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Here are some pics

The top six
















Oleg and his prize money t-shirt





















Brett's glider short packed and covered in 1 inch foam.

Bitter sweet day.

Today made me realize that in life there is a lot of deja vu. There was just one thing missing. It was uncanny how this year was a repeat of last.

The first two days were windy both this year and last. I didn't make goal on the first two days. Then made goal the rest (although yesterday was a weird day). Sitting here in the club house drinking Red Bull and vodka just like last year.

I miss Chris, but I think that he is in a better place. My thoughts are with Vincene today. I hope that she is doing well.

It is strange. I thought that coming to Florida would give me closure. I don't think you ever get that. It did make me realize that life is short and that you need to make the most of it.

I thought about quitting flying last year, but I think that I like it too much. It is part of who I am. It is how I get away from the rat race of life. My glider this year is so nice. It is nearly tuned to perfection. All of my gear (except my radio head set) seems to be completely sorted. Something that is rare.

I am looking forward to going home and sleeping in my own bed tomorrow night.

I will post some pics that I took tomorrow of the award cermony.

Brett came 2nd! The rest of us Canadians are far down the list... haha

Final days

So yesterday, an out and return was called about 50 kms to the north. There were thunderstorms forcasted and so the task committee had a tough time decided what to do for us.

It was another day of waiting at the start gate for over 30 minutes. The French were at their best and tried to jump the line early. The organizers finally put their "feet" down and told them to move them back.

The lift was light at times and strong at times. Getting to the turn point was easy as long as you stayed high. On my way to the turnpoint, I met the lead gaggle at 4.4 kms. So they were 8.8 kms ahead of me. As I rounded the turnpoint, the sky started to get dark. It got darker and darker and the lift started to shut off.

About 40 kms to goal, I pulled on full VG and went on glide hoping to find some remaining lift or buoyant air. I met up with Dustin Martin and Chris Smith. We climbed in 100 up as long as we could and then went on long glides. We found buoyant areas. Thermalling at full VG was kinda cool and allowed me to out climb both of them.

We all basically made it to within 19kms of goal. Much closer than I thought we would have made it. There was lightning and rain to our west, maybe 10 kms away. I kept thinking I should land, but the others were still in the air, so I thought it was ok. haha, they were all thinking the same thing.

As I was packing up, the gust front hit. It went from no wind to about 15 km/hour. Kind of a pathetic gust front by Alberta standards.

Today, no task was called as the weather was unpredictable. The wind was also strong and would push us to an area where there was a 50% chance of Thundershowers / tornadoes.

More later.

Another slow day

The forecast today was for a typical good Florida day. The task committee decided on an 80 mile task around the swamp. Something we seem to do at least once a year.

It is so funny, I went around today giving advice to people who haven't flown here about how soft the lift gets to the south and to not get low around the second and third turnpoints. You would think that I would heed my own advice.

I started well. Keeping up and then for some odd reason, I decided to get low and pull one up from 450ft off the ground after rounding the second turnpoint. Spent 30 minutes grovelling and finally getting to cloud base. Now that I was late, I didn't want to push, but in the back of my mind, I knew I had to in order to beat the sea breeze from the west. The sea breeze kills all the lift.

As I was flying near cloud base, gliding at about 65 km/h, this T2 (John Haywood) goes wizzing past me (below me) going about 80 km/h. I was like what the hell is he doing? I looked west an realized that the sea breeze had already over taken the turn point that we needed to get to. I stuffed the bar and followed him. We round the turnpoint (I get only a single track point in the circle) and zip east toward the remaining clouds. We glide nearly to the deck (about 10 kms) and John finds some lift at about 850ft off the ground. Lucky for me, I am about 300 ft higher than him and find better lift. Soon, I am at 7000ft with a 9.5:1 glide into goal. John was about 3000 ft below me unable to find the core that I had found.

I point the glider east and head for goal about 20kms out. I knew that I was way too high, but didn't want to take any chances of not making it in. Sure enough, I hit a bunch of lift and come into goal on the moon 2000 ft above ground. Tired and happy to have made it, I land on my belly as I flared like a pansy.

Brett was 5th today and Mark was the last one to goal barely making it in. Good job by all. Scott was with Mark, but fell out of the bottom of the thermal about 10 miles out. Not sure where Rob ended up, but he nearly had a mid air with Glen Volk at the start circle.

It is time to pick up the pace! It seems to take me a few days to get back into the grove. The weather forecasts look great for tomorrow and the next day. Should be some fast racing to come.

Happy Birthday Moon.

Later.

3 canadians in... 1 just short...

So yesterday I was too pissed off to blog. I was in line waiting for a tow looking at my weak link setup. The one that connects the rope to the harness was looking suspect, but I figured it would last one more tow. Well I was wrong. I push of the cart, get above the tug and BAM! weak link breaks at 50ft. I had what seemed like enough time to dump the VG, get upright and flare. (I am sure I was higher, but drama is always good).

So as I am walking back toward the launch line, I noticed that my zipper is really tight down by my waist. Normally, it unzips and rises to chest level. Sure enough, it was blown. I guess my fat ass was too big yesterday.

I get back to the launch line and tried to zip up. I litterally seperated the slider and it wasn't doing it's job. The day looked really light and people weren't getting very high. I litterally gave up and decided not to fly. The local seamstress offered to cut my zipper in order to get me going, but when I looked at it, the zipper it looked fine and I was unwilling to cut it.

We take it back to her trailer for her to unstitch, but it turns out that Moyes did a good job designing the zipper. We get a new slider on in about 10 minutes without cutting anything. By this time, I really don't want to fly. So I call it a day.

Today was a much better day. The morning was very hazy and overcast. I didn't want to write off the day in my mind as I was eager to redeem myself. Things started to clear about 1 hour before we started launching. It started to look like the typical Florida conditions that we know and love. Decent climbs with a decent base.

The time to get to the start was extended by 15 minutes today. I was in the first dozen or so to tow. When I got to cloudbase, I had over 50 minutes to wait before the first gate. The start circle was only 5 kms today and so it was easy to sit on the edge. I actually followed Phil Bloom, Oleg and a few others about 8kms out from Quest (outside the start circle) to kill some time. It was better out there rather than flying around the gaggle of 40 pilots sitting right on the edge. Reminded me of a paragliding meet.

I timed my start perfectly and was at base when I crossed. It was easy going to the first turn point. It was nice flying with the leaders and getting back into the grove of flying fast. They slowly started to drop me until I was all alone after the second turn point. I managed to get myself to 800 ft and started to grovel. It took me 20 minutes to get out of that hole as I watched about 10 gliders fly over my head super high.

I managed to pick up the pace again and topped out what I thought was the last thermal at 21kms from goal. The numbers looked good. I had an 11:1 glide to goal. As I flew, my numbers fell apart. I was 7kms from goal and my glide was 16:1. I wasn't going to make it. I watched as though below me started to land. I was again at 1000 ft. I found a 50 up and worked it as I drifted toward goal. By the time I had my numbers again (8:1 to be safe), the thermal turned on and was going up at 600ft/min. I took the extra turns and left at 6:1. I stuffed the bar and hit about 100 km/h (ahh... haha fun). Came in to goal with too much height.

Later, Mark came in and a little after that Scott. Mark was talking to Bruce over the radio. He said he was close and we were expecting him to get in as well. Bruce landed about 10 km short and aparently twisted / broke his ankle. At this point he still isn't back yet.

Rob landed an 8th of a mile short. Litterally on the other side of the trees that enclose the field. Talk about close.

Brett was inched out by Oleg and came in second, 1 second behind.

Decent day over all.

Later.

Flytec Day 2, no task

It was windy! Set up my glider. Pushed it on a cart all the way to the other end of the field. An hour later, pushed it back on the cart to the tie down lines.

Hope to have a task tomorrow. The forecast for wind is less.

Morning wind

Woke up to overcast skies and fog this morning. There is about 1 hour before the briefing. The wind is about 5-10 mph. Seems like it is picking up. Looking at the forecasts, I think it will be another windy day.

Short Day

It is funny. When I first got here, I wasn't reminded of what was missing. We set up camp in another spot, not because we didn't want to be reminded of Chris, but because of convienience. It was just too damn far to walk a mile across the runway to get a forgotten item. We changed up the routine a little and it was good for the first two days.

Today, things changed... or maybe they stayed the same. I greeted a bunch of people that I hadn't seen since last year. Many "How you doing?" questions with that look of "concern" that wasn't really asking how I was doing, but more "how do you feel without Chris being here. Are you ok?" I always answered: "Doing good" which I am.

Today's task was the same as the last task we flew last year. The same one that ended in sadness. For what ever reason, the wind blew and let only one rigid wing finish the task. Everyone else fought the 15 mph cross wind (but it felt like a headwind as the climbs weren't strong). Everyone's track logs look like a sewing machine pattern... Thermal and drift downwind, fight up / cross wind, turn and drift downwind again.

A few people didn't get out of the start circle. A few more just outside. More yet got the first turn point. Some getting close to the second. When the task was called, I thought about how bitter sweet it would be to fly it. As I wrote last year, Chris, Brett and I flew together for most of the flight, probably the most we ever flew together during a task ever.

The reminders didn't end there. Brett and I decided to go to dinner at the Thai Lotus House. Last year we went many times. Otto remembered us very clearly. Always the three of us coming into the restaurant. Sitting at the same table. Otto sat us at the same table. Asked us some questions that I am sure he had been waiting a year to ask.

It looks like the wind might be stronger tomorrow. Tuesday looks like the normal Florida conditions will return.

Brett did well today as usual. He either won the day or was very close. The rest of us Canadians were either in the start or just outside. Tomorrow is another day! haha.

Later.

Heat

It's getting hot in here.

Wow, the heat and humidity really got to me today. I think that I had some mild heat exhaustion and of course the normal first day sunburn. Wonder if I will ever learn.

Got to fly the new Litespeed 4.5 late in the evening. Broke a weak link at 1000 ft when the tug got above me and I pushed out to climb. I get the pressure was just too much for the two year old weak link. haha.

Climbed with the glider and played with the VG. It has a bit of a left turn in it. Brett fixed it. Hope that it flies straight tomorrow. Really tired. Time for bed. Comp starts tomorrow.

Later

Weather

Looks like the weather in Florida has been pretty lousy for the Canadians that went down. I am hoping things shape up for next week when I arrive.

I leave on Friday afternoon. Nice long 7 hour trek to Orlando from Calgary. I have my Economics final exam tomorrow night... not looking forward to it at all.

Lost in the move

So my blog looks all different now.

When changing hosting providers, something got mixed up and I basically lost 2 years worth of competition blogs. Not overly happy about it. Decided that I would put my blog someplace where it would be backed up and couldn't get lost if I change hosting providers again. Sorry for the lack of pictures. I will see if I can find what was lost.

I will slowly add old posts that I have from years past that didn't get "lost."

Enjoy. The comp season is just about to start and I am pretty excited about going to Florida.