Eat Sleep Fly

Hi Everyone, we've got a rest day today, and so I've finally made it onto the blog.

You probably have read about the tragic accident yesterday, and all I could add would be 3rd hand, so I won't comment any further.

The last 6 days have been gruelling - eat sleep fly was about all I was capable of doing, oh, and then I needed some energy for the odd walk out. It's an amazing area to fly in, but the air is rough as guts, especially in the area in front of launch and at the start gate. Bright will be a breeze after this ...

7 more tasks seems both a lot (and the weather is so consistent here that this probably really means 7 more tasks), and then it doesn't seem a long time at all before we're leaving.

I am glad I'm missing out on the heatwave in Melbourne though!

Anyway, thanks to everybody who posted, and thanks also to those silent supporters that read this, it means a lot that you are following what's going on here.

Antje

life's an adventure

hi all. writing this in a much sobered mood on a much needed rest day. long day out for me yesterday decking up in the high ground after 55km practically on the top of a remote peak when i got flushed with no glide out. i spent the afternoon and evening drinking with the locals in a tiny mountain village and then got a ride with the SOL beer truck when it came to make deliveries. many remote beer deliveries later i finally found our retrieve and got home at 1am on a day that was tragic for all of us. an epic retrieve pales into insignificance compared to the price others paid on this day. our thoughts go ut to stefan's family, team and close friends. such a top pilot at the top of his game, and such a nice guy too, a big loss for us all. a very sobering atmosphere here today with everyone just forgetting the racing for a while and lying low out of respect for a friend. take care all when in the air, the edge is often very near. gav

When seconds decide us.

Hi all,
I write this rattled by the death of a pilot today. Out of respect for his friends and family I won´t mention his name however it all shall be revealed in time.
We all respect that the nature of the sport has it´s inherit risks but it´s not until you witness the final seconds from joy to finality that certain renewed perspectives are drawn.
We were in the 2nd transition from the start gate when most of the pilots were pushing along the rock face they call the ¨wall¨. The aforementioned pilot was about 50m in front of me on my line when he copped an assymetric collapse that turned into a pretty benign cravat. He is a very experienced test pilot and handled his direction with no real problems. His main concern was the height loss and lack of landing options as he was sinking out in front of the wall, no doubt giving reason for pause to throw his reserve. Besides he never looked like he would loose control of the situation provided height remained on his side. I can´t be sure what his intentions were from here but after I made a full turn in the strong thermic lift coming off the rock face to get a renewed perspective of his circumstance, he was already lying lifeless on an steep incline weathered into the rock. I then attempted to loose height to land on a small bald rock edge overhead. An extreme landing at the best of times, however in these strong thermic conditions, very dangerous. His position was radioed in immediately and within minutes there were people on the scene from a direct road from launch- about 1km away.
Discussions with another eye witness described him making initial contact with the rock face from which cleared the wing of it´s cravat. The strong thermic updraft then turned his wing up and over towards the cliff.
Our thoughts and condolences goes out to his family, friends and team members. We are blessed each day we reflect on the positive experiences this sport brings. We are also blessed that nature has such an intimate role in the lives of paragliding pilots. Our successes and experiences in this sport are only in a small part a design of our own genius. The balance is owed to nature. What awesome hold it has on us...
...
Antje and I made goal. Unfortunately James and Gav landed out. Well timed rest day for the competitors tomorrow then a new canvas for some of us.
Shane.

...more day 5

Just read Gav´s post as I haven´t seen him yet tonight so congrats there. I had dinner with James as he was back early as well. He was dissapointed to miss the 2nd turn point but took a responsible attitude not to push it into trees which rewarded an accompanying pilot. I haven´t heard from Antje so hope to update you when I know more. My day, again hard and fast. 4th to first turn point. 1st to 2nd turn point. On the deck before the 3rd. Moved off line away from the convergence line that put me on the deck yesterday only to find another hole. Interestingly, yesterday´s line saw the whole pack high and far. It´s a difficult one to read as it moves constantly however there were better clouds forming on the route I took. A deception that is common according to locals.
A more dissapointing side of the comp is the amount of cloud flying that is going on. The concensus is that it´s too difficult to deal with so the organisation are only prepared to keep bidding that pilots to not do it. There are consistently 500m or greater gains in altitudes for pilots who maintain their lines in strong convergence lift on long glides, skying out through the sides of clouds at the end of these lines. The other concern is the amount of tree landings. There is an average of about 2 to 3 per day. Some are unavoidable through loss of control over trees however there are many who are putting themselves out there in up or in circumstances. Average of 1 or 2 reserve throws per day as well but that can be expected given the trimmings of most of these protos.
Aside from that huff, it is a very pleasant place to be both on and off the ground. Thanks guys for your postings. Your support doesn´t go unfelt.
Another day tomorrow then one of rest.
Shane.

day 5

just 1 more day till the rest day, were hanging for it, i've racked up 20hrs and 400km in 5 days and everyone is starting to drag. heavy head cold for me today so early to bed. big one today, 114km out to some pretty far reaching terrain. i fell 16km short so a bit bummed with my 4 1/2 hrs and 98km. maybe 40 or 50 in goal today so sorted out the field a bit, a 30km head wind back to the mesa plateau hammered us. lots in the trees today. feeling better about my flying tho, slow the first couple of days but today i kept with the lead gaggle for 85km which in this field i'm chuffed with, headwind then scattered us to the wind, litterally and half of the top ten didn't make goal either so will shake things up a bit. rough day for the aussies and kiwis today with none in goal, hard day tho i must admit. finding it very hard to crack the top half of the field. we'll keep on at it tho.
now for sleep, sweet sleep. gav

in the air

couple of shots of our time in the air, nice big start gaggle from task 2 i think, nice start with my buddy anders barheim from norway. and check this out for a launch director, don't mess with any man holding an automatic rifle.

pics of valle

about time to get some picture up i reckon, our home for 3 weeks and our haunts. the taco man is gold, $1 for a taco, 3 and you can barely walk, doesn't come any better. our street where our terrace house is and the red bull mobile DJ hummer, wouldn't be a comp without it. yesterday was pink floyd day, nice.

Days 3 and 4.

Well three of the team seem to be motoring along getting some consistent results only to be slowed by a flat tyre of a team leader- having spent more time in the long retrieve routes than over the volcanic terrain of the Valle area.
Yesterday I again managed to hit the 2nd turn point in the lead group of 8 pilots however was a little bit lower and was thermic soaring up the face of a mountain until muscled out by the balance of the lead gaggle of some 90 pilots. Oh yeah, the face in question was only about 80m wide.... I and a group of others who couldn´t stomach the carnage dropped off to our dooms on the deck in very stable midday conditions. Antje and Gav did better by taking a couple of more glides further on course. In all it proved a day to stay in the air early to reap the rewards of an improving day.
Today Gav followed by James and Antje all made goal. Antje made the speed section however was 100m out of range of goal at time of task close but still flying. Bad luck there. These guys are really doing us proud in tough racing conditions. No excuses for me as I took a different convergence line than the leading two gaggles in an attempt to make up some ground only to find the virtual waterfall at the end of it. Shame, as I kept higher than most until the turn of furtune.
Bring on day 5.

Chances lost and found

Day 2 saw a 91km task on a trickier day than the first. All team members were a little more settled in and James proved a serial glider is no handicap for careful decision making, making goal where quite a few top pilots fell short. Antje also fared well unfortunately just falling short but in a respectable position at the time, being ahead of both Gav and I.
Gav, James, and I took what we could on the previous task and all grabbed excellent starts up front. I lucked out with a better line to the first turnpoint and sustained a good position holding the lead at the second only to make a decision that decided my fate for the rest of the day. Pushed on to higher country which the Americans said was the right one if the cloud bases were higher. The remaining lead gaggle put the breaks on at the turnpoint and took a patient slow climb. Gav smoked in from the second gaggle 4km back but shared my fate when we both tried to recover our loses by being flushed by venturi. Gav took a better recovery climb and got a good jump on me but we both were forced by strong drift into taking an alternative route round to the last turn point than most of the field containing both James and Antje. Gav managed to grab the last lift the day had to offer after we both passed the last turn point and make goal while I landed short.
That´s paragliding.... having 25 kids get stuck into your gear while your back's turned and run off with it- well, that´s Mexico. It was dark when I got home so haven´t fully checked my inventory though I do know one of my gloves is some amego´s catching mit tonight.
Off to bed for round 3 tomorrow.
Shane.

day 1

task 1 down, 75km race to goal via 4 TP's with every man and his dog in goal. nice relatively easy first task flying across the main area and a good intro to racing here. eric reed from the US won the drag in his icepeak 3, shane and i in at the end of the second gaggle, maybe 60-70 back, slow start, playing catchup. ok for a first day tho me thinks, nice conditions. james came in about 30min later and antje unfortunately met the ground near one of the TP's out in the flats, (kind of flats) slow going out there. full results should be at www.pwmex2009.com but all in good mexican time. i think physical endurance will be a big factor here, i'll be surprised if we don't fly everyday, so tiring for sure. ok taco time. g

Day 1 done with...

Yesterday the team took a rest day to do some site seeing. We planned to go and visit the monarch butterflies. Three of the four made it. I made it to the toilet just in time, dozens of times in fact. 12 feet between the bed and bathroom, well rehersed with the mexican bug as a drill seargent. To cap it off we had the opening ceremony last night which was a bit of a challenge to my well-being to say the least. The ceremony was spectacular with the whole town turning out for the march and fireworks to cap it off. Then it was an early retirement for me with the rest of the team attending the dinner.
After an early start for the team leader briefing, we were away on our first task today. A 75km taks with a mix of covergence, thermic soaring, and thermals. As warned by others who fly here a lot, local knowledge goes a very long way. There are a good mix of house thermals and known convergence lines and sink holes, the latter taking victim on the team at times. Gav and I traded places a few times from the middle of the field. He took the final honours though finishing a couple of minutes in front of me, followed by James who got caught out low on the final turn point which burnt up some time. Antje unfortunately didn´t make it in and have yet to see her so bad luck to her.
Anyway, off to the supermarket for me for some ´soft´food supplies. It´s looking like a fully flyable comp so will keep you posted when we can.
Cheers,
Shane.

nappy changing time

hmm, well today showed us a little more of whats in store i think, tough day, rough as hell with 4 nappies being thrown out and a lot of people landing out, way out, still hiking kind of out. the worlds top chicks had a nappy throwing competition in fact, eva went into the lake and anje collected some follage on the very top of a very big and very inaccessible peak, long night there. so we're starting the nappy count, well we might start it when the comp starts but we're warming up. i lucked out and jagged a ride with the argentinian 4x4 retrieve but james made it back to the townside goal, it's his birthday after all so good he had a good one. we will go out for a fancy team mexican dinner if antje makes it back by night fall, still hiking......nothing $1 beers and taco's can't fix. : ) g

Howdy all,
Gav & I are humorously interpreting our Mexican keyboards to give you all an update of Valle de Bravo.
In a few words, ¨Fun funky flying¨. Good strong convergence from launch boosting pilots to heights of about 3100-3300m at a slow rate of about 8m/s. Seems to be quite a technical area. Gav & I are camped out with the Kieth MacCullogh (Canada), Matt Beechinor (USA), Anders Baerheim (Norway), and a few other groupies/squatters- all whom know the area very well so it has been a bonus to pick their brains over 90c coronas of an evening.
Caught up with all the usual suspects with most arriving today. As usual the poor crew of the worlds (us) are a standout with the only old gliders in the sky... Great to see the protos coming into the LZ back in town after a days flying. Some spanking new designs and a lot of purring going on with inquisitive pilots comparing feathers.
Returning to the flying again, James has been here a couple of days before Gav, Antje, and me to test fly the area with a couple a tales that I´ll let him fill you in on. The rest of us had our first flap yesterday and was generally enjoyed all round. Gav flew to town with the main gaggle and scored some good height and glides. He got some great shots over the lake of the town and I believe he is uploading them now.
I took the unusual choice of venturing out on my own (;b) to the north-west of the lake only to be told after arriving at the LZ in town later that afternoon that that is unchartered territory. Ahh, ignorance is bliss. There was also a first with one of the Germans landing on the summit of the volcano (I assume dormant) to the south-east of launch and reflying after a bit of site-seeing.
Well, winding down to the start of all things purposfull in 4 days. We are feeling pretty keen to bring it on so keep an eye on this spot for more updates.
Happy flying,
Shane.
PS: A Norwegan visiting pilot had spent four days flying with four reserve chucks, the final one entangled with another pilot in front of launch. Please someone tap me on the shoulder if this ever becomes my fate... Ciao.

once upon a time in mexico

30 hours, 3 airports, 1 flat tyre and no sleeps and we´re at valle! and awoke to the consistently superb conditions we´ve all heard about. it´s wierd to fly a site where you don´t bother about the weather, just assume it´s all good and kickass thermic conditions because it always is. we all had a nice 40km triangle around the main local peaks on tuesday followed by $1 beers and $1 tacos in the lakeside LZ, life is good. in essence valle is very much like bright, on a lake, with the whole thing jacked up 1000m, the valleys are at 1500m, tops at 2500-2700 or so and bases have been about 3500m, so altho the number is reasonable it´s very technical, low to the ground flying. as always at a worlds everyone is scoping out the new ships, it´s a bit of a changing of the guard tho, niviuk icepeaks are everywhere and kicking it, ozone R09´s are reasonable common place and keepin up well, boomerang 6´s look sharp but are fairly rare, the advance boys are flying old protos, and mercuries and magus´s are pretty much unheard of, what a change from manilla. a lot of the old faces are on new makes. but in such strong and consistent conditions, speed and lines will be of the essence and this will be a race of races. ok taco time, i´ll try and upload some more photo´s shortly. cheers, g

and they're off .....

and they're off, james will be the first one to mexico.  shane gavin and antje will be at valle de bravo on monday the 19th for a week of training flights prior to the comp.  final preparations have been hectic brushing up on our spanish and getting a task for taco's and corona.  oh, and also flying like mad, new gliders, mid summer conditions, busy days.....