Long time no post

SO I will admit it I am a bad blogger ;( I am currently back home in SLC for awhile and enjoying it. Getting to hang with the family is great. So the last 2 comps of the season I messed up on and didnt get a good result but a good enough result to hang on and make the US National Paragliding team http://www.usparaglidingteam.org/ so I am really excited about this. I am training physically and mentally every day. I am in the best shape of my life and it feels good. I will be spending a fair bit of time in Mexico pre-comp to get dialed to a new comp wing that I am getting and to train.I am going to go get a new camera and take alot of pics to share. I hope everyone had a great Halloween I know I did.

Task 2 of Chelan XC

Finally we were able to have another task after lots of swimming,football,wiffle ball and beer drinking while watching the wind howl. We had a 65 k task up the Okinogan valley to the city of Okinogan. It was looking grim at the start with lots of wind and very little lift, I didnt think we would make goal at first and on our first glide we got a really low like 200 feet off then we hit a ripper the first good thermal of the day and not the last. I was in a position to take the day about 3/4 of the way through the task at 9,000 feet and sitting over the field but decided to wait for the group and it cost me I ended up getting 10th wich I am still happy with and it jumped me 14 spots from 22 to 8th so now I am shooting for a top 5 finish, today the wind is back so we will only have one more task for this comp ;( or I would have the oppurtunity to jump more spots, thats usually how I roll is climb my way up the rankings, but we need tasks for this strategy. You can find results here. http://chelanxcopen.com/results.htm After this I will be home for more than 2 days which I am pretty excited about. I will get to spend some time with my freinds and family, See you soon!!

In Chelan Washington

So the first day of the Pre-Pwc/Canadian Nationals was yesterday we had a 62 k task into the wind so it took I am guessing almost 3 hours to accomplish the results arent up yes so I am not sure what I got but I flew pretty conservatively too conservatively but I made goal and thats pretty good for the first day, the motto is you cant win a comp on the first day but you can sure lose it. No camera so i have no pics, sucks I will get a new camera soon. We have 92 pilots here from all over the world so an awesome field of pilots. Thanx Andrea, Mike and Suzy for your comments and for checking in on me! Love you guys!

Bad Blogger!

SO I am a bad blogger I will admit it,I have been traveling so much and most places I am at either dont have internet,or I am just super busy. But here is the short story. After the West coast championships I had so much fun racing and needed more points to hold my 1st place ranking in the US so I went to Rat Race, I just couldnt stay away. We had another great competition, I was doing awesome until the 3d tsk I basically got last place on the day, I launched into a huge mob of pilots and after a few close calls I headed out front to get a thermal there, there was no thermal there so after ridge soaring for an hour I finally made a mad dash for burnt ridge and sunk out =( I was really hard on myself that day as I watched the whole race unfold in front of me and I couldnt be apart of it.I dropped from 3d to 10th. I was thinking about taking up another hobby (maybe basket weaving) but decided I had to prove to myself I can fly paragliders,so on the next day I put that all behind me and had an awesome race where I got a good lead on the whole gaggle and ended up winning the day=) a 1000 point day and the only 1000 pointer of the comp. Its been awhile since I have gotten a 1000 and it felt great so I went from 10th to 6th clawing my way back up we had one task to go and my goal was to make the podium I knew winning was nt an option now, so on the last task I flew smart and got a 3d place which jumped me to 2nd overall on the comp. =) yee haw! I got a nice trophy after all and am really stoked. Now acro Andy, Kevin Howzie and I are heading up to Chelan for the biggest comp of the year the website is www.chelanxcopen.com so if you want to follow the race you can. Blue Skies

West Coast Paragliding Chamionships

I am just getting back from southern Oregon and the WCPC and I had an amazing time.What a great group of people.Flying,camping,comradarie,partying what else could you ask for. The conditions were great with 6 flyable good tasks and I averaged 3 hours a day of airtime =) As far as the scores go I didnt do so hot but thats just paper and ink, the memories I have forever. Flying over tiger country sometimes really low and digging out of some pretty remote places usually with one of my friends but sometimes alone, leading out alone and pushing the lead gaggle to fly faster, landing .03 k from goal =( and not lettting that get me down,throwing down on my acro wing after getting 4th in a task are just a few of them. I will post some pics shortly of this wonderful time, in the mean time I am back home and have lots to do before I leave again....which is soon.Summer is here and the flying is good!Can I get a Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here is a pic of my new racing set up =) I like it very much. And here is one of a nice gaggle chasing us. THanx Deano for these.

Maneuver clinics in Cali

So just finished up with a couple more clinics at Lake Isabella California, the weather wasnt the best but we made the best of it and everyone learned alot, and thats why I do these things. I only got 2 tows and only to about 1,500 feet which isnt alot of altitude to be throwing the infinite in so still training for that day I get 3,000 over and I m gonna go for it. Now Kevin Howzy and I are on our way to Woodrat mountain for the West Coast Paragliding Championships, the website is www.mphsports.com so if you want to check results.

The North West

Just getting back from some SIV clinics up in Seattle. I had an awesome time up there. The weather was phenomenal 90 degrees on a couple of days, and the pilot community are so friendly and hospitable. First off I stayed at my buddy Gordan's place which is spectacular with a nice view through the woods of Mt Rainier, nice place to stay and we had a great barbecue there. Then we had some really nice Barbe's at Randy's sick pad. Thankyou Gordan and Randy for your awesome hospitality I hope to repay the favor soon. The clinics themselves went very well everyone learned alot and where pretty pleased at the end of it all, and we only ripped one wing in half... Yes one of my pilots was trying the helicopter a little before his time, and went past deep stall into stall and then went hands up, the result was a nice cannonball into his glider which luckily broke, then his reserve didn't open on the first toss so he had to chuck it again, then he had some nice lines wrapped all around him once he got those off he was good to go and landed in the water nicely. WHEW! That is the scariest thing that I have had happen since I started doing these things, and I learned allot from this. Other than Gordan throwing his reserve on my glider :( the rest of the clinic was uneventful. I am now home enjoying SLC and the new pad for a few days before I am off again this time for 3 weeks, the weather in SLC is crap but hey you get used to that after flying for as many years as I have.