Goldfish on the Beach

flying in Southern Sumatra

It wasn’t just the good flying, it was one of life’s greatest experiences.

 

Last weekend was the Krakatau Festival in Lambong Province, Southern Sumatra. The event commemorates the explosion of the Krakatoa Volcano in 1883 that killed over 36,000 people by creating huge waves of over 40m high and hurling huge blocks of volcanic rock weighing over 600 tons apiece. The explosions were heard over 4600km away which is around 1/13th of the earth surface.

 

Now all that remains of the volcano are a few distant islands near the town of Lambong Province and other evidence such as the black volcanic sand that makes up the beaches in the area.

 

I was invited to fly by some dedicated Indonesians that promote all para sports (Anwar and Suzi) to participate in the weekend festivities that included an amazing procession of people wearing traditional masks and costumes of the surrounding provinces.

 

The flight began about 5km upwind – along one of the arms of the long bay that leads to the town. The wind had been blowing hard - up to 20km/hour - over the previous days that had created some exciting flying over the city. This day was no exception. The Thai guys, with their amazing home-built motors of stainless steel that would look quite at home in McDonalds, were the first to launch in typical Thai “for me – no problem” style. They rose from the take off zone almost vertically and I watched as they initially were blown around like leaves near the ground doing a show to the instant crowd that had gathered.

Initially I was nervous to fly… how much turbulence was there, how much fuel would I need to reach the landing site, was this the final flight? – I had a really funny feeling about the whole thing.

 

The two Thai guys seemed now to be doing ok – rising over the water to 2-3000 feet and heading off towards the town, their wings now looking like fingernail clippings in the distant sky.

 

“Are you going” asked my host Anwar. I think my nerves were showing. “OK – lets do it” I replied.

 

I hooked in, reverse launched and was lifted into the air in an amazing elevator ride. After pushing into the harness, I found in my haste I had not connected my speed bar lines that were flapping around near the prop. A few minutes of fiddling around and all was connected without incident. I thought “WOW! This is great up here after all!” The tropical wind, although being strong, was cool and steady as it swept in from the Indian Ocean like a giant magic carpet ride.

 

After a few low level turns over the crowd I climbed to around 2500 to head off over the bay towards the town. White caps on the water below were everywhere though now I was no longer concerned as I headed towards the setting sun.

 

The wind carried me towards the town faster than I expected and, after about 20 minutes, I was flying high over fishing boats, village houses and the city surrounded by serene dormant volcanic mountains. At the center of the bay, there was a hill that had been carved away on one side for its limestone and looked like a great place for some ridge soaring. I backed off to idle and did a tight spiral down to near the top of the hill. Here the magic carpet curved skyward and I was able to switch off the engine and enjoy the sound of the wind whistling through the risers while cruising along the top of the hill.

 

With the engine off, I could hear a sound below of a chorus of screaming voices. Looking down, about 400 kids were running towards me like an ant trail and shouting in delight. I restarted and headed down low and did a few low passes crabbing sideways along the coast at about 50 feet and the kids were going crazy with excitement and tripping over each other to follow me. More kids came out and now all the families were pouring out of their housed packed tightly together roof to roof along the coast; fishermen, fathers, mothers – everyone staring skywards at this amazing apparition. I felt a little like the queen mother returning their friendly waves.

I crabbed along the coast a little further and was now over the black beach. Powering down, was able to hover like a dragonfly about 1 foot above the black ripples of the sand looking out towards the azure blue of the ocean. By now the sun had almost set in a huge golden ball to my right. I looked over my shoulder and saw another few hundred kids running towards me.

 

Concerned they were going to run straight into my prop, I jabbed the power and went up to about 15 feet. Once again, the kids were going nuts and leaping up trying to touch me. More and more village children were now running around now there were maybe 4 or 500 on the beach.

 

Thwack, I was under attack! In their excitement, some had started throwing handfuls of sand at me and one boy with deadly aim managed to send a ball of sand straight through the prop. Time to go higher. Safely out of range of missiles, I was at about 50 feet. I did a gentle turn to the right towards the sun. Flying sideways along the beach I looked down. Below was an amazing sight of all the children following me along the beach, now all coloured bright orange in the light of setting sun against the black sand of the beach. A gentle turn now to the left and I was now crabbing the other way. The kids all turned to follow me the other way like a giant school of goldfish chasing a bird.

 

I flew around being chased by the kids for about 15 minutes and doing some low passes near the houses where all the other family members had gathered; also waving and cheering. Thousands of people.

 

I was now getting a little low on fuel and I wanted to take a look at the fishing village further along the coast. Leaving the goldfish waving at me behind, I climbed again and slipped further sideways along the coast and continued to return waves to the fishermen tending to their boats.

 

The landing site, which was also the local football field, was the same as had been using for the previous few days and the familiar, instant crowd was now also gathering for my arrival and the soccer game was halted.

 

Finally, down to idle I lined up for the landing. As if under the control of some magical force, at about 2 feet from the ground a little updraft slowed my descent and gently lowered me to the ground without the need for any flare at all. I couldn’t believe it – it was perfect.

 

Immediately after landing I was again surrounded by a sea of Indonesians making me feel like a movie star. There were old, young, and a few testing out their English skills while I defended my wing and motor; all giving me a welcome that is only found in Asia.

 

I was buzzed, I was excited and elated. Once again, the bar has been raised in one of life’s most amazing experiences. I just had to share it.