Saturday, July 24, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Day 5 begins
Day 4 produced an epic task of 157k with Jack Brown being the only sole who made goal before it closed. He is my HERO. a couple of others flew the course and got speed points or made it as far a McNeil canyon before the end of the day. The rest of us got dirtied by strong into wind legs out past the first turn point, which made for epic retrieves. 4-6&7 hr flights were reported by most with max altitudes of around 4000m. clouds, strong thermals and always into the wind, at least it seemed that way. convergence lines and shade out completed a wonderful day of making war against the winds. a couple of reserve tosses rounded it all out to equal a typically awesome Chelan day of fun. there was no one right direction to go. smoke we north first some to the east. I ran the middle and found myself not alone, but lonely as I cruised towards the first turnpoint. 3.5 hrs later I made it to the first turn point and begun the battle towards the west & brewster's. It was late. I saw several dirtying below me as I constantly tried to stay up around 3000-3500m just to be able to yo-yo long enough to move forward along course line. An impressive convergence line kept me at 2700m for 45 minutes as I made 25k/h headway. In the end I was above and following 3, then 2, then 1 glider towards turnpoint 2. looking behind me all those who had been there had disappeared, only Francisco was tagging along. The big butte shaded out and lift was very lite. too lite. I cruised on into Bridgeport and landed in the football field of the High school. It was a hero's welcome as 8 kids came running full of questions and proudly exclaiming they were my number 1 fans. Francisco flew 2 k more and returned to land with me. A quick pack up and a ride to the chief joesph bar made for classic american flavor of burgers and beers as we waited comfortably for our ride. It was midnight when we got back to HQ, but all were very happy with the day.
A rest day followed, THANK GOD! cause u can only go big so much before you have to go home and rest. Plus it was too windy. Sun bikini watching by the lake, swimming, lawn games and a bbq made for excellent times with great people.
Today the weather is back on line. We will fly again with a lower base of around 10g and light & variable winds. The last day promises to be even better. Needless to say Chelan has been kicking ass and taking names. All those PWC pilots who didn't come must be very bummed out as we have been ruling the sky. Oh, and did ya notice that the USA pilots are still in control of the top place finishes? YEAH!
For best examples of what we are unto everyday I suggest checking out the PWC video's on their site. Very well done and humorous. http://www.paraglidingworldcup.org/
Blue skies!
A rest day followed, THANK GOD! cause u can only go big so much before you have to go home and rest. Plus it was too windy. Sun bikini watching by the lake, swimming, lawn games and a bbq made for excellent times with great people.
Today the weather is back on line. We will fly again with a lower base of around 10g and light & variable winds. The last day promises to be even better. Needless to say Chelan has been kicking ass and taking names. All those PWC pilots who didn't come must be very bummed out as we have been ruling the sky. Oh, and did ya notice that the USA pilots are still in control of the top place finishes? YEAH!
For best examples of what we are unto everyday I suggest checking out the PWC video's on their site. Very well done and humorous. http://www.paraglidingworldcup.org/
Blue skies!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Day 3 PWC
Day 3 had all the qualities of epicness and of course we were going to go BIG. But not to be for me as I landed out due to poor line choice, lack of skills & desire. No, I take that back. I wanted it bad enough to cruise the power lines on the rim for way too long with CK. we both found nada for lift after a great crossing into what was tons of dusts creating nice clouds along the rim. Unfortunately those clouds shaded out the land over which we had chosen to fly to and the east flow off the flats didn't make finding lift any easier. while we survived for longer then I thought we would it was a bit rowdy when I did find a core that might take me higher the 20ft off the ground. 3 crappy turns in shredded thermals & watching CK take several wacks as he tried to lock in too made it an easy choice to run away to play another day, so I ended up landing in the LZ. CK landed in the canyon and when I called him his words echoed my thought, "your alive!" Upon landing I learned that several made it off of launch after the start and several never made it above launch. A reserve toss (he is all good) and many dirtied on the rim. Those who did get to cloudbase had a fine day of flying a 127k course to bridgeport, bump in the road back west of the Butte and LZ in the soccer field. kind of fun to watch the leaders scream across the sky on the way to the final way point. Then I went a did a tandem, which was cool. the kid was way stoked & Dad was psyched to share the experience with his son. That is hard to beat.
As good of a day of flying as it was (safe launch & landing) in the immortal words of Will Gadd it was "NOT a good flight." especially when you know that lady luck ended what would have been epic cloud flying. In the end (after like 30 pilots made goal) they cancelled the race because of OD and drop out that put rain on the ground in the LZ. The gust front kept several people way up at cloudbase and as it dissipated they made it safely down. That's when we went tandem. The bad weather was short lived. the clouds toned down and those still on course landed when told to. everyone was saved by retrieve. it was a great day. Cloudbase was somewhere near 12,000ft. Josh Cohen was out in the lead again with 2 others. WISH I HAD BEEN IN THE SKY WITH THEM! Today is another epic day of clouds and fun. I'll be working hard to make up for my lack of skills yesterday. call it a do over. I did a karmic cleanse last night. I am focused on having fun and flying safe. Today I will have my day.
As good of a day of flying as it was (safe launch & landing) in the immortal words of Will Gadd it was "NOT a good flight." especially when you know that lady luck ended what would have been epic cloud flying. In the end (after like 30 pilots made goal) they cancelled the race because of OD and drop out that put rain on the ground in the LZ. The gust front kept several people way up at cloudbase and as it dissipated they made it safely down. That's when we went tandem. The bad weather was short lived. the clouds toned down and those still on course landed when told to. everyone was saved by retrieve. it was a great day. Cloudbase was somewhere near 12,000ft. Josh Cohen was out in the lead again with 2 others. WISH I HAD BEEN IN THE SKY WITH THEM! Today is another epic day of clouds and fun. I'll be working hard to make up for my lack of skills yesterday. call it a do over. I did a karmic cleanse last night. I am focused on having fun and flying safe. Today I will have my day.
Monday, July 19, 2010
pwc day 2-120k triangle
today was a 120k triangle. farmers gain towers to leahey to soccer lz. big dusties roamed all over rhe flats max altitude around 3500m, for me. super chelan conditions. clouds that wanted to be there but weren't quite there.
Josh was 1st. Dean or Russ 2nd & 3rd. those boys sure move fast. loys of speed bar. I opened the trimmers up & stomped speed bar plenty, but not nearly enough. stayed high and moved along well. i just cleared the rim into mcneil canyon and then found a nice climb out to easily cruise into goal after the speed section. the r10.3 does nice wingovers, but not a-sym spirals. nice to land on green grass to pack up.
hard to get too descriptive about the flying. it was just awesome. best day yet of the 2 weeks here so far & tommorrow looks better with clouds! Russell said Chelan is tops in the world for great flying & all would have to agree.
too much sun today for sure & way knackered from all the hours in the sky. see you in the AM for more fun! sorry no photos, too busy flying. maybe tomorrow...
Josh was 1st. Dean or Russ 2nd & 3rd. those boys sure move fast. loys of speed bar. I opened the trimmers up & stomped speed bar plenty, but not nearly enough. stayed high and moved along well. i just cleared the rim into mcneil canyon and then found a nice climb out to easily cruise into goal after the speed section. the r10.3 does nice wingovers, but not a-sym spirals. nice to land on green grass to pack up.
hard to get too descriptive about the flying. it was just awesome. best day yet of the 2 weeks here so far & tommorrow looks better with clouds! Russell said Chelan is tops in the world for great flying & all would have to agree.
too much sun today for sure & way knackered from all the hours in the sky. see you in the AM for more fun! sorry no photos, too busy flying. maybe tomorrow...
Day 1 has come & gone...
The expected awesome weather for the first day didn't turn out to be sooo epic. It was pretty hands on most of the day. BGunn did an SIV course on his 2 line wing over launch. Jimmy might have gotten that on video. it was rowdy in a snotty way and not so much fun over launch. crossing the river to the rim was fine if you went really high cause the rim wasn't working for at least an hour after I got there. So I surveil soared sweeping around hovering and looking for any kind of lift. It eventually got going and out I climbed only to be at least an hour behind the whole field of pilots minus the others who got stuck with me. serves me right for crossing lower then I know I should.
The task was an entry cylinder of 15k around the first turn point at the farmer grain towers, then off to the east to Coulee City & finally onto almira. a solid 94k under challenging thermalling conditions, no clouds and snotty spunky punches until u got past the first turn point. Seems like the leaders were on course for about 2hrs. I made in 3hrs because of getting a solid rim job and stuck several times in slow lift trying to get to 3000m just to be solidly established high in the sky. Coulee City thermals got me in great position to cross the coulee and then again for a long glide into goal in an area that everyone else had to do several climbs before they could punchit. Nick Greece got in first to win the day! Hooray for the USA!
It was good flying, but not the supa Chelan classic epic we are hoping will materialize several times in the course of this next week. It was sporting enough to cause one pilot to throw a reserve which got munched by his sat'ing glider and he ended up slamming into the ground. Luckily the field was freshly plowed and he ended up with separated ribs, later walking out of the hospital. A very lucky man indeed. Needless to say it was a HANDS ON day and there was no time to take pictures. Of course I was so far behind everyone that my pictures would have been boring landscapes and I would be relentlessly chastised for taking them instead of focusing on flying.
results posted here: http://www.fastretrieve.com/PWCA/2010/6.html
live leader board and some tracking here; http://www.paraglidingworldcup.org/
Cheers and blue skies to all!
The task was an entry cylinder of 15k around the first turn point at the farmer grain towers, then off to the east to Coulee City & finally onto almira. a solid 94k under challenging thermalling conditions, no clouds and snotty spunky punches until u got past the first turn point. Seems like the leaders were on course for about 2hrs. I made in 3hrs because of getting a solid rim job and stuck several times in slow lift trying to get to 3000m just to be solidly established high in the sky. Coulee City thermals got me in great position to cross the coulee and then again for a long glide into goal in an area that everyone else had to do several climbs before they could punchit. Nick Greece got in first to win the day! Hooray for the USA!
It was good flying, but not the supa Chelan classic epic we are hoping will materialize several times in the course of this next week. It was sporting enough to cause one pilot to throw a reserve which got munched by his sat'ing glider and he ended up slamming into the ground. Luckily the field was freshly plowed and he ended up with separated ribs, later walking out of the hospital. A very lucky man indeed. Needless to say it was a HANDS ON day and there was no time to take pictures. Of course I was so far behind everyone that my pictures would have been boring landscapes and I would be relentlessly chastised for taking them instead of focusing on flying.
results posted here: http://www.fastretrieve.com/PWCA/2010/6.html
live leader board and some tracking here; http://www.paraglidingworldcup.org/
Cheers and blue skies to all!
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