Task 2

Another windy but lovely day in south Florida. The boys seem to be getting faster by the day. I sped north at a hundred miles an hour to try to make goal ahead of them, but lost the race again. Dustin is on fire and blazed through the course yesterday, winning the day and getting a bit closer to Andre in the overall standings. Andre came in second with Jonny third.

Yesterday's goal was great fun for the retrieve drivers - no road in...oops. We drove around trying to get in from all directions only to give up and start hoofin' it in the end. Chris Zimmerman made a wise choice, thermalling up at goal and continuing on to the beach.

The Dream Team has taken a significant lead in the team competition. All but one of them was at goal yesterday (Glen got extremely airsick and landed short after nearly losing his vision altogether). Davis had a bad day and landed inside the start circle.

Little Zhenya from Russia is having a great meet. Had her personal best flight yesterday, missing goal by just 8 km. I'm crossing my fingers for her today. She's getting some great training in and special training tips from Jonny and is shaping up to be a great pilot!!
Today is yet another windy one, with a fair bit more development. We're heading the same direction, but a bit further at 145km.

Andre Wins the Fast Task

Andre was his usual speedy self, flying the task in just 53 minutes yesterday! Dustin was just over a minute behind him in second, with Glen rounding out the top three for the day.

Glen was just tickled to finally have a task yesterday - did his best gay ballet impression.






Looks like a 129 km task for today, although the winds are a bit stronger than yesterday so there is some concern.

A Task at Last!

The wind is still blowing like stink around here, but it could be a tad lighter than the last several days. I think more than anything people are just getting antsy and more willing to fly in anything after playing tourists for the last 3 days. They've called a 75 km task in the only real direction we can go at the moment and as I type Rhett is up in the dragonfly checking out the winds aloft.

The sky looks lovely.

Keeping our fingers crossed.....

Can I Dock?

The first day of the Rob Kells Memorial competition started off with very high winds. They cancelled the task nice and early and we all went out to the river for a bit of canoeing and gator hunting. The folks at the shop renting the canoes told us it wasn't worth the time because the river level was lower than they had ever seen it. But, with little else to do, we opted to go for it anyway. Not nearly as many gators as last time, but we did see a few little ones.




We're hoping for better weather tomorrow, but most are doubtful. Looks like another windy day :-(

It's Peep Season Again

Failure to Launch

With 20+mph east wind at the field, we were sure the beach would finally be doable. We loaded up a few old floaters, a knee-hanger harness and a short tow rope (just in case) and headed out there. Stumped once again :-( But we had fun trying.

The chain gang.

Gary didn't do much worse, even without a glider.

Finally, they were able to get Dustin relatively high...still not enough wind to soar the condos though.


Of course the locals didn't seem to have any trouble. 

Another Great Party at Paul & Lauren's

High wind again yesterday so no task.

The Brits presented the US team with a small token of their affection.

Dream Day

Those of us that have been dipped in the sissy sauce were quite unhappy with ourselves yesterday. The forecasted wind was quite high, but we all set up and headed to the south end. Dustin was first to launch but wasn't climbing so quickly and was blowing downwind in a hurry. Feeling discouraged that he wasn't climbing and because the wind was so strong, several of us bagged it before we should have. The Brits launched just after 1:30 and in no time they were on their way. Wayne and I raced after them in the car as quickly as we could and were tickled to arrive just as they were setting up to land on the beach. Giant party there and everyone was happy! Before yesterday there this flight had only been done twice - once by Bo and once by Cracky.

Looks like Dustin smoked them all, coming in about 10 minutes ahead of Carl. But, the American team had just two pilots in goal with the Brits getting all four in. That should put them into the lead for the team competition. Bret had his personal best flight yesterday (176 km) coming in a few minutes after the lead gaggle and before Paul. We found a nice seafood restaurant and celebrated all together before the long drive home.

Beach Goal...

...and everyone is happy!!

Protest?

It seems the Brits are preparing to lodge a protest over yesterday's task. They're just waiting for a reply from a former teammate on how best to word it. Apparently a certain American pilot was towed three quarters of the way to the turnpoint and released about 10,000ft (see OB's blog www.hang6.blogspot.com)

Flyer Cup - Official Scores Day 1

Davis has finished scorekeeping for today's task and I apparently had it all wrong...what's new? Only the top 3 pilots from each team score. So, here's the latest:

Individual:
Dustin Martin - 947
Carl Wallbank - 802
Jeff O'Brien - 770
Gary Wirdnam - 448
Dave Shields - 377
Davis Straub - 201

Team:
USA - 1918
GBR - 1627

Talk is that we'll go southwest toward Sarasota tomorrow!

My First Win

Ok, there weren't many of us, but I was the overall winner of the women's division in my olympic duathlon on Sunday. Busy day all around. After racing there was just enough time to race home and shower before racing to the airport for the Carl and the rest of the Brits and racing back to the coast to catch the shuttle launch!

Me and Markus at the Amazing Race Audition Yesterday

The Agony of da Feet

It's the day after my first marathon and my legs are quickly starting to recover from yesterday's self-inflicted torture. Funny, when all is said and done, the one emotion I feel more than anything else is disappointment. Thankfully, the disappointment is coupled with hope. Having never done this before, no matter how many times people told me that the last 6 miles would be killer, I really had no clue just how bad I would feel until about 10am yesterday. Over the past two weeks I had become what turns out to be unrealistically optimistic about what kind of time I could pull off. Somewhere after about mile 15, that optimism started turning to disappointment when the 4 hour pacer slipped away and the 4:10 pacer passed me by, then the 4:20. I began to realize I wouldn't come close to the finishing time I had hoped for.

The great news is that going so slow the first time around means that next time can only be better ;-) I'm starting to see that long distance running is something like childbirth (in more ways that one) in that somehow, after a bit of time has passed, we start to think that no matter how bad it was, we want to go through it again. As quickly as I could get out of the rain after finishing, I sent a text to Carl saying "If I ever tell you I want to do this again, shoot me, right then and there." I felt that way for about an hour before I starting wondering if there was a decent marathon around say...December??

I'm really happy I finished. I'm not at all happy with my 4:31 time. I'm extremely grateful to friends and family that endured the complete crap weather - 20mph wind and sideways dumping rain to see me limp across the finish line (less than a meter ahead of a women that was a foot shorter and easily 2 feet wider then me). Timothy was my knight, driving the course with me the day before, telling me how it was going to feel at particular points, running with me at miles 6 and 12, then going the last 5 miles across the finish line in the worst of the rain and wind....all the while trying to tell me good stories to keep my mind off the pain. Thanks to Paul and Lauren also for braving the weather and screaming like crazy people at the 26 mile mark - what better friends could you ask for then those that would drive 3 hours to stand in the pouring rain and see the last 5 minutes of a long and boring race? And a very special thanks to the best parents in the world who tell me how great I am no matter how badly I do.

Nervous Nellie's First Marathon

Timothy and I arrived in Tampa this afternoon. After checking in we drove the entire course and, oh my god!, it's soooo long. I've been gradually becoming more and more nervous over the last two weeks, but it really did hit me today driving the distance. Anyway, the course is beautiful, mostly along the Tampa waterfront and through old neighborhoods with huge, gorgeous homes. I'm scared to death, but very excited. Funny, I was telling someone this morning that one of the reasons I decided to run a marathon was to participate in a race that, unlike hang gliding, involves no luck and no fear...its purely physical and mental strength. Ha, seems I was wrong about the no fear part.

View of part of the course from our hotel window.

Al-EE-gay-tor

Mom and I took the boy to Gatorland today. Had a great time - nobody loves an adventure more than my Maxie. Of course, I had to show a few of those wranglers how it's done ;-)

Another Weekend at the Questicle

Funny the things we find to entertain us when the weather isn't just right. Saturday we flew, but the wind was blowing quite a bit, so it wasn't the most enjoyable tow or landing of my life. I suppose it's good for me to fly in conditions I'm not completely comfortable with- but that doesn't mean I have to enjoy it.


Paul and Lauren scouted out this little training hill a while back, so we decided to give it a try. There isn't much in the way of landing area below, so we started with a paraglider. Dustin gave lessons to anyone willing. Pity there's a fence around the track...and heaps of small trees....and lightpoles....and private property ;-) I guess we can't complain - finding a hill of any sort in Florida is a difficult enough task.

Looks Like My Uncle When He's Been Drunk for a Week

.....Nicole's new best friend.

Georgia on my Mind

I'm about 4000ft over the beautiful south Georgia countryside. April,
Johnny T. and I are cruising up to Lookout Mountain to check out the
Flytec Rally course. So far, so good- all looks completely wide open,
green and gorgeous. I think everyone is going to love flying some new
terrain!

Support the US Team

The US team shirts are out and available at www.flytec.com/worldteam/support.html. They've got a cool new design this year and even nice girly shirts for all the wives, girlfriends and mistresses out there.


My best hang gliding buddy Princess Dustina is also offering some really great equipment and one-on-one and group xc and competition clinics for raffle on his blog at http://dustinhoflies.blogspot.com/. Dustin is an exceptional instructor and the clinics are sure to be great! Odds are really good that you'll win something and if you don't, at least you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that Dustin owes you one ;-)