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.

Last days

The last 2 days in Bogong where like all of them which looking back wasn't all that bad. Sure we didn't fly and the weather was awful but after 6 days of similar weather we were used to finding other things to do and I had actually started to worry less about not flying and just enjoyed the moments. I was invited out to lunch with one of the locals and we went up to the Anaperna winery for lunch. The food was delicious and I was so stuffed by the end that we decided to take a walk through the vineyards before heading back. You can see in the back ground how close the recent fires had gotten to the homes in the area.



I am very proud of my friends! Jeff raced smart and hard on the only comp day we had and finished 2nd just 3 seconds behind Lucas Bader. It was his best finish ever and he deserved his placing. Unfortunately we all didn't get the chance to knock him out of his spot ( I don't think I could have as he is flying so well ). I just love the look on Jeff's face, I don't think you could have burned the smile off of his face with a torch. Way to go Dr. I sure this won't be the last time that Jeff is on a podium. I am so impressed with how Jeff's flying has evolved, he is my inspiration and in the next couple of years I hope my skills turn on and I will be able to race head to head with him at the 09 worlds.

My big brother Jorge is the nicest guy I have ever met. And now he has a trophy to show it. It was a very moving moment when Heather Mull read aloud the comments from the numerous votes for the sportsmanship award that was created to honor her brother that passed away last year. Jorge won hands down and it is an honor to say he is my good friend and I miss him already. I am lucky as we all are to travel, fly and hang with a great group of fellow pilots and I will get to see most of them at the Flytec comp on April.

"I don't know why we do this crazy shit...."

"But is sure is fun"..C.M.

The day started overcast.....again. So we went to the pilots meeting at 9:00 and were told to come back again at 11:30 to see if it would get better. I walked to town to make a phone call home and on the 2 km walk back it started to rain, then pour. I was pissed. I was soaking wet, grumpy and it was going to be another no-fly day here....again. Just when I thought it couldn't get worse some a#$hole figured he would "measure my sense of humor" by swerving off the road and soaking me by driving through a puddle. More on this later. I changed, the day got called, went for lunch and when I got back the sky was blue the sun was out so I hooked up with the Jeff's and we decided to throw the gliders on the car, grab our driver Biddy and head up mystic for a flight. Any flight would have been cool, this one was amazing. Mystic is only 1500 ft, another front was coming in so we raced to set up. OB was first in line, I was behind him and Montana had just walked up when he asked OB " so do you want to go first?". He didn't even wait for the response he just sprinted down the hill with OB chasing after him and me 5 seconds behind OB. The 3 of us played a low level game of follow the leader over the treetops and ridges for a couple of passes and then headed out to the LZ for an "expression" session. OB and I were next to each other 100 ft apart and about the same altitude when I noticed him pull a bunch of rope. Montana got to watch as we both dove our gliders and pulled up into wing overs, OB going right and me going left. I did 2 or 3 I can't remember and as I came out of my last one so was OB. Montana was exiting a loop and I watched from 100 ft above him and 500 ft off of the ground as he dives into a second one. He came up over and then settled out and flew upside down for what I am sure was 4 seconds. I watched as he came over the top and pushed the bar out to get it to wrap, and when it didn't I saw him bring the bar to his chest and then after a couple of seconds the nose finally went down and he followed it around. It was one of the most intense things I have seen while in the air. I flew over him screaming and yelling and I could hear him doing the same. The 2 jeffs came in on either side of the road at exactly the same time with me a few seconds behind. I immediately unhooked myself from my glider and ran across the road and gave Jeff a high 5 and a hug. It started to rain, hard just after we landed and we got soaked and basked in it as we packed up. This flight was what most non pilots think hang gliding is. It was fun, exhilarating, exciting, a bit scary and when we were done you couldn't beat the smiles off of our faces. It was just what we needed.

Soaked but happy in the LZ at mystic.