Good Ol' Canada

Back at home at last... after 30 hours of travel and a most delightful 13 hour sleep last night, things seem back to the way they were when I left home 5 months ago; snow on the Rockies when I left, snow on the Rockies on the way back.


5 months!!! It shits me to think I was gone for so long! I kept busy today sorting through my hoards of mail which made me feel marginally important and wanted, although annoyed when I was unpleasantly reminded that you still receive bills even when you're away...at least I've got some fun XC mag reading to catch up on!


Well, my OZ experience is over, and who knows when I'll be back. I think Australia is an awesome place to fly and every pilot who can should try to get out there. Consistent conditions and a beautiful landscape make Bright especially enticing. Lots of positive memories of Mystic.

On other fronts, well, there's no place like home. After being away for so long you quickly realize how much your friends and family mean to you and how being away can be hard. Good relationships take time to develop and the difference between a general acquaintance and somebody you care about was quite apparent for me in OZ. But hey, life is full of lessons, and I've learned plenty this year.

My second last flight from Mystic was a really nice one; flying next to Mt.Buffalo was awesome and is right up there on my list of favourite flights. Besides being one of my goals before I left, flying Buffalo was just really pleasant. I miss paragliding already.

Goal Acheived: A Smokin' 130 Hours

A couple days ago I reached my slightly altered goal of having 130 hours airtime - hooray!

It's been flyable every day out here in Bright, but with all the burnoffs, it's not exactly the most pleasant flying...combine that with constant inversions and flying any kind of real distance has been tricky at best. My 130th hour was spent in thick smoke from a small fire nearby, only because I was positive there'd be lift there because I knew my 130th hour was approaching and I wanted to stay up. I think I almost suffocated, but hey, airtime is airtime.

Only a few more days in Bright - I can't believe I'll be home next week! The last couple weeks have been fun, but the closer I get to leaving, the more homesick I get - it'll be nice to be back.

Goal Acheived: Flying Feathertop

Yesterday after flying for 3.5 hours another pilot and myself flew to Feathertop and back. Base was just high enough, and we obviously stayed there as much as possible flying out. Climbs were decent and as we weren’t punching an excessively strong headwind at any point, it turned out to be a really good flight.

The views were fantastic – here are some pics:

So yes, a very nice flight with lots of cloud practice for me. I definitely followed the other pilot a lot on this flight, as flying out there on my own would be something I’d only attempt if base were ridiculously high and winds wouldn’t be an issue. Regardless, it was awesome to be in the air for so long and fly to a point I’ve been eyeing for the last couple months.

Today I had a bit of an off day, so I called it quits when I got to Pyramid, and then flew back to the paddock at Mystic. I’m not sure exactly what my problem was, but I wasn’t really into it today...I think when your concentration level starts to go, it’s time to land. It’s all good though – after a couple evening sleddies, I almost clocked a couple hours anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.

A few weeks ago I had the following (yes, somewhat unrealistic) goals:

Set a new personal best, fly over Mt.Buffalo, fly over Feathertop, do a proper SAT, and have 150 hours airtime all before I leave OZ

Out of that, I’ve flown over Feathertop, which could arguably be a new personal best, and airtime-wise, I’m up to 120, so quite a bit short of 150. SAT’s are something I’ve attempted many times, but just can’t lock into – I keep on almost spinning the thing, or I dunno, I pull out because they’re just spirals. Buffalo is a bit of a longshot at this point, but it could still happen I suppose. If I leave Bright with 130 hours under my belt, and have a flight come together like Feathertop, I’ll be happy. :)

Lazy Kung Fu Flyer

One of my fellow paraglider pilots mentioned the other day how during launching I have this sort of funny kung fu kick going on. I sort of knew what he was talking about but didn’t think too much of it until I saw this picture:

Man, combine the kick with that ninja mask and I look like the ultimate poser! It’s like “look at me, I’m trying to be cool!!!” I don’t think I did it before my ankle injury, but now have to be very conscious of my goofy Matrix-like move and STOP doing it!

Today I clocked another couple hours, spread across two flights. I think I’ve come to the realization that I am a very lazy paraglider pilot. Sometimes I just don’t want to go back to logical thermal sources, and so I don’t, and then I deck it. Like today – we flew from Mystic to Clearspot (only a couple k’s away), I got to base (okay, so maybe I went inside the cloud a little bit…), and then flew straight towards a spot where previous pilots got low and where there wasn’t any cloud whatsoever. Needless to say, there were no climbs, and I decked it at the airstrip where along the way I did some spirals and tried b-lining my glider (which was interesting as it went parachutal after my attempt).

So anyway, why the hell did I fly to a spot where it was obvious there was no lift? The answer: I felt like it! I get this weird excitement when I know the air will be smooth and with lots of altitude, I can have a bit of a play with my wing. And I kind of like just boating around in light sink, going here, going there, and then landing. But then maybe I’m wasting flights and costing myself airtime with my very passive attitude. Today I could have very well turned back, got back up to base at Clearspot, flew back to Mystic, and tried a different route. But I don’t know, after flying for an hour, I just wanted to have some fun.

So yeah, I’m occasionally the idiot climbs to 2200 meters and then lands! I need to stop being so lazy, ignore the ground suck, and just build up my endurance levels so that I quit doing stupid things after the hour and a half mark, which seems to be my “special” time as of late. Strange!

The weather looks mostly decent for the next few days – my new goal is to kick these two new habits (no pun intended) before my time in OZ is up!

Taco Flavoured Flying

After absolute shit flying weather last week, the weather gods seemed to have remembered Bright over the last few days and have provided some half decent flying days. Today base was surprisingly at 1950m but was fucking cold! It’s kind of funny when you’re flying up there and you start seeing your breath – I wonder if you can form your own clouds that way?....

I’ve happily clocked another few hours and just surpassed the 110 hour mark today – hooray! I was a bit disappointed having set a task before flying and not nearly finishing it, but at least I gained some more cloud flying experience and even the dark ones don’t seem so scary anymore. When I landed I very luckily scored a ride back up to launch where an end of day flight turned into a really sweet, smooth, boaty fly where I surprised myself climbing back up to base (albeit 1.5m/s at a time!), flying to Goldmine and then back to the landing paddock. It was pretty darn awesome!

I took this picture today and had someone in mind when I took it – definitely an inside joke. I've decided I have no shame in posting or saying things on my blog anymore because I’m sure most of you think I’m a bit of a cracked nut anyway, so rock on!