Annecy Paragliding: Day 3
North valley flow with south meteorological winds by midday was forecast. Paragliders fly in the valley flow. A higher wind in the opposite direction compresses and thus speeds the valley flow.
We went up to Planfait launch early and I was able to get one flight in.
After prepping my wing on launch for my second flight, the instructor in the landing zone radioed that the winds were too strong for a safe landing approach.
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Disappointed but always happy to call it safe, I drove back down to the LZ. When I arrived I heard from the pilot who launched before me that on her approach she was hit by a thermic gust and flew backward on approach for a moment.
In the afternoon we went to the training hill to practice reverse inflations. I have done countless hours of these but not in the standard method this school (and 99.5% others) use so the practice was worthwhile.
I left the school with about 300ml of gas left and rode to the nearest gas station I could find. After an arduous payment process for the under 3L purchase, I was off towards Château de Menthon-Saint-Bernard. For the second day in a row, I wasn’t able to get in… I rode on to Bluffy and then Belossier and Alex. I took the D16 back from there ending my day at Château d’Annecy and Basilica of the Visitation.
