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.!!!!

Chelan XC Open – Getting ready

The Chelan XC Open is being held this year from July 10th through to 15th in Eastern Washington. – see www.chelanxcopen.com It is setting up to be a top class event turning up to fly, probably because the PWC is going to be held there the week after. All of the top US pilots are going to be there.  I decided to go and fly this year  as I had some fun at Rat Race but the decider for me was that  I have never flown the flats! Yes I have been and flown the site many times over the last 4 years but never ventured onto the flats simply because there was no pre-planned retrieval. With 80 or so  gliders in the air I am hoping that I will be able to just get high and follow them to help me mark lift.

The weather is heating up though and the temperatures are going to be in the 90’s so dusties are my biggest concern.! I have viewed across the plains many  a time to witness huge column like snakes spiraling skywards. I am told that you can see them easily so they are easy to avoid and if you are 1500 above them all should be well. I hope they are right!

A couple of the Seattle crowd went early to fly, and just yesterday Mer and Wheeler flew from Chelan to Mattawa – over 70 miles! Phew. A long time in the saddle.

I few at Tiger to try and adjust my speedbar that has always given me trouble. Luckily, Matty was there who flies the same harness as me to point out that I needed to have the speed bar under the seat with the bottom loop protruding beyond the seat. Bugger. I had chopped off the bottom loop because it was to long and didn’t seem to do much! I guess Gin had a reason for that!!!!

Rat Race - Task 7 37km

Woodln – Mt Isabel – Cemeta – Dark Hollow – Donato

Today looked very similar to yesterday’s weather and we arrived on launch to find the same familiar conditions,  although there were more blue spots appearing in the sky and the wind was a little lighter.

The same task was called as the previous day when it was cancelled so there was little to do in terms of programming the gps. The free flyers and wind techs got up and the wind was strong in the vicinity of launch and especially if you got behind launch so the trick today was to stay out front.

Again they gave us enough time to launch and get established today although that wasn't going to be a problem! There was a lot of instability in the air and there definitely was going to be some big air out there.  As the time ticked by, the wind on launch picked up and it was important to pick the right cycle to launch in. It was clear there were a lot of pilots out there with insufficient ground handing skills in higher winds as many gliders were overshooting and taking frontals on launch. I watched on and chuckled to myself thanking the time I spend at Whidbey.

Windy Launch

With 30 minutes before start window opening I was in line and sitting next to Gilead on launch. He was still beat from the long task a couple of days ago and wanted as much rest as possible. Ralph was also waiting a little. About 5 minutes later I decided to go.

I took off and got high pretty quick and moved out across the valley. Today was a 3Km exit cylinder so people would be spread out. Getting near the edge at the start would be ideal. I didn’t think this was going to be a problem but the wind was pretty strong at around 5500 and it was slow going. Thankfully the instability made it easier to get high. The problem now though was staying out the clouds at around 6500. Looking ahead I could see gliders with Big Ears and others spiraling down over Rabies. I took a more conservative route across and kept around 5500. As I got above Rabies gliders heading out to Mt Isabel were sinking and I was on a nice glide path although it was pretty rough in places, especially under the edge of the clouds. I was thinking this was going to be a real easy day. I climbed to over 6k and headed off towards Isabel. Sink!. As I sunk along at 500 ft down I heard a couple of beeps from the vario and then pegged! Wallop!. Some big cloud grabbed my wing from above and took me skywards quickly!. Looking at my vario afterwards I went from 300 ft/min down to 1300/min up in a heartbeat. That was a rush but the wing was holding together well. I put on speed bar and headed for blue sky. Thoughts of Wheeler’s cloud spiral video came to mind for a second.

I got to the edge and continued on. Everything felt smooth the another wallop but this time I was falling. I looked up to see a small rectangular patch of wing left flying above my head about 6ft in length and I had swung out a little in front. This was going to be fun.  Both ends of the wing had folded in completely then bang out they came with the inevitable surge. I jammed the brakes momentarily as the wing flew forward. No problems. For once I didn’t seem to be nervous for some reason. Don’t know why but this comp I have felt pretty comfortable on the wing. Ok now let’s just tag this sucker and move on.

As I worked my way up the ridge it was my turn to sink. The other gliders that had been in front had turned back and were looking for climbs. I pushed on. With the headwind I knew as soon as I tagged it I would be flying fast back. I got to within 250m of the turn point and was too low in my estimation to make it out safely. I decided to turn back and found more lift. In retrospect this was my downfall. I could have tagged it and gotten back. But since it was the last day I wasn’t taking any risks.

My thoughts of flying quickly back dwindled as I lost even more height and wasn’t flying that fast. Oops. That was a miscalculation. I looked at landing options. oh oh. Everything was leeside. Stupid bugger I thought to myself. Only good option was the large field in Forest Gulch but this was directly in the direction of the wind and in a tight valley. However, the top of the hill was quite a ways up and I headed out to land. I didn’t get much turbulence as I head down to land but it was buoyant. I could see a flag lightly blowing on a house below and said to myself phew!. I came into to land and spotted power lines running alongside the field and then across the field as I sunk at 1:1. I spoke to myself saying keep calm Iain everything is fine. I passed over the lines and gave a sigh of relief. I moved forward into the field and came down gently between 2 trees.

My task was over and I had landed safe and the comp was over!!! All was good! I walked to the road and radioed in my position. 3 miles up Forest rd.

39 pilots made goal that day including Jeff Smith for the first time and Gilead for the 2nd. He has way more patience than me! Overall though I was pretty pleased at my performance this week and had a fun time in a comp for probably the first time throughout the week.

I left wanting more! Until the next comp folks Aw Ra Best!

Iain.

Rat Race Task 6 - Cancelled

Today it was looking to be a great day but when we arrived at launch it was pretty windy and just got windier. After a few hours the task was cancelled for the day and we all headed down the hill. So instead of blogging more about an uneventful day, here are 8 inflight pics from task 5 yesterday of a low save I made as I came into land to try and get the van back up to launch. Instead I was treated to a 8 minute ride to 5500 ft. Each picture is 1 minute apart.

Rat Race Task 5 - 49Km

Rabies Start 1K – Rabies – Flyair – Burnt – Squires – Rabies Peak – JVilleLZ – Dark Hollow – Donato

At last the weather was looking to be very good today for a longer task and they set one. Kudos to the task committee as it was a 997 point day – almost perfect! They also heeded the comments from myself and backup from Conrad and Rich Hass and gave us 1hr 20 minutes after the launch window opened to get everybody off launch and time to get established before the race started.

Everybody was getting high at launch for a long time but when I got to launch there was a huge sink cycle in progress. Almost all the pilots were sinking back down to launch level with the exception of a lucky few who had gotten over to Burnt to setup there. I decided to wait a little before launching. Good decision. Soon they were going back up and I launched. I got high pretty quick and decided to head out to Burnt also to set up for the start there. I hit lots of sink on the way over and decided to bail and head back to Woodrat to tank up. I arrived at my arch nemesis mid launch and had to work up from there again before the start to get high. However today I had that sucker nailed! Over the day I had to get climbs from there 4 times and all went really well. I found that you really need to turn tight on the ridge to keep on the lift band before the thermal let’s go near launch. All was good!

The race started and I headed out…Huge sink. I tagged the start cylinder but had to head back to woodrat area to tank up. the mid launch wasn’t quite working yet and I thought I would be better landing out and going for a relaunch. 15 others were of the same thought. I started to spiral down to the Lz to land but about 250 ft over launch i caught a thermal that I cored all the way up to over 6k! Oh baby…what a save! That set me in good steed for the day.

I tagged the Rabies first waypoint and got high and headed out to Flyair and back to Rabies again to tank up. It sure was rough in there in parts and I took a small collapse and at other points was getting tossed around the air like a rag doll. However patience worked and I got high again to transition to Burnt. As I thermaled up in the valley the lead gaggle were already on their way back from Squires. The were racing across the valley in a row and I was in the middle thermaling up. I was not amused when one pilot got object fixated on me and headed right for me. I had to eave the thermal to give me. Bugger him or her! No need for that at all.

It was a strong headwind and I arrived at Burnt ridge reasonably high but looked for lift. I found it got high and headed back to Woodrat to tank up before going to Squires. Arrived at mid launch again and worked it to get high.  So far so good!. Off to Squires and then over to Rabies to work the ridge lift band getting to Rabies peak. All was working well but now it was decision time. Do I get high at Rabies peak and go straight to Jacksonville or go back to Burnt and go from there. I decided to go back to Burnt as there were limited landing spots on the direct route. However, a lot of folks I spoke to later took that route and it worked for them. That saved some valuable time.

I headed back to Woodrat arriving at mid launch again and got high. On the way up I saw Ralph re-launching and he joined me for a short time.I headed off now to  Burnt to tank up and again big sink getting there. Found lift that got me to cloudbase and then headed towards Jacksonville. It was great being up around the clouds and soon the air smoothed out. This was the first time for me flying in this area..and I felt good! I got to Jacksonville not too high and could see quite a few gliders sinking out ahead. I passed over Jeff Speer and managed to get a nice little thermal that took me high. I let out a woo hoo as I started gaining height. I felt that today would be my turn for goal – especially since I had told Leann this flight was dedicated to her for her upcoming birthday. However my joy was short lived as the weak thermal died. I surfed down the valley for a few Kms and landed short of Dark Hollow.

The landing was fun! I picked a nice large yard with a house  that had a flag flying on it. Wind direction was not going to be a problem for setting up. I made my final approach and a thermal kicked off, wind switched and I was now flying very fast downwind. My wing was bucking and I managed to skid in to land only to get a big wedgie from my leg straps that then crushed my bollocks. Ouch!!!! That did hurt. After landing I looked up to see the retrieval van stop to give me a lift. Brilliant. I was tired but felt great I I flew pretty well today.

Looking forward to tomorrow. LeAnn’s birthday and hopefully getting to goal as a present for her!

Rat Race Task 4 37.1Km

Woodlz – Rabies – Rabies Pk – Burnt – Woodrat – Cemeta – Dark H – Donato

Today was a very eventful day for more than a number of people from  happy to frustrating and then to unfortunately tragic. The day was calling for overcast skies and a NNW wind of around  8-10 mph with stronger winds of around 15mph up at 6k. However it started to clear just before 12:00 and the task was called as the free flyers were already getting up. The skies looked to be setting up to be a wonderful day and I was looking forward to the day.

The launch window opened at 1:06 and the start was scheduled for 2:00pm. After a few days of only having just about an hour to get everybody off launch ( 105 pilots ) it is clear that the task committee need to allow more time for all pilots to get established before the race starts, at least 30 minutes in my opinion. I got off 6 minutes before the start and Rich Hass and Conrad both launched after the start!

I launched  in a flush cycle and got drilled back down to the car park before I got a screamer that yanked me up at over 1500ft /minute with a peak of 1700ft/min to over 5500 in a short time. By this time the race had started and other pilots who had established themselves well over Rabies were off and running! I didn’t top out the thermal and in retrospect I know I should have as it cost me later. I headed out to tag the start and got drilled in huge sink. I made the enter start cylinder at 1km radius and then continued on to tag the inner first waypoint at 0.4Km. However I was now low and needed to get back up so headed back towards Woodrat where I tanked slowly back up before heading back out.

As I got high I saw a glider take a collapse above Woodrat and enter a tight downward spiral. Ok, throw I said to myself..more turns…throw dude…more turns THROW for Fxxx sake…tighter faster turns...FXXXing THROW. By this time I was screaming at the top of my voice. I saw him pound into the hill side which was very steep. I was stunned! For this comp we banned all PTT miles and my radio was in my pocket that I could not get to easily as I was getting well worked in the valley. I heard a calm voice report that a pilot had gone down and then the emergency folks set into action. They didn't move off to the emergency frequency for some time so while you were flying you heard everything that was going on, It was unnerving. By this time I was still on course thinking that enough people would be able to help that were already on the ground and there was little I could do. I flew on and tagged Rabies and Rabies Peak and headed back to Woodrat to tank up.

However, I couldn’t get the vision out of my head of what had happened and decided to spiral down to the LZ. I landed and was an emotional wreck. I bundled up my wing and went and packed it up quietly and had a little quiet time on my own.

Jeff Smith was already on the LZ and landed for similar reasons. We met one of the ground rescue staff who asked if we could go up and help out. For sure!. We also found out at this time the pilot seemed to be ok, was talking and in not too bad shape. I was completely amazed and immediately felt relieved. We headed up to the top of the mountain where there were around 20 helpers. Jeff being a fireman immediately started helping out with the Applegate fire rescue team putting ropes and pulleys in place. Soon we were hauling the rope and bringing up the pilot. Many hands made fast work and soon we had him at the top of the hill. We carried him down to the car park where a waiting helicopter whisked him away to hospital. I was talking to him on the way to the copter and he was in good spirits and even making jokes! I wish him a fast and safe recovery.

Some of the frustrating things that happened occurred to Gilead and CJ. They made goal, Cj for the 2nd time this week and 2nd in 8 years!. However, their joy was short lived as they were within the start cylinder when they tagged it. Ouch! That must have hurt for sure hearing that news. However, once again the Seattle crew all did well making goal in fast times. Kudos to Ralph also for making goal at his first competition and he did it in a fast time too on his 1-2 sprint.

Hopefully today there will not be any incidents and we can all get back to having flying day.