Pics from Day 3

Here's Zach, one of the best tug pilots anywhere....21 year old kid who flies everything very very well.

Kevie just arrived today.

Day 3 - We're off to the beach again.....

On days like today I can't help but wonder how anyone could NOT love hang gliding. I'm sitting in a farmer's field watching the perfect cumi's drift by, waiting for my driver. We had a task out to the beach which I was 28km short of completing. But I suppose I am just still high from the lovely flight, because it feels really good to be here. I obviously haven't gone xc often enough in the past few years because I sometimes forget how close it makes you feel to nature and the planet in general to be up there powered by nothing but the sun and the wind. And then it always amazes me that we can pack up this pile of aluminum and sail cloth, put it on top of the car, go back snd do it again tomorrow!! What's not to love??

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Day 3

The forecast called for 27 knot winds by 2pm today. The winds on the ground were gusty enough that we gave up around noon, the day was scrapped and a bunch of us ran off to the beach in Delaware. The sky looked gorgeous all the way to the beach and we worried that the forecast might have been wrong and we were missing a great day. Oh well.

It's fun to have Pete Lehman here. I've only ever spent time with him in Zapata, never at a comp before. Kevin Carter is supposed to arrive tomorrow....I'll believe it when I see it ;-)

Tomorrow is looking better.

Day 2

We got up and started going through the motions of setting a task, rigging gliders and getting ready to go even though most everyone was pretty sure we weren't going to fly. It was supposed to blow quite hard, so we weren't optimistic. But, we just kept pretending we were flying and before I knew it, I was in the air. Well, it did blow quite a lot and the lift was pretty weak at best so they only called a 48km task. Kraig made it the furthest, about 21km, but no one made goal. Many (myself included) didn't get anywhere to speak of. Oh well, we got in the air and I had a great time trying to stay up in high wind and light lift.

There's maybe a 10% chance we'll fly tomorrow. The little tropical depression that blew through Florida is reaching us and bringing super strong wind tomorrow. It might be a (breezy) beach day.

Here's a shot of Frog Man from the sport class.

Day 1 - Rained Out

It seems I woke up in Austria this morning....rain, rain, rain, rain and more rain. No task, no Juan Pablo (they postponed the race until tomorrow because of the rain of course), nothing but some Pirates of the Carribean.

Luckily, we got two reasonable days of practice flying on Friday and Saturday. Here's Paul Tjaden landing at Highland yesterday. There's some hope of a task tomorrow, but I wouldn't put the chances at more than about 30%. We'll see.

Maryland Woods

I finally made it to Highland yesterday. Set up the glider this morning and had a nice flight early in the day before the wind picked up. With no flying to be done, we decided to go out in search of the Blair Witch. Didn't find her, but found some evidence that she has been there.









The competition starts on day after tomorrow, but so far the weather isn't looking so spectacular and I doubt we will have a task on Sunday. But, that doesn't bother me much as I might have a chance to see my favorite former F1 pilot, Juan Pablo Montoya. GW has invited me to come over to a Nascar race in Dover, Delaware, just about an hour away. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Last Day on the Road

I finished up the drive yesterday via a cool bridge that connects Norfolk, Virginia to the Delmarva Penninsula where Highland is. The Chesapeake Bay bridge is actually part bridge and part tunnel...kind of a roller coaster ride, first across one section of bridge, then down into the tunnel under the Bay, then back up another section of bridge, then back into another tunnel and finally up over the last bridge section.

The photo with the boulders in the foreground is looking from the first bridge section out across the first tunnel section.

The Heart of the Confederacy

I had a chance to stop through Richmond, Virginia on my way to Highland and was surprised to find my old buddy Joe Johnston(former Quest tug pilot) living there temporarily before heading off to Brasil. It was great to see him and we got to check out downtown Richmond. This lonely drive turned out to be exactly what the doctor ordered. It's been nice to break it up with visits to flying friends along the way. I stayed Tuesday night at Drew and Michelle's place in Charleston.

On the Road Again

After my favorite Pad Thai last night, I hit the road bright and early today to drive to Highland for the East Coast Championships. I'm driving by myself this time, no one to keep me company.

I once drove cross country with an Italian that pointed out that apparently Americans need to be told everything. The highway departments in Georgia and South Carolina feel the need to tell drivers that the bridges might ice in winter.....this bit of information comes at every single bridge, large or small. I counted 34 in Georgia until the phone rang and I lost count. I would guess there are a hundred of these winter ice warning signs on Interstate 95 in Georgia alone. I couldn't get the camera out in time, but my other favorite was the sign that just said "BUMP".

Are we a country full of morons who have completely lost our common sense?

Bikini Tandems

Flavia and I shot some pictures for an ad in a biker magazine. They were mostly pretty silly, but it's always fun to fly in a bikini ;-)

Its the Time of the Season for Love.....Bugs?

Late May in central Florida brings the nastiest bugs on the planet. Some moron named them Love Bugs. But, be sure, there is no love when it comes to these things. I can think of another more accurate word for them, but I can't print it here. They apparently live to mate and they swarm like nothing I have ever seen. You can't brush them off your skin when they land on you - and they land on you by the hundreds if you are outdoors this time of year - they just smash and leave a trail of guts all over you if you try to shew them away. They're also particularly hard on car paint jobs.

Today I drove out to the beach to see the little flat that I've been calling mine for several months now (and actually might really be mine in a month or two). On the way I drove through a swarm of these buggers that left me unable to see through the windshield. They have to be washed off as quickly as possible or their guts eat away at the paint on the car. So, when I stopped at a gas station (for the first of three washing sessions in the 1 hour 40 minute drive) I took these shots of the car.

Maxie's Hooked on Hang Gliding

My family probably gets really tired of me showing them thousands of hang gliding photos every time I come visit. But not my two year old nephew Maxie! I played Jeff O'Brien's video from the spot landing contest in Big Spring last year and he couldn't get enough of it. I think we watched it at least 30 times and he still kept asking for "more hang gliding." I give him about 14 more years and he'll be ready to go!

Visiting the Parental Units in Cal City

Jonny and I traveled from one desert to another on Monday, from Casa Grande to California City in the middle of the Mojave Desert. This desert is full of my favorite Joshua Trees.









We passed by a windmill farm near Palm Springs. The look pretty cool from the highway. The largest ones are about 150 feet tall. Apparently they produce about 600 million kilowatt hours a year.

Final Day

We just finished off the Santa Cruz Flats meet with a really nice dinner here at the resort. This was, by far, the nicest closing dinner I've ever been to - fully catered excellent Mexican food in a private dining room, fancy tablecloths, linen napkins, the whole works. Although it was a small group here, it was a fun one and everyone seemed to geniunely enjoy themselves. Dave Cameron said at dinner that this was the most fun meet he has ever been to. I'm sitting now in our suite at the afterparty with a bunch of guys talking about how stress free this meet was. I think it comes from a mellow group of people who just came to have fun.....no protests, no whinning about anything, just a party every night at goal ;-) We've talked a lot about doing this again next year and everyone is absolutely for it. Dustin did a great job putting this all together and securing the nicest venue any of us could hope for. I can't wait for next year!

Of course, Jonny won. Dustin was in second and Chris Smith in Third.

Days 5 and 6

Too lazy to report yesterday, and I got to fly last night, so I was more interested in flying than blogging. At this point, I can't even remember who won the day yesterday ;-)...maybe it was Jonny.

Today was a super difficult day. They called a 93 km task, but no one made it. Chris and Jonny came into goal and pretended (for about 10 minutes) that they had flown the course. But, they didn't get the last 2 turnpoints. Davis landed inside the start. We rushed out and grabbed him and sped back to the paddock, got his glider set up again and got him in the air. Unfortunately, he landed again about 15 minutes later. The day won't be worth more than 300 points at most.

I just learned that we've had record high temperatures here this week. We all kind of thought this was normal. But, apparently 88 (31c)is normal for this time of year - we've seen over 100 and up to 104 (37 - 40c).

More Shots of Our Cool Place

The briefing is getting closer to the bar every day. We started at the pool, then on to the patio and today into the bar.









We play a lot of frisbee here after everyone comes in.

Many In

Looks like all but three came into goal today. It's a big party around here. The resort has a cookout on Thursday nights with a bonfire and all you can eat BBQ.

Here's Dustin setting up over our resort.
















John Nagvary made goal today - this is his first comp and he's really enjoying the flying!

Day 4

We've got a lot of guys into goal today after an 82 km triangle task. Chris Smith won the day, Scott Gravell second, Jonny third, Jeffo fourth, Dustin fifth, Davis sixth, Mark Dowsett seventh and Conrado eighth. Probably more coming along with some pictures.

Here is Chris talking about his first time (winning a day in a comp).

Gabcast! Chopper Wins the Day

Finishes for Day 3

I'm a little slow posting today because I had to go get my guys. Jonny was the only one that made it in (of my crew). So far, looks like it was Dustin, Jonny, Dave Cameron, Mark Dowsett (who was in the circle, but not at the resort). Armand was about 1 km (or less) short of the goal cylinder :-(



Here's Chris' landing field at the 3rd turnpoint.



























And here's Conrado's field, complete with a warm bathtub.

Day 3

They're all off on a 107 km squarish task bringing them back to the margaritas again ;-) We got everyone up and on course with just a single tow each....looks like much smoother conditions today.

Here's an update from Jonnny at 2000 meters waiting to take the first start.
Gabcast! Santa Cruz Flats - Day 3

Jonny waiting for the start....

Day 2 Results

See results here. American Chris Smith is now in first place (about 7 points in front of Jonny)!!

Dust Storm

Right after the last guys came into goal, I got an SMS from Conrado. He had just landed about 2km short of goal. I rushed out to get him as this beautiful dust storm was approaching. It was fairly slow moving, so we managed to get him packed up and on the car just as it hit us. First was a giant dust devil that looked like a small tornado carrying lots of tumbleweed. Then the huge dust cloud took over and lowered the visibility so that we could no longer see the tower at the hotel. It was spectacular to watch (from my safe and dust free seat in the car).

Day 2

Today they flew a 64 mile bowtie task....things moved much more quickly than yesterday and the first group has just come in. Everyone is very happy. So far, just 5 into goal - Dustin first, Chris second, Jeffo third, Davis fourth and Jonny boy fifth. Davis was much happier today- said they were pulling out at about 11,000 ft going 500fpm up!


Here's Davis just after landing.
Gabcast! Roadtrip #0 - Day 2

At Goal on Day One

You can see full results here.

Day Winners Shittalking

Here are the boys at goal with a few margaritas in them, chatting about the first day.

Gabcast! Roadtrip #2

Results so far....

We were starting to wonder if no one would make it back today. But at last Jonny came in and then Chris behind him about 10 minutes or so. Looks like Jeff O is coming in now!! Haven't heard from Dustin yet....we'lll see!
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