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A flight
at the south coast of Cyprus
( West
of Curium)
I will try to
share my experiences with all my pilot friends here in
Cyprus and abroad.
Saturday the
18/01/2003
Place: Curium
 click
to see the map
The forecast
was for Easterly winds and saying the truth I was long
waiting for this wind direction because I flew last October almost
the same way (one way) and it was a very exiting
experience.
It was about
11.30 a.m and I knew that timing was important. If you miss 12.30
you might lose the "good" wind because the wind very often
is veering (shifts) to south westerly.
So I chose to take off from the usual take -off facing south and
turn immediately right to catch the lift produced by the
easterly light sea breeze.
 
I was flying
up and down for about 15 minutes and I was flying about 60 meters
above take off.
Then I
"jumped" into to the Zapalo beach above the cliff towards
the center of the bowl where I noticed that there was
a good lift
and
easterly wind
direction was the best at this point. So I gained another 20
meters (total 90-100 meters ATO) immediately and cruising up and
down for 30 minutes or more.
 Then the difficult part was to pass safely to the
Tunnel beach because
of the wind direction and the long distance to the safe center of
the bowl . When I decided to jumped over the
houses i lost my altitude
and I was flying below the cliffs on the
lee side. It was really scary but the easterly wind pushed me to
the center of the bowl and immediately, I found my self flying at
125 above take off.
 I was then feel safe,
relaxed and I enjoyed my flight.
click
to see the video (1.091 KB)
I was watching the Happy valley football
fields from above and I was
click
to see a video (1.140 Kb)
thinking
either to land to the happy valley beach or to go back... It
was a challenge for me because as far as I know nobody else made
it so far from Curium, and return. I've got the decision and then
I started flying against the wind. It was hard for me to fly
against the wind because I was loosing constantly my altitude and
I was flying on the lee side of the cliffs. So with minimum
altitude I was scratching the roofs of the houses
and jumped to
the Zapalo beach. Then again the same problem but I managed to
regain my altitude but the really hard part it was to pass the
last cliff on the way back to Curium. I lost my
altitude
just above the cliff and then I
thought that it was the end 
and I was ready to top land but Curium was so
near and I was determined to push it to the edge and to my
limits (my self and the canopy - UP SUMMIT, thank you Dionissis
the "dealer"). I passed the last cliffs almost 2-3 meters
above the top and just before the end I got the lift from
the light easterly wind towards Curium. I had another few hundred
meters to fly to the Curium beach. click
to see the video clip (1.621 Kb)
The only one who was flying at the moment was
Pete and Jad. Thank you Jad for taking the last photo of me, to verify my record and Pete and Ian for the
first congratulations and respect at take off (ha-ha). I was
landed just behind the central restaurant. The total distance
(according to my GPS track log is 11 kilometers)( 5,5+ 5,5 out and
return). Surely it is a new record, as my previous flight
was without return.
I wish that all of you could fly earlier with me
and to take this opportunity whenever there is easterly wind. Don'
t be afraid of this wind. It is laminar, smooth like
silk and rewarding. Finally I must apologize and forgive me
for any mistakes in my English writing. If you want to see
some video from this flight, click
here.(3.117 kB)
Nicos.
* All the pictures and the video are from this
flight.
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