Racing all by my self.

The goal line.

Day 8, Task 6
What I have learned this meet:
I can fly with the big boys, I climb and glide well enough to keep up and did it on 4 of the six days.
The start is the most important piece of the puzzle. Without a good start you are at a huge disadvantage. I am able to keep up with the lead gaggle but I am not able to catch them. Even when I left with them but much lower it still worked out quite well.
I need to stop losing concentration at the end. On the 2 days I landed short it was because I got cocky and figured I had it in the bag. Stupid!
My mind and not my gear is holding me back, Thanx Brett at moyes Canada and Vincene at Muller Windsports. Their support is greatly appreciated.
I have good friends Jeff O'Brien and Jeff Shapiro and I am glad that I have gotten to know them both better.

The task for the last day was a 125 km out and return. We had a 1/4 tail wind on the way out with a 1/4 head wind on the way back. I was in a great position at the top of the gaggle at the edge of the start circle at the first clock. I wanted to fly with the top 30 who would start in 15 minutes. As we were drifting out of the start circle and away from the course line I decided to punch up wind to get a more down wind shot to the turn point. I thought it was a good idea (thinking for myself again) When I left I had a few pilots with me but after a couple of km I was alone. I had good position but ended up flying the whole course except the last 25 km alone. It wasn't the fastes way to fly the course but it was very rewarding. The air was very rough and I was pissed off at myself for my start. I battled with myself about whether or not I could do it ( i was very negative). I got really frustrated after the turn point when I was at 1500 m getting poked in the face by short pieces of straw and dumped/flipped so violently that scared me so bad because I thought I was about to tumble. After I cleaned my shorts, I continued on and caught up to a group and worked until my numbers worked and had a good glide into goal.
It was very satisfying to finish in goal on the last day. We checked in, downloaded our GPS and went back to clean up before the wind up party.

The winner "little" Jonny Durand

Good friends and great traveling companions.