Iceland – Land of Fire & Ice • Interlaken, Switzerland • Winter in Yallingup, WA • 200km in the UK Apco Thrusts flying over blooming flower fields in Southern Israel Photo: Beny Peretz Index Iceland – Land of Fire & Ice 2 My Transition From Novice To Intermediate 8 SkySailor Editorial Contributions Where I Fly: A Perfect Flying Day 10 The contact points for HGFA members sub mitting to SkySailor are the HGFA Editor/Graphic Designer and the HGFA Office. These contacts Winter in Yallingup, WA 11 Official publication of the Hang Gliding Federation of Australia (HGFA) should be used accord ing to the directions below. Interlaken, Switzerland 12 Human Error and Violations in PG and HG 16 The Hang Gliding Federation Editor/Graphic Designer HGFA Office & Sales Human Factors 17 of Australia is a member Suzy Gneist Ph: 03 9336 7155 of the Fédération Ph: 07 5445 7796 Fax: 03 9336 7177 2015 WM/Rotax Maintenance Course: WA 18 Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) <[email protected]> <[email protected]> Unusual Attitudes 19 through the Australian Sport Aviation Post to: 57 Alice Dixon Drive, [www.hgfa.asn.au] 200km in the UK 20 Confederation (ASAC). Flaxton QLD 4560 4c/60 Keilor Park Drive, Keilor East VIC 3033 Safety Notice 23 Credits Articles PICO Club Column #5: Let’s Get Physical 26 Cover: Steve Overton at HGFA members should submit articles to the HGFA Editor. 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You just passed the first of many cyclists we’d encounter during can’t help taking photos, lots of photos, in Iceland. our stay, most struggling to make any headway in the The lack of trees makes Iceland a ‘hike’n’fly’ Iceland – a somewhat mystical place, about as far atrocious conditions. The quietness and warmth of our paraglider pilot’s dream. No matter where you look, 9 from Australia (geographically and physically) as rental car with its seat warmers, never felt so good. there’s a launch site begging to be pioneered. All we I’m sure there’s a certain beauty to cycle touring, I just had to do for our first Iceland flight was to wait for the you can get, but still be on planet Earth. A wild, icy, couldn’t see it… wind to back off, and it did, just enough to pull out my windswept volcanic island on the Arctic circle, famous Day 2 and the weather improved slightly, so we 15m speedwing for a fun session of high wind ‘fjord’ ventured inland for a very pleasant one­hour hike up soaring. If you’re going to Iceland to fly, definitely take for huge plumes of volcanic ash from a volcano whose to the hot springs of Reykjadalur, nestled in the hills a speed wing. Given the probability of wind, having an name few in the western world can pronounce… Not above Hveragerði. extra wing to cover you on the ‘strong’ days will make Hot springs seem more common in Iceland than pubs your trip so much more rewarding. The smoothest wind a place most paraglider pilots think of as a destination are in Australia – almost every town has some. There’s always comes off the sea, and given the huge length for a flying vacation. 1* something almost magical about lying quietly in huge of the Icelandic coastline, all you have to do is to drive pools of natural hot water, under the wide arctic sky, around the island until you find a hill that faces into by Phil Hystek *see map references for locations as the steam swirls and dances across the surface in the wind. A lot of the rocky slopes are covered with the wind. permanent snow, or an amazing carpet of soft moss, 10 The weather for the next week looked better, so making launching your glider relatively stress free. he first thing you notice about Iceland when you fly into Keflavik (Reykjavik) we headed for the NW fjordlands and their famous At Örlygshafnarvegur, in the far south­west of the airport, is the total absence of trees. There are none… anywhere, as far as you seabird rookeries. country, the 800ft cliffs tower over the wild Arctic can see. Driving around Iceland can be a strain, not so much Ocean and are home to huge seabird rookeries. Millions The second thing you notice about Iceland in summer is the total lack of night. Located on your wallet, but on your neck and your camera clicking of birds of all shapes and sizes nest on small shelves or justT on the Arctic circle, in late June daylight in Iceland lasts all day, and all the next day, finger. Constantly bombarded with a never­ending in little hollows, or on nests seemingly stuck like glue to and the next day… This can really play havoc with your body clock. Circadian rhythm takes stream of stunning photo opportunities: Beaches of all the absolute vertical cliffs. The sky teems with birdlife, a back seat when you suddenly realise that all the things you couldn’t normally do when colours, rolling red and black hills, sheer cliffs towering effortlessly wheeling, soaring and diving. Yet, we had evening came, are now possible. Sleep? Who needs sleep when there are all these things above fjords of blue/green water and jagged snow­ come to see just one bird, the absolutely adorable to see and do, and so much daylight to do it in! covered peaks interspersed with ice fields and glaciers. puffin. This podgy little icon of the arctic, with its multi­ Then there’s the wind. When it blows here, it really blows. Be careful when you open Amongst this, the contrast of the lowlands with their coloured beak nests on, or just below, the grassy cliff the car doors in the wind! Luckily there’s a lot of light wind days as well. lush green fields and immaculately presented vivid white top. For some reason, the puffins here are unafraid, and The weather forecast didn’t look good for our first day: 50 to 60kt winds, showers and temperatures down to 5ºC. Iceland is touted as ‘one of the world’s best destinations 11 for cycle touring’. Really? 3 2 4 12 13 2 SKYSAILOR September | October 2015 SeptemberSeptember | October |2015 October 2015 SKYSAILOR 3 happily shuffle to within a metre of camera. Unlike the Iceland other birds soaring effortlessly, the puffins madly flap their tiny wings as they struggle home to their clifftop nests from the ocean far below, beaks loaded with Land of Fire & Ice tiny fish for their young, you get the feeling that their creator definitely gave them a choice.