Practice Day –29th January

Woke up to a rather chilly morning in Valle, had a good breakfast at the Hotel, grabbed a taxi and headed up to launch about 15 miles away. Taxi ride $15 for two, not too shabby really. The road up to launch has been re-graded this year and it was a much smoother dirt road ride than any time before. Arriving at launch at 10:15 no one was in the air but the Norwegians had huddled together for their daily chat about what they were planning.

On launch I met up with a few old friends, had a brief chat and then got myself ready. We had been advised it was going to be dusty and it was but not as bad as I had thought.

The sky had high cirrus and I was worried that there night not be that much lift but I was wrong. At around 10:30 a few  folks got into the air and they were soon about 700ft over launch. I got my gear ready and setup in line behind Gilead and Doug.

Jeff had just launched but it was clear he had some issues. He was veering to the right and trying to untangle knotted lines it looked like as we could see a small tip deformation. We watched Jeff unsuccessfully try to get it out and eventually head out to land below.

Gilead, Doug and then myself launched. It felt strange to be in lift again with the wing pressurized and the vario sounding off indicating good lift. It was gusty and windy in places though. I stayed in the gaggle until just under 9000 and headed off to Penon. Flew to the bottom of the wall, no lift headed back to launch and up again and then back to Penon. From there I noticed some folks had headed over the back, others had headed out to Espina and beyond and there were a few folks left in front. I flew around for a while and saw Doug out in front. With no one in the Piano as yet and Doug’s first time landing there I thought I would just go join him. I headed out to join him and we were met with some strong wind, probably around 20mph in places. However we both landed well.

We radioed to see where Jeff was. He had hiked back up the front side to launch! . Doug and I had a beer and headed back to town. Jeff relaunched and flew to Jovan. Gilead landed at Sacamate. Mer and Dave flew to the lake. Dave Norwood however had a great triangle from launch to Pila to Agila and back to launch.

Happy faces all around today!.

Monarca Paragliding Open 2011 Travel Day…28th January

The flight from Seattle was leaving at 8:25am to Houston and then on to Mexico City. I had arrived home the night before after dinner at Matt’s Oyster bar in Redmond where I had my last real American meal for a week – a lovely rainbow trout. And it was fandabbiedozie!!!! Of course this meant getting back home to then pack! Fortunately, I had already looked out all of my paragliding gear and had it in one place. It’s amazing the electronic gear you accumulate over the years – Garmin GPS, SPOT Messenger, Radio, GPS/Integrated Vario, backup vario, GOPro HiDef Cameras (yes 2 this year!), Digital Camera, Rechargeable battery charger, PTT switch, laptop, IPhone (now an ITouch), Windows Phone plus all the needed chargers for all that stuff.

So now I only really had to get the clothes organized.  Glad to say the entire time to pack for the 10 days took a total of 1 hour. So all was good. LeAnn had graciously agreed to take me to the airport so we set the alarms for 5:45 and headed off to sleep at 10:00pm. Got a good night’s sleep at last this week. Work has been busy and a lot going on so I was quite glad to have wrapped it all up before I left.. at least I hope!

In the morning, I packed the car and headed off to the Airport at 6:15 with LeAnn silently tired in the passenger seat as I drove down. Normally not travelling at this time in the morning I was really surprised by the amount of cars on the road this early in the morning. Glad I don’t have to do that on a regular basis. However the HOV lane helps a lot when you have 2 in the car.   I arrived at the airport to find 3 of my 5 travelling colleagues arriving at the same time – Fireman Jeff, Preacher Dave and Hobbit Gilead. Wheelie Bob Dave was already in side and Duct Tape Doug had caught an earlier flight. So we were set. When I checked in I got the option to upgrade to first class on the Houston Mexico city leg for a bargain $79. This was a no brainer. With my paraglider bag I would need to pay for extra luggage but when travelling first class it includes 2 bags, plus you get lots of space, free alcohol and dinner!. Oh yeah. As I write, I am flying over the gulf of Mexico, no oil slicks in sight I am glad to report, and eating a medallion of beef and pork with rice accompanied by lashings of wine!

We had organized a 14 seat bus to pick us all up and take us to Valle upon our arrival so hopefully it will be there!!!

Well, turns out the Van did come but we had a bit of a time finding Doug. He was in a different terminal. When we did pick him up about 1 hour later there was a traffic jam at the airport and we eventaullay arrived at Valle de Bravo 4 hours after we landed. In any event. We are all here now. So tomorrow we should have a flight report.!!!!