Lets do it again !!! MRAT fan club 2009 tour is getting started

It felt this morning to be the right time to revive this Blog, as the plans for the summer become more tangible. Arturo was the first one to book his plane and Arnel and Erik are active on it :-) The playground this year will probably be a triangle between Geneva, Laragne and Laveno (Italy). This is a bit more east than last year and might enable us to discover the famous Italian lakes like Iseo and Majore. Will also be part of the trip this Veronique and Luciana, Maria, & Anatole, Viera. And then some strong candidates like Bea and Antoine (the other one, the short one :-) if the dates fit with their agenda. All others are very welcome to join us in and out during the trip. We will have a slightly different setup this year as we do not have a van. We will use the caravans to make the camping flexible and have several cars.

This year will not be the same without Michele who will not join us. She will be in our hearts and will guide us to reach the top of the thermals.

Flight log from Arturo: 14h55 of air time !!!

I just received this from Arturo. A good document to remember good sites.

Just click on it to be able to read it in full...

I just made the sum : 14 hours and 55 minutes in the air in 10 days of flying. Where is the time when I was paragliding at an average of 5 minutes a day :-) with my ITV Vega ?

Day 15 and Final day ...

All participants spread around the world. Norway, USA, France, ...

It is sad that this trip is over but great that already new ideas for next year are already emerging.

BREAKING NEWS :

The latest news is that the adventure was not finished. I do not have all the details but Michele has been practicing free fall in a scary way. I got the story from Anatole but could but be in touch with Michele yet : After a serie of deep 360's, her competition glider with thin lines completely "Desuspended" ! All the lines broke and she started to free fall. This is extreamly unusual but can happen on this kind of very advanced gliders. She opened her reserve and is fine. More info to follow ... What a scary thing.

Day 14: Versailles

Today we are in Paris...

Early wake up to go to Varennes Jarcy.
The van is now back to its owner: Thanks a lot. That was so great to borrow it to us. It made the trip so easy and we were able to put all our stuff in it : Tents, paragliders, food. No need to plan to much when we are packing: It just fitted in it :-)

Again thanks for it. I am truly considering to buy one for next time. Anatole is ging also the advantage of the Eriba solution with a small caravan : To be studied ...

Tonight we are having a raclette on the terrasse. The weather is on the edge and few drops of rain might move us inside the house. We finnally manage to stay on the terrasse the whole evening. Luciana enjoyed the Cornichon Amora for the first time !

IT seems that arturo and Arnel are going to miss the French Cheese...

Day 13: Friday : Return to Paris

Rain Rain Rain : There were huge Cumulonimbus on the way to Paris. In the van with Erik, Arnel and Arturo with arrived in Paris around 6pm. Veronique was there a bit later. In the mean time we washed the van at the station in Clamart (Has not moved since 13 years) and tired to go the the Mc Donalds : Michele : You can relax ! we changed our mind since it was to crowdy and finally ordered Pizza's at Papa Mario Pizza close to my parents place.

Tomorrow, first hour, we will return the van to its owners.

Arnel and Arturo are doing a good job :

Day 12: Laragne

Laragne day 3 ... Mystery : No one knows where the big piece of blue cheese has disapeared ! Eaten ? Forgotten in some place ? going to be discovered with strong smell in few days ? Hopefully it is not in the van or in the caravan :-) There is strong suspicion that either Arnel or Arturo woke up in the middle of the night to secretly finnish it. It might even be a plot ! Both of them ? investigation is on going. Today Arturo documented the flight plan of the hole week. I will add it as soon as I receive it.
Today we went to Laragne for a sleder.

Key highlights :

1) ANATOLE TREE LANDED : As was said only the one who try become true champions : You are still our cross country champion, Anatole. Please note that the picture below is a reconstitution of the event as Maria is raising the wing :-) . Thanks to the GPS coordinates, it only took us 1h to find him.

2) Chloe has a new friend : I do not know the name in english but here is his picture :

We then went to Saint Geniez near Sisteron : Strong wind but still Bea, Arnel, Arturo, Erik and Patrik flew. Some videos will be added soon.

PS : Anatole was not the only one to land in the trees : a hang glider missed the landing. Like in any sport, there are noce and less nice people : This guy was rude and not even saying thanks to 3 pilots who took 20 minutes to reach him in bushes and rough path to clear the way to him. Lets put that on the account of stress after his rough experience.

Day 11: Sain Vincent Les Forts

To be Edited more ..

But until then, here is Arnel ;anding at the take off of Saint Vincent Les Forts. I do not recall if this was before or after we saw that guy making an undesired Helico landing at the same place just after his take off with all his breacks tangled around the elevators : Some people never learn that pre-flight inspection is useful ...