Spoiled??

I've described myself to people as spoiled more than a few times over the years....probably because I feel like I have more than I deserve in so many ways.  Or, at at minimum, I have more than others who appear much more deserving than me.  I've spent the last little while trying to figure out what spoiled really means to me and whether or not I really am or want to be spoiled.

What I've come to believe is that being spoiled has less to do with what one has and more to do with how one acts and reacts when she doesn't get what she wants.  Perhaps not getting what I want most right now is what is causing me to mull over this topic.  How do we react when we don't get our way?  How do I react?  A person who can't deal with not getting what they want is spoiled.  Spoiled isn't someone who has a great deal in life or even someone who always wants more out of life.

While I might have the urge to stomp my feet and throw some things, being a girl that isn't spoiled means that I'm trying really hard to remember the words of a wise Kiwi...."the key to contentment is acceptance."

Pics from the Midwest

Carl Wins!!

The last day of the Midwest Championships was a nail biter.  It was Jonny, Dustin, Larry and Carl (in that order) going into the last task.  They called a 123km triangle coming back to Enjoy Field.  As it turned out, the task was perhaps a bit overcalled.  The wind picked up and leg two was nothing but a battle with the headwind.  I managed to get the first turnpoint, but didn't go much past that in the 20kph headwind.  The boys, who are much more determined than me, and have much more to gain/lose fought upwind until one by one they went down short of goal.  Thanks to so much experience in those amazing UK conditions ;-), Carl was able to hang on for ages below a thousand feet inching closer and closer to goal after Jonny, Dustin and Paris had landed.  He didn't realize it at the time, but his closest competitor- hot pilot Larry Bunner- was right on his tail. 

After retrieve, we arrived back at the field for pin in and Larry conveniently "forgot" how far from goal he had landed.  So, we had to wait for the scorekeeper to finish his job before learning that Carl had made it 6km further than Larry, putting him 9 points ahead overall.  

We had a fun little party where Carlos got to show off his enormous trophy and we all ribbed Jonny a bit for letter Carl break his 9 comp winning streak!

Midwest Championships - Chicago

It's always great fun to try out a new competition in a new part of the world.  Just back home now from a week in the midwest flying at Enjoy Field outside of Chicago.  I've never seen flatlands like these before!  The first days were windy and very cold (especially coming off the mid-90's heat of Georgia) and we weren't able to fly.  But, by mid-week the temps warmed up and we pulled off two really nice triangle tasks.

Enjoy Field is a beautifully manicured green grass strip amid perfect 1 mile square blocks of farmland.  Thankfully, the crops were late this year and most fields weren't yet grown up with the usual corn and soy beans.  Landings were more plentiful than any place I have ever flown.

We found a very clever way to stack gliders in the hangar.

Chris and Gary and the whole crew at Enjoy Field were wonderful hosts.  Although my head wasn't really in the flying, the two tasks we had made for great racing for the boys.  There is something amazing about being able to thermal 300 feet off the ground, knowing you can turn into the wind and land anywhere.  I love big wide-open space!

Rob Kells - Day 5

Watermelon Crawl

....yeah, that's about the speed I was moving today :-/  Finally we get a day with lighter winds and all I can think is that I liked it better earlier in the week.  They called a out and almost return of about 118km....basically crosswind both ways.  Unfortunately, despite the lighter winds, conditions weren't so nice.  My hang strap went slack three times followed by a giant twangs of the wires.  After three and half hours of that, I decided I'd had enough.  The turnpoint was a nice little grass airstrip and there was already another glider landed there....I couldn't help myself.

The retrieve was great fun.  We had a few extra pilots from all directions....Jim from north of the border and Rodrigo from south of the border.  Campbell landed at a watermelon packing plant and we left there with a little extra cargo ;-)

Praying for nice smooth lift tomorrow.

Florida Ridge Day 2

It's shaping up to be one of the nicest comp weeks yet at the Florida Ridge.  Although we've had two pretty windy days, the tasks have been great anyway.  Today was particularly gorgeous with 500 fpm climbs all day and 5500 cloudbase.  I'm guessing well over half the field made goal today - everyone but me it seems :-/.  But, I had a beautiful 4 hour flight in some of my favorite Florida air.  Kathryn had her first "big boy" goal today on her rented Litespeed and was very happy of course.

The forecasts are calling for much lighter winds and stronger lift over the next few days so we might actually get 7 out of 7 days of flying ;-)

It's really fun to see a few old (as in former, not OLD) faces this week.  Paris Williams is back on the comp scene after finishing his PhD.  Curt Warren is back from Australia.  Bo stopped by with Janna and the baby girl....he's not in the comp, but it's great to catch up with him.