A Good Day in Delli


By Enrico

Saturday, the wind coming in from the Northwest was strong at noon already, in spite of the fact that the Month of October had already started. Launching from the usual take-off site at the Delli bay was out of the question in that kid of wind, due to the turbulence of the nearby cliffs. In addition, slopes and cliffs near the Snuber Tower had been surveyed many a times already and it was about time I tried them!

The wind near the Tower however was blowing at a good 30 Km/h and I soon realised a launch in those conditions would be quite problematic. A good wind rotor was in fact well established at the cliff edge, ready to mess up my wing, should I attempt to inflate...!

The early survey had also shown good launching possibilities on the slopes below. So, down the cliff I went, inspecting the field and checking the wind. I soon found what I needed - a patch free of rocks and with short grass and shrubs, facing the nice breeze coming up from the sea.

A few stones were in the wrong place, but I quickly removed them. Pretty excited, I also "kicked away" some dead prickly flowers... and, there I was, spreading my wing already! The wind was noticeably stronger on the left side of the slope and an ideal flying path was already taking shape in my mind, while clearing the lines from an endless sequence of small shrubs and straws...

"Well", I was thinking, "this is a new take-off, in a new place and with a lot of things to be learnt!".

The inflation was easy, but I had straws and grass jamming my lines. A few strong shakes to brakes and lines cleared the worst entanglements and I decided I could fly with the minor ones... One step forward was all the good breeze needed to gently lift me off the ground.

I immediately turned to the left, skimming the slope, but at first I thought I wasn't going to make it. The lift was weak and after a couple of passes I had not gained any height. Soon however a strong blow at the extreme left of the slope sent me rocketing up the cliff face and well above it!

Great! I could now soar along the whole stretch of cliffs on the left side, the Rdum Majesa, at a comfortable height of 30 to 40 meters over the top. At the end of it, the big protruding spur of Ras il-Wahs appeared to be out of reach, with its wrong orientation into the wind. Yet, I was sure I was standing the best opportunity of making it to the elusive end point, given the good wind conditions...

My best chance came a little later, when I could catch a good thermodynamic lift sending me some 80 metres over the last little bay.

"It's either now or never!" I commented crossing the bay and heading for the spur at full speed. My height was rapidly decreasing and at half-way through I was already considering turning back, as I was just above the cliff edge, with horrible looking broken rocks below me and no emergency landing in sight...

Right when I was about to make the turn however, I started feeling some lift from the spur, to my relief! The lift slowly got better and better and I soon ended up soaring some 30 to 40 meters above the spur. Wow, I'd made it! Michael and Charles drove to the top of the spur and measured a wind of 33 km/h at the cliff edge... Yet, I could not make the height I expected, so I had to be careful on my return trip, let alone a continuation towards the nearby Golden Bay!

Again, a handy thermodynamic came to my rescue and immediately grabbed the opportunity to make a safe return to the Snuber Tower, where David was preparing to launch. He had managed to inflate, but was finding it difficult to move towards the cliff edge.

"Below, go to the slope below!", I shouted from the air and, true enough, he could easily take off from there and join my soaring flight. Michael, Charles, Spedito and Alex later launched from the same spot, confirming that it was a good place for that kind of conditions. The good wind kept blowing for the whole afternoon - strong and with some turbulence - with the gaggle enjoying the good soaring over the entire one-mile long cliff, spanning from the Delli bay up to the last little bay before the Ras il-Wahs.

Then, one by one, the Pilots went down for landing. David zoomed downwind, fighting some turbulence as one side of his Paraglider folded in. He could recover thanks to his good height and landed safely. Charles and Michael landed along the slope while Alex went down on the flat top land at the side of the Snuber tower without problems.

I was left soaring together with Spedito and noticed that my flying time was approaching the 4 hours. No big deal, I had already achieved that...

"Well, how about breaking my previous record and crossing the 5 hours mark?", I was thinking, "That would be very nice!".

The evening however was fast approaching and the lift had started reducing already. But not the wind! That was intriguing... We were in fact getting lower and lower over the cliffs and at the same time it was getting harder to penetrate into the wind!

Well, if I wanted to achieve my goal, I had to do something. That's were I remembered that the high, bowed cliffs of the Delli bay usually work pretty well... Bingo! The good lift there kept me going, at a comfortable height, through my long count-down...

Finally, on reaching the 5 hours mark, I let out a loud "Hooray!" in mid-air and went back to the Snuber Tower, where I slowly lost my height and touched down safely at the top of the cliff.

Wow! That was a real good day!!


[Mon Oct 11 16:57:36 1999]