Mixin' it up

Yesterday I needed a change with my flying. Two days ago I flew to Harrietville (I really need to start looking at my GPS for distances, but it's maybe 15 k's away?) and made some crucial errors along the way. The main ones included leaving good climbs and pushing forward too much, including leaving a 3.5 m/s climb at 2200 m. Doh!

That night I started thinking about SATs again and how maybe I should try one the next day. After talking to a couple guys, the next day I had a few attempts. Man, that was EXACTLY what I needed! That rush you get when start feeling G's and when you see the trailing edge of your glider when trying manouevers - it's awesome! I totally didn't do any proper SATs, but I didn't really care. I landed with a shit-happy grin on my face because that was such wicked fun. Where else can you feel a sensation like that? Paragliding, for it's ability to allow such variation in a 3D environment is something I can't get enough of.

On the evening sleddie of the day I did some big wingovers...taking a wrap with your brakes makes wingovers SO much easier. Anyway, I got them really big and then took a nice asymmetric which turned me 90 degrees, but was a reminder enough to take it easy. I didn't have a lot of altitude to play with, and although sometimes an unexpected reaction from your wing can be exciting and fun in itself, the idea of plowing into the ground is not something I ever want to experience. So, I need to pace myself again.

It's 39 degrees outside which is ridiculously hot. Instead of assisting the students with high wind work today, I stayed inside and had an almost 2 hour siesta instead. This Canadian gets overheated quickly, that's for sure. Amazing how quickly the sun can make you sick - literally less than 10 minutes of direct sunlight creates a waterfall on my forehead and makes me feel a bit woozy. This country is HOT!