The same as yesterday but in the other direction.

Bernard is my hero.

Scrappy light lift.
No sun.
Thick cloud cover.
Wind.
Low slow climbes.
No Patience.
No Goal for me.


This is NOT goal.

But...... Bernard is a different story.
He was in 2 minutes behind Jonny, the day winner.
One of only 15 into goal.
One of only 3 or 4 people to make goal on both days.
Bernard ROCKS


Mark made it in as well today on a very difficult day.
Jim, Rob and myself all landed within a couple of km of each other right on the edge of a large lake that we needed to cross. I was able to stay in the air, low but I was unwilling to try and cross the lake so I faltered around in the wind and the scrappy lift until the ground rose up to meet me. Ross was high enough to get across the lake but landed on the other side with a bunch of other pilots. It looked like a goal field except for the Giraffes and Zebra's in the field with them.

Getting ready for the day.


OB always makes me laugh.


One of the 2 launch lines.

lots of wind but not a lot of lift.

Bernard is my hero!!!!
More on that later.

The last few days have not been great. There was a front that moved through early Sunday morning that had tornado warnings and high wind. When the front hit it dropped 6" of rain on us in 20 minutes. There was still a lot of wind on Monday so no flying again.
So here are my choices....
Hang with Mark = sit in the club house with a laptop all day.
Hang with Rob = stay in bed until after lunch.
Hang with Jim = watching him and Cha Cha smootch and hear "I love you... I love you more" all day.
Hang with Bernard = go to the mall and go shopping.

I went shopping.

On Monday thanks to the help of Awesome Bob I made some ear covers for my Skyline helmet out of a couple of a mouse pad and installed a push-to-talk. Later that evening the wind mellowed out enough to get a tow in. I have had a lot of help from Craig and mostly Gerolf to get my glider flying right, I have towed it a ton trying to get it tweaked and I think I might have it sorted now. I got a 1 degree tip from Craig last night which I hope will get rid of the last little bit of turn it has. I will find out today.

The task yesterday was a 110 km dogleg with a 1/4 tail wind to the first turn point 1/2 way out and then a little more down wind to goal. There was very little lift at the start as we all sat on the ground and watched the rigid just hang out and not climb. Finally after 45 minutes the flex wings started to launch and slowly the sky filled up with wings. The thermals were REALLY crowded and my neck is sore today from trying to keep track of everyone. I watched a couple of near midairs and was glad when we finally went. As the lift was sooo light and we were only getting 2500 ft off of the ground no one wanted to go so everyone waited until the last gate at 3:30 to go I had a good position at the start... too good. I ended up leading out and had a long glide but was alone to try and find my next thermal. It took me a while to did myself out of that hole as the most of the field passed over my head and found the climb above me. I then made a typical "Scott" decision and flew very aggressive trying to catch up. I ended up low one too many times and landed short of the turn point across the road from a elephant farm. Bernard was smart, patient and was 8th into goal of only 9 pilots that made it in. I am very proud of him for flying so well, the field here is very good and he showed that he is world class!
Mark and Jim landed 10 km further up the road from me and Ross and Rob were closer to Quest. It is a new day and the weather looks promising so we will be flying again. Look for results on the Oz report.

The set up area.


In the air with the Italians.


Team Canada.

There to here.

The trip went great. It was wild to see 4 hang gliders go on the plane at the same time. Rob picked us all up and we went to the air port and checked in with no problems. Mark was there waiting for his gear so he could clear customs. The flight was smooth, they had seated us all together but the plane was empty enough that we all had a whole row of seats to ourselves. As soon as our gliders come out of the baggage area Jim was there with the van and we made our way to quest after stopping for dinner. The tent trailer was all set up as well as the tent so we just started visiting and catching up with old friends. It is great to be back. Yesterday we put our gliders together and all did some flying. Rob was the first off and eventually we all followed doing extended sled runs as there was very little weak broken thermals. I had 3 flights, each time tweaking my glider a little bit trying to get it to handle just right (Brett I miss you). Last night Rob, Mark, Bernie and i went out for the funniest meal I have ever had. After we had talked and joked with the waitress for about an hour it as discovered that she thought we were all Gay! The guys thought that she thought I was gay so I asked and it was then that she said that she thought we all were. I guess in Florida if you are friendly and polite you must be gay. Last night we played poker until 1 am with Rob winning the game and $120. I thought I had him with a full house, Queens and 4's but he had the only other queen and beat me. (bugger!) After a great home cooked breakfast of French toast and fresh fruit ( thanx cha cha ) we tore our gliders down because it is blowing pretty good and is supposed to get much worse tomorrow.


Thanx to Westjet all of our gliders got here in one piece. Westjet Rocks!


We put our gliders back together right outside of Camp Canada by the lake.


Going for another tow.


Team Muller.


Our waitress Brenda and here new Gay friends.


The wind starts to blow and will get stronger today and tomorrow.


Visiting under the shade tree.


A view of the club house.

Between Oz and Florida

After getting home from Oz I just jumped back into my home life. Hangin with the kid, work and the gym. A few things were different. But most of it was all the same.


I still don't pick up after myself. This pile of gear from Oz stayed this way on the basement floor for a month.

My Daughter was thrilled to have a new boyfriend to play with. Brett stayed with us for 2 months since he got his first real job here in Calgary.

Spent about 4 hrs in the air soaring at Cochrane when the Chinooks blew in.

I am flying real fast, no really I am.

Ross, Rob, Bernard and myself short packing our gliders on Bernard's drive way on Sunday. we all get on the plane on Thursday to go to Quest for the Flytec championship. The 4 of us are hooking up with Mark and Jim so 6 Canadians will be there for the comp. I am also so looking forward to seeing all of my other good friends again.

Inspiration

Many great men have inspired me throughout my life.


Leonardo for his creativity.


The Idea of Santa Clause for his generosity.


Christ for his compassion.


Boyde Coddington for his fashion sense.



And the Team of Jeff Squared for their high level of heterosexualness.

So I decided late this winter that I would try to be more like these incredible men who have influenced my life so much. I came upon the one thing that all of these great men had which I do not, a BEARD. So over a vast amount of time (6 weeks) I toiled at being more like my heros, but is was all for not. I am either too sensitive or not near man enough to do it, it was too hard and uncomfortable to be a man like my heros so the beard had to go.

Not wanting to completely waste my efforts I decided to document the unveiling of the real me.



Hairy and unhappy


The first step: pork chops and a goat. ( sounds like a meal)



The Pro wrestler.


I kinda felt like an extra gay Paul Sr.


This was inspired by the Killers.


I felt very French.


ahhhh much better.

After all of the hard work I have been doing since Oz ( nothing really that is why I havn't posted anything). I really need to go flying! More on that soon.