Both Shapiro's and my glider seemed to handle just a touch too well to have real glide performance. That would be the first misconception shattered on the first practice day in Canoa....

Kraig Coomber came sporting Moyes' latest offering, the same wing he won this year's Santa Cruz Flats on. It would come down to raw glide at the course speed range, which is historically 55-90kph. I was confident but on my toes.

Day 1: After a little cloud play, the start time approached and after a furious dive to the first set of ridges south of the river, I found myself in pole position with Shapiro and OB right in line behind me. Kraig was nowhere to be seen and I smiled as I realized the fastest wingmen were with me. We flew a clean course finishing 1,2,3 and later I hung around at the finish line to time Kraig's finish. We had him by a minute plus. Day one Wills.

Day 2: And the final race day saw more murky cloud play with the same furious approach to the compression but this time Kraig was in hot pursuit while I gained the lead again. The wingmen were on his tail and our positions wouldn't change until near the last turnpoint where Kraig pushed harder than I thought wise out over town and I held back about 50 yards behind him. I resolved to snag the pylon cleaner than he would and with a little luck I pulled a cleaner turn and took the lead into the final 7km which would be impossible for him to reel back in. The big question was if OB's solid close third behind Kraig would make up for his gap on the first day. None of us knew until the downloading was finished, but the shots were passed around when we learned it was Team Wills 1 - 2 - 3 baby!

The really satisfying feeling was knowing that the new glider development was going in the right direction. Shapiro's and then my new glider handled progressively better and better than their predecessors and the performance likewise incrementally improved with each proto. My wing was truly a pleasure to fly all around.

Ahh Canoa... A thirty mile, forty minute, action packed race that contains all the best aspects of a five hour XC task.

Day one of the competition was called due to misty rain. We all free flew, and I took the pretend start with Alex Cuddy and Kraig Coomber on Litespeeds. I was able to stay ahead through the entire course, but how fast were they pushing?

Day two I found myself diving out of the clouds with Dustin at my side. Shapiro, and Kraig got the start a few seconds behind, and Kraig turned around to wait for the second start. Shapiro came charging after the first turnpoint and walked by me with our speed around 55mph. The race was on and it was obvious who had a performance advantage, Dustin and Shapiro. They were both flying T2C's with new sail cuts and tweaks and I couldn't match them on my glider (which is a year old) despite hooking in with ballast around 250lbs!

Dustin and Shapiro stayed stacked and I flew in a minute behind the boys across the line. Kraig flew solo and clean, but was still 10 seconds off my pace. The stage was set for the final showdown on the last day.

Day three's task began with us all diving in unison out of the clouds toward the ridge. Dustin dove out to a lead, and Kraig passed me on the way to the turnpoint. Shapiro maintained his position patiently behind me, letting me run in clean air to hopefully catch Kraig. With Shapiro on my keel the entire time, it was a drag race to goal. I came across the line three seconds off Kraig's keel cementing third place and a Wills Wing one, two, three.