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No flying for me lately - I'm in Brisbane and haven't had the time, transport, or weather (? maybe yesterday was good?) for it but the Australian team is in Mexico for the 2009 World Championships. Some of them are blogging about their ups and downs here.
There's also a good collections of other teams and individuals' blog links on this thread of the paragliding forum.

another rock day

Well the forecast was calling for epic flight plans today - but I didn't go epic!

I launched before 12, crossed to Clearspot and climbed to 2,000m while drifting back over Mystic on the way to Goldmine. Didn't find anything much over there and spent ages looking for climbs while others flew past / overhead. The cores were very narrow and the lift was quite violent at times. I got my first half twist as one side of the wing was slapped under when I swung a bit wide in a turn, and another couple of asymetrics in small bullets. Eventually got back to 2,000m and headed in towards Growlers Hill (?). For once this wasn't working really well so I kept on going down to the end of Reliance ridge. There were bubbles popping off the end of the ridge but I was low and taking whacks so headed out towards the valley side of the Smoko bowl. Heaps of sink along the way and a moderate wind sucking me into the bowl (away from any landing options) made for lots of height lost. There was a red and blue Sigma way in the bowl scratching over a spur line and the wind would have taken me there pretty quick. There was no way some part of the bowl wasn't working with the amount of sun in the bowl and the wind blowing onto it - but if you didn't connect with it you would have been landing in trees for sure.
In my mind the risk wasn't worth the reward so I kept pushing out towards landing options, scraped over my "if all else fails I might be able to land there" option, and landed in the first good looking paddock.

Later on in the day, after packing up and hitching back to Mystic, I went up and had another fly to see if conditions were nicer. They weren't, really. It was still rough, surgy, with sharp edged bullet thermals blasting through unpredictably. I went over to Little Mystic and smashed around over there for a bit before coming down and landing.

Another triangle!

Another fun day of flying around Bright - when it's good here it is SO good!!
I launched at 11:45 right into a nice climb up to 1,500m. Meandered around over the hill until I was back down near launch - which was packed out with hang-glider in Bright for the Bogong Cup...

...climbed to 1,600m then wandered around again, till I found myself down at 1000m way up the back of the bowl out the back of Mystic. Stupid, there was no way I could make it back to launch without a climb and if I didn't find one soon I'd have to bomb out near Wandi. If I stayed on the NW side of the ridge I was far more likely to get a good climb, but doing that risked bombing out below Marcus - which is not only a pretty mediocre place to land (old tree stumps, sloping ground, lots of blackberries...) but it has hardly any vehicle traffic and is a long walk from the LP and lifts back up the hill.
So I started working my way back but before I had to make the left-or-right decision I felt through the wing that there was a thermal somewhere around. A bit of of very motivated searching and I had it located and was circling up out of stupidity.
From here it was a short hop over to Clearspot, where I bubbled around just over the hill for a bit before climbing to 1,900m.

I'd drifted over towards Mystic in the climb so I kept going, topping up a bit as I flew over towards Goldmine. Got there low, climbed to 2,000m (the day's improving!) and headed off down the ridge towards Mt Feathertop!

The ridge was working, and I climbed over the Growlers Creek Hill (?) to 2,200m, and then in a light, drifty climb that had me at 2,300m as I crossed over the smoko bowl.
I had a really nice line for the glide into Feathertop and the air was even smooth enough for me to very successfully relieve an increasingly pressing need!!
I got the first climb, and another good glide enabled me to skip the second point and head further in. I didn't find a climb here though, but tried flying back out on the other side of the ridge and quickly connected with a weak, drifty climb that eventually took me to 2,600m directly in front of the summit - a great spot!!
The air out the front was quite boyant, so I spent a while meandering around in it, taking pic, watching Brian come blasting in on his SR8...

...overfly the summit...

...spiral up for a bit of height, and head back out again. Man he is fast!!
It was still fairly early in the afternoon and I spent a while longer boating around over the mountain and enjoying the view. Now I've done the Feathertop hike a few times, and the view from the summit is great, but I've gotta say - it's got nothing on the view from over half a km above the summit...

I was trying to get as high as possible because there's this flight, and I've been wanting to fly it ever since the first time I got above Feathertop, but to pull it off I'll need a really good day - like today, but a bit higher....
Well, a bit higher didn't come through so I headed back the way I'd come. Super glide back - along a very similiar path to the one I took on the way in - caught a thermal to 2,700m on the way out and nearly turned around and headed back in again...
... But didn't, and ended up low (1,300m) over Growlers hill. But there was a thermal there, and I rode it up to 2,650m - did I say it was a great day? - before heading up the ridge, arriving over Goldmine with 2km between me and sea-level. A light drifty thermal here gave me another 300m for the height-bank and I turned right towards Pyramid.
The glide over wasn't very good, but I still arrived over the high point of Pyramid hill at 1,500m, a certain place for a good thermal. Sure enough I hunted one down and in short order was back at 2,500m.
I'd been looking at the GPS, trying to work out how far I had to fly over the Tawonga Gap to make the day a triangle (I'd liked doing one on purpose the other day) and thought that about half way might do it, but all the way over would be better. However I wasn't too sure about, once over the gap, getting a climb good enough to get me back so decided to turn around when I was down to 2,000m. The top of Pyramid is about 1,200m, so assuming a similiar glide back (but hoping for a thermal along the way) I'd arrive over the highest part of the hill with 200m clearance. If that didn't work I could skirt the high point around those heated slopes that feed the thermals that lift off the top, or at worst land at the foot of the hill alongside the Tawonga Gap road.
The glide over was pretty good, and I stopped to circle in some really light air - trying to locate the thermal that should be around it but couldn't - before turning back when at the 2,000m mark.
I arrived back over the hill with about 150m spare - but man it felt like I wouldn't make it for a good bit of the way back!
Another climb to 2,500m and I pointed the glider towards Mystic hill...

...and got a fantastic glide over!! Approaching Mystic I still had this much height!!

But then I hit the sink, which soon had me lower. I kept going towards Clearspot until I was down to 900m, then turned around and flew down to land.
Have I ever said that I like paragliding?

REFLECTIONS:
Well, I certainly wasn't rushing around today, and although my legs were pretty sore by the time I landed (when I'm thermalling I tend to push on the harness stirrup, I must feel that if I push harder I'll go up faster...), overall I still felt pretty fresh :)
I've been making an attempt to have a 'mental break' from the concentration of flying every now and then - a sip of water, taking a few pics, lean back and watch the wing, etc - and it seems to have helped in allowing me to get past the 4hr point. A number of earlier flights stopped before then because I suddenly started making a bunch of dumb decisions. It could also be that it was nice relaxing air to be flying in today. But with that amazing 6:30hr flight at the start of the month, 4:30hrs the other week (I felt good after that one also), and 5:20hrs today I'm hoping my flying skills have progressed another step upwards!

I'm a bit sorry I didn't head back in to the summit when I got that 2,700m climb on the way out - and tried looking for a climb a lot further past the peak as it may have drifted a ways over the back... Ahh well, it was good to spend a bit more time enjoying myself over the peak - I'm certainly not complaining about the day - it was just great!!

Too much of a good thing

Free flying is great :D
Well, today was, anyway! I started the day with low expectations, which usually results in happier feelings at the end of the day then starting out with expectations of epic weather and super distances.
In the morning there was some high level cloud, and over Mt Buffalo way there was a huge mid-level streamer-tail of cloud that looked like it was being blown upwards by a massive blast of wind. Not hugely inspiring, but the forecast indicated it might be good, if it didn't blow out or overdevelop.
The Mystic Cup was on, so there were lots of pilots around and around 11am everyone started moving up the hill.
I launched at 11:45 as a largish hole in the mid level clouds was going to blow over and cast the whole valley into light shade again and I wanted to be up high before then. Nothing just left of launch so I kept flying down the Marcus spur, finding a light thread of lifting air over the third bump. I circled in it for ages - totally focused on getting the circle diameter right, centering on the strongest part of lift, trying to feel if there was any better lift upwind, keeping the wing flying as smooth as possible - using everything that I learned last winter about scratching in light lift to try and stay up.
I did stay up, and slowly started climbing, drifting back towards launch as I got higher. I topped out at 1,300m and used the height to explore further down the Marcus spur before returning for a climb left of launch that I took to 1,600m.
Although it wasn't super high I headed over towards Clearspot and had an easy crossing, flying right into a good climb once over there. The theremal drifed south as I circled in it up to 2km - from here I glided on towards Blackfellas. Got a thermal off the peak that went to 1,800m, which was great as I usually have to look around lots at Blackfellas. From here I pointed the glider into the wind and started across the valley over Porepunkah.
I had a pretty good line and didn't hit much sink until close to the other side - a quick turn took me over the low hills behind Boynton's winery - after scratching around here at 600m for 5min or so (felt much longer!) I finally located a strong (but very narrow) thermal that I think I dropped out the bottom of at around 1,600m. The foothills seemed a better idea than pushing in to the top of Mt Porepunkah so I kept heading north, arriving over Eurobin hill at 1,100m.
And here I stayed for what felt like forever, climbing a little in a bullet bubble, losing the height just a quickly searching for more lift when it passed through. The hill looked like it should have been releasing good thermals constantly, but all I could seem to get was tiny, quickly drifting bullets. I tried out the front, I tried out the back, I tried further to the right, and further to the left... After half an hour of this I was finally climbing a bit better, drifting back out over the valley in a tight, surgy little climb that got me back to 1,800m.
From here I did a quick check over a nice looking hill to north-east, didn't find anything so decided to head sortof back in the direction I'd come. But first there was a little hill to the north of where I'd been scratching for so long that I had to check out - it had a slope that faced the sun and the wind and there was a good cloud growing quickly above it.
Clouds, I should mention them... One of the big concerns of the day was overdevelopement - and towards Hotham there were some big looking clouds, on the other side of the Kiewa Valley they were getting several times taller than they were wide (I was taught that when the clouds are getting three times taller than wide there's a high chance the tops'll start popping off soon) and some were starting to expand outwards from the top. So I wasn't keen on flying over that way.
Anyway, the little hill to the north worked a treat - the best climb of the day so far! Wide, smooth and strong right up to a darkening base. I pulled out well below base, as the development in the next valley made this climb seem almost a little too good. Besided, I had enough height to head back over Mt Porepunkah, which looked good for another climb (plenty of solid looking clouds over and past it) so I headed off. Got a good glide in, and topped up a couple of hundred meters over the fire tower on the top, again pulling out well short of the clouds. Did I post about my cloud experience a few weeks ago? Not sure, but it's made me a lot more careful (nervous?) about flying close to base under sucky looking clouds!
I started flying down the spur that points towards Apex but stopped for another climb half way along it. I was watching the clouds all around pretty carefully, and during this climb was relieved to see that a cloud that had started expanding at the top aver what looked like Tawonga had stopped and was looking tall, but much less threatening. Out of under the cold clouds and circling in the sunshine warmed me up and restored some confidence so once at 2,200m (I estimated base to be around 2,500 - 2,700m) I did a left turn and headed towards the high ridge that leads to Tawonga.
It had clouds over it most of the way to Tawonga, and I was getting a pretty good glide, then going up a little, then a bit quicker... and the above got darker up ahead... and the cloud over Pyramid looked like it might be starting to spread at the top... so I turned again and headed towards Bright.
But it didn't go off, so a couple of km's down the ridge I turned and flew into Pyramid.
I was thinking that if I could get over Pyramid and do a quick run maybe halfway over the Tawonga Gap and then back before flying back to Mystic it would make a nice triangle for the day.
I flew into Little Pyramid at about 1,200m, was quickly sucked into a powerful climb and 4min later was at 2,000m. Not super fast, but it felt super powerful and the dark cloud above me was a little un-nerving (Over the other side of the Kiewa Valley there was rain dropping from three different clouds) so I bailed on the Tawonga Gap dash-in-and-out idea and made for Mystic.
The crossing felt terrible, headwind and 2-5m/s of sink most of the way, so when I flew into some light lift over Little Mystic I stopped to gain some height in it. It was light and gentle, I could see that the cloud over Pyramid wasn't looking dangerous, the sun was nice and warm, and the LP was almost right beneath me. It funny how quickly flying can change from a bit scary to fun and enjoyable!
I was enjoying circling up in the sun, so I kept doing it until I was back at 2,300m, which seemed a good height to head over towards Clearspot. I'd been thinking while I climbed - maybe I could fly out past Clearspot and make the flight a triangle that way. Besides, now I was close to launch, away from the bigger clouds, and having fun again I didn't want to land!
Mystic was working, but I had plenty of height and kept going over it, flying into lift just before Clearspot with plenty of height. I took this back to 2,300m and kept going, flying until I hit some strong sink near the height I'd set as my 'turn-around' height'. Back to Clearspot, but the air was changing - there seemed to be lift everywhere I flew, the Pyramid cloud was expanding at the top again and the cloud shadows sprinkled on the ground far below me were getting bigger -time to call it a day I decided. Another glider was nearby, looking very photogenic as it swooped and circled in the sunlight against a dark backdrop of shadowed hills and valley's so I took some pics of it - by the time I'd put the camera away the glider had climbed 200m.... I played around with big-ears for a while, pulling them on, pulling them on more and more until there was just the middle third of the wing flying, seeing how they'd hold in before opening. Drat, more lift, time to play with a few spirals which burned off the hight nicely before I headed out over town (with ears) before gliding down to the landing paddock.
Overall, I'm very happy with the day! A low save (like the one at Boynton's) is alway satisfying and I was pretty happy with my decisions. In retrospect I think I could probably have made the Tawonga dash safely, probably, but given the risk vs. reward I don't think it was worth it. CompGPS says I did a 45km FAI Triangle, which is fun - I haven't done many triangles before. And the flying was fun, which is the main thing!

301km from Deni!!

COBB HIGHWAY. It’s 11:30, and I’m in a paddock out the back of Ron’s place, setting up my flying gear while Ron checks over the winch. It feels very early to be starting towing, but it will be much easier in this light wind than it was yesterday when it was blowing much stronger. I had three tows yesterday, but wasn’t able to connect into a thermal on any of them (one was a line break, but I was at a good 400m when it happened). Ron showed how it was done, hooking into a light thermal on his first tow and landing 100km down the road near Berrigan a couple of hours later. Not bad for a flight that started after 4pm... So today I’m determined to take the tow as high as possible, not release in wind gusts, and stick like glue to any air going up.

NESBITS RD. Well, I’m in the air, but it all feels uninspiring. Got a great tow from Ron, released above 500m, and concentrated on staying in the lifty air. Ron said yesterday that it was very slow going down low but the climb rate improved with height, and down low here it is very slow. There’s a lot more wind up here and it feels strange to drift with it while circling – I’m used to noting a trigger point on the ground and circling up over it. Still, with this wind pushing me all I really have to do is stay in the air – over time it will do the real distance work for me!

CONARGO RD. Phew, for a bit there I thought I’d 15km was as far as I’d get – the first climb either petered out or I fell out the back of it around 1,200m and I was flying lower and lower down a dirt road before hitting a patch of neutral air. I drifted in it for a couple of km’s before passing over a farmhouse where it all started lifting off - hopefully I can stay with it a bit better than the last thermal.

FINLEY – Woohoo – still in the air!! Finley is the 70km mark and the climbs have finally started going a bit higher – there must be a low inversion. But after grubbing along low for so long I'm now at the lofty height of 1,700m and feeling fantastic! Either that or I’m figuring out how to stay in the thermals better, but I think there was a layer of something that is slowly lifting. It seems to work better to face into the wind for a bit, easing left or right to stay in the better lift until the climb rate just starts to drop off, then swoop around downwind before facing into wind again. However even when facing into wind I’m still flying East, just backwards! Low down it seems to work best if I watch the wing and just concentrate on feeling what the air is doing – looking at the ground is more of a distraction than a help.

PAST BERRIGAN. I’m getting pretty low again... but I’ve just passed the 100km mark! Still, I’m a few km’s north of the Riverina Highway so it’s probably a good idea to get closer. There’s a green paddock, a couple of small patches of bush, and a tree-lined road with a canal on one sidethat all line up sorta towards the road so I’ll fly over them and hope the temperature change or wind shelter or something triggers a thermal off one. It’s still before 4pm - Ron launched after now yesterday and flew 100km so maybe if I can stay up I could make 200km!! That’d be amazing... and theoretically quite possible... just gotta stay in the air...

NORTH OF COROWA. Still in the air, still in the game! I’ve been out of radio contact with Ron for hours, and I’ve run out of Riverina Highway to follow - I'm truly flying cross-country now – but there’s scattered farmhouses and dirt roads below. The height of the climbs has continued to improve – I’m getting around 2,000m now and using my gloves and jacket sleeves for the first time. I'm a lot more relaxed now - I've flown over 150km, I've got lots of height, I've just had a muslie bar, a bannana, and a sip of water for lunch - this day is going into my "Great Flying Days Box" now and anything more is a bonus! There’s a very pronounced band of haze on the horizon – I’m not getting near the top of it but the higher I get the harder it is to make out objects on the horizon. Still, it was pretty exciting to fly past Lake Makoan, and I think I can just make out Mt Buffalo and the Glenrowan Gap through the haze. Or maybe I’m imagining it.

I keep the radio volume very low mostly – occasionally turning it off when I’m low and it’s cluttered with traffic like recently. Here's a sample - “yeah, yeah, nah, bring ‘er back a bit George, bit more, bit more, woah, that’ll do ya, nar so I says to ‘im ya mus’ be dreamin mate, what’s it made a’ gold or something – there's a latch on the side matey – and ‘e says it’s nearly new, so I says Yere right, ya mean ten years ago maybe and ‘e says....etc.” You get the idea. I’m sure it’s users like this that inspired privacy codes!

More interestingly, I could hear a flying instructor coaching students on the finer points of ridge soaring and pointing out good thermal triggers for a while - I have no idea where they were or what they were flying but the company was fun.
And I’m at 150km! And there’s still plenty of sunlight left! I’m going to start working north – I know Albury airspace extends out to somewhere near Holbrook? – and starts just after the Hume Highway – maybe I’ll reach that far!

WALBUNDRIE? I’m back near a road, and there’s a small town ahead - Walbundrie maybe? There’s also a small creek which should be good for low saves. The GPS says it’s Billabong Creek - I wonder if it’s the same Billabong Creek that we flew along near Conargo near Christmas?
Back a few km’s I noticed a sailplane circling way below me to the north. There was another one several km’s behind it, then one flew by under me, and just then one flew south a few hundred meters overhead. Fun to have some company in the air - I guess they’re from Corowa, or maybe Benalla.

FURTHER EAST. Another town that I don’t know the name of is passing underneath. The GPS says it’s on the Olympic Highway, it’s got some distinctive silos in the middle of it, and I’m sure I’ve driven through it in the past. But the nice thing about it is the lift it produces – light lift for a couple of km’s past it, then strengthening into one of the best climbs so far. The Hume Highway can’t be that far ahead!!

HUME HIGHWAY. Back in a thermal! Getting low close to the highway I spotted a steep looking ridge facing SW and made a bee-line for it - sure enough there was nice lift over it and I’m climbing steadily as I cross the Hume - several km's north of Holbrook. Looking ahead there seems to be a big patch of bush – I’ll try and edge north of it when I leave this climb.

10 MINUTES LATER, MUCH HIGHER. Well, by the time I topped out in the climb I was over the edge of the trees and committed to the crossing - which looks huge. I should have plenty of height to make it - provided I don't hit lots of sink. There is a possible landing area after about 15km of trees, but with a 40km tail wind I’m not too sure how it’d go – I’d have to line up for the landing area upwind, and if I got blown over it there’d be no flying back around for another pass – wind too strong. Best to stay as high as possible, make it across both patches of bush, and try and decide if I should head further north or further south. I can see the Great Dividing Range ahead!

TUMBARUMBA RD. Further south it is. I dithered for ages over the decision and what decided me in the end was the larger flat areas to the SW – it looks like a much safer area to attempt a possible backwards landing than the rolling hills to the north. There’s a bit of a ridgeline leading SW towards a town – I’ll aim for west of the town and maybe I can fly past the hills past it. It'd be nice to fly as far as possible (there's still enough light for another hour of flying at least) and from here it looks like heading south will let me get further.

APPROACHING TUMBARUMBA. Well, I don't think I'll fly past the town, I’ve been pointing south with the speedbar on for most of the last 20km but the wind is still pushing me east pretty quick and I haven’t managed to track far enough south to take a climb without ending up over hills covered in trees with no landing options downwind. The tree’s below must be releasing the accumulated heat of the day or something – I’ve been flying through lots of patches of light lift, and a few stronger climbs. Ahh well, who’d ‘a thought that taking off from Deniliquin I’d run out of land before I ran out of light and lift? I’ve managed to descend to below 1,000m and should be able to lose the last of my height upwind of the landing paddock I’ve picked. The wind has dropped a little down lower – here's hoping it does so further and I don't have to land backwards.

TUMBARUMBA PADDOCK. It did and I didn’t! Once down to 100m or so I was able to penetrate into the wind and pulled off a nice landing in the top corner of the paddock. Well, I'm sure the cows gave me approving looks! I turned the GPS off (it says I'm 288km from takeoff. 288km!!!!), sent an “I am ok at this position” message on Ron’s SPOT and packed up the wing, buzzing from one of the more amazing paragliding days I’ve experienced!

REFLECTIONS. Most of all I'm impressed by the power of a good windy day – I know that I wasn’t flying particularly fast (for most of the day I circled in anything stronger than 1m/s) but by just staying in the air the wind blew me an amazing distance!

Being very comfortable with the Aspen2 helped a lot, as did all the hours of scratching in light lift on poor days. A couple of musli bars, a bannana, and occasional sips of water helped keep the energy levels up, and taking pics, leaning back and watching the wing on high glides, and fiddling with the GPS provided welcome breaks for the mind. The GPS says that time in the air was 6hrs 35min and straight distance was 288km - with waypoints added the xc distance comes to 301.7km. 300km!!!! That’s just so far past anything I’d planned or dreamed - it's majorly redefined what I thought was possible by a regular pilot on a regular paraglider - even on an extraodinary day.

Checking my flight on Google Earth I can see my ideas of the airspace steps weren’t very accurate – it starts just after the Olympic highway (not the Hume), and while there is a step up that ends near Holbrook it’s the 3,500’ to 4,500’, not the 4,500’ to 8,500’ one I thought. I had some airspace waypoints marked on the GPS, but they were mostly dealing with the airspace sout-east of Albury, and weren't very helpful to the north. Furthermore, I was a bit intimidated by the size of the bush crossing and took the thermal before it as high as it would go, climbing past 3,000m. I'm a bit puzzled by my max height as I remember looking at the XC Trainer when the roughness eased off at the top of the climb and seeing that I was above 3,000m, but I'm sure it said I was a good 300m below what my Garmin recorded. Measuring heights and distances on GE I see that I didn’t need all that height, but then again if I’d flown across lower and hit 3-4min of good sink I might have.

More pics of the flight here.

A very big thanks to Ron for convincing me that today could well be worth waiting for, putting me up for the night, the super tow in the morning, and lending me his SPOT GPS tracker and encouraging me to go big.