A shot of Tequila with a thermal chaser

The usual rain and winds of autumn have stayed away most of this month with what is probably a record-breaking number of flying days in October.  Lots of Facebook posts lately from pilots enjoying hike-and-fly adventures, and so many pictures of gorgeous fall colours seen from above.  This time of year flights are short but the bald eagles are out in full force - it seems we spend most of our flight time these days swinging our heads around to watch them swoop around us.

Fall Colours

Bald Eagle saying hello

Saturday offered an unexpected surprise with small yet lifty thermals at Woodside.  My boyfriend and I decided to trade wings for fun…he's been flying for a couple of seasons now and with consistency mixed with natural skill he has quickly become a solid pilot.  His current wing is a Skywalk Tequila 3 (an EN B beginner wing) which I'd never flown, and he'd been waiting for a calm day to try my EN C (intermediate/advanced) Skywalk Cayenne 4.  

George launched and I got a strong feeling that I'd never get my wing back as he carved into a thermal and rose above launch.  Fine…my turn now!  The Tequila 3 launched just as nice as my wing & I flew over to where some eagles had been playing.  It's been a long time since I flew a beginner wing and technology has improved so much!  The same safe behaviour was there that I remembered - after hitting any turbulence the wing resets itself promptly overhead, and there's a lot more brake travel with plenty of warning if you try to pull too much. 

George launching his Tequila on an earlier flight

I missed my first thermal since I'm used to the dynamic entry into turns with my Cayenne 4.  I flew past it then turned back, but the thermal wasn't where I thought it was.  What to do now?  I couldn't just keep sinking out and watch helplessly as George flew higher and higher...

Luckily I have a new tool on my flight deck - a shiny new 6020 combo Vario/GPS from Steve at Flytec USA.  After the Nationals we were in touch and I was offered a pro-pilot sponsorship - yippee!  My Flytec 6020 and accompanying swag arrived a little while ago, but this was the first time I brought it out to play.  One cool feature this vario has is a thermal arrow that points you back to where you last found lift.  So I flew towards the spot indicated and sure enough the thermal was right there!  Thinking it was coincidence I tried it again…and it worked...and again…and it worked...

Now there are pilots out there who bought into this technology already and know all of this but wow, this opens up a whole new way to help improve anyone's flying.  I will be going over the other amazing features in another post, but needless to say…I'm so stoked to have gotten the 6020!

After playing in some thermals I (finally) saw George setting up to land and went to join him.  I played around with the brakes some more on the way down and have got to say, I can't wait to teach students on this wing!  It's safe enough for beginners and can easily keep up with pilots as they improve and fly cross country.  Feedback from thermals is immediate yet the wing always stays rock solid above you.  It thermals easily and gives plenty of warning for newer pilots who tend to be heavy handed on their brakes.  Landing was a breeze, and I was grinning ear to ear when I touched down.  

George said he could tell right away the Cayenne 4 was an advanced wing and was more than he wanted to fly at this point.  As an instructor I was happy to hear him (as a novice pilot) make that statement.  It's a wing meant for experienced pilots with the recommended number of hours under their belts.  Needless to say, I have that experience and boy do I love my wing!

Of course there were some things George also loved about the Cayenne 4 (like the agile turns) and he's looking up to step up to a Chili soon.  That's the next category wing in the Skywalk line and a perfect move, especially with all the positive press it's been getting lately from independent testers and the XC miles being posted in online contests worldwide.  Hope he'll let me try that one too when he gets one ;)

Flying = Happiness

p.s.  Please keep an eye on my blog for an in-depth review of the Flytec 6020, as well as information on ordering from Jet Set Paragliding for the upcoming holidays (yes, it is that time already, especially when ordering products that come from overseas).

Memories from the Nats

It's been about 3 weeks since the end of the Paragliding Nationals in Quebec...I've gotten to do a little bit of local flying and a handful of tandems, but life has mostly been about work and saving up for the next trip.  But today is a day off (yahoo!) and while looking through my GoPro footage there were a few neat shots I grabbed as stills that I'd like to share.

This is just a happy sky photo.  I can't remember which task this was from now, but it brings back such great memories.  It was a completely different style of flying compared to the mountains, and getting to see this kind of view of unending perfect clouds was a spectacular treat!

During Task 2 Guy Leblanc flew right up to me at the 2nd turn point and told me he forgot to turn on his track log and had to start the task again!  You can see the take off just below his wing tip...launch was at 400 metres so you get an idea of how low things were over there.  It was nice and smooth though, and fun being able to chat in the air like that!

This is just before the window opened on our last task, and I'm right with the start gaggle. I had found a super light thermal that started as a zero and grew into a good one...afterwards one of the pilots came up and thanked me for finding that thermal for everyone :)  Looks like Elie and Frederic on their Niviuks to the right in the photo, and I think Eric on the blue Delta in front.  This task took us over the back (literally...back towards the horizon in the pic), a tricky task for some as conditions were far from booming and we didn't get very high, plus it got quite rough on the hill for those who launched later on.

And last but not least, a quick iPhoto of the gorgeous stand my boyfriend made for my "Championne Canadienne" trophy.  Am I spoiled or what?  This is what motivates me each day as I head to my j-o-b and reminds me that there's so much more to life than collapsing on the couch after a tough day :)

Canadian Nationals: Saturday/Task 3 and wrap up

After all the non-flyable days, the last task just turned everything around.  I was finally able to put everything I learned together:

- I was ready early, so was able to launch earlier in the queue instead of at the end of the line.

- I worked every scrap of lift I could find (most times successfully) and even found a thermal for the lead gaggle right before start

- I made confident decisions instead of second-guessing myself

- Instead of trying to do it myself (classic only-child manoeuvre) I stuck with my gaggle, even when it was just 3 of us.

The result?  I flew well and ended up being awarded the Canadian Female National Champion title!

Looking back, this was a wonderful event where everything seemed to fall into place, from my boyfriend lending me his fancy-pants gps/vario (which I almost learned how to use) to being super lucky with retrieve and getting picked up within 15 minutes on each of my flights.

Pilots often talk about this sport being 90% mental and I think that played a really big part in me ending up with a trophy.  It's something I'm excited to learn more about - mental training, meditation, the whole "soft" skill set of this sport that I see a lot of the top pilots employing.

In the end, it was once again about the people.  Pilots were supportive of each other and each time someone launched you would hear "Bon Vol!" (Good Flight!).  Here's one of my favourite pictures that symbolizes the essence from the comp:  It's my direct "competitor" and I goofing around before task on the last day - the task that would see which of us would be awarded top female.  I don't see any tension...do you?  :)

This year it was my turn to win but I'm sure next time Julie competes she will fly away with the grand prize.

Canadian Nationals: Friday/The Real Task 2

Finally got to fly again!

We got to launch & were greeted by strong winds again, but our communal optimism somehow made the lulls just long enough to launch.  I saw one of the top pilots on a super fast wing launch and go backwards which just about made me cry with the thought we could get cancelled again, but everything worked out & we all got in the air...eventually.  Unfortunately I was one of the last to launch today due to "priority launching', which meant everyone launched in order based on their place in the comp.  Since I basically bombed out on the first task that put me at the the end of the line & I didn't even get in the air until after the task had started.

I ended up having a stellar launch though - a local instructor commented that is was fantastic "especially for a competition pilot" and the launch director said it was one of the 2 best launches of the day.  So...WIN!  ha.

Pretty sure I'm king of the world...until the sink monster gets me and I'm as low as those other dots in the photo!

The task was well made, I had so much fun today.  It was a zigzag in front of launch (4 turn points) then a downwind dash to goal.  I made the first 3 then got pinned in some wind.  It surprised me because Pascal had passed below me from the same turnpoint only minutes before and seemed to have no trouble going back, so I got a bit of waypoint fixation and dove in to TP3 without worrying about the way back.  Heading out to land on full bar to clear the orchards I hit a bump around 240 meters and took it back up to over 500, but I was still in the wind and after pushing bar I ended up back in almost the exact same place!

I landed in the triangle field at the top left of photo.  My low save came from the edge of the forest but took me back to pretty much where I am in this photo again.

I'm learning a lot this competition which is exactly what I expected.  Flying the flats is a new challenge, and while it kind of sucks competition-wise to feel I've flown really well for an hour and to only cover a few kms, I still earned a far greater reward with the knowledge I'm gaining here.  Hoping I can put it all together for the last task and get out over the real flats and chew some kilometres!

Canadian Nationals: Thursday/No Task

This was the day off we knew we'd have all week, so no surprise when the task was cancelled & the sky opened up shortly afterwards & rained most of the day.

10 of us headed into Montreal to eat (surprise) and play tourist.  We drove part-way in & got a day pass for the metro and explored that city til we all got back to our respective lodgings somewhere around 11.

We stopped to visit the Olympic Village, but it just wasn't as exciting as flying:

Canadian Nationals: Wednesday/No Task

Too windy again!  Arrggg!

Well we made the best of it and did 2 sessions of high-wind kiting.  I got a flight off the training hill and have video to prove it, but the camera footage is really shaky so not sure if it's worth posting.  It still looks like thunderstorms tomorrow (boooo!) but nice post-frontal flying Friday.

Canadian Nationals: Tuesday/no task

The task committee cancelled the day at our 10 am meeting, which was nice for the locals who could then go back home and also for visitors who wanted to go exploring.  A truckload of us went to launch anyway, but the winds quickly picked up and became quite cross which prevented anyone from wanting to take off.

Competition-wise, we probably won't get to fly until Friday and Saturday which both look fantastic according to the forecast.  That would make 3 valid tasks which is about right...competitions are generally a week long since about half of the days end up being "weather" days.  Still sucks to be on a flying holiday and not flying, so we decided to go kiting in the high winds at the landing field.  I practiced my kick-ass dragging technique - yeah baby! - this girl totally slid across the field on her face and got a few souvenirs.

ouch

But the most exciting thing was getting my nanovario!  Brian from Flyte Park sent one up to me from New York and it was delivered to the landing zone today.  Can't wait to try it out, it's insanely small and looks really cool:

so tiny!  love it already.

I love these little Flyte Park instruments for my tandem flying and just in general for a backup.  I end up leaving them on my helmet so I'm never looking for batteries at take off when my big vario dies or when I left my big vario at home by accident.  Yay for cool new toys!

So after all that excitement, Eric the comp organizer threw a corn roast for us - a fun evening of corn shucking followed of course by corn eating.  I should be heavy enough from my culinary experiences to fly in even stronger conditions soon (food=ballast).  Quebec offers too many delicious eats and willpower here is futile.