This and That and The Other and The SNAKE

This last week has been mainly characterized by rainy days, good meals, great conversation and a yearning to fly far. The last two days have had decent local flying conditions. Yesterday I flew Nina's glider, the XS Niviuk Hook. It was great fun to get off my demanding competition glider and fly around on a mellow user friendly wing. I spent an hour or so in the air getting high over launch and doing tricks to burn altitude. Today I flew for a few hours spending most of the time experimenting with lift lines that were forming in front of launch.

This morning I drove the superflash Rivergumsmobile to Tamworth (45k away) to drop my great friend Nina off at the train station. Nina and I have traveled around together for most of my trip here in Australia and it was a sad goodbye but an amazing time spent together.

This morning while packing her tent we lifted it up from the ground and found that a lovely one meter brown snake had been living underneath it. Brown snakes don't look so mean but they can be quite aggressive. Their venom is deadly if untreated and they are responsible for most of the deaths by snakebite in Australia. We did not know what type of snake it was at the time, though we assumed it was poisonous. Considering it was in the middle of the caravan park I felt a bit of an obligation to attempt and remove it from the area; its proximity to my tent (2 meters) encouraged this behavior. After trying to try and pick it up with a branch it slithered into Nina's tarp so I drug the tarp 100 meters to some bushes on the edge of the park and shook it off. This whole event has given me not the best feeling in my stomach, especially after finding out it was a deadly brown snake.

On another note, my trip is nearing its end. I leave Australia on April 22nd and head back to the U.S. I plan to stay around SLC/Moab for a few weeks before moving down to the great state of Colorado where I will spend my summer flying tandems for tourists in Glenwood Springs and hopefully saving up a bunch of dough. I plan to work hard this summer; I have been fully stung by the dreaded travel bug and am surely going to try and take another trip come next November. I am thinking it will be to the great Himalayan Mountains of India, Nepal and Pakistan; and I am thinking it will last about 5-6 months.

Back to Manilla

Manilla has been my home for the last hand full of days. It is nice to be back in the place where I started my trip, and nice to be back in the air for some distance flying. The first day here I only managed to fly 35k mainly flying into strong headwind while attempting a 65k out and return flight. The second day I managed to fly 85k towards Bingara. This was a great flight with a nice tailwind and puffy clouds. The day after this, two days ago, I flew a 55k triangle out on the flatlands, over town and landing back at the car. It has been great fun getting a chance to do some free flying and xcflying all by myself over the beautiful country surrounding Manilla.

There is a great river bordering the caravan park here. Yesterday, while attempting backflips off the monster rope swing I managed to swallow two mouthfuls of the dark brown Nemaoi river water, YUCK. The water is great for swimming but terrible for drinking, it sat in my gut for only a few hour until...

The first three pictures below are of my last triangle flight. In the third picture you can see a really tall dust devil in the field directly below me as I was climbing out in a nice thermal. The dusty was probably 1,000ft tall, its shadow is obvious on the ground as well. The fourth pic is of me making new friends; the girls and puppy were really nice until the girls turned on me and decided that kicking and punching me was more fun than being friends. This behavior of theirs continued today as well, I guess I just bring it out of them.

From Bright to the Blue Mountains and Beyond

Been bouncing around a lot over the last week or so. I left Bright last Monday after a few days of great flying. The last day in Bright graced Brian Webb and I with a 55k triangle that took us into the marvelous Kiewa valley. Brian competed the triangle with superb style, while I got stuck half way through but still managed to limp my way back to Bright. The day before this there was the final task of the Mount Beauty Classic, a fun friendly competition similar to the US's XC League. Luck was on my side this day as I was able to race through the 40k course super fast and arrive first in goal. Leaving Bright Nina and I had the chance to ride on a train for 8hrs so we took it; After arriving in Sydney we simply couldn't end our day so quick (leaving at 5am that morning) so we rode another train for 2 hours into the Blue mountains. The Blue Mountains graced us with terrible weather and great company. We stayed for 3 days at our friends Andy and Susi McMurry's home, and I mean we stayed at their home, we hardly left the house as it rained the entire time and was so foggy we couldn't see across street. After this we moved roots to Sydney to our friend Magdy's house which is an awesome place in the woods. Yesterday we kited and flew the coast for around four hours; it was picturesque flying over steep oceanfront cliffs. It was an amazing day of flying and hanging out with great friends, I even managed to get in a few nontraditional tandem flights. Tonight we, Magdy, Gaynor, Nina and I, are going to a lovely restaurant for dinner, Max Brennan's; this place is a sit down/takeaway restaurant that only serves chocolate and chocolate covered food. Please don't feel to bad for me, its not as bad as it sounds.

The pictures below are of the Big Walk and of yesterday's coastal flying. I took the pictures from the Big Walk and Magdy took all the flying shots except for the last one which I took. Magdy takes really good pictures.

The Big Walk, The Big Rain and A Big Rest

The days following the end of the Bright Open were marked with rain and wind. Flying was not at all an option, though this rest from sailing the skies was welcomed by Nina and I. We rested our wings for a few days and decided to discover a few of the area's finer points. On the first day of rest the ice cream shops were investigated, followed by the local swimming hole, followed by a favorite destination Rock Salt, the best "Fish and Chips" shop in all of Australia. On this evening a plan was also devised for the following day to come. We needed to see new lands, find new adventure and exercise, and we did. The following day we rode our borrowed bikes 20 kilometers to Mount Buffalo. Mount Buffalo is an Australian national park that, a high mountain of granite and its flat topped upper plateau covered in lakes, forests and granite monoliths. After an hour ride, at the entrance to the park at the base of the mountain, we gave our bikes to a park ranger named Rudi who kindly drove them to the top of the mountain for us. From here we hiked an area classic, The Big Walk. This hike climbs the northeast face of Mt. Buffalo for 1,000 meters over 9k of winding trails. The hike was casual and brought us to our bikes at the top of the mountain after 3.5 hours of walking. From here we got back onto the pavement and toured the top of the plateau. I enjoyed a nice swim in a crystal clear mountain lake full of trout. Nina enjoyed 18 more kilometers of biking after a miscommunication led to our losing each other, oops. After casually searching for each other to no avail for about an hour, we each rode our bikes down the mountain on a curvy paved road (this is why we had our bikes trucked to the top). The downhill ride was 30 minutes of trilling twists and turns and as fate would have it it brought us back together at the base. A half hour more of pedaling brought us back to the caravan park and to the end of our journey.

The last few days have been filled with a few small flights, naps in the hammock, spider viewing (saw one today as big as my hand no joke), reading, slacklining, swimming, walks, good meals, tea and Tim Tams. If you have never had a TIm Tam you really must come to Australia to try one; they are chocolate biscuits that deliver an indescribable array of flavor that just begs you to have another. I will surely have to give away all of my clothes before I leave Australia (April 22) so that I will have room for a few kilos of them in my luggage.

On another note, funny story, I called my parents today. Who would have thought that it was a different time in Virginia than in Australia? Well apparently the time is quite different there, its 9 hours ahead, or 15 hours behind really. I still know they enjoyed hearing from me though, even at 2AM, OOPS.

Bright Open Competition

Yesterday marked the last day of the week long Bight Open paragliding competition. The competition was a great success with 4 great days of racing. My performance was variable throughout the days as I placed 21st, 2nd, 18th and 4th on the various days. Though, each day, even if I did not place well, I did race in the lead out front with the top pilots of the competition for at least half of the race. I flew faster than I ever have this week, constantly pushing the bar to the max on the super fast UP EDGE.

Now the competition is over and life is back to a relaxing pace. This is a bit of a joke because the life in Australia has been at a constantly relaxing pace even during the competitions. I am currently laying in my hammock in front of the super small cabin I have been living in for the last week. I believe I will stay here in beautiful Bright for the week and then head north into the blue mountains for a week, then to the coast for a week, then back to Manilla for a week, then back to the U.S. OH life is good. My friend Nina has been here in Bright with me for the week as well which has been fabulous.

Life goes on, the days pass and the journey continues as it must. Life's adventures are everywhere and I am enjoying them all so much.

Below are some pictures that I have taken of the area from the air as well as from the ground. The hammock pic is of me in front of my lovely cabin. The spider shot is from my first night in said cabin, it is apparently a "small" huntsman spider. I had to remove him from behind my curtain on two separate occasions. The close up shot of the bulls was taken after my second flight in bright; these guys surprised me, they came from the shadows and completely surrounded me. They were HUGE hornless bulls but not aggressive at all; I tried to scare them away to no avail and eventually made good friends with them after feeding one a banana.

Task 2

Had a great day of racing today, busted some good moves and finished in second place for the day. This puts me in 10 in the overall. The final glide was a bar mashing race which I came out on top of. Yeehah!!! This is my best day of racing ever, and it was so much fun flying with Australia's best. Can't wait for tomorrow, there is more racing to come! The smile on my face will surely not fade. Life is good.

Bright

Well I have been in the quaint town of Bright for the last week now. The first day here was amazing flying, the second day was rain, the third day was decent. After this, on Saturday, the Bright Open competition started and guess what happened, it rained. It rained and blew strong winds for the first three days of the competition. Yesterday, Tuesday, we finally had some flyable conditions and a task to race. For this first race of the comp I had a great start pushing out front in top position with a few other of the top pilots. After 20 minutes of racing this all came to a screeching halt as the task was stopped because a helicopter was coming into the area to evacuate an injured pilot that had crashed into the trees. The pilot ended up OK relatively, he only had a few broken bones in the foot and wrist I believe. Good luck with the recovery Dave Snowden. So the day was worth no points but oh well it was fun racing out front even for just a few minutes.

Today we had another task and it was great fun with a good start. I again raced out front maintaining a position between 1st and 3rd place for the first three turn points. After this a few bad decisions put me on the ground. A few lessons were learned today, the biggest one was that when racing out in front in the lead with the best pilot in Australia and a local guru of the area, halfway through a 55k race, stay with him, don't push out front like a hero. Anyhow, it is so much fun racing in the lead with Australia's top pilots, it is SUCH A THRILL. There are many excellent pilots in this competition, it is definitely the hardest comp for the year here in Oz.

Blah Blah less talk and more pictures. Below are a few lifestyle shots from manilla and a few flying shots that someone took of me a few days ago. Notice the sleek, slim and sexy profile of the UP EDGE as it slices through the air. This wing is super fast and super solid.

Goodbye Killarney Hello Corryong

The Killarney Paragliding Classic ended three days ago. The morning after the comp ended we began the 15 hour drive south into the state of Victoria with our eyes set on an amazing flying site Corryong.

The last day of the Killarney competition graced us with an amazing day of flying. The task was set to take us 85k out into the flatlands. I had a really good start of the race flying with a few friends. After 15k of flying I left the few pilots I was flying with and pushed on alone. The flying was perfect, there was strong lift and friendly clouds to mark it. I flew 45k or so by myself which was great fun. I stayed close to the base of the clouds for this entire stretch of the flight, the day was a classic. Eventually I was caught by friend Brian Webb and a few others. Brian is an extremely experienced and knowledgeable pilot so I was glad t have him flying by my side for the final stretch of the day. We left on our final glide 20k's away from the finish line and as fate would have it we landed just short of goal. Landing 3k's short on a 85k flight was a bit of a heartbreaker, but I really couldn't complain, I had an amazing day. I finished in 6th pace for the day and in 8th overall for the competition out of 50 pilots!!! This marks my second top ten finish in a big national paragliding comp, as well as my second in a row. Results can be viewed here, http://fly-killarney.com.au/comps/results2009/index.html.

Yesterday morning we arrived in Corryong and headed directly to launch. The day had light winds and good lift predicted so we planned on flying a 65k triangle. The flight went super well I was pushing out front alone for most of the flight. Its so nice to plan a flight which brings you back to the same location you took off from, it really shows the potential of good pilots flying good gliders in god conditions. This flight was honestly easy and could have been a lot bigger.

I managed to take a few pictures of the area while flying, as well as a face shot of a little mid flight snack. Speaking of faces, I trimmed my mustache for the second time last night!! What a rewarding experience!!!

Today looked really promising for some long distance racing. A task was set to take the race 78k's into the mountains. I had a great start and was fully in the lead of the race with a hand full of other pilots until the first turn point 25k down the course ling. Most all of us got stuck under an inversion layer and sunk out, bummer. The day was not a total loss though; we flew over some beautiful terrain, through a cloud or two, and into a picturesque valley. I managed to take a couple nice pictures as well just after the start of the race; (hint) if you click on the pics they get bigger.

The air based shots were taken today, the other two were taken a few days ago on one of Killarney's fabulous green grass launches.

Another day on the job

Time: 8:18pm. Location: My Tent. Reason: It is storming so hard out right now you wouldn’t believe it.

A few hours ago the radar map showed a large black blob moving this direction. A number of pilots (weather geeks) stood there looking at the screen and thinking to themselves “Black? I have never seen black on the radar before”. At this time a tall wall of clouds could be seen on the horizon. Shortly after this lightning could be seen filling the sky to the east.

As I laid in my hammock looking over some pictures from today’s sweet flight the wind began to blow, or shall I say howl. It went from being calm to blowing 45+mph in about 2 minutes. In the dark campers throughout the caravan park ran to tie things down and weather the oncoming storm. I did a bit of the same and then jumped into the tent just as it began to dump rain. At the moment the storm is raging outside, it’s full on nastiness out there. I am really hoping for two things: Firstly I hope I don’t get struck by lightning, Secondly I hope that the tree that I am under doesn’t blow over onto my tent as it is just upwind of me. Yikes!!!

Anyhow, the day was amazing; we were blesses with SUPER STRONG lift, a hard task to race through and great pilots to move things along. While no one finished the task (race course) due to a strong headwind, it was still super fun and exciting. I had a great start pushing out with a few other leading pilots, I then broke away from the group, made a low save on my own, got back to cloudbase, pushed a bunch of bar and somehow ended up out in front of the leading pack 2/3 of the way through the course in first place. At this moment there was only myself and one other pilot atleast 2 kilometers in front of the rest of the pilots. Andrew is a local here in Killarney as well as a Australian national team pilot, so her was good company. We pushed into the wind together and it was amazing fun. This did not last forever as a monster of a headwind and some strong sink drove us to the ground. After this a few (3) pilots flew over me and slightly further down the course. In the end I tied for second for the day with the lead points that gave me a bit of a boost.

Below are a few pictures that I took today. There is the stache which needs a trim, one of Killarney's lovely grass launches, a few landscape shots taken before todays start and a picture of Andrew as we lead the day.

Today was the second day of the Killarney Classic. Light SE winds were forecasted and a 67k task was set that would take us through a number of valleys and into the Great Dividing Range. I launched nearly first and took a boomer of a climb to 7000 ft. A few others accompanied me on this climb and we were able to establish ourselves high above the rest of the pilots that had launched after us. At this time we still had an hour to kill before to start of the race. During this time I hopped from the top of one gaggle to another maintaining my altitude and position above most of the other pilots. In the beginning of this period the climbs were strong, but as a high cloud layer moved in and shaded the ground the thermals weakened. For the last half hour before the start I managed to maintain my position; during this time many pilots got low and many had to land. Ten minutes before the start I transitioned to the top of the only high group of pilots. Coming in to this thermal just above all the other pilots put me in perfect position for the start.

Eight pilots and myself stayed high by working weak lift just before the start. When 1:45 came the race began but no one took off down the course line. Given the weak conditions and the prevalence of shade each pilot in our group waited for others to move down the course line and mark some lift. Eventually a few pilots made the move and I was quick to follow. We had a strong wind at our backs and were achieving speeds of 60 kmh flying at trim speed. We flew over one valley system and into another were we got stuck in weak climbs that we had to work for 30 minutes. Circling in zeroes or super weak lift was our only option as we drifted downwind. Eventually a number of pilots flew over the high ridge and into the next valley. Here I met up with Meredith and we, ahead of all the others, worked weak climbs to try and fly as far as possible. The ground had been shaded for nearly an hour and there were no thermals to climb in. We eventually went on final glide downwind and landed a few hundred meters apart.

I landed in a lovely cow pasture and was quickly greeted by 100 or so curious cows. After a quick chat with the ladies to ensure them that I meant them no harm and that I was surely not an appropriate suitor for any of them I was then able to pack my glider and walk to the road. Though we only flew 33 k and landed 28k from goal, this was apparently quite good for the day. Meredith finished 3rd for the day and I finished 4th respectively.

After landing we were quickly picked up by out trusty Canadian driver Alex. We then went on the complicated mission to find our fried and fellow competitor Brian Webb. On this journey we drove past the biggest snake I have ever seen!!! This is no joke this guy was a monster stretching 7-8ft in length. He was on the road so we stopped for a quick photo. He looked like some sort of constrictor, like a python but who knows. Most of the snakes in Australia are poisonous so I treated him as such.

In the end the day was fabulous. We had great flying, wildlife viewing, and amazing scenery the whole time. The Killarney area is simply beautiful. I will take some pictures of the area soon. I was expecting the flying to be super full on today as it was yesterday so I didn’t fly with the camera; in hindsight I really wish I had, this flight took me over some of the most beautiful scenery I have very seen from the air. The Killarney area is quite different from Manilla, it is one the edge of a mountain plateau; the woods here are jungle and the fields are a rich green.

Killarney Classic Day 1

Yesterday marked the first day of the annual Killarney Paragliding Classic an 8 day cross country race to goal competition. The conditions yesterday were strong and windy. I launched first before all the other competitors and got boosted huge in some really strong lift that took me almost to cloud base. The lift was fast, sharp and industrial strength, the conditions were full on and windy. My glider was surging and biting all the time and I really had to pay attention to keep her open. I took about 4 decent collapses in about 5 minutes trying to push to the front of the hill (I took 0 in two weeks flying Manilla). I was on the edge of my seat waiting for the fatal blow but it never came. At the start of the race I tried to push out onto the flats and get away from the strong winds but this was the wrong decision. Most all of the gliders that pushed out front got stuffed to the ground in strong winds and sink. When this was happening to me I dove back to a low ridge to grab a climb, this was again a bad choice. I missed the climb and was faced with a long glide out over trees so I made an untraditional decision and decided to land on the bald ridge that I was flying over.

In the end I made it a pathetic 1k away from the start cylinder, many pilots landed around this distance (though I was the only on to land on the ridge top). A hand full of pilots got away from launch on a good line and flew a portion of the 65k course, though a number of these pilots will get no score for breaking airspace regulations by flying too high. I believe 3 pilots made goal.

Today is another day and hopefully the conditions will be a bit user friendly.

Bingara Again! :(

Yesterday was supposed to be a high cloud base day with a nice strong tailwind. We were hoping that this would be the day for crushing some huge distance; I was looking to fly around 150-200k. The day turned out to be a lower cloud base day with hardly any tailwind and mainly weak climbs. There were clouds popping through the day but their lives were short lived as they would quickly evaporate just after they had formed.

I started the day with a strong climb out from launch, while many others were stuck low working a different part of the ridge. I then quickly hopped down a few clouds the North 10k to the end of the Borah ridge system. At this point I was all alone with only my friend Mark super low out in front of me. This was not encouraging so I waited for a few friends to catch up. After we all established in a group we pushed north spreading out and taking different lines. I came quite close to landing at this point but managed a low save just 100 meters over the ground. (Note, I wrote a monster of a blog post and when attempting to post it the connection failed, the above portion was the only part that was saved, to rest of this post will be an abbreviation of what I had previously written.)

The day was slow with light thermals, blue holes and a number of low saves. This was this third time that I have flown to Bingara but it was different from the rest, it was hard work. The other two times I flew this route, and most of the flights I have had here in general have been graced with good clouds and flying that was mainly high away from the ground the entire time. When you fly a cross country route and you stay really high the entire flight it is nice an relaxing with the feeling that you will never land and you have all the options in the world. A flight like yesterday that brings you close to landing many times brings out a different set of emotions. At times, low to the ground and almost landing, you feel desperate and like you have no options at all. On this flight a number of times I felt that I was using my only chance to make a low save and this is mentally stressfully, it is not relaxing at all. But, with these times come the low saves and with the low saves come a entirely different emotional wave. At times yesterday I felt SO HAPPY that I had found a climb, and so thrilled that I was not going to have to land in the hot Australian sun. This flight was different in character and subsequently different in emotion. It was more intense, more emotional, and more stressful. It was blssfull at times and almost manic at others. In the end it all worked out to be a great day.

I ended up flying 95k, Brian Webb flew about the same, and Meredith flew a personal best flying over the boys after they had landed and pushing on to fly some 120 kilometers! Congratulations Meredith!!!

Today I will rest and then we will drive to Killarney, 5 hours north. Tomorrow the Killarney Competition starts and it is going to be a blast. We are hoping for huge flights, fast racing and podium positions.

Below are a few pictures that Mr. Brian Webb took of me on yesterday's flight.

More Sending

So, the xc open comp ended but the flying goes on as it must.

The day after the comp had great potential and I left launch early with a few friends under puffy clouds and light winds. After 30k we reached the flatlands and it looked as if we were early on our arrival. The puffy cumulus clouds that we had ridden to this point now ended and there was nothing but blue skies ahead. Two other pilots and I pushed out onto the flats and the possibility of finding a good climb looked grim. Given this I maybe should have followed the main road but didn't. I pushed north towards some good looking clouds but simply did not make it. I landed on some property in the middle of nowhere, walked 4k to a farm where I met a nice elderly farmer and his wife. They offered to drive me to the main road but insisted that they had to have "tea" first. We had cold drinks and some snacks together at their house and after this they drove my back to the main road. This was a full on treat of genuine Australian hospitality. The flight was no where near the potential for the day, but that was no matter, it was great fun and brought me a huge smile that I am still wearing.

This monster of a smile stayed on my face all day yesterday as well. This day graced me with a personal best flight, I flew a monster 100k (62 mile) triangle, landing just 4k from my takeoff point. Meredith, Alex, Brian Webb, and JJ were great company through most all of the flight. There were many highlights throughout this epic 5.5 hour flight including cloud flying, great climbs, getting low in no man's land, and a final glide of 20k under a convergence line at 6pm. I posted it on xc contest and will try and post a few of my other good flights soon.

Today I attempted to fly a 80k out and return with Brian Webb, though it ended as little more than a good attempt. A strong headwind and and some sink drove me to the ground just 20k into the flight. No worries though, I am fully content, and still sore from yesterday's epic triangle.

Below are some pictures of the epic triangle flight, as well as two videos. I think the first video is best viewed for the first time with the volume turned all the way off. The second one was taken on the final leg of the 100k triangle.