On the final day of our Superfinal trip, we were invited to Aphrodisia. The home city of Aphrodities, visited by Socretes and his mates. We flew a mountain a few k's away and I was lucky enough to get high and forward to fly right over the city ruins. A free lunch and a free trip round the ruins ended a great trip out to Turkey.

Flying over the salt/lime formations Pamukale

Comp 6 The World Cup Super Final. Turkey.

This was a veritable Who’s Who of competition Paragliding. Every person you spoke to was the Champion of something. The Team member of their country, the designer or test pilot top wings. It was an honour to fly amongst them, until the sods starting crashing into me!! There were mid airs all the time on every task; the flying was aggressive to the degree of stupidity. The launch mountain was cross wind so the R10 dance was a sight to see. Our own Adrian Thomas tripped on launch, hitting a rock face first, missing task 1 and getting 40 stitches in his upper lip for good measure. He soldiered on, but I’m sure he was suffering, especially when he had a mid air on task 6, completely the other pilots fault.

The task setting was questionable to say the least, with strong winds forecast; they tasked us back into 40kph winds!! With classic skies downwind, it was very upsetting to have to turn back into wind, pushing into lee side rotor above shaded trees!!

All in all, 7 tasks of varying quality revealed a worthy winner in the very friendly French pilot Yann Martail. With France winning the countries cup and Petra Slivova winning the women’s list.

For Team UK. Jamie Messenger took a fantastic 7^th, while I was next Brit with a 21^st J. Russ Ogden 51^st, Adrian Thomas 64^th, Craig Morgan 84^th and John Ellison 86^th. Which out of 135 of the Worlds best paraglider pilots is no mean feat.

This is what you have to do to make the British Paragliding Team! 5 or 6 top comps and do very well in them. It’s a lot of dedication and even more skill and bravery.

Even if this does make Skywings, it’ll probably be skipped over to read about someone’s first 10k XC or ridge run in Wales J But to me it’s been great, and the R10? It turned out to be a beauty. Now, planning for the Worlds next year, oh and the PWC’s. The Super Final will be in Mexico! Oh and the British Championships!!!

Here we go again!

Comp 5 The British Open St Andre les Alpes. Every paraglider pilot should fly in St Andre les Alpes!! It is an incredible place, surrounded by the rugged dry mountains of the southern Alps. The views, thermal strengths and transitions are simply breath taking. My family love the mountain biking, via ferratas, white water rafting the Verdon Gorge and swimming in the lakes. This comp was one of the biggest comps of the season with a very high pilot quality and the final leg of the British Championships. Jamie was the man to beat and Craig and I set about doing just that. Another strong team of French pilots could not knock our very own Russell Ogden off his perch as he won most tasks. Pierre Remy and I won the other two tasks, but after 6 scores Russ won the Open, with a brilliant 3^rd spot for a consistent Mark Watts??

The other story lay in the British Championships, with Jamie Messenger feeling the pressure of the chasing pack; he choked at the run for the line. On the penultimate day both Craig and Jamie bombed as I took the lead and won the task from Luc Armont.

11 tasks and 11000 points scored, Craig and I were only 7 points apart. The closest fought championship in history. The final day saw marginal conditions, but I had the lead and with it the British Championships!! Then the call, ‘Task Stopped’ we had to land, but with more than half the task flown, I thought I’d won it! Back at HQ, they were scoring the task…… Yes, I’ve won it!! Only to be told that the score will be used in the Open but not for the British Championships! Some rule in sub section 8b(i) or something, meant a controversial task would upset the controversial discard system, so they would not count it.

Craig Morgan won, with me once again vice champ and Jamie in third. An incredible pull back by Mark Watts, to climb up to 4^th. Adam Hill achieved 5^th and our hearts go out to Chris Harland who flew a blinding campaign but got no luck in his lead out bombs ended in 6^th. A big mention has to go to Emile Van Wyke, flying a Serial Class Gin GTO nicked 7^th place off a comp wing chasing pack and our girl Kirsty Cameron nearly got into the British Top Ten, again on Serial Class Advance Omega 8

THE GERMAN OPEN in FIESCHE SWITZERLAND. (photo by Marin Scheel of Azoom,com)

Every paraglider pilot should fly in Fiesche Switzerland once in their lives!! It is an incredible place, surrounded by the biggest mountains and glaciers in the Alps. The views, thermal strengths and transitions are simply breath taking. My family love the mountain biking, via ferratas hot pools and natural spring water parks. We swept through Europe and I nicked a 5^th place out of the comp and a great family holiday on top.

Phew! and rest.

Sorry for all the silence this last 9 days. It's just been busy, busy, busy!! The final two days of the European Championships certainly shuffled the scores up. The final day was 141k triangle over some incredible high mountain terrain. Thermal strengths so strong at times that you simply held on to your wing until you pinggend out at the top of the World.

I found myself in gaggle 2, chasing the leaders like mad and all of us flying at break neck speed.

Whenever gaggle 1 would take a climb, we'd be chasing under them or their thermal as they would peel off the top! The final leg of the task found us at 3000 meters crossing a wall of Alpine granite that drops 2000 meters off a cliff into Abtenau. It took your breath away as the world fell from beneath you.

More importantly, our final glide looked a long 15k at 10:1 and as we came over the valley I noticed the lead gaggle starting to land short of goal, others disburst in all directions in search of lift. My mind switched on....... get a thermal!! the valley is sinking!! I headed to the final turnpoint and aimed at the sunny spur that offered a bleep or two. I saw Russ take a turn on route so raced at him as he peeled for goal, I took a turn, then did the same. My route in to goal was tracing contour lines, then tree lines, then fence line, then curb stones and one foot to clear the final hill with a sigh of relief to glide over the goal line and get a brilliant 29th place.

My overall final position is also 29th which I'm very pleased with and can now look back on the 2010 European Championships with pleasure.

So download the GPS's, pack up the gear, jump in Bella's Audi TT and race down to Slovenia for the 6 tasks of the British Championships (round 1) Fantastic weather gave us great racing conditions (if a little predictable) I was always in the top ten front gaggle of R10.2's. Strangely enough all the red R10's where Brits and the French Team were on Blu R10's. It became a bit of a visual spectacle of Reds and Blues doing battle in the skies above Tolmin.

The final day found me and Jamie Messenger getting the jump on the others, but Jamie hit an incredible moonbeem just before the final glides, while my moderate 3 meter climb left me tussling with the Frenchies for the line. My daring dive into a tree lined bowl for the final turnpoint was too much for the French, who held back for more altitude. Our speed bar race for the line saw me hold my nerve and the wing to claim second place on that task. A great result finds me third Brit, tussling for the Championship with Jamie Messenger, Craig Morgan and Mark Hayman.

A mad 4 days

It's been total madness since my last blog. Austria eventually stopped raining and we got a couple of great tasks in. Most notably was the 141k triangle on the final day. One of the biggest triangle tasks ever set in a competition. Over huge mountain terrain with eye popping views. Even better I got to goal in 29th place, which amazingly pushed my final position to 29th position. More write up and photos to follow!!

I then drove a Red Audi TT down to Slovenia for the start of British Championships.
Day 1, I came 6th and today I came 5th! If I can maintain this graph I'll come 1st in 4 days ;-)

Not got much time just now but will update and loads pictures soon.

The final tasks

So, what has it been?? three, four. five days of rain??? I've been to Salzburg a few times, to museums, spas, Red Bull H7 and shopping......... I need to get in the air!!!

Today we plan a mountain hike up to the waterfalls...... we couldn't do white water rafting because we can no longer fit under the bridges. The rivers are so high, they are bursting their banks in places. Mud slides are a danger and the ground is sodden!

However, tommorow looks like we might task and Saturday looks like it will be epic!!

It's not over till the fat lady sings, and now is when we need to focus back into the saddle.

Oh and ofcourse, time to get out the special flying suit, if all else fails, jump out and dive for the line.

Alternatives

We have now had rain for four days!!! Continual rain!! We spent the day in Salzburg. Very impressive was RED BULL's Hanger 7. This is the companies HQ based at the Airport, with all their Formula 1 racing cars, the racing planes, helicopters and the sky dive suit with the wings.

Very much a boys toys center of excellence, I took more photos here than in the whole trip. I even brushed passed Niki Lauder, the ex- Formula 1 driver, who stepped out into his private jet.

Yesterday, we spent the entire day at the Spa. A very impressive place with swimming baths, super slides and nine different saunas, hot tubs, plunge pools, brine baths and more. I got really stuck into the game and have probably lost a stone and now have the cleanest skin in the world.

Today, we were emailed by the paragliding organization, not to even bother going to briefing. The message reads that "catastrophic rainfall" expected "flooding" and landslides are the order of the day. I'm too scared to leave the house, incase I get swept away in a flood or buried by a landslide. Todays White water rafting plans are cancelled because we can't fit under the bridges!

Rain again

Yesterday saw us drive up the mountain and spend the entire day in the fog. By 5 oclock they set us a task in the hope we could fly!!!!! But as we were about to launch, they cancelled the task due to cu-nimbs building above us. Most of the field then launched anyway. But with back winds, the launches were more of a comedy. Top Swiss Jeorg slipped on his attempt and promptly slid down the grass and mud, crashing through gliders laid infront of him. Loads of other top class pilots did similar, so I paked up and walked down :-) They did manage to fly around a while before racing back to Abtenau before the thrashing rain fell upon the town and our suprise BBQ. Check out the team picture, as we've concluded that our characters incredibly match the cast of DADS ARMY. The closest match being Team manager Clavo who is definately Captain Mainwarings long lost son ;-)

First Cat 1 Task

We flew a task today! Hoorayy!! We just got in a quick short task before the expected over developement came. A 52k race around the smaller mountains, which turned out to be a really enjoyable flight.I was generally in the front gaggle all the flight.... the only problem being there were 90 other pilots in the first gaggle.Cloudbase was around 8000 feet with some great cloudstreets along our course. We could mainly straight line it on the bar.Dodging clouds as we went. I even led out for a short while, but my first thermal turn, found 70 pilots swamping over me.The rest of the flight, I chose to maintain my altitude and let others gamble down low. A great glide around the final turnpoint found me on a good glide into goal in the thirties. Mark Hayman pipped me in by 50 seconds and gained 17 places on me. It was that close.Russ messed up the final turn point so had to turn back a bit and lost a couple of minutes and Adrian just pipped Russ on his Serial wing.So I was second Brit in and have scored for my country Hoorahh!! Great Britain is in the top ten and only 150 points from France who are No.1The points are very close and there's everything to play for..... with a slim chance that we might task tommorrow. Hooraayy.

Dodging the lightening

We had a late task today but were flying inbetween Cu-minbs that were raining. I did really well out in the front gaggle but made a slower route decision. The guys who took the big mountains flew straight line, while we were climbing thermals to maintain altitude. Russ overtook me on his mountain line and as I was gliding into goal 1k away (second Brit) they canned the task for safety reasons. Because the task was a lapsed time task, they can not score it so it all has to be binned.
Although it was a bit rough and dangerous, I enjoyed the flight and am happy with my speed of flying and the wing. As we landed the heavens opened and the lightening began striking everywhere. It was too close a call and should have been binned way earlier.
Weather looks poor for next few days so we'll have to see how things pan out.

Rough skies over Austria

Flew a practise task today.50k...but as I took off, my helmet fell off!!!
Had to fly down the mountain and bottom land, so I didn't have time to fly entire the task.
Got back up the ski lift and Calvo handed me my lid!! joined the gaggle for the second half of the task.
It was rough and horrid, one reserve was thrown by Spaniard Larry Pino and plenty blow outs occured.
Russ was going real quick, he crossed the line first. Kirsty flew her wing for the first time, loves it!!

Back at Abtenua, we rushed to eat, gave up on doing downloads (the queue was too slow)
I had to be flag bearer during the procession. We had to dress in our team gear and take the flag up on stage etc. We will leave you with the two pictures and you can decide who were the crazy local dancers and who are the World class Paragliding Team :-)
Now back at our house after a long hard day and ready for some well earned sleep.

Chasing the sunshine

Drove for two and a half hours to a place in southern Austria and managed to fly HOOORAHH. Drove another two and a half hours to get back and they were all flying above our house!!! DOOOOHH
Did all the registration and downloads........saying hello to all the old faces...... and I mean OLD faces..... when are the youngsters going to start taking over at this game???
So, it looks like we'll fly tommorrow...... yeahh..... but after that!!!! Lord knows when :-(

Sun in UK and rain in Austria!!!

Most of the British team have arrived today, it's now a full and crazy house with lots of technical stuff going on. Sorting, Austrian phones, radio frequencies, downloads and the like. Discussing our paragliders behaiviour etc. Some pilots haven't even been able to test fly their wings. Many are arriving today so they've no idea what they're like. Adrian and Kirsty are looking for thiers, they have no idea, even of it's colour....... so much for preparation.
The town is filling up with other teams from across Europe. Apparantly the website shows our locations on Google Earth. We can find the French or Swiss team's houses just by going online!! Messages are left on the tags so there's no need to go out!
Our Team kit is very nice, especially the Team Jackets made from Soft Shell with embroidered logo's. Two T-shirts and a fleece. I am to be the flag bearer, mainly because nobody else wants to do it. Lets hope the town has arranged kids for the opening ceremony, that should get me out of doing it. The town seem to be very organised and the opening ceremony should be a good event.
Weather looks iffy tomorrow but flyable on Monday...... however.... not too good after that :-(The curse of 30 European nations coming together is upon us and we might get rained on all fortnight. Typical

We are now in our house with enough food and wine to last a year......lord knows how we'll get through it in a fortnight!!!The journey went brill as Calvo did all the driving and I pressed on with all the sleeping..... we make a great team LOL
The accomodation looks better on the web than it is in reality, but it's ok and we have WiFi here so should stay in contact easily.
I have gone for making up the bed settee in the conservatory, so I get my own room, even if it is mainly glass...! I've already spotted how they could have built it better!!!
Unfortunately...... it's raining...... and raining tommorrow.... and perhaps Sunday.... but then it looks good !!!!Lets just hope that good doesn't turn into too good and booming CuNimbs all over the sky. I'll let you know when we get to fly these huge lumps of rock that surround us!!

Rough rides to cloud base and beyond

So, taking it out in the bigger skies. Rough and rugged air, but the baby stayed together! My mates were taking big hits on the first climb out, but my R10 seemed to ride them all. Flexing, twisting and bending as the climb got quicker and rougher, but she didn't blow out and that's all I can ask.

Four take offs, four climbs up to cloud base and four very long glides out into the valley. I thought we were never going to come down! With four decent landings, I was happy to fold her carefully away, ready for our next flights in a few days time.

So, it arrived on Wednesday evening and I took off on it on Thursday morning. The wind was off the hill, the rain was in the distance, but I had to fly it. I'm happy to say.. It didn't kill me :-)

I admit that it was hardly booming ripping thermals, more smooth ridge soaring with the odd lifty bit, but it flew and stayed flying! The bits look thinner and harder to understand... I've no idea how the speed system engages itself, but it did and I flew quicker :-)

So far, I'm a happy bunny......... oh dear.......... now I have to fly it into a thermal :-(

Anticip......................ation

Anticipation......... as the clouds of Volcanic Ash settle, I find my glider is stuck in Vietnam April 19th or Bangkok on April 21st or God knows where now on April 25th. I've planned my diary to complete all work obligations, I've bought no more properties (just finished renovating one) Now the summer is here but my wing isn't AARRGGHHHH!!!
The comp season has begun and I've not flown at all yet this year!! Hopefully, the wing should arrive during this next week and I can get on and learn it a little

Preparation is key

Now that the dust of the 2009 Paragliding Competition season has settled, I find myself ranked 62nd in the World and in the British top four.

This means that I qualify for the British Team and am off to the European Championships in Austria from 22nd May to 5th June.

Racing across the high Alps in pursuit of both personal and Team podium places.

Ofcourse 150 pilots from over 25 European countries will be thinking the same thing!

The final day of the Europeans will find me racing by car to Slovenia for the start of the British Championships 6-12 June. I came 2nd in 2009, so only need one place to become British champion!!

These last few weeks have seen our World governing body 'decide' not to govern us and allow a free for all with glider developement. So the mad dash to have the best wing, in the hope that it won't drop you out of the sky begins.

Ozone got the jump on the rest of the World with a radical new design that other manufacturers seemed keen to get banned (it was that good) Now the other companies are rushing to put something together in answer to the Ozone super ship!

With sweaty palms and nervous breath I'll be launching the latest Ozone R10.2 quite soon. Let's see if I can handle this two line beast. If it's too scary, I'll be 'cap in hand' full of apologies to the Axis importer hoping for an Axis Mercury 3 from their factory!! I will keep you posted.