New year party

The pic is geotagged, as most of my pics are. 2011 is closing off in styl. A bit warm outside but there are aircons in the house. Bye,bye everybody and see you in 2012. A new year a new story.

Last barbecue for the year.

Half of Humansdorp SAPS Court Services Unit.


For the last working day of 2011, my colleagues and I decided to take it easy work-wise. We worked a bit  more during the week and on Friday we call it a day by 11:00! After that, I quickly made a fire and we got to some serious stuff. To you all - have a prosperous new year and see u in 2012 :)

Our local Airfield is underwater.

For almost 6 months now the Paradise Beach airfield has a huge problem. During August 2011 we had good rains. At first people were happy but when flooding became a issue, the mood changed quickly. Worst of all areas was Paradise Beach. There, a huge dune of about 30-40m high and 300-500 meter wide, has cutoff the low lying inland. Therefore, every time it rains more then normal, the rain water is stuck.  Unfortunately the local airfield is regularly submerged. Depending on the amount of water, it can take up to a year before it dries out and by that time the following rainy season is here. I am fortunate though. Very fortunate I don’t need an airfield at all. A car park will do. I fly a paramotor

The pic I took hastily with my cell phone (a oldish Nokia N8) while paramotoring up and down the coast. If you are interested, there is a short youtube video. However, the quality is not that good. My helmet handy-cam is rather "skinny". Mind you, it easily fits in a standard sized match box with room to spare.

South of South Africa.

This morning a old buddy of mine ask me to come visit him at his vacation house. I know him for years but somehow forgot about that place. He fixed it nicely and from now on it will be put to 'good use'.

Another amazing Paramotor flight.

This morning the wind was a bit erratic and I was late too. Usually I don't bother with flying if I am not up 1hour after sunrise at the latest. This time of the year (summer), thermals are bothering fairly early in the morning. For paragliding is a 'wish come true' but for a paramotor thermals are just another issue to deal with. Another issue was the fairly wet grass onto which I had to takeoff. The wing I am using is a pretty heavy/oversize one and the extra water just makes things worse. After a so and so takeoff I had to fight the wing a bit. After a few minutes it must have dried up because it did not hang back that much anymore and was more responsive. I set course for St.Francis Bay and after reaching 500ft/150m, I ate my BarOne. Did not finish though. There was a bit of unnerving turbulence and I hate it when the wing is not sitting nicely over my head. The 15Km/h wind was coming from the East and I was flying dead South. After about 25 minutes I reached my first turning point and took the picture below :-)

St.Francis Bay as seen from North looking South.

After St.Francis I set course 040deg and flew along the beach towards Jeffrey's Bay. The laminated sea breeze made the flight a pleasure and now I took some 'time off' and played a bit with my cell phone's camera. Not much to see down below (just bush field) - so below is a picture of myself having a good time.

Mario flying between St.Francis and Jeffrey's Bay.

After 20 or so minutes I reached Astonbay, a suburb of Jeffrey's Bay, my destination. Astonbay has e relatively new housing development called Marina Martenique, and a renown starshaped low-rise building with a million dollar view.

The building above is the only one with more then 3 levels in the entire area!

Another 7-8 minutes and I was looking at the Jeffrey's Bay police station, a place where I worked for exactly 12 years. Thanks God, now I have been transferred closer to home (Today I work at the Humansdorp Police Station)

Jeffrey's Bay main beach and town center.

Here is a friend's house, just before my landing place at the Kabeljous lagoon.

Final destination :-) With my petrol tank almost empty I descended to 30-40feet (10-15m) and had a good time scaring the fishes in the lagoon below.

Kabeljous Lagoon north of Jeffrey's Bay.

This was a very nice flight. A bit bumpy at first but very exciting. A pity I only started with a bit more the 4L fuel, otherwise I should have flown back to Humansdorp. With the 10-15Km/h wind from behind, I should have covered the 15Km in 20-25minutes to complete the triangle. At least I have a challenge now :-)

Michael and his friend.

Michael with his friend Willem from Jeffreys Bay,watching tv.