In Cross Country 152 (March / April 2014) Allen Weynberg returns to Manilla after 15 years away…
Want to fly 100km? Manilla is the place
“I don’t know what you’re expecting, there won’t be some kind of plexi-glass clubhouse. The only worthwhile infrastructure at this place the last time I came was the reliable lift to take-off.”
I was wrong on both counts.
As we pulled up in the dusty flat grass parking lot outside the space-age greenhouse with a ramshackle stock of flying gear, the only human in sight was eight years old and looking a bit sheepish.
“Hey, anyone around, son?”
“Mum’s asleep in the shed.”
Well, it was only two in the afternoon I suppose and the evenings here can’t exactly fly by without a little bit of liquid encouragement.
We looked at the sky, then the hill, then the steep dirt track and finally the hired campervan. It had done 496,098km – to the moon and half way back, roughly. It was rough too. Lots of heavy camping kit, a water tank and an engine from a kid’s Lego set. Price had been the only reason to choose it.
As we round the eighth bend we are in first with the pedal hard down and the van slowing. I’m driving and all I’m thinking is we may have to reverse… all the way. As the laboured whirring reaches splutter point I depress the clutch and we stop perched on the dirt. Alf gets out. I gently sway back to a flatter point and gun the tired engine. Up we go in a cloud of red. I pull over at the next flat. Alf gets back in. Now, with confidence in the new trick, I accelerate on every flat, round every bend with blind faith and just make it up each steep section.
The summit is, surprisingly, like a busy car lot. All the vehicles are more suitable than ours. The sky is full of small RC models buzzing around. All I want is to fly for the first time in 759 days. This is the one hill I know that’s actually owned by a paraglider pilot and we have to make do with the little launch.
Checklist:
– Haven’t flown at all for over two years
– Haven’t flown here for 15 years
– Turned up late and tired
– Brand new glider
– Launch facing crosswind, behind a knoll and with a few scrubby trees
– Sky full of little drones piloted by middle-aged men who are safely on the ground
– Alf looks like he’s letting me go first…
The full article is in Cross Country 152.
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