Irish blog: the translation

The Irish blog is even better when you know the whole story. If you follow the Oz report, you will know that a Hungarian pilot had his sporting licence pulled by the FAI and he couldn't fly. The reason they pulled his licence was for fighting on launch at two other competitions. After being warned the first time and signing a paper stating he would be have he did it again. The fight was with Israli pilot Amir (with the under wear on his head. Amir had some sort of relation ship with the hungarian pilots wife. She is a dental assistant.

Julia flew into unlandable terain and had to land in the tree's, Warren followed her blindly also having to land in the trees.

Another off day

They sent us Aspes today expecting the winds to go west. They were blowing hard over the back when we arrived on launch and I was slow to set up. The wind did drop off and cycle up but was never very good and it wasn't very soarable so pilots were in no hurry to launch any way. After several hours on the hill the day was finally called and we broke down and drove home. Hopefully we fly tomorrow.

Back to the competition!

Every one was glad to get back to flying today. The forecast was for strong climbs, light winds and 3000 meter cloud base. Sounds perfect! The task committee called for a 166km FAI triangle. Launch opened at 12:45 and the first start was 2:00. Some pilots didn't want to launch and hang around that long.

It's a good idea to get off Chabre early as the winds tend to go west in the after noon. I'm way back in the ordered launch so I don't have a huge wait for the start. The start circle is only 2km away from launch so you don't need a lot of time to get in position. I had a good launch and found good lift off to the right of launch. I could see a huge group of pilots pasted up against cloud base at the edge of the start circle. I tried to take slow climbs and stayed over launch to avoid the mess at edge of the start circle. I had forty minutes to wait for the first start and was just having a pleasant flight. I was watching the clock to try and time getting into optimal position for the first start with out spending a lot of time in the mess at the edge of the start circle. Cloud base turned out to be 2300 meters sadly and it wasn't too hard to get to base. Five minutes before the start I was getting in a panic to find some lift and get to base. I joined a couple other pilots 1.2km from the edge of the start circle in a strong climb. I wanted to be closer but this was going to have to do. With two minutes to the first start it looked like the entire field was charging in under us. They had lost their lift and now were 700' below us. With less than a minute to the start and 1km away I hit base. This was going to work out perfect. A large group headed on course and I was near the top with lots of guys lower and out in front of me. The fast guys were already leaving us behind after the first thermal. With so many guys on course the faster guys hit the lift out front and climb above the mess behind them and I arrive trying to avoid hitting other pilots and not climbing efficiently. We thin out a bit but I get the first turn point in good time. I want to stay high with the low cloud base but soon after the turn point I'm low and alone. Unable to get back up I land early.

I am meet by a very pleasant farmer and two very excited children. We tried our best to communicate but no one seems to speak English here and my French sucks. I feel like I'm missing out because as I've said before one of the really cool things about flying xc is meeting interesting people. The invited me in for a drink and we tried to have a conversation but sadly it was mostly just awkward silence. I think the French are missing out by refusing to speak English just as I missed out today not being able to talk to some very kind people. I have been told the younger generation is learning English.

This is where I landed today.

Another painting

This is another really cool painting.

Cheese.

I have dinner at the campground every night and the food is excellent. It's a four course meal with an appetizer, main course, cheese and dessert. Normally they bring five to seven kinds of cheese and drop what would be, I'm guessing, about $100 worth of cheese in Canada on the table for five or six people. I will let my cheese expert let me know what she thinks this plate would be worth. Oh and of course plenty of wine and coffee.

More paintings.

I would like to talk to the artist and ask the inspiration for these paintings.

Local artist.

Some paintings are displayed at meet head quarters. I really like these paintings. My understanding is they are for sale. I don't know how much but if they are affordable and I can figure out how to get it home I may buy one. If any one is intersted let me know and I can enquire about the cost.

I think this is my favorite.

This one is also very cool.

Another weather day.

Too windy today so we didn't even bother going up to launch. Tomorrow looks good and I've heard we should have some very good day's ahead of us.

I felt they called the day a little early yesturday but it turned out to be the right call and great timing. Most of the pilots were able to launch and land at the campsite. Here is a short video of some of the people landing after me.

It was pouring rain as the pilots behind me came into land yesturday. I was very impressed with most landings considering the pounding rain.

The Irish blog.

I've had the pleasure of sharing the offical retrieve with the Irish team great bunch of guys and a very entertaining blog. http://www.irish-hg-worlds-2009.blogspot.com/ . Also see www.ozreport.com for more coverage and a list of the other bloggers.

Short and Sweet.

The forecast was for over development and thunder showers today so we rushed to get off early. A short 100km task was called but as the clouds got darker they cancelled the day and pilots launched to free fly. I was towards the back of launch so was one of the last that choose to launch. The launch is steep off the north side of Chabre and with a good breeze blowing in take off was easy. I headed down the ridge and started looking for the camp ground. Every one seems to know the name of every peek with in two hundred miles and I have no idea which way is north. I find myself totaly lost here. The camp ground was easy to find as many had already landed and dozens were circling over head. The air was smooth and it was very pleasant flight. I slotted my self in with the other half dozen pilots on final approach and put in a perfect landing near the edge of the feild so I wouldn't have to far to get out of the way. With 100 gliders in the landing feild it takes up about a third of the landing area. So a some what small feild is made even smaller. Not only was it raining gliders it started raining hard less than a minute after I touched down. I was very impress with how well evey one was landing in the down pour. Only one broken down tube. Most landings were very good. Hopefully we have some better days ahead.

Task Two

The forecast for today was for a chance of thunder storms in the high mountains late in the day and west winds. The task was a 126km out and return down the valley to give pilots a chance to stay out of any possible over development. Cloud base was forecast to be 2500m and turned out to be 3000m.

I didn’t get a great start and headed on course five minutes after the first start. Taking the extra height turned out to be a good idea as the strategy for the day would be to stay high. I found a couple good climbs on my own and soon started passing pilots struggling low. I teamed up with a couple other pilots and we were going not bad. We were keeping just a head of a gaggle charging hard from behind us. It is so cool to see an armada of gliders charging up from behind while climbing out above them. The fast gaggle was catching up but I pushed out to try and stay a head. I ended up on my own at 600’ over the ground when I finally found strong lift to get me back up. I would flounder around for a long time with many other pilots trying to get to cloud base before heading out into the blue for the turn point. I finally got back to cloud base and headed to the second turn point 14km away. I found some strong lift out in the blue and topped up to make sure I stayed high. As I approached the turn point I watched two pilots, one head on course and one head back to the clouds we just came from. Both were much lower and neither was doing great. I decided to head down the course line and hit the dirt.

I need to try and stick with other pilots as it can be really hard on your own.

More photos.

Bill Moyes and Rob

Geroff and Denis doing sprog mesurments.

Setting up to get messured.


Manfred and Flip Civl presidnet.

Davis doing the oz report.

Rob and Julia Dutch and Russian.

Opening parade.

This was where the parade ended and they gave speaches to start the championships.

Task One.

Today's task was 161km triangle back to the camp ground. I was near the back of my line but got into the air and had a nice climb up to cloud base in time for the second start. I made a small mistake at the start and let the gaggle get a head of me when I should have been with them. I had an easy go for the first 50km when it got tricky. I struggled to the second turn point and landed soon after with about 10 other pilots. I made it about 70km. I will try to stick with the gaggle a little better tomorrow.

Jeff O'brian took the second start as well and sound like he won the day. This will be a huge upset. I don't think any one would have given Jeff much of a chance with what many consider the best feild ever assembled for a hang gliding comp. Hopefully he can keep himself near the top of the standings. We had a couple of mishaps today but I don't think any one was injured.

The first day of any comp is normally really bad for me so if I can improve on today I will be happy with my results.

Getting ready

I will make a quick post while the internet is working. The Danish team finally arrived at the air port to pick me up after fighting traffic. They are a great bunch of guys and I hope I can talk them into coming to Canada to return the favor some time.

I've arrived in Larange and managed to buy a tent and I'm now camping in the Netherlands. Got my glider back together and spent the better part of an afternoon waiting to get my spogs measured. As far as I know thier has been no issues with the sprog measurements. I need to down load way points and get a phone but after that should be ready to go. The forcast is wind over the next few day's so not likely to be flying soon. Opening cerimonys today. Can't wait to get flying.

I'll post picutes soon.

On the road.

Well I have lots of time to blog just had to figure out a little German and the computer key boards here.

I was surprised at the number of people at the Calgary air port and had to do the air port 200 yard dash as they were calling out my name to board the flight. I've never taken more than five minutes to get through security in Calgary and I stood in line for 20. At least I wasn't the last one on the plane.

Once in Vancouver Christine was all ready circling waiting for me to arrive. Thanks for dropping my glider off for me Chrissy! Once I found out where the Air Berlin check in was I headed over and the line was already long 4 1\2 hrs before the flight. ze Germans like to be early.

Check in was a breeze as the Jeff's had already paved the way on Monday. I had the same staff to deal with so they knew what they needed to do. After paying the $40 over size baggage fee, we took my glider out to the curb where a truck was brought up to take it out to the plane. A baggage handler was instructed to ride in the truck to hold the glider. They must have figured this out after the Jeff's gliders fell off the truck a few times. The Air Berlin staff was very accommodating. I was told my glider had been loaded on the plane when I boarded.

Arriving in Duessel Dorf I found my glider in what appears to be good shape. Another couple was picking up their bike and asked what I paid to have my glider shipped with me. "$40" I responded. Their jaw hit the floor, "we paid $200 for the bike" which is considerably smaller that my glider. I explained they had special pricing for selected sporting item's. I guess bikes aren't really a sport. Once the baggage carousel stopped my harness was still no where to be seen and every one was gone. I've never had any luggage lost on me before and was not thrilled that this would be the first time. The glider isn't much good if I don't have a harness. The customer service girl was very pleasant and assured me they would ship it to me when it was located. That's not going to help me next week. I told her I would be at the airport all day waiting for my ride. She suggested checking back in a couple of hours. Sure enough two hours later I tracked her down and they had found it. Thank god! Luck is on my side so far.

Now I'm just waiting for the Danish team to pick me up in a few hours and we're off to France. I'll be glad when I can lay down and sleep....tomorrow.

Relearning my boy scout lessons.

Be prepared! I've been flying for ten years and flying cross country for the last eight. I should have learned these lessons years ago.

John Jensen had a couple of students that were doing their first truck tows and asked if I would do a couple of tandems with some other students. He was considering starting a little later than Saturday but I suggested that we start early as the soaring forecast was for the day to turn on early. We got out to the tow site about 8:30 and got towing about 9:00. After we got the guys off on their first tows I set up the tandem glider to do my tandems.

The wind was out of the east with an occasional south breeze. The forecast was for north winds on the ground and upper winds from the west. I got a low tow with my first passenger but managed to find some lift and climbed out to 7000' at 11:00am. The lift was smooth and I had no trouble staying up with my light passenger. It was time to land so I could get going on my own. After another short flight with my second passenger I was anxious to get my glider set up and get going.

The wind was now out of the south. Mike and Steve towed up first. I had a chat with John and Moore before to make a plan for the day. I suggested Empress as a goal for the day with the upper winds forecast to be straight out of the west. John questioned the wisdom of this goal as the pilots in air were drifting north. The area from Bassano to Medicine Hat was supposed to have very poor lift. We were on the edge of it and it looked good if we went straight east or better yet head north a little. I was confident that the west winds would kick in and empress would be a good goal. I suggested going north with the drift and head east when you hit the west winds as conditions should be even better a little north of us. The last thing I mentioned was you should get 8000' to 9000' over the tow road and upwards of 14,000' later as you head east.

Considering this last statement I don't know what I was thinking as I suited up to go. I dropped one layer and wore just my cutters instead of my heavy winter gloves. I looked at my camel back in the back seat of my truck opting not to bother taking it with me. It would have been a good idea to have something to eat before taking off too.

I towed up to 1500' under pressure I was sure was going to break my week link. The guys are just learning to tow and I'm happy if I get towed high enough to get away. I found some scrappy lift and started drifting north. I wasn't getting up and just getting further away so I headed back to the tow road for a relight. I found solid lift 700' off the deck and climbed out to 7000'. The lift wasn't great and I wasn't getting very high. I went on glide and almost landed at Standard. I hung on over a ridge just north of town. I finally got a good climb as a huge dust devil started forming just below me. I topped it out and was on my way.

I was just south of the Red Deer river when the wind turned west. I headed east and got high just before crossing the river. The lift was strong up high but tough when you got low. I was climbing over 11,000' and freezing my ass off. Glides were great up high but I was dropping like a stone once under 8000'. At least I would stop shivering. Their was plenty of broken lift down low which I used to stay off the ground in order to find the good lift to get me back to cloud base. I was heading on glide at 11,000' as I couldn't stand the cold. I left one thermal and flying at trim climbed over 12,000' at 1200 ft/min. I wasn't worried about cloud suck as the clouds were spread out and not very big. I think cloud base was around 14,000'.

I was starting to feel a little air sick. After four hours in the air the cold and dehydration was taking over. I'd had enough and started scanning for a good place to land. When I went on glide I spotted a little town to my north east. I headed towards town thinking I could just make it. I was about eight km out when I his some lift. I took it up 1000' to give me enough height to scope out the best place to land. I scanned the town looking for some place I might be able to get something to eat. I spotted the golf course and figured they should have food in the club house.

I landed right next to club house exhausted and frozen. Before I was unhooked I had a glass of water and ordered something to eat. This was definitely the right place to land. The people in Oyen are some of the most hospitable I have meet any where. They did every thing they could to help warm me up and feed me. Every one was interested in hearing about my flight and kept me company until my ride arrived.

I have to thank Moore for picking me up once again. This is not the first time he has picked me up after a long XC flight. No one knows the country better and he's always great to visit with on the long drive home. Not only did he make a six hour round trip drive to pick me up he also brought his own vehicle so it didn't cost me a fortune for gas in my truck. Thanks again Moore your the best.

The friendly staff at the Oyen golf club. I really recomend landing there.

New personal best distance.

With a great looking soaring forcast I wanted to get an early start. I was the first one to tow up at 12:30. I towed up into a blue sky with nice looking clouds to the north. I got under a the only wispy cloud just starting to form over the tow road. I climbed to 9000' and headed off to the north. Leaving early and flying into the blue I started off cautious. Turns out I didn't to as their was plenty of lift already.

As I crossed over the Red Deer river a large cloud started devloping from the west and was shading the ground below me. I was able find good lift in the shade and got high again before flying back into the sunshine.

I got really low over Big Valley. I spotted a ridge on the west side of town and managed to gain some height to stay in the air. I continued north looking for better lift to get me going again. At about a thousand feet just north of Big Valley I hit my best climb of the day. I flew straight into the core and climbed at 1000 ft/min all the way to 11 000'. When I pulled out I had the bar stuffed and still climbing. I ran until I got away from the lift. After that I stared leaving at 10,000'. That's getting back in the game in a hurry.

The first time I recognized where I was from the air since I crossed the Red Deer river, was when I was climbing over Stettler. I know the city quite well and knew I was close my longest open distance flight. I was cruzing along nicely thinking it would be great to fly to Double Dam. This is where the Miles in May comp. started and our prefered tow site in northern Alberta. I didn't think I was there yet but saw a little town on the high way in a river valley I was flying over. I started looking at the ridge trying to find our ridge soaring site. I headed a little east looking for the golf course. Scanning for the pavement heading east from highway 56 I was sure I wasn't far enough yet. I was low and needed to be looking for lift not trying to figure out where I was. Now I was looking for a landing field. I landed after 4 1/2 hrs 200km from take off.

Leif was towing guys from Double Dam just 10km from where I landed. They ended up flying 146km further north. Cal came and picked me up after he was retrieved and drove me back to Calgary. Nothing like flying 200km to another flying site and have your buddys there drive you home. Micheal landed in Viking 3hrs after I landed for a distance of 250km. What a great day.