Manilla xc-open

The Manilla XC-Open started yesterday; this is a paragliding competition that will run for 8 days in total. There are approximately 100 plots participating in the competition. Only 25 or so pilots are from Australia, the rest are from all over the world. There are pilots here from Germany, Spain, Switzerland, England, Poland, France, New Caldonia, South Africa, Korea, Hong Kong, New Zealand, China, Canada, Norway, Czech, Japan, USA and others. There are only two pilots here from the US, myself and Meredyth Malocsay.

The format for the competition is open distance racing. So, everyday (weather permitting) all of the pilots go up to the launch, we wait for the conditions to get good with enough rising air (thermals) to allow us to get high above launch, and then everyone launches and attempts to fly as far as possible throughout the day. The idea is to climb high in a thermal, glide for a few miles downwind, find another thermal, climb in it and repeat as necessary. It sounds simple but it is not always so easy, there is a ton of decision making involved; often one wrong decision will put you somewhere where you can't find any lifting air and you will be forced to land. During the day some pilots may only make it a few miles from launch, and some may make all the right moves and go very far. On the decent days flights will range from 50-200 miles or more. Each day you get a score coresponding to the distance you fly relative to the other pilots; at the end of the week your four best scores are taken to determine what place you get. The competition is primarily an individual competition but you are also scored as a team. You select your team mates before the comp, I am on a team with my three swiss friends. Our team name is Agent Orange because our gliders are all part orange and for other reasons as well.

So, yesterday was the first day of the Comp. It rained all day and we didn't even go up to launch, today is the same. I will try and post results and stories as the occur, other info can be found on the competition website www.xc-open.org.

The first picture below was taken of me by my friend Dominik Dusek. The second I took of the local caravan park wildlife; the birds are ground parrots and they are everywhere here. The last photo is of me in the campground looking preppy. Note the pants and sweater; it was actually cool out yesterday!