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Jun
28
Written by:
Jeff Shapiro
6/28/2009 9:21 AM
Sorry it's been a few days since I have updated. I have been fighting off a head cold that has been going around camp but thanks to a friend (and Kiwi Pilot), Conrad, I started a run of antibiotics to combat the sinus infection that has resulted and I am feeling worlds better. We have had two days of called tasks because of high winds and storms (although both days people flew;-). The first called day I broke down and rode down the hill in a car which was a good opportunity to get healthy.
Yesterday, I was feeling a bit better so when the day was called early, I spent the morning enjoying the free flight festival that was going on in Laragne. It was cool to see everything from sail planes to RC air craft and there was even a scooter tow rigged to yank up paraglider and speed kite pilots into the air (even in the high winds). A few sky divers (some in wing suits) jumped in and landed there too. The organizers asked if we were willing to fly for a bit of a demo and because the launch conditions seemed totally reasonable, Jonny Durrand, Jeff, Zippy and I went up the hill with the current aerobatic champion (Sam) to have a fly. It was blowing around 20 and the thermals provided a nice combo of ridge and thermal lift. We took turns strafing launch and interacting with the folks standing on top for around 30 mins. At the beginning of my flight, Jonny got on the radio and said that Sam had just blown a loop over town and tumbled. He threw both chutes and by the time I looked towards where he was, they were both out and looked beautiful. He had a nice, soft landing in a good field. Apparently, it was really turbulent and in the climb out for his loop, he flew through a lumpy patch and lost a bunch of energy, stopping up side down. He took out an upright, his keel and his sail tore from the chute bridle. It was his 7th time under canopy. When the rest of us flew to town and over the LZ, it was indeed turbulent and none of us felt like looping. We did some mild spins and wingovers into our approaches. I was a little taken back when I heard my name being announced mixed with a bunch of excited french over the loud speaker while landing. There were people lined up to watch and after landing, I turned around to join them in watching the others land. We had some photos taken and broke down with smiles after a good flight with good friends.
Today, we finally had another task day. It was forecast to be light wind and strong lift so most of us were really excited. They called a barn burner of a 100 mile box that had us flying deep into the mountains. Today, timing was everything and I kind of blew it. Some days I am really upset at myself for not doing well because I feel like I made bad decisions and flew poorly. Today, I feel OK even though my flight was short. I will explain.
We started out with conditions that any mountain pilot dreams of. We climbed out quickly and easily and spent 40 minutes driving around cloud base, sometimes taking lift up the sides of clouds to much higher than base. It was a beautiful site to see over 100 gliders high among big, white cumulous congestous clouds. I wasn't in a great position for the first start and, although almost the entire field left on the first start, OB and I decided to stick around for another 20 minutes for the second. I was climbing back up with OB about 1000' over head when he came over the radio telling me to look over at a glider that had just dropped out of a cloud up side down with the pilot laying on the sail. I watch nervously as he spun with a broken outboard leading edge, up side down for a couple of thousand feet. I was yelling out loud for him to pull his chute (like he could hear me;-) and was relieved when I saw it finally come out clean only around 350 feet over the trees. I started to concentrate on my climbing again when I realized that there was only 2 more minutes until the second start and again I was in poor position. I found strong lift and made up some altitude quickly and was able to leave with Jeff. I was around 600' lower than him and when I stopped for a climb on the way to the first turn point, I reached base just under 4 ks out of the circle and there was only 6 or 7 minutes to the last start. The lift was strong and the clouds were working so I went back to get the last start. This turned out to be a MAJOR mistake. At first I felt good and was going fast. I quickly caught up to some pilots from the second start including Swiss Nick. We worked well together for a while until we started to notice the sky filling in and looking very dark. I was getting reports from Zippy that the climbs were still good and where he was in the course indicated that they were going very fast. Nick and I were finding totally different conditions. It was very soft with light lift, hardly any of the clouds seem to be working well and the ground was very shaded. We pushed hard and did our best but by the time we got close to the second turn point deep in the mountains, it was shaded out and we had a head wind from a cu nimb in front of us pulling up the valley. We were low and landed a couple of fields apart. I got sprinkled on while breaking down.
Back to my point about being disappointed. Some days, I feel like I fly poorly and my decisions are weak. These are the days that I spend a few moments in my LZ cursing and kicking the dirt (hang glider pilots version of a tantrum;-). Today, I made a decision to take a start that turned out to be a poor choice because I should have recognized the onset of overdevelopment. It was a decision that I committed to. That's hang gliding. After the decision was made, I felt like I flew the best I could and landed when conditions deteriorated. Both are examples of failure but both are a earned opportunity to learn valuable knowledge about how to be a better competitor. I am feeling humbled in these mountains and yet feel overwhelmingly lucky to experience this. We learn from our success but I have learned from years of climbing, failure happens far more often and is a necessary step towards learning the lessons that are required for success. Tomorrow is another day.
On a good note, Zippy smoked the course and placed in the top 5 for the day (I think). Nice work Zach! Dustin is also in and Jeff is still in the air, hopefully on his way.
Cheers
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