Keeping Positive
Another day, another fight to stay alive. Oh, how tough it is sometimes to be paraglider pilot!
As the pilots of the competition turned their eyes skyward today, the mood was somewhat, well "blah". Torrents of rain last night again made the air full of moisture and with a lot of high cloud in the sky, the flying today did not seem particularly inspiring.
A task was set, pilots launched, and although nobody was rocketing skywards, everybody was staying up. After a few minutes of flying I joined a huge gaggle above launch and was proud to (eventually) be one of the gliders at the top, circling round and round, staying in a light and somewhat broken thermal.
One revolution later, everyone took off on glide while I continued to circle, somewhat taken aback at how quickly the comp gliders left the thermal and went on course. I stayed in the thermal for about 5 minutes longer and then decided to go on glide too as I wasn't really climbing anymore anyway.
As I glided towards Rabies Ridge (same ridge as yesterday), I prayed to god I would make it over. As I got closer, I was sinking, but kept the faith, and hooray! Made it over the ridge with about 100 feet to spare. YES! BRILLIANT! I AM AWESOME!
Well, maybe not so much...
Looking above at the much higher comp gliders, they were now playing in front of the ridge, and as there was nothing but sink behind the ridge, I turned around too. I tried working whatever was there out in front, but there wasn't much. So, now comes the hard part - I landed in a small field in front of the ridge. I didn't even have enough height to make it back to the main LZ.
I'm not mad, and not grumpy as I have been in previous comps - I'm just disappointed. It's hard not to feel disheartened when you give it your all, and it's just not enough. I also have to realize that I don't fly a comp wing, and I have to play my strategy cards differently than those who do - it's just a simple fact.
There were pilots in the bombout fields again today, but that gave me less solace today than it did yesterday. Now, it's personal Woodrat! Tease me with an excellent flight on a non-comp day, and now bestow your shittiness on me! How dare you!
This comp is starting to be a bit of a confidence shaker for me even though I'd say I've had a good flying year so far.
Thanks everyone for the encouragement - I kind of need it right now. Tomorrow's flight is for you!
As the pilots of the competition turned their eyes skyward today, the mood was somewhat, well "blah". Torrents of rain last night again made the air full of moisture and with a lot of high cloud in the sky, the flying today did not seem particularly inspiring.
A task was set, pilots launched, and although nobody was rocketing skywards, everybody was staying up. After a few minutes of flying I joined a huge gaggle above launch and was proud to (eventually) be one of the gliders at the top, circling round and round, staying in a light and somewhat broken thermal.
One revolution later, everyone took off on glide while I continued to circle, somewhat taken aback at how quickly the comp gliders left the thermal and went on course. I stayed in the thermal for about 5 minutes longer and then decided to go on glide too as I wasn't really climbing anymore anyway.
As I glided towards Rabies Ridge (same ridge as yesterday), I prayed to god I would make it over. As I got closer, I was sinking, but kept the faith, and hooray! Made it over the ridge with about 100 feet to spare. YES! BRILLIANT! I AM AWESOME!
Well, maybe not so much...
Looking above at the much higher comp gliders, they were now playing in front of the ridge, and as there was nothing but sink behind the ridge, I turned around too. I tried working whatever was there out in front, but there wasn't much. So, now comes the hard part - I landed in a small field in front of the ridge. I didn't even have enough height to make it back to the main LZ.
I'm not mad, and not grumpy as I have been in previous comps - I'm just disappointed. It's hard not to feel disheartened when you give it your all, and it's just not enough. I also have to realize that I don't fly a comp wing, and I have to play my strategy cards differently than those who do - it's just a simple fact.
There were pilots in the bombout fields again today, but that gave me less solace today than it did yesterday. Now, it's personal Woodrat! Tease me with an excellent flight on a non-comp day, and now bestow your shittiness on me! How dare you!
This comp is starting to be a bit of a confidence shaker for me even though I'd say I've had a good flying year so far.
Thanks everyone for the encouragement - I kind of need it right now. Tomorrow's flight is for you!
posted by Veronica at 11:32 PM
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