One Big Step

This week I played racquet ball for the first time since my accident.  I did fine.  It was great.  Tuesday was a light workout.... that left me stiff but feeling like I finally had worked hard.  However, today (thursday) I played three games with a few guys that were better players than myself.... and I held my own.  I even won a game.  I am not quick, but I was moving and making shots.  Now... we just have to see how I feel tomorrow.  Hmmm... better go down some ibuprofen.  :)

Woodrat Task 4.... the last task of 2010 for me

This footage is from the Woodrat Task that ended poorly for me.  Task 4 was a great flight till the last 10 minutes.  I spent a lot of air time flying with friends working the lift together.  In the end, I was positioned to finish in the top 5,  I think.  The Led Zepplin songs come courtesy of my sister, who bought me an Itunes card on my birthday.  On that day just 3 weeks after the accident, I was feeling pretty punk, but very loved as friends and family celebrated my recovery and birthday.  Thanks Deb

I included quite a few sequences of wing tip collapses and one frontal that happened during the flight.  It was an active air day... you needed to manage the wing.  I don't know if others were experiencing the same thing.... usually at the end of the day, I have a chance to debrief with friends to see what they experienced.  The wing I am flying, communicates very well, so I am able to anticipate these collapses.  I think that is why I was able to "capture" nearly all the collapses that did happen on the camera.  The frontal, was abrupt.  I think it was the result of leaving a thermal that was lifting off.  I was pretty close to the ground, so the air had not yet formed a smooth lifting body... still lots of turbulence.  I skidattled out of there.

How Life Changes?....!

One minute you're super stoked; putting up a great flight, soaring with friends, chasing the leaders, even nipping their tail feathers.  Then in a moment of "brainlessness", you're scratching tree-tops trying to find a way over that last ridge.  Damn that ridge, damn this pilot for losing sight of what's important.  For me, the flight, the competition and the season (s?)  ended up with a failed attempt to put it down safely in a smallish LZ surrounded by trees.  The result.... a burst fracture of the L1 vertebrae, two broken arms at the wrists and a broken rib.  Hmmmm...how things change.

Two months later, I am walking strong, wrists are healing, the rib is still sore, the back tires easily, but I am so grateful to be walking.  The love of my wife, family and friends was overwhelming.  It was a source of strength and encouragement.  Absolutely humbling.  It was a life lesson that changed my world paradigm.

My life has had its challenges.... but I have always considered myself lucky.  My challenges have been small compared to what I see others faced with.  Every year, I work to help students through the tough transition from child to teenager.  The problems some of these students face would challenge a mature and capable adult.  Some make it... some don't.   Their challenges are real; life and happiness threatening.  My problems are small and don't threaten my life or family.  This is my perspective.... but still I am struggling as I face the future of my flying/not flying.  In this I have a weakness.

Flying is a selfish activity...like climbing before, I risk injury to experience the awe and wonder of living.  For so long, a good measure of my self-image and happiness has been found in testing myself against nature.  As my ability to overcome challenges on a climb or a flight increased, so did my self-confidence in all facets of life.  Doing things that few dare to try gives me a sense of achievement.  It has become (or always has been) an integral part of my character makeup.  While I know that facing these challenges has made me a stronger person, it is also turning out to be an Achilles heal as I try to move on.

This I know about myself.... I have always been motivated to do more.  Climb 5.9... why not 5.10...how about 5.11?  It just kept going.... run it out on 5.9... sure, just don't fall.  The greater the risk...the larger the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.  And so it went.  This is how flying has gone too.  I have had a great time flying the past 14 years.  My first (life changing) thermal in Indonesia was on a slow, safe wing.  Back then a long flight was 15 minutes.  During past 7 years I have progressed to flying higher performance more capable wings.  My flights have changed too.  The flights are longer, take me to cloud base and cover many miles (usually). I have had flights that some only dream of.  I have had flights that I still dream about.

Flying has become a very large part of my life.  Too large.  Too large? yeah...probably too large.  And so I am struggling.  I am healing.  The memory of the pain is fading.  The longing to keep flying is not.

My plan is to shove "flying" into a box intending to not open it till the memory fades away.  I just can't seem to get it all in the box.  The harness straps and wing tips hang out of the box.  When I attempt to shove the remaining bits and pieces into the "box", it triggers memories, which lead to hopes, and "what ifs".  So I avoid looking at the box.  I try not to read my friends' emails about flying plans.  I tell myself to quit going to the paragliding forums on the internet. Don't update my flying blog.  Ignore the USHPA magazine.... don't read it.  Hide it.  Burn it?  I've realized this is silly... because every time I look at the sky or feel the breeze, my brain begins calculating the day's flying potential.  Fourteen years have built thinking patterns that just won't go away.  I am realizing that the synaptic pathways flying has put in my brain have been set down in concrete.  If a broken back won't jack hammer them into rubble.... what will?

And so here I sit...contemplating living without flying.  As Mary Seals so succinctly stated in her USHPA article, The (Happy) Flying Widow (August 2010), "Unfortunately, how long anyone is around is not up to us, and there is a difference between just being alive and LIVING."

Rat Race 2010

Rat Race started with a bang.  More pilots than last year, and the first task was doable for many pilots...even me  :)   That was a fun day with lots of lift, a little wind but easily done even for lower performance wings.  The group of friends I fly with are doing really well.  Most of them are in the top ten.  Chris A and Meredyth are in contention for first place, Frank and Dave W are in the top ten and Dave N and I are in the teens.  This reaffirms that I fly with some of the best in the west.  Safe, smart and just plain good.  Its a great group of people and they are good teachers.

After making goal the first day, 10th place... I have not been able to repeat a goal.  The second day was difficult for everyone.  Only 12 pilots (out of 110) made goal and eight more including me, were able to get significantly along the course line.  Because so many people didn't make it past the first waypoint, the day's scoring was devalued and the winner was awarded only 209 points.  To put that in perspective, a perfectly valid task will award 1000 points.  In this case, the scoring formula devalues the day because it designed to take out the "luck" factor.  For my efforts I scored 124 points (15th) even though I didn't make goal.  After the first two days, I am 13th and most of my friends are still in the hunt for strong results.

Today, Tuesday the 15th, was a windy day.  It was a tough gaggle day and even bordered on marginally dangerous.  The conditions weren't dangerous until later in the day when I was on the ground.  What I found unnerving was pilots sense of safe space and what I think is ill placed trust.  At least 3 times that I can describe,  pilots ventured too near to me in aggressive and unsafe flying.  While nothing happened, that is not the point.  I was forced to change my flight path and leave thermals that I had established myself in.  I think that these pilots have misplaced their trust in my flying ability and the wings ability to stay open flying in the anticipated direction.  A small asymmetric collapse is enough for a pilot to need to change course... usually that means briefly discontinuing the turn in the thermal and heading straight out... but if the option is not there because of the space encroachment then a dangerous situation has happened.   Worse would be a significant deflation that would put them in my lap or me in theirs.  It just wasn't necessary or worth it.  Today was a day to manage your space, take lift when you found it and leave others to their lift if they had it.  I left to safer skies... and that meant less lift and eventually the bomb out landing zone.  So I will get minimal distance today and a low score... and truthfully, while I don't like the score, I am happy with the result... I am safe and talking with my friends at headquarters. There were no incidences today... I think that is amazing, a good thing and truly lucky result of the day's flying.
I will post videos for the whole event later.

My First 100 km Flight

All four weather models agreed.  Chelan was going to be very flyable.  Lately, the models seem to be missing the mark.  So I began doing more flying homework, checking all the models and the data.  This time, I was sure the flying would be pretty good, if not stellar.  Stellar won the day.  Only two other friends, Meredyth and Doc (Rick Shallman) made the trek to Chelan.  Both of them are great pilots, so I was feeling pretty comfortable with the situation.  They make safe, solid decisions and frequently turn in amazing flights.  Odds were that we would have a day to remember.  Video is here:  Chelan to Tonasket

Normally, the flats around Waterville indicate the amount of lift to be had by kicking off dust devils that create large swirling plums of dust that reach 500-1000 feet into the sky.  Today there were no dust devils to be seen.  We figured that was because the large amount of rain the night before.  Wet dirt doesn't like to fly so easily but the clouds were clearly showing thermal development.

The flight began with a switchy launch.  This happens at Chelan when the wind is very light and variable.  First the "Ants" launch would be cycling, then after you set up your gear and are ready to launch,  the cycles would switch to "Between the Rocks" launch.  Jeff Kohler (hang pilot extraordinaire) switched launch sites twice, finally catching an off-cycle at Ants.  Meredyth set up at Between the Rocks, while Doc and I chose Ants.  Doc launched first and I quickly followed.  Mer ended up moving to Ants for a launch about 10 minutes later.  That 10 minutes kept us separated for the rest of the day.  Dock and I worked the lift up over the Butte to 7,000+ feet before making our crossing to the far rim of the Columbia.  I left at 7,100 and Doc took a few more turns to 7,500.  I looked down and saw Meredyth in a search pattern, trying to find that elevator to cloud base.

Upon reaching the other side, I noticed that my risers had a half twist.  I must have inadvertently flipped my harness when I was packing up.  I was concerned, but I had a little information to consider before I aborted the flight.  First, the wing was flying normally with no tendency to surge or twitch.  I had just made two climbs in thermals up to 800 feet per minute, with some tight cores, which I banked-up pretty steeply in. All seemed fine.  Second, my friend and paragliding instructor Dave Wheeler flies the same wing and had this happen to him in Mexico.  He said the wing didn't notice the difference and felt it was safe to continue his flight.  Dave is ultra-conservative and I respect his flying a lot.  I decided to keep flying.  Boy, am I glad I did.  During this flight, the wing never even had a tip-collapse... which is unusual for me.  So... maybe it flies better set up like that?  Even so, today, I laid it out and unclipped, inspected lines and edges and made sure it was hooked in properly.

Doc and I worked together over the rim, waiting a bit to see if Meredyth would be coming across.  We had reached cloudbase and didn't see her, so we began slowly working north along the rim.  The lift was abundant and easy to find along the rim, so we just followed it hopping from thermal to thermal.  Each time riding the thermal to cloud base.  Doc lead most of the way as I tried to catch up.  Near Wells Dam, we headed east across the upper plateau towards Bridgeport.  This is where we separated.  I opted to head further east to cross the Columbia and Doc went straight North following the highway after crossing.

I found some tremendous lift just after crossing the Columbia, 1000 - 1400 feet per minute.  It took me up fast and set up a long glide with no thermals to help.  I considered going further east, where the lift looked better, but opted to fly along the plateau rim near the highway for an easier retrieve.  At one point, I actually set up to land along highway 97.  However, as I came in on a high final approach (300 feet), a bubble of air broke loose and turned into a beautiful climb back to cloud base.  During my initial turns in the flight saving climb, I saw Jeff Kohler's lime green hangglider far up above me near the clouds.  It was the incentive I needed.  My goal was Omak and now I believed I could make it.  A very relieving benefit of the low save, was it allowed my frozen hands to thaw... they became painful as the warmth snuck back in... but it was a good pain.  :)

I worked every thermal I could up to cloud base... usually 8000 feet at this point and began hopping north towards Omak.  About this time, I heard Rick announce that he had landed 8km short of Omak, which meant he was ahead of me by about 4 or 5 km.  I was still very high and knew I would at least make it to Omak even if I didn't get a climb.  I was very conservative about my elevation.  My strategy was to stay above 6000 feet.  Once at Omak, I decided to go straight across the top of the city.  I could see a few puffy clouds forming and dissipating, but I had made my goal so figured if it didn't work that would be ok.  Strangely enough, I kept running right into thermals that would take me with them and the cloud would begin to form as I reached cloud base.  This pure luck carried me across Omak on onto Riverside.  From Riverside I took a line along the river above some east facing cliffs and hills.  I thought they would be shedding cool air and creating lift as the cool air force the valley air up.  This worked pretty well as I found pretty buoyant air,.... although I wouldn't call the air thermally.

The predicted south wind was kicking in and I could see it in the river valley as I approached Tonasket.  The irrigation sprinklers were misting to the north and the trees were swaying.  I knew I would be setting up to the south and hopefully have enough speed to penetrate to whatever landing spot I chose.  About 1.5 miles south of Tonasket, I set up to land to avoid the power lines etc that were more prevalent near town.  The wind was strong enough that I couldn't penetrate to avoid a power line, so I did a quick turn north and set up for a landing in an business yard with logging equipment and milled timbers stacked in bundles.  Hesitant to step on the speed bar this close to the ground I slowly descended straight down on to the top of a stacked and strapped bundle of timbers.  Standing on the stack while kiting my wing, I walked to the side and slightly back and stepped off letting the wing carry me the last 5-6 feet of the flight to the ground.  I let off a whoop!... to no one but me.

Stats - cross country distance 118 km.  Straight line distance 105.6 km.  time in the air 4 hours 10 minutes.  Personal bests for me.  Meredyth picked me up at 7:00 and I drove into Wenatchee around 9:45 pm.

Spring Flying in Washington

I have been flying... just not as much as my friends or as much as I would like.  Seems the weather and my schedule aren't matching up too well.
I have had a few notable flights in the past couple weeks.  Baldy Butte near Ellensburg, Washington has been a favored launch point with the crew of pilots I fly with.  Last Weekend, about six of us flew from Baldy to different points north.  This is Beth at the top of Baldy.

Of course Merydyth and Dave W. flew the furthest; that's a given. They landed across the Columbia River between Vantage and George.  As for me, I was pleased with my flight because of two low saves that required patience and persistence to work out.  The first save occurred at the beginning of the flight and the second near the end.  The time in between was easy flying.  I continue to struggle with centering the thermals.  This wing is faster and as a result I tend to fly out of the thermal.  Very frustrating and rough.  The edges are always more turbulent.  Its not very efficient either.  I used to feel I could thermal quite well and usually kept up with my pilot friends as we climbed up towards the clouds.  On this wing, I am usually left behind.  I know its not the wing... Dave W. flies the very same wing and he's almost 10 kg over the weight range, while I am only 5-7 kg.  So, I am sure its me.  I am learning, but I have to fly more to learn more to get where I need to be to compete. Here's a video of my flight at Baldy.  I didn't get video from Chelan this week... I thought my camera was recording but it wasn't.  Hard to tell when its attached to the top of the helmet.

Waiting for a ride between Withrow and Mansfield after a shortish Chelan XC.  I should have fought the struggle and followed Meredyth and Dave Norwood.  We were flying together.... but I went my own way following a "lifty" line that dirted me.  They, however, managed to fly to Omak.  Next time :)

Skunked at Saddle

Sometimes we like to think we have it all figured out.  With all the great technology and weather sites like XCskies, MM5, wind talkers we hit more than we miss.   But as good as the data is... we still have a lot to learn (at least I know I do).

We arrived at Saddle Mountain at 10:45 a.m.  Two hours later ....no wind.  So lets head to Kiona.... its got to be windy there.... look at those high wind lens formations south of us.  Yeah... lets get going.  Ninety minutes later at the top of Kiona...did I find wind... lots of wind.  Too Much WIND!  So we settled for some kiting in the LZ and a short "near the ground" flight.  That was interesting.  My Mantra3 wanted to fly!  Going up was easy, HELLO, getting down wasn't.  So I boated around a bit, then worked out a strategy to get down, which worked well enough, but I was glad not to be stressed out about finding a way down.  The problem is I don't know this wing that well.  Where is the stall point?  How easy is it to initiate a spin and catch it... etc? I didn't want to learn these vital bits of info this close to the ground.  Once on the ground, I decided that was enough for the day. :)
Chris played with a speed wing, while Lawrence flew his Artic.  Oh by the way.... 20 minutes after we left Saddle, it turned on and people flew, top landed, worked light thermals over launch etc.  until dark.  I suspected it might be like that.  I have to listen to my inner voice.... problem is that voice often lets me down... this was just another one of those times, I guess.
I am still really having a blast with this GoPro Camera.  I did take some videos of people launching at Saddle on Sunday.  Here are few videos of people launching: Kayoko, Doc Shallman's first forward in his new pod.

24 hours of travel and back to the REAL world?

The end of the trip is looming.  I have a curious mix of emotions.  This trip has been exhilarating and educational.  I really enjoyed the chance to fly and experience the town of Valle de Bravo.  So I am sad about it all ending.  However, I am anxious to see Kim.  My heart is unsettled when I am not around her.  She is my emotional home.  I am not at ease with life when I am away from her.  So, I am eager to be on my way, anticipating holding her hand while I share my newly acquired stories.

Some pilots packed their bags and wings tonight, but I will pack in the morning, getting up early to be sure I am ready for the van ride to Mexico City.   I am tired from the day... even though we didn't fly.  The rain came and ended all chances for a flight.  Instead Chris and I wandered around town, shopping for gifts, exploring the town's markets and eating food from the the many venders.  There is too much good food here.

I can't get over the liveliness of Valle de Bravo.  The people of Valle de Bravo have created a community that overflows with fun, color, and joy.  When you walk the streets, you see families enjoying the day, children playing and laughing, couples holding hands, vendors selling and tourists buying.  The people of Valle live their lives out in the town and because of this, the casual guest feels like they are part of the show.  At least I do... people smile at me and wave.  They practice their limited English (which is more polished than my Spanish) and welcome me.   Its a cool feeling.  I will post a video here....town markets

Valle has dogs...lots of dogs doing all those things that dogs do.  They are all mutts by their appearance.  The dogs on the street tend to be medium to large in size.  But I saw small dogs and even puppies running about.  They are curled up, sleeping in tucked away corners, on the sidewalks and even the edges of the street.  These dogs are friendly as they check you out, looking for a snack. Some look uncomfortable as they scratch at their hides, chasing flees with their teeth.  All look as though they belong to the town... few have collars.

The bad day that wasn't bad at all

The weather is slowly deteriorating.  Rain is predicted tomorrow.  Today was supposed to be overcast, with minimal flying potential.  However, the flying proved to be a lot of fun and good all along the course line.  Even though I still didn't make goal, I had a great flight (until the last 10 minutes) and really am pleased with the day.  Rather than take a video of the flight, I set my camera to take photos every 10 seconds.  When I finished the flight the camera had over 1000 photos.  From these pictures, I chose about 30 photos and put them in chronological order and added a little music.  Here is the result.

After returning to headquarters, we humped our gear back towards town, but stopped to shop in the town center.  To end the day, Chris and I walked around town eating at the various street vendors.  First it was hot spicy corn, then tamales, then to the taco wagons and finally back to the hotel.  A good day all the way around.  A day that wasn't supposed to happen was a beautiful day start to finish.

Running from Clouds

Pretty nice flying today.   Clouds pretty much everywhere we needed to fly.  Low cloud base meant that you had to be careful to avoid getting sucked or pushed in.  I saw many wings go into clouds.  I know its hard to tell sometimes, but when they come out of the cloud in a spiral, or are descending with big ears pulled you know they went in.  For my part, I was flying well until the cloud build up became large... then I kind of began to worry more about the clouds and less about the task.  This caused me to take a line that wasn't as lifty.  The last couple of kilometers were a sad sink into a field with sheep.  Not proud of that segment of flying.... sort feel that I gave up rather than fight it out.  Here's the video compilation

The only really note-worthy event for me during the flight was that I had a full on blow-out while fairly high.  The wing just disappeared behind me.   I looked back to see it was already opening behind me, so I caught the surge I knew was coming. The wing stopped its surge out in front of me about 25 degrees above the horizon with the left 25% of the wing trailing back.  I allowed the wing to pick-up speed and once I was back under the wing, I applied a little advice from Dave Wheeler .... do a little waggle left and right with weight shift and this made the rest of the trailing wing tip re-inflate.

The ride back to town was easy because my landing was on the near side of the mesa.  A fellow named Mario gave me a lift to near VB and from there I shared a taxi with another pilot.  I arrived back to the finish line into time to see all the finishers come in.  Cool to watch but I was wishing I wasn't there.  Oh well, it was still fun.

no spiders, no bees and no first turn point :(

Well, I didn't do to well today.  The lift was there, but not when I needed it, and by the time I found some, I was too low to work it safely.  Another Icepeak 3 wing (competition class) was able to surf this little lift back over a rock quarry and some power lines and climb out.  I wasn't willing to take that risk and I set it down in a rough brown dirt soccer field.  I was joined by another Icepeak 3 and then about 10 minutes later, my friend Chris came hovering in as well.  All in all I think about 10-15 wings sunk out here.  I didn't make the first turnpoint, but I did score minimal points.
Later in the day, the first clouds of the week formed, pointing out the lift lines.  Pilots who were able to get up and out found good lift, but still many people didn't make goal as it was still a challenging route.   Merydyth and Bill Hughes (PNW pilots) were the only people I know that made goal.
Rather than wait for the competition retrieve vans, we opted to hire a taxi to take us back to Valle de Bravo.  This was about 1.5 hour trip.  Better than yesterday, but still a bit of a travel.
I'll post some pictures later

Buzzing Bees, Daddy Longlegs and no goal in sight

Today was the first day of the competition.  So much to learn and keep track off.  The details of keeping your GPS and Varios set up right, getting your gear set, numbers on wings etc... were enough to keep me occupied and stressed.  The pros lounge around, relaxed and laughing.  I am trying to get my radio frequencies in the radio's memory, get my gps set up with waypoints, proximity distances, and start cylinder size, etc.   Then I had to tape a number (222) onto my wing.  My wing is in the dirt, the tape for the numbers won't stick, my lips are as dry as the dirt on my wings and chapped terrible.  So many distractions that affect my composure.  Its all new and I know that when I come to grips with the details, I will wonder what the big deal was.
I made it into the start line.  The start cylinder was at a waypoint called McGehey... about 8 km away from launch.  Just getting there was a bit of a challenge. From the launch... get altitude, fly to 3 km to the Penion, get past this to the "wall" work your way up and over, cross over to "crazy thermal mesa" and hang out until the start time... then cross into the start cylinder and fly across a large valley to McGehey.  Whew... made but had to work all day to keep  up.  The air was nicer today.  Even so... I didn't make it to the end.

I landed near a small small small town called San Pedro.  The field I landed in was a harvested corn field.  My wing was no sooner on the ground than two 15 year old boys peddled up on bicycles and offered to help.  I said sure.  Joel and Rafael proceeded to pick out the weeds from the wing... but soon my wing was covered with daddy long leg spiders... I mean like hundreds.  So rather than try to pick them off the wing before I folded the wing up, I decided to kite the wing in the air and knock of the spiders.  However there was a roca behind me (a rock) that tripped me up and I fell flat on my back.  Much to the amusement of the boys.  I was laughing so hard they had to laugh with me.  It was a good time.  From there we hauled my gear to a place with out spiders, but no sooner had we set the gear down, then the boys began to whistle at me.  I looked their way and they were ducking down low to the ground and signaling for me to duck as well.  I was puzzled but had no sooner ducked when a gargantuan mass of BEES went flying by.  That was an amazing mass of bees... and I was lucky....if they hadn't whistled at me... I was tall enough to get stung if I hadn't ducked.
Another pilot from Italy landed in the same field a few minutes later and we made our way to San Pedro.  From their our ride took us back to launch via a torturous dirt/stone/boulder strewn road.  Two hours later we arrived.  I was beat and wanted eat, but the race wasn't over for me.  I had to stand line for about 30 minutes so I could download my GPS tack log..... for the day... only 32.6 km.  Not enough to get much points.  Tomorrow should be better.  Right now I just want to sleep.

A Day's Work

A long day today.  We start out day at 7 a.m.  (I know that sounds like sleeping in but this place is two hours ahead so my body is telling me its 5 a.m.)  We breakfast, do a gear check and head up the hill around 8:45.  Flying starts around 11:00.  Today was high pressure with a fair amount of wind.  It was work getting up into the better lift on the high plateau.  There were substantial rockets of air moving up... you could hear them coming.  NOT a good sound.  Then it was off to the rodeo.  The challenge was to keep the wing above you and use the lift before it passed you by.  My goal today was to not take any wing tip collapses... that goal was shot in about 15 minutes of flying.   I did make a second goal however.... a good soft landing at the lakeside LZ.   It was a nice touch down.  Here's the video

After the flight we walked across town with our gear... registered for the competition, uploaded waypoints into our GPS's and other electronics.  We walked to another part of town... still carrying the 60+ pounds to our hotel.   We relaxed about 40 minutes (I showered) and then went to the Safety Meeting.  It wasn't very organized or helpful.  Basically a waste of time.... but it was mandatory (supposedly... I didn't see anyone taking names).  I did find out that we Have to put numbers on our wings... I don't want to do that.  Its unnecessary, and will mark up my new wing.

Valle de Bravo the Town... and some more flying

Flying today was little better than yesterday.  The lift was higher, but it had an edge to it, so no relaxing.  I flew pretty well, but I still need to find the sweet spot of this wing for climbing in thermals.  Today, I was able to get high enough to fly into the convergent zone.  This allowed me to fly higher and travel a further distance.  Valle de Bravo is famous for a consistent convergence zone that sets up in the afternoon.  The phenomena happens because a west wind gets split in half by a large high mesa that forms a shape like the prow of a ship.  The wind separates around the mesa and then the two flows of air rejoin near Valle de Bravo.  This creates a large area of lift.  I have some video of flying for today.
The flying here is fun, because you can fly anywhere.  There are landing fields everywhere and if land far from town, a ride is always near.  People are super friendly and helpful.... even to gringos like me who speak no spanish.  Here's the video... this time it has a landing sequence in it.

The town of Valle de Bravo is full of life.

  It was fun to watch the people today as I walked through the streets.  Families and friends are out and about.  They are chatting,  laughing and working togeher.  Hundreds of little family owned shops line the streets.  When the shops close for the night, peddlers nest on the shop door steps.  They sell home made bread, trinkets, flowers etc.  It is just a very active town.  People seem to live their lives out in the open.  Lots of laughter, smiles, and children.  Couples holding hands... young and old.  Church is important, and the town seems to be build around two large classic chapels.  Lots of restaurants, from fancy to little carts moving around selling tacos.  You can get western foods as well... but I won't do that.  Why come here to eat what you always eat?  Rather than post a bunch of photos, which take a long time to upload... here's a link to my photo album.  Town of Valle de Bravo

Tomorrow is the check in day. We will fly in the morning and then check-in, get our safety briefing and the schedule for Monday.  I don't expect to do to well.... there are a ton of competition wings here.  The pilots are a couple steps above me in skill level as well.   They are just faster and better than me.  But I do think I can reach goal a few times... and I hope to do well amongst the pilots from the NW.  Even in that smaller group there are still some very talented pilots, so it will be tough.  My priorities are these:
1. Be safe
2. Have fun
3. Compete
Can't go wrong with that.

First Flight of 2010

Today was great day.  I thought the flying was fine... but people say it was on the rough side.  I had a few moments that were fairly bumpy, but not intolerable.  The flying was interesting and I think I put together a good first day, on a new (unknown) wing for me.  The wing is fast and turns well.  I am pleased so far.  My christmas camera gift is awesome.  It recorded for quite a while.. but I just let it run the whole time.  I won't do that tomorrow.
After flying, I hung out at the lakeside landing zone and watched other pilots come in and land.  I walked to the hotel... that seems like a nice eco friendly thing to do, but this new equipment checks in right around 55 pounds so it was a bit of a work out for a couple miles.
after a late lunch which I came to be my dinner... it was good and filling... we hiked up a rock paved road a mile or so to a soccer stadium.  It was a full day.
The town is awesome.  I will get some photos posted tomorrow.  I didn't see any amazing wild life, no bugs, or spiders or snakes but I did see a lot of dogs.  All kinds of dogs... most all of them are mutts... but they are friendly.
Here's my first attempt at flying video.
here

travel day....whew! long day

The trip started with me going to sleep... yep went to bed at 12:05 am after spending a fun time with parents and my Uncle Leo and Aunt Joanne.  I don't get to see them very often, so that was a bonus.  Got up at 2:45 am to head over to Chris's home. He lives on the way to the airport.  Patricia drove us both to the airport.  The flights went smooth... no oversize charges for the wings, cool.  Spent an hour at LAX waiting for the second flight of the day on to Mexico City.  Good Flight.  Lots of clouds over California, but as we neared Mexico City, the sky cleared up.   The bus trip from Mexico City to Toluca seemed to take forever... but really it was only 2 hours.  The traffic was stop and go in the city.  The stop and go made my stomach queezy.  We hired a taxi from Toluca to Valle de Bravo.  The road was narrow and twisty.  This really made my irritated stomach a little angry... I had to close my eyes and focus on not being car sick.  Eventually we made our way to our hotel.  Very cool place with lots of character.  I will post pictures later.  A nice dinner and some water helped me feel better.  The day is over.  I know sleep will be sound tonight.  I am hoping this chest cold will go away.  Several of my pilot friends are sick with it.  Videos and picts will come later.

Nearly Ready

Last week I began preparations to be gone for a week.  This is a process complicated by end of the semester responsibilities.  I feel a great burden to make sure my students are learning and moving forward while I am gone.  I am hopeful that they will continue to be respectful to their reputation as great young people and students.  It is a stress being gone.
On top of that.... I contracted a pretty severe head cold last Monday.  I have been frantically taking all the medicine and doing all the "voodoo" wives-tales remedies I can think of to help this little bug run its course.  As yet... today, the day before I leave, I seem to be feeling the worst so far.  Life is always challenging...can't wait to see what happens.

the theft

In October of this year my flying I brought my flying equipment to school with me.  I had hoped for a chance to do some kiting after school.  I left my equipment in my truck.  During the day, someone smashed into my truck and took all the equipment.

This was shocking and discouraging.  However, I use USAA Insurance for my car and my home owners.  The home owners plan covered the majority of my loss with replacement value.  So now I have new equipment and am anxious to get to know it.  Thanks Doug and Denise!

I chose to purchase an Ozone Mantra M3 from Aerial Paragliding.  Its a stable high performance wing that will allow me to compete in serial class competitions.  The wing that was stolen (Avax XC2) was also a high performance wing, however its glide and speed were slightly less than the M3.  I really enjoyed flying the XC2.  It was a trustworthy wing and had super-friendly handling characteristics.  I haven't been able to fly the M3 long enough to get to know its character.... but my research tells me that this is also fun and trustworthy wing.  I wish the weather would break long enough to permit a few more test flights.

Now I am truly a leming :)

Part of my Masters program required that I open a blog.... I did the minimum to meet the requirements, then promptly forgot all about this blog.
I have returned to this site now because of my flying habit.  It is a great way to share my flying experiences with my friends and family.   Most of them would never give this sport a try... but maybe through this blog they can see and experience (sort of) the amazing vistas and challenges that come with flying paragliders.