Monday, June 24, 2013

Summer is here , let go flying !

Hi all , as you can see my posts have been absent of late , my whole winter spent in Australia last winter went un reported . Will try to update , all we have now is rain it seems for the month of June lets hope July smartens up a bit and we get some flying and sunshine . Paragliding courses all summer .. flying in BC at www.paraglidecanada.com is the way to go ... starting every weekend, SIV course is Aug 10th-11th-12th and Tour to Columbia coming this winter, stay tuned for details .Hope you all have a great summer of flying biking or whatever you do for fun, drop in and say hi ! cheers

Friday, April 6, 2012

2 more days of flying and sooooo.... much wind ....

It seems like were always pushing the winds around OZ and the last week is no different . This next few days are waiting and watching... launch at dawn and its strong I have decided to head straight east towards Lake grace , easy roads to keep and eye on me now we don't have radio contact . It's strong and bumpy as usual about 30 km /hr i'm flying and geting tossed around but making some distance slowly , I want to tell the guys to find me a road south but they are either in front of me or behind me can't even use hand signals ... I finally find a south road as its starting to rain and ahead is worse , turning south the the guys see me and follow , thinking I could make better Km's I find the winds have also switched to westerly and no foward speed in fact I'm moving backwards.... oh shit ! I make abit of km and then bin it ... its over for the day . We head into Lake Grace for coffee and breakfast . No more flying for the day , we look at prdict winds again . The next 2-3 days show strong winds in our area and it seems the only time to fly are between 1am-6am. We camp in a secluded area where I landed. We wait having supper and retire early we have only 1 more day as Mark called the media and we have to be in Perth at 10 am tomorrow ..We know I have flown the distance but we want some padding ... April 4th ... wind is better , not radio again and seems like a better day to do km quickly flying east ! Launch fly fast towards Lake Grace I can feel the wind picking up as I fly over town and head up into the small hills. Wind is quartering from the left or north and as i head up the hills the wind is getting compressed and accelerating , ground speed is 65 -73km/hr and bumpy . Passing farms and wheat flields and ponds, I'm thinking this could be a good day to get 100km + km but I have to hurry so on with the bar... I am just passing the 50 km mark looking ahead down the hill thinking its going to get smoother and lighter on the downwind side . Just as i'm looking foward to the next 50 the motor sputters i'm 50 ft above the ground moving at 73 km hr , it coughs and cuts..... nooooooo.... a solid line of trees ahead going up the the farm on my left , quicly grab the toggles turn into the wind and touch down within 10 sec with basically no forward speed ... its over..! the guys see me and drive up wind is strong .. they ask me whats wrong this time and I just shrug my shoulders and say "who knows" !!!! But I know that is it ! Wind is increasing , no more spare parts or motors and we have run out of time . We congratulate each other try to start the motor with starter hand proping and don't get it to even fire. We fought to the end ! We load up the truck and head back to Lake Grace fro breakfast again ! Its over , I'm bushed and releived I dont have to fly anymore in crappy air , I'm safe and i have flown the world record in less than 2 months , less than 1/2 the time it took ben Jorden to fly his 8008km's a few years ago across Canada setting the previous record. On down loading the instruments we find the total is 8215 km, breaking the record by 208 kms. We could fly more km in the following days that would involve cancelling the Media set up , fixing the motor again and waiting for a lighter wind which would be another 2 days . Were satisfied and we head to Steve G for a B b que and some braggingand story telling ... Thanks Galvo for having us and getting us drunk ... cheers

Monday, April 2, 2012

Yes ... a pending world record !!

Well after listening to the wind all night I have apprehension about flying .. it strong.....but .. it's morning and laminar air . I'm now thinking lets just get it over with ,i'm tired of flying !! We figure we need about 100 km and the window is small. Predict wind says strong west winds by 8am .. Lift off is easy , cross wind find the right road and off I go . Chat to the guys that i might be hard to catch , but they manage well and find me in 15 minutes , No radio contact ,, what the f^&^%&^k ! I can't believe this the day I need the radio, and it's not working , well I end up flying in some crazy air , holding on at times toggles and sterring tips in the hand bouncing along like a cork in the ocean. Not a nice flight but somewhat down wind at about 65km hrs, near the end its total cross and crazy , I fly 130km to where the road turns west into the wind . Turning head on I fly into the wind.... my ground speed is 0, Zero !! Cut the motor , go on glide and not moving , hopefully I will not get dragged backwards on landing !! Just as I touch down I get about 1km forward speed and land , flip around run, grab wing, drag control, yes its finished for now . The boys arrive ad we all do a high five , I think we have it , now to check the instruments .Mark downloads the flymaster into GPS dump and he comes out with 8150 km !! yes we have the pending world record ...happy boys ... now to better it ! Afternoon is windy and rainy,, Mark arranges all the media hype for Thursday in perthat the Flying doctors s airport , hopefully we can get some more km 'in. The rest of the day is right off wind and rain showers ,I'm now sitting in the bush typing , finished a great supper , and content, only a few more flights and its time to celebrate . Body rest is coming....

April 1st .... ..

April 1st the joke is on us... Up as usual light winds forcast untill 9pm then strong , good we'll make good progress south and try to get the record we need about 160 km or so we think . Off to a great start, staying low hoping over power lines and going good about 30 ftoff the deck , motor goes dead, not time to grab the toggles only have the wing tip sterring in my hand oh shit ... flare and run asap .. whew no breakage to the motor or me , happy boy . Guys catch up .. wrap tape over a potential problem area at the starter figuring it was shorting out , start it and it stops again , can't get it going. Swap carbs out thinking this one was getting work out . New one onnot tunned wont idle proper , spend about 40 minutes and we have it going again , but rough on low power .. off I go... 20 minutes later ,motor cuts out again same as last time ... ahhhhhhhh these motor are driving me crazy !!!!!!!! Decision is made to change motor over and use the last spare motor , do the swaps and get everything ready when were about to put the prop on we notice the crack in the motor case , from the previous post belt tensioner ... shit ! get another motor out , the last and only one that might run and swap all the working parts on to it ,,, The guys now these part by name ... and what it takes to swap out , but i'm noticing the wind increasing from the west .. its 9 pm already, we've done 3 hr and 40 km . I take off and have a problem with the steering , something is caught .. figure it out and go ..... I fly about another 20 km and the wind is brutal, the cold front is here ! We missed our window of oppertunity those F%&&**O(*##ing motors ... Drive into town about 3km and have brecky and coffee, a nice treat at the local truck stop . Sunday afternoon nothing in town is open , meet with craigs parents whom come and visit and camp at the local caravan park. Go for a run in the wind ...loosen up the body and stretch . Sleep.... maybe tomorrow !

Coolgardie to Merriden 280 km....

Coolgardie, Saturday the 31st , up at dark set up ready for legal light winds were supposed to be freshening ! Forcast is for 20km NE winds, a run for Southern Cross, then to Merriden . About 88km into the flight I hit a change of wind and everything went crazy .. bouncing around wildly , after a few minutes I noticed a buzzing through my helmet trying to figure out if the visor was coming undone. then again ...what the *(*((%$$ !. I then looked back and saw the whole cage vibrating ,, oh shit ! guys I'm going down.. look for a landing area , no power left. Now what !! I was going so well ..land on the highway so the guys can see me and have a possible take off area. Turn off motor so it does not explode on me ! Turn final setting up , look ahead coming around the corner is a semi .. but this is a Widee load carring a D8 cat on the back ... shit... well he's not stopping,I put it down on the shoulder just as he passes , we both have a holy shit that was close look on our faces !! Wait 10 minutes the guys show up and find out that the prop flexed and hit the frame of the cage all three parts were toasted . We figured it was the turbulance that caused it , but 2 days later when were swapping motors out again to get one running we finally found that the casing of the motor was cracked where the tensioner was on the belt , This would have caused the pulley/belt to move causing the prop strike . We changed motor over and used the other one , carb change , etc . ,35 minutes later and a scetchy launch where I just about took out the truck , I had a huge climb out when I hit the wind above trees , but off and moving ! Managed to fly past Southern Cross into just a few km short of Merriden 6 hrs flying , 280 km , buzzing tired and and hungry , I did it ... Whew i'm bagged . Into town for lunch before everything closed about 2pm it Saturday in OZ ! Went out for an afternoon flight winds were light and fickle , untill I took off ! The winds were NW so we turned south and tried to go tack west , ended up going about 50 km and hit a SW wind so turned northerly and ran about another 50 km back , we cant get away for the headwinds slowing our progress west ! Total for the day was 380 or so , I find a nice place to land out of the way and quiet ! My legs are toasted , my body is worn out, I laid down and tried to rest my buzzing body , the guys set up camp , I eat and go to bed..,Tomorrow's another day the end is near ....

Friday, March 30, 2012

Were across to WA....yahooo...

March 30th today , last flight we were stuck in Yalata at a small dirt runway, in an aboriginal settlement . morning was good for flight and at first light I was off again , today was the day long and tiring but managed to do my best flight total to date 450km . I took 3 fillups but basically flew for about 9 hrs with small breaks for sugar to keep my going , some of it was rough but nice to have the wind at my back or so some of the time . The next 4 days are a seris of flights 210 km 280km 250 km , it seems to never have the wind favor us or change after about 2 hr of flying to slow our progress down. The mid day thermal are brutal we are lucky to have a cloud cover which is allowing me to fly mid day. The nullabour cliffs were cool to see but I had to do battle with a direct north wind at about 30 km hrs , which ment if I get to close I get pushed back into the ocean .. not a nice way to finish ! At times had to get low as the upper winds increaded and it got real bumpy up high that is over 1000ft , so surfing along at around 200 ft full bar and keeping the wing over me at th same time. Entering WA was a treat ... an accoplishment were here ! As I passed the road house I noticed a large building and saw it was for fruit quarantine ! Shit we had so much nice fruit and vegtables which were confiscated for pest coming into WA. So here we are at the campsite with only meat pastaand rice left , bastards...I mean this is done in the middle of th desert with no where to stop to buy new food ! and we dont know how many days it is going to take us to cross ! To make a long story short we end uptaking another few days and yesterday endedup in Norsman the finish of the Nullabour !Yeah were were all happy , we wear out of food and water and had'nt showered for 4-5 days. the lat 2 dys of flying were tough as the clouds had disappeared and it was tough rough flying and very hard on the mind and body , especially the shoulders and rotater cuffs. I am mainly quiet in the evenings in recover mode ! They do not know what i'm going through unless your the one doing it you cant feel it . Today and yesterday were wating games and watching the weather the past 4 day we have been without cell or computor sevice to check winds which I find is good and bad. good we get more work done to the motors and campermuch needed repairs to both , Now we have 2 motors running again which we have not had since the beginning of the trip !! With our spare parts the boys got together and did the job, I watched and cooked... kitchen bitch !! They know better than me which parts work now and which ones are finished and what we need to finish this off. Yesterday flew 120 km into Norsman , tried an afternoon flight a few times and just about hit the trees shit ! the next flight I only had 10 km foward speed ,not enought to clear the tree's and get us the 169 km we need to th next town . Stayed in Norsman at the campground showere, food ,shopping and laundry , Today winds are better and get off at 3pm and get my butt kicked for the 1st hr , probably the most violet air yet , clof front had just passed , flyng in the lee of some mtns and cross wind mixed with thermals ... not fun ! Evening was better tail cross wind , lighter later in the flight. 140 km and were into Coolgarie ? Just enough fuel and time to land before last light , and a good set up for tomorrows ever changing winds ! good night !

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Nullarbor here we come !

Up early at dawn , pack up and go out to the motor , belt was slipping it would not start . Perfect morning , ended up putting on the starter which was not on this motor from the prevoious day , too much dew and we did not have the moter covered. Put on the starter still having problems witht he new starter ! Finally it kicked over and time to get suited up , problems with the in line fuel fileter and the motor running out of fuel . Got up and away ,nice air flew past Ceduna at 90km away in 1.5hrs ,just past the city it was getting mixed up , drop altitude and surf along the tree tops again. Flew on.. lost ground crew for supplies and landed after 4 hrs and 196km side of the road truck stop . Flew thru some semi rough air for about 2 hrs but nice foward ground speed. Decided to fuel up and set off asap waitied about 45 minutes for the ground crew toshow up . 2 lousy launches on the hwy and set up over in the feild , wind was light a variable . Launched and flew to Yalata 78 km away in thermic conditions , could see a sea breeze coming in and it was mixed air not to nice ! Road house was closed and flew into town and landed at the airport , aborginal settlement had a nice visit from some of the locals , they wanted some gasoline !who knows what for ?? Wind was to strong for and afternoon flight. Cook supper read ,fix motor and stuff ! Total today was 280km , hope for better tomorrow and to get to Border town . Weather is holding for the next few days with the high pressure. Let's go to west Australia...!!