Impossible?

That was the question I had in my head after I landed for the second time today.

We got up over the resort but we were in light lift, drifting and not getting very high. Davis, Jeff and I were punching up into the wind trying to work our way to the edge of the start circle. The first tp was 4 km outside the 8 km start circle and directly into the wind. Davis and I went out by ourselves up wind again and neither of us found anything until it was too late. Davis went down just to the south of me. I tried to save my flight by hanging on to broken lift at 200'. I was there for 30 minutes drifting in light broken lift only getting up to 400'. When I had had enough I tried to run back to the resort but didn't make it. Russel came with the tug to pick me out of the field I was in ( Thanx a lot). He towed me up again, and Davis towed up again as well. I used all of the altitude to search around fore some lift. I found nothing so I ran back to the resort with my tail between my legs and landed. 7 other pilots were there already so I felt a little better about my day. As it turned out no one was able to make it very far so the day won't be worth much at all.


One of the tugs that make it all posible. Thanx guys ( and girl)


Lined up on the ground.......


....and in the air.




Right next to our oasis is the dirt airstrip that we are towing out of.


The view I have had a couple of times this week when I have made it in.

Day 5 a 5 hour bar fight.

At least that is how I felt after I landed.


A local pilot, Gene Irwin took these pictures and helped a ton during the comp. Thanx Gene. Here I am humping my gear out to the strip.


Dusties have come through launch every day. I decided to dance with this one.


The dust didn't taste so good.


All suited up and ready to go.

We had weak climbs that ended up bumping up against an inversion just like the day before. Most of the field had climbed up to a few thousand feet over the resort when Davis and I headed for the edge of the start circle hoping for a good climb like the day before. We pushed on cautiously as we weren't very high but eventually found a decent climb right were I thought it would be over a small hill with a huge water tank on it. As we climbed out the rest of the group came in below us. I was happy to be on top of Jeff, Jonny, Chris and Dustin but this quickly faded as Davis and I started to bump up against the inversion as the rest of the guys climbed up to us. The climbs were weak, rough and frustrating and stayed that way for the rest of the day. We had a very similar task as day 4 with a run east then south back west and finally a short leg NE to goal.

I got really low a couple of km short of the first tp and hung out in zero as I watched David Cameron land just 400 ft below me. A dustdevil popped off just a short distance to the south and I dove into it at 200 ft and hung on as eventually I was joined by Davis and Mark and then a few others. We stuck with this anemic climb as it drifted us east but north of the tp. Mark and I noticed a much larger dustie backwards on the course line so he and I dove for it and I was rewarded with a decent climb that Mark missed. I climbed out back up the the inversion, tagged the tp and headed south chasing down OB, Davis and Conrad. They went for the same field that Jonny and Davis were low in the day before and found a slow climb that drifted them over the desert, They were at 300 ft. Davis found the climb, Conrad missed it and landed next to the only road out there. Jeff and I worked the lift for a while then went on glide for the 2nd tp.

We found a little climb after the tp then pressed on. This leg was supposed to be into the wind but there was no wind, I was stoked. After watching a few guys land already and having suffered through the crappy conditions for so long it was nice to have some good news. It was then that Jeff and I working together found the best climb of our day. Smooth 500 to 4000 ft. As we had 1 extra turn point to tag before goal so we couldn't quite go on final yet. But we had a plan, Both of us headed slightly to the right of course line to hook up with a small mountain ridge thinking that we would find another god climb there and then we could just glide in. After spreading out and trolling the entire ridge we found nothing. As we flew off the end of the ridge we both, disappointed headed straight down the highway towards the last tp. We stopped a few times in very weak broken lift when we were quite low but it was just delaying the inevitable. We landed 8 km from the last tp and 20 km from goal.



I was over heated from fighting down low all day, I had drunken all 3 litres of water I brought with me and was getting dehydrated and I was super sore. Thankfully Belinda ( she is great ) showed up just as I got my glider to the road and gave me a cold peach green tea and a smile. I went to be very early that night after eating nd loading up on Advil so I can be ready for the next day.


Even though the day was long, I find it very satisfying to use up every bit that the day has and to fly until all the lift is gone and the shadows are long.

Day 4 My best flying day ever!

This is a bit late because we have been flying every day and the heat is exhausting so I have been falling asleep early.

On day 4 I finally flew an entire day without making any big mistakes. I launched 50 minutes before the first start clock and started to climb out over the resort. I watched as Dustin started to head north and since this is his backyard and he is a great pilot I figured it was a goo decision. I was a little to his left and we were starting to get low. I had just flown through some lift when Dustin turned around as he had missed it so I went right back to it and started to climb out from 300 m. Soon we were joined by Davis, Jon, Chris and a few others. We took the climb to 1000 m when Jonny and Chris headed off towards the edge of the start circle. Davis and I decided to follow and we eventually found a good climb just outside the start circle and it gave us a huge advantage over the rest of the field as it punched through the inversion that the rest of the guys were stuck under.

When the second start time approached I was at 2300 m with Chris, Jonny and Davis and I was on top. We all went back to grab the start and timed it perfectly and started on course. As I made my turn I could see all the rest of the guys getting to the edge of the start circle 2500 ft below us. We flew right back through the thermal we were in and we were on our way.

As we glided the 25 km towards the first tp I was able to glide head to head with the guys in the most perfectly still air. We had found what I think was the very first thermal of the day that had broken through the inversion so the rest of the air mass up there had yet to be stirred up by any thermals. We glided almost he entire way to the tp without a bump in the air and Chris, jon and I were still all together. Davis started a touch lower than us and as still there. We started to climb out in the first thermal we found and I was with Chris, on top of Davis but had lost track of Jonny. We took the climb to the top, tagged the tp and started to head south towards the next tp. As we glided Davis noticed a field spitting out dustdevils 1 mile east of the course line. Chris was going for it as well. That is when I noticed Jonny who must have skipped the climb before the tp and now was low over the field. Davis hooked up with Jon in the weak climb and I started to search around for the core as I was at least 1000 ft over them. I thought I would have some help centering the thermal but Chris was no where to be seen. The climb was better up higher so I was climbing really well as Jonny and Davis struggled for 10 minutes until it turned on for them as well.

Chris had gone to the field to the west of the course line and the rest of us had gone to the east but eventually the 2 climbes joined up and I was surprised to see chris appear at my altitude circling. Jon and Davis were now climbing fast and our thermal had pretty much topped out. I singled to Chris that we should go and e poited towards the tp so I pulled on a bunch of rope and headed out. When looked over my shoulder he was still turing. As I knew that I would do better with help i turned around and as I did I found a bit better climb. Chris came over to me an we did a couple more turns as Davis and Jonny were climbing up fast and closing the 2000 ft gap fast. Now this time Cris singled methat it was time to go, so I pulled on my vg, pitched down and tucked my arms in andstarted to glide. But yet again he had pimped me an had stayed behind turning waiting for Davis and Jonny. I saw this, called him a couple of names quietly to my self and continued on. I glided straight to the tp, as I ot there the air was rough so I knew there was a climb close so I tagged the t and started to search around. I found the core just as Chris got there at my altitude. Jon joined us shortly afterwords followed by Davis. We stayed in the rough climb that eventually smoothed ou but Davis skipped it and continued on course. I kept an eye on him as Ifigured We could fly straight to him when he finds the next climb.

Chris, Jonny and I topped out the climb and headed on course where davis was turning low over a field in survival mode. We flew a few thousand feet right over him but didn't find any thing so we kept going and found another good climb over a dustdevil a couple of miles west of Davis. I let him know about it on the radio as I climbed out with Jonny and Chris.
We were 25 km out from goal, all of my glide numbers had gone positive but they wern't going on glide yet. We stayed and climbed until we had a 10/1 glide then Chris went immediately followed by Chris and I. I ws at the same altitude as Chris, 150 ft over Jonny and between the 2 of them. As we glided towards our oasis in the dessert I passed Jonny and chris had moved over and slid 30 ft underneath me to take a line closed to the small mountain ridge between us and goal. Shortly after that move I started to fall out of the sky in sink as Chris got at least 500 ft on me in a few seconds. I had to turn 90 degrees to get away from the flushing and this let chris get in front of me. I was now even with Jonny and we were both trying to chase chris down. Until now we had een gliding at 90 - 95 km/hr but as we were only 15 km out and ou glide was now a 8/1 I started to pull on more speed. I figured Jonn was hanging back so he could watch our line and come in at the end and scoop the win with some extra speed. But..... Chris and I are both big bys on gliders that are a touch small for us we were both flying at full vg and full stuff going 120 km/hr and Jonny couldn't catch us as we hammered through some crazy rough air at full speed. It was an incredible mix of emotion for me I was very excited, happy and scared as I raced in as fast as Ii could against 2 incredible pilots on the most violent glide I have ever had.

It wasn't until after I landed that I learned that Jonny hadn't passed me on the final. I was grinning from ear to ear and was quoted saying that you couldn't beat the smile off of my face with a hammer. A lot of the guys made goal and we all sat under the shae of a tree at the resort drinking margaritas and celebrating a great day of flying.

Final glide on the end of a rope.

We had another great day with a a 108 km box down south, then east, north and finally back west to our oasis in the desert. I had a good start with everyone except Jeff, Dustin and Jonny who held back to take the later start in 15 minutes. We were racing fast and Davis and I were working well together on the radio. We were at the first tp in no time. Chris Smith was charging! I could tell that he wanted this one bad and I respect that because I have been a very aggressive pilot as well. Davis and I were chasing him towards the second tp, Chris was getting low but he wouldn't quit. I could tell that he would only stop for a strong thermal like the ones that we had on the first leg. I stopped in a broken climb and got behind. Davis kept going towards the base of a mountain were the 2nd tp was. He and Chris stopped there kinda low and started to turn, I joined them and shortly after so did the rest of the guys that we were hoping to loose. We topped out that climb and headed directly on course line over a empty reservoir that now was a huge swamp. There was nothing but sink for 10 km So OB, Mark and I got to the other side first and low. We worked weak broken lift FOREVER until we were high enough to move on to the 3rd tp. Chris and Davis had come through us earlier at our altitude but didn't stop for the climb (I think they wanted something stronger) and they both ended up landing at the tp, so I really put the brakes on. I was 1000 ft above Jeff when he got the tp low and headed of to the west looking for his next climb. I watched him search around for lift over some green fields as I headed a little more north over some dry dirt fields. I watched as Jeff glided directly to the ground so now I really slowed down. I found zero and stayed there for 30 minutes. It was like all the lift had just shut off. I couldn't see any dustdevils anywhere so I stayed put very slowly climbing until dusties started to pop. As soon as one was in reach I went to it and climbed in 400 up until I had a 10/1 glide to goal. There was a west wind and I was 23 km out but I had topped out the climb and decided I would try my final in. I was only getting about a 8.5/1 so I really wanted to find another climb. I was now right over the middle of town and I was sure I would find the last climb I needed to fly the last 8 km to goal. I had a 15/1 and I found a weak climb above Jim Scoles on the edge of town. But after the first 1000 ft the wind was stronger and the lift got weaker and I couldn't improve on the 13/1 glide I had and was just getting further and further away. My patience was done so I pointed it into the wind and glided it into the ground without hitting a bump and landed 4 km short. Since I was so close I called the resort and begged one of the tug pilots to come grab me so I wouldn't have to break down. The trike came and I had my first AT foot launch in zero wind ( all the wind was up higher).


My ride home and the road I launched off of.



A all Canadian wiener convention in the hot tub.

Day 2 in the desert

I woke up very sore this AM! The forecast for today was much the same as yesterday. Top of lift @ 15000 ft and 800 ft/min climbes. I launched much earlier than yesterday but again I struggled to get a good start. They all waited for the last clock but I was way too low to try and chase them I was with Dustin climbing finally climbing well and we left on course 10 minutes after the last start gate. Dustin and I glided out together on the first glide, me well North of course line and Dustin well north of me. I found the first climb and Dustin who had been getting a better glide came over to join me. He came in well below me but climbed up through me as I was taking pictures of him. I left that climb at 2000m when it started to gt rough and weak and started to glide And glide and glide and glide....... I got really low and Dustin was no where to be seen. After what felt like a hour of just avoiding the ground I finally found a climb that got me out of the hole I put myself in. Then it was a lonely trip out to the first turn point. I got a few climbes on the way as I really did not want to get low again as it was really rugged with few to no places to land for the last 15 km out to the turn point and back. I tried to stay up around 2000m and climbed in some pretty rough trashy lift to stay there. I got to the second tp of the figure 8 task we had relatively high and then I hit the best thermal of the day 6-8 m/s to 3600m. I was still going up like a rocket but my vario told me that I had goal with 1000m to spare so I swithchedmy vario to my final glide page and started to watch the glide ratio get better and better. I was 48 km out and was gliding at 110 km/hr. It wasn't until I was 8 km out from the 3rd tp that I realized that the glide ratio is calculated to the next turn point and not goal. I slowed down, my 1000m buffer was now 160m so I found a little climb 15 km from goal that got me up to a 8/1 glide and then cruised in 500 ft over at 110 km/hr. I counted 6 gliders on the ground as I did some wing overs to get down before i landed close to the pool. It turned out that 1 of the gliders was not in the comp so I finished 6th for the day. Dustin first then Chris and Jeff, within 4 seconds of each other. Later Davis and Johnny came in, then my tired ass. After landing short yesterday I was stoked to make t in......Then hell broke loose.

Dustin and I climbing in our last thermal together.




enjoying a Margarita at goal.

The peanut gallery

A wall of dust approaching 30 minutes after I landed


When it hit it hit hard.

Life in the desert

Mark and Jim "tuning" Marks glider


Rob's and my glider by the pool after our check out flight the day before.


Don't store gliders in the shade of a tree. The birds crap on them.


Pilot meeting by the pool.


Harness transport. (sure beats carrying them)


Game face on.


If the dirt is dark it is probably a mountain.


You would not want to land out there.