Dirty Girls

Quite a muddy retrieve after two hours of hard rain. I hear that Laura
made goal first, about 20 minutes ahead of Natalia and then maybe
Francois and Corinna. Should be very interesting to see the score
sheet tomorrow!

....so

Too much static in the air from all the lighning striking the field
where Kathleen and I have been huddled for an hour and a half ;-)

We had grabbed the turnpoint while getting rained on, but could quickly see that the ground was totally shaded and we weren't going to get much further. I headed for the biggest paddock I could find and Kathleen followed. We were just in the nick of time. As we started to pack up, the thunder and lightning and rain started and didn't stop for over an hour. We look like a couple of drowned rats ;-) and still no Tim to pick us up :-(

At least it was an exciting flight and an adventure out in the field!

Sent from my iPhone

Another Tough Day

After predictions of thunderstorms and a huge cu out near the
turnpoint, they sent us off on a 72km task. Got to fly most of the day
with Kathleen. We were both low so much of the time, but it was great
fun to have an expert with me. We made the long turnpoint

Day 8

We're up at the north launch yet again. But, they've asked us not to
rig because apparently there is a very large thunderstorm cell to our
north that could move in. We can't see anything from here though.

In the meantime, there's nothing to do but attack the boys ;-)

Oops

I guess my still frozen fingers are a bit trigger happy.

So, here is the rest of the story...it appears that Kathleen landed at
the edge of the goal cylinder and I have not been able to find out if
she made it in or not. Otherwise, it looks like Corinna was first for
the day again. This could mean a big shake up in the standings!

Sent from my iPhone

I'm at Goal Again!!

...and oh so happy!!! Absolutely gorgeous day with super high
cloudbase. We were getting up at 3000 meters and I nearly froze my
butt off.  Flew most of the day with little Julia...what a great pilot she is becoming. 

Day 8

64 km for the girls today...really hoping conditions are nicer than
yesterday. Things are looking better already though, the Swifts
rocketed up and are on course.

Rigids

Here it is 6pm and the rigids are finally coming in. I think Alex was
first with Christian close behind in second. Seems it was a tough day
all around. For the girls, most of our team went down fairly early
with just Corinna in the air until late. I dont know where she ended
up, but apparently she is down. Kathleen made the second turnpoint and
landed there. No idea yet who may have won the day.

As for the Swifts, Manfred was first and happy to not be landing out
like yesterday. He said that was only his second time ever landing out
in a Swift.

Not a Happy Day

Trying my best to fake a smile, but I'm seriously disappointed and all
I really want is CW and a few dozen Krispy Kremes.

Tomorrow has to be better.

Day 7

Here's Ute, another one of my great teammates! She and I have been
flying together quite a lot the last days.

We've got gorgeous looking conditions (so much for that bad forecast!)
and a nice 82km task.

One More Day, One More Time

...one more sunset maybe I'll be satisfied. But then again....

There was grumbling last night that the forecast for today was identical to yesterday. I'm really hoping that's wrong. I desperately need more days to dig myself out of this hole I'm in. In the meantime, I'm getting to know the Russian girls. I think little Julia is the youngest girl in the meet at 21 and a delight to be around.



Here we are from Russia, the US, Germany, the UK, Finland, France and the Netherlands. 

Task Cancelled

Even before launching I suspected they would cancel the task today.
There was big development at both turnpoints and rain a bit further
out. But, we launched and I had quite a nice flight until about 15
minutes after the start when they came on radio saying it was
cancelled. I'm getting more and more comfortable with the turbulence
and gaggle flying and I'm so pleased about that. My baby is flying
like a dream as always and that just makes it easier and easier for me
to enjoy myself.

Landed at an ultralite airfield with all of the Japanese and Russian
girls and several others. Sometimes I feel like a giant ;-)

Day 6

Sometimes we're not so happy with the CIVL ;-) The Russian girls took
good care of Flip today.

We've got another rather short, 68km
task, while the boys called a much more ambitious nearly 200km task.

I'm in Love!!

The girls kind of revolted yesterday and starting derigging before they cancelled the task. I think we were all a bit uncomfortable with the wind and low clouds, so we just decided to make our own decision.

But, there was plenty of time to flirt with the young boys ;-)

Waiting Games

We're waiting on the north launch where the wind is howling and
cloudbase is barely above our heads. Looks like they will cancel it
eventually. Meantime it always fascinates me to learn about pilots'
lives outside of hang gliding. Out team leader Rudl is a retired F4
fighter pilot. I had no idea...so cool that he has flown both ends of
the spectrum...super fast fighter jets and super slow paragliders.

Julia and Shaitan

Chatting with sweet young Julia and she asked me the name of my
glider. My baby is called Damien, Spawn of the Devil, Damien for
short. Turns out her glider us also named after the devil- Shaitan
means devil in Mongolian. I was surprised to hear that most girls dont
have names for their gliders. Who's name do you scream then when your
glider isn't doing what its told??

Feels Like Sunshine, it Feels Like Rain

The prediction is for thunderstorms today, but so far the sky looks lovely and I'm hoping for a task to redeem myself after yesterday's muck-up. They have delayed the team leader briefing until ten so that they can drive up to launch and check things out, so we'll have to wait and see.

Yesterday's sky was super cool.

Brian makes launching a 140 lb glider look so easy. The Swift really is such a gorgeous, graceful looking airplane (or spaceship, as Davis would say ;-)


We had dinner in Gubbio a few nights ago. Gubbio is a little village on the side of a hill....it was a turnpoint the second day and I arrived there quite low and got to check it out from above. I must say it was considerably more relaxing seeing it on foot.

My brothers nicknamed me Fat Ass quite a few years ago. I was thinking "wide load" when I saw this shot and I'm convinced I'm turning into one giant cheese ball ;-)

Short :-(

Didn't make it today. Had a tough day all around. To start things off, I somehow barely drifted into the start circle before the start and didn't realize it until my computer wasn't giving me the first turnpoint direction. I went to the turnpoint and then realized my stupid mistake. Had to go back and get the start and then the first turnpoint again, so I was way behind. Then I spent the last 45 minutes of the flight about 150 meters off the deck, sweating like a pig, going up 50 then down 50. I really though I was gonna get out of there and be the hero, but not this time. At least there was something very sweet waiting for me in my paddock....thanks baby ;-)

Day 4

Here's my sweet teammate Christa. We have another short task today,
just 58km. But conditions are looking quite nice so far, so I can't
help but wonder if its too short...probably shouldn't say that or I'll
bomb out :-/ But anyway, the wind is much much lighter than yesterday
and although there is some high cloudiness around, there is also some
nice cumulous development.

Update on Johnny Carr

Apparently someone was smoking a bit of crack yesterday. Johnny has broken a small bone in his foot, but it is very minor. He has a giant cast on it, but there will be no need for surgery and he's in no big rush to head back to the UK. His sweetie Fran has come to look after him and he is as happy as ever.