Sunday, October 14
    Today's transfers up are unusually prompt. Already by nine several trucks have left. A portion of the pilots are leaving today and evidently want to get a good day of flying in.



    Getting up early has certainly paid off. Already before noon, the clouds have begun to form quickly and those who are at the top have won the day.






    There are clearly fewer flying paragliders today and some are leaving in the course of the afternoon. Of the trio of powered hanggliders, only one is flying over the shore and the hot-air balloon is not flying for now. At noon a delicious lunch has been prepared by the organizers for all participants in the festival in the form of two kinds of spicy meat, vegetables and a special kind of excellent rice. The huge Red Bull can is ever-present.






    Parachutists jump from the plane at a great height, and perform synchronized acrobatics. But they're too high up for a decent photo. I know where they'll be landing, and so I go there to wait. They are nearing incredibly fast. Their landing speed in the final stretch is apparently 60km/h. I can well see the heavy counterweight hanging from a rope below the second of them, through my long lens. This is the one that's heading right for me, but I have to wait until they're both in frame to snap the picture. The moment I take the photo I throw myself aside in the sand, but my leg stays there for an instant longer. I feel a blow as if kicked by a horse and then nothing.

    Two organizers are immediately at my side and dragging me to an ambulance. I must have gone quite green in the face with the pain, because I saw the fear in their eyes. After examining me, they conclude I've suffered several bruises but no broken bones, and twenty minutes later I'm limping back with a bag of ice. I think that in the future I'll refrain from photographing wild skydivers.





    The entire festival took place without any serious injuries. Mirek Pechmann landed in the sea, Jarda Sembera livened up a children's physical education class by an unplanned landing on their playing field and Vaclav Motycka crashed into an elderly lady on the beach. But those are just fun. The main thing is that everyone made it through alive and healthy.



    The day slowly comes to an end and the second annual flight festival along with it. Shortly before four p.m. the winners are announced and the first place prize for acrobatics in Saturday's competition goes to Turkish pilot Baris Aydinsoy (freeX), second to Tonda Pallas (Gradient), third to Turkish pilot Afir Kemal Buhara (Advance), and fourth and fifth place are split between Vaclav Motycka (Mac) and Iranian Ali Riza Esna Ashari (Edel) and sixth place is taken by David Bzirsky (Mac). In the flight category, the victor was, following three short disciplines of 21.6, 16.5 and 27.5km, Swiss Hans Ballinger (Gin), followed in second place by Bulgarian pilot Ivan Dimov (Airea) and in third place Turkish racer Savas Kiroglu (Nova).

    But in essence there were no winners and losers. And even if so, then all are winners. The principal organizer, Kadri Tuglu can certainly be satisfied. There were 130 registered participants and that doesn't include all those who just came to fly. I myself must admit that before leaving Prague, I was a little sceptical and certainly wasn't expecting any miracles. All the offers I had sounded too business oriented. It made the reality that much more pleasant and surprising. Once you experience the flight mummery in the local atmosphere, you'll have to look for a really serious reason not to come next year.



    And so I'm lying on my beach chair, looking at the sky and enjoying the dusk of the last evening. It's rapidly getting dark and the first stars are beginning to show in the sky. Even though the weak wind has turned away from shore, out to sea, it is still warm on the beach. The Turks have it good here. But I guess tomorrow I'll have to seriously think about leaving.