Marlens - 28 Aug

I first learned of Patrick Berod when he visited Oahu in October 2011. On this trip to France, Mad Dog made contact with him. We were interested in the local morning sites after seeing gliders high above Dents de Lanfon and Lanfonnet even before anyone had the chance to launch at Planfait or Montmin (both afternoon sites). Patrick recommended Marlens Launch and it's LZ below, and he planned a tandem there the next morning.

Don, MD & Jeannine set off in one car and Laura, Elizabeth (Laura's cousin) & I were playing catch-up about 15 minutes behind. I threw the GPS coordinates in the TomTom and we got there after Patrick was off, just before Mad Dog pulled his wing up and just as Don was pulling his wing out. There were north valley winds. The thermals were a bit broken up and didn't go very high.

The three of us began exploring the area around launch while Patrick flew his tandem below. After 30 minutes of maintaining, we got a small boost and went right, toward the west. We were trying to get around the corner and get north, back to the lake. I followed MD into the confluence ahead and was drilled into the ground with 800-1000 fpm down. In other words, we went from XC on the brain to feet on the grass in two minutes. I don't think I've ever had that level of decent with a full wing over my head before. We landed along the road that went home and the girls hadn't left yet, so we packed up and waited. Don doubled back and eventually landed at Marlens LZ after Patrick. With a new site and a lesson learned, we returned to Talloires to have lunch and to wait for the local launch to turn on.

Meanwhile, Nick & Mika had arrived and it was time to get Nick a flight. We rode up to Planfait together around 4pm, prepped to fly and Nick disappeared. I saw his wing, but didn't see him. I finally stepped on to the turf and waited some more, this time for a decent cycle in the very light conditions. I had a feeling it wasn't the best day for Planfait. I planned to get off the hill and get away from it. In the end, I had to do a forward launch and flew for 8 minutes and 34 seconds. Nick called me on the radio just after I landed. I didn't know this, but someone put a wing in a tree below launch, and Nick was kind enough to assist in the extraction. His flight was much like mine - short. We finished as we often did; over beers & wine at our wine growers "commune" of Les Granges.