We've golden soil and wealth for toil

Glen and I had a fun Australia day out in Sydney with Dave and Kathryn....and about 10 billion others at Darling Harbor.  I'm not sure anyone knows how to do fireworks better than the Aussies!

Swimming in it...

Forbes - Last Day Pictures

Fun at Launch

Last day of the comp and everyone is finally lightening up a bit.

Kate Takes to the Sky

We finally got Kate up to see a pilot's view of Forbes!

Pictures - Task 7

Task 7 - Goal Crossing

Gerolf had a fantastically close goal crossing yesterday, which Dave May caught on his GoPro.  There was quite a lot of laughter - and yes, from Gerolf as well.

Our Mountain

Hug your tug pilot tomorrow!  We would but stuck gazing longingly at the beautiful Forbes sky with our feet firmly on the ground if not for them.  Some of the very best in the world are here to do nothing more than make sure we get in the air.  

Thanks guys...we love you!

Morning tug briefing.

The armada lined up and ready to go.

Tug pilots' work, all laid out for them!

Smiles

It's funny that no matter how many comps you've been in and how many times you're at goal, the celebration is always the same, especially when so many people make it in.  Goal makes those hours of driving all worth it.

NoRest Day

Thanks to the Heany Family for a great afternoon out on the river.  There is some amazing talent in that family - and our little world of hang gliding in general.  In addition to the all pro tricks from Torrey and Hannah, amateur Glen McFarlane impressed big time!  Hadewych wins the persistence award...as usual!

Photos Day 3

Winning on the Sick

Big John took Jonny down to the hospital around 3am this morning.  Seemed he had the same stomach bug Big John was stricken with earlier in the week.  Big John had also spent a night in the Forbes hospital and it did him a world of good.  Overnight on an IV works wonders.  Anyway, it looked like Jonny wasn't going to make it out to today's task.  When I spoke to him around 10am he was still in terrible shape.  But, once the task was set, apparently Dave May called him up to make sure he knew the task was the very one Jonny had won two years ago.  He just couldn't resist giving it a try.  He called me at 12:35 to come get him out of the hospital - in his mind, there was no harm in trying.  

Well, there certainly was no harm in it.  Despite a rough start with Jonny radio'ing down to me that he was at 3000 ft over the field and was just going to head out on a death glide passed Forbes, the 3 liters they pumped in through his IV did the trick.  As the task went on, he gained enough energy to race through the course and perhaps win the day with a time of about 2 hours and 33 minutes (give or take).  He landed in pain, feeling completely spent, but I suspect he's back in the game!

Here are the ambulance drivers chatting with Jonny as he suited up to fly.

He landed with the IV patches still on his hands.

Goal Photos - Day 2

Jr. & Sr.

The Durand men haven't felt the greatest the last few days. Big John had to check himself out of the hospital the morning of the first task -  still flew it, of course.  Now the stomach bug he had seems to have moved onto Jr.  He was throwing up on course all day yesterday (and still managed to be in the day winner prize money).  Today the Golden Boy was feeling much less than golden and spent most of the morning lying in the car bundled up in the 36 degree heat.  We rigged his glider and he just hopped in and will likely win the task, as he tends to do when he's sick.  

They're a couple of badasses for sure!

Here's Big John derigging after landing short yesterday.

Photos - Goal Day 1

Photos - Launch Day 1

The Day in Clouds

Gorgeous sky today - in all directions.  I couldn't help stopping the car over and over again on the way to goal to hop out and shoot a few more.  I wish I could make them look through the lens, the way they look through my eyes.  Not necessarily ideal conditions for the perfect task, but they still managed to get one in, and a good one.  No one came into goal because things finally exploded just over it, but Jonny, Curt, Eduardo, Primoz and Rohan made it fairly close.  Curt and Eduardo landed in the same field and wrestled for the win.  Looks like Curt got it....along with a bit of mud all over his t-shirt.  

Practice Day - Pictures

Practice

Despite a forecast that wasn't nearly as nice as we've had for the past week, they called a little dogleg task for the official practice day today.  Funny how the weather tends to work - gorgeous conditions for a week straight, then when we need it be good, it may be time for a little rest.  

They're trying some cool new ideas this year that I'm excited about.  If they go well, we may consider incorporating them into the Rally and/or Santa Cruz Flats.  First, they've got an ordered launch, which keeps things really simple.  I know not everyone likes it (especially those at the front and the back), but it sure it nice to know when you're going to launch and not have to be suited up in the 40 degree heat any longer than absolutely necessary.  In addition to launch being ordered, the staging lanes (2) don't move.  Instead, the actual launch lines move as pilots take off and get out of the line.  This is also fantastic for pilots not having to carry their gliders through a long line in the heat out here.  So, as more pilots take off, the staging lines shrink and the launch corridors move away from each other.  I think it's a cool new idea.

Another thing they tried today was a start gate system that gave pilots their actual start time (2:19, for instance), rather than having starts only at 15 or 20 minutes intervals.  So, for the first half an hour, your start time is the actual time you leave the cylinder.  After the first half hour, starts are at 15 or 20 minute intervals.  So, for instance, from 2:00 - 2:30 you can start anytime you like and get your actual leaving time - e.g. 2:06 or 2:23.  But, after 2:30, your start time is 2:30, 2:45 or 3:00.  The hope is that this will prevent huge gaggles at the start.  Because not many people went on course today (not even all that many launched), we didn't get to see how that worked out, but I hope they will try it again on another day.  

Registration Day Photos