Ridge Soaring?

Originally Posted by gotovkotzepkoi

This is a bit off subject but I could not resist. Can't stand the French? I hear this a lot from other Americans and it usually turns out that the people who say this have zero direct experience with the French. I have been to France many times (while in the US Army for 12 yrs in Germany I used to go hang gliding in S. France a lot, for instance). I very rarely encountered the mythical, asshole Frenchman. I found the French to be generally a very gregarious, happy, polite people. Ok, there was the occasional impolite waiter but let's face it, they are a planetary wide phenomenon. On one HG'ing trip to Provence I drove from our base in Germany into the wee hours of the night, pulled my beat up old BMW over in some vineyard in S. France in the dark, put my sleeping bag on the ground and went to sleep. At dawn I awoke to an old guy whacking my legs with a stick and babbling in French. He made me get up and come to his farmhouse a couple of hundred meters away. I thought he was going to call the police. Turns out he led me into the massive underground storage room with huge casks of fermenting wine and told me to fill whatever containers I had with as much wine as I wanted directly from the tap. Then he fed me one of the best impromptu meals I can remember, shook my hand and wished me well. That was a very pleasant beginning to a wonderful 3 weeks of HG'ing in France! Why do Americans so dislike the French? OK, here's my theory: France is associated with what some consider the more refined aspects of life: food, wine, fashion, perfume, a certain lack of interest in the mass slaughter of other humans, etc. Insecure anglo saxon males see these as feminine interests and reject France for fear of even the most remote hint that they might be interested in something that is, well, for girls. This explains why Germany is liked so much! Why? Germany means fast cars, beer, spiked helmets, Messerschidts, rocket scientists, etc. You get it right? Real honest to goodness bad boy stuff. To sum it up, these comments about "hating" the French have become a tired cliché and have more to say about the hater than the French. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

BTW, when I heard this joke originally, "There are two types of people in this world I can't stand: 1, Those intolerant of others due to their race, religion or nationality and.....2, the French," the punch line was "the Dutch." Lighten up.

Walt

At 19:19 02 February 2011, Walt Connelly wrote:

Apparently you did not see the humor in my post? However I must admit
that my experience in France was not quite as was yours. I met a few
nice people but for the most part I was amazed at the snobbery.

Well, I at least got a chuckle out of your original effort.

OTOH, I visited friends in Europe in October of 2011, while
the pile of rubble in downtown NYC was still smoking. The
airport in Paris (or maybe it was the train station) was the
only place where someone went out of their way to mock
me for being an American, and laughed because the WTC
was no more.

Jim Beckman

I second the advice to go to France and fly at St. Auban. Very good
instructors. A fleet of sailplanes that can't be beat. Ridge soaring
for just about any wind.
Most people speak pretty good english. The costs are very reasonable.

I have been to St. Auban five times. Most days begin with thermals on
the ridges. As the surrounding mountains heat up and the local winds
pick up you fly the bulk of the day in mixed thermals and ridge
soaring. At the end of most days it is was primarily ridge soaring.
Actually, many of the ridges are limestone cliffs. It is great fun at
many locations to cruise the length of the ridge gaining altitude
until you top out at one end of the ridge. Then you do a 180, pull
the airbrakes and blow off all of your altitude as you run to the
other end of the ridge. Then you close the airbrakes, turn back into
the face of the ridge and scream back along the face gaining altitude
at 100kts. Then do it again. One day you do it in a Janus, the next
in a Discus 2, then an LS-8, then a Nimbus, then an LS-4, then an
ASW-24, and so on. How can you get bored?

That's my vote.

Guy