28th July - Racon Tepe and Heat Stroke

Özgun, Annıe and set off to Racon at about 10.30am from Bilkent. We got back at about 6pm. There was almost no protection from the sun throughout this time, it was close to 40 degrees out there, and humid!

I had already overheated by stupidly flying off the hill after rushing to the top, missing the thermal cycle completely, and landing at the bottom having to hike 200m up to the top again - in the worst heat of the day. At around 1.30pm the thermals came round to the NW face (from the south), and cumulus were beginning to form above the dirty haze. Özgun and I both took off into a thermal at the same time, and climbed high above the hill with very little drift. Annie was cooling off down at the water trough.

Özgun high above Racon.

Özgun climbed very efficiently, hunting for cores (they were 4 ups), and was way above me by the time I reached my highest altitude of 2,670m (8,760 ft) ASL, gaining 4,500ft above take-off. At this point I saw him to the south heading towards a huge cloud cell which looked like it was overdeveloping. I decided to fly east with the wind drift. I took a line south of the hills east of Racon, and pretty immediately decided that the clouds were too tall and threatening and I needed to land. I pulled big ears and descended - travelling at 65kph with the wind! I landed 13km ENE of Racon, about an hour after taking off, next to a road just beyond a small village. Communication was better with Annie this time - I called her on the mobile and read off my coordinates from the GPS which she located on her map. She did some good navigation and found me in about half an hour. I was feeling nauseated from the heat. We returned to the water trough at Racon where I doused myself in cold water to try to cool down. As I was to find out, it was too late!

Now where was Özgun? For three hours he was out of radio contact, and we couldn't reach him on his mobile! Annie last saw him heading south, a dot in the sky, so we slowly took the main road in that direction. Eventually we made contact by phone. He had hitched back to Racon. When we were all in the car again, heading back to Bilkent, we got the story from Özgun. He had climbed to 4,200m (13,800 ft) ASL on the edge of the cloud I'd seen him heading towards! He was wondering the whole time whether it was a cu nimb. Then he saw a continuous grey curtain between the cloud and the ground in the distance, so he decided to try to head back to Racon for an out and return. At this point he was 22km out. His ground speed changed from around 50kph to 10kph as a turned back into wind. He landed 6km later - 16km from Racon. He said that the air was OK above 2000m ASL, but lower than this it got turbulent and he said it was difficult to keep control of the wing. He got a frontal collapse higher up, and as he was coming into land - really low - it became frighteningly violent and he used some sort of mantra ('not now!', 'not now!' was it?) as he came through it. My theory was that the air below 2000m ASL (1000m above the plain) was all the mixed air being sucked up into the cu nimb. Above 2000m it would have become more organised, with the warm and cool are being more homogeneous.

Özgun got a lift with a guy who told him that it was hailing further south! So the decision to turn back away from the cu nimb was a good one!

Anyway, all respects to Özgun for flying like a nutter towards a cu nimb, getting up to 4,200m where the temperature was around 0 degrees, and living to tell the tale! His GoogleEarth track can be found here.

When I got back to the apartment my body pretty well packed in. I got heat stroke with all the symptoms except mental confusion! My temperature rose dramatically, and I couldn't sweat or have a pee. I could barely move I felt so tired. Annie spent the next few hours wrapping me in cold towels and ice to bring my temperature back down.

Heat stroke - at Racon and later back at the apartment.

Four days on and I'm still not properly recovered from this, with diarrhea, tiredness and a fuzzy head.

17th July, Ölü Deniz

Annie on the roof of the Focus truck chatting with Colin, going up Babadag

Colin (Romanian acro pilot and psychologist/philosopher)

Mahonie had told Annie and me that he was envious that we could both fly in each other's company while he and his girlfriend could not. Many people have had this thought, and it was a pleasure to fly with Annie on this day, in close radio contact, comparing how our gliders' flew.

Confident after my recent XC, I decided I'd do a full stall on this flight, but instead of slowing the glider down I entered it dynamically. It was difficult to bury the breaks enough to stall it, and after falling the wing reappeared in a complete mess above me - horseshoed and asymmetrical. I waited for a long time - breaks half up - for it to sort itself out into a shape I recognized, but it didn't. When I released I had to cope with messy asymmetric surge - a moment Annie caught on camera. I wouldn't do this again in a hurry.

recovering from dynamic stall

15th July - Ölü Deniz

On Sunday 15th I almost got the flight that I'd been dreaming about: Babadag to dad's place, crossing the Patara Valley. I couldn't quite make the height off thermals on the Dumanli side to glide to dad's, so I was forced to land at Uzumlu - 32km from take-off.

flight track - Babadag to Uzumlu (click to enlarge)

This was a satisfying flight. I'd been feeling frustrated for not flying any cross country so far this summer, and I didn't expect to get away at Ölü Deniz. Now I know that on the unstable days - even without clouds to mark thermals - Babadag has good potential as an XC site.

A huge, strong thermal rising vertically above the 1700m take-off took Colin and me up 800m. After Colin stalled his wing to drop below me, followed by a long sequence of SATs in the thermic column, I headed off along the Babadag ridge, gaining height steadily as I went. The whole sky was lifting above Babadag! Tandem and solo gliders everywhere were hundreds of meters above take-off. The atmosphere was thrilling. I climbed in another thermal above the summit of Babadag, reaching 2,700m. I pushed further south, towards a whispy cloud, but I couldn't find its thermal. I changed my heading and glided to the mountain ridge rising from the valley floor. I connected with another powerful thermal here, climbing to over 3,200m - that is over 10,500 ft. At this altitude I hit turbulence - my wing surged forward violently and I had to break quickly and heavily. I wondered if the rough air was an effect of the sea breeze mingling with the mountain air. But looking across the valley I saw a sharp line of clouds above the Akdag range. They were at my height and I figured they marked an inversion that I was bumping up against. So I big eared and spiralled myself clear of it, dropping a few hundred feet. I committed myself to a glide over the flatlands towards Dumanli, chancing the sea breeze. I was now out of radio contact with Annie.

3000m ASL on the edge of the Xanthos plain

over the flatlands on a glide

I glided on full speed bar across the 20 km plain without connecting with a single thermal. It was after 1pm. The sea breeze must have smothered them. I arrived at one of the larger tree-coated gullies south of Dumanli at around 800m ASL, looking for triggers. No luck. I scratched along the ridge further south, finding a rocky outcrop that I worked for 10 minutes, gaining and losing height like a yoyo in broken, punchy lift. I was really fighting for this one, with dad's house coming into and out of view over the conifers, about a kilometer away. But it wasn't to be. I circled back and landed on a track surrounded by fields in the village Uzumlu, marking the spot with my GPS. The trip took only 1 and a half hours.

A beautiful little girl Esra who spoke excellent English and her little friend Don Juan (?) found me packing my wing. Esra lived in Kalkan, went to school in Fethiye, and had relatives in Uzumlu. I asked her if I could find a taxi in Uzumlu. She took me to her family who were sitting round a table in a shady garden, and her uncle kindly gave me a lift down to Kalkan. Esra organised all of this!

Annie and I weren't going to be able to see dad on this holiday. But now that I was in Kalkan he took the short trip on his scooter to meet me and we had lunch and a beer together! Using dad's mobile I was able to call Annie to tell her that I was OK. She had been worried since the last thing I'd said to her over the radio was 'I'm dropping like a stone'!

Dad and I meeting in Kalkan

I got the 5pm dolmus back to Fethiye. I was in Ölü Deniz by 8pm, in the Buzz Bar with Annie. We had an enjoyable night, dancing and talking with our friends - Colin, Semi and Oz.

Pamukale, Denizli, 5th - 8th July

On this trip we joined up with about a dozen guys from Yiğit, Serdar, and Yilmaz's school, Uçuş Kulübü, plus a few of their friends from Istanbul - all of us (except Jelal from Istanbul) staying at the Yörük hotel, Pamukale. ( 37°55'0.89"N, 29° 7'12.51"E). We were hoping to do some serious XC from Cokelez over the weekend, but the high pressure inversions and strong winds skuppered that plan. We few a couple of times from the lower 'Dynamite' take-off ( 37°56'34.63"N, 29° 8'7.89"E) and soared in broken thermals. I bombed out on one flight not reading the air well at all. I was lucky that the local 'Adrenaline' club gave me a ride up to launch again. I suspect I hug the ridge too closely while I should be pushing out more - a habit acquired through over a hundred hours coastal soaring and scratching. If there's one thing I do well, it's scratching. Everyone marvels at it.

Yigit's briefing on Cokelez. The lee-side thermals never materialised.

Pamukale is a sleepy little town without much choice by way of restaurants. The neighbouring Karahayıt is much better for choice, both for eating, and shopping (and probably accommodation). But Pamukale is convenient for getting to take-offs, and the Artemis Yörük hotel is good - comfortable, not pricey and run by a nice young couple - Christy (Australian) and Orkan (Turkish). The hotel pool (which you can see clearly in GoogleEarth) was great.

While the spring water in Karahayıt is hot, it is cool in Pamukale. We payed 5 lira to visit Hierapolis and the cool calcium spring pools, and this afternoon excursion was surprisingly enjoyable - well worth the fee. The Roman ruins and archaeological pieces in the museum were really outstanding (more so than I've seen on the south coast), and it was really enjoyable and relaxing playing around in the calcium pools and rock formations.

Annie in 'Downwared Dog' in the Pamukale calcium springs