2011 Wrap Up

It's official: 2011 was my worst year of flying since my second year of paragliding. I logged under 10 hours of airtime this year and had around 10 flights total.

What happened?

A lot, fortunately and not. First, during the winter I didn't go on a flying trip, which is something I usually do and which gives me airtime for the season. Second, when I planned on attending the Rat Race in Oregon this year I got very sick and couldn't go. Then in July I went to the Canadian Nationals but the rain prevented any flying from happening. August I was busy with other things and now here we are in October where it seems the flying season is almost at an end.

I'll sum up my dismal flying season as a combination of bad weather, bad timing on my part and priorities elsewhere some of the time. It's actually a bit shocking to see less than one full page of entries in my logbook for this year though it all totally makes sense.

A few unfortunate events also kept me from flying less aggressively. Be it the high-profile deaths earlier on in the season or a fellow somewhat local pilot getting seriously injured and likely being wheelchair bound for the rest of his life. It sure makes you stop and think. It saddens me to think this way but I feel like I'm fooling myself if I don't. Paragliding is an amazing sport but god, anything it gives you can also be completely pushed out of whack if it rears its ugly head and takes from you...

On a lighter note, a friend of mine is doing exceptionally well flying tandems and I've been living a bit vicariously through her lately with her regular tandeming. I'm truly so happy for her - she's such an awesome person, friend, and a fantastic pilot. Her joy is contagious and it always makes me smile. :)

I think 2012 will be a better year overall. After volunteering on the local club's board of directors for a couple years, I feel it's more than the right time to get out and experience the non political side of flying! I've most definitely spent at least 10x more time talking about paragliding lately than I have spent actually flying. Next season will be different. I'm also hoping at some point to have a paragliding themed holiday and that the weather will be better!

Unless something unexpected happens, I can only assume that I won't be flying for a few months, so I'll sign off with an old flying pic from the Dominican Republic. This was from my first ever coastal soaring flight and was one of my longest flights up until that time, joined by more amazing friends. Love it!

2011 Lakeside Event

Last weekend was the 35th annual Lakeside Event in Invermere BC. I love this event - it's a spot landing competition where paragliders land in a kiddie pool with an inner tube in it and the hang gliders try to land in an inner tube in the lake. The weather is always great and the turnout is good too.

On Saturday morning the winds were already strong and pilots began to worry that the day would blow out. But loe and behold, the winds died down and as the organizers always joke, the forecast was bang on - sunny and hot!

After getting up at launch and taking off, I found lift immediately and started soaring around launch. It was amusing as I could hear a lot of the pilots cheering as I must have been one of the first to climb over launch that day. I didn't have a vario (I didn't want to get it wet by landing in the pool) so my flight was eerily quiet. I haven't flown without a vario for a long time, so flying along without those reassuring beeps was strange. I flew out into the valley and ended up thermalling in what seemed like 3 or 4 thermals somewhat connected. Without my vario I certainly wasn't the most efficient at thermalling, but I was able to get back up to launch height again.

My attempt at spot landing this year was nothing like a couple years ago - I didn't even come close to the kiddie pool. I landed probably 15 feet from it - boo! After landing, I had to call it a day. By then I had way too much sun for the day and couldn't imagine being up at launch again where there is little shade. I spent the afternoon socializing instead.

My boyfriend's first attempt at spot landing was better than mine, but he was not that close to the target either. On his second attempt however the winds had picked up and he was able to come in nice and slow and land in the kiddie pool with one leg in the inner tube! He ended up winning the event for paragliders - yay!

That night was a party with a live band and some balloons were released in memory of Dano, a past organizer of the Lakeside Event who had died suddenly this year.

The next day we went flying again and I had a nice little flight, playing with some strong thermals. I didn't fly for long as I was still feeling the ill effects of the sun from the previous day, but it was nice. The day ended with a nine hour drive back home.

I have a lot on my plate for the next month or so but I hope to find some time to be able to fly again in the coming weeks. The weather is mixed and not entirely favorable as seems to be the trend this summer, so I may opt for mountain biking instead but a decent XC flight this year is something I'd definitely still love!

2011 Canadian Paragliding Nationals Washout

A few days ago we arrived in Golden for the 2011 Canadian Paragliding Nationals. Two days before the event I had a less than desirable flight off Mount 7 but at least I flew. My launch was absolutely atrocious (wind was cross which still doesn’t justify how poorly I did) and in the air I didn’t feel comfortable. It was rough, the wind was from the south and I got sick of it quickly.

For the next couple days we didn’t fly. It was either cloudy or rainy and although there were small windows where pilots flew, it was mostly sledders in conditions that weren’t great. A couple days into the Nats a few of us decided to try flying Mt. Swansea in Invermere after the day was cancelled in Golden. The wind was on the stronger side in the valley when we arrived, but it looked reasonable.

Cycles on launch were strong but five of us managed to launch safely and we had nice ridge soaring flights for the next half hour. I started to get concerned when I noticed my groundspeed was only 5k, so I started heading out into the valley, worried that the winds had picked up there as well. Sure enough, the further I went into the valley, the more I could tell that it had become more windy there too.

At one point I hit some pretty funky air and my glider started oscillating and just acting weird. It was lifty and sinky at times but mostly the air started to feel like something was building as it started to get a little too buoyant (there were quite a few t-storm cells around us, but nothing too close to be worried about) so I made it my mission to get down safely.

At this point I was pushing full speedbar and only going about 5k’s forward. I kept my upwind heading for a while, pulling big ears, then doing a few spirals. The spirals were great except for that they pushed me quite a bit downwind and when I exited and went on full speed again, I was now going 5’s backward. This is when I started to get very concerned. I was in contact with my fellow pilots, telling them about my experiences during my flight, (most were still ridge soaring) but now I was worried that things were deteriorating quickly and that we wouldn’t all be able to get down safely.

I pushed full bar until I was around 200-300 feet off the ground, then I slowly released. My glider catapulted me backwards and I kept looking behind me to see what I would be hitting. There was another big field right across the main LZ field which was what I was flying over at this point but behind that there was a treed area.
I was pretty calm throughout the whole experience, just focusing on myself, my safety, and keeping rational. The last 50 feet was an elevator down but thankfully the wind was lighter there and I plopped down into the field unhurt. My glider immediately started dragging me so the “safe your life manoeuvre” where you grab a line and just start reeling your glider in, came in handy. The long grass left me unscathed.

Meanwhile my boyfriend was running towards me making sure I was ok (he had landed a few minutes prior to me by doing some bigger manoeuvres) and I was looking up at the three pilots who were still in the air.

Now they were all 1000 feet or less above us, but all were going backwards with their gliders flopping around. One of them was getting lower so my boyfriend ran towards the woods thinking that he would probably hit a tree, and I meanwhile quickly took my flying clothes off, grabbed my SPOT and first aid kit and started running too.

Now there was only one pilot in the air who I was watching closely and who I started following so I could help him when he landed. At first I thought I could keep up with him, but it quickly came apparent that trying to keep up on foot with a glider who’s getting blown backwards and downwind is next to impossible. I found my boyfriend a few minutes later in the woods and though he didn’t find any of the pilots, he had radio communication with them and all were safe.

The three pilots in the air landed a few kilometers downwind from the main LZ – four or five fields down from where we landed. They were incredibly lucky that there were so many landing options down that way and I’m still shocked that nobody got hurt. They also said that the air become much more buoyant than when I was flying and that not only had the wind increased, it was even more difficult to get down. I felt very lucky too, having another field next to the main LZ to land in, and I was thankful that I didn’t get blown into the trees that were only a couple hundred meters from where I landed.

This was a flight I could have done without. All of us were pretty experienced pilots but in paragliding, I’d say there’s always some sort of element of surprise. Maybe it would have been better to stay in the air and wait until the winds died, but I'm glad we made the decision to get down. With overdevelopment in the area, rolling the dice that way seemed to have worse odds.

Driving back to Golden after that adrenaline-packed flight, it started pouring. The next day it rained on and off as well and the competition day was cancelled again. We left Golden that day.

Today is the last day of the Paragliding Nationals and I’m sad to report that so far, only one task was flown. The task was tiny and nobody made goal. The conditions sounded marginal as it seemed like damp flying but at least the task was valid. Last I checked it was raining again in Golden so I doubt there will be a task today either.

Last week during the Hang Glider Nationals in Golden, they had two tasks, and again, this was between showers. The mood in Golden was different this year – I think pilots were pretty bummed about the weather and not being able to fly such a world class site. The mosquitoes this year were at an unreal level this year too, and I don’t think that helped lighten the mood....

It looks like it may clear up this weekend in Golden, so I may make my way back and try again. I’m sad that the Nationals will be over by then but there’s not much you can do. The pilots in the meet who stayed all week have my admiration – my patience wears thin when camping in the rain, being eaten alive by bugs and not being able to fly. In any case hopefully the weather will improve soon and Golden will once again deliver.

Back at it

You know why I haven't updated my blog for over a month? Because I haven't flown since I last posted, that's why! Isn't that awful? I was sick for a few weeks and that prevented me from doing really much of anything. But now I'm back in the game!

I drove out to the Fraser Valley today and tried my luck at Mt. Woodside. I was really surprised at the cloud development as I didn't see anything in the forecast, but nothing was overdeveloping, so I didn't worry about it too much. There was talk of a strong wind developing, but I don't think that happened until very late in the day.

In any case, I prepped myself today for flying in Golden and I had a really great 1.5 hour flight. There was a series of conjoined clouds which hovered over the ridgetop behind Woodside for quite some time, but it was really fun to get up to base, try finding lift elsewhere, then returning back to the reliable clouds - I like cloudsuck when it's in small doses!

The big family of clouds slowly started dissapaiting and cloudbase rose too. After purposely taking a shitty climb in the lee for my Golden prep, I thought it was time to try to go somewhere.

I headed towards the antennas to the northeast of launch and at first it was a little sinky with kind of average climbs, but finally I managed to hook a ripper (ok, 3 m/s) and got myself back up to base.

I skirted around the cloud band and got to Aggasiz Mountain where the clouds there were a little on the big side (you can't really tell from the pictures). I thought about flying back to Woodside, but instead I thought I would hop over to Cemetery Hill, see if anything was there, and if not, land at Harvest Market. The thought of crossing over to Bear wasn't really on my agenda - had I hung out for twenty minutes or so around Aggasiz Mountain, I think it would have been more doable, but heading to Cemetery Hill seemed like more fun rather than landing out far again. On the way there, I took some pics:

You can see Harrison Lake in the background - so pretty!

I found no lift at Cemetery Hill (nobody ever seems to) and landed at Harvest.

The grass was quite long and it was the ankle twisting sort - it kind of bunched up as you walked and I tripped on myself a couple times. After packing up my glider in the heat, I hitchhiked to get back to the where my car was.

The lady who picked me up was super nice and offered to drive me all the way to my car, but I politely declined, thinking it was too much hassle, and told her that dropping me off by the highway was fine. I thought I could use a little exercise. BIG MISTAKE!

My walk back to my car was more Golden prep - the mosquitoes were terrible! There was an absolute swarm of them following me, biting my shoulders and arms, and as I waved my hat trying to keep them away (so glad I had it with me), my arms burned in the sun. That was one long-ass 1.5 k walk!

I got to my car sweaty, frazzled, and with severe blood loss, and so thankful I made it back in one piece. Ha ha ha, an exaggeration, but I was done for the day.

I've missed paragliding these last few weeks - as long as the weather holds over the next while, you can be sure I'll have more flights to write about.

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On a somber note, I think it's important I mention the deaths of three paraglider pilots this past week. Everyone in the community, around the world, is in shock that two pilots at the PWC in Spain died on the same day and Xavier Murillo lost his life in Peru.

I had the pleasure of meeting Xavier last year in Golden and will always remember his funny yet appalling t-shirts, his infectious smile, and his overall charm. Xavier gave me some sort of DVD on DHV Certification which I've yet to watch, yet whatever the DVD is about seems of less importance now than who it came from. It will serve as a reminder of how fragile life truly is. Bon vol Xavier.

Fun in Pemberton

The day before yesterday my boyfriend and I made the trip out to Pemberton for the first time this season. As the west coast has been living up to its nickname of the "wet coast" lately, we saw a break in the weather and figured it was time to take advantage of it.

Considering it was a weekday, there were plenty of pilots out and about. When we arrived at launch, it was the first time it felt summer-like, with the sun beating down and pilots in short-sleeves (and even topless - yeah!!!)

I had a really nice launch - nobody was around and as I had set up quite far back to let everyone go ahead of me, I had a little ways to run. I brought up my wing, expecting just to kite it to the edge, set it down and wait for a cycle and then go. Instead, I brought it up and kind of trotted along, paused at the edge realizing the cycle was still good, and then was airborne. It sounds kind of silly, but it felt really magical.

The air was what I would describe as "squirrely" and is one of my least favourite types of flying conditions. It was the type of air that kind of swirls and seems to have a few directional components to it which makes it hard to figure out where you should and shouldn't be flying. There seemed to be an inversion at around 1450 metres and as I wasn't keen on flying above the peaks, I kind of flew in front where the thermals just didn't seem to get above that height and a south-westerly wind battle ensued. There also seemed to be some northerly winds higher up (which is not a good direction), so I stayed away. In any case, I didn't really like the conditions and after half an hour or so, headed into the valley.

Pemberton Valley, looking towards Lake Lillooet

Valley floor. Racetrack/soccer field is the LZ

I was at around 1000 metres when I started boating around the valley, and that was by far my favourite part of the flight. It was so smooth and lift was everywhere. The air was warm and I could smell the thermals as I flew through them; one from a nearby small fire, another from a farmer's field. The Pemberton valley was so clear, so sunny, so beautiful and without barely trying, I extended my flight by another 15 or 20 minutes.

First vanity shot of the year

Mt. Currie - so gorgeous!

My boyfriend ended up having an awesome flight - top landing 20 k's or so downrange preceded by wingovers with foot dragging to test the snow pack, and flying all the way back. He was the only one to go anywhere that day and although a part of me wanted to join him, a much bigger part was happy that I didn't go with him, as I had a good flight and flying in that messy air longer than I had wasn't my idea of fun.

The next day Jim from Cayoosh Adventures offered to lend me a sort of "hybrid" paraglider to test fly. It was kind of a cross between a light mountain glider and a speedflying wing - the Nervures LOL. I truly believe that the reversible harness, glider and front mount reserve combined weighed less than my paragliding harness!

I reversed off launch and when I felt a small thermal, turned the glider, much to my surprise, a lot steeper than I had intended! I let out a little giddy "woooo" and continued to try and thermal the light morning lift. It was a little early in the day for thermalling, so I headed out to the LZ. I opened the trimmers all the way up and felt the acceleration of that little glider - it was awesome! I really felt like I was going somewhere quickly - it was delightful and a really fun change from a regular paraglider!

After landing, we headed back up to launch for an xc flight but the stomach problems that I had experienced from the night before really started to kick in, so I opted not to fly. Although the conditions looked stellar at first - good cloud development, lighter winds, etc., it didn't last long and a nasty east wind developed and the clouds were not reachable. A handful of pilots did go xc, but not far and few made it back to the main LZ.

All in all, spending time in Pemberton was great - good people, great flying, and excellent adventure.

First 45 Mins of Airtime!

Last Friday I clocked my first 45 minutes of airtime for the season - hooray!

There was still some snow up at Woodside launch but cycles were strong enough to reverse, and even with my imperfect feeling foot, I was able to launch well and had a nice flight.

There were quite a few pilots out that day - around 25 or so, so I found it crowded at times, but I ran away from the crowd and was able to find my own thermals out towards the valley rather than closer to launch. It was harder flying that way, as the thermals generally weren't as strong, but I liked tuning into my own flying, rather than worrying about everybody else's.

After 45 minutes, the tips of my fingers were starting to get cold, and as I was slowly getting lower, I headed out to Jim's ranch and landed.

All in all, a great first flight of the season. No pictures unfortunately - my camera battery died, though I will be more prepared next flight.

Time for an Update

Five months ago I didn't think I would be updating my blog again until I flew, but here I am again, unable to resist the blogosphere. Did you miss me?

I had a somewhat traumatic winter, first by having my remaining wisdom teeth removed and then having by foot surgery and all of the fun rehab associated with that. I haven't been ready up until very recently to seriously consider paragliding, but I was finally somewhat ready to fly last week. Unfortunately the weather on that day didn't pan out as expected, and hasn't been especially reliable since. The next few days do look promising however!

I was looking through my old paragliding photos a couple of weeks ago, trying to find some good ones for a website. I noticed that quite a chunk of my pictures were missing, but didn't worry about it too much, as I figured they were backed up somewhere. Well, unfortunately for me, they weren't.

I have backup CD's dating back to 2003, but then I stopped backing things up on CD's and DVD's and went the digital route in 2008. After having my HP laptop essentially die (I vow never to buy another HP product in my life again), and then replacing my PC, somewhere in that kerfuffle, a full year's worth of pictures are gone.

I'm quite disheartened, as all of my pictures from Australia are gone, the pictures from my trip to France where I flew the Ozone Chabre Open have dissapeared, and most bothersome to me - my tandem training pictures went "poof!". That's the bad and sad news. The good news is that I still have this blog, complete with all of my stories and even some pictures that otherwise would have been lost. It may not be everything, but I do like to think I post only the best of the best photos here anyway, even as horribly amateurish as they often are.

The lesson learned is to back up your back ups. One backup is not enough, especially if you accidentally delete it like I did. Silly and unfortunate mistake.

I do hope to be flying again soon, posting here more often, and posting more pictures than ever before!!! I've missed flying - it has been SUCH a long time and I'm really looking forward to another season. My flying plans so far include doing two not-so-serious comps this year, which should hopefully be as fun and rewarding as they usually are.

It's good to be back.

The New Paragliding Fanatic

Wow, it's been almost two months exactly since I last posted something here. And that's exactly how long it's been since I've done any paragliding too.

There were days in the last couple months were I definitely could have flown, but I had my usual bag of excuses.

I still enjoy paragliding, and my enthusiasm for flying always returns when I travel someplace new to fly, or I fly in a competition, or I'm pretty certain I'll be able to fly some distance that day. But outside of that, on a daily basis, I find it hard to convince myself to drive two hours to fly just to fly. I think I have finally figured out why paragliding has lost part of its appeal for me: Challenge.

A flight with no challenge is a flight that I often find boring. It sounds terrible to say, with paragliding being such an incredible thing to be able to do to begin with, but if you've done something hundreds of times, it simply becomes repetition. However, if you are presented with a challenge, the task itself changes, as you start to analyze, calculate and define what it is you must do to conquer the challenge and achieve your goal.

I think this explains why I am not fond of ridge soaring, sleddies, or flights where I am restricted to the bubble infront of launch on days where thermals are small and weak. This type of flying is not challenging, or like staying in light lift, it's challenging, but in a highly redundant way. Similarly, I think this also explains why I am drawn to competitions - the notion of making goal is a challenge presented to you in the form of GPS coordinates your instrument is reminding you of every second of your flight. Your challenge in a competition is to make goal, but it's the final challenge in a vast array of challenges you will face on your journey to get there.

It's safe to say that as a person, I get bored easily and tend to entertain myself through childish antics when there's nothing to do on launch, or after landing. So I suppose it's carried over to actual flying as well. I purposely land all the time because I'm simply bored or I don't bother to go flying at all because I feel indifferent about the less-than-stellar-conditions - is that a terrible thing to say? Can paragliding be boring? Am I the crazy one when everyone else lands with smiles on their faces exclaiming how smooth the air was, how fun it was to fly for four hours, when I would describe my own flight as say, average?

I feel guilty for making a post like this. I am certainly not nearly skilled enough to say I have mastered any one part of paragliding, and that's what's causing the boredom, because I certainly have not. It's not that I don't have great flights and it's not that I don't enjoy the sport as a whole or am just jaded as a person. Although I can often sit and read for hours on end, I just don't get the same level of entertainment or enjoyment out of many paragliding flights. I know it sounds strange but I hope it's okay to admit that, even though I often feel I am alone in my sentiments.

I've made posts similar to this one in the past, just about how my feelings towards the sport have changed, so this is nothing new, although I think narrowing it down to thinking about it in terms of challenges, is. I had a good early start to the season, flying in Nepal, and having some great flights in Pemberton and Golden. Flying a personal best in Golden was especially awesome this year and I still get excited talking about that flight - that flight challenged me on a LOT of different levels, that's for sure.

For everyone who lands excited when I am not, I try feeding off their energy and try to share in their excitement, although secretly I envy and wish how I could be like them.

Perhaps I just need to find my own zen within paragliding again - that moment when you're just happy to be flying. And if my moment comes a lot sooner than everyone else's, I need to start accepting that too.

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I don't think I will update my blog until I fly again. It may happen in three months, or perhaps six. Or maybe before the year ends, an opportunity to fly will come my way. I would like to explore someplace new - perhaps Brazil? Perhaps Europe again? A new challenge presented by a new flying environment alone almost guarantees good flights when travelling.

No matter what the case, I wish my fellow pilot friends who are flying now, very happy, enjoyable, and challenging (in a positive way, of course) flights.

Lake Lillooet Acquaintance and Acro of a Different Sort

We headed up to Pemberton for a couple days to do some flying, hoping for one more good XC flight of the year. We used the upper Mackenzie launch which is just awesome! You could easily lay out 9 gliders at a time, 3 deep. Conditions unfortunately proved quite light, but most pilots got a flight of about an hour or so, slowly descending until the clouds blocked out the sun and the lift was gone. It was a nice flight, but the air felt quite fall-like.

The next day we went to Lake Lillooet to do some boat towing. I was looking forward to doing some acro, as this year I've done none. Instead, as I towed up, the weaklink broke when I was about 20 feet up, and after my glider surged infront of me, I tried to turn it back to shore, but didn't have enough height. So, into the lake I went.

I've never landed in water with my glider before, and it, well, it sucked! My harness was trying to drown me, which I suppose stupidly, I should have taken the foam out ahead of time. Meanwhile my feet were getting tangled into the lines and my flight suit seemed to be sucking up the lake around me. My boyfriend jumped into the water, and the boat turned around to help me out. Thankfully I was only about 10 feet away from the shore, so it was a fairly easy “rescue” that way. I think that unexpected dunk in the lake was more exciting than any acro manoeuvre I could have done that morning!

I had a lot of stuff in my harness and even had my glider bag with me, so everything got soaked. The rest of the morning was spent drying everything out, and right now as I type this my harness, glider and reserve are spread out across the living room. The silver lining is that everything got washed – my glider is now back to white and red, instead of beige and red. :)

As we started to drive home, it was absolutely howling, so my boyfriend suggested we go to the airport to check out the sailplanes. When we arrived, we looked at the different types of flights they offered and the aerobatics flight piqued my interest, so we both signed up for that.

I've been towed behind a vehicle and a boat before, but never a plane, which was was pretty interesting. Suddenly you have an object towing you that's travelling in three dimensional space, versus 2D like a boat or car. It was pretty cool. I liked watching the movement of the plane as it swayed side to side and up and down. We were released from the tow somewhat near lower Mackenzie (the paraglider launch), and started thermalling. It was very cool to do that in a sailplane – as a paraglider you often think that a thermal is pretty small and yet being in a sailplane with a turning radius maybe 10 times ours, we easily managed to stay in a 5 m/s climb.

We then headed over the valley and my pilot stalled the glider. The nose pointed upwards and we fell backwards towards the earth. With that energy, we did a loop, which was nice. I liked being upside down, looking up at the earth beneath me! With not enough energy from the loop to do another one we did some wingovers. The stalls, wingovers and loops were pretty tame to me – I didn't find them overly exciting, and I think paragliders are scarier when dong these types of manoeuvres.

We did some more of this stuff and the pilot then said he'd do a spin. Whoa! That made my heart skip a beat! It was a really weird sensation with only half the glider flying. We did maybe 4 or 5 rotations and then he pulled out. YEAH! I knew what I'd be telling my boyfriend to ask the pilot to do on his flight!

We came in for landing, which was interesting only because our downwind leg seemed waaaaayyy too downwind for me! I had a moment where I was concerned we wouldn't make it back to the airport, but that's only because I forgot for that second that we didn't have a lame glide ratio of 9 to 1 like a paraglider! We touched down beautifully and the flight was over. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for letting me use these amazing pics, Mr. Hemingway!

I think someday I'll get into sailplanes...but doubtfully in less than 20 years from now. I think it attracts an older crowd, one that's older than even most hang gliders! In any case, it was fun, and something I think I might just pursue someday.

Sweltering Heat at Woodside

Yesterday a friend from the States came up to visit, so I decided to do so some Fraser Valley flying with him along with another friend.

I didn't expect conditions to be great, and they weren't. It was disgustingly hot - around 35 degrees and barely a cloud in the sky. I hung out on the ground at Woodside launch for a while and didn't go until I thought I could stay up for a while. After launching I found small thermals just about everywhere but I couldn't get more than a two or three hundred feet above launch.

I briefly throught about attempting a low cross country, but the thought of having to ask someone for retrieve, even from the nearby Harvest Market, didn't much appeal to me in that heat.

So instead I bobbed around for a while until I got bored, landed, packed up my gear, and then just about passed out from the heat in Jim's barn.

Not a great day for flying, but a good socializing day anyway. I am missing Golden already - a short trip to Pemberton (mini-Golden) should happen in the next two weeks, weather permitting of course.

2010 Canadian Paragliding Nationals: Final Recap

Well the Canadian Nationals are over, unfortunately ending with some less than ideal weather.

The last few days of the competition mostly consisted of strong southerly winds, so I elected not to fly. My feelings were in the majority as almost nobody with a 2/3 and under launched during those days.

On one day we did fly but when I launched, about 20 of us sunk out at the same time. Thermals were small and with 20 people scratching along the same ridge – it was nearly impossible to get up. It was funny heading to the LZ – it ended up raining paragliders for about 5 minutes. Some people did end up flying most of the task that day, but those who did were part of the head gaggle who did manage to get up. The rest of us weren’t so lucky.

Here is a really well done video highlighting the 2010 Canadian Nationals. At the beginning you’ll notice my giggling with the girl asking me a question – it was just one of those times when you laugh for no reason with someone, so enjoy our giggles.

Canadian Paragliding Nationals 2010 from Blurry on Vimeo.

I don’t have any immediate flying plans although it would be great to go back to Golden for a few days in the next couple weeks. If not, I’ll head to Pemberton at some point. There are a lot of forest fires in BC again this year, so hopefully we’ll get some rain to clear the air out.

Canadian Nationals Day 2: Silly GPS Mistake

Today's task was 57 k's - fly from launch to Donald Station, to Moberly Peak and then land at Chris Muller's old place.

I launched at about the middle of the pack and found some climbs right away. It seemed to be inverted or something around 2500 meters and the winds were pushing in from the south. I was in a climb dribbling around the antennas when the start window opened. I was a bit confused at first why my GPS showed me to go back to launch, but by the time I was half way across the valley, only then did I realize that I must have flown outside the launch cylinder, thereby not tagging it. With the south winds being the way they were and not being very high to begin with, I decided that I didn't care that much about the task, and decided to free fly instead.

I flew out to Moberly Peak, but I flew in front of it, in the valley, instead. It was pretty amusing because I found plenty of great climbs there and I could see everyone struggling at Moberly to get up. I felt like shouting, "hey, look at me! The climbs are better in the valley!!!"

Then I flew downwind for a bit, just checking out the area. I thought about flying to Donald Station, but I could see that it wasn't as close to the highway as the tempting field that I had my eyes on, so I flew there instead. Total distance: 20 k's.

I'm a little disappointed that I made such a silly mistake today, but there's a bigger part of me that doesn't really care. I've never flown North in Golden before so that was pretty cool in itself.

It overdeveloped today and it looks like it might do the same tomorrow, but earlier, so I'm not sure we'll be flying. But if we do, I'll be readier than ever baby!

GOOOOAAAALLLL!!!! 107 K'S!!!!!!!!!!!

I will make this post short and sweet. Today was the first day of the 2010 Canadian Nationals. The task was to fly from Golden to Invermere with a total distance of 107 kilometers.

I found a climb off launch right away and did my best to deal with the rough conditions along the way. I didn't really get low until the last 20 kilometers which I really wasn't sure if I could make. I basically ended up having to ridge soar part of it and take really lame climbs, but it paid off!

I am so excited and happy. I had a personal best, I made goal, and I had my highest altitude flight of 4200 meters!

There are about 45 competitors in the Nats and I think around 20 made goal.

I've been waiting for this day for a couple years now and it feels great!

I'm gonna sleep well tonight! :)

Leonardo Flight Link

Pemberton Rocks!

Yesterday I got back from doing some flying in Pemberton, and man, Pemby DID deliver!

I was out there for a couple days with my boyfriend and a friend; the forecast finally looked good and the 30 degree Celsius temperatures finally made it feel like summer.

On Wednesday I managed to find a climb pretty quickly after launching from lower Mackenzie, got high, and headed northwest along the ridgeline. Climbs were chunky at times and there were some east winds to battle, but I had a good little cross country of about 20k’s. Last time I flew Pembie was on my birthday last year and I had a good flight then, and this one was pretty good too.

On Thursday I felt more comfortable with the area and flew to Coppertop Mountain and back. Total distance was around 45k’s for an out and return – not too shabby! According to my vario I got to 3200 meters, although according to Leonardo it was higher. In any case, it was a fricken awesome day. Climbs were to be had pretty much everywhere and although sometimes a bit gnarly, they were good and strong. I had to talk myself through some breathing exercises at one point, but that was also the point where I found a 5 m/s climb that took me the highest I had been that day. I think it’s pretty cool too when you decide to land because you want to, not because the conditions are dictating it. I barely thermalled on my way back to the landing zone on the flight – uber awesome. Leonardo Flight Link

The views are so amazing in Pemberton. The big peaks, the glaciers, the snow – wow. I didn’t have my camera with me for my second flight and although I really regretted that, at the same time, I just don’t feel comfortable snapping pictures when I feel like I should be concentrating on keeping my wing centered and above me. I think what matters are the images from a flight you can ingrain in your mind and remember forever.

I really realized that part of the reason why the second flight was so great was that I flew with other pilots. There were times when I was alone, but for the most part, I could always see somebody in front of me, behind me, and sometimes even below me, ha ha! That in itself always makes me fly further and gives me the confidence to try something new. On the first day I was left to my own devices half way through the flight, and especially when I’m not familiar with a place, my sense of adventure dissipates. Part of what made Thursday’s flight so sweet was flying with others, saying “hi” on the radio, and not only knowing where everyone was, but seeing them too. It can be a sort of monkey see, monkey do type of unspoken encouragement.

I had a fantastic couple of days, and I will make sure to head up to Pemberton again when it looks good. I’ll admit to anyone that I’ve become a bit of a flying snob over the last couple years; not flying because it’s too stable, too much cirrus, too far to drive, etc. But man, I’ll take one awesome flight over five average ones any day. The Fraser Valley is a nice place to fly, but I think Pemberton is a kick ass place to fly. It’s probably not half as consistent weather wise, but I think that’s why it can be so great there – similarly to Golden. I’d like to practice some more before heading up to Golden to fly in the Canadian Nationals in a couple weeks – hopefully Pemberton will soon deliver again.

P.S. This is my 200th post on my blog. I'm glad it's a happy one. :)

Lumby Air Races

Last weekend I went to the Lumby Air Races for the first time ever – it’s an annual fun meet for paragliders and hang gliders and is held in Lumby, BC which is about 20 k’s outside of Vernon, BC.

I didn’t arrive until Friday late in the day, and thankfully, didn’t miss anything. The conditions weren’t great, and the task that day did not end up being valid as nobody made minimum distance. Saturday looked much more promising and around 70 paraglider and hang glider pilots headed up to Cooper’s Launch and set up their wings for what looked to be a good flight.

Conditions at launch were good, and although pilots weren’t getting very high at first, eventually people started flying on course, and I got my stuff together and launched. The thermals weren’t particularly strong, and sometimes were a bit hard to follow, so it was nice having others in the air to figure out where the best lift was.

Our course was basically two small triangles from Cooper’s Ridge to Lumby Ridge, to Saddle Mountain, and then back to Cooper’s. From there, the task was to fly to Lumby Ridge again, then onto Satellite Mountain, Camel’s Hump, Cooper's Launch, and then land at Randy’s (which is where most people were camped).

I ended up flying the course quite slow, as I could see that it was a bad day to get low, so I took my time, and didn’t jam on the speedbar more than around 40% at any given time. For the most part, climbs were easy to find, although some thermals seemed to simply dissipate at heights that were quite low and then you had to move on and find another one, which again, made things a bit slow going.

After completing the two small triangles and making my way back to Lumby Ridge for the third time, lift was getting harder and harder to find, and I ended up doing quite a bit of ridge soaring. I was with quite a few other pilots, and everyone started hitting the deck one by one. I fought really hard to find something that would take me higher so I could make my way to Sattelite Mountain, but I just couldn’t get above 1100 metres. After playing around for about half an hour, and seeing that nobody else was going anywhere, I flew towards Sattelite for a couple minutes, then turned back to Lumby Ridge to land in a field by the highway for an easier retrieve.

Total time: 3:05. Total distance: only 16 k’s!!!!

Overall for paragliders I placed 8th, and first for women (not an official category at this comp, but I use it as a benchmark anyway. I should also mention there were only 3 women who competed). Not bad I think, especially considering how I haven’t been flying very much lately. Claudio Mota was the only paraglider to make goal and Sunday nobody flew the task as it was blown out. Results here: http://lar.pgcomps.net/comps/

Things I did right: I tried to stay as high as possible throughout the flight, instead of racing to the next thermal which may or may not have been better. I was very observant with watching other pilots and adjusted my glide angles, and spots where I took thermal climbs, based on what others did. I didn’t take the competition horribly seriously (like I usually do!) and just had fun flying.

Things I did wrong: I launched too late – I should have been in the air half an hour before hand. I think I would have completed more of the task had I done so. Also, even though I was low at Lumby Ridge, I should have tried to fly towards Sattelite, as other pilots mentioned that there was pretty good lift there. I’m not sure I would have made it there with any height, but perhaps I would have found a climb in the valley. I didn’t want an inconvenient retrieve, which may have prevented me from tagging more waypoints.

Cooper’s Ridge is a special place for me because I had my first thermalling flight there. It was cool to be back a few years later, and fly the same site again. I had a great flight on Saturday and I really enjoyed seeing everyone again. I enjoyed the Lumby Air Races very much and hope to be back next year.

Leonardo flight link: http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/340892