Norwegian Hanggliding

I made the GoPro facebook cover shot

Øyvind Ellefsen — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 23:06:13 +0000

Check it out;

http://www.facebook.com/gopro

Testing the GoPro 2

Øyvind Ellefsen — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 23:38:14 +0000

Somwhere over Florida

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Been a while

Øyvind Ellefsen — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 03:59:57 +0000

Released from rope and gravity

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Playtime over Starmoen

Øyvind Ellefsen — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:11:31 +0000

Finally some stress free flying! Taking the Duo Discus out of the trailer was interesting, I can appreciate the amount of thought that go into designing a good sailplane trailer.

The day quickly overdeveloped but we got a good day of soaring between towering Cu and showers. All photos by Gunnar Antonsen in the back seat.

Worlds 2011, starting hanggliding beginner courses.

Øyvind Ellefsen — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:12:13 +0000

I did not get much out of that comp, got sick and lost all motivation. I went home early and did not miss out much.

On a more positive note I am running two intensive beginner courses in hanggliding the next two weeks. We still have capacity for a few more students, so please spread the word. Go to http://oohgk.no/kurs for more information in Norwegian. Contact me if you have any questions. The course will use scootertowing as primary method, and the course fee includes hotel for the week, all transport and equipment.

Worlds 2011, Day 5 and 6

Øyvind Ellefsen — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 11:17:15 +0000

Day 5 and 6 cancelled due to bad weather. Forecast for the next few days looks bleak.

Yesterday we got a small break in the rain late in the afternoon, and we went up the hill to fly. It was tailwind most of the time, but Nils Aage, Johnny and I managed to get off in a short period of launchable air. It was mostly a glide down, but with some small areas of lift.

At launch today;

At launch day 6

Highly motivated to head up to launch in the rain

At Launch day 5, fog is just lifting

Johnny packing up

At LZ day 5

Worlds 2011, day 3 and 4

Øyvind Ellefsen — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 06:02:37 +0000

We went up on the hill two days ago, it was OK conditions in the morning, but the winds got too strong for task flying so the day was cancelled. Some pilots flew and reported OK conditions, but conditions on launch were too difficult to get 150 pilots safe off and on time. We needed 3 wiremen each to turn the gliders round.

Yesterday we drove to Subasio and got a 122 km task. I had been feeling sick the evening and night before, and was not getting any better driving to launch. I set up and took off as one of the last pilots from the hill, into windy conditions but some areas of good lift. I got up and took the first startgate after getting sick and throwing up while flying inside the startcircle. I felt a little better after throwing up once, but soon got sick again and decided to glide out and land, I was too weak and dizzy to safely keep flying so I picked a huge field and just glided straight there.

My day did not get any better after hearing about the terrorist attacks in Oslo, but at least it put things in perspective.

The rest of our team spread out, with Vegar getting low and landing early, Johnny landed near the first TP with a big gaggle and many top pilots who hand to land, Nils Åge landed near the 3 TP at around 83km with around 30 other pilots. Looks like only 20 made goal, and Primoz is in the lead.

Today (Day 5) looks very gray from the morning, it’s been raining during the night, and the weatherman was not optimistic about flying today.

Results can be found at: http://www.cucco2011.org/

Worlds 2011, Day 1, too windy

Øyvind Ellefsen — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 07:26:18 +0000

This morning we could see the low clouds whizzing by the takeoff hill as we were having breakfast outside in the sun. The day was cancelled for flying at the team leader briefing this morning because of forecasted high winds (50 knots) and fronts passing through the area.

We will go sightseeing today, as there is not much to do here in Sigilio. Johnny wants to drive go-carts, maybe we should save that for tomorrow…

Worlds 2011, Training day

Øyvind Ellefsen — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 07:39:30 +0000

It was as windy as predicted this morning, with lenticularis clouds over takeoff. The day was cancelled for flying at the morning briefing, but we had a nice safety briefing with Raymond Caux making a short talk about VG use, hooking in the harness before putting it on, and the mindset about incidents (We are learning to make mistakes every time we make one and live to tell about it, we should concider the incidents luck instead of bad luck)

The weather forecast for tomorrow is not great with rain and some more wind, but should be better after that.

Worlds, opening ceremony

Øyvind Ellefsen — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 21:29:33 +0000

I arrived in Sigilio yesterday, and met up with the rest of the team there. The flying yesterday was nice, and many of the pilots here had great flights. I was too tired and jetlagged, and did not go up the hill. Today it was too windy to fly here, which was fine for me as I did not sleep at all last night.

We went through the opening ceremony, with the parade, a few short speeches, and a cool show featuring artists with fire, fireworks, stilts, and lots of smoke and drama. I think most pilots enjoyed the ceremony and show, and it’s nice to see all the support from the town and officials here for the competition.

The team, from left – Per (Driver), Vegar, Johnny, Nils Aage, and me.

Norwegian team at the Worlds 2011

From the show;