Bork's Blog

2009-09-20T22:54:00.002+03:00

Kalkan flight - 19th September

Free ride up the 1000m ridge overlooking Kalkan at 1pm with local tandem pilot Halil and another solo pilot from Istanbul (Bulent?). I took the flight path illustrated in the photo. There was an excellent 4-5 up thermal where indicated - which I climbed in for a few hundred meters, but had to bail out since it was drifting inland. There were cu nimbs inland on this day and the rumble of thunder. On a fine day, this may have been the beginning of a good xc flight - to Kas perhaps. There's good soaring on the lower ridges above Kalkan. It's a tight landing on the little road next to the harbour which you have to be accurate with.

2009-08-14T23:08:00.005+03:00

Another crossing to Saklikent - this time with local XC man Ali Atarod

I made a good decision today, based on Meteoblue's soundings for Fethiye. I saw that there would be a sharp inversion today after 12pm, but at around 10am there was a good ALR for thermalling. So I was up at 7am - very unusual - and was up at the top of Babadag by 10am or so, going up with Focus. Conditions were looking good. I met Ali Atarod from Iran on the way up - the guy John suggested I meet up with. He lives for flying, and knows this area's XC potential like nobody else. He's been living here for 5 years, and now flies with a Niviuk Artik 2.

My first attempt of a take-off landed me over the edge of the watch tower takeoff zone - down that sharp cliff! Wham - dreadful sink - and I was down. Luckily I stayed perched on the edge like a mountain goat, and was helped up by the guy who was videoing my takeoff (!) and Ali. Then we moved down to the safer takeoff, and - with no other paragliders in sight - took off into a thermal that took us both up like a big escalator to around 3000m - very smooth. I got a few patches of 5-6 ups but mostly 2 ups I think. It was good flying with someone else for once. Ali seemed to want to fly off towards Saklikent with some urgency at one point. I think he shouted 'when you've got a bit more height, go!' or something like that. He was off. I hung around and topped up a bit. The drift was towards Olu Deniz beach, so I decided to pushed off towards Saklikent at around 3020m (I think I could of gained quite a bit more hight) quite far behind Ali. I turned a few times in another thermal towards the end of the Babadag ridge, taking me back up to 3000m. By the time I'd reached Ali in the valley, however, I'd sank a fair bit, and as we glided across the difference seemed to increase. My glide is fast but not good with the glide ratio I've noticed. I just about made it to Saklikent. I had to walk 500m - with some lads who helped me pack my wing - to get to Saklikent where I met up with Ali. So that's two XCs in 3 flights this summer. That's a good ratio. Next stop - Babadag to Kalkan. Ali wants to go to Kas!

2009-08-08T11:43:00.007+03:00

4th August: XC from Babadag to Saklikent

Climbed to 3230m from the top takeoff of Babadag. Mostly 2-ups, although my vario registered a 7.5m/sec average over 15 sec. I believe there may have been an inversion around 2,700m which I broke through. Head towards the clearing in the conifers, and got the 4m/sec plus sink that I got the last time I headed in that direction. Found a weak thermal close to Esen (?) where I gained another 300m before changing tack and heading to Saklikent. No thermals across the valley - must have been killed by the sea breeze. Interestingly, I thought I was on a more northerly heading. Nice having a coke and a couple of beers in the tree house cafe when I landed!

Total distance (direct) - 21km.

2009-05-10T10:00:00.002+03:00

9th May : Racon tepe, Ankara

Özgün e-mailed on Friday "NW winds, above 2500 meters cloudbase. Coming to fly?". Turned into a great day - maybe my last at Racon. Yigit, Umut, and Basat were there, and the Hacattepe university club. Beautiful Ankara spring weather - cold, thermic air and a breeze. By early afternoon the thermals had organised themselves after being totally disorganized in the late morning and I got away with Özgün and Basat. It was turbulent higher up. I saw 4-5 collapses. I thought we were in an inversion. I didn't get a collapse for once. I landed about 20km away near Özgün. After getting back to Racon, we enjoyed some relaxing evening soaring.

2009-05-02T09:49:00.003+03:00

April 25th - 26th: Ölü Deniz

First flying of the season - with Özgun and some Bilkent students (Cantekin, etc). METU pilots down there too, and Malissa (Yigit's sister), Umut (with new Mantra R), Samit (?)... Quite a crowd. On the Friday Mahoney and his passenger (cute girl) SATed into Emirhan (Bilkent student on first big flight), causing a mid-air catastrophy. Emirhan threw his reserve, and they were all going down together. Closer to the sea, Mahoney and passenger disengaged and flew to the beach. Emirhan was in the water, tangled in his lines, for 15 minutes before a boat came out to rescue him. Then two days of bad feeling and acrimony between Mahoney and the Bilkent pilots. Emirhan's (club) 1,500 Euro glider was beyond repair - huge split down the middle of the upper surface and tears all over. Who was going to pay for it?

The collision as it happened

Mahoney was certainly at fault here. With a start like this, will he last through the summer?

I had a good couple of flights on Sunday. In the morning I flew to Butterfly Valley, landing in the hope there would be a boat out. There was - and it was magic. I made a wish and threw a coin in 'lovers' cave' on the way. Transport up the mountain, without the Forestry fee (too early in the season) was 5 YTL. The boat back to Ölü was 10 YTL. Not bad for a trip to Butterfly Valley and back. In the afternoon (setting off in the truck at 3pm with Melissa and Tunci) I thermalled with Jocky Sanderson's group. First I was pinned down a bit on the lower ridge, and decided to cross over to the cliff between the 1700m take off and the top. I managed to get a thermal and soar over the top and then kept up high - 200m or more above the summit. I was flying like this for about an hour, before flying off to the mountain across Ölü, where there was no activity. Relative to another pilot on a performance wing who was on the same flight path across I noticed that my speed was good but sink rate bad - relatively. I tried some deep wing-overs, which rapidly became very energetic, ending in a big collapse. I've got to work on these with this glider. It builds up energy and speed very rapidly and I don't have full control over it.

2008-08-26T09:28:00.002+03:00

24th August. Flew from the higher takeoff by the power station (?) above Kalkan. The wind was coming from the west, along the ridge, so it was into wind the whole way - no dynamic lift (or thermic lift). Nice seeing Kalkan (and the plateaus to the east) from the air - much, much smaller than Kas - the core of the town.

2008-08-23T08:51:00.005+03:00

22nd August, Babadag

This was my second flight from Babadag this holiday. The first flight on the 19th was uneventful. I had hopes of flying cross country to dad's across the valley, but the conditions were totally unsuited. I was there on the 1700m take-off at 11.30am, all kitted up with fleece and flying suit, sweating. I waited and waited (annoying the tandem pilots), and when I finally took off, I just sank and sank and sank. I glided across Olu Deniz, revisiting the newly bulldozed take-off that I'd flown from with John Young a couple of months back. Absolutely nothing.

Today's flight was much better. Once again - although there were a couple of guys thermalling several hundred meters above the hill on the truck drive up (I was lying on the truck roof:) - once I was in the air it was all shutting down. I'm pretty sure that in these humid conditions, the best time to thermal at Babadag is in the late morning - say between 10-12am. After this time the sea breeze kills everything. Certainly seemed that way. I did thermal up 300m or so to over 2000m, straight from take-off, but at this height you got pinned down. The wind was quite strong, and the thermals were disorganized at all heights. There were frequent blasts of turbulence. At around 200m ATO, I had - and this was new - a cascade of collapses. First an asymmetric - wing somewhere far behind me. I expected it to surge forward and recover, but it didn't. It crossed my mind that I'd stalled the wing now. Then a surge, this time with the left tip cravatted! I was trying to pump it out and damp the dive at the same time. It all seemed like it was happening in slow motion. I was facing the ridge, above the 1700m take-off. I thought 'this is a cravat and it could be serious' as I gauged my distance fro the ridge. Then it released and I got a massive surge which I damped and then swung under, perhaps with 50-70m clearance.

So height is important in these conditions on my new wing. I spent the next 20 minutes or so continuing with my wrestling the air along the ridge between the 1700m take off and the top, not wanting to give up. Good practice, but also fairly dangerous on a 2-3. It wasn't working - no one was climbing (3 other bold tandem wings) - and I then headed over the sea with 1000m to play with. I practiced wing-overs, and spiral dives. Much more rapid build up of energy on this smaller and faster wing. I did a set of wing-overs where I really built the energy up pretty well, but ended up stalling it (right asymmetric). On another set I didn't build up the energy properly and they were crap. Spiral dives are much easier to do on this wing than the large Gangster. I didn't get the locked in totally flat leading edge, but I got close. I could feel my calf swelling as usual, and my insides being pulled by the g-force. When I landed I felt great. This flight was a real confidence building. Looking forward to practicing more wing-overs over Kas and next week at Olu Deniz.

20th August, Kas.

Annie had her first flight since last summer, over a year ago - before she was pregnant. She loved it, and good for her!

16-17th August. Cokelez, Denizli

A 30km and 25km flight from Cokelez, Denizli, the first in the company of Yurdaer Etike and some others - all of us landing in the same field. I thought this was an amazing coincidence, but the others - who I hadn't been flying with - had flown in formation. What an amazing cross country venue! (See pic below). On the 16th there was a strong inversion at around 3000m. I watched a glider right in front of me over 'big Cokelez' have a massive frontal followed by what looked for a moment like the guy falling out of the sky. A little later I had a violent asymmetric, dive and surge - a new experience on this Swing Cirrus 3 glider - which got my heart racing and put me in super alert 'defensive mode'. And then later on in the flight I had another big asymmetric, but I was getting used to it by now:) I was in 8up thermals at times. Overall it was a very satisfying experience, but it was challenging. The next day was smoother. I climbed to 3,500m to cloud base and then actually big-eared to lose some altitude. I shouldn't have done this, because I didn't make it to the next thermal on glide (!), but I did feel suddenly exposed up there at that height, vario screaming, watching a lone glider ahead of me climbing up the side of the cloud, with the wild scenery stretched out below me, looking unreal like a huge map.

What did I learn on those days? Patience is everything. Over flatlands particularly, make use of every zero and 0.5 up that you find. Work, work, work the lift. Being an impatient sort, I bombed out earlier on both days because of this - flying through lift expecting better further ahead. And I have to get used to flying in and around clouds at huge altitudes (above 3,500m).

A good time socially over the weekend, chatting, having a laugh, etc, with some of the more dedicated xc pilots in Turkey. I need to learn to play Backgammon without having to count. Interesting talking to Ahmet (retired) on the last night at the Artemis Yoruk hotel, about Turkish politics, the army, etc. He says beatings in the Army are routine - they are actually built into the program! And recruits often die it's so brutal. Ahmet doubted that 'terrorist of the sky' Mahonie had been a Kurdish terrorist. Not beyond the odd porky I know, but surely that dent in his skull was made by a Turkish soldier's bullet?

2008-08-11T00:13:00.002+03:00

METU West hill

Two hours waiting on top of West hill (just made this name up!) on virtually zero wind paid off. Lots of swallows (?) appeared, thermalling in front of the hill, over a wide area. They didn't drift over the hill as I was expecting, but actually moved further away from the hill. It was obviously good all over the valley, in both directions - left and right. I launched and was up and away, thermalling in a big gentle thermal, over 100 feet over the hill, then off over the buildings which seemed to generate a lot of lift, soaring and circling over the ridge, then off to the dirt track on the other side of the valley, clearing the electric cables by 15 ft or so and landing on the field opposite the lojmanlar. It was very satisfying flying. That ONE wave of thermic activity - the best of the afternoon by far - and I was in it! Timing (and patience) is everything.

2008-07-23T23:48:00.007+03:00

Amusing - I just saw this entry on Paragliding Forum's Leonardo:

9th July, Racon. Pilot 'ert' (?). Distance 16.7km. Yiğit knows who it is. He flew pretty well exactly the same flight I did - the same mega thermal - except he was obviously not wearning shorts since he got to 3,875m asl. If he was he was hardcore. He landed almost exactly at the spot I landed. He was flying on a Swing too and probably experienced the same sort of physical forces under the wing. Maybe he also had a tea and a chicken kebab at the petrol station there? And maybe he had to keep a watch out for flying stones, churned up by lorries, as he tried to get a hitch on the road-side back to Racon?

a thermal - just ONE that stretched on for miles

For more heroic news, Basat Okay flew 180km from Rajon this last Sunday. Now this METU pilot is obviously experienced, having over 500 hours, etc, but looking at the altimeter-trace it just shows what's possible from Racon. Or MAYBE from just up the hill here in the METU grounds? I'm more motivated to risk getting electrocuted by the pylon cables than ever now - just to catch that perfect thermal to get away and on to Konya.

disappointing not to have reached Konya

notice how our thermal was actually bigger than any of his

2008-07-15T00:05:00.005+03:00

Fantastic day soaring in METU today with Ozgun - first at the N site at the top of the hill, and then on the N closest to the apartment. It was a NNW I think, and the weather report Ozgun looked at said 17 kph and dropping in the evening. We went up there at 6pm, and later evening conditions (7.30-8pm) were possibly better. Both Ozgun and I had quite a hard time at the top - getting blown back at points. I had to do a C line landing. I also did a Mitsos launch, which I want to practice given the experience from the other day of getting dragged. Here were the soundings for 12pm today. (Looks like it would have been a good xc day for Racon - but no chance of that right now with summer school and baby duties.)

Definitely my best day's flying in METU today. On the closer site I couldn't get down over the bowl and had to do lots of wingovers to lose height! And the air was smooth. Wonderful.

2008-07-11T14:18:00.004+03:00

9th July: Racon

Much needed day's flying at Racon, with Yiğit and his sister. After a couple of ventures into the air in the hottest part of the day, and after lunch in the company of a chatty shepherd under the shade of the tree by the water trough, some Gazi University pilots turned up, and joining them on the hill, I was lucky to connect with a good thermal and circle my way up to 2000m above take off (approx. 3200m asl), my averager recording over an 8 up! It was around 4.30pm. I was wearing shorts. As Yiğit says, when you wear a flying suit - as I did earlier in the day - you end up on the deck overheating, not getting away. When you just want some fun, you wear shorts and find yourself at 3000m with the potential of an epic flight in front of you. I started getting cold at around 1,600m ato, and kept flying straight, trying to drop out of the thermal. But the vario just kept beeping - 1,700, 1,800, 1,900, 2000m - and the sky above me was blue! I was freezing. When I finally got some sink, I cored it for a few hundred metres to warm up again. I followed the main road, sinking at a steady 2 m/sec. I was trying to be smart about finding another thermal - over dark fields with tree-line triggers, over small towns, but nothing. I landed 16km from take-off, by a petrol station where I had a delicious tavuk and salata meal, and tea on the house. I hitched back to Racon with a lorry driver on his way to Istanbul, not realizing as I bid him goodbye that I had left my wallet on the seat. Luckily he reported it - an honest man - and it's being sent to sent to Bilkent. I trekked from the main road to the hill where by now there were a lot of pilots enjoying good soaring conditions. I had a go on Yiğit's proto Skywalk Poison which had a notable glide.

Yiğit couldn't fly xc that day. He had students to teach. One other pilot got away. I wonder where he got to? If he was dressed for it, he could have made a big distance. Conditions seemed excellent.

skew-t for the day at Racon

2008-07-11T14:06:00.005+03:00

Ridge soaring at METU

3 different sites within a 20 minute walk (fast pace!) are soarable in the METU grounds behind our apartment - two Northerlies and a NE. This is the original N site below. I'm pretty sure that the thermic air is too rough for safe flying after the last two experiences. The air is too turbulent. Walking to these sites on a regular basis with a 20kg glider is a good way to get fit. I lost 2kg doing it.

2008-05-01T22:52:00.009+03:00

New wing. Swing Cirrus 3, under 10 hours flight hours for 550 Euros - from Baris. I'm a lucky man. It's a medium and I'm at the max of the weight range, exceeding it by 3kg when I'm kitted up for xc. And it's a 2/3 (on bar), much faster than my Gangster with a much better glide. The Gangster was a large (100-120kg) and I was at the bottom of the weight range all up. So this is going to be fun. Ground handling today - it feels great. Lots more control. Off to Golbasi for some flying on it this weekend if the weather is good. I can't wait to get back to Babadag and have another shot at flying across the valley to dad's house. Hopefully at some point I'll be able to afford a motor and I'll use that with the Gangster.

2008-03-25T10:31:00.006+02:00

Babadag winter flight. Mission accomplished! 2 and a half hours walking up to the top from the snowline with dad, Annie and Oliver. A nice flight down to the warm, sunny beach, although there was turbulence at about 900m over the 900m take-off. Then back up to the 900m take-off with some local guys in a jeep where I thermalled to get enough height to fly to Butterfly Valley and back - just!

2008-01-01T21:30:00.000+02:00

Planning Babadag and Dumanli Dag flights in late January.

Last winter, Annie, Dad and I hiked up Babadag from the bottom. It took us 4 hours. I took some photos at the summit which was coated in snow, and then we all walked back down again. I wished then that I could have flown off the top then, and that's what I intend to do towards the end of this month.It will be tough going with the 20kg glider on the back, so I'm in training for it now, going on hikes in the METU grounds, etc.

Babadag looking South

Babadag looking North - Ak dag range in distance.

I also want to have a crack at flying off Dumanli Dag, north of Kalkan. Weather permitting I'd like to try flying down to dad's villa in Islamlar again. That was an amazing flight last summer, and in the clear light of the winter, it will be incredible I'm sure.

Anyone interested in joining me on either of these flights, please get in touch. It would be so much more fun to do this with someone else!

2007-10-23T14:48:00.001+03:00

Ölü Deniz - 20th - 22nd Oct

3 days - with dad. I didn't manage to fly since the first two days were taken up with re-fitting the lines on my paraglider. The third day was rainy and gusty. We worked on the lines on each of the three days! But job done.

what a poser!

We saw Yiğit, Yilmaz and Serdar with some of his school pilots. Yiğit is working as a tandem pilot before doing his national service in November.

We also saw Steve Hudson! We were wondering when we'd bump into him in Ölü - he was the first person to describe the place to us four or five years ago. He gave me a huge England wind-sock which you can probably see from 20 miles away at 4000m. Steve had trailed the wind sock behind him on the day England were playing South Africa in the final of the Rugby World Cup. I'm not nationalistic, but I'll find a use for it.

Ölü Deniz was as busy as ever. The season's only got another week or two, but it's packed there still.

2007-09-04T11:29:00.000+03:00

Kayseri Paragliding World Cup 2007 results

After the final task on the 31st August, the two Valic brothers - remarkably - coming in 1 and 2. Maurer is down at 9, his overall lead narrowing. Yiğit gets a decent 26th out of a field of 121 competitors. Semih is down at 46, and Yiğit has now got the best pilot ranking for Turkey in the PWC.

2007-08-28T19:25:00.000+03:00

Debacle at the Turkish Open : 18th - 24th August

’Debacle’ means a total, often ludicrous, failure. This article is about just that....

To read the article, click here.

Bork cuts away his lines

2007-08-26T21:49:00.000+03:00

Go Yiğit Yildirim.

The results of the first round of Kayseri's PWC have come through, and our good friend Yiğit got a close 4th out of 120 pilots, beating Aljaz Valic and Christian Maurer who came in 6th and 8th, and thrashing Brett the American who just won the Turkish Open! The task was won by Urban Valic who is now ranked 2 in the world - the guy I was flying with just a few days ago before crashing into a tree.

2007-08-16T20:59:00.000+03:00

The 1st Belceğiz Beach Acro Games, Ölü Deniz

8th August

Unlike Özgun, Annie and I passed on the offer of free camping on the beach. We booked a comfortable 4 star double room for £28 per night at the Mavi Belce Hotel with AC, cable TV, breakfast, pool, and just a stone’s throw from the beach. After arriving on the gruelling nine hour night bus from Ankara we slept until noon, exhausted, the AC blasting. The luxury was healing. I was still recovering from heat stroke.

That afternoon we registered with a very friendly and welcoming event organiser – Meryem – whom we later saw falling through the air, sky-diving from a micro-light.

'Terrorist of the Sky' Mahoney clowning about

We didn’t fly on this day but blended into the beach scene, admiring the synchro acro displays and tucking into the delicious home-cooked buffet. Pilots continued to land well into the night, while we soaked in the party vibe. The local 18 year old female acro pilot Mercan came into view as a dark shadow against an inky, moonless sky, doing SATs over our heads before landing on the murky beach.

9th August

By 10am after a classic Turkish breakfast with white cheese and olives, puffy cumulus clouds were forming above both Babadag and Mendos– one a piece. Mendos (also known as ‘Aridag’ meaning ‘bee mountain’) is the mountain Jocky Sanderson flies to from Babadag before heading off into the flatlands in his DVD Performance Flying.

Annie and I were at the pick-up point for the scheduled 10.30am truck up the mountain with two Germans - Volker, a banker, and Ernst, a 73 year old diving instructor – among others. There was some confusion about when the truck would set off. Coming from Germany where events unfold predictably according to precise rules, Volker was revelling in the ‘spontaneity’ of the Turks. “I love this chaos,” he said before pausing to think about what he’d just said. “I wouldn’t want to live with it, but I love experiencing it on holiday”.

Annie and I both fully enjoyed our flights. I thermalled to the base of the cloud above Babadag, a little over 800m (2,600 ft) above take-off. It just sat there surreally, neither decaying nor growing, while I skirted around it. I was on my own up there and was getting 5-up surges in the cool air with the mountain a long way below.

10th August

On our mid-day flight, a Turkish friend Özgun and I climbed over 900m to base and flew a small XC to Mendos, the mountain over the valley to the north, and then back to Ölü Deniz.

In the acro runs in the afternoon, pilots were pushing the limits. There is pressure among acro pilots to prove their mastery of the Infinity Tumble. If you can’t do this you’re not rubbing shoulders with the top dogs. Our friend Mahoney, a local celebrity who loves playing to the crowds, fluffed his Mc Twist to Tumble and his wing turned to laundry - instant deployment. Another synchro pilot from Austria almost Infinity Tumbled his wing smack into the water. He couldn’t make the glide back to the beach - another dunking.

“Landing on the walk way, landing on the sand, landing in the water, landing everywhere!” the DJ Harun quipped over the microphone.

The venue for the evening’s entertainment was Lykia World, the deluxe resort 2 km along the coast from Ölü Deniz. The buffet dinner was superb. While we enjoyed the free wine and raki, our plates piled high with good food, a bronzed belly dancer appeared and her act was sensational. She had a large tarantula spider and web tattooed on her shoulder – a symbol of her power over men. My dad was one of the lucky ones she danced for in person. “I’m only looking at your eyes” he said while she shook her bits.

Tarantula dancer shaking her bits. Dad in paradise.

11th August

On the noon flight, while Özgun’s students’ practiced thermalling over the ridge under a low inversion in what I suspected was broken, choppy air, Annie and I flew out over Ölü Deniz in close formation, shouting or chatting over our radios, enjoying each other’s company in the smooth, relaxing air. A beautiful shared experience.

The acro competition was brought to a close with a buzzing awards ceremony later that evening. An Austrian pair – Alexander Meschuk and Bernd Hornbock – took the top synchro spot, earning themselves a big slice of the 5000 Euro prize money. The Green Twins from California - both 21, curly haired and identical to look at, flying identical gliders and often wearing the exact same chequered shirts – also took a prize. Local pilot Mercan won the top female spot - on the strength of her endless helicopters. Meryem Akar won the skydiving award.

Award ceremony

That night was for partying - no need for a clear head for synchronized manoeuvres the next morning. Annie and I were up until 2am at the Help Bar, drinking, dancing. and chatting. Some were up until dawn.

12th August

Butterfly Valley, a beautiful cliff-girdled beach haven full of hippies, 5km up the coast from Ölü Deniz, was the destination for the last scheduled flight of Games.

On the truck ride up Babadag four of us sat on the roof - the best way to travel. I thought I’d lost my sunglasses and told the others. Timothy, one of the acro twins, told us he’d also once lost his. “The g-force was so strong they were pulled off my head. I spiral dived after them. They were falling at the exact same speed I was spiralling around them, and I followed them all the way to the water where I saw them land!” Blimey. The physics of this scenario were interesting to imagine.

Flying into the Butterfly Valley gorge and landing on the strip of tent-strewn sandy beach was spectacular and exciting. Swimming, relaxing in the café and people-watching absorbed the next few hours. There were a lot of dreadlocks, body piercings and tattoos about. There is no practical way into this secluded spot except by air or boat. It reminded some of us of the self-sufficient community in ‘The Beach’.

Özgun and Annie - Butterfly Valley

Lounging on the beach with Annie, Özgun, Volker and Ernst, we watched a local man emerge from the sea with a harpoon and a brace of fine looking, gleaming fish that he’d just speared – lurking under the water, holding his breath.

The boat-trip back to Ölü Deniz, dance music booming, paragliders piled high, gave us another memorable experience of this beautiful coastline of Turkey. When we beached, with the boat lurching up and down in the surf, it was exciting trying to get the timing right to jump down from the stern ladder without being caught by the breaking waves. Özgun, paying particular attention to getting it right, slipped with the roar of a wave behind him and was soaked from head to toe!

Once we were all off the boat, the paragliders needed to be chain-ganged to the beach, held high above the breaking waves, and this also had us laughing – particularly when a little boy who just wouldn’t wake up was treated in the same way.

Chain-ganging the paragliders

2007-08-03T11:09:00.000+03:00

Still not fully recovered from the heat stroke.

We've now moved into our new apartment. It's more breezy and cool here which is good since I'm still suffering from the effects of the heat stroke - feeling lethargic and fuzzy headed.

This weekend promises to be good for XC. Yiğit's group are off to Akşehir, and there will be excited pilots converging on Denizli, including Hakan Akçalar. I hope I'm strong enough for flying tomorrow. Annie and I may try to go to Akşehir for a day. The entire weekend would be too much for me. Özgun predicts that Monday is going to be good for Racon. All this anticipation. I just hope that I'm well enough.

What an idiot I was disregarding the power of the heat like that.

2007-07-29T10:33:00.000+03:00

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.

2007-07-21T12:17:00.000+03:00

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

2007-07-21T10:23:00.000+03:00

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.

2007-07-10T21:17:00.000+03:00

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

2007-06-30T11:17:00.000+03:00

Drama Open 2007 : 21st - 24th June

144 competitors, from 15 registered nationalities, and our friend Yiğıt Yildirim came a close 4th! See the results here. You can click on the individual task scores to see animations of the flights and Google Earth tracks.

Very impressive given the quality of the guys who beat him. He loves his new Ozone Mantra R7 it goes without saying. He also flew the Ozone Mantra serial class wing and strongly recommended it to me for both safety and performance.

The two Valic brothers got first and second place (world ranking 3 and 6 - see PWCA rankings). Primoz PODOBNIK got third (world ranking 2 after Maurer).

Note on the Valic brothers distance record, beating Will Gadd by 3km:

The Slovenian born Valic brothers travelled to South Africa in the middle of November 2006 with the specific goal to achieve a world record in terms of a declared goal. Despite tough and very strong conditions, and after spending 6 and half hours in the air, both brothers made the declared goal, and had enough height and time to continue to fly further, eventually landing within 300 meters of each other, setting a new world distance record of 426km. (Wikipedia)

2007-06-26T10:18:00.000+03:00

The Blue Lagoon

A beautiful photo taken by skybabe Annie of the 'blue lagoon' on Friday 15th this month.

click to enlarge

2007-06-24T11:53:00.000+03:00

Akdağ flight- 22nd June

Numerous plans were formulated for this flight, and the end result was disappointing as far as the flight went - although the locale was beautiful and well worth exploring. Murat C. was going to join us, as was John Y, and possibly Annie, but I ended up flying on my own. Murat injured his leg quite badly, a day after telling us he'd never had an accident paragliding! He should have pinched his earlobe and then knocked on a table after telling us this. He was practicing spiral dives in Kaş and couldn't pull out in time to make the landing zone, having to make an emergency landing on the harbour's breakwater rocks.

After talking to Uğur in Kaş I opted for a known east facing take-off, to avoid the strong Patara valley sea breeze while hopefully catching some of the morning sunlight. It was too windy on the Thursday morning (northerly catabatics?), so dad, Annie and I set off at 7.45am from dad's villa on Friday which was calmer, and turned into Gombe at the reservoir, taking the dirt road from there up towards Yeşil Göl (Green Lake). We found ourselves amongst dozens - perhaps hundreds - of Muslim pilgrims with empty plastic bottles, ascending the slopes to get to the lake/source of the nearby waterfall (Uçansunsu) for some holy water. A local sufi started off this tradition according to one source. Before taking the track towards the lake, we took the steeper track up the valley which ended up at a bulldozer that was extending the road, after passing through some nomads' (yörük) lush grazing pastures, above 2000m and covered in snow in the winter season - quite a discovery for us.

yörük pastures

We retraced our way to the Yeşil Göl turning, and drove as far as the track would take us, looking onto the lip of the waterfall to the right as you looked out towards Gombe below.

I took off from a rocky slope above the track, at around 1,700-1,800m altitude - not too exciting considering that the mountain ascended behind me to around 3000m. But there was no way of getting any higher without trekking - something that wasn't an option then. Landing options were difficult to identify clearly, but I figured that there were enough flat fields nestled among all the trees and valley slopes to pinpoint a landing spot 'on the wing'.

The main road/reservoir can be seen in the distance

So after a wait for (very) weak thermic cycles to inflate the wing, I took off! Dad took the picture below as I flew over the road, weightshifting towards the waterfall bowl, where I hoped to find some lift.

There was no lift. All birds were flapping. It was sink all the way down. And you can see from the photo below that landing options were limited. I would not recommend this particular flight to anyone unless they were very confident with tight landings in small fields among trees in rotor, and felt satisfied with 10 minute sled rides. The waterfall was nice, but I only noticed it for 2 seconds.

Perhaps if you took off from this site later in the day when there was more thermic air to use it would be worth it. But I would be wary of a prevailing northerly in these conditions, as we had on Friday.

Next time, I'm flying from the top of Akdag - perhaps camping up there the night before, and hiking. And my preference would be to take off on the Patara valley side, although from the higher altitude both west and east would be good.

2007-06-10T16:05:00.000+03:00

Ölü Deniz earlier this year.

For those of us who have been enjoying the excitement of Ölü Deniz recently, here's a reminder of how it looks in January! Dead - (dead = 'Ölü' in Turkish, in fact).

Ölü Deniz in January, 2007 (Photo MAS)

2007-06-10T14:27:00.000+03:00

Akdag take-offs?

Question: which spot to take off from when we fly from Akdag next week (weather permitting)? Two possibilities are shown below - a west Xanthos plain facing take-off, and a south facing take-off. The former is accessible by a track from one side of the mountain range, the other by a track from the other side. The latter has the advantage of giving you a glide down to a gully and ridge system that is sun-facing and is likely to be thermic. If you could glide down to this and then cruise along in a westerly direction in lift, you may have better height to make the crossing to Babadag - if this is the aim. This might be a more challenging flight though. We'll need to take a closer look when we're in the area.

The Akdag summit, and the two nearby take-offs. (Click to enlarge)

2007-06-10T13:59:00.000+03:00

Babadag - Butterfly Valley flight: 31st May, 12pm

This was a spectacular flight - sometimes in cloud - in the company of Matt Senior. Annie also flew from Babadag on this day. Matt took some top photos on this day which can be seen here. The 5 waypoint OCL distance on this flight was 16.85km.

Babadag to Butterfly Valley to Oludeniz (click to enlarge)

2007-06-06T17:51:00.000+03:00

Dumanli Dag adventure - 2nd June.

8.5km north of my dad's house in Islamlar, Kalkan, there's a 1956m mountain called Dumanli Dag which you can see clearly across the Xanthos plain from Babadag, 30km away. I'd always fancied flying off it and landing next to dad's (at an altitude of 550m).

Dumanli Dag and Dad's house

There's a track up to the top where there's a forest fire watch tower, manned throughout the summer. Annie, dad and I had attempted to drive up the track last year but it was too rough for the rental car and we backed off. This time we had a rental 4 wheel drive (a little open top Suzuki - 20 quid per day) and perfect clear, calm weather. So we set off from Xanthos Villa at 10am and completed the winding drive to the top no problem, enjoying spectacular views of the easterly valley on the way, really appreciating the jeep's performance. A fire-watcher with a big pair of binoculars (possibly posted up there for the entire summer) greeted us at the top, and invited us for a tea which we declined, being pressed for time. There was some cloud building at our altitude. A dust devil also spun right past us as I was trying to decide which way to take off in the zero wind conditions. I decided to forward launch down the dirt road in the opposite direction from the heading I wanted, and then do a U turn to the left once I was in the air. This worked well enough - although it was a fairly committing take-off.

The flight down was uneventful. I tried finding thermals but the air was dead, except for a little activity caused by large valleys here and there. 30 minutes after taking off I had landed next to dad's as planned without any incident. A good feeling of 'job done'! I took some shots of the house from the air at a few hundred feet for the record.

Dad's place has the wing shadow over the pool

Next mountain to fly off: Akdag, 3000m!

2007-06-06T17:15:00.000+03:00

Advice on Full stalls!

I'd been wanting to do full stalls for ages. Here in Turkey anyone who is half decent has done them, and I've flown at Ölü Deniz a few times now, so it was well due.

I took off from the 1700m take-off and managed to thermal up 1,200 ft which was a first. I glided from this altitude to over the 1968m summit along the ridge, and bounced around a bit in quite strong air, and then head out over the sea (thinking it would be safer doing a stall!), arriving with 1,500m to make use of. I did a couple of B line stalls first, and then went for the full stall. A wrap, slow down speed, pull down to try to find the stall point, and then WHAPPP! Total loss of control for a heart stopping second, falling backwards, losing sight of the wing behind you completely, arms locked down as though your life depended on it, and then the wing re-appears, nice stable position with wingtips tucked above you. I recorded I was falling at about 16 m/sec. Hold it for a while, then release, and whoooh big SURGE forward, jam on the breaks, then another surge and then stable flight again. Heart pounding. Now try again: pull down symmetrically, fall and chaos, wing stable overhead, raise hands slowly to chest height to inflate the wing-tips a bit (almost tail sliding here which Matt thought I should try), and then release, surge, break, and away - nice and cleanly. Much more control than the first time. Sweet.

Advice for doing the stall. DO A B LINE STALL FIRST. It's like half way between the two, but it's much safer. In fact my Gangster is less stable overhead when it's B-line stalled than when it's full stalled - so it's good practice for releasing the breaks when the wing is in front of you since the wing oscillates a lot. I measured a descent rate of 6m/sec with a B-line stall. It feels like you're falling faster.

Here's a guy doing a B-line stall on YouTube for an idea.
Here's a guy doing a stall correctly. (although it looks messy to me.)
Here's a guy who screws up by releasing the breaks as soon as he stalls.

2007-06-06T11:26:00.000+03:00

26th - 27th May: Denizli Pre-World Cup.

The link for this competition can be found here. There is a nice picture from the site photo gallery of Annie, Yiğit, Matt and I relaxing after the day's flying under a Red Bull tent here. We met New Zealander Matt Senior at this comp, and went on to spend time with him in Ölü Deniz. He was here in Turkey on account of a chance meeting in an Australian comp with Semih Sayir, currently number one competition pilot in the country. 'Why not come to Turkey?' Semih suggested, and here he was. Semih told us in Ölü that his nickname was 'champion'! Modest. He lived up to his reputation, by getting 2nd in this pre-world comp, in a field of about 80 pilots from all round the world. Matt got 11th which he was pleased with. Yiğit was stoical about his 15th position. He was leading the previous day, but the task was cancelled due to overdevelopment. Matt was second on that day I think.

We arrived in Denizli close to midnight by bus from Ankara. We got a dolmuş to Karahayit where the comp was based, 20km north of Denizli. 2 lira each: better than the 40 lira taxi 'deal' we were offered. Yiğit and his friend Mehmet helped us sort out a pension when we arrived. The Hierapolis Hotel where the comp pilots were staying was out of our price range. There were hotels and pensions everywhere. The place seemed like a sea-side resort. Must be all those hot spring baths.

Task briefing on the last day: (Semih crouching over the board)

Annie and I flew on the Sunday. A 34km task was set from the lower take-off - a triangle I think. I don't know for sure because I couldn't work my GPS properly to try it. I just thermalled from one place to another randomly for an hour, but had a great time, one time finding myself at the top of a gaggle. The XC potential here is unlike anything I've known. The national distance record is from here. I think this might be the flight here. The young guy who flew it from METU was also at the comp, doing pretty well. He's new to competition flying.

Annie and gaggle of comp. pilots

I was registered as a guest pilot. It was 15 lira for both Annie and I to get all the services of the comp for the day - transport, medical and a lunch. Good value. There were loads of pilots who turned up for the comp just for the experience. It would be easy for anyone coming out to Turkey from England to register for any of these comps. The tasks weren't that hard as far as I could tell, and some of our boys from Kernow might have a shot at getting a good result. Good experience. Keep an eye out for this kind of competition whenever you're thinking of going on holiday. It's a useful environment to socialise and learn a lot in a supportive, well organised flying event. There were pilots there from France, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Greece, New Zealand, Japan, etc.

The results were: 1st: Jean-François Chapuis from France. 2nd: Semih Sayir from Turkey. 3rd: Daniel Dimov from Bulgaria.

Bork before taking off.

2007-05-13T19:56:00.000+03:00

Targets for this summer.

100 km plus distance. Actually 150km may be feasible. Depends on how I do in the 'big air'.
4000m plus altitude.
Self-taught SIV course: Locked in spiral dive (definitive) and full stall (multiple) and great wing-overs. Also spins.
BabaDag to Xanthos Villa/Kalkan XC (32 km), beating the sea breeze.
Kas to Kalkan XC, avoiding a sea landing.
Vol Bivouac 3 days around the Ak Dag range with Yigit.
Brain cells receptive fields combining vision and proprioception, tuned in to my Gangster.
A couple of good articles.
Shock resistance.

Lots of focus and kahonas.

2007-05-07T11:34:00.000+03:00

Paragliding in Turkey is on.

Skyebabe Anna-lena

Now we're up in the mid-twenties with low humidity, and the sky gods are calling us. Another flight from Babadag on around the 28th April when Helen and family were staying with dad. The light over the sea was spectacular (see pic). Dad has a shot of little Anna Lena sitting in my harness. Neither Kofi nor Anna Lena liked the idea of flying having seen it though: Kofi was particularly sure of this.

Yiğit has been doing the Red Bull XC Alps Turkey comp which ran from the 2nd to the 6th May. I'll find out how he did today. Next weekend we're off with him to Çökelez, Denizli to practice from the Pre-Paragliding World Cup comp at the end of the month. I'm currently registered as a guest pilot, as I can't make the full week, only the weekend.

This last weekend we were flying at Racon Tepe again. On Saturday I climbed to 600 ft above the hill and the view was good. I'm practicing the 'look at the wing' see-feel theory, soon to be written up for publication. While thermalling it can make you dizzy if you're not used to it.

My goals for this season are to fly up to 4000m and get a distance of over 100km. Also, I'd like to try some vol bivouac flying with Yiğit if he's up for it. As for SIV/acro, I'm just looking at a full stall, locked in spiral, spin and perfect big wing-overs.

2007-04-14T11:03:00.000+03:00

Friends in Kaş (pronounced 'cash')

Here is Murat Cakmak who lives between Isbanbul and Kaş. He will be in Kaş throughout the summer with his young family - flying, diving, spear fishing, socialising with his many friends, and watching the latest episodes of 'Lost' at his sea front house with its wonderful view of Kaş beach, the town and the imposing ridge we fly behind the town. He is fortunate not to have to work over the summer - except for an occasional business trip. He is an experienced paraglider pilot (600 hours plus), diver, and skier, and ski-acro pilot - although he's given up the latter after breaking his legs doing acro with skis making him bed-ridden for a year. You wont meet a more friendly and hospitable man. He has a lot of good advice for beginner and intermediate pilots, particularly those wanting to do acro or SIV maneuvers. He talked me through a stall nicely but I'll admit I was in a cafe at the time, not in the air with a radio.

Murat Cakmak

And below you can see Uğur (pronounced 'oor') Yavaş in action, ready to take off with a tandem pilot from the 650m take-off at Kaş. 'Uğur' means 'luck', and this seems to fit. He was Murat's paragliding instructor, and runs Naturablue, a diving and tandem paragliding company. He has also spent time in Ankara and knows my friend Yiğit well. He has vision and is up for any adventure. He was talking to me about vol-bivouac flying this summer, and was keen to do some XC over the period we were in Kaş, along with a couple of more experienced Ukranian pilots. Murat says he is a man who keeps matters in black and white, avoiding the grey where there is room for dishonesty.

Uğur Yavaş

2007-04-13T10:30:00.000+03:00

A close shave over the Lycia World ridge, 900 m take-off, Babadag

Warning: don't scratch low over the ridge in front of the 900 m take-off at Olu Deniz in the early afternoon in the Spring. I was yesterday- 360ing in the broken thermals, trying to carve out every bit of lift after taking off in a sink phase, within 50 feet of the rocky ground - and I had an incident which nearly killed me. Just before this, a couple of times I was yanked into super-violent thermal bullets in a straight forward (not upwards) direction which was really surprising. I couldn't imagine that any wing could fly that fast. This should have warned me to get some height over the ridge before working it, but I kept at it - scratching - like a little dog, snapping at the heels of a dozy bear. My vario log for that flight reads a max of 9.6 m/s averaged over 20sec, but I wasn't in any single thermal for anything like that long, so it was a roller coaster. I was wondering whether the tandem passenger was enjoying herself nearby! The photo below was taken by my dad at this point in time.

Ridge in front of 900m take-off, Baba Dag. I'm the top-left wing.

And then as I circled over the centre of the ridge - WHAM: a tuck and massive asymmetric, then a 180 degree whip-around turn and an out-of-control frontal surge which had me heading direct for the rocky ground. I was watching the rocks coming up towards me, thinking 'I'm trapped in this - no control - and it has bad odds'. I imagined the impact. If there had been any sort of cascading, I'd have collided hard with the rocks and most likely killed myself. But thanks to Lady Luck (and my Gangster) after jabbing on the breaks to break the surge, I swung under the canopy and popped safely over the ridge with a more or less stable wing (see the photo below taken at exactly this point in time) - actually into lee side rotor that needed active piloting, but compared to what I'd just experienced I didn't care.

My wing can be seen skimming through the saddle of the ridge.

I got on the radio to Annie: 'Don't go over the ridge Annie: It's dangerous!'. She had seen the whole thing from further out from the ridge and thought my advice was pointless as she never had any intention of flying close to the ridge.

I looked back, happy to be alive, and a tandem pilot was still over the ridge. Was I just unlucky? Or do they know something I don't? I was told by local acro pilot Mahoney when I landed that where I was flying - low - had three different thermal sources converging on it and this resulted in a lot of mixed air and turbulence. The tandem pilots were flying higher and keeping out of the cauldren.

2007-04-10T21:29:00.000+03:00

Kaş Paragliding Festival: 5th - 8th April
(See another gallery here)

We turned up for the last couple of days of the festival - Saturday and Sunday - meeting up with Ozgun and the Bilkent student pilots and a couple of Canadian pilots who had come down with them, May and Dennis, who live in our D block building on East Campus believe it or not. Free transport was on offer all day. I enjoyed a spectacular 1 1/2 hour flight from the new 650m South take-off on Saturday afternoon. This was a first flight in Kaş for both Annie and I. Kaş and the surrounding countryside is beautiful as you can see. And the local pilots are committed xc and acro pilots and their hospitality is unbelievable. We have spent a couple of days in the company of Murat Cakmak and Uğur Yavaş who runs one of the two paragliding companies in Kaş. Uğur is Murat's instructor, and Uğur has 600 hours thermic flying experience, so you get some idea of the standard here. I've been looking for a new harness for months - years actually - and I struck lucky with Uğur who had a Paratech D2 to sell me at a Turkish price. I tried it out today and you can see how happy I was to have it! It was great.

2007-02-07T22:38:00.000+02:00

Dad hikes to the summit of Dumanli, 4th Feb, 07.

To quote from an e-mail:

Here are a couple of shots of Babadag that I took today while hiking up Dumanli Dag. I had a five hour walk finding my way through the maquis and forest. Got to over 1600 metres on to the ridge that leads to the top. The snow started at 1450 metres, but only scattered and on the tree tops. Was scrambling up snow covered rocks for the last 100metres. On the way down my GPS lead me astray. I had checked it out a couple of days ago by taking a reading at the end of Kalkan pier and it was spot on (tested on Google Earth). But today it was wildly out. Consequently I went the long way round, so to speak, on the way back. I had quite a battle in the end to make it before the sun went down. I had to fight my way directly through the maquis (the thorny scrub) rather than trying to find paths through it. I would choose a tree and fight my way to it, and then on to the next. Almost impenetrable. So lots of scratches to say the least, but it worked. ...I started out from a point at the top of Islamlar valley. It's amazing to think that you and Annie have paraglided off the top of this mountain! Alan Pimm-Smith

Shots of Baba Dag from Dumanli Dag - APS

2007-01-28T09:32:00.000+02:00

Skybabe Annie over Ölü Denız
(Self-photo while flying, taken back in August, 06)

2007-01-27T11:49:00.000+02:00

13th - 21st Jan 2007: Walking in Fethiye and Ölü Denız

Annie and I joined Dad for a week's holiday in Fethiye, staying at John and Barbara's luxury apartment. Here is a picture of the Ak Dag range from near John's place in the town.

Most of the time it felt like a Mediterranean Spring coming on Summer. We went on three walks in the area. The second took us up to the peak of Baba Dag and back down again - along the track that we'd been up and down in paragliding trucks in August. Snow started at 1,500m, and all footprints and tracks stopped at 1,600m. Between the 1,7oom take off and the top (1967m) there were snowdrifts on the track that made it impossible to make progress. You had to scramble along the steep face on the side of the track. It was exhausting. The views at the top were worth it though. (No pics of Annie or Dad since they opted to stay at the 1,700m take-off.)

After recovering from the Baba Dag expedition (!) we enjoyed a walk from Ovacik, through KayaKoy, and along the coast to Ölü Denız. Murat was enjoying the off-season with some friends at a cafe, and it was good to chat to him. There is a new take-off from the Ak Dag range he says, which might be good for Vol Bivouac in the Summer. A couple of cafes/restaurants were open. Everything else was dead, like the 'dead sea'. We saw a couple of paraglider pilots fly down from the 900m take-off - but no other action at this time of year. Cloud 9 cafe was lifeless too. The Efes beer and the Pide on the sea front were delicious.

2006-12-26T21:07:00.000+02:00

Racon Tepe, Ankara - Saturday 23rd Dec

Dad was up on a Christmas visit from Kalkan and we were thinking on the Friday afternoon that we would skip our weekly trip to Golbasi the next day. The semester was over, it was going to be very cold, and the last couple of weeks had been boring with no lift - thermic or dynamic. But then I got a text from Ozgun - 'Hi Mark. We are going to fly tomorrow. Weather seems good for soaring.' If he hadn't texted we'd have spent the Saturday down in Ankara, but the text made all the difference and we committed to another early rise and paragliding day in Golbasi.

Just as well. For the first few hours nothing happened. We all hiked to the top of the hill and waited around for an hour or so. Yigit turned up with a couple of students. I introduced him to dad, and we all chatted about engines and engineering software for a while. The cumulus that were popping up everywhere at the beginning of this very cold, dry day had now all but vanished, and there was barely any wind to speak of. I decided to fly down, telling Yigit I'd see him another day since neither me nor Annie were prepared to hike back up to the top. As I was preparing to take off, I snagged one of my A lines on a rock and it broke in two. How serious is this? I wondered. It would be like flying with one big ears wouldn't it, so I concluded it couldn't be that bad. I tied the line together with an overhand knot which shortened it by a few centimetres and then flew away with Annie close behind - more or less a bee-line down to the bus at the bottom. The wing flew OK. Something new learned: don't worry about the leading edge A lines.

We sat at the bottom of the hill biding our time for the next hour or more, watching little vole-like creatures digging tunnels and popping their heads up out of their holes, while the temperature dropped from 3 degrees to -1 degrees as the sun dropped. 'Ozgun can't be instructing for much longer now' Annie would say now and again.

But then just as we were hoping to go, the wind picked up and I spotted someone soaring at the top. Up to the top again we went, and the next half an hour or more was some of the best flying we've had at Racon. It was like flying in good conditions at Carbis Bay, in sub-zero temperatures - like one time I remember last year when my fingers lost all sensation. All the more experienced pilots there that day came out of the woodwork, and there were 6-8 of us all enjoying perfect soaring conditions, with some decent height gains - and noone getting in each other's way. Ozgun and I were the last soaring up there as the light was fading. I left Ozgun there with a couple of students and after a nice glide had enough height to spiral down to the bus for a spot landing next to dad and Annie, feeling very satisfied. Annie had had a good flight too. And dad had warmed himself up a bit walking up and down the hill. My mouth and cheeks were numb, but everything else was warm, thanks to my flying suit. Ozgun wasn't so well equipped, and said on the bus 'We've waited all semester for conditions like this, and when they come it's too cold to enjoy it!' He needs to go to Dag Dash and get himself a flying suit and gloves. I need a balaclava.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with Yigit at METU to discuss vol bivouac plans for next summer.

2006-12-17T21:43:00.000+02:00

Imagination and New Ideas in Adventure

Messner says in his book 'All 14 Eight-Thousanders':

'Climbing arises out of ideas and big mountains'. For Messner, climbing the 14 eight-thousanders alpine style, without oxygen, had always been 'to work through an idea' - one needing both skill and imagination and a rethinking of the 'accepted pattern of expeditioning'.

New ideas. Imagination. These are fundamentals in adventure. How the project is done, not just that it is done, or how fast you do it. How innovative it is. What style you do it in. How pioneering you are. What kind of mind you have. It's about how you can open possibilities and push human limits, not just in terms of mechanical performance and obvious measurable goals but in terms of the imagination and pioneering spirit.

The Japanese mountaineer Ozaki says: 'The fourteen eight-thousanders, the 'record' itself, which Messner has gained, is important. But what he has done that is more important is that he has awakened dreams and hopes and the spirit of adventure in people throughout the world.'

In paragliding where are we seeing this kind of spirit of adventure now? In lots of places I think. Here is an example: John Silvester's idea of 'para-alpinism' (Cross Country - May/June 2004):
"I have become interested in using a paraglider to fly up to these highest summits. But in order to reach the top of these Himalyan giants, we need to exploit lift above the deep convective layer and access the primeval world of swirling spindrift...high altitude ridge lift'. John was struck by this idea looking at the spindrift streaming off a photo of the summit of Rakaposhi - a photo he 'almost binned' thinking it was insignificant.

The expedition that was the upshot of Silvester's inspired idea can be read in Dave Snowdon's report here: http://www.fly-k2.com/files/skywings.pdf

Mountaineers have used paragliding as a means ofdescent from several of the major Himalayan peaks,after spending an expedition period andmountaineering effort ascending them. Howeverfew have free-flown upwards to above 7,000m. Thisrelatively new game of ascending mountains purelyby air will never replace the essences ofmountaineering; merely complement it with a newform of ascent. The high-altitude flying game has itsown nuances, far removed from the flying we hadpreviously experienced. The challenge goes on.We will no doubt begin to debate the merits andethics of using oxygen on high-altitude flights. Wewill no doubt develop gliders and equipmentbespoke to our needs, and go on exploring thesegreat ranges of the earth. The experience is unique,and every flight is a privilege.

2006-11-19T21:36:00.000+02:00

Racon Hill, Golbasi, Ankara

Look at this exodus of students all off training on Saturday. That line of people stretches for nearly a kilometer. There were scores of them, bus-loads - all off flying! We saw five buses at least. These were students from Hacetepe and METU universities. The guy having a drag on the cigarette is the Bilkent University bus-driver. Our guys - another bus load - added to the throng. For those of you in the UK, could you imagine such a turn-out from university clubs?

The selfless dedication to teaching novices here is very impressive. Bilkent paragliding club's sole instructor Ozgun Babur astounds us by his dedication and consistency. He has been teaching Bilkent students on every flyable weekend for 2 years or so and has been a regular in the club for 5 years or more. He doesn't get paid a Kurus. He puts his whole body into his teaching and is obviously very efficient in getting the basics across. Here is the man in action.

I was hoping to get some teaching experience with Ozgun. But it doesn't look like this is going to happen. There is a well-honed system in place, and there is the language problem. I could perhaps help in Olu Deniz or if pilots are interested in entry level XC flying.

Yigit was at Racon too - with one student of his who'd just bought a new wing. Yigit was planning adventures for next summer - Vol Bivouac, and a competition that moved from one mountain range to another over the course of the week's event. Yigit is excited about the untapped potential for XC here in Turkey - particularly Vol Bivouac. I hope to get involved in some of these adventures.

We met some more experienced local pilots at the top of the hill. They enjoyed playing in the thermal cycles the skygods - Zeus, etc - sent our way just like Annie and I did. They were a little surprised to see two blondies up there on that hill, where so few westerners go. But like all Turks they were welcoming and friendly, and even offered to break off a bit of a banana for us to share. Turks love to share. It's become instinctive for them to share everything. These guys had some nice wings. One was a Skywalk Poison which Yigit said was a fantastic 2/3 - high performance, but safe with no big surging on stall recovery.

Locals off on a glide from Racon Hill.

2006-11-09T21:32:00.000+02:00

7th International Olu Deniz Air Games Festival, 25th-29th October, 2006

Here's Annie and I enjoying this year's Air Games festival at Olu Deniz - which was fortunate considering the crap weather that came before and after it.

There were only a handful of paid acro pilots making the festival an attraction - ten acro or less -and general attendance for the rest of us seemed low, but I felt like there was a lot of eye contact and even friendliness between pilots of all degrees of ability, from the likes of Mad Mike Kung at the top of the pyramid down to aspiring but cautious acro pilots like myself with limited skills and minimal achievements.

I was most impressed, not by Mad Mike's infinity tumbles, but young Pal Takats' spectacular display which finished with a death spiral that exited mere inches above the concrete walk-way. Here's the man himself after I caught his attention, a few minutes after he had unbuckled from his harness:

He was itching to get back up to the top and start all over again! Only 21 or 22 years old, Hungarian, and already getting onto the podium in world acro comps. He came second in this September's Adrenalina comp, beating both the Rodriguez brothers. Pal Takats is the guy who put up the very popular acro website: justacro. Good luck to him in the future. As far as I know he's only fallen into his wing once.

Annie and I only got one flight during the two days we were at the festival. After getting to launch on the first day, within half an hour weather conditions had changed and there were reports coming in that it was turbulent down at the beach. I had unwrapped my glider and was considering taking off despite the uncertainty when I overheard Mike Kung talking over the radio to a famous Czech base-jumper and acro pilot Tomas Lednik who was standing behind me. I was within earshot. 'It's very turbulent down here,' Mike Kung was saying, 'I would advise you NOT to fly if I were in your situation.' It wasn't long before we were all on a truck back down the mountain. Interestingly Tomas and his friend took off in any case, thinking that landing in Lykia World would be protected from the wind. But they were wrong. Firstly they nearly crashed in the trees just below take-off, and second it was clear to everyone watching their flight that they were in difficulties as they pushed out to sea. He told me afterwards at Cloud 9 that they were lucky to make it to the beach. Another instructor who took off as I was getting my wing out told me later: 'I used all my 1400 hours of flying experience to get down safely today'.

Interesting how conditions can change so rapidly.

The following day gave us perfect flying conditions. Annie and I both flew from the very top - our first time from that take-off.

On the flight down I finally pulled off a few well-timed, energy-conserving, 'over the top' wing-overs, plus some half decent spiral dives. I can't wait for the next time to start building on these moves.

2006-10-15T13:03:00.000+03:00

Two weekends at Golbasi with Ozgun and Yigit

Annie and I have enjoyed a couple of weekend's flying at Golbasi - on the 1st and the 8th - October, driving up with instructor Ozgun Babur from the Bilkent University paragliding club (Bilhavk). Yigit was instructing up there on both weekends too with his own group.

For the full gallery from Golbasi check out this link from the KHPA website.

It's interesting that in Turkey there are no official qualifications for paragliding - although the training is stict and follows the English 'Elementary Pilot - Club Pilot' system as far as I can see. I was invited to teach beginners since I was a 'club coach' - but coaches in Turkey teach the very basics ('lean forward...pull brake left...run to right...etc), not post-CP stuff. So I wasn't much use.

And the Turks dont have a governing organisation like the BHPA either. There is controversy here as to how independent from government and the airforce it should be. Of course paragliders want full independence. Some retired airforce personel want to bring paragliding under their own control, which needless to say would be a disaster for the sport here.

Next weekend - Olu Deniz and the AirGames!

2006-09-23T11:13:00.000+03:00

Concert at METU with Yigit and Isil.

Annie and I met up with Yigit Yildirim and his girlfriend Isil to go to a Turkish concert last night in a stadium at the Middle Eastern Technical University. It was good - particularly the woman solo singer with red hair who reminded me of Bjork. She was dynamite. She sung about her lover who was like the match that hadn't been struck. The other band sung about the Iraq war and the Turkish government - very political. The night before we'd had dinner and played backgammon in downtown Ankara. Yigit won both games by using strategy. I asked him what his strategy was like in paragliding - he's competed in PWCs around the world - lots of competition experience. 'I'm good in strong conditions' he said, 'but when conditions are weaker I don't have much patience and I often go down'. Yigit has also competed in two Vertigo acro competitions. He flies with a Gradient Avax comp wing. He's very good and modest with it. The weather is worsening for XC now. It's raining a lot and getting cold. Will I be able to fly XC at all this season? Time is running out. Yigit told us that the big birds we saw thermalling on the drive to Ankara were storks ('the ones that carry the babies')! 'Yigit' means 'brave man' in Turkish. 'Isil' means 'ray of light' or 'sparkle'.

2006-09-16T21:10:00.000+03:00

Yamasut Turkiye Open Paragliding Championship 2006

This was a competition that I was invited to this weekend, but since I have no car, no money, no time, no Ankara contacts, etc, at this point in time, I couldn't get to it. Details can be found at http://www.yamasut.com/. I'd be interested to hear who got the top spots.

2006-09-06T21:07:00.000+03:00

E-mail exchange between Bork and con-man ‘Angela Green’ (28th Aug – 6th Sept).

Angela initially made the inquiry about a paraglider I had been advertising on the web. His scam is a common one.

From ‘Angela Green’

Hello...i will like to know if this Item is still available? also will want to know the present condition and get back to me with pictures if this is available .

From Bork

Shiny, crispy, fresh, smells good, just as new. Special price for you. Can be used as a cover in snow as well as a flying machine. Only 1000 pounds sterling. Send me a check and I'll send you the fabric. It's lovely!

From Angela

Thats okay...Now i will like you to know that i will be making my payment Via Check but i can only make a payment drawn in the Uk pounds sterlin so i will like you to know that this item will be picked up at your location as soon as payment is settled.....Regarding the picking up of the item i will be including the pickup fee to the check payment that will be sent to you and as soon as you have it cashed deduct the item fee from it and send the remaining fund to the pickup agent so that they can come asap for the pickup.....Like i said the Item payment will be 1000£ and you will be receiving a check of £3200....If this is acceptable kindly mail me your name address and contact phone number so that the check can be sent immediately.

Waiting to read from you soon.

Thanks

From Bork

What does 'drawn in the Uk pounds sterling' mean? And 'payment is settled'? And 'pickup fee'? What is a 'pickup agent'?Please explain all this in fine detail so that we can move forward with our deal and all end up happy and satisfied. I am afraid of getting cheated by crooks, so I need to know the true details.

From Angela

Okay....What i mean by Uk pounds sterlin is this...i will be sending you check that will be drawn in any Uk bank...and pickup fee is Just the added fee that will be on the check you will receive,and the pickup agent are the ones that will come to your location to pick the Item up as soon as the check is cleared through your bank...

Let me know if this has answerd your questions.
Thanks

From Bork

So you send me a check for £3200. I clear this with my bank, and then you have a pick-up agent come to me to pick up the paraglider. Do I then pay the agent any money for the pickup? What do I do with the £2,200 extra?

From Angela

Yes as soon as you clear the check with your bank you will send the extra fee to the pickup agent via WESTERN UNION so that they can come immediately for the pickup. Get back to me if this is Okay by you.
Thanks

From Bork

No problem. We live in Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey - only 4 hours from Istanbul . Just send the cheque to the Security Office.

From Angela

I dont Understand? Get back asap.

From Bork

We're nearly there. Now I'm confusing you!I need to know that your agent can come to Bilkent, Ankara in the Anatolian plain in Turkey to pick up the paraglider. Here a paraglider is considered military equipment and we may go to jail if I try to send it by parcel.

From Angela

Okay...They will come to Turkey for the collections,first as soon as you get the check deduct the item fee from it and send the remaining money to the pickup agent so that they can come immediately for the picking up.i want you to send me your name address and contact phone number so that the check can be sent. Note that my agent will come to Turkey for thepickup as soon as the payment is sealed.
Thanks

From Bork

Hi Angela,

I should be honest with you. I haven't been completely straight...Do you realise that when your agent comes to pick up the paraglider, there is a chance that he will be arrested for possession of something that is considered illegal here in Turkey? Are you prepared to take the risk to have your agent smuggle the paraglider through Turkey? Once he reaches Bulgaria he will be fine, but he needs to keep the paraglider concealed - perhaps in a secret compartment in his car - until then. If you are prepared to risk arrest for your agent, then I will certainly send you my address and we can get the cheques written out immediately.I await your decision...

From Angela

Wow...No Problem on that what you just have to do for me is as soon as you get the check deduct the paraglider fee from it and send the Balance Immediately to the pickup agent they will come immediately...i will also want you to email me the Info for the check to be written asap.

Thanks

From Bork

Hi Angela,
Are you sure? Do you know what the inside of a Turkish prison looks like? Do you know that guards TORTURE inmates with complete immunity? And VERY FEW people succeed in smuggling paragliders out to Bulgaria. They are very strict in how they search the car. I need to know how your agent is going to smuggle the paraglider through customs. A good method is to wrap it in hay and pretend to be a Bulgarian farmer. Is this a possibility? I need to know for peace of mind. I wouldn't want your agent to end up in a Turkish prison, being tortured. Would you? Once I know he has a clever plan, then I'll send you the details for the cheque, so we can exchange these sums of money ASAP.

Please tell me IN DETAIL how he will conceal the paraglider and what disguise he will use. If he has a good method, I - in fact - have 3 MORE paragliders that I need to sell (for £3000 in total). I will of course pay the extra for the agent to cover the extra costs if you are interested. But I need to know his methods or I will not sell.

Best wishes...

From Angela

DONT WORRY HE HAS BEEN PICKING ITEMS UP FOR ME SO HE SHOULD KNOW HOW TO DO ITS SMARTLY NEVER WORRY ABOUT HIM HE HAS ALL THE NECCESARY PASSPORT TO TRAVELL ANY WHERE IN THE WORLD SO NO DOUT.
LET ME HAVE THE INFO FOR THE CHECK PAYMENT AND AS SOON AS ITS ARRIVES DO SEND THE PICKUP FEE IMMEDIATELY SO THAT THEY CAN COME FOR THE PICKUP.

HAVE NO FEAR
THANKS

From Bork

You're not trying to trick me by any chance?

From Angela

What are you talking about? i told you the Item will be picked up at your resident as soon as the check is confirmed cleared by your bank you will deduct the excess fee that is on the check to the pickup agent who will be coming for the picuk.

Get back to me with the Info for the check payment if this is acceptable.
Thanks

From Bork

I must tell you now that I have been tricking you all along! I don't have a paraglider, and I don't live where I said I did. Paragliders are not illegal in Turkey and there is no need for your agent to dress up as a Bulgarian farmer! I know you are a conman and I wanted to have fun being a conman too! Better luck next time.

From Angela

Hello since you are also a Con man we could work Things out....Can you Cash this Check for me we will make it a deal it will be 50% a piece..
Let me know if this is Possible.
And again where are you from ?
Thanks

2006-09-02T15:44:00.000+03:00

Migrating birds, arriving in Ankara, and local contacts and information.

Annie and I have now been at our campus apartment in Bilkent University, Ankara for a week. We drove the 9 hour trip from Kalkan to Ankara on Saturday 26th.

The landscape on the drive up is spectacular, with successive mountain ranges receding into vast flatlands in the Anatolian heart of the country. We saw something awe-inspiring half way through our journey: thousands of large birds, which due to the scale involved looked like a dense swarm of insects, thermalling together above the flatlands - all in one colossal thermal. The picture doesn't do this spectacle justice. Were these storks? Does anyone know?

Thousands of migrating birds in a thermal.

I have been in touch with two local pilots since arriving in Ankara. An instructor living Ankara called Yigit who invited me as a guest on an SIV course in Olu Deniz this weekend (1st - 3rd Sept). My contract starts on Monday so unfortunately I cannot afford to travel such a distance in the circumstances. I have also been in correspondence with one of the Akcalar brothers - Hakan. He lives in Istanbul, but travels all around the country on weekends with his flying friends looking for epic cross country. You can see he and his brother have not been slacking if you check out their flights on Paragliding Forum's Leonardo online XC league. Here are some excerpts from his helpful e-mails to me:

Hi Mark. You're welcome to Turkey :) Here we have a XC group of friends. We usually decide what we do for the weekend on Thursdays. This is because of the weather forecasts allowing a three day foreseeing. These months are the best season in Turkey. 2 weeks ago the Turkey XC record has been put to 184km! Just let us know when you are ready for the weekend, then we will tell you what we are doing that weekend according to the weather. Our main destinations are denizli-cokelez, kayseri-ali dag, aksaray - ekecik. I cannot update our website nowadays but the XC flying in Turkey is running high :) We won't be attending to Bolu fest, it's just a fest, no XC there ...During September we have several organisations and competitions, don't hesitate to participate. ...

He told me about the action on the weekend that we arrived in Anakara. While the migrating birds were thermalling, so were these Turkish pilots:

Well, this weekend at Aksaray 6 pilots made 100+ km's, one 150+, some of them their first 100+, and the first turkish female made her 100+. Today another pilot made 135km at the same site ..We all hope this good weather conditions continues forever and strikes on weekends, but we will see.

I told Hakan that in the UK we typically have cloudbases of 5,000 ft (1,500 m), and in Cornwall as low as 2000 ft or less (600 m). I pointed out that this makes 100 km plus flights very challenging. I have a best distance of 55 km in the UK I told him. He replied:

We usually do not leave the hill until we are high above 3000 mt :)) We are used to soaring above 4000 mt's. Maybe you will need to be acclimatised before you do the same :)

When these dimensions hit me, it will be interesting to see how I cope! I MAY BE AN ACE AT BUZZING THE DUNES AT SENNEN, BUT HERE.... .

What about transport? These guys travel throughout this vast country. Weekend trips by car are often 8 hours plus. This was their system. It puts some of our efforts back in the UK to shame!

Transport to the city: by car, bus, plane, whatever comes handy. Usually you won't be alone, but if you do, we will give you directions. Transport to the take-off: we usually hire a local minibus there, you will just join the crowd and share the fee.

A cold front shut down XC flying in Turkey this weekend. It was in the mid 30s on Thursday and I thought I was getting heat exhaustion down in the city. Today we're down at 12 degrees and Annie has had cold feet can you believe it? But perhaps the colder air will produce truly epic conditions next weekend when I hope I can find the time away from work for an XC flying adventure. And let's see how Annie fares too! She's brave enough to fly in these conditions, but will she enjoy it and want more?

2006-08-25T20:55:00.000+03:00

Around Kalkan, Kas and Olu Deniz.

Annie and I are now in Ankara, in central Turkey, bang in the middle of a low pressure system. There was a powerful storm yesterday, and there is no XC flying this weekend.

We arrived in Turkey on the 14th August, enjoying the first 12 days at my dad's newly built house, 3km north of Kalkan in Islamlar on the SW Lycian coast. At 500m it's perched on a north-south ridge, and looks onto 15 miles of Mediterranean coastline. There is no other building to clutter the view. To the west there is a breath taking panorama of Patara beach and the Xanthos plain, birthplace of the Homeric hero Sarpedon, son of Zeus and King of Lycia. Sarpedon was fated to die in the Trojan war, and before he died on the battle field Zeus sent a shower of bloody raindrops over the Trojans' heads expressing his grief. This is the very same plain that Jocky Sanderson flies over in the 'flatland XC' section in his latest 'Performance Flying' DVD. It is over his historic plain that Jocky wonders if he should fall asleep he's so relaxed. Jocky takes off from Baba Dag, which can also be seen across the plain from the house, 35km away. With a telescope you could possibly see paragliders taking off from Baba Dag while relaxing by the pool! Would this be possible at that range?

Our arrival coincided with a heat wave, with temperatures reaching 50 degrees in the area. During our stay near Kalkan a forest fire raged for six days just a few miles up the coast near Kas [news link]. Similar soaring temperatures blasted the rest of Turkey. Yesterday though a stormy cold front passed over Ankara and the temperature has plunged to a chilly 12 degrees outside. This came as a shock to both of us, and reminded us how cold it can get in the winter here in the interior.

Below dad's villa there is a regular thermal trigger in a westerly above which you find swifts, hunting for insects being lifted skywards. The swifts also swoop close to the pool. On the first day we watched a bird of prey climb here and continue north up the east valley to far above the col. Within range of dad's place there are a number of established flying sites, going from closest to furthest as follows:

1. Kalkan ridge, 900m (N 36 deg 15'18.2", E 29 deg 27' 17.0"). Visible from Kalkan. Taking off from here may allow you to ridge soar along the entire 1000m E-W ridge behind Kalkan. Access is via the Yesilkoy Valley, up a good track leading up to a prominent electric generator. This is a well established site with a cleared take-off area and wind-socks. It takes a SW (?). It is prone to strong valley winds. I drove up to take-off on 3 separate days and it wasn't flyable each time. This may have been party due to the unusually intense heat causing valley winds. It's only 6.8km from the house direct, and you can get to the take-off in 30 minutes! There aren't many landing options around Kalkan. The harbour is off limits apparently. There is a good field next to a main road at N 36 deg 14' 48.0", E 29 deg 26' 24.6" which should be fine. During our stay in the area, a local pilot was killed flying from this mountain, flying tandem. His passenger survived barely. He was a diabetic, from what we heard, and went unconscious mid-flight. We wonder if the heat was a factor too?

2. Dumanli Dag, 1956m. (N 36 deg 22' 44.9", E 29 deg 26' 37.1"). Dad, Annie and I drove our rental car to the mountain track via Ikzce, and made it part way up but we needed a 4x4 to continue up. The peak of this mountain is visible from dad's place. It's 8.5km away. You'd only need an average glide of 8.5/1.5 (under 6:1) to get to dad's, but the only landing strip there would be very challenging. Better to go on down to the Kalkan landing field. Or if you wanted to fly west, you could probably get away with landing in the Byzantine road of ancient Xanthos (11.3 km from take-off, N 36 deg 21'24.0", E 29 deg 19' 14.3''). Do it in the evening when the officials are gone. What damage could you possibly do. Those columns and limestone plaques are solid as anything.

Xanthos landing zone with Dumanli Dag in the distance.

3. Patara Dunes. (N 36 deg 16' 07.8", E 29 deg 17' 52.3") About 11km away (direct) from the villa. Patara beach is near 12km long. There are some large soaring dunes for 'surfing' as one of the pilots from Fethiye called it, although it sounds like it is important to watch out for breeding turtles. Flying may be illegal but this isn't the impression I got from I didn't get a chance to fly here, although one night we had a magic evening swim off the Patara beach under the Milky Way. This would be a good place to camp and do some waga if conditions are fairly consistent. I don't know if they are. It would be exciting to turn up at this beach by boat.

4. Kas ridge (approx 1000m). A little over 20km away. Sky paragliding seems like a good enough company to introduce you to this flying area. Talk to Arzum (meaning 'desire' or 'my wish') if you can (0535 376 0028). Although she is not an experienced pilot in the team, she is lively and charming and can tell you about local inland XC flying too. It's 30 YTL each for transport to the top, so it doesn't come cheap - and the take-off is only 1000m. You pay the same or less to get to the top of Baba Dag further up the coast. On the day we tried flying here, the cloud set in and after waiting for a couple of hours we had to give up. Kas (pronounced 'cash') has to be one of the most attractive and magical town on the SW coast of Turkey. Unlike Olu Deniz and even Kalkan, it is a real town. It's bohemian soul shows itself off at night.

At the Kas takeoff. We thought the cloud might clear.

5. Baba Dag (Olu Deniz). Various take-offs up to nearly 2000m. In view of dad's place at 32km and a little over 1 hour's drive. We got transport from Sky Sports. Murat (Turkish) & Nicolet (Dutch) who run it are very helpful. You can get weather reports if they know who you are by phone any time. I flew from the 1750m take-off 3 times on three different days and Annie flew twice. I got more familiar with the mountain on each flight and I was thermalling for an hour along the NW-SE ridge on my third flight, but I couldn't climb above 1,800m. Why not? Was there a real ceiling or a psychological one. It's quite intimidating if you're not used to that scale. Coming down on a reserve wouldn't always help you. Lots of spiky rocks and chasms about. But I was getting used to it. The thermals were sometimes quite turbulent and I got one or two collapses on my Gangster. Annie got an asymmetric on her Sol Yaris (DHV 1-2) too. None of them was any problem though. I did an 11km circuit around Olu Deniz, and saw some pilots fly off on a glide to some forested hills further to the north. I don't know what they were trying to do over there. Anyone have any idea? Over the sea on the way down I practiced big wing-overs. After building up the energy so I was above my wing I got a major collapse which told me my technique and feel needs work. One excuse: they are easier in a coastal wind. When there is no wind the dynamics are completely different.

Annie over Olu Deniz.

The well-known Akcalar brothers - Hakan and Kagan - did a flight from Baba Dag to near Kalkan, within a glide of dad's villa, in 2002 (see Google Earth track below). I was half hoping to repeat this flight in the first week of arriving, but I wasn't ready for it. I believe I would be ready next time though.

Flight track from Olu Deniz to near Kalkan (Akcalar brothers 2002)

I e-mailed Jocky Sanderson asking for advice on this flight. This was his reply:

Mark

That flight log looks about right as he may have caught a sea breeze. It would be easy for you to go to Kalkan. It is important to go around 12 with the first thermals. That way you can go towards the sea without a sea breeze. Best time to cross valley is 12.30-13.30

good luck

Jocky

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If anyone reading this blog has any experiences flying at any of the sites (other than Baba Dag) or others in the general area please let me know.

2006-08-16T20:44:00.000+03:00

'Bork'.

On August 16th I was ordering pancakes with Annie and my dad on the Olu Deniz boardwalk. 'What's your name?' the Turkish cook asked to keep track of his orders. 'Mark' I said. 'Bork' he said, mishearing, and wrote it down on his pad. After 10 minutes he summened me for the food by shouting 'Bork'! My dad laughed. 'A good name for you!' he said. Annie liked it too. So it stuck.