Willi Muller XC Challenge 2008

Good thing I drove back to Golden yesterday! The conditions seemed so-so, but after waiting around on launch a bit, I got my ass in gear, launched and boated around Mt.Seven for a while. It was very difficult to get to cloudbase, although at one point I was a couple hundred feet below it. Everyone seemed to be struggling, as climbs were not consistent and semi-turbulant conditions didn't make the air especially plesant.

I was about level with Mt.Seven with I left for Pegley Arrow...I arrived there just above the cliffs as I was punching a bit of a headwind on the way there, and tried my best to work with what I had. Another pilot joined me (who was on an Ozone Addict - yeah!) and we scratched around for a while until I had enough of the crappy choppy stuff and headed back towards the main LZ rather than pushing forwards.

This decision I made was strategic for the competition; the Willi has different multipliers for different things: a multiplier of 10 for straight distance, 13 for an out and return with a return of 50% or more, and 15 for a full out and return. You also get bonus points for landing in at the campground. Sooooo...to make a long story short, I flew 11k's out and knew that if I landed back at the campground, I would have the same amount of points as flying 43k's straight distance! So guess what I did...

I didn't fly as aggresively as I probably should have, but considering most people didn't cover any distance, I'm happy with my normally laughable, 11 k out in return. I should say though that a couple pg pilots did fly 50k's+ which is pretty amazing, considering they didn't get above the peaks either. Today is blown out and tomorrow the forecast is for rain. The conditions change very quickly out here, so it's hard to say what will happen over the next few days. I was hoping to get some tandems in the mornings, but that hasn't happened so far. Anyway, I'm still positive, but I think this weather is starting to test people's patience!

Fatigue...

I think my body and mind have had enough of my travelling shenanigans...apparently a lack of sleep and eating shitty food are not a good combination and eventually catch up to you, surprise, surprise!

Out in Vernon I tented and for whatever reason kept on waking up at 6 in the morning every day. There was a demented rooster partially to blame, as it did its thing at sunrise but also liked to run round the campgound, brushing its wings against my tent - try sleeping through that!

Anyway, that combined with maybe too much sun and eating irregularly and not the greatest of food, caught up with me in Golden. I drove out there a couple days ago and that night slept like a log...the next day (yesterday) was sort of marginal in terms of getting any decent flying in, and after spending some time sitting in a vehicle in pouring rain on the top of Mt.Seven, I did a sleddie to the LZ once things cleared up, temporarily that is, as more dark clouds were approaching.

Last night, I felt progressively more tired and decided to take a "power nap". Hah! Almost 3 hours later, I woke up, still tired, and realized how exhausted I really was. A thunderstorm was approaching and the forecast for today was t-storms as well, so I made an impulsive decision, packed up my gear, and drove home late.

So, I guess you can only abuse your body for so long...sleep deprivation is something that catches up to me quickly and travelling so much kind of gets to you after a while. There really is nothing like a good deep sleep in your own bed - aaaahhhhhh - so driving home was so totally worth it.

I'll head back to Golden tomorrow morning, even though the forecast is kind of dodgy for the next few days. I'm not sure about doing any big xc tomorrow or the day after, but hey, if you're not out there, it definitely won't happen.

Half Way to 100K....

Yesterday I had a pretty successfull flying day...

In the morning I went tandem off Baldy and top landed on King Eddy, relaunched and landed in the LZ. Whoo hoo! Two more tandems under my belt! My launches were better and landings are coming along. Physically, my sissy ass arm muscles are preventing me from coming into land nicer...I put all my strength into flaring, and it's just not quite enough. Almost, but not quite...I guess I need to bulk up a bit.

After that a few of us headed out to Mara Lake, where I've done SIV in the past. I've never had the opportunity to go XC out there, so I was excited to see what the site had to offer in that area. I launched, played with some crappy thermals with small cores for a while, and then saw a pilot climbing better, so headed out to him. I got up to about 2400 meters and started my route to Vernon.

At one point one of the pilots was putting on a little SIV demo of his own over the trees, when his wing was surging violently and turned him round a few times. I was heading to that spot as I thought it would be a good thermal source, but after seeing him, I quickly changed my mind. I found out later he was on full bar and his wing just went ape on him. He had a good attitude about it though - after it happened we got an enthusiastic "Yee Haa!" on the radio, much to my relief!

I kept flying and flying, getting in deeper past Enderby and took thermals off cutblocks. In OZ I went in deep a few times so my comfort level in that respect, has definitly increased although I do my best to always monitor the winds and to make sure I have an escape route if I hit sink.




As the day went on, base lifted, and after climbing to 3400 meters, I thought I was high enough. Base was still 100 metres higher, but I was starting to feel a bit lightheaded so I glided towards Lumby and as the day was coming to an end anyway, I landed about 3 k's past town with another pilot - sweet! So, after 3.5 hours in the air, we flew about 51 k's - not too shabby!




I think I'll leave for Golden tonight after I hopefully squeeze in another tandem today - after yesterday's flight, I'm fricken tired, but feeling ready to tackle Mt.Seven!

Contagious Behaviour

Things have been going quite well over the last few days - I just finished introducing some students to the wacky world of paragliding during a 5 day course and I've also been lucky enough to sneak in a couple tandems along the way - yay!

Teaching paragliding is something I've always hesitated getting into; watching instructors have to guide students in on radio or work on groundhandling on a beautiful xc day has always been something I never envied. Instructors sacrifice a lot of solo flying time to teach courses, and although commercial tandems are similar in that way, at least you get some flying in. I've always more or less approached getting my instructor rating as something I had to do because in Canada being an instructor is a requirement for the tandem I rating, and that is most definitely my ultimate goal.

I kind of surprised myself by enjoying teaching a lot of the course. Seeing somebody who has no idea about paragliding suddenly be able to take off safely, fly and then land is really cool....especially when they land and are so stoked about their first flights. There's a powerful energy in that and it's very contagious...it reminds me of what I was like on those very first flights and how "getting high" for the first time was an experience for me that I will never forget, but that also felt so right.

I've done a couple tandems as well, which is what I totally get stoked about these days. To date I've done 5, and I just love having company in the air. Laughing and joking while flying is so much fun, nevermind doing it while the sun is setting, flying over pretty landscape. I sure need to work on my launching skills though! And my landings need a bit of work too, but that will come with more practice.

Looks like I'll soon head out to Golden for a few days for the Willi XC Challenge, which will be great. If the weather's on my side, my goal is to set a new distance record for myself. C'mon 100 k's!

Tandem Training

I bit the bullet a few weeks ago and bought a tandem wing which I’ll get to see very shortly, as it’s waiting for me in BC. Financially, it was like buying a used car and suddenly I had second thoughts about if it were worth it or not, but for various reasons, mainly commercial, I went ahead and bought my own equipment.

I ended up getting a small Advance Bibeta 4 – white and red, ooh la la! A lot of paragliding manufacturers don’t make tandem wings in small sizes and some companies haven’t updated their models for quite some time, which did make buying an Advance attractive. I did some research and the Bibeta has a good reputation too. I flew the Bibeta 3 when I did my training but at 42 square meters compared to my new 38, I’m hoping things will be a bit easier – mainly flaring. A combination of long brake lines and sissy weak arm muscles made coming into land a bit challenging a few weeks ago, so I will be ecstatic if there’s a noticeable difference with a smaller tandem glider. If not, well, I guess I’ll have to hit the gym. I can’t wait to see my new baby!

The end of July is approaching and I still haven’t flown Golden! Auuuggghhh! Work commitments combined with priorities such as getting my tandem training finished is interfering with flying at Mt.Seven, which definitely makes me sad! In a perfect world, I’d finish my tandem stuff in a week and head to Golden for the Willi XC Comp just in time. I find comps a great excuse to hang out with friends, get organized rides up to launch and get fed once in a while – and of course, the competition part always excites me too. I’m not counting on making it out to Golden in time, (so as to avoid disappointment) but if it works out, then sweet! Attending the Canadian Paragliding Nationals out in Chelan never was a viable option, so participating in at least one Canadian paragliding competition this year would be nice.

Not sure about internet access out in BC, but I will post pictures of my new glider and hopefully of very smiley, relaxed passengers, when I can.

Wicked Weather

Today the Calgary Herald's front page had an article on how a thunderstorm last night spawned twisters outside the city and how Calgary could expect similar weather for the next few days.

Much to my dissapointment, I didn't see a tornado today, but most of Calgary did get another wicked t-storm today:

As I saw the wall of clouds approach, I jumped in the car and drove to a viewpoint not far away and took these pics. Didn't see any swirling clouds, although some did look unusual... but hey, there's always tomorrow.

Smelly Paragliding Gets Own Link

No, I don't have too much time on my hands - in fact, I have WAY too many things to do right now, which is exactly why I devoted the last hour of my time slightly modifying my Smelly Paragliding post, and creating a special page for it. You will now see it listed on the right hand side of this blog under "cool links."

Yes, I will update the pictures on my blog one of these days as well, but that would require an amount of motivation which I just don't have right now. I do however have some additional witty comments and observations to write about, somewhat similar to Smelly Paragliding, which I will hopefully post in the next few weeks.

No plans to visit any exotic locations anytime soon which is a bit of a bummer, but my paragliding schedule does have me going west to finish of my tandem endoresment hopefully by the end of this month.

Playtime is over - back to work for me.