Kevin Carter's Blog

Flytec XC Clinic

2007-02-28T21:06:00.000-05:00

The Flytec XC/Competition Clinic will again be at Quest Air March
15-18, 2007, led by U.S. team members Dustin Martin and Kevin Carter.
Four days of learning and flying with the first day dedicated to landing, towing, and equipment perfection.

The last 2 clinics were wildly popular. This year we want to raise the quality even higher by focusing on a smaller group for more individual attention. To maximize value for the hungriest pilots we will fly 3 to a group capping the clinic to 6 pilots.

The clinic will incorporate both general XC and competition XC skills. This will includes learning and refining GPS navigation, using the radio, perfecting XC technique, improving out landing skills, and practicing aero towing.

Pilots will be grouped with similar wings and skills to foster consistent group flying. Each day your group will rotate to a different instructor so you can experience a variety of techniques. This is an opportunity for pilots of all abilities and all glider types to take their flying to the next level. The clinic curriculum will be custom tailored to the pilots who commit in advance.

We want to encourage, support, and help teach our future champions and XC record holders in a safe, friendly, laid back environment that will also cram a pilots head with as much information he or she is ready for!

The cost of the clinic is 300 dollars plus tows.

One of the most popular aspects of last year's event was the landing clinic. This year the program will more tightly integrate several landing sessions in response to demand.

Each day will include

* Morning seminars on weather, thermalling, gps use, route planning, XC skills, landing, towing, foot launching, tactics, etc.
* Midday XC tasks. These will be flown as a group tailored to the needs, skills, and equipment of the students.
* Evening GPS scoring, flight analysis, and debrief.

To sign up contact Dustin at flydustin@hotmail.com or Kevin at heaviek@yahoo.com

A New Year, a New Post

2007-02-26T03:03:00.000-05:00

Wow, its been ages since I posted anything to this blog. I haven't competed in a long time and the free flying I have done has been sporadic at best. After becoming a family man the flying priorities had to take second place. Relocating to Maryland is a mixed bag. Traffic, pollution, crime (some say)...On the upside, we have lots of family here (aka free babysitting), it is bursting with culture, and I LOVE my job. Now after 6 months with my new job life is more stable and we have begun traveling again. Two trips so far to Florida this winter, both times with great flying. Granted, my definition of great flying has been relaxed to include any flight longer (or shorter) then 10 minutes.

Come April we are going to pack the family up and head on south for all the Florida Fun. I can't wait to see everyone. After the Florida Tri-fecta (The Ridge, Flytec, Flytec "Worlds") it looks like Dustin's meet in Arizona. That boy has been pumping me up on running a tow meet in AZ for as long as I have known him. Now that it is coming together I'm counting down the days. D swears we will fly in one handed 1000 fpm lift all day long.

I'm sure anyone that reads this is more interested in flying pictures so I will save the videos of Amber flipping me the bird or spitting rice cereal at me for trying to teach her the alphabet. I'll get some good flying pics up soon.

-Kev

Flytec Champs Day 3

2006-04-19T01:24:00.000-05:00

I am so worked up about my finish today I can't even sleep. My instrument told me I made goal but then the scoring software said I might have missed. Finally as I tried to doze off to sleep I figured it out. The scoring software measures distance wrong (WTF?!) All I had to do was pull my GPS track points out of my flight instrument, graph the points in my Garmin and BINGO@!@! They show me crossing the plane by just inches. Too much stress after such a challenging flight.

The day took her time clearing out and cooking up. The 100 cloud cover didn't break till about 30 minutes before the rigids took off. I thought the day looked still iffy so I took my time organizing myself in the air. Unfortunatly a small chunk of raw hang gliding talent grouped up and bolted away at the first start (Oleg, Jonny, Brett, Super Mario). I went back for the second start and managed good position at cloud base with Robin and Curt just a hundred feet below. We flew together for just a couple of climbs before parting ways. Robin went more west (upwind) and curt fell behind. I took my own line and followed the clouds. It worked well until I-4. Just when I got in striking distance of some guys from the first start I got stuck. Curt joined me and we flailed around like desperate fish on the floor. We got out of there and continued on. The day seemed hard again, not like the las 15 miles.

Glen joined us and we hooked some climbs east of courseline in an area that seemed much more blue then the rest of the state. I got greedy chasing after mystery cores that weren't there and the other boys left me behind. I couldn't chase them into the blue before getting back to cloudbase so I just hung back and bit my lip. The slow broken climb was tourture.

Now flying solo again I couldn't bear to glide into the blue hole with all its ratty broken looking clouds. To the east the clouds seemed so much better formed. Time for a major course diversion. Boom Boom Boom I hit a bunch of good ones in a row. The sky still worried me, with long gaps between clouds and no backups if my first choice didn't pan out. Since I was alone, I held back and didn't charge too hard. I knew I had alot of cross wind ahead.

40k from Avon Park(Goal) parts of the sky looked over developed. On the ground below I could see signs of smoke laying flat from the sea breeze. Lucky for me I was high and got to take advatage of the Mega glide bonus from this cool layer shoving under our airmass. I set up final at cloudbase from about 30k out and the 5030 showing 1000 feet of spare altitude. I was not excited because I knew that would be barely enough once I decended into the strong west cross.

My biggest concerns were well founded as my numbers deteriorated HARD below 2000 feet. The west pushed hard and I had to follow a few lines up wind to stay alive. That airport looked very far away. I just pointed my toes, tucked my elbows in and did my best to use the speed to fly on my Flytec. A bit of dolphin flying here and there and I was pretty sure I wouldn't have to bail out in the fields short of the airport. I had to be sure because the last bit was over a road, 2 fences, and then a small building before gliding across airport property. I just glided till my distance to the radii about zeroed out, popped the VG off, and quickly landed. Milking the flare I got too greedy and turtled my glider. That is what sparked all the horror about "in the circle"/"out of the circle" I think I got pushed back out when I was upside down. Ha Ha. Got to love technology.

Oleg, Brett, and Jonny got to goal before me but our course times were relatively close since I took the second start.

Weather looks pretty sweet for tomorrow. I can't wait!

Kev

Flytec Champs Day 2

2006-04-19T01:18:00.000-05:00

Today is a stronger West wind then the day before. Nothing like beating your head against the wall for over 4 hours just to score 200 points more then the folks that spent just 5 minutes in the air. That comes out to about 50 points per hour on course, or 5 points a mile. What a rip. Fortunately all of the pilots are quickly learning how important setting good nominal values are for fairly scoring a meet. Quest has a legacy of flying out and returns or triangles on any day it can be pulled off. That means longer times in the air, but shorter distances flown. That is why this meet scores better with a shorter nominal distance, but an average nominal time. Enough tech talk!

The weather man said today would suck, and it does. So we fly tomorrow instead.

Kev

Flytec Champs Day 1

2006-04-17T08:26:00.000-05:00

Man a crosswind task can be a pain in the butt! What a long day. I'm knackered. Flying upwind takes a hard penalty out of the flex wings and too many of the glides had that death glide feel to them. Usually I only get low once or less per flight but on this one it seemed like we were struggling after at least half the glides. By the time we cruised past Quest my hopes were flailing. Our realatively large gaggle got split up south of the flight park but I later noticed that the group ahead was getting blown pretty far off course. As the lift weakened the climbs were not strong enough to make good progress against the crossing headwind. Bronson ranch lay below us so I pushed towards 33 rather. Fortunately most of our group followed and landed close to 33. Bonson ranch is all locked gates. Especially on the weekends. I heard Curt, Oleg, and Brett were lucky Chuck was able to get them out since they drifted in so deep. I also heard they recieved a warning that included the word "arrest" in it. Uh oh. I am sure Curt smoothed things over with that slick talking Ozzie style of his. haha.

It is very dissapointing that such a long flight (airime) was worth so few points in the end. It was not easy staying in the air and on course.

Kev

Finally the winds abate

2006-04-17T08:07:00.000-05:00

The pilots voted to extend the meet one day to Friday because it looked like that would be the only flyable day. It worked out well even though the east/NE wind was pretty stiff. The chosen course was crosswind to the turnpoint with a set of 5 very early starts. I didn't think the day was going to come together as fast as they were expecting so I took my time getting in the air. Between sink outs and weak link breaks it took a very long time to tow everyone up. The wind was hard to overcome ratcheting across the start circle. I ended up alone at the bottom while most of the gaggle was more on the side, but upwind of the first turnpoint. Lucky for all of us the day really came together around that time so driving to the first turnpoint was not as hard as it had been. Once there the sky was full of other pilots and the strong lift was even easier to find. With a tailwind and a blue hole ahead I flew too conservative hoping for a one thermal final glide. As it turned out there was tons of lift because the area was just turning on and cranking hot. I had to keep the VG at only half racing into the airport because the air was so cracking! Oleg smoked everyone there. Jonny and Brett were a few minutes and change ahead of me. Under the circumstances (scoring) I should have been racing much harder on that last leg so I regret flying so conservative. I would have like to finish with them.

I can't seem to find the full results anywhere online and my memory isn't good enough to quote the awards ceremony.

Kev

BLOW BLOW BLOW

2006-04-13T08:50:00.000-05:00

I can't believe this weather! It has blown, HARD, every single day we have been down here. High winds with big gusts. I don't think we will get to fly another task. I left the Ridge a few days ago to tackle wedding planning tasks. I feel bad for ditching my bro's in their time of mega-boredom. With such a long stretch of bad weather the Flytec meet is assured a week of great flying. Maybe we should crown our National Champion there instead.

Kev

US Nationals Day 2

2006-04-09T18:27:00.000-05:00

Low clouds, a front, strong wind, and periods of rain. No flying today. A bunch of pilots flew in middle of the day but the wind picked up hard as some storms moved into our region. Dustin and Brett had some fun horsing around on a PG. Man towing is always fun to watch. When that got too boring Brett decided to “Wonder Twins Activate” “form of a garden rake”. The winds had gusted up a bit and he was getting pretty manhandled with the PG. A couple of lines got disorganized around his feet and in the blink of an eye he was getting drug across the grass by his foot. He looked like a calf that got roped and taken for a ride. He was all smiles afterwards but at the time it was a bit scary to watch.

Tomorrow looks sketchy also. Some say strong wind, others don’t.

Kev

Florida Ridge Day One

2006-04-09T18:21:00.000-05:00

So the US Nationals down here at the Florida Ridge near La Belle, FL. The forecast is looking pretty windy. I thought it looked to windy to fly but I guess I was wrong (the jury’s not out on that count). Clouds pepper the sky early as the wind slowly increases out of the south west. The task is a 75 mile crossing downwind zig zag. I don’t many pilots were in position for the first start but it seemed like a big group was lined up for the second. I chased after them but it turned out to be just Curt and one of the Norwegian Olav’s. Trailing behind I got a jump around Curt with a different cloudier line into the first turnpoint. He says I got bad karma for going to high and I wonder if he is right. On the second leg I got too far downwind and did the tether ball wrap around the second turnpoint. This turnpoint was a relatively active airport (pretty smart planning eh?) so getting in and out of there low proved tricky. By the time I got the turnpoint I was just thrilled to still be in the air. Down low it was pretty rough. Some of the nastiest I have flown in quite some time. It drifted me downwind of courseline but still crossing tail in the correct direction. Gotta love those increasing forecasts…sike! Last leg went well since I was high again. The lift was organized with only a few mystery whomps here and there to keep you alert.

Rob and I had fiddled with my harness zipper before launch and I suppose we left some threads in the way. The pee break must have jammed the zipper because coming into goal I couldn’t sort it out. I was determined to get out so I could land on my feet but the conditions demanded I swallow my pride and just belly in. While tugging on the zipper pull, with Half VG, a wind gust moved me back about 10 mph. I figured the zipper would make little difference if I didn’t just fly the glider. Jonny was the keenest eye on the ground realized the zipper was jammed. Jeff, Raul, and a couple others met me in the field after a nice soft belly landing to help me get out of the glider. Seems that this goal was an even worse choice then the airfield turnpoint! Surrounded by lots of trees, an angry owner, and the sherrif! Belinda, ever the diplomat, managed to talk us out of trouble smoothing the situation over like a champ.

A knife, some thread, and a lighter and the zipper is reset and good as new! Looks sexy also. I will have to get Jamie to take some pictures.

Kev

2006-03-23T21:50:00.000-05:00

Santa Barbara is great!

2006-03-23T21:46:00.000-05:00

I stopped over in California on my way back from Australia. While I was there it snowed! Here is a pic from a day test flying.

2006-03-08T21:56:00.000-05:00

Shark Bay baby! I spotted one but no one else can confirm that sighting.

2006-03-08T21:55:00.001-05:00

The ships here are so small.

2006-03-08T21:55:00.000-05:00

What a beautiful sunset!

2006-02-18T14:58:00.000-05:00

Do you think this guys is hot? Someone shear that poor fella. You should have seen all the wool jiggle when he ran. I was just trying to help him over the fence.

2006-02-18T14:56:00.000-05:00

Manilla. Getting up over launch

Flytec Clinic

2006-02-16T10:56:00.000-05:00

Flytec Clinic Announcement:

The Flytec XC/Competition Clinic will be hosted by Quest Air April 1-5.
Four days of learning and flying with one extra day for weather. Last year
Curt Warren led us to a hugely successful competition clinic and we want to
build on that momentum. In an effort make our teaching curriculum more
pilot specific, this year we are changing the format to limit the team sizes
to just three pilots per coach and we are offering a wider range of
opportunities. The clinic will encompass a four day "Training Competition"
incorporating both general XC and competition XC skills. This includes
learning and refining GPS navigation, using the radio, perfecting XC
technique, improving outlanding skills, and practicing towing skills.
Pilots will be grouped in teams of three with similar wings and skills to
foster consistent group flying. Each day your team will rotate to a
different instructor so you can experience a variety of techniques. This is
an opportunity for pilots of all abilities and all glider types to take
their flying to the next level. Also with the new energy flowing into the
single surface and sport classes we want to encourage, support, and help
teach our future champions in a safe, friendly, laid back environment that
will also cram a pilots head with as much information he or she is ready
for! We have chosen April 1-5 to capitalize on the great spring weather
with just the right amount of lead time before the two biggest meets of the
spring season. (The Florida Ridge Nationals April 8-13 and the Flytec
Championships April 16-22) We anticipate a range of participants, from new
XC pilots on single surface gliders up to advanced pilots flying competition
class gliders. We will also be introducing those interested to the new
Online Contest System. This contest is exploding in popularity in Europe
and is a blast to be a part of. The cost of the clinic is 300 dollars plus
tows. Some clinic instructors will be available to help early arrivals
prepare their equipment and for airport pickup.

Each day will include

*optional AM landing clinic sessions
*continental breakfast (basic, but silences that growling stomach)
*Morning seminars on weather, thermalling, gps use, route planning,
XC skills, landing, towing, foot launching, tactics, etc.
*Midday XC tasks. These will be flown as a group tailored to the
needs, skills, and equipment of the students.
*Optional late afternoon landing clinic session
*Evening GPS scoring, flight analysis, and debrief.

Up to date Clinic info as well as a FAQ can be found at

http://flytec.com/Events/2006/Team_Flytec_Clinc.htm

To sign up contact Kevin at heaviek@yahoo.com

2006-02-15T23:44:00.000-05:00

Sunset in the Outback

2006-02-10T19:34:00.000-05:00

Here is the easy way to carry around the screaming kids.

2006-02-10T19:32:00.000-05:00

And dont' forget tonight at 8 oclock, "When Animals Attack 4: Australia Edition" Cuddy friends turn to savage beasts.....

2006-02-10T19:31:00.000-05:00

Check out the Roo Tamer. Mel has hypnotized him with her gaze.

2006-02-10T19:29:00.000-05:00

Hi, my name is Roself and I like to kick.

2006-02-10T19:28:00.000-05:00

This is the grandstands at the Tallangatta Race Track. Scenes from the movie Phar Lap were shot here.

2006-02-10T19:27:00.000-05:00

We took a long hike up the tallest mountain in Australia. Here is a (windy) shot from near the top. It was beautiful out, and not so hot.

2006-02-10T19:21:00.001-05:00

This is the Cook Memorial (famous explorer) in Canberra. It is modeled after the spout in Geneva. Fires 150m in the air, 500 liters per second and 6 tons of water in the air at any one moment. That would be one helluva enema

2006-02-10T19:21:00.000-05:00

Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house we go! Seriously, grandma had some major fangs!

2006-02-10T19:17:00.000-05:00

What is more dangerous, camel toe, or lenticular clouds?

2006-01-26T22:26:00.000-05:00

Fancy a cuddle? This cute guy was hanging out about head level. We spotted him while out on a trail ride. Our trail boss Padges kept prodding me to get closer to the little bugger. I got a good look at the claws and figured this was close enough!

2006-01-26T22:16:00.000-05:00

Don't mess with this guy. He means business. It seems the "Bull" aka dominant male runs away last when they are scared. I didn't want to get any closer. He had some seriously overdeveloped leg muscles!

2006-01-26T22:12:00.000-05:00

This is a tribute to my Father, Dookie. Follow me, this way to Dookie

2006-01-26T22:10:00.000-05:00

They even named the place after him.

2006-01-26T22:07:00.000-05:00

Here we have the Catholic Church where Dookie was baptised as a wee lad.

2006-01-26T22:06:00.000-05:00

This is where pops learned everything he knows.

2006-01-26T22:05:00.000-05:00

The Dookie Bawls Club.

Sportavia

2006-01-24T01:31:00.000-05:00

The last 3 days in a row here have unfortunately been cancelled due to high winds. Equipment problems kept me from flying the task the first day. Today I opted to free fly even though the task was cancelled so I could test some equipment out. That was not such a good idea because the winds had increased during a break in the towing and were quite strong during the short time I flew. I measured between 20 and 48 kph. That was just on the quick glances over at the instrument and doesn’t fully represent the range of it. It was a handful and most of the pilots who flew seemed to agree that it was too strong for a task.

Until today the temperatures were an absolute scorcher. Over 40 Celsius. Mel and I have retreated to air conditioning.

Kev

2006-01-19T01:35:00.000-05:00

Corryong launch off Mt Elliot.

2006-01-19T01:33:00.000-05:00

Glug glug

2006-01-19T01:32:00.000-05:00

I think this valley used to be above water till they damed it.

2006-01-19T01:25:00.000-05:00

Tree Cammo

2006-01-15T18:58:00.000-05:00

This is the sweetest Australian rig. Big van, 4x4, and I think it was a diesel. If it ran on LPG it would be perfect.

Corryong

2006-01-15T18:54:00.000-05:00

No free time between the end of the Bogong Cup and start of the Corryong Cup. Driving over from Mt Beauty the weather doesn’t look good for flying. 99% cloud cover in all directions. About midday though it started to open with breaks here and there but there is also a big ugly storm on the other side of the valley. Under overcast skies a few guys got off and didn’t sink out like the rest of the pilots. I gave it a shot but could never get much above launch. The thermals were there but they weren’t strong enough for me to gain much height. A few guys got good glides to squeak out of the 5k Exit circle. In the meantime I just scratched my way all the way to the dirt to land with some cows.

Kev

Windy Day

2006-01-13T18:14:00.000-05:00

Today’s forecast called for a building southerly wind but the task committee didn’t believe it. They called a challenging task that had us diving in around Mt Buffalo and then back into the Kiewa Valley. There were very few clouds and those quickly disappeared. I got a good climb at launch and since I was so early in the launch order I headed straight to the start circle. It was a long glide and lots of digging trying to find the next climb. It finally came together somewhat and some fellas joined me to find the strongest lift. Good ole Dave Sieb and Jonny jumped in the party and we got the first start just about 2 minutes late. Dave led to the first turnpoint and across the valley. He marked the next thermal but I hit a better core and ended up higher. The wind was now even stronger then on the last ridge and had more west in it (NW). As I glided towards the turnpoint I couldn’t believe how strong the wind was. Drill city. I arrived on the next ridge and couldn’t find anything good. The valleys were narrow and limited. Hunt, hunt, hunt. It sucked being alone. I dove out the finger puckered and toes pointed towards the closest “bailout.” At the end of the spur there was plenty of kick in the air to get my attention and I struggled to get some turns in. Slowly I gained some height in this rough washing machine. As I drifted back I got body slammed a couple times before pushing forward for the next core. Slowly I struggled back out of the valley. It was clear the wind was strong and NW. The other pilots took a course further south so I was stuck on my own. Velocities were 20-30 kph and I definitely felt like I needed some good old ballast. I wish there had been room for some lead when I packed all my gear to get to Australia. Jonny and Dave got the second turnpoint and were heading back as the second gaggle caught me. It’s frustrating being the marker that helps them glide around the area that you just fought to get across. I was so beat mentally that they pretty much flew right through me. I was not climbing well today. Too tense, flying much too fast. Just not in my groove.

Once we hit the second turnpoint behind Buffalo life got easier. Now we had a quartering tailwind. Course line followed the way out so I had a bunch of good thermals mapped out already. They were still there on the way back so the leapfrog went well. Final glide had us crossing over into the lee of some big hills and I almost blew those calculations. 9 to 1 to goal with a tailwind and I am gliding at 8 to 1. Haha, not good. Once in the valley things normalized and I crossed into the goal radius with about 100 feet of altitude. It was a long walk to the breakdown area!

Kev

Bogong Cup

2006-01-12T19:23:00.000-05:00

There was a strong west wind today in the forecast and this time the weather services were correct. Task committee picked a route that kept us in Kiewa Valley on a relative short task of 90k. Before the start the lift was sporadic and often broken but there were clouds and haze domes to help pick it out. 3 starts a half hour apart. It didn’t blow in consistently on launch so there were long periods of waiting and watching. All that waiting around means restless pilots. A virtual gang of Moyes Boys clustered around my glider looking for any chance to get in cheap shots about this or that. I could have gotten annoyed but it makes perfect sense after my glider out climbed and outglided one of their top guns head to head a few days ago. Their fear becomes more obvious with each superficial joke.

Waiting for the start was not easy. I tried the valley, chasing clouds and wisps but that didn’t always pay off. Scottie Barret joined the hunt with me and we made the best of it. He is climbing very well in the tight broken stuff. Most of the pilots took the third start and a few charged ahead assertively. I was a bit low so I hung back in some strong stuff before pushing ahead. The route to the first turnpoint follows the ridge as it slowly gets lower and lower. Timing is important and some of the hard chargers got burned. With a strong west cross (90 degrees to courseline) they got blown back while trying to work mediocre lift. I think for my own personal reasons I found the day (or the laziness of the gaggles) frustrating and often had to push low. I was tight here and there but with some occasional company it was working well enough. After the first turnpoint I got stuck low on the ridge for a painfully long time until I was able to team up with a few other guys and jump to the next finger. Once there we jumped in and out of small cores until very high. Plenty high for the straight upwind glide to turpoint 2.

With such a west cross I thought the east side of the Kiewa would be on fire. As the low guy of the group it seemed like the time to push the pace again. For the first 10k or so it worked very well pushing hard. I only lost a hundred meters or so here and there. The downside was I had gotten below ridge line, but I was still maintaining. The next gap was not good to me and my entire reserve got blown. I had been hanging out too low and had to squeak through one of the gaps. My heart sank when I saw how much higher the valley floor had risen to my level on this other side. I had raced to the deck.

It may seem sad to come up short so close to goal but it really makes sense given my position in the meet. I could hang back and play the out pimp game but that only benefits total score. Instead I get the opportunity to push hard and see all the places where it pays off big, or worse, burns you bad! Haha.

Kev

No pimping allowed

2006-01-12T06:47:00.000-05:00

The weather doesn’t look good today. A front or trough or something is approaching fast. Jonny is frustrated because the gaggle is pimping so hard, holding back, and he is getting snaked on final glide. 2 days in a row he has gotten the raw end of the deal on that. He reckons it isn’t even worth heading up to launch to set up.

Well the weather report was more grim then reality. High clouds threatened to block the lift. Strong winds loomed on the horizon. I got lucky and it turned out pretty good for me. 2 starts a half hour apart and very strong lift outside the start gate. With the forecast calling for the day to fall apart I headed out for gate one after Dave Sieb, Big Jon, and a few others. I wasn’t able to top out the lift in time so I took a more conservative line into the Mt Buffalo area. Dave charged ahead between the first fingers and got VERY low. I don’ know how he does that and still stays off the deck. The confidence he flies with is just amazing. By the time I got to the fingers those guys were getting above ridge height on the other side. I opted to hang out on the opposite side and establish myself before searching for stronger lift. The air was broken, angry, rough, and hard to core. At least the bubble that ripped through were strong. Dave quickly outclimbed the others and punched ahead against a stiffening headwind. I topped it out about 5 minutes later and pushed on as well. The next few thermals were easy to find but I needed far too many of them before a turnpoint so close. At the second start time I was only 7-8k into the course and it was at least a half hour before passing the first turnpoint. The weirdest part about it all was the lack of a gaggle back at the start gate. In fact I couldn’t more then a small handful of pilots even in the air. The high clouds still persisted but courseline had good sun. With a quartering tail wind it wasn’t so stressful hunting out the best line and thermals. Ovens Plantation delivered as expected so I topped out there. Best glide to the Pinnacles because I was worried about finding the next one. The lone ridge half way gave me no love, only some turbulence. I suppose I just missed it but couldn’t waste time searching. At the Pinnacles I couldn’t find it where I expected and was getting low on the ridge. I had picked out a few possible triggers plus some bailout fields to land in. Search search search. Some strong turbulence but nothing to climb in. Dammit, it felt very much like a lee side area and I had expected it to be in the wind. After a couple minutes of searching I finally figured out the shear and some strong broken lift. Just as it came together for me Lukas and Steve Moyes glided in over my head. I knew we had been slow but getting caught by guys who left a half hour after you is pretty demoralizing. Not to mention the got to glide right into this core I had worked so hard to find. Oh well. Three is better then one at finding the best climbs. Lukas headed into the Kiewa first and got a bad line. I went to the left, and steve to the right. I thought I was so tricky taking my line. That is until I watched him get higher and higher once we crossed out into the flats. Whoops. You can’t out Ninja Steve. He is the Ninja Master. Lukas hit the ridge low so Steve and I just raced each other for the last 25k or so. We have different thermalling styles and the surging stuff on the ridge suited me just fine. I climbed right back to the top before leading out…..and getting smacked with another dose of humility. I went left, Steve right. I ended up about 500 feet lower. Score: Ninja Master 2, young grasshopper 0. Outfoxed again! The next thermal I used a tight core to get back on top ( and hopefully for good). This time leaving lift I took another roll of the dice and it worked out for me. Score Ninja 2, Grasshopper 1! We had good numbers for final although they weren’t very big. I pushed ahead and snuck into goal second about a minute ahead of Steve. Since he took the second start Steve smoked the day. As first in goal Dave was second, and I was third. The rest of the second clockers came in much later. Jonny was pretty happy such a tough day weeded out so many pilots.

Fun day.

Kev

Bird Story

2006-01-10T18:50:00.000-05:00

I left out the coolest bird story from the first day of this meet. I was racing hard with Jonny on the second leg of the task when we got in a rough spot north of Mt Jack. He went deep and I searched on the shoulder further North. There was some strong turb but I couldn’t quite find the lift. My concentration was broken by a loud shriek. I looked around but there was nothing. I thought it was my imagination. But again, a loud shriek. The second time it didn’t stop. It just continued, right in my ear. I craned my neck around and saw that just off my trailing edge was a very lare Wedge Tailed Eagle Talons out and very pissed. He was taking up the space between the end of my keep and the trailing edge! CRAAAAAAWK! I obviously couldn’t outrun him so I just tried to circle for some lift and pray that he didn’t take a chunk out of my sail. I have heard many stories from pilots about Wedgies attacking their gliders and putting small tears in the leading edges or tips. I was lucky because this guy just wanted to issue a warning. It must have been pretty funny for the other guys to watch this bird chasing me around while I ran hopelessly.

Kev

The Roller Coaster

2006-01-10T18:37:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was great for me, and today was a total bust. The air over launch was really rough and I left to cross to the next finger lower then usual. Not a slick move at all. The air was really rough because the wind velocity had increased far more then predicted. It should have been obvious not to cross unless I was really high but I had other gliders to go with. I was the lowest and got rotored really hard before getting there. Its very ironic because I gave Chris a tough time for pulling that same more during a day of fun flying.

So there I was, low on the ridge, strong winds, downwind of another finger, and fighting totally shredded lift. I stuck it out for awhile but when a hard sink slammer put me below the lowest part of the ridge I had to give up. I thought about heading downwind to try and make the official bombout so I could refly legally. That move seemed crazy so I swallowed my pride and accepted my mistakes. It was the shortest flight I have ever flown in a comp.

Tomorrow is another day.

Kev

Bogong Cup Day 2

2006-01-09T18:36:00.000-05:00

The lesson for the day: If you are going to try and outsmart 40 other guys, you better have a dam good plan, and a backup!

I thought the best plan this day was to wait for the third start with Gerolf. Before the start gates all of the pilots were playing the cloud dodging game over Mt Buffalo. The day didn’t look turned on yet so everyone hung back for the second start. I thought the third start was the way to go and it looked like Capt Moyes felt the same way. I say “looked like” but that only counts when you could actually SEE him. ;) Someone was playing hide and seek. I got a little low trying to dip around the edge of the cloud and at that point the last of the pilots took the start. I had no choice but chase after the group a few minutes behind and much lower then I would have liked.

The leaders were already at least a thermal ahead and climbing fast. I did the best I could to fly hard and try to make up ground. The lift was good for the most part. There was heaps of strong lift to be found, just a bit hard to find it by myself or with just another pilot or two. The second turnpoint was nestled in the valley in front of Clear Spot and thankfully some pilots marked a good one for me going into there. I came in low and climbed out a bit slow. I was still only about a thermal behind the leaders but I just couldn’t close that gap. Gliding into the Pinnacles I didn’t find it where I expected and instead got lots of sink and a few small thermals that felt lee. Fighting up through those I noticed a cloud form and dissipate a couple times to the north west on a higher part of the ridge. Since there were few clouds today that was a good sign. If there was strong lift there it would also explain why the area I was in was so difficult. I pushed in that direction and found a nice string of very strong cores. This line put me in striking distance of a couple pilots ahead of me. I charged hard after them through the last turnpoint and into the Kiewa Valley. I was always a little below them but I pushed a bit harder and made it to goal faster. It was nice having this smaller target to work towards since loosing the leaders had me a bit demoralized. For the second day my aggression put me into goal very slow and outside of the top 15. Not good at all.

Kev

2006-01-08T18:07:00.000-05:00

Tony sent me this great picture from the Team Challenge.

I am a Bonehead!

2006-01-07T05:34:00.000-05:00

Today was the first day of the Bogong Cup. I was a real bonehead trying to tune the small turn out of my glider a “different” way. I finally decided to go traditional in the setup but missed my chance to test fly it before the meet. We were all standing on launch taking our sweet time when the wind started to rip over the back. Everyone broke down and no one flew. I blew my chance to test out the different setup.

I was so nervous about flying today I couldn’t even sleep last night. I tossed and turned from about 3am on. Finally at 6:30 I just woke up and set up my wing. Got her looking sweet, and went up the hill. Forecast was for an increasing afternoon southerly like the day before and it did deliver, only not as bad as we feared. Most pilots took the first start and raced hard. Task was 114k north up the Kiewa, then west to the Ovens, then returning back to the Kiewa. I started very conservative and had some trouble keeping up with Jonny. The glider was thermalling great and I took every climb as a chance to make up ground for my hesitation and slow decision making. It worked well most of the way around the course until we approached the last leg. I had been climbing well so I charged ahead when I thought the thermal the group was in wasn’t good enough. It paid off once but the group caught back up, some even higher then me. I got impatient when that last thermal mellowed so I charged towards the Kiewa Valley hoping to find something strong along the way. It didn’t work out and I went into survival mode. I struggled hard to stay off the ground finally catching a lee thermal south of the turnpoint. My gamble cost me tons of time but at least I tried.

The weather is supposed to improve a step tomorrow. I can’t wait!

Kev

2006-01-05T20:10:00.000-05:00

Sometimes it is necessary to state the obvious.

2006-01-05T20:08:00.000-05:00

Tugging on the Zip getting ready for a good flight.

2006-01-05T20:01:00.000-05:00

Jack Jack scoping like a hawk, sniffing for that nice cycle to punch off in. Since we have been taking late flights we have been waiting for cycles to launch in.

2006-01-05T20:00:00.000-05:00

One of Jack Jack's launches those loose pant's ankles tripped him up on a launch. Now he always zips em up.

Free Flying in Bright

2006-01-04T18:04:00.000-05:00

The last 2 days we have been free flying late afternoons here in Bright off Mystic. 2 days ago it was looking pretty strong through the mid day so we waited till about 5 pm to launch. The air was a little rough but the lift was good. Wind was OTB about 10-15kph and lift was around 300fpm to 6,500 feet. I cruised around the valley and just had fun with it. Things started to look less consistent in the LZ so I hustled down to make sure I landed before it got weird. Winds down low had been up the valley although they were the opposite direction a few hundred feet above that. Not much later those layers mixed up and the wind in the LZ switched back and forth a few times. It’s much more enlightening watching that happen while you are on the ground then when you are circling overhead trying to guess which way you should land.

Yesterday we took our time and headed up late as well. Launch was really crowded and it was blowing in light to nil. It looked like the winds up high were much lighter then they have been. Much of the morning was overcast so everything looked softer in general. The no wind conditions on launch suckered in more blown launch victims then I would have expected. I got to launch in a nice easy puff. There was a nice fat strong thermal straight out front that beamed me to the moon again. It was the nicest thermal I have climbed in since coming down this year. I was getting a bit demoralized that maybe Oz didn’t have thermals friendly thermals anymore. It gets old feeling like the air is trying to kick you in the balls every time you find something worth circling in.

Today we are going to free fly again and then head over to Mt Beauty for the Bogong Cup.

Kev

2006-01-03T05:27:00.000-05:00

The air was extremely rough this day so most pilots were pinned in the valley. Landing early meant we had time to hit the swimming hole while it was still hot out. I am a cold water wimp so I had time to shoot photos while creeping in to the cool water.

2006-01-03T05:22:00.000-05:00

Even wearing sunblock I have been getting too much sun so I got an Aussie hat. I think it makes me look rugged, for a tourist.

2006-01-02T00:28:00.000-05:00

Kevin is spoiled

AFFF Day Three

2006-01-02T00:22:00.000-05:00

Pre frontal means we won’t be flying XC today. The forecast looks really bad for later in the day. The morning isn’t so bad so we all do our spot landings again. I coast over the spot again to land just past the bulls eye. That dreaded German Master Ollie nailed it head on so I had to settle for second.

Kev

AFFF Day Two

2006-01-01T04:44:00.000-05:00

My buddy Jack Simmons arrived from America yesterday so he has joined our little traveling circus. I know he gets worried about his glider surviving the trip intact so he was very relieved to get it together 100% unscathed. Peter, Jack, and I all move a little slow in the mornings and didn’t quite have the pep of the other pilots about heading up to launch for the spot landing competition. By the time I was done tinkering with my glider it was really too late to get a spot in and be ready for the day’s XC briefing and flight.

The conditions were like yesterday, only a bit stiffer. Strong Northerly winds are forecasted for the whole day as a front gets closer. On launch the wind was quite strong and gusty. It reminded me of some days that we passed on flying at Mystic in other meets (but not as bad). I spooked everyone present with a horrendous launch. Wing dipped hard right, I threw it left and then chilled out. It went a touch past level and the next gust turned it hard back towards the hill. The turb really delayed the glider rolling back out of that undesired turn (and away from the trees) and I am sure I will get teased about that for awhile.

In the air I found the thermals to be pretty rough but most other pilots didn’t seem to mind as much as I did. I flew into the Kiewa Valley and Ollie did agree that the air over there was pretty messy. I have my glider trimmed very slow but now realize that is no good for rough air. I changed that after landing. Corinna, Davis, Phil Schroder and I crossed into the Kiewa Valley together but only Phil and I continued on to Mt Bogong. In the last 2 years of flying in this area I have never had a chance to climb up this huge feature. The view was well worth the wait and reminded me that I am a slacker for leaving my camera on the ground. After leaving some meaty lift over Bogong I pushed hard north up the Kiewa Valley. The headwind was 25 to 30 kph and the lift was shredded. I pushed too hard and landed a few K’s north of Coral Bank. It would have been much smarter to turn back sooner and close my triangle rather then just heading out one way. It was still good for 60 k or so but it sure didn’t seem like it should have been to me. I picked out a nice field near a caravan park (campground) and a swimming hole. The temp has been a real scorcher this week. Its hotter then I have ever seen in the mountains topping out over 40 Celsius. That is over a 100 F. The air is very dry though, nothing like the humidity of the eastern US. If you stay in the shade and it isn’t so bad.

Kev

2005-12-31T05:58:00.000-05:00

Here in Australia it is really easy to find my tent. Just follow the signs.

AFFF Day One

2005-12-31T05:52:00.001-05:00

The Australian Free Flight Festival is a different format of competion. All of the flying is open distance utilizing the online contest point system to rank flights. It is a 4 day meet with the best 3 scores counting in your total placing. Today was very windy with some pretty extreme gusts. When I close my eyes freight trains come to mind. My attention was more focused on glider tweaking so I just took a short flight out into the valley. I was suprised at how rough the edges were and how broken up the lift was. I think I am the girlie man around here because not many other guys admit to finding the air overly rough.

Blue skies and really high temperatures ruled the day. I don't ever remember it getting this hot up here in the high country.

Kev

2005-12-31T05:52:00.000-05:00

The PG's launched in a big wave today. Here is a gaggle at Mystic.

2005-12-31T05:47:00.000-05:00

First day of the Australian Free Flight Festival. Launching from Mystic over the town of Bright.

2005-12-29T02:00:00.000-05:00

Here is our pimped out hangie mobile. I know my sister Kathleen is jealous as hell!

In Oz

2005-12-26T00:10:00.000-05:00

Its time to resume posting to the blog again. Anything I have seems so boring unless I am traveling and competing. Last week I got some new gliders in the mail from Will Wing for Andreas and I. It was exciting getting a good look at our toys for the next batch of competitions. Christmas Eve Mel and I sweet talked a compassionate United Gate agent into letting us check the monstrous beasts onto our flight and away we went. 24 hours later we are now hanging out with Peter and his lovely family in Melbourne Australia. Because we crossed the internation date line we actually skipped december 25th. Took off on the 24th and landed on the 26th.

Tomorrow I will start assembling the wings. The air smells like Australia and it brings back many fond memories of good times and great flying.

Kev

2005-11-12T21:26:00.000-05:00

Puuuurity

2005-11-12T21:15:00.000-05:00

Free beer for the first person to guess my favorite color.

2005-11-12T16:01:00.000-05:00

I had to toughen up my image. Raul kept asking us if we were men, or wussies. This picture should set the records straight, haha. (i don't think a man would need so many weapons)

2005-11-12T15:59:00.000-05:00

This Bud's for you bro!

2005-11-09T21:36:00.000-05:00

Um, can you say Ecuadorian beach paradise?

2005-11-09T21:35:00.000-05:00

"HERE, GIMME THAT BITCH!!!"

OK, maybe I should have clarified on this one. This is a pic Dustin's mom let me snake when I was visiting them in Arizona. Inside joke I guess.

2005-11-09T21:33:00.000-05:00

Yum Yum. Pigging out like we do so well.

Butchered Posts

2005-11-09T10:31:00.000-05:00

The public computer butchered that last post. Whatever, I am just going to post pictures instead.

I checked our tracklogs to see how stupid low we got crossing the river the last time. I got down to about 50 meters (150 feet) and Dustin was maybe 25 or 30 meters?!?!?! (85 feet). HAHA, how close we clipped it.

Kev

2005-11-09T09:59:00.000-05:00

Who doesn't love retro?

2005-11-09T09:58:00.000-05:00

Here is Dustin plotting another attack out of the sun on lazy Pelicans! If that chump had figured out better sign language I would have a cool video to share of at least a hundred pelicans all taking flight like a row onf dominos or Rockettes.

2005-11-09T09:56:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of Jack cruising out over the Ocean.

2005-11-09T09:55:00.001-05:00

Cliffs as far as the eye can see.

2005-11-09T09:55:00.000-05:00

After the Canoa meet our travels took us a couple hours down the coast to Crucita. The winds were strong and everyone shredded. Dustin had a blast diving Pelicans on the beach and climbing back out into the lift band. Yea, a brick could soar this place when it blows this hard. The views were amazing so I took lots of pictures.

2005-11-09T09:51:00.000-05:00

Traveling to the Andes, I couldn't resist capturing this view of meat for sale. Look close, its hanging in the front of the shop. MMMMMMmmmmm.

2005-11-09T09:50:00.000-05:00

Here is a shot of Dustin landing after a late day tuning flight in Guayaquil.

2005-11-09T09:48:00.000-05:00

Every South American retrieve includes a ditch crossing. We had some locked gates to circumvent but lucky for us the water in this ditch stopped a hundred feet from where we needed to cross.

Ridge Racing Times Two

2005-11-04T23:15:00.000-05:00

Today started out better then any of the last few here in Canoa. The sky showed mostly blue over the ocean and cummies overhead. By midday it had filled in only to clear out again later. Dustin flexed his tandem muscles all morning down at the beach where Raul sets up a towing operation. At low tide the ocean reccedes hundreds of feet leaving behind a huge wide flat swath to work with. It is beautiful. The tow up onto the cliffs above, soar for a bit, then back down for another go.

Since we had sun today Raul called the same task but with the smaller turnpoint diameters. That meant we had to cross 2 more technical gaps on the VERY low ridges out by the turnpoint. Lucky for us those ridges are set back a few hundred meters from the beach allowing a more active thermal feed into those ridges. Without that I think it might not be possible to cross the gaps.

Dustin pulled out the bag of tricks at the start and nailed it perfect. I was higher and late but quickly traded that altitude to chase him down. By the time we got back to the ridge we were within a second of each other. It doesn´t sound like much but it is when you are stuck behind another wing against a ridge! I just kept my VG line uncleated and wrapped around my finger. That way if anything got weird I could dump a handfull of VG fast. The Wills cleat allows you to do that easily with precise control.

By the river crossing I was up Dustin´s butt but not enough to get around. Same on the next ridge until we took different lines to the TP. I went longer on the ridge and milked, he charged out front. Before crossing back to the river ridge I used the extra altitude to secure the high seat and leave earlier. This edge proved to be the trick and I held the gap the second half of the first lap and the second lap as well. Really, anything
Maybe we can get some video fired up soon.

I think Raul was third so that makes Wills 1, 2, 3 again.

Kev

Canoa Ridge Racing

2005-11-04T22:57:00.000-05:00

Today was the first racing task here. The winds look like they will be a little light so we are hitting the turnpoints with a much larger turnpoint radii. From launch we race north to within 1k of an antenna before bolting south to within 2.6k of the other antenna. Back to the north to complete a lap. Two laps equals 48k, but not really when you subtract the turpoint radii.

We wait for the start over launch because it is the highest part of the ridge. Luck/timing gets me a couple hundred feet higher then the other guys so I go into the start with a lead. I am not sure how aggresive we can race the ridge or exactly how high we need to be to cross the broadest gaps like the river. The other guys get close but I just stay a little ahead and higher. Late in the first lap Dusto and I break away from the other guys and race very hard to the bitter end. Actually crossing goal and clearing the obstacles proved to challenge us both. We wanted to push hard to the end. Dusto had some troubles with his GPS and needed his mark enters to prove his course. As a result several second difference in finish time turned into about 20 seconds. We went one two with Raul a few minutes back. Mike landed short racing too hard around the south turnpoint. That makes it 1, 2, 3 for Wills Wing and their T2´s.

Kev

Travelling to Canoa

2005-11-03T23:17:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a journey we had today! Apparently the shortest way to Canoa is not the fastest when there is traffic. The direct route includes a ferry with a long long wait. Raul opted to drive the long way around and as a bonus we got to travel some of the most varied (read, rugged) highways Ecuador has to offer. Brought new meaning to the road less traveled, except they were traveled by lots of other brave souls! It was my job as the scout/wingman to spot the speed bumps (this is a highway!) and potholes.

We were all anxious to get in a test fly so the pressure was on to travel fast. Luckily we made it to Canoa with plenty of time to spare and lots of soarable wind to use. After cruising the ridge in front of launch Mike gave me the signal to climb high and follow him. I did as I was told and followed him on what seemed to me to be a death glide (not really death, just no way of staying up because we were trying to go too far). We hit our target ridge REALLY low but managed to scratch back up over the last patch of landable beach left on the ridge. From there he took me out to the point over beautiful cliffs and hidden coves. The sight was truely breathtaking. If Mike hadn't dragged me out there with him, I would have never attempted such a long low glide across that wide river delta. It made my day to say the least.

Kev

Flying the Andes

2005-11-03T23:07:00.000-05:00

So we spent a crazy amount of time driving up and down the foothills of the Andes today. The clouds blocked us in about a thousand feet short of launch the first time up. So we had a nice little lunch in town. The sky pretended to open up and our local PG guide swore it was about to clear so we went up for a second try. It cleared above, with some periods of rain, but then the valley below filled in. It was either launchable or landable, but never both at the same time. We had fun on the journey though. Our timing was a bit frustrating because as we drove out of town in search of that mountain high, we left behind some great weather in the city. Oh well, can win them all!

Kev

Raul Gliding Over the Tow Strip

2005-11-02T07:05:00.000-05:00

The Aerobatics Champion of Guayaquil

2005-11-02T06:54:00.000-05:00

Another great tow day in Ecuador

2005-10-31T19:52:00.000-05:00
We got in another fun day towing here in Guayaquil behind Rauls trikes. Unfortunately we have not had much sun the last few days but the soaring up against the foothills is remarkably consistant. Today was no exception and we tore up and down the ridge. More press came out for a taste of the action and Dusty and I tweaked gliders a bit. I tried to fly away but didnt make it very far.

The last few days we have been flying out of a new airstrip that Raul set up this year with his fellow pilots. It is basic but still far fancier then a place like, say, Hay. HaHa. We have our red bull tent. We have the beautiful women. We have great flying. Dusto and I have been working with the newer pilots here with our quick and dirty aerotow clinic and it has been great seeing our new buddies improve their flying skills. I have a bad habit of talking too fast for our translator but we are getting it done so to speak. The guys have a great positive attidude that works perfect with the subtle pointers we give them. Their determination and skills respond so well to those simple little pointers that take flying to the next level.

Since I fought to the bitter end on my XC flight today I had to land in a not so accessible area. Like a fool I left my glider bags back at launch (because I was so confident I was going to fly back). Needless to say, the beers are on Kevin tonight!

Tomorrow we are wrapping up in town with a news conference for the local media (the love the Bird Men of Guyaquil) before heading up to the Andes! Everyone is super pumped to try and fly those fat daddies before we head to the coast.

I am a punk, I need to get my PC online so I can upload pics.

Kev

Ecuador

2005-10-30T23:30:00.000-05:00
I wish I was using my computer so I could put up a good post with pictures.

How cool is it to be flying in Ecuador as winter draws near in North America! I can´t get over my GPS coordinates every time I turn the thing on. Not only does it read out ¨South¨ rather then ¨north¨but the numbers are so low! We are at one degree south here. Erie.

The trip down was an adventure in itself. Dustin´s glider was shipped to Miami, then accidentally shipped to >Texas then back to miami. It showed up an hour before we did at the freight fowarder to claim it. Miami was a mess. The storm jacked that place up.

We had to short pack dustins glider in the airport instead of loading it in its shipping container and that meant we were short a travel bag. My glider didn´t survive the trip unscathed. A nice fat dent in the inboard leading edge to keep my flying mellow.

R aul has hooked us up with killer accomodations here in his hometown. Yesterday the sun broke through the clouds about midday and we all soared for a few hours. Today we wanted to fly a task but the clouds never broke for our downwind task. If we had been smart we would have set an alternate task up and down the ridge because the soaring there was consistant despite the strongly crossed sea breeze and total overcast skies. Dustin and I were partying our butts off with vulteres all afternoon long.

We are going to hang out in the city a few more days then head to the beach for the comp. Before that I t hink we are also heading up to a 4,000m launch in the andes. Depending on conditions I think we could fly to the ocean from there. Don´t worry, the camera batteries are all charged up and ready to rock!

Kev

2005-10-21T14:35:00.000-05:00

Here is my pretty new Flytec harness. When I am not flying XC down here in Florida, the cocoon is about the best choice for jumping from glider to glider taking care of other pilots' wings. The Flytec blue/pink was designed as a symbol of the different vario bag colors. I would like to hope that I am macho enough to pull off the pink without any questions about my manly-ness. haha.

2005-10-21T14:32:00.000-05:00

Thermalling up with a beautiful Peregrine (I think that is what it was).

CIVL rankings updated

2005-10-13T16:27:00.000-05:00
The new World Rankings are out and lucky for me a top placing at the German Open moved me into the top 10. My performance in the US meets has been below expectations this year so my US ranking has slipped 2 places.

http://www.fai.org/hang_gliding/rankings/
http://www.davisstraub.com/Glide/2006class1ntss.htm

Kev

2005-10-09T11:07:00.000-05:00

twitchy

Frontal Blues

2005-10-09T10:55:00.000-05:00
Thursday a front and a tropical storm started an arm wrestling match over Tennessee effectively ruling out any hopes of flying for the next few days. Since the flying has been back to back until now we used this extra time to hold a few Q and A sessions on skills like weather prediction, thermalling technique, etc. My tent leaks so I am going to get a new one. The damp sleeping bag was a bummer but nothing was going to keep these tired eyes open.

Kev

Team Challenge Task 4

2005-10-09T10:49:00.000-05:00
Weather doesn't look so hot from launch on this day. The wind is strong and crossing from the left (north) and the windsock really likes to dance. I think someone slipped that nylon bag some crack cause it was twitching like a spaz. We waited to launch till late again hoping for some clouds but none were heading our way. Blue day blues. I found the air off launch to be rough, broken, and very challenging. The best I could get was a thousand over launch with really difficult conditions down low. Every few minutes a viscous shear would pull me hard behind the ridge and the conditions, although very soarable, were way too much for a fun comp. I went out to the church LZ and landed. Most of the pilots on launch broke down after an announcement was made to drop the scores for the day. Some pilots hung out and slipped in some flights during the late glass off.

Kev C

2005-10-04T19:00:00.000-05:00

This is the Church LZ from pretty high. It was a tough day on the ridge with the valley flow close to 90 cross.

Task 3

2005-10-03T19:12:00.000-05:00
Today had a great weather forecast but it just wasn't apparent on launch. We hung back and waited while a few pilots punched off here and there. Finally a few good clouds popped off the ridge so Ollie G and I had a sprint race for the gliders. He lost his vario just off launch so went into immediate pimp mode. Conditions were super scratchy and I struggled with a bown out harness zipper. I pushed the frustration aside and made the best of the day. The pair of us crawled to the first turnpoint and back struggling to stay high. Most of the climbs were very slow and we didn't see any other gliders till we were most of the way back. Ollie's new VX has a phenominal sink rate that shows a big advantage in the 50-80 fpm climbs we kept getting stuck with. Lucky for me he had no vario so I could catch up every time I found a short core. A few times we got solid 2-300 climbs with a short 400 thrown in there as well.

I barely squeaked into the main whitwell LZ. Ollie thought about continuing on but came back to join me and share good times after such an epic flight for us. It felt good.

Kev

2005-10-03T18:18:00.000-05:00

Close to cloudbase on Task 3.

2005-10-02T18:52:00.000-05:00

The story that isn't where it belongs. About 2 weeks ago, while Hurricane Rita crossed past the southern tip of Florida, we hit the coast. Bo, Lauren and Paul Tjaden came with me out to the Florida coast for some dune soaring. Now if there was only a way for me to post video again..... The winds were stiff and Bo showed us the way. Paul and I did a brief man tow to help sling him off a rock pile and into the lift band. From there he showed us all just how good he is. He transitioned effortlessly back and forth between the low band of the dunes and cottages to the higher band of the hotels. His example proved priceless when I took my try. I realized Bo just makes it look easy as I struggled to wrestle the glider into the lift band. A few crusty turns marked the beginning of my flight but I got my act in gear to soar as long as I wanted. It was really interesting to see where the lift band was around the different buildings and dune shapes. A real eybrow raiser.

2005-10-02T18:38:00.000-05:00

Carl Burrick climbing like a rock star over launch.