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Hell yeah!

Drained!

A fairly disappointing day for me today, I decided to go to Rainbow again with Keith for what we thought would be a relaxing fly. Once again we prepared with Keith crashing the evening prior at my joint.

We also teed up with Rainbow instructor James to do our intermediate exam so we could progress to the next license level in our hang gliding careers.

We cram studied at breaky after only a few hours sleep (we went to bed after 2 am). We also crammed on the drive up. We had both studied prior to this though, so felt pretty confident. On arriving we went to James's home and sat the exam. It was a lot harder than i thought it would be and i immediately wished i had been as dedicated to its study as i had been with the restricted exam.

It seemed to take forever and after it was finally over and we had gone over our incorrect answers we were totally drained. About 3.5 hours had passed! To be honest i really didn't feel like flying in the end and only decided to do so because of the distance driven to get there. Anyway we both aced the 100% part and passed the 75% part nicely.

We went to the blow and set up. Keith was first off this time while i slowly walked my wing down the dune to launch. Five minutes later and i launched nicely and started a slower climb than i was use to above the ridge. Keith got nice and high but i had real difficulty reaching the same level, until the last part of my flight which saw me get up. Later James said both Keith and himself had got convergence and that it was only a small window, and that's why i missed out. I wasn't even aware you could get convergence so close to the coast so have to look into that a little more when i get the chance.

Anyway i once again had extreme trouble getting low enough to land and once down asked James how on earth he can fly his 220 and land so well. I then asked him if he wanted a fly of my baby which he immediately said he would love to. He launched and did a circuit before landing and saying, "man your gliders flying so fast!" "that's why your having trouble pulling on the speed to land" So after a bit of hang loop re-rigging he was off. The first comment he made when he landed was "Man this thing's a sweet ride!" which made me feel awesome. Try it now he said.

With out going into great detail of what happened next with my launches i will only say one thing, I was so upset and pissed with myself. It involved some thing called the Rainbow Shuffle. The guys tried making me feel better by saying it was because i was not use to my new hang point and i was tired but i knew it came down to one thing. I rushed it. A mistake that saw my wing pull me over on top of it.

Anyway i got off in the end and flew out in what felt like a completely foreign glider. My base bar was way out in front of me and it just didn't feel right. I did seem to be flying slower and after a quick fly in the very fast prevailing light i started an approach. Keith said it was an awesome approach, as he and James were watching he could hear James say "he should be turning about now!" and as he said it i did it exactly at the same moment, as if i had heard him. Apparently the whole approach was excellent and i was able to pull the bar in more to get the right speed to loose height. At least i did something correct that day.

Now im not sure if i will keep the hang point there but will give it another chance the next flight i have at Canungra. Anyway after landing i just rested there under my wing thinking of my Rainbow shuffle and beating myself up. I was almost in tears. Its definitely not what i wanted to happen the same day i pass my intermediate test. James said not to worry about it and that he's pretty sure it wont happen again. He also said that the reason i thought i could get away with launching like that was because i got away with it on my last flight on my last trip up. Now that i do agree with.

Anyway we packed away on the dune in complete darkness with mozzies attacking us, stacked both the gliders on the trolley and slowly wound our way back through the forest to the car with a moonless sky. It sucked! We went back to James's house for a while then started our way home at about 7:30. Got home at about 11:00pm, Kieth flaked while i stayed up completely disappointed with myself and watched 'Poseidon'

Lessons of the day, Never fly tired or drained. Never rush, and always stay focused.

A absolutely epic day!

All up 1 hour

Well after countless wedding invites i finally got to go to my first
school formal. I had a sweet coastal schoolgirl ask me shortly after i took an order to make her a formal dress. My only prerequisites in accepting were 1. As long as she asked her mum and dad (especially her dad) 2. That i wouldn't be wearing a suit, as long as she was happy with what i wear to work then id be honored to be her date. She was more than happy with what i was wearing and said her folks were the ones who gave her the confidence to ask me in the first place. Here are some of the pics. It was at the Hilton. There were about 3 schools outside waiting at the time. Out of all the schools we definitely made the most spectacular entrance. As you can see we arrived in a very hot 54 Chevy with an 8 Harley Davidson motorcycle escort (very loud, especially because they started revving their bikes when we stopped to get out). We had hundreds of people cheering us. Jasmine's was by far the best dressed and was talk of the night, "Whose the guy she's with?" was probably the most asked question of the night, as well as "where did you get your dress!" "Awesome corset, wish i had thought of that" was another frequent comment. She loved the attention.

Well it was a long wait to go to my first formal but well worth it. Her
mum and Dad were so proud and took tones of pics of us which i am yet
to receive.

Rainbow Radness, the City of Sand!

Now I've been meaning to cut down on the amount I write per adventure but yesterday was something special. I've wanted to fly Rainbow ever since getting my wings, and after all the promised trips and talk about going, both Keith and myself decided to take the plunge and go ourselves.

I had previously spoken to Local Rainbow Hang Glide instructor James about a journey up. The night prior after speaking with Keith we decided to go for it. Keith arrived at my house at 10:30 that night so we could get an early start to the day and get ahead of the Irwin memorial traffic. Im also lucky that my new next door neighbour happens to be a weather forecaster for the Beaureu of meteorology, (sweet ey!) so a few reasuring words from Gordon and Shrek and Dunk..., I mean Keith and Ant were on another wirl wind adventure.

Once we reached the sleepy little town we contacted James who gave us instructions on how to get to the Carlos Sand Blow carpark. As soon as we arrived excitement took over and we decided to walk the 600meter track to where we would eventually set up. We were greeted by the most amazing sand dune we had both ever seen. It was massive! You really didn't realize how big it was until you saw people walk out to its center. At this point our excitement had deepened and we both started back to get our kit.

Arriving back we met up with James, A real nice, friendly easy going bloke who was more than happy to help out. We got to the task of signing up as new Rainbow members. Thanks again to Keith for paying my way. The past few days I've been resting my back, feeling like it was going to go at any moment. I decided to forego walking my glider in, incase I should throw it out before my fun actually began. Keith on the other hand was keen to carry his glider by himself. Now there is no way I could let a mate almost twice my age do that so I grabbed an end and shared the load. James on the other hand had the right idea and pushed his glider on a make shift cart he had made. Once we got there I borrowed the trolley and went back for my little Sting.

I was half way back when Keith ran up to help guide me through. Awesome little two wheeled cart! Keith now plans on making us one each. You rock man!! After getting back to the dune with all our gear it was time for a site brief as well as learning what we could expect from a 15-20 NNEastely. Once over we were left to set up while James jumped in his ride and walked down the dune. We were both left wondering now what do we do? and where is he going? and Is he coming back? In the end we were grateful with the way things panned out thus making us think for ourselves.

As soon as we were ready I helped Keith turn his glider around, which by the way is next to impossible with a 20 knot sea breeze behind your back. You literally bust a gut! Once around I shadowed him down to where James had headed. At least we could follow his footsteps. Half way down we saw him fly around the corner, fly up the far top end of the dune and float in to land. Hey that looked easy enough! Once Keith was down I ran back to my bird, jumped in, did a radio check and with keiths help turned around, I then took the reins and slowly walked through the rotary conditions before reaching laminar air.

Once I was with James he said he would show me his favorite launch site. He pointed to a lady walking just infront and said just run towards her. Hmmm... I thought to myself, think ill wait for her to move first. Once happy I took maybe 2 steps and I was rocketing up to the heavens at a phenomenal pace. Its been around 6 weeks since my last flight and I had the biggest grin on my face. I boated infront for a little while and once Keith was out began our ecstatic radio chat. One of the first comments out of my mouth was "hey man we can sit our intermediate exam now!" 'Hell yeah! I forgot about that!!" was his reply. Unfortunately we changed our frequency to James's 14 channel open. After about the first 5 minutes I got so sick of the extra radio banter that I ended up pulling the plug. We all just flew and flew.

The evening prior I had shown Keith a video of me doing some interesting tight turns close to the ridge at Beechmont. He had later commented that he suddenly felt his style of flying was pretty boring. He must have really taken it to heart because he stated to carve up the air like I've never seen him do in the past. He was doing almost every thing but looping! It was great to see, you could tell he was having a great time. Later James was heard to say "man that guys going to wear a hole in the sky!!"

After plugging my radio back together I asked James if we could go around the crescent of the dune. He said" you can try, I can pick you up if you land on the beach, but there is a retrieval fee"! " what's that?" I asked "A carton of beer" was his answer with a slight laugh. I boated around before I decided to leave the others and see what lay 50 meters round the dune. Feeling good I decided to try another 50m , then 100, then 200 then 500. Before long I had traveled about 2 kms round the crescent. I then had this sudden feeling that I might find it extremely hard to get back considering it was so north and I'd be hitting a 20 knot head wind.

I turned around to start what I thought would be bit of a battle. It wasn't so hard in the end. Maybe taking me twice as long to get to launch as it did to get to the middle of the crescent. Looking at all the different coloured sands was amazing! It was easy to see how the area got its name. Once back it wasn't long before I decided to try my luck landing. I pretty much did it in one go. I came in with speed and at the last second decided to elevate down from about 3 meters.

I went over and sat next to James and watched dare devil Keith tear up the sky. Later watching as he came in for a touch and go landing. We were certain he was going to over shoot and head out again but he some how set it down with style. We both laughed, whistled and clapped as he slowly started walking backwards flying the glider over his head. A few minutes later we were sitting and having an break. We talked a bit and James said we should practice some approaches while we were here. The comment was also made by James how difficult it was to get down low to even start an approach. I agreed in particular. Im not sure what it is but I tend to frequently fly higher than most. Now i know its not skill, because flying on a day like today doesn't take any. Like the rest I pretty much just let the wind take me. I put it down to my weight to wing load ratio. All day I was at least 200-300 feet above the others.

Being high is usually what I want flying inland but when your trying to land on a sand dune at a coastal site it can really suck. I would have to fly way out to sea before I even stated to loose height. Id then head back to the dune to start an approach. What was difficult was that as soon as I hit the dune id be shot up again by about 150 feet.

Anyway we sat a while before heading back out. But not before changing our radio frequency back to our Cunungra home club channel. We also gave James a lesson in tone squelch. May as well, He has himself an icom40s! No wonder he hates flying with his radio on. Anyway I was first off again. This time doing the laziest launch ever. Jay would have fainted. I ended up gliding sides ways down the dune whilst gaining height, it was awesome!! 10 seconds later and I was at about 1300 feet.

All day I was desperately looking for sea life in the ocean with out any luck. This flight I concentrated even harder. I finally saw a small dark object about 200 meter out. After staring intently I realized it was a HUGE! Sea turtle. My day just went up a notch (not that it needed to) and I started screaming to Keith to hurry up and get off the dune and check it out. Once Keith was in the air it seemed to take forever to point it out. I wasn't about to give up trying though, knowing it to would be a hightlight for him as well. I finally got him to see it. He was very impressed.

For the rest of that flight I practiced approach runs. At first with James on the ground. He gave me some advice by telling me to go further back up the dune before turning. He then jumped in and took off himself. I ended up doing about 10 dummy runs. Sometimes getting low sometime not. A lot of the times I had my feet dragging in the sand (BTW we decided to fly shoe less for the rest of the day) What a feeling that is! flying while dragging your toes through the sand, totally magic!

In the meanwhile I had a few people stop and watch me do this. By the 5th dummy run I had even more! And by the end I had quite a number. I knew they were all thinking I must be having trouble landing and they just wanted to see what was going to happen to me. It was soooo funny. Id just fly down after eventually loosing my height, get into hang drag my feet through the sand and fly off again.

Keith in the meantime was again carving up the air. This time even closer to the ridge. I eventually came in for a touch down, nice and close to where my harness bag and belongings were lying on the beach. I jumped out and took a few more pics of Keith in the air, talked to a pretty girl, then sat and watched as he too came in for a nice landing. Before our last flight James had said that we should land at the beach and he would get his wife to pick us up and take us back to our cars. But before flying Keith and I decided amongst ourselves that we would pack up where we set up.

Once we were both on the ground we chilled a bit, hi fived a lot! and eventually decided to pack up. We hadn't seen James for some time and thought he must have beach landed. What an effort it was taking our wings back up the top! We basically walked backwards with them flying above our heads the whole way.

One thing I have failed to bring to your attention is this little thing called sand. I cant begin to tell you what impact that stuff has on you and your gear. I expected it to get in my harness and though my wing but wasn't prepared for its full extent. It was so hard to undo my buckles because of the sand and undoing my carabeena was almost impossible. This stuff gets in everywhere! Radios, camera, sunnies, and everytime you go for a fly you literally have to dig your base bar out. I think today was probably even worse due to the wind blowing it around so.
Anyway towards the end you really can't give a shit and just pack it away with the rest of your stuff.

We Started a frantic pack up at 5:15 and walked my glider back first in almost dark surrounds. By the time we got back for Keiths wing it was dark but the sand along the path was illuminated enough for us to make our way back. We saddled up and went into town. We decided to have dinner at the Rainbow hotel. Afterwards we bought a six pack each for James as a thankyou for looking after us as well as he did. We found his street ok but found it extremely difficult to locate his house due to lack of house numbering and letterboxes. We got so frustrated I remember saying "what's with this place don't they get the mail?" We ended up ringing James and getting him to walk out in the dark street to wave us down. He then said that they don't have a mail run which made us laugh hysterically. Anyway we both thanked, hugged, handshook the guy before giving him his beers and heading off.

We were both still on our highs half way through our return journey. The other half we were just tired and listened to loud music. By the time we got back to my house it was 11 o'clock, we were knackered. Keith flaked almost straight away with myself a couple hours later.

An absolutely awesome day! All up 2 hours.

Frack I'm sore!!!

Coming Together Nicely

Well well well, Tuesday the 12th of July was my last flight and what a beauti! Firstly i met Keith at the Tambo bomb out, parked my car and headed up the hill in the little red Toyota van. On arriving we were greated by fresh winds coming straight up the face. There were a couple of Paragliders on launch and were readying to fly out to the open blue before conditions got to strong.

The first paraglider pilot who was obviosly the more advanced pilot had all sorts of problems getting off. At one stage lifting off to a few meters above launch before geting pounded back into the face. After a couple more dicey attempts he finally got away.

The next young fella who mentioned he doesnt really fly as offen as he should inflated his wing and fought desperately to get off the hill. You could see he was definitely having troubles and at one stage even seemed to stop going forward all together, instead taking a step backwards. After fighting it he ended up going forwards slowly but by this stage was going sideways towards the bushes. It was at this stage i sprinted down and gave him a helping hand and was able to give him the extra strength in a push to get him away.

Afterwards i began wondering if i had done the correct thing, but was sure id seen this practice done before. Later that day i dropped into Phil Hystek to let him know and was given the all clear, that if it looked like he was going into the bushes that it was probably a good thing. I also caledl the pilot later to appologise if i had startled him. He didnt even know i had helped him. He then thanked me for all i had done.

Anyway after setting up I jumped into my harness and was walked out to launch. This prooved to be my most difficult launch ever. The wind sock was blowing in every direction and at one stage i almost gave up. It eventually came good for a few seconds and i took advantage of my small window. I ran real hard and got away nice and clean.

Conditions infront of launch were shithouse and i got belted big time. There seemed to be alot of turbulance out front that after fighting it for ten minutes almost made me give up and land. Just before i did i cored a pretty sweet thermal that took me to about 3200 feet before i flew out of it, It was taking me too far behind launch for my comfort zone.

Keith by now was getting ready and after a few words of adice from myself on conditions launched as well. He flew quite well but on a few occasions got extreely low to the second shelf. So much so that i felt a little sick watching him. Before launching we both promised each other not to take any unneccessary risks so i felt confident he knew what he was doing. Unfortunately he made a wrong turn somewhere along the way and ended up flying to the bomb out after 15 to 20 minutes. You should have seen his landing! I watched from 3 grand above launch as he glided in on final for a smooth landing ritght in front of the wind sock, touching down perfectly on his feet.

After congradulating him i told him id like to get at least an hour in the air before joining him. Gliding above the ridge after breaking through and getting above the crap air was nice and smooth. I watched as an advanced paraglider launched and got messed around by the unforgiving conditions. I then heard him later say to a few of the other inexperienced para pilots that it probably would be better to stay on the ground. They were happy at the call and were content in watching us fly around.

After my hour was up i headed to the bombout where i made it with 1500 feet to spare. I flew around a bit longer before starting an aircraft style approach. I judged it perfectly and flew in for a perfect landing. Im not sure what im doing with my landings these days but its deinitely working in my favour (touch wood). After bleeding of speed i was joined by Keith who automatically congradulated me on a sweet flight, and that the landing was basically iceing on the cake.

We both sat and had bit of a picnic under my sting before i packed up and got out of there. We were both on huge highs from that point. After driving back up top i thanked Keith for another memorable day and started back home.

All up 1 hour

The Byron Bay Ninja

Yo finally! Flew a different site on Tuesday the 13th of June. Actually cant believe I did it at all. I woke up at ten to ten to the sound of a text. It was my mate Keith asking if I wanted to go down and fly Byron for the day. Normally I wont even go to Tambo at that late in the morning. Im not sure what sweetened the deal but I think the fact I had nothing else planned helped a lot.

I think I also supprised Keith by agreeing and after meeting at Nerang Coles proceeded to throw his kite on my car. Moments later Keith and Ant were of on another whirl wind adventure. Not knowing what to expect we had a lot of time to think about and discuss what might happen. On reaching Byron it wasn't hard to find launch. All I did was pull to the side and let a van with gliders on the roof pass by.

Once we found a park we jumped out and walked up towards the lighthouse. That's when we saw it! a ramp launch was something I didn't expect and I got a few more butterfies in my stomach. Im not sure why I didn't expect it, considering I've seen pics of it on Jonny's blog.

After making our way up we met Neil , Ashley and Marggi. All very nice and very helpful pilots. The wind was blowing about 17 knots at this stage and we waited a while to see a couple of pilots launch. We were also given some good advice from our new friends. It didn't look that difficult but even though we were both very excited we both admitted to being a little nervous.

After half an hour we decided to get our gliders and set up. Unfortunately the car was a ways off. I ended up dropping the gliders at the bottom of launch after mistakenly driving 100 meters back up a one way road. Oh well ill know for new time. We then had to carry our wings up a narrow steep path. After reaching the top I was completely nakered. I didn't even feel like going for a fly I was so out of breath and tired. I really need to start working out again.

Keith, a guy almost thirty years my senior made it look simple and went straight to work setting up. I finally got my shit together and set up myself in the narrow track tucked away behind the ramp. After hiding my camera and wheels, which for the first time ever I opted not to use I threw on my sweaty and got ready. We both watched as Neil launched with a tandem passenger and then we were told we could go anytime.

Seeing I already had my shirt on we decided I may as well go first. After putting on my balaklava I was given an odd look from one of the wire assists who instantly said I looked like a ninja. Fortunately for me the balaklava doesn't just keep me warm up thousands of feet by the clouds, but also stops my hair from being pulled out by my harness. With that in mind I decided to look a little different from everyone else and proceeded up the ramp. I guess Coastal pilots don't need the extra head protection considering they only ever get to a few hundred feet of the ground.

In the end im glad to have had the extra warmth. The winds were blowing at about 20 knots at this point and I was assisted out with 2 wire assists. It felt strange putting my glider on the ground without my wheels. I suddenly felt a whole lot taller as I put my foot on my cross bar to steady my wing. After giving the all clear Keith andwire assist 2 got behind me as I picked up the kite and took two strong steps and was away. Launch felt good and was confirmed by Keith who had also over heard a fellow local pilot giving me praise. (You rock Ant!!) The only mishap of the flight was that I had forgotten to check my harness cord placement and found the one lead I needed to unzipp my bag was down by my feet. Anyway after a bit of jitting around I managed to free it and was able to relax.

Finding lift was easy and within about two minutes I was well on top of the pack. There were actually a lot of people flying this day and being on top was a good way to stay away from the mayhem. A little while later I watched as Keith also launched and made his way up. The sea breeze was excellent and made for an easy, effortless and constant glide. After a while I decided to experiment and see how close I could get to the far edge of the cliff before turning back. This was where the surf hit the point and its deadly rocks below. It wasn't long before I had enough confidence to fly all the way out and over the treacherous image, at times getting pretty low according to Keith who was obviously keeping his distance. Flying over amazing cliffs being battered by the sea was something that I had always wanted to do. I felt very confident and always flew at a height that if I did suddenly hit sink id easily make the beach to land.

We were joined by a wedge tail eagle and a few sea hawks, they were more than happy to share the sky with us. A while into the flight a beautiful rainbow appeared out to sea, not having my radio to contact Keith I found myself yelling and pointing as I passed him on a couple of occasions. About 20 minutes into the flight it became really busy and after sacrificing precious height to do my point passes found myself in amongst every one. Oh well good practice I guess. It didn't take too long before I got on top again.

After the first 35 minutes I found myself starting to look at my watch. 45 minutes in I started to get very bored, although I didn't want to land without flying for at least an hour. To be honest I was bored out of my mind. Flying Byron might be great initially but it didn't take me long to realize that not much happens. That its only a very small fly zone and you don't have to be a genius to stay in the air. It gave me a whole new appreciation for Tambo and Beechmont. In the end I found myself counting down the last twenty seconds before doing one last wing over and heading out to do my very first beach landing.( oh yeah coastal flying is great for wing overs)

As I flew down I thought if I stuff this landing I think im going to have to give the sport away, or at least ill never live it down. I was actually suprised how fast I came in. It didn't look or feel at all like I thought it would after watching a number of pilots land. But then again being a country flyer im use to having the bar pulled in for speed. I actually judged the spot where I wanted to land perfectly and ended up landing without a worry in the world.

I stood on the beach still hooked into my glider for a few seconds before turning around and walking sideways up a narrow track to where the pull down zone was and where the cars were parked. Walking up the narrow parth with a set up glider while still being in my harness was quite an experience. Im sure ill get better at it the more I fly there.

After getting out of my glider I met up with a mate I've flown with at times at Tambo (UK Matt) and quickly accepted a ride back up to my car. Once back up top I met a few pilots who had just watched Keith land. "hey your mate sure over shot" they said. Shit! What's he doing down there I though. He only over shot by 100 meters or so. To be honest I think if your not use to the conditions it would be a very easy thing to do. The strange thing was we could see his wing tips fluttering which meant he was obviously packing up down there.

After arriving back below I walked down to meet him. As soon as we saw one another we laughed exstatically and had a manly hug. We spoke for a while before I decided to go and collapse my wing myself. I immediately formed a dislike for sand which seemed to get over everything. And I wasn't even in a sandy spot. I wondered how Keith was dealing with it, having decided to pull down on the beach.

After throwing our gliders on the roof we decided to go into town for dinner. By this time it was about 630pm. I spotted an Earth and Sea pizza restaurant I recognized from my dinners at Bulimba and that was that. We were seated in front of a warm fire and were brought over ice cold beers. We then reminisced, sent text messages to all our pilot friends (who turned out to be very envious) over I think the best pizza I've ever eaten. The staff at the restaurant were also excellent and seemed to be just as excited as ourselves over what we had just done.

Keith was happy and said we both out flew the locals. The locals were very impressed with our flying and wanted to know who trained us. Others there said it was the best flying day they had had in about a month, that it was perfect. So all in all it was a perfect flying day.

Thanks for Keith for getting my ass out of bed and for joining me up as a member of the Byron Hang gliding club. You rock man! Thanks also to all the nice Byron pilots who helped keep us safe. We'll be back soon i hope.

My new motto for life is as follow:

Live life to the fullest....
Work like you don't need the money
Love like you've never been hurt and
Dance like no one's watching!

All up 1 hour

A Sunset Soar over Tambo

Well Wednesday the 31 of May was my last flight i had. I met Keith in the Tambo bombout and proceeded up the mountain. On the way we noticed big Trev at the outpost cafe and asked him if he wanted a ride up. With great enthusiasm he accepted and we were off. On arriveing we met up with Jay (there for a tandem) Josh and another pilot whose name escapes me at the moment.

It was quite cold on this particular day and i made a quick call to add a sweater and pair of wooly mits to my ensumble. After setting up we sat down to wait for what we hoped would be our wind teck (Jay) to launch. Anyway it turned out he was taking way to long and in the end Big Trev hooked in and walked out. Now remembering some advice id been given ages ago, that if you see Trev launching then its on, i decided to get hooked in as well and follow him out. Trev ran off and i watched him glide a ways without loosing too much height before launching myself.

With stronger than normal winds hitting the face i decided to mimic Trevs launch and hop of the hill with only a few steps. I immediately started to climb and wasnt long before i was hooked into a nice thermal just out from the hill. At this stage trev had lost a bit of height and was now venturing out towards the bombout in the hopes of finding a little lift. I didnt last to long in my thermal and followed the big fella out to see what more i could find.

By this time Josh had also launched and was heading for the bombout as well. I messed around with a few bullet thermals but they were pretty useless. I headed for the far end of the bombout to loose height before starting my approach. At the same time keeping a watchfull eye on Big trev who was also doing the same thing. We both came in on final and Trev landed first. At the last few seconds i noticed the wind suddenly change to downwind. With nothing that could be done i just kept committed and landed just behind the big fella. It wasnt a bad landing considering the rapid change in conditions but it did bring back memories of how my landings once were before heading back with Lee to the training hills.

We both walked our rigs over to the pack up area. As we put our gliders down i said "who ever told me to launch when Big Trev launches is full of shit man!". Looking over at the big guy i pretended i didnt know he was there and followed by saying "Oh! hi Trev! enjoy your flight?" "Who told you that crap bit of advice" he said in reply laughing. We then watched as Josh came in for a landing. Big Trev noticed he flared quite early and quietly mentioned it to him when we were all resting under my open wing. He also tried giving him some advice on what he does when landing.

We sat there for almost an hour watching as Keith had one of the best flights ive seen him have at Tambo. He sure did pay us back for making him wait in the Bombout on our last flight. He flew really well. Josh at the same time was embarressingly on the radio trying to get other pilots whom we didnt even know to maybe come down and pick him up. I had a feeling that Keiths radio wasnt working when i radiod him, but felt i should keep him in the air for as long as he could, and not to let anything he heard coming from the bombout preassure him in landing to drive us back up.

Eventually he landed, not perfectly but well enough to be happy with his 1.5 hour flight. What made him even more happy was when i told him he probably clocked up enough time to also put him past his 25 hour restricted licence time.

We all packed up and instead of going to the cafe for lunch had to go back up the hill because Josh wanted another flight. Now i was a little pissed about this because Keith was to nice to say no to Josh, instead agreeing to drive for him on another flight. I didnt believe that because we bombed early that this meant the better pilot on the day (Keith) had to retrieve so i decided not to fly in principle. As it turned out Keith insisted and even almost begged that i go. In the end i decided to set up. I thought poor Keith could also feel better about picking up two pilots instead of one.

Once set up Keith said that he would probably go left rather than right but i had other plans. Josh was first off and went left. He didnt do to well and started sinking quite early. I launched straight after and turned right and stuck into the ridge. I climbed immediately and before long found myself at around 2700 feet. I soared up and down the ridge with ease before noticing i had forgoton to put my sunglasses on. Dam! i hate flying with our my glasses. Its not the glare and the sun that bothers me , its the wind and the cold air. 5 minutes later and i was crying like some one had taken my tonka toy as a two year old. I didnt want to land straight away because of the awesome relaxing flying conditions, so i just squinted when flying into headwind.

At one stage as i flew over launch i yelled to keith from abou 2300 feet " i forgot my glasses!" He heard me and walked to his radio. "Your kidding!" he said as he laughed. I flew the ridge for about 20 minutes before heading out to bomb. Josh by the way ended up finding a flight saving thermal and got up with me before following me out to bomb as well. I watched from high as Josh landed running forward and nose diving his glider in the ground. "thanks Josh" i said from high. "now i wont feel so bad if i do the same thing".

I did some tight 360 at the far end before starting my approach. On final i noticed the wind sock change direction again. I thought i had enough time to do a quick course correction and did so with ease. I didnt land perfectly but better than i would have if i had landed cross wind i think.

Keith pulled up shortly after and drove us back up the hill to retrieve our cars. He also mentioned how awesome my glider looked each time i banked. Apparently the sun that was fast setting would bring out the beautiful colours of my wing. He said that even though he didnt fly he felt honoured to be listentening to the crowds of spectators who had stopped to watch us soar. Thanks Keith i said with a manly hug, before jumping into my ride to head back to Brissy.

All up 40 minutes.

Im running a little low on gliding pics at the moment as well as wanting a change, so thought i would show you you Sam. These picture were taken over the weekend. Sam is the first to buy one of my new tight laced steel boned corsets for her Schools Semi formal. I think you would agree she looks awesome. Later lovelies!!

The Perfect Thermal

All righty then. Ive been putting off writting this little epic, but after just getting off the phone to Lee feel its time. I was a little dissapointed with a couple of aspects of the last days flying but Lee made me feel a whole lot better and put my mind at ease. Silly really, considering i class it as one of my best flights thus far.

Well Well Well, it all started last Monday when i went to Tambo for a fly. I had made plans with Kieth to crash at his house that evenning and fly the following day also. Getting to the hill was fine and i met up with Derk. After Derk launched Warick and Kathy drove up followed soon after by Kieth. The day looked awesome and we started setting up. Derk found it very easy to get on the ridge seeing that the winds were slowly getting stronger and stronger.

Unfortunately they got to strong and both Warrick and myself ended up not flying and packing up. But not before going to one of the top landing paddocks id not seen before for a look. It looked a bit dodgy but i think if you can land at Beachmont then the Long Road paddock shoud be fine. I think the fact it has a barely visible electric fence running through the middle of it was bit of a turn off but think ill give it a go one day.

As things turned out Warick and Kath stayed the night as well which totally rocked. I had taken what seemed my whole kitchen with me and later that night started on preparing a famous Singh curry. Im pretty sure everyone lliked it, but unfortunately Warrick found it all a bit hot and i thought he was going to die after the first bite (and i didnt even put chilli in it!). To his credit he finally got through it though, but not before a ten minute wait between bites for his mouth to recover. Anyway as it turned out it didnt get to much better for Warrick, he also wasnt able to eat the ice creams later for desert for fear the cold would hurt his teeth. Im actually laughing my head off reminising about all this. He did call himself a whimp that night (or fragile? cant remember exactly). But i think what he lacks in his dinning is made up by the fact he fly's exilarating Hang gliders. Something that is described by most as one of the most dangerously cool activities imaginable. Good on ya mate! and dont worry not many people read this blog.

Anyway the following day arrived and i was the first one to leave for launch. Arriving i was met by Josh and then soon after by my slumber party Buddies. Jay was also getting ready for a tandem. Soon after Lee and Kat rocked up and it was all one big reunion. I hadnt seen Lee and his fam for a couple of weeks due to Dalby Big Air and Inglewood. I also met the Managing director of the Hang Gliding Federation of Australia whom i had briefly met the day prior. We all set up and Josh was the first to launch. Kieth was next to follow and i think Warrick after him. I was lucky last.

Both Josh and warrick found it easy enough to get on the ridge, but unfortunately Kieth didnt last too long and started his approach to the bombout as i launched. Running off was good and i found lift immediately and thermaled a little in front of launch. I circled once then headed off to the right. It was then i made my first and only mistake of that flight. I turned to sharp in towards the mountain before getting appropriate height to clear any trees i may hit. After turning as sharp as i did i immediately new i might be in trouuble and quickly made the call to pull the bar in for as much speed as i could get and follow through with a very tight controlled turn. I pulled it off quite well but not before almost soiling my harness.

This has played on my mind for a while this week but after speeking to Lee was told i handled the situation extreemly well and its probably not something ill be doing again in a hurry. Actually he brushed it off quite easily making me think ive probably been over thinking it and building it up into more than it is. The fact that Josh immidiately got on the radio from above and screamed he thought i was going to die, as well as going on about it later that day didnt help either.

Anyway it took me quite a few minutes to compose myself and to get my heart rate down. I immediately hit lift and got to about 2500 feet in a matter of moments. The day was awesome and the relatively strong headwinds made for a pretty easy ridge soar. Not only that but there seemed to be alot of other lift around (thermals). Both Warick and i soared like legends and it was great to have the mountain to ourselves. We were also able to really talk over the radio with out fear of cluttering up the airspace. It was great to have a chat and help one another into lift and i was immediately reminded of when i hadnt had my license, watching, listening to other pilots flying with their friends, thinking how cool it would be to do that. Well now im living the dream. Ahhh shut up Ant! , get a life man!

Poor Josh stayed low alot of the flight but managed to get higher later towards the end. Im not sure what it was about the day but i ended up flying 1 hour 40 minutes before landing, and i landed not because i was tiered and uncomfortable but because i just though it was a good time.

Anyway a little after Kieth landed Kathy drove down to pick him up, but not before i said to Warrick, " hey if Kathy's going down would you like to see if we can go cross country and at least make the model airplane field?" That sounded good to Warrick and we both set our sights to getting as much height as we could before our arduose journy into the strong headwinds.
At one instance we got pretty close to one another at about 3 and a half grand. Warrick was the first to venture off the ridge a looked to be doing well before i decided to take the plunge. We managed to get out towards the bombout before i began loosing presious height.

I ended up getting extreemly low and had unzipped my harness to come in for a landing when i hit a little lift. I thought i had only just enough height to do one last circle and if i fell out then that was it. I was lucky enough to not loose any height and gradually started rising. I really worked that little thermal and within about 5 minutes had managed to core it beautifully. I went from being 350 feet above the bombout to almost 4000 feet above launch. It was a miracle save! Before launching i had put on for the first time a black silk balaklava in the hope it would stop my hair from getting ripped out by my harness. Well it did more than that! It also seemed to keep my face warm, especially when i breathed. It would in the cold atmosphere above act like a mini heater with every breath i took. A real good $20 spent there.

Once above the ridge i again decided to try my luck penetrating the Westerly. I did get a little further but i once more found myself in a flight saving thermal. This time i cored it like i've cored know other. I actually got into this turn where i didnt have to work the glider at all. I just found the perfect angle to bank and didnt move a bit. The glider just seemed to rotate by itself as i screamed up. It was actually the best thermal id been in (or i had just managed to core it better than the rest) It was a totally different feeling and i yelled over the radio that "this is the best thermal ive ever been in!" Unfortunately i forgot about poor Kieth in the bombout and i immediately heard a "shutup Ant!" come over the air waves. "Sorry mate" i said, "but it is!"

Anyway by this time Warrick had managed to do extreemly well and was about a kilometer or two infront of me. I decided that it was now or never and decided to pull out of my Perfect thermal before getting to far over the ridge again. I flew for a while longer before trying yet again to punch out. "hey Warrick" i yelled over the radio, "if you have landed and see me coming towards you talk me over because im not sure where im going". I was so commited to going on my first cross country i was a little disappointed when i realised it wasnt going to happen. Actually in the end i was more than relieved when i had made the decision to land in the bomb out.

Before landing Jay got on the radio form launch and said what are you two (Josh and I) doing? Are you going cross country or what? "Im landing" i said, "Im getting tierd of going out, loosing height then scratching my way to base again" and with that i found myself at the far end of the bomb out. I judged my height well and flew on my down wind leg of my aproach while at the same time unzipping and getting into prone. I turned just before the tree into final before seeing Josh do the same thing on the other side of the paddock. I pulled on the speed and gave a little flare knowing the wind was quite breezy on the ground. I effortlessly glided in for a perfect landing. What an awesome way to end an awesome flight. I looked around to see Kathy watching me and i was exstatic! Finally! Someone saw me have a perfect landing! And its a blue eyed blonde! Sweet!! "That was perfect Ant!" were the first words out of her mouth.

After landing both Kathy and Kieth went off to pick up Warrick, while both Josh and i packed up. Josh immediately called his girlfriend on the phone and organised a few thing with his work, while i just lay as stunned as a mullet shaded under my wing thinking of what an awesome flight i had just had. You couldnt wipe the grin off my face, and when seeing Warrick drive up and get out of the car it was like when Luke Skywalker saw Han Solo for the first time in 'Star Wars' after they had blown up the Death star. It was awesome! We had so much to talk about and we all immediately started reliving what we had just done. Even Kieth said "i may have bombed out straight away but hell! i enjoyed being in the bombout for 1 and a half hours watching you guys fly!"

Twenty minutes later we found our selve having lunch at the Outpost Cafe in Canungra. Half an hour after that we were back on Tambo. The other guys decided to go for another fly but i wasnt convinced. Knowing from previous experience that when i have had a good flight i should leave it at that. A little peer preassure from Warrick and Kieth and i found myself setting up once more.

Josh launched first and we watched as he went straigh down. Well i think this is going to be short and sweet i thought to myself. I was next in line but had to wait a while before going. The wind went to nill and even briefly started coming over the back. Eventually i got off. I headed the opposite way as Josh and managed to find a little lift but only for a few turns. I headed straight out to the bombout as i heard Josh say "now Ant i want to see one of those perfect landings ive only heard about but never witnessed."

I started my aircraft style approch with tonnes of height and noticed that the sock below was blowing East. This should be interesting i thought, ive never landed from that direction before. Josh in the meantime was giving us all kind of landing advice saying, "its not very windy down heare so you all better do a real hard flare."

Now its been a while since ive flown Velvet and i thought id have a bit of fun with it. To loose height i pulled the bar in real far and spiraled down real quick (probably about 6 tight turns). I thought what a great opportunity it would be to do one of those effortless Jonny Junior landings. I rode the base bare in on final and thought id do what Jonny does with ease but at the last second it all got a bit ahead of me and i stuffed it big time. I landed on my feet but ended up running and noseing the glider in. I felt like a real wanker and Josh managed to make me feel even worse.

Both warrick and Kieth came in for perfect landings thus leaving me wish i had stayed up the top. But then if i had stayed up the top i wouldnt have got to share in Kieths excitement on nailing his landing. Something he hasnt been able to do for sometime. Not only did he nail it perfectly but he also worked out as to why he's been having so much trouble. Well done mate!

After packing up we all got back to launch and packed our cars. After more congrats and hugs we all went our seperate ways. Unfortunately at the time i was still in bit of a bummer mood so i didnt enjoy the car ride home as much as i would have if i had not stuffed my previous landing. But im feeling a little better now and am focusing more on what a bought out of the day. I think i learnt more thermaling on that 1st flight than i did in the previos 3 put together, and my 1st landing was the best ive ever done as well. It was a perfect way to end an almost blemish free, almost perfect flight.

All up 1hour 50 minutes

The Highs and Lows of a Cobbler Peg Dickhead

Well what can i say! What a day i had yesterday. If there is any of my entries id rather you didnt read well this is probably it. Even though it did have its high lights the downers seriously out weighed them. Now i warn you its going to be long.

I woke this morning to the sound of a text i recieved from Kieth regarding wind forcasts from the bitch (wind talker). Being 6:30 i decided i needed more beauty sleep and instantly fell back into my deep slumber. Funnily enough i dreamed i was already at Tambo with a few of my flying mates. We were in a huge shopping centre style underground car park at Canungra (like the one at the brisbane myer centre), and Lee was calling me to get in the car "hurry up, we're going up the hill, it's on Ant , it's on!!"

Anyway before we reached the hill my alarm went off and i slowly dragged myself out of bed and packed my days rations and equiptment. 5 minutes after waking i got a call from Brandon, "where the hell are ya? It soarable at Beechmont!" "Holy crap!!" i said looking at my watch (7:30) "im on my way!" Just over an hour later i arrived at beachmont to find a few unhappy paragliders who were stuck on launch due to stronger that expected winds. Although it looked awesome from a hang gliders perspective. Where the hell is Brandon!

I was luckily enough to get reception and called Brandon on his Mobile and was told he would be back in 5 minutes. Being the only Hang glider pilot on launch i decided to set up and see who else would turn up. After Brandon arrived we chatted a while before about 7 other hangies arrived including Josh who i hadnt seen for a while. It was good to catch up and he commenced showing me his new "advanced" (he seemed to enjoy saying that word) glider. Actually it looked really nice and i looked on with envious eyes.

Soon after we watched as Cameron McNiel launched and decided to hook in ourselves. I was next to launch with Josh and Russel Ferrier soon to follow. Conditions were quite nice and we boated around for a time. Now before launching there was much talk about landing in the top landing paddock due to the strong winds that were coming up the face. About 15 minutes into my flight i noticed a sea eagle thermaling and decided to wander over and see how close i could get to it.

Now i thought i had been spoilt by my Wedge tail eagle experience! I was amazed at just how close the great bird let me get on my initial attempt. At first he was only meters benieth me and whilst banking looked at me with a piecing gaze. I was actually supprised at how big he was. I kept flying whilst keeping tabs on my new mate. At the same time listening to the other envious pilots saying "look how close that eagle is to Ant!" A few times i had to try lookind behind me to get a visual. The highlight of the flight was when he got so close to the nose of my glider that i was convinced his wing had touched mine. Later Russel said how even though he was a great bird he sure didnt know what he was doing in the air. His thermaling skills were crap. In reply i said "i have a feeling it was the other way around this time Russ, i think he was relying on me to find the magic air."

Anyway after about 50 minutes flying around i asked Russ what he planned on doing landing wise. "Good question Ant, i was just thinking about that". We radioed Kenny who was setting up on launch and asked for some advice. He said he'd been monitoring our conversation and thought we should be fine as long as we didnt go over with to much height and to not venture to far back passed the creek bed.

5 minutes later i watched as Russel started an approach and watched him glide in for a perfect landing. A few seconds later he radiod me to say he was down safely. But as he walked up a bit raioded there was serious rotor half way up and to set up for final well behind the dry creek bed. Reluctantly i agreed before watching Josh start his approach. I watced as he turned into final and was shocked at how his wing was rocked violently by the unsteady air. He made it ok and i started my approach after trying to loose some unwanted height.

I was doing pretty good and heard Russel say to set up behind the dry creek bed, that he would talk me in. I did so in an almost aircraft style approach but on turning into final was hit big time by rotor. So much so i lost much needed height. I had speed on the whole approach but in the end didnt proove to be enough. At this stage i was heading straight for the far bank of the dry creek bed. Now ive seen enough pilots in precarious last second delemers try to rectify with a last second direction change to know not to try. Hey! ive been there myself, so i decided to keep commited and stay on coarse. All the time knowing there is know way i was going to make it. I flew to the bank and before hitting tried to flare hard. Funnily i ended up with my glider on top of the bank in the paddock and my body in the creek bed.

I shook my wing a little after impact ot let Josh and Russ know i was fine. I finally draged myself up out of the gully and started what seemed to be a long walk back to the main gate. Luckily my wing was flying most of the time in the stiff breeze thus making my long walk that much easier. On arriving i threw myself down in an embarresing hump. You were doing well until the last minute Anthony Russ said. "Tell me about it" i said at the same time looking down at my footwear that was absolutely covered with Cobbler pegs. Not only my shoes and socks but also my harness, shirt, pants and in small sections my glider. Especially my material grip tape i have on my cross bar, there were literally hundreds on each one.. " Great!" i said in a huff, "What else can go wrong today, this is going to take forever to remove."

Anyway we watched as a coastal pilot Mat came in for final. He did quite well until the last few seconds when he lost his speed and hit a bit harder that he would have liked, seriously bending one of his down bars. Immediately Josh yelled you need more speed than that! Even though i didnt feel worthy enough after my last landing to dish out advice, I tried to comfort him by saying you looked great, that you did a nice approach, and that the only problem was the lack of speed at the very end. "Dont worry to much about it. I've done that heaps! You should see the bends ive put in my Down tubes ive bent!" I think that did help a bit and he started packing up.

Once both Josh and i got back to Launch we found extreemly favourable conditions. "Want to go for another fly Ant!" Josh said immediately. Well if i wanted to go for another fly immediately i wouldnt have just landed i said sarcastically but secretly rubbing my fingers whilst looking at the over head clouds. I let Josh set up while i said hi to Kathy and got a fix on Warrick. All the while picking the annoying cobbler pegs out of my shoes and socks. Kathy left to pick up Warrick and i was left to help Josh out to launch. Once he launched i immediately got envious and after hearing how nice the conditions were decided to set up again.

There were a couple of other pilots on launch but they were staying put on the ground while i quickly set up for my new flying adventure. All the time for some unknown reason more and more of the public were stopping for a gork (i think it may have been due to the public holiday). In the end there were about 35 people lined along the hill. One last toilet stop and i did a thorough pre flight check. I got in my wing and got another pilot to give me a hangcheck and assist me walking out. I remember him holding the nose of the glider down quite low thus preventing it from flying above my head. Once out i thanked him and picked my window.

I had a good launch but once in the air felt a little stranger than normal. Almost immediately i new what i had forgotton to do and my heart sank deep down into my stomach. Oh shit! i thought. I forgot to put my leg loops on. I immediately got straight into my bag and fumbled around looking for my zipper. Once found i zipped up tight and pushed my feet deep into the bottom of my harness. Luckily enough my harness has always been to short for me and on this occassion it worked in my favour, i wedged myself in nice and tight. Once i felt quite secure in my harness i thought wheater or not to let Josh know. It didnt take to long and within a few seconds radiod the news to Josh.

"Joshy Joshy" i said over the radio. "listen mate ive done something really stupid" (i remember a friend of mine say the exact same thing to Lee when he was ground towing and forgot to put his leg loops on and decided to use the same line) "I think im going to go straight out to the bombout and land". "What have you done" was his reply. "Ive forgoton to put my leg loops on" i said. "YOU DICKHEAD!!" was his response but to his credit he said "if you bombout ill pick you up". I said thanks mate ill owe you one. Josh also mentioned that we may both be bombing and that for the last 25 minutes he has struggled to get high enough to top land (to no avail).

Even though i was flying without the aid of one of my main safety devices i felt confident enough to try and get high for a top landing. I searched a while longer around Josh before heading to the right side of launch. I almost got up and after 5 or so minutes radiod "this i crazy, i think ill head out to the bombout now and land on my wheels Josh" "ok then" he replied. I headed straight out still with that sick feeling in my stomach. A few seconds into my flight to the bombout i hit a little lift. I made the decision quite quickly to try my luck again. I actually applied myself and used all my concentration. I decided to let the glider do most of the work and before long found myself at launch height once more. A few seconds later and with my vario still chirping i was at about 2250 feet. I heard Josh say over the radio "you'll make it at that height Ant!" But i was still not convinced. I managed to get another hundred feet before i heard the sound every pilot dreads coming from my vario. I quickly made the decision to head for the top landing field and soon found myself a third of the way there.

About this stage i hit a huge amount of rotor and was knocked around so hard that i was thrown into the direction of final, whilst only a third of my way out. I was also loosing presous height the whole time so think the reason for such a thrashing was because i hadnt had my bar pulled in as far as i normally would, I was trying to conserve height. I quickly got back on course and at this point i stumbled on my next delemer.

For some reason the top paddock was littered with cows. This isnt fair i thought to myself. I knew i was going to land the furtherest from the gate i had ever landed but still within the boundaries of the paddock. I saw a small opening between two cows and decided it was now or never. I remember seeing the cows stop chewing and lift there heads as i came in on final but they did not move an inch. At the last second i decided to fore go my wheel landing and get into hang. I probably got into hang about a second or two before i flared. I pretty much did the whole thing in one movement and i was amazed to have landed on my feet. I radiod Josh that i was down to his amazement. I also told him if he was still finding it difficult to get high to go to the right of launch and look for my last minute thermal. In reply he said "yeah im in it now. I should be there soon"

I looked over a few meters to my right and saw a stunned cow looking at me. I then looked a couple of meters to my left and saw another cow. "What the hell are you lookig at". "Yes i know im a knob" i said. A few minutes later while back at the gate I watched as Josh flew into final and screamed at the cows to get out of the way. He landed on his feet before haveing the glider nose down into the ground. Hey i just did that i yelled and proceeded to watch in total amazement as he decided to climb down the steepest part of the gully and walk throught he dry creek bed instead of walking around. Unbelievable i thought.

Once we were at the gate i said i cant believe what i had just done and hit myself real hard in my upper arm. "Dont worry too much" Josh said, " i launched and then realised i hadnt done a preflight". That made me feel a bit better but still didnt stop me from beating myself up. I remember Lee Patterson telling me that i punish myself to much when im not happy with my performance but think he'd be the first to give me a deserved clip over the ear.

Half way through packing up UK Dave radioed me to see if we wanted a lift back to launch. "Awesome! thanks mate." Once back i met up with a few of the pilots who had stayed on the ground. Mainly paragliders as well as the hangie who had given me a hang check and walked me out. He instantly came up to me and appologised for not asking me about my leg loops. He said he felt absolutely terrible. I told him not to give it a second thought that a pilot is always in charge and that it was my own fault.

Ive actually forgot once before to put my leg loops on, but realised at the last minute on my walk out to launch. The fact that i had my wing flying above my head at the time helped identify the problem because i couldnt feel the pressure around my legs when the wing lifted high. Unfortunately my pilot mate held it down hard this time makeing it impossible for me to realise what i had forgotton to do.

A bit later just before the sun sank I sat and watched Josh throw his zaggi around still pretty upset at what had just occurred. Soon after Brandon O'donnel came over to say hi and ask me about my day. Not a good question, and i let it all come out. From the Highs of my eagle experience, cow judgment landing and catching and coreing my last minute thermal when i needed it the most, to the lows of my Gully landing and my ever depressing leg loop story. I think he could tell i was quite upset with myself and procceded to say "dont beat yourself up to much Ant. It sounds like you identified the problem quickly and got on it straight away", Thanks Brandon.

I then got in my car and drove home before i was hit with yet another sickening feeling. I had just walked in through the door when Josh sent me a text asking if i had shut the gate at the top landing paddock. Im certain i did, and went into deep thought about whether i did or not, as well as thinking who was the last one through. I got myself so worked up that i had to call Brandon and ask him if he was still on the hill. He mentioned he was still around and that he would check. I havent heard back from him so I'm guessing all's good.

There's alot i can take and learn from todays events. Im still mad at myself and think ill always be, but thats probably for the best.

All up 1 hour 20 minutes

A Sleddy with the A Graders

Well i jumped in the van today and picked up my brother Jas before heading down to Tambo for what i was hopeing to be a good flying day. The last time i took Jas the wind came over the back just as i and a few other pilots were about to launch, thus making my debut fly infront of a family member a non event.

We got on the hill at about 9:00. There was know one there at all but once i started setting up alot of spectators stopped to watch. An hour later alot of pilots arrived and the hill was soon packed with people setting up gliders. Luckily i had a prime possition and launch was easily accessable if i wanted to launch early.

A few paraglider launched and didnt make it look to promising, but most managed to stay up in lift well out from the second ridge. The wind was extreemly light at this stage and i had a bad feeling it might turn and cancell the days flying yet again. It was forcast to blow east later that day so i knew i better hurry.

Once again there was a lot of procrastinating on who was going to be the first hangy to launch and Big Trev kept saying i should be the one. Knowing he only wanted a wind teck i laughed, stood my ground and socialised a little more before deciding id had enough and wanted to get air bourne anyway.

I hooked in and had Mic give me a hang check before manoovering to launch. I hadnt planned on launching straight away and think i dissapointed alot of spectators by sitting down under my wing whilst waiting for the wind to pick up. At this stage the wind wasnt blowing at all and even started blowing over the back slightly. I heard one pilot say i dont think everyone will get off today and i instantly knew my decision to hook in was a good one.

Once i hooked in so did a few others and i decided to run off as soon as a good cycle came through. Haveing Rangi and Rod Stead down infront throwng grass and kicking up dirt really helped and once the dust stopped blowing down the hill and showed an upward drift slightly i decided it was time. Haveing the A graders around me saying "only launch if you feel comfortable Ant" was a bit of a wake up call that i was going to have to sprint my guts out. I picked up the glider and ran fast from the word go. I got airbourne a little before the end and went straight out whilst both Rangi and Jas took pics.

I didnt bother turning onto the outer ridge seeing there was know wind at all, instead deciding to head straight out to the bomb out and hope fully find something on the way out. Thats where the paragliders were getting up and it didnt take long before i hooked into something worth going for. I hooked it right and started to gain height. I cored it nicely and heard someone say over the radio that the glider out in front (me) was thermalling well and to head out there. Man i felt good!

It wasnt long before i had Regi and a couple of other pilots thermaling with me. I got to launch height after thermalling for a few minutes and noticed a hang glider way benieth me. It seems like a while that i'd seen another glider from this perspective (actually only two flights) and i enjoyed it alot. I didnt last to much longer and fond myself heading out to the bombout looking for a miracle bit of air. I thought i found something and circle twice before deeming it to risky and setting up for a nice approach. I came in for an aircraft stlye approach but whilst turning into the paddock at the tree hit a last second thermal which made landing that little much more difficult. I eventually hooked it around and after gaining a bit more unwanted altitude found myself pulling my whole body through the A frame to loose as much height as i could at the same time gaining much desired speed.

I glided down nicely in the end and landed almost dead centre of the bombout. I picked my glider up and walked it over to the side just before Raef flew in for a nice landing. Once he came over also i asked him a few things about his flight as well as getting a bit of feeb back about my own launch. He said it was good but i shouldnt have pushed out at the last second. I was pretty shocked at this comment because i thought it was a perfect launch and didnt believe there was anything that could have done wrong. Anyway after what had been a good little fly was now a bit tainted.

By now over half the field was in the air and the other half launching quickly. There was a huge gaggle happening to the left of launch and it didnt take long before pilots started heading for the bombout. Once again it was awesome watching people fly in and i think i gained alot from the experience. I felt really good that i was in the company of Big Trev, Rangi and alot of others who have alot more experience than me thus confirming the tough conditions. Quite a few pilots that landed actually came up to me and said without and inquiry from myself what and awesome launch i had had and after me asking if i did anything wrong said no they couldnt fault it at all, thus bringing me up to my 'fly high' once more:)

Rangi showed me some photos he took of the whole affair and i was pretty happy, especially after he told me he would be more than happy emailing them to me. Everyone seemed to land well and before to long the bombout was littered with gliders. Jas drove in and we threw Jays tamdem glider and Russels glider onto the car before driving them into Canungra where they loaded up Russels car with their kit and drove off.

I had lunch with Jas while alot of the other pilots rocked up. I met up with Warrick and Kath and asked them if they had planned to go to Beechmont. We procrastinated a while before warrick got Lee on the phone who was on the beech and said the waves had white tops and that it should be good. Warrick then heard from Jay and was told it was looking good and that he was setting up for another tandem. I asked Jas what he wanted to do and in the end headed up to Beechmont. We arrived to less than favourable conditions with most of the valley cast in shaddow and the wind hardly blowing.

Phil hystek was on launch and Jay was all set up to give his tandem flight. I knew there was know way id be setting up unless it got alot better real fast and sat to play the waiting game. Half an hour later Warrick and Kath drove up and were amazed to find such a poor looking site. We chilled for another hour before Jas and i decided to leave and Jay decided to pack up, but not before telling Jas that if he gave him a bit more notice and as long as he only had one tandem to give on the day that he would take him up for a tandem as well. Happily and quietly Jas said "I'd be up for that"

It was good to sit on the hill anyway and was a relaxing way to finish the day.

All up 20 minutes.

Good Practice, Good times, Good mates!

I rose at about 7:15 today and started by doing my daily water and mueslie bar packing routine before a big flying day. I arrived at Canungra Cafe at abouut 9 oclock and met up with Trev, Brandon, Dirk, Juiliet, Nick, Raef, and a couple of other pilots id not met before, one named Dave who happened to be out for a flying holiday from the UK and who ill hopefully be flying with on Tuesday or Wednesday.

I offered to drive us all up as long as someone could drive my car down from the top once i landed. Juiliete, who i had only just met said she was there to drive for the day and it would be her pleasure. Sweet! so we loaded up my van with a record number of wings and started off, at the same time running into Warrick and his lovely girl friend Cathy who ended up following us up.

We were welcomed by light winds and it didnt take long for us to set up. Two days ago i had published in the national Soaring magazine a story i wrote about my Gliding course experience. So as you can imagine i recieved alot of attention and feed back. I didnt expect to much, thinking no one has probably read it yet and that id be safe. Instead i had so much possitive feedback i was almost overwhelmed and even a little proud.

Todays conditions were quite difficult and most pilots found it hard to know when to launch. It was the kind of day that was very hard to read and apart from looking at the obvious signs i decided to watch Big Trev instead. If anyone could call it Trev could. It seemed i wasnt alone, as soon as he launched so did most others. Although it didnt amount to much as we all ended up heading straight for the bombout. (apart from Trev who got high and went cross country, barstard!)

I must have been one of the first pilots to leave the hill and as i did so thought how nice it was not to be the last person like im so use to being, especially after helping so many others off first. I headed straight out and didnt find anything i thought worth going for so instead decided to concentrate on a nice approach and kick ass landing. I pulled off both of them! and found myself doing those really cool bleed off the speed runs after touch down landings.

I was so happy i could hardly controll myself. Ive wanted to land like that my whole career! Once again there were no pilots but two paraglider guys who were unknown two me. I pulled up to the side and threw myself in an exaused lump under the wing. I said to one of the punters " why am i alway so exausted? especially only after a sleddy! I was only up for a 10-15 minutes. I should be fine". In reply the punter said "its all the addrenalin in your system, it has that affect" "Actually i hadnt thought of that, your probably correct" i said in reply.

Being the first glider pilot in the bombout was great because i got to witness about ten other gliders fly in to land. Some quite ordinary and a few quite exceptional. Dirks landing was a little ordinary apparently, but i think he did quite well considering he was trying to set up an approach whilst trying to avoid hitting Brandon in his paraglider. After landing and whilst packing up, Brandon came and showed him some footage he took through the whole delemer. Dirk couldn't believe what he was hearing, "you mean i was trying to avoid hitting you while at the same time trying to avoid hitting the ground and you were holding a video camera and filming me!" Well he said something like that while every one else was laughing. So did we again as we remineised later that evening over dinner.

Half an hour later Juilete drove in followed closely by Cathy. I heard Lee Patterson say to his student he had come to retrieve that they were going to have another fly and to jump in the car. I then had a thought of a second flight and after putting it to my friends decided to go up again for another go. We all jumped in my car and drove back up the hill to much more favourable conditions. We set up in time to see Lees student who also happenens to be named Lee launch into a great cycle and get high instantly. This was extra insentive for us and we rushed even more.

I was the second one out after Dirk and thought i was doing well before hitting sink and flying out to bomb. My approach was good but i slightly miss judged my flare by a second and gently rolled on my wheels. Oh well cant win em all i thought. I met up with Dirk who said he had totally redeemed himself from his last landing and was now much happier. We watched as Warrick flew in nicely for a perfect landing thus also redeeming himself from the previos landing and then Uk Dave. Then we all stood around chatting for a while whilst still on our sleddy addrenalin highs.

A little while later Lee drove up with a couple of beers for not only him and his newly signed off student Lee, but also for the rest of us. Unreal! i thought to myself, how sweet it is to sink a cold one in the bombout with flying buddies. Thanks Lee that was awesome!

The girls drove up a few minutes later to join the fun. I was asked by Cathy if i had a girlfriend and after saying no was told she had a beautiful 21 year old daughter who she would be more than happy i meet. Im still not sure how to take that. I actually felt a bit strange at the time but in the end took it as one of the greatest compliments any mother could give. And yes i saw all her 4 children in a photo she had and they were all extreemly beautiful. Ive not seen their father but can safely say they definitly get their looks for their mum.

We went back to Lees house and had a couple more beers before going to the Canungra pub for dinner with the guys and more story telling. It was great and definitely beats packing up and sharing your days experience with know one but a boring computer. Ahhh, im sorry computer i still love you :)

Well done to Lee for achieveing his gliding license, thanks to the other Lee for his help and shouting the beers. Thanks to everyone for all their kind words to my article and thanks to all my flying mates for an awesome day. See you next time.

All up 30 minutes

Redeemed

I awoke today at 8:10 to the sound of my almarm beeping. I flew into action and started packing my pack with my ice cold water, fruit and muiseli bars. I immediately got a call from Kieth to give me the low down on gliding conditions as well as possible launch sites. Tambo pumpin he said, meet me in the bombout and ill drive us up and leave your car there. Sweet ill be there in hopefully an hour i said. Wishful thinking i thought to myself but who knows i might get lucky.

Lucky i got, i drove from Ferny Hills through Brisbane to the highway without getting one red light! "Sweet! Im on the highway, I'm in for a chance". 5 minutes out Kieth rings to say "change of plan, Lee will pick you up and take me to Canungra where he'll meet me and drive us up to launch".

Lee and Jonny both drove me in, all excited about what the day may have i stall for me. "Its looking good Ant" Lee said, "if you get to 5000 feet again you better go cross country". "We'll see" i said, "we dont have a driver and my car is in the bombout". "listen Ant" was Lee response, " if you go cross country I'll pick you up!" . Hmmm, i thought to myself, no excuse now, and as the other boys eyes widened as they looked at me i said "hey thanks for the offer mate we'll see how we go". I still had to make sure i got Kieth back up top before mid day so he could get ready for work.

Launch was almost nill wind but still coming up the face slightly. I still hadnt eaten, gone to the bathroom or had any liquids this morning and wanted to make sure i did all three before leaving the mountain this time. I mentioned to the guys that i probably wouldnt be ready for about forty five minutes or so. I got a bit of negativity from this statement and had Raith volunteer to set my glider up while i got to work taking care of my other concerns. Twenty minutes later i was doing a pre flight and giving myself a hang check before swinging my glider round and walking past the spectators to launch, just in time to see Raef run off.

There wasnt much breeze about and Raef did seem to struggle quite alot. I stayed sitting hooked into my wing on the hill for about ten minutes more before deciding that things werent looking like they might improove and that if im not lucky the wind would start blowing over the back. So i told Kieth who was behind me by this time that i was outta here. "have a good one mate" he said.

There was hardly any lift at all and all my scratching experience didnt amount to much on this day. I watched as Raef flew in on final and nose dived his glider into the ground. I watched and waited to see him get up and walk to the side of the bombout to see that he was ok. I flew for about ten minutes before i decided to stray out a bit more. I got a few bubbles but couldnt seem to make the most of them. I headed towards launch and noticed the wind sock was pretty limp. I decided on an approach that would see me come straight up the main paddock to land. Just at the last moment the wind sock started to blow south (i think its south) and i decided to change my approach slightly to fly into its direction. Id never landed this way before and was hoping i was doing the correct thing. It wasnt to much of a course correction, just a wider circle before final. But then i noticed it change again and decided to just go to my plan A landing.

I came in fast and watched as the ground came towards me fast. I looked straight ahead and waited for the correct time to flare. I chose my time perfectly and did a text book style landing, my best yet! It was almost perfect and i wha hoood!! with excitement. I looked over to see if Raef was watching but he was busy behind his glider doing something else. F%#K!!! i thought to myself, no one saw me again!

I put my landing down to one thing and one thing alone. Im at the stage where ive gotten quite good at flareing to late and have now work out that critical milli second that im about to crash. It's at that second i push up have every thing work out well. Actually if i flare even a second sooner it may even be better. We'll try for that next time.

I watched as Keith came in for a nose dive landing. He would have done quite well but forgot to raise his arms and flare hard, at least he came in with his wings level. I was and still am stoked with my sleddy run. If i land that well each time i dont mind bombing at all. Well maybe for a while that is. W e both Listened quite intently as Raef gave us some good sound flying advice as we packed up, and then headed back towards Canungra. I drove Kieth back up to Tambo before heading home myself. Great Day. Thanks to Keith for being my fly buddy for the day, Raith for all his advice and Lee for the generous offer to retrieve. Hoping to stay at his Kieths house a night or two next week and get a few serious hours up.

All up 20 minutes