Take me away, I don't mind....but you better promise I'll be back in time!

It's been a busy couple of weeks!!

Forbes in Autumn

The worlds ended over two months ago and I'm just now getting around to posting something.  It has seriously taken me this long to recover from that marathon of a hang gliding competition.  Anyone who has been to Forbes knows what it is like: briefing at 9:30, straight to the tow paddock for setup, launch around 1 or 1:30, fly for 4-6 hours, spend the evening getting retrieved and back to Forbes by 9 or 10pm on a good day.

In addition to the grueling daily schedule, my attitude, in light of my terrible performance, didn't give me much fun stuff to talk about by the end.  Well I guess a few months of reflection has improved my attitude (although now, I'm told, the my problem is a mid-life crisis ;-).  But, as I tend to do, looking back now I'm only remembering all the good stuff - and there was plenty of it.

What a difference 2 months makes though!  After 12 days of flying in sometimes insane conditions at the worlds in January, it's been fantastic to come back and fly under much more relaxed circumstances.  Easter weekend here is like another world.  Instead of 45 degree heat, 20mph wind and 10,000 ft cloudbase, we're all in long sleeves flying light winds, topping out at 4500 ft and then landing back in the green, green tow paddock.  I'm loving it!!

 His and hers RX's ;-)

Damien looking for a new home

Damien, my beloved Litesport, is looking for a new home.  This has been an incredible glider for me and will be terribly missed.  It's a Litesport 4 with carbon outboards and a brand new (white/blue/grey) sail with zero hours on it (literally zero - it hasn't yet been test flown).  The frame is in excellent condition and with the new sail, it's virtually a brand new glider.  Currently, it's in Australia (NSW), but it can be brought to Florida in about 4 weeks or to Europe in mid-June.  $6000 OBO.  Just email me if you have any questions. 

Forbes Worlds - Day.....something or other??

I've lost track of the days and I've run out of good stories of my own.  The last few days have not been my favorite and all I can do is hope for a few more nice flights before the comp is over.

But meanwhile, Frances from Switzerland had a hilarious story from yesterday's 250km task.  The story was fantastically told in French and then translated into English by Christian Vioblet, so it won't be as good here, but it is worth retelling.  Apparently Frances landed short of goal in the middle of absolutely nothing.  He pulled out his mobile phone to call his driver, only the find that he had no coverage.  No problem, there was a grain silo nearby with a ladder up the side.  So, he climbed it and at the top had coverage.  Unfortunately, he driver simply could not find him.  Frances waited on the silo until after dark until he started to see headlights coming his way.  Very excited to be found, he started flashing his camera flash to get his driver's attention.  But instead of continuing toward him, the car suddenly stopped and started shooting at Frances!!  When they car load of kangaroo hunters finally realized that most roos don't carry flash cameras, they were kind enough to give him a ride out to the main road, getting him past about 8 locked gates and out to his driver.  The Swiss team then slept in the car at the gas station.  They arrived home this morning after sunrise.

Task 3

Lots to tell about yesterday's task, but no time.  Instead, here are some photos for now.

All the fighting roo pictures from yesterday...

Dude! She's not Worth it!!

My former father-in-law used to say (very sarcastically, of course - he had an amazingly good attitude) that "there's always something to take the joy out of life."  I tend to have the opposite view.  There's always something that can so quickly put a smile on my face.

Today's flight was complete crap.  The wind was again much stronger than I am comfortable towing in, so I waited (again) until late in the day when conditions appeared to mellow a bit.  The story of my flight will be as short as the flight itself -  Uncle Rhettski towed me up into the most beautiful 700 up right over the field.  20 minutes after topping out in that, after not hearing a single beep on my 6030, I was standing in a field just down the road holding my nose wires hoping I could keep control of the glider in the gusty wind while I waited for Mike to come get me.  

(On the really bright side, Kraig's moving the hangpoint forward one hole on my glider made a world of difference in the bar pressure and I was thrilled with the way it flew...and it still landed like a dream.)

But, the real highlight of my day, and the thing that brought my smile back was an incredible spectacle we saw driving out a little dirt road to retrieve Linda.  Right smack in the middle of the road we found two male kangaroos acting like they were on center stage at Caesar's Palace in Vegas, throwing punches and kicking in the gut mostly like two ultimate fighters - but occasionally like two drunk girls in a dive bar.  For some strange reason, I laughed hysterically the whole time. They eventually danced their way out of the middle of the road and paid no attention as we creeped the car closer and closer until we were right beside them.  I suppose it was that they looked like they were right out of a Warner Brothers cartoon....they just looked so animated and nearly human-like.  It was a fascinating and highly entertaining sight.   I didn't get any good kicking shots, but Mike got most if it on video on his iPhone. 

Long (or Lawn) Bowling Day

At last some clouds in the sky today!!  Unfortunately, they came with 30 knot winds.  The task was cancelled early and Vix organized a lawn bowling/BBQ day.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better, but I'm hearing grumbling already that it will still be quite breezy.  But at least cloudbase will be low and lift will be weak and broken ;-)

Forbes Worlds - Day 1

Well this is very strange for me.  For the first time in a long time, I'm competing so I can't do much in the way of tweeting and blogging about the comp gossip and results and such.  Not being in the thick of things at goal every day means all I can do is write from my own flying perspective....which can be rather bleek much of the time.  But, oh well, here goes anyway.

Yesterday, as forecast, was quite windy.  The truth is, it was too windy for my comfort level.  Linda and I stood around launch all rigged, watching the wind increase and the tows looking rougher and rougher.   I definitely have a tendency to talk myself out of flying much earlier than I ought to.  I did exactly that yesterday.  Giant thanks to my great teammate Linda!  She convinced me that we ought to at least suit up, get the gliders on a dolly and just see what it was like.  About an hour after everyone else launched the wind started to back off and we got airborne.  Having my favorite tug pilot here from home is so comforting.  Jim gave me a beautiful tow in the super rough air and dumped me right into a beautiful mellow thermal.  

My little RX (Maggie, she's named) handles like a dream.  Surprisingly, in many ways it feels so much like my Litesport, that it's like flying with an old friend....but one with much much lighter handling.  Although I have some issues with quite a bit of bar pressure (the opposite of what the other girls are experiencing), Kraig and I are working on that.  Meanwhile, I blame the landing characteristics for me being short yesterday....the problem is that it lands so magnificently that I just want to do it over and over again ;-).  It's amazing how it makes a flight so much more relaxing when you aren't nervous about landing.  In the end, I only flew 45km, but I was happy to be up in the cooler air and to actually get away from the airfield.  The lift was somewhat weak (for Forbes) and base was low...I don't think I got above 6000ft all day, but the first day jitters are out of the way and it's goal for the rest of the comp....ha ha ha ha!

On the girly end of things, we only had 7 girls flying yesterday as Lisa was sick with the stomach flu.  But, 4 of the 7 were in goal with the lovely Chisato from Japan first in for the girls.  Awesome job Chisato!!!

The US men's team got off to a rough start with Zippy landing very short.  I can say for the first time in history (and I'm quite certain the last) I beat him!!!  But they'll be fine.   All of the others American boys were in goal and the scores are all quite compressed for the top 30 or so it's still anyone's game.  Christian Ciech (Italy) officially won the day, but apparently only because Scott Barrett's instrument died and he had to use his backup Garmin which isn't set at a high record interval.  5 or 10 seconds difference is all it takes to lose the day win.  

Opening Ceremonies

Team USA

The Heat is On

Each day I think to myself that this is as hot as it can possibly get without my skin spontaneously combusting.  I obviously miscalculate because each day proves to be a bit hotter than the last and so far I haven't burst into flames.  A few more days though, and I'm quite certain it's gonna happen.

Many flew today after finishing registration.  Unfortunately, a lot of us also missed out not realizing that they would stop the towing at 3:30.  Here's Grant Crossingham from the UK enjoying the 42 degree heat of the paddock.

Yves and I had fun with the Redbull DJ station.

Rego

The Redbull Spotlanding contest was cancelled because we had high winds again this morning.  So, we're all at HQ getting registered up!

Feels Like Home

The comforts of home have started to arrive....nothing nicer than having your favorite tug pilots to ease you mind at a big stressful comp.

Apparently, it was quite nice this afternoon.  But earlier we all sat around the hangar waiting for the wind to mellow a bit.  Lots of standing around and catching up in the hot, hot, hot weather.  The last two of our US teammates - Robin Hamilton and Kraig Coomber arrived late yesterday.  It's good to have everyone here. 

She's Like a Smooth Stretch of Highway

Maggie and I seem to have a bit of a love-hate relationship.  Today, it was definitely more love than hate though and we spent a nice evening in the sky over Forbes getting to know each other a bit better.  So finally, after moping around - just me and my bad attitude - watching everyone else fly, it's finally starting to feel like a world championships!!

Here are a few pictures from the last two practice days.

New Year, New Hemisphere

Had a lovely and relaxing holiday season south of the equator.  The holidays sure do feel different in the warmth and sunshine.  Although we didn't have particularly summer-like weather on Christmas day itself, it's been gorgeous most every other day.  Christmas was spent BBQ'ing, slacklining and walking on the beach with good friends from far and wide. 

The fireworks for New Years Eve in Sydney are spectacular!  We enjoyed them from Frasiers dock - what an awesome view of the Sydney Harbor Bridge!!

Gulgong - Final Day & Prize Giving Party

Big congratulations to the Moyes boys Jonny (1st), Atilla (2nd) and Trent (3rd)!  There was a little bit of an upset with Atilla not making goal on the last task - that put Jonny in 1st.  The final day was cancelled due to high winds, but that made for plenty of party time, costumes and all (some very interesting - check out the photos).

Merry-Go-Round

It was a bit of a merry-go-round at launch today.  For the first hour or so, they couldn't get them launched as quick as they were landing.  There was an inversion about 3000ft (and the field is at 1400) so even the former world champions were having a reflight.

It did finally turn on though and everyone got on course - many well past the last start time.  The sky opened up and looked great.  Nine or ten in goal in the end.  There was a bit of a thunderstorm cell between the last turnpoint and goal - some went through it and go rained on and other went around.  All happy in the end though.

The pictures in this album may look like launch and goal....they're not...just launch with all the landings and reflights.

A few rest days...

The tasks yesterday and today were cancelled due to bad weather.  Most of the field ended up in Mudgee yesterday.  Cute little town with a nice brewery, but pretty nasty Thai food.

A few pics from the first two days...

Gulgong Day 2

The day called for possible thunderstorms in the afternoon, but they called a triangle hoping to avoid them.  Turns out the first leg was upwind so it was pretty tough for most.  Even well after the start, I kept hearing on the radio that they were still trying to make the first turnpoint.  I didn't think anyone would be making goal.  But apparently, once they rounded that first turnpoint things got easy.  I heard Dave May say that he glided all the way from the first to the second without taking a single climb.  

Unfortunately, the overdevelopment did come about late in the task.  As Atilla was coming into goal first, there were lightning strikes north of the field.  Atilla came in fine and got his glider into the hangar as Jonny came in sky high.  I knew something must be up for Jonny to be crossing goal at 2000 ft.  Apparently he went on final needing a 10-1 but just couldn't get out of the lifting air.  He took a wide final out over the town of Gulgong to try to get out of the lift and go around the darkest parts of the sky.    Once he landed, the wind started to pick up as the gust front slowly arrived.  Konrad and Glen were next in and Konrad managed a nice landing in the 15 knot wind.  Glen flew way out over the town at about 2000 ft and we were sure he was going to run away from the storm and land elsewhere.  Turns out he was just trying to find a part of the sky that wasn't lifting.  By the time he found some and came back, the wind had really turned on.  Glen, John Smith, Wolfi and Matt landed in pretty strong stuff but everyone pulled it off alright.  

Over dinner we heard that Trent made goal and then flew away trying to escape the storm.  He flew nearly back to the first turnpoint before he could find any air going down.  Cameron also had a pretty scary time trying to avoid the cloud suck.

Today isn't looking terribly promising.  The storm dumped a bit of rain and it looks quite stable out there now.  The forecasts are calling for little or not lift.

Airborne Gulgong Classic - Day 1

We made our way from the Central Coast to the little inland town of Gulgong for the Airborne Gulgong Classic.  I love these little outback towns….although the wildlife here seems to have become incredibly lazy.  Driving out we passed 4 wombats, 3 kangaroos and a giant lizard all sprawled out taking a nap beside the road - sometimes right in the middle of the road!  Lazy things!

Today was the first task day with great conditions.  They ran a 124km triangle(ish) task coming back to the airfield.  Adam Parer cruised in 15 minutes ahead of everyone else.  Having taken a pretty early start, he probably won't win the day though.   I think there were about 20 in goal in the end!

 The sky was gorgeous all day!  The entire week is looking pretty good at this point.

Music to My Ears

From 1st to 4th grade my family lived in Washington state in a tiny little town north of Seattle.  My father pastored the Clear Lake First Baptist Church and I've always felt like those years were the favorite years of my childhood.  Although dad was the pastor, he still had incredibly good taste in secular music and much of my lifelong musical preference comes from the years of listening to dad's favorites - Cat Stevens, James Taylor, Loggins & Messina, the Eagles....and Elton John.  We had every Elton John album on cassette tape back then and to this day I can still recite the lyrics to every single song on Captain Fantastic, Honky Chateau, Madman Across the Water and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (his best, by far!).  

Elton John played at the Entertainment Center in Syndey last night and Glen got us tickest.  I wish my mom and dad could have gone with us, they would have loved it.  He puts on a brilliant show.  Of course, that was no surprise.  

What was a surprise was two cellists in his backup band.  These two Croatian guys are apparently a musical sensation in their own right and will soon be spinning off to tour the world with their cellos.  They have a band called - what else - Two Cellos.  I've never seen two more psychotic looking fellows sitting on a stage in my life.  They were the opening act and they did three or four songs, all rather hard rock songs performed most frantically on their cellos.  They finished off their set with the best version of Highway to Hell I've ever heard.  If ever I see them doing a show where I am, I won't miss it.  

I can't embed any of the videos here, but check out this link to my favorite - a little duet with Steve Vai.

http://www.2cellos.com/us/news/new-highway-hell-video

In the Land of Ice and Snow

They say that Iceland is green and Greenland is ice.  I suppose that depends on what time of year you go.  I just returned to sunny Florida from a week in Iceland.  I found that November is positively arctic in Reykjavik....arctic, but still a magical place.  Although the trip was mostly work - I went to the CIVL Bureau meeting there and we worked about 12 hours a day for 4 days straight - I did get a chance to do some sightseeing after the work was done and I was blown away by the gorgeous barren landscape where hot air seems to explode from random holes everywhere.

The city of Reykjavik is so perfectly tidy and colorful that it nearly looks like a toy village to me.

I even found a pretty impressive graffiti collection.

At times the landscape looked like another planet.   No need to worry about tree landings here - trees are few and far between.  But you have to beware of the massive lava beds that would make for a very very painful landing....not to mention the hot springs popping up everywhere you look.  

We toured a geothermal power plant. Since I've been back, I've heard so much buzz about Iceland and their energy independence.  What a cool thought!  Funny, these pictures were taken about 2 o'clock in the afternoon.  The sun never gets high off the horizon this time of year.  It's cool to watch it traverse  low across the sky rather than the usual rising and setting we have closer to the equator.  

And the highlight, of course, was the world famous Blue Lagoon.

Although it was the right time of year, there were no sightings of the Northern Lights.  I found a website where they are forecast and they were supposed to be visible on Friday and Saturday after I left :-(.  Iceland most definitely deserves another look and I'll be back again soon to try to catch those illusive lights!

Very special thanks to Agust and his lovely wife for being such great hosts!!

Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge

I had the chance to fly the Team Challenge up at Henson's Gap earlier this month.  This is a competition that I've been trying to make for years.  Finally, the planets aligned and I got to spend a week hanging out with the coolest southern hang glider pilots on the planet.  The Tennessee Tree Toppers has been organizing this competition for many years.  The sweetest man on the planet, Ollie Gregory is the boss man and he does a stellar job!

What's most impressive to me is that there so much chatter here in the US about supporting our competitions program and encouraging more pilots to enter.  But no one really steps up to the plate the way the TTT's do.  I knew before coming to this event that it was a "training" event.  But, I really had no idea how much they did apart from just teaming up newer pilots with experienced comp pilots.  Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, depending on how you look at it) the weather wasn't exactly cooperative.  What this meant was no hands-on cross country training of any consequence, but plenty of launch and landing clinics - every launch and most every landing the entire week was video'd.  We spent days that we couldn't fly getting top notch instruction and tips from current and former world team pilots.  I was really overwhelmed by all that they do here.  I'm not talking about half hour talks in the evening, I mean full on 2+ hour sessions on cross country flying, how to use your 6030, reviewing and critiquing launches and landings, etc. etc. all afternoon and into the evening.  It made me feel like crap for what pilots get for their money at my comps ;-).  When we can't fly at the Rally or Santa Cruz, my first thought is how soon can I run off and do something without a bunch of nutty pilots.  Here was exactly the opposite - they made incredibly good use of every minute.  I hate to say it, but for the money, the Team Challenge is a way better deal, by far!!

Another really cool thing about this event is the club in general - the Tennessee Tree Toppers.  I couldn't say for sure, but I would have to guess that this is the only club in the country that owns, outright, their own launch AND landing field.  I know the club is most famous for their beautiful radial ramp, but I was thoroughly impressed with how well organized and established they are.  How nice to never have to worry about loosing a launch or landing field to a fickle landowner!! And, they have a beautiful campground and clubhouse on launch.  It's really a pretty amazing place and I can't wait for next year!  I hear they're planning on going a bit earlier next year with better chances at good soarable weather.