”Paragliding in heavy winds at Khao Sadao”

 We arrived at take off after noon on Wednesday. At that time there was too much wind to have a safe start. 8 to 10 meters a second and westerly. However, it was possible to take off from time to time, but only for 10-20 seconds. You risked to be ripped up in the air. Later the wind slowed down in longer intervals, and I decided to have a try. Take off  was OK, but a bit too much wind up there. By and by the wind picked up, too.

There was not much lift at the ridge even if the wind sometimes peaked at more than 10 meters a second – 0,1 to 0,7 m. The wind blew almost along the ridge. I had to check the ground speed from time to time. Once I counted 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, -1, -2, -3, -4, -5 before pressing speed bar. Extremely much movement in the bamboo forest. As the wind picked up I definitetly wanted to land before dark at around 6 o’clock, but it was very difficult to get down due to strong and shifting wind. At last I made it after almost 10 tries. I was some 10 meters too far in from the ridge, and at 3 meters suddenly the pressure in the wing disappeared (rotor!) and I was grounded safe and sound but not a 100% controlled landing. Suddenly there was no pressure in the wing. The last meters I went down pretty fast and landed on my bum (photo). A nice and interesting flight almost at the limit of what I think is OK. On Thursday there was much wind from the morning, and I decided it was better to go home. For the local pilots: The grass is cut on take off.