Cross Country (X-C) Day

Thursday was a sunny day, but the forcast was for strong winds.  Jarek chose the Kobala launch, east of Tolmin as the probable site.  As we arrived at the launch, it was apparent that everyone else came to the same conclusion...the site was very crowded with paragliding and hang gliding groups from all over Europe.  We applied our best parawaiting techniques (sitting or laying in the grass ) until the winds eased up enough for us to feel comfortable to fly.  It was crowded in the sky, and I was a bit uneasy trying to avoid other  pilots while concentrating on increasing altitude.  I finally had enough of that and circled around the ridge and headed west, to try and make the best of it.  Alas, I didn't get far, as thermals were in short supply, and I landed below with most other flyers in the short alternative landing zone a couple of kilometers to the west.  It was still early afternoon and we were able to be fetched and redelivered at the take-off for another go at it.  This time, conditions were better and less crowded.  As in the morning our goal was to fly cross country to the west to Kobarid, about 20 Kilometers away.  With an east wind, we needed to get sufficient height to go west over the ridge to avoid rotor (rotor is a sharp downward thrust of the wind as it goes over the ridge and sharply down of the back side of the hill).   After getting all the height soaring on the east side of the ridge, I decided to go directly over the top and head west toward Kobarid.  A Slovenian pilot, Primoz and an Argentine pilot, Josephina, agreed and followed me west.  Primoz is the current Slovenian paragliding champion, so I was glad he was with us...he is always helpful with tips, as he knows the terrain and conditions so well.  To my surprise, everything went very well...caught thermals where I needed them and cruised 18 KM west on a fairly long and satisfying flight to within 1KM of Kobarid...such fun.  Pictures to follow..