Rally Day 1

It was a no-go for today.  We got up this morning to heavy rain, high wind and low cloudbase…not exactly the way we had hoped to start our trek north.  But, by mid-morning we were teased with clearing skies and somewhat lighter winds.  The task committee called a relatively short task south to Lake Wales hoping that the forecasted strong winds would not come around.  By noonish a task was nearly looking do-able, so we headed out to stage and sent a Dragonfly up to check out conditions.  Unfortunately, things were nicer on the ground than in the air and the safety committee didn’t feel the towing conditions were alright for us so the task was eventually cancelled.

A few guys opted for a free fly to check out conditions.  They reported that lift was good and strong, but turbulence on tow and landing was a handful.  We’re crossing our fingers for lighter wind tomorrow and we’ve travelled to Dunnellon, just 60 miles of so north of Quest where the enormous field is oriented into the predicted wind without any tree lines to rough up the air.  Although the forecast is for wind about as strong as today, the airport at Dunnellon might prove to be better for towing.

Thanks to Ricker for today’s photos!

Aerotow-batics

I guess life has really gotten in the way of blogging lately.  I spent a great summer in Australia, did a bit of flying - but not as much as I would have liked - took a quick trip to Taiwan, then back to Australia all before the annual Colorado ski trip.  Now I'm home in Florida with my favorite person, hopefully getting a lot of flying in this summer.

Here's a very interesting little video of my tow yesterday evening at the Florida Ridge.  The comp started today (task cancelled, high wind), but I wanted a quick practice tow before things started.  By way of background, I was on my glider, with my harness and release and all of my usual equipment and VG settings - nothing new at all.  The wind had been quite strong all day, but mellowed slightly in the evening.  It was blowing probably around 10mph and there were storm cells out in front, but not moving in quickly.  The idea was to have a quick tow to 2000ft and then come in and land before the closest cell arrived.  Glen had gone up 10 minutes before and there was almost no lift, so he came down and landed as I was taking off.

I've been aerotowing for nearly 15 years and I don't ever recall getting more than 10 degrees or so out of line from the tow plane - when I have (even the slightest bit), I'm a big chicken and immediately release.  I'm definitely not one to keep trying to get the glider back into line if things get off line at all.  I prefer to just release and have another go.  The weak link didn't break - I released on the second oscillation.  So, with that background, I would welcome any comments/thoughts on what may have happened here, because I don't really have a clue, other than to say that I had a serious PIO problem.  The thing that bothers me most is that I've never done anything even remotely close to what I did last night and I would love to know how I could have screwed it up so badly.  Mostly, I'm just happy to still be here ;-)

Crackneck

Finally got to fly the central coast today.  Cruised around with the Mojo in beautifully light, smooth air.  Sometimes the silliest little flights can put the biggest smile on my face.

(I'm pretty sure this is illegal in California)

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.