have many more reflections on this whole experience, but for now, I wanted to let people know how my European Adventure is going, and I gotta figure out how to get an MRI here.  Much love to all my friends and family.

So we went to the beach...

Yesterday and today it was blown out at Mt. Arangoiti (70 km/hr / 42 mph at launch) so we took road trips to fun-fly instead.  

Yesterday we went to the coast of the Bay of Bisbay to a town named Sopelana, northeast of Bilbao.  I've always wanted to do a beach soaring site (like in California) but this one was a lot tighter than I had bargained for.  The launch was easy on a grassy slope, until I got out over the cliffs.  Due to unfamiliarity with the dynamics of this type of site, I had a difficult time maintaining altitude, or figuring out where the lift band was to gain altitude.  Launch was 300 feet above sea level, and in order to land on top, I had to have another 300 feet above launch to circle back downwind, turn and land.  It took me almost an hour to get from 300 feet to 600 feet and land!

Today we went southwest, to another mountain site which we hoped would be out of the strong wind, also to fun-fly (not scored for the competition).  25 gliders/pilots went, 4 set up and flew (not me).

Tomorrow we plan to go to Mt. Arangoiti to see if we can do a comp task, but it's not looking real good.  It looks like the following days will be good though, so we'll see...

After landing and packing up the glider, I walked up to the edge of the cliff
to get this photo.  For perspective, note that there is a man standing on the
rock wall outcropped from the cliff.

This is it on Google Earth, although it's a lot steeper in real life!

Getting Ready for the Spanish Nationals

Drove out to headquarters this morning and met the meet organizers and the pilot I'm renting a glider from (Juaki).  As soon as I got out of the car, I saw Soraya, a Venezuelan pilot I've flown with at 2 U.S. comps, and immediately thereafter, Claudia, another South American pilot I've met at comps and Quest (my local flying site) several times, and Pedro, a Spanish pilot I met at a comp last year in Georgia.  It's pretty amazing to come half-way across the world and see people I already know.

Since it was too windy to fly today (I had hoped to do a practice day), I drove up to the launch sites, then all around the valleys to get comfortable with the area visually, the launch, the terrain, and the temperature (I'll need one more layer for the top).  The comp starts tomorrow, although we may not fly the first one or two days with the strong north wind coming from the Bay of Biscay.  (This is normal for hang gliding comps; this comp is scheduled for 9 days, so 5 - 7 days of tasks would be a good comp.)

The view from launch is spectacular, a photo just doesn't do it justice.  We're hoping to fly the north side the first half of the comp, then the south side later.  Conditions and tasks are completely different for the two sides, so the variety would be really interesting.

South Launch Ramp

Testing the flight clothes for temperature.
Flying will be less windy than it is on launch today,
but higher will be colder.

10 Reflections on my Visits in Spain

For those who have the patience to read a non-Facebook style (1 picture per about every 4 words, max 4 pictures) narrative, I'd like to share some reflections, as I'm finishing up the second of two host-family visits today, and starting onto the hang gliding phase of my trip tomorrow.

1. Five Meals a Day.  I didn't feel like it was an adjustment to eat five meals a day, and then I realized why - I do the same thing at home, I just call two of them "snacks".  The difference is: we all eat our snacks independently; with my two Spanish host families, we ate all five meals together.

2. Eat Local.  I think it was Anna who shared with me a study that the healthiest people were those who ate locally-produced food, regardless of what that diet was.  I especially noticed this with Marina's family - I don't think there has been a single thing we've eaten that didn't come from Spain, and most of it from Navarra (their region of Spain).  Futhermore, nothing has more than four ingredients: whatever it is (always fresh), plus olive oil, sometimes white wine vinegar, and sometimes garlic.

3. No hablo español: es malo.  I regret that I didn't do a little more preparation.  It put a lot of work on my host families to try to work around my ignorance.  Everyone was very gracious, and some were quite interested in learning some English, but still, I could have been more helpful in advance.

4. Spain is not Mexico. At Mexican restaurants in America, they serve corn chips.  Because there's a lot of corn in Mexico.  In Spain, they serve potato chips.  Corn is only used for chicken feed.  And nothing is spicy (hot).

5. Or South America.  I realized that all the Spanish language I've ever heard has been friends and co-workers in Florida, almost all of whom are South American.  The Spanish accent in Spain sounds a lot different.  And the Spanish accent in Pamplona (Basque country) is different than in Madrid (Castilian).  This really stood out to me when I was at Ana's company lunch, and there were two Colombians there.  When I heard them, I recognized them as speaking "Spanish".

6. Drive Precisely.  The lanes are smaller, the parking spots are much, much smaller, and going in and out of one rotunda (roundabout, circle) is about equivalent to 3 or 4 merges onto or off of an interstate.

7. Stone Lasts a Long Time.  For example, the Royal Palace (Castle) of Olite (photo below), once capital of the Kingdom of Navarre is the "New Castle" because it's only 600 years old.  The "Old Castle" was built in the 1st Century.

8. The Earth is a Globe.  I've often heard that "Europeans don't like Americans".  I asked about this a little bit and found out, yeah, that was pretty true at one time, but it's not as true now.  One person told me that it used to be that Americans only thought about what is good for America's interests, now America seems to be more of a global "team player".  

9. Faith can Turn into a Monument.  Although I'm sure there are many exceptions, most of what I've seen that visibly represents the Christian faith in Spain consists of monuments to the past.  In the same category as old kings and castles and regimes.  That's why we must rediscover who Jesus is in every generation, from the primary source.

10. I Can't Generalize a Whole Country from Two Families.  But if I could, I'd say families are close, generations respect each other, and people help their friends.

The bullring in Pamplona after the Running of the Bulls was successfully completed.

Iñaki and Ana's other Village House in Miranda de Arga.

But THIS photo is what it looked like when the bought it!!
13 years of labor, primarily Iñaki's and Ana's, and some
good friends' have transformed it.

360-Degree Panaroma photo from the lookout tower in the "New Castle" (built 1402 - 1424) of Olite.