Canadian Nationals: Monday/Task 2

The winds seemed manageable when we went up the mountain today, and we got to go to the west launch which is a lot nicer than the south (i.e. big enough to lay out 3 gliders at once).  But after the first few gliders took off with incredibly exciting launches the task was cancelled.  The safety committee received a round of applause for the decision, and we were left to our own devices for the rest of the day.

After an afternoon of swimming at our motel, a group of us went into town in search of poutine and bowling.  Both bowling alleys were closed (which was fine since they both seemed kinda dodgy) so we ended up at a restaurant where I had my first "sugar pie".  Just like it sounds like...it's made of maple sugar, and cream, and brown sugar, and...sorry...where was I?  Oh yeah, I got to eat a SLICE OF HEAVEN and then we went next door to play pool.

Everything was going fine until a "discussion" of the rules broke out between Fred & Elie,  and when their conversation quickly switched from English to French we ended up having to call in the protest committee.  Luckily all was resolved without having to file paperwork or the $20 protest fee, hee hee.

We did actually have members of the task, safety and protest committee present.
Pool will never be the same.  

Canadian Nationals Day 1/Task 1

Spoiler alert! I didn't make goal today. But neither did anybody but Brett (our top rated Canadian pilot), so I don't feel so bad :)

At our 9 am pilot meeting we were told it was unlikely we'd fly at all today with the 40 km/hr winds which were predicted. An eager task committee proposed a task anyway so up we went, hopeful that the wind forecast was wrong.

Task board in progress...

Due to the south winds we went to a different launch than yesterday, a small cliff with room for only a few well-timed steps before you reach the edge. The locals said strong winds were needed to use this launch, so the 25 km/hr winds that greeted us were nothing to be shy of. A 3 turn point task was called and the Boom 9's quickly took off. Us lesser beings watched with hesitation as even the top dogs seemed to be parked once in the sky!  As far as I know everyone ended up launching, so it was a good call on the task.

I only made the first turn point today and was pouting about it a bit after landing until I heard most of the other pilots landed before the 10 km mark too.  The apres-flying turned out to be the best part of the day as Frederic took us to his brother's pub right outside of Montreal and we sampled the amazing beer made on site.  Knowing the owner's brother has it's benefits and we got a tour & mini lesson on brewing, and after looking at the (even windier) forecast for tomorrow we decided to sample an extra beer or two.  We may not have had the best flying day, but I haven't laughed so hard that my face hurt in ages...thanks to friends old and new.

Private beer tour!

2013 Nats: Practice Day

What do you do on a practice day?

If you're Martina, you practice misplacing your purse, aka leaving it on the side of the road as you run to catch the launch shuttle (luckily rescued by comp organizer).

If you're Andrew, you practice almost losing your cellphone out of the back of a madly careening launch shuttle (luckily caught before bouncing out).

Mostly though,  you meet new friends and get to fly a different site.  This one is a lot different than I'm used to, with launch at 380m (a height we hope to find a "low save" at back home).

My first launch took me above the mountain right away so I figured I could by-pass a couple of small thermals and just soar around...and I soon found myself on the ground.  Oops.  Although spot-landing between hang gliders setting up to get towed and a dozen other pilots caught in a flush cycle who were also ready to touch down was exciting...and hearing a "nice landing Madame!" was a fun cultural experience ;)  

Best quote of the day though was from local pilot Julie, "You must try the chocolate dipped ice cream cones at Chez Ben...they are the most structurally sound you'll ever have!".  And yes, yes indeed it was.  My friend & local tour guide Chris landed with me after flight #1 and we decided to take an ice cream break before heading up to launch in the 4pm shuttle.

Structurally sound (and obviously delicious) dark chocolate dipped cone.  

Flight #2 was amazing.  As soon as my feet left the ground I saw a gaggle of about 10 vultures & flew over to join them.  With their help I got up above launch, dug in and held on to tiny thermals and played around until it was time for the 6pm pilot meeting.  It was a challenging (in a good way) time in the air and I'm excited to see what the rest of the week has in store for us!

Looking back at Yamaska on flight #2 today

au revoir!

Here I am at the airport, waiting to board a flight to attend the Canadian Paragliding Nationals in Quebec.  This trip kind of snuck up on me...work has been so busy over the last month that I'm glad everything was booked early and all I had to do today was show up at the airport!

I wasn't even sure if I'd get to take a trip at all this year but the universe is completely conspiring in my favour to get me there.  My manager at work (in my non-flying life) is really supportive of my paragliding and gave me the time off to compete.  When I tried to book my flight through Aeroplan points and the dates I wanted were blacked out, George gave me enough Air Miles points to book a return trip (thank you!).  The hotel I contacted gave me a discount since I'm competing (yay!) and my friend Chris who lives a few hours from the flying site is picking me up from the airport & staying at the same hotel so I have someone to show me around.  In a last minute twist, a couple who live close by the airport in Vancouver offered to let me stay with them last night & gave me a place leave my car for the week, saving lots of $$$ on airport parking (Thanks Foley & Sam!).

It will be my first time flying in the "flat lands" instead of the mountains so I'm looking forward to learning a lot, and by the list of registered pilots there aren't many other BC pilots attending so I'll be making new friends who share the same passion of soaring through the skies.

Thank you again to everyone for your support & good wishes and I look forward to sharing some fun stories here over the next week.

And...we're now boarding!!!

Summer distractions

Has it really been 2 months since my last post?  Summer finally appeared and has been pulling me outside to play every moment that I'm not working.  I've been lucky enough to fly some wonderful tandems lately which I suppose is still "working" but somehow it feels like too much fun to be a job!

Spiralling down after a great flight

Paragliding is the funnest thing ever.

But the theme swimming around my mind today is distraction.  The lawnmower making noise outside is distracting. The sun shining through my windows is distracting.  The laundry pile growing bigger each day is distracting.

As usual, I can easily apply this topic to paragliding.  Distraction plays a big part in the air.  You start off the day with great ambitions to fly high, fly far and fly for hours.  Fifteen minutes into your flight you are distracted by your tummy growling..."Why didn't I eat on the way to the hill?" you say to yourself as you try & think of anything besides food.  Another 15 minutes later your bladder distracts you, even though you were totally fine before launching.  Then you remember that you were supposed to go grocery shopping so you had lunch for work tomorrow.  Maybe you should go land now...after all you've had a nice half hour flight already...

That's been happening far too often lately.  It's time to stop blaming the 'new' full-time job - I've been working 40 hours each week for six months now.  It's time to stop trying to figure out how to "balance" everything and just...be.  It's time to get back in the zone, to be so focused in flight that those distractions don't even stand a chance of coming up.  To get into that wonderful meditative state when you are soaring through the sky that you lose all track of time...to be in that place where you turn automatically in the invisible lifting air even before you are aware of the gentle tug on your wing from that same thermal.

Focus.  The opposite of distraction.  I've been moving towards focus again instead of indulging in the easy excuse of distraction.  Meditating daily, concentrating on the task at hand whether it be organizing my warehouse at work, tackling the huge pile of junk on my living room table or practicing strong wind kiting when it's blown out at the hill.  Focus is better for you than balance, as it allows you to enjoy the moment instead of worrying about the other things that are not being done at that exact point in time.

I find that setting goals helps me focus on specific areas, and am really enjoying the process again.  I've decided to compete in the 2013 National Paragliding Championships this year and am excited to be completely out of my element (flat land flying as opposed to the mountain flying that I know).  It's given me a new focus in my paragliding which is just the push out of my comfort zone that I needed.  At last year's competition I brought so many distractions along with me that I lost focus before I even started.  This year I am bringing a whole new attitude and am going with the goal to simply enjoy every single moment.  Now that is a goal I'm looking forward to achieving.

Happy Fly-a-versary!

It's that time of year again to reflect on the past and look ahead to the future...my paragliding anniversary!

15 (!) years ago, I made my first solo flight on May 23, 1998.  I had gone tandem on numerous occasions the previous spring & summer, but had to save up enough money for my first paragliding kit before I could actually fly.  The first thing I bought was a second-hand Flight Design A4 (pictured below) which was delivered in the fall of 2007.  While I was saving up for the rest of my gear I would borrow my instructor's tandem passenger harness and kite for hours on end, waiting for the day my feet would finally leave the ground and I would be free to soar the skies.

1998: Flight Design A4, donated kayaking helmet, and pink Sup-Air harness.  Stylin'.

This year I will be celebrating my 15th year of paragliding by working a 12 hour shift at my new job.  Not exactly what I had in mind, but (1) it's supposed to be raining anyway and (2) I'm actually really excited about working because May 23 is also the day of our store's Grand Opening!  We've been preparing for this for the last month, and it will be the only time ever we'll be allowed to work overtime so I am grateful for the extra cash.  I'm also really proud of myself for achieving what I have in my career and making it to this exact spot in life that I'm in here and now.  Yay me!  

I look forward to watching the up-and-coming pilots progress and hope to see them stick around for many more years too.  My student Mark who took some coaching days with me last year (and is now an Intermediate Pilot) developed a local "Eaglet League" to help Novice pilots progress, a project I am super excited to be a part of.  Information is on Mark's blog at this link and I'm hoping to see newer pilots take advantage of this free, fun and informal 'competition'.  

But tonight I will celebrate my paragliding career so far (no crazy parties though with an early wake-up call tomorrow!) and think fondly of all the friends I've made over the last 15 years of paragliding, the places I've traveled and memories made, and then look forward to at least twice that many good flying years left ahead of me (yes, we have active pilots in their 70's so I'm good to go, tee hee).

Thanks to you all for being part of my journey so far!  

2013: Still can't get enough...

Going full bar

"Going full bar" is a term used in paragliding that means "full speed ahead".  It's a method we use to get to our destination faster while in the air, but it can also translate to setting your eye on a goal and going for it, and it's what I'm doing now with my flying business.

Three years ago I got my instructing and tandem ratings and began dreaming of making a living doing what I loved.  People were incredibly supportive and genuinely wished me success.  It was surprising how many local pilots had approached different wing and harness manufacturers to sell their equipment here so they could follow their own dreams of living off a paragliding-related income.  Most were denied since they weren't instructors so they encouraged me to sell gear once I became qualified.  It wasn't my immediate focus then (and I didn't have the cash to buy demo products which a lot of companies required) so I started my business with introductory tandem flights.

My business grew steadily as I decided to look at paragliding instruction differently and offered different options such as one-on-one coaching and theory classes.  With constant inquiries on tandems, coaching and flying lessons lately I've been trying to figure out how to work full time and keep running the paragliding side of things.  How can it be possible to earn enough to buy all the necessities (and ok...a few luxuries too) and still pursue my passion of helping others achieve their flying goals?

Luckily, I work at a company that cares about the personal and professional success of all their employees.  Every day at work we discuss one of our company values and how it relates to what we do.  All our actions are guided by these values (such as respect, integrity, and teamwork) and it fosters a very healthy job environment.  They match my own values, and nowadays it actually surprises me when I encounter people who act unethically in business or take joy in trying to destroy someone else's dreams.  Such a change from work where my manager's passion is developing people to their full potential.  It's something that seems to come naturally to her, and I'm learning more every day in how to bring that to the coaching side of my own flying business.

There a lot of lessons from both parts of my life that help each other.  I've learned I can succeed at whatever I set my mind to, that I can be faced with a huge project and everything comes together when you work as a team.  I've learned that I can't put my paragliding business on hold, not even for a little while, because flying has been an integral part of me for 15 years and will be for the rest of my life.  I have learned that when you have a goal in mind that the universe really does conspire FOR you!

So I'm going "Full bar" with my business, confident that it will all work out.  Jet Set Paragliding is about to start carrying some more exciting products and is also putting on new courses to help everyone achieve their personal goals.  Through teamwork we are also a part of more community events that include every level of pilot and as always, all courses and gatherings are open to everyone.  There is no us-versus-them to be found here.  We're a small enough community as it is and excluding anyone is just silly.  We all share the same passion so let's support, encourage and help each other to be even better!

 daily inspiration hanging on my wall