Late Starting.

Well it seems summer has arrived in Golden. The Forecast was for 30c light winds and high cloud base. Finally they got it right. Turned into a great day!

A few hang glider pilots on launch and we all got a very late start on the day. I was the first to launch at 4:00. Down low the lift was strong enough but broken and disorganized. Getting high at the start was a challange. Leif launched a bit after me and was working to get up as well. I headed over MT7 and finally hooked up with some good lift and climbed out to 13 000'. I search to find Leif but just couldn't spot him. The top sail is really hard to spot from a distance. I headed back to launch and spotted him still working his way up. Not finding any lift I headed back to MT7 and still had trouble finding lift.

Instead of Leif climbing up to me I sunk out to him. As this was the highest he had been he headed off for pagliaro. I just lost 5000' so I wanted to get up before making the crossing. After struggling for a bit I finally got back to base before heading out. Once at cloud base It was easy going. Good glides under the cloud street. I hit the core of a good thermal at Pagliaro and climbed back to 13 000' From there I never made a turn until I spotted Leif at Harrogate. I was climbing above him and still managed to loose track of him.

From there I had a couple more climbs before a long glide into Edgewater. This was the first time from leaving Mt7 that I got below 10 000'. Again the lift was broken down lower but I seemed to be getting the hang of it and made my way back up with out taking too long.

Stopped to climb a couple times on the way to Invermere. The plan was to fly to Invermere but I was in orbit and it was a fast trip down. I figured I'd fly to Fairmont and make a new plan there. I got high at Fairmont and I thought it was still early enough to keep going. I didn't realize my insturment had the wrong time on it. I found a bit of lift on the way to Canal flats but didn't gain much. The low hills at Canal flats were buoyant but not producing much n the way of lift. It's about 30km to the next landing Field so going any further was out of question. I burned off the height I had and landed in a large Field south of the high way.

I was desperate for some food but it was 8:30 and the streets roll up here 7:00. I found a pub in town that was open and they were kind enough to find me some left overs to eat.

Leif stuck with the plan and landed the airport in Invermere. Then had to suffer through retrieving me. Thanks to Lauren for coming to get us!! Looks like another good day.

Mara fly in.

leif and I hit the road on Friday planning to fly in Golden in the afternoon before pressing onto Mara to fly Saturday. It looked really bad in Golden so we didn't even slow down. Just kept pressing onto Mara. The sky looked great when we got to Mara and we thought we had missed a really good day there. As it turned out we didn't miss much. The wind wasn't really cooperating that day.

Some one tell me what these two are thinking?

I can't figure it out.

Saturday I didn't get out of bed in time for the first trip up but some paragliders went up and did some tandems and sledders. We went back up in the afternoon and things were looking good. Nice looking sky and the winds appeared to be light. The wind was cross a lot but some really nice cycles would blow in regularly. A few of the paragliders got off and were up but not really high. I was getting ready to take off in a nice cycle when I saw Tonya dropping like a stone from a 1000' over and ended up landing. This didn't inspire me so I waited for the next one. Once the wind started blowing in nicely again I figured I should get off the hill. I flew threw what seemed like pretty good lift right in front of launch but just wasn't on top of it. A little further out I found enough to get me above launch. The lift was disorganized and hard to follow. Good climbs just suddenly stopping or moving. The wind was stiff out of the south and it was a struggle to make progress. I didn't think anyone else would bother trying to fight into the head wind so instead of waiting for friends to join me I headed out on my own. As the day wore on the lift got a little better and I was getting a little higher. As many who have flown here will tell you the Enderby cliffs look like a great place to find lift but never seem to work. You need to try and get high here as you have to jump a bit of a gap in the range. Knowing all this and fighting into a head wind I tried to get as high as I could before crossing the gap just behind the Enerby cliffs. When I felt I couldn't get any higher I press on. I found a bit of lift and a lot of birds on the other side but just didn't have the Patience I needed to get up again. I pressed on and soon landed before getting to Armstrong. It was a fun flight and I was happy to get some air time.

Our new paragliding friend Amine from Vancouver.

Tonya stylin in her new shades.

Sunday the paragliders went up early again and drove down as the wind was cross all morning. Not being inspired we headed home early. It was great meeting some new friends and hanging out with other friends we don't get to see often enough. Looking forward to some better flying days ahead.

Canadian Nats.

Not much to report from me on the nats. Due to some poor weather and poor flying on my part I never got on course.

The highest scoring day the forecast winds were light out of the west. This means the wind comes over the back and you need to get off launch when you can. The first few pilots took off when the wind would cycle up. It's a fine line between launching too early and sinking out and waiting too long and not getting off. I watch the first few go and was dressed and ready to go myself. Just standing beside my glider checking on the progress of those in the air. Several pilots were standing in line so I had six in front of me. When the wind started to blow in Dave Scott was at the front of the line and took to the air. I turned around put on my harness and helmet. When I turned my glider around the whole field had launched. I walked to the edge of the hill as the wind started to die down. Then it blew down and the last six of us were stuck on launch.

Turns out the first turn point we had was 20km back into tiger country and no one was willing to fly back there. A few pilots thought the day should be scrapped which would have been great for me but in the end it was scored and was the highest scoring day of the meet.

The only other day with any sort of points was the last day. I was one of the first few off and didn't hook into the thermal right in front of launch. This mistake put me on the ground and was the end of the comp for me.

Ross did a great job on the last day and is this years national champion. Congratulations to Ross and Milko who won the king posted class.

Randy did a great job promoting the event and had some great prizes. Ross got a new North wing freedom 170 single surface glider for winning.

Hopefully we'll be onto better weather and flying for the rest of the summer.

Lumby Air Races

Sorry for not keeping up to date. I'll try to keep on top of the rest of the events for this summer. The spring has had plenty of rain but the good days have been very good.

The Lumby air races started off sitting on launch all day with out getting in a task.

Day two was much better. Good lift forecast, light winds and a 10,000' cloud base later in the after noon. Winds were light and we had strong lift but it was disorganized and you had to search for it every few hundred feet.

I start off typical for me at coopers, I never got over launch and headed down the ridge low. 400' below launch I finally found broken lift and started working my way up. Once I got to the top of the lift at 5000' several pilots raced towards me and we headed off on the task. Three small laps around Lumby followed by three bigger laps for a total task of 98km. I started out following Jeff Shapiro but soon let him go. He was pushing hard and I just wasn't up to the challenge. I lead Ross Hunter, John Orders, and John Mclintock around for a couple laps before I really lost my drive and just started flying with them. John Orders pushed out in front of us as we started the big lap and John Mclintock took a left as he still had a small lap to do. Jeff had lapped us once by this point. Ross and I caught up to John at the satellite turn point much higher than he was. Ross and I managed to get to 6000' before heading off to camels hump. John never found the lift we did and headed out lower. This turned out to be his death and he landed before getting to the turn point. Ross and I got over the turn point at Camels and worked with a couple paragliders to get back up to 6000' before heading back to launch. We topped up in the reliable lift over saddle that had been there all day. I should have notice not many pilots were in the air and several were just heading in to land. We rounded the turn point over launch and the ridge that had been working all day was now shutting down. This was the end of my flight as I gave up and went out to land. Ross worked a little harder and made it a few more km than I did. John Mclintock managed to get around after us and was the only one to make goal. Jeff Shapiro push too hard and ended up landing just a bit short of goal but was way ahead of every one.

Turned out to be a challanging fun day. With the low top of lift it was good for the crowd at lumby days as you could see lots of pilots all day racing around town. Many people in town were commenting about it. The town is very supportive of the event and is very welcoming. I love coming here when the weather works for us.

Today was blown out. A few flew and said it was unpleasant. Looking forward to some good flying and weather ahead of us.

Surfing and Hang gliding.

Don`t do them together.

I will try to keep updated here over the next couple weeks. Time and internet access can be sparce.

My trip didn´t start off to well when the united staff informed me my glider wouldn´t fit on the plane so I just headed off any way. I`m sure I can find something to do in Brazil. When I arrived in Sao Paulo to make my connection to Rio Konrad was there as he got delayed a day coming home. Before we landed in Rio he had sorted out a glider for me to use. It`s so great to have such great hanggliding friends.

The next day we headed up to the launch in Rio for a quick flight before heading out to Andradas for the comp. I hate not flying for so long as I feel so rusty. I didn`t have a long enough flight to get comfortable in the air. I headed down the beach low to try and get as close as I could to where we tear down. I thought I should be setting up over the water but choose to stay over the land to try and get a better glide. This turned out to be a very bad idea as I turned too low and ended up in the ocean. This can very bad if you start getting dragged out. I got up the beach with out too much problem and a little help. I did how ever ruin my inturment and camera. Not to mention salt water in every thing.

We are in Andradas now for the comp which started today. I missed the first day as I was still waiting for a new inturment. It was a short 80km task that about 20 finished. About ten bombed out. Over all it sounded like a good day. I got too much sun today and will need to keep my head covered better. Same old same old.

We are heading out to party right away. This place has a great night life. Lucky for me the guys wanted to pull the pin early last night or I may have gone on a run away.

Another bad day in a very bad year.

Yesterday was a tragic day in a year filled with bad accidents. Andrea was part of very keen group of new pilots this year. He took his first beginner class this spring. They were out flying every chance they could. They would travel to Innisfail to scooter tow with Kevin on his farm. Kevin was also out at the ridge with Andrea and Leif.

Leif was helping Kevin and Andrea off the ridge to try and get their first soaring flights. Leif said conditions were very good and he had no hesitation sending them off. Kevin was off first and sunk out. Andrea was off second and managed to stay up. After he had been soaring for a bit Leif suited up and took to the air. He headed further down the ridge to give Andrea plenty of room. He said soaring conditions at the time were excellent. After flying for about 20 minutes he dragged a wing tip on top of the ridge and spun into a pile of rocks. (Farmers pick rocks off the fields every year and pile them on their property; it was this pile he hit) Leif was unsure if he was trying to land. He died on impact. The glider has almost no damage.

Some of my thoughts and feelings about the accident. Hang gliding is difficult and time consuming to learn. Therefore only the truly passionate tend to stick with it. Andrea was one of these dedicated souls. As a group desperate to fly most of us tend push beyond the limits of our skill. As instructors we hold students back. Trying to keep them with in their limits and safe. Andrea did take advice he was given, not every one does. He had done his first truck tows a couple weeks ago, over 2000'. He was competent enough to control his glider. As much as we hold students back they have to progress at some point.

Air time means far less than currency. I think this applies to all of us. Andrea had been out lots this year with his keen group of new friends. Given this fact it is much more reasonable to send pilots off ridge soaring than another pilot with the same air time who has not flown for several months. They had Leif come out with them. He is the most experienced pilot on that ridge and you couldn't ask for a better mentor. It is important to have an experienced pilot help new pilots with evaluating weather conditions and advice on the hazards and how to fly the site.

While I think the accident was pilot error I think he was very unlucky. I think most of us have made bad choices and gotten lucky waking away with a broken down tube. I had my worst accident in Cochrane. I had over 100hrs at the time. I was low and worried about sinking out. I flew straight down wind thinking I would get lift over the ridge. I didn't and now was low going down wind. I tried to turn flat as I didn't want to drag a wing tip. I didn't get around into the wind and hit the ground hard. I broke both down tubes and a batten. I was pretty much uninjured other than a couple bruises. Most of the time the glider will take a lot of the impact and the pilot will sustain little injury. I've seen pilots hit very hard and walk away uninjured. I've seen landing that didn't look that bad and the pilot ends up with broken bones.

As with any fatality it is very hard on those left behind. As hang glider pilots we share a very special bond. It is always very difficult to lose one of our own. I think it is even harder on our families as they often don't understand the deep emotions we have related to flying. We ask them to just accept our passion. My heart goes out to Kevin and Leif having to have lived this tragedy. I also feel for Kevin’s wife and kids. I don't want to see Kevin give up flying but know it will be hard for his family if he doesn’t. Our season is over now and we will have the winter to absorb this tragedy. Time heals all.

BBQ task.

The forecast for the final day of the Canadian nationals was looking pretty good. Lightning strikes over the last couple days have started a few forest fires around Sun Peaks. Their was some concern about flying over the fires today. We file a notam every day and Ralph even called the Kamloops air port where the planes were flying out of to let them know too. They weren't impressed but didn't say we couldn't fly. They have that power and we have been shut down in the past. If they weren't going to tell us not to fly I felt we should be fine. Ralph also told every one at the pilots meeting not to pass over the fire low.

With a strong south wind we felt it would be better to just call a down wind task rather than have pilots fight back against the wind crossing the fires a second time. We decided on little fort at 62km. This would turn out to be a little short but we wanted to get every one back in a reasonable time to do the scoring and get ready for dinner. It turned out to be the best day so far and some pilots were disappointed we didn't call a longer task. Ten ended up making goal with Jeff the fastest of the day in just under an hour.

My strategy every day has been to launch later and take the last start so I would be on course during the strongest part of the day. Also I had plenty of thermal marks in front of me making it easier to go faster. Launching later you run the risk of not getting off the hill which never happened to me but some people did get stuck on launch. I had Tanya use the leading bonus because I believe the pilots that go out front take the most risk and should be rewarded. Taking the last start punished me on the leading points. You need to make goal and you need to be a lot faster than every one else.

The last day my plan was to take it easy and make sure I get to goal. Jeff was too far in front of me to catch but Ross was right behind me. I had nothing to gain and every thing to lose so I felt as long as I made goal in a reasonable amount of time I would hold onto my position.

I launched in the back half of the pack and climbed out over launch with Dave Bacon in good lift. Once up high I could see the large forest fire to the north. I saw a helicopter just north of launch dipping his bucket in a nearby lake. Then he was off to dump the water on a smaller fire. Not wanting to get in the way I left before getting to cloud base and flew into a strong west wind to get back out in front of the range. Once I was back out front I headed down the range and found I had a quartering tail wind. My first thermal on course was strong. It moved around a lot but stuck with it right to cloud base over 10,000'. Just make sure you get to goal. My next climb was not as strong but I stayed with it any way. I got a climb just before Barriere and my numbers went positive. I stopped for some strong lift before I left the range just to be sure. I hit some big sink in the valley and was happy I had lots of height. I chased Tyler to the Fennel peak goal which is a turn point over the mountains before heading over to Little fort to land. I spotted two pilots on the ground and several other below me circling down to land. Mike Swift had chosen a field right next to the gas station and cold beer. Dave Bacon arrived a little while later and Gary came in long after the rest of us had packed up. It was a fun day and we had a lot of spectators watching the glider rain into the field next to the gas station. It was a fun day of flying and nice to have so many in goal.

The weather tuned out to be very good this week and Ralph and Ian did a great job of organizing. It was great to fly some where different this year. I'd love to come back here again next year. Jeff Remple finish first over all with me second and Ross Hunter third.