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.