Another SIV kurs, this one in Bygland. Now this is a place that I've driven through on the way to other places; this really is a pity as it's a rather lovely place, and the people here are very friendly. This picture is at the landing/take off, I'm leaning on my glider, an Kin is leaning on me. Trond kindly took and gave me this picture.
Apart from being a beautiful place, Bygland has a dubious claim to fame:
In 1941, the first B17 bomber to be shot down in the war was shot down here:
I must apologise for not taking my hat off when taking this picture; I'm carrying my glider back from the gym (where it spent most of the week drying) and pretty much have my hands full.
Amun, one of our instructors mentioned the bomber and some of the locals went into greater details, of of whom's father composed a song played by mouth harp, which describes the fight, and once someone explains what's going on it's really rather good:
The aircraft had a Commenwealth crew (i.e. this was before the USA entered WWII, and was one of the war aid aircraft). The crew were all killed in the dog fight; the German's buried them at Bygland church (where the above picture is taken), BUT, the locals dug them up the same evening as it's traditional to bury bodies with the head facing west, and they did not know if the Germans had buried them the wrong way on purpose, but the locals wanted them to be buried correctly.
Where we were camping wasn't an official campsite, but we were allowed to use it, as, as I've pointed out, the locals are very friendly and highly accommodating. To give an idea of the layout, my car/tent can just be seen to the left of my left foot, the take off/landing is the field on the right after the road (under my right foot is Amun's mobile toy department - Kin wasn't a fan of the Onion Mortar!). Kin is being looked after by various folk, one of whom was Sissel
Who was 'trying him on' for size, she wants a large breed dog and her partner does not share her enthusiasm. Now most of us when we buy cars don't have as part of the criteria, how easy the seats are to take out and use for picnicking, but apparently these ones are really good... will have to think about this next time I am buying a car!
I should explain about the take off, being in the same place as the landing:
This is Ivar with his incredible speedboat, notice the post behind him and you can see the winch line running from the top of this post up out of the picture. Also notice Trond and his lovely rescue boat in the foreground (forewater?).
My first attempt at winching wasn't a great success... And I did spend some time over the course in Trond's boat!
When it worked, it really was rather good (should point out that Ivar is rather good at this winching business, so owing to his expertise there were no injuries as we came to terms with how this worked):
These are three snapshots showing how it should work. The last one is pulling the release for the winch line when at ~ 1000 m higher than the take off, plenty of height for performing stupid maneuvers with a glider (although watching the acro event after we'd finished, what we were doing was really rather child's play:
Now calling this course the 'paragliding safety course' is a bit misleading as it really isn't safe... you do everything with a paraglider that you really shouldn't:
This is bad...
This is worse...
Fortunately we carry a reserve parachute in case all else fails:
Notice glider on the right, and reserve on the left as I wait to be rescued (again) by Trond and his wonderful boat!
This is how to deploy a reserve:
But back to Kin... New tent wasn't a great success as far as Kin was concerned. Much Para-waiting for the first day, and lots of rain for two days:
Open the boot and straight in he went. Despite the rain, he only occasionally came into the front of the tent, and then only to check on me. The little chap really doesn't like being away from home. Despite the fact that we were right next to water:
And he was getting to swim several times a day. He was also somewhat popular with folk. But open the boot of the car and you could almost hear him say "YES - going home." The drive home took a bit over three hours, and he didn't stir the entire way (despite some spectacular scenery, one of the roads at it's highest point is over 1000 m, this road is closed from mid November to mid May because of snow).
Lots of folk helped out with the little chap. Cafe was open to look after us pilots but Kin managed to get spoiled as well - see above, friendly folk in Bygland.
Was a good event - will have to work on Kin, he's becoming a pipe, slippers, newspaper, and sit in front of the fire kind of chap!
He did get to play with some 'folk' his own size (back in Stavanger area).
Including:
(I think he's called 'Tyco' - May-Britt's new Newfie). Now Kin in this pic is 20 month's old, Tyco is 10 months old and 2 kgs (75 kgs total mass) heavier than Kin!!!
Maria, and Sara came around and I tried the PPS (Patio Protection System), whilst they ate, it took Kin about 15 minutes before he lumbered over the fence!
Seem to have got the ticks under control now, been to the vet's and got him a tick collar... unfortunately the collars max size is 65 cm, or 5 cm's too small... some elastic, needle and thread later:
Kin and a huskie had a fight. Kin was strutting but the Huskie barred teeth and went for him, and he flattened it in short order, the surprising thing about this is that the Huskie then stopped... this is rare and lucky as the Huskie's owners were doing sweet FA and I had to ask them to assist, now bearing this in mind, Kin has had two titanic battles in the back garden: Kin weighing in at ~ 73 kgs versus a toad weighing in at ~ 100 grams... and the toad was definitely holding his own!
Here you can see my brave dog 'defending' the garden from a hedgehog.
Still on the plus side:
On the left of this picture the shape behind the tree is a Moose, about 20 m away and Kin was completely uninterested (and sadly I only had my phone on me, and this doesn't take the best pictures).
Here's Kin demonstrating what fountains are really for, as he lies down in it.
Please note the big chunks of dry food in his bowl, this is adult food, which I've started mixing in with his food as I change him from a puppy diet to an adult one.
This was default position on returning from Bygland.
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