Peter Broughton
11 days and 11 days flying, what are the chances of that? Apparently pretty good in Bali. The weather was as close to perfect as is possible, strictly shorts for flying - no flight suit or gloves required.
My final tally was 28 hours with the longest flight of 3.1 hours and the longest day of 5.5 hours.
I must put in a large plug and thank you to Ted Jenkins ( Paragliding Bali during the winter months and Alpine Paragliding in Bright for the rest of the year). His organisation, teaching, assistance (and sometimes tolerance!) were outstanding. I highly recommend this trip, especially for novice pilots.
The Bali Cliff Resort
As the advertising says, staying at the Bali Cliff was surprisingly inexpensive (especially if Ted books) and it's hard to go past a 5 star resort with a swimming pool that overlooks the ocean and is right next to where you're flying. One of the best parts was the included breakfast - easy to eat enough to keep you going through the day. The Bali Cliff is located on the southern most point of the Bukit Peninsular, ie. the southern most point of Bali.
The Flying - Bukit Peninsular & Timbus
Most of our flying was along the 15km southern coastline of the Bukit Peninsular, generally launching from Timbus just east of the Bali Cliff or from Gunung Payung towards the eastern end. On different days we managed to get to the whole length of the coast from the Nikko Hotel in the east to Uluwatu in the west. (Actually the corner just south of Uluwatu - going beyond there meant "certain death" or at least a ditch in the ocean). Most days the lift was very good and getting 100 to 200m above the ridge wasn't difficult, sometimes high enough to see back across the peninsular and even to the volcanoes to the north east. A soaring beat length of 30 minutes to an hour was possible at times (or longer if flying to Uluwatu).
Towards the east the cliff height gradually reduced and the flyable length ended at the Nikko Hotel. I say at the Nikko Hotel because in the right conditions you could soar the lift generated by the hotel buildings themselves. I wonder what the guests thought of looking out their window to see a colourful paraglider sliding past? I reached the hotel on two occasions, but the soarable area is pretty tight so no chance for photos.
The run to Uluwatu
There was only one day when we could safely get past Ngala Point (in both directions) and fly to the western end of the coast (just south of Uluwatu). These first two photos are looking towards the western end with Uluwatu itself just off to the right.
Now to just negotiate Ngala Point into a slightly cross (easterly) headwind. The cross wind generates turbulence (rotor) behind the point so you must get high and then fly out into the headwind and around the point (over ocean with no possible landing area) then back to the safety of the ridge lift.
When not flying, time for a little R&R by the pool. Another great feature of the Bali Cliff, the pool was the perfect place to chill out and recover.
Candi Dasa (pronounced Chandi Dasa) is a town just south of the eastern side of Bali. The launch is about 200m or so up a small mountain by the ocean. The climb up is a bit of an effort in the heat (perhaps more so for some than others?), but 40,000Rp (approx. A$6!) buys you the services of a very helpful and friendly local to carry your wing. Once at the top, time to relax, check out the launch (small, steep and a little daunting) ...
The launch at Candi Dasa was interesting - novices needed some assistance as you tended to go straight up once the wing was in the air. Definitely needed a quick up, turn and go approach. Once in the air the flying was fantastic, there was good lift everywhere in front of and above the hill and even extending a significant distance out over the ocean. It was very easy to get up quite high and then head out over the ocean to play with 100s of metres to spare before needing to head back for more lift. Cloud base was around 600m, most of us made it up to around 700m and had the spectacular sight of thin wispy clouds forming below our feet and then rushing past. Had my first attempts at pulling on a B-line stall, spirals and wing-overs ('tho the spirals and wing-overs were pretty tame - more like 360s and linked turns).