Corryong and the Corroyong Open competition February 15-26

Wednesday February 15--The drive to Corryong

We got up at 5:30 and after some coffee and final checks on the car headed out just after six.  First stop along the way was to get Mary Beth a latte at the first town that had a McDonalds.

During the 10 hour drive the coolant temperature gage slowly started moving towards the hot side.  I stopped at a parts store and bought some coolant for the “just in case” scenario.  We made plenty of stops along the way and the temperature stayed right at the limit of the normal range until we were about 70 kilometers outside of Corryong.  After letting the engine cool down for a half an hour I opened the radiator cap and added 4 liters of coolant.
That kept things within the normal range for the last 70k into Corryong.  We met Heidi and Cam at the motel and Cam helped me put the get our gear into the hotel room and we went to the pizza pub for pizza and a movie.  Good pizza but a poor movie unless you like Woody Allen movies.

Thursday February 16--A no fly day

After a quick breakfast I called NRMA and Traveler’s Auto Barn and the local NRMA garage which is only a couple hundred yards down from the motel where we are staying.  The mechanic had me drive it to the garage.  After doing a pressure check of the cooling system and listening to the symptoms I described he diagnosed the problem as a blocked radiator.  Corryong is just a small farming town so they had to send the radiator to Albury.  If we are lucky we will see the radiator back late Friday.  Blocked radiators are not covered on the extended warranty we purchased and the initial 3000 mile warranty calls for the car to be returned to a Traveler’s auto barn garage.  Looks like we may have to foot the bill for the work ourselves.

The weather was not good for flying so the day was spent doing other things.
Heidi took Mary Beth shopping and we soon had a fully stocked refrigerator.  Mary Beth did some of her rehab exercises in the motel pool.  It’s shallow, more like a deep wading pool but very pleasant for lounging around.

We’re fortunate to have Cam and Heidi to help us.  Heidi will not be flying and will be doing retrieves for our team.  We have a team with a lady from China who speaks just a little English, Cam from Australia, Matt from Switzerland and me.  The Chinese lady wants to be called Sabrina.  Not sure why but that she wants.  Given that we decided to call our team Bewitched. After we agreed on that name Heidi reminded us that Sabrina was the teenage witch and Samantha was the lead on the Bewitched TV show.  Oh, well.

Team "Bewitched"

We cooked on the barbecue at the motel pool and had a nice evening catching up with Cam and Heidi, sampling wines and stuffing ourselves on sausages and salad.

Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow.


Friday February 17

The weather improved enough to go up the hill.  Still a chance of thunderstorms and showers but Peter set up a sort task and told everyone to watch the skies and land when/if things started to turn.

On the way up the hill Heidi had big scare.  A Huntsman spider had climbed up on the car and started to come in on Heidi’s window.  Within microseconds Cam had the window up and we continued up the hill.  Huntsmen are forest spiders that are not terribly poisonous but are very large.  This one was probably 5 inches across leg to leg.

We all launched and I was soon sinking out and on my way to the LZ.  On the way I managed to find a thermal at 300 feet off the ground and managed to climb back up above launch.  I drifted southeast down the range. The clouds were looking dark in the distance so Peter called and recommended everyone land.  I landed in a field near the town.

The cows admire the color of my wing as I pack up

I took some nice video.  I’m getting better at turning the camera on and off in flight. It will take some work to put all the video I have taken into something interesting.  But then I still have video of when our girls were young to convert to digital and edit.  Something to do in retirement and now that I’m retired I guess I have no excuse for not spending the time.

The harness still is giving me some problems getting into it.  Sooner or later I’ll figure it out.

We registered for the comp which took all of 5 minutes and then headed for dinner with the team.

We had dinner at the Chinese restaurant in Corryong.  Our Chinese team member is very polite and I think she was amused to eat Australian Chinese food. Cam chose Pepperjack Shiraz for dinner. It’s a really good wine. $25 Australian in the restaurant was a good price as well.

I called the repair shop.  The radiator did not make the truck and they will now probably get it Monday afternoon.  If I’m luck I’ll have it late Monday or Tuesday morning.  Thank god for Heidi and Cam.

Tomorrow the fun begins at the comp.

 Saturday February 18

This is the first day of the comp.  Pilots meeting started at 9 even though they had told us 8:30 the evening before.  I think all comps are the same in that regard.

After the briefing we headed up and not soon after we had the task set and I was busy remembering how to program the FlyMaster for the waypoints along the course. The course was across the valley and Mt. Mittamitite about 23 kilometers and then back another 30K in the other direction.
Launch opened but nobody launched.  Finally after about a half hour they started launching.  In Australia they use an “ordered” launch.  You launch in order based on your standing in the comp and with the exception if nobody is “in the box” ready to launch you can jump in the box out of your order.

Since I was a foreign pilot and had no standing I was second to last in the order.  When the launching started I had to wait a long time to get off.  Clouds shaded launch with no wind coming up the hill for about a half an hour while I was standing, sweating and waiting.  Finally the sun returned and I launched.

I struggled at first not finding the house thermal to the left of launch but finally found something over the valley and eventually made it up to cloudbase and headed across the valley.  Unfortunately Cam and Samantha did not find anything and landed short of the LZ.  Heidi retrieved them but it was too late as they had closed the launch window.  They launched and did much better on their second fights.

Arriving at Mittamitite I was low but managed to scratch my way back up and  continued heading Northwest across the range.  Eventually I found myself in the same valley I sank out I last year but I continued heading towards the first turn point, Settlement Ridge.  I tagged that and headed back catching a nice thermal and headed across a small valley to another ridgeline.  I saw two thermal triggers that looked promising.  One was bigger and a little back from the course line to the next turn point at Colac Colac Hill.  There was a beautiful rock face that I hoped to find a thermal.  Unfortunately it was upwind and I ran into a lot of sink and arrived too low to find anything.  I was soon down on the ground next to two other pilots who had tried the same rock face and found nothing.  Two hours and thirty minutes to go 23.8 kilometers on a 60.3 kilometer course.

Fellow pilots at the sink out point

Retrieve took longer than I am used to.  Mary Beth is driving for another group of pilots so I don’t have that dedicated retrieve and chase pilot.  Heidi had some problems getting coordinates for Sabrina’s retrieve and took over an hour to get to me.  She had picked up another pilot from her club in Melbourne who had not arranged for a ride and expected to hitch hike back to town.  When she dropped him off he didn’t even offer pay for her gas.   Needless to say she was angry about that.  Meanwhile one of the pilots Mary Beth was supposed to retrieve landed near me and Mary Beth came out to pick him up only to find he had gotten a ride with another car.  She ended up picking me up then just as Heidi had driven back from town to retrieve me.  Just as I got in the car with Mary Beth Heidi called on the radio that she was 3 kilometers away.  Sound confusing?  It was.  A few beers at the pu b with diner and everything was fine.

You are always thinking about the thermals you missed but I was quite happy for the day and the number of climbs I had.  I only got up to 1900 meters twice and had four really good scratching saves.
One nice thing about this comp is that you can learn a lot about by looking at the flight path of the people who made goal.  I spent most of the flight by myself with just a few other gliders around so I had to make most of my decisions on where to go without the benefit of the gaggle.

I had problems with the speed system in the new pod harness.  With the flexible lines for the two step stirrup and the suspension and not being able to see them I had trouble getting it engaged when I wanted and getting equivalent application on both left and right side of the wing.  I don’t really think I have seen the increase in speed just yet.  But I’m still dealing with English to Metric conversions or maybe I am just always flying into a headwind. It must be better! Its new and it cost a lot.

Sunday February 19

Things looked good in the morning but by eleven o’clock the sky was overcast and it only took the safety committee 5 minutes to decide to cancel the task for the day once they had us all up at launch.  Most of the pilots decided to do a little free flying and there was lots of buoyant air with flights extended from the bailout LZ into town and the pub.

I was a little optimistic on finding some lift and landed in a field right at the edge of town with 50 head of cattle at the far end from where I landed.  Cows are curious lot or they thought I was going to feed them and they soon surrounded me as I folded up my wing. 

I spent the balance of the day trying to get caught up with my writing as I lounged by the pool at our motel.  Mary Beth relaxed and watched an “Anne of Green Gable” marathon on TV.

Dinner was a barbecue at the caravan park put on by the Lion’s club ladies.

Monday February 20

Overcast skies and chance of thunderstorms again.  Most pilots flew down to the bailout LZ and called it a day.  I did the same.  I still had problems getting into the speed bag on the harness but practiced with it a few times on the way to the LZ.  I managed to hit the spot.  That’s something for the day.

The Jackaroo will be getting a new radiator.   The mechanic installed it today and was doing some checks so we should have it tomorrow.

We had a nice barbecue at the pool with Heidi, Cam and one of the other pilots in the comp.  Lincoln is a long haul truck driver.  He drives Kenworth B-doubles. It’s a harder job here than in the U.S. Not so many four lane divided highways once you get away from the cities.

Tuesday February 21

Weather improved.  Pilots briefing in the morning was encouraging.  I picked up the Jackaroo.  $860 for the repair and fortunately covered by Traveler’s Auto Barn.

We met at the top of the hill for a briefing and group photo.  Winds were cross from the south but at least early on overpowered by the thermals.

I launched early and had no problem with the launch but struggled initially to find a thermal to take me up.  Lots of small little bullets that were hard to catch.  Finally I got something and found myself up at cloudbase just a few minutes before the race start.  However I discovered that my speed system came unhooked on the right side and spent some time sorting that out.  I really could have used it crossing the valley.  Poor preflight on my part but I did manage to fish it out of the hole in the harness and get it reconnected.

Meanwhile things on launch turned ugly.  The thermals coming up the hill got a lot stronger and with the crosswinds coming in occasionally created problems.  One pilot got slammed into the ground just after takeoff and the meet director closed the launch. 

I drifted north while crossing the valley and while I thought I had plenty of altitude to arrive high over the next range that turned out not to be the case. I hit some big sink and arrived low. To make things worse the area where I expected to go to find a thermal was shaded out.

I landed after only after traveling about 11k down the course.  Nice field but a long hike out to the road.  Heidi retrieved me and then we picked up a couple of other pilots and returned them to the pub before heading out to retrieve Sabrina.  Following that we headed to goal and watched about 10 pilots glide into Tintrilda.

Mary Beth and I logged a little pool time before heading out to a barbecue with some of Cam and Heidi’s friends from Melbourne.  We drove the Jackaroo.  No problems with the cooling system.

Wednesday February 22

Sunshine and few clouds in the morning.  A good sign.   The morning briefing had the usual “chance of thunderstorms” warning but we all headed up the hill to launch.  The task was set and I launched early about an hour before the stat gate was set to open.  .  Cam found the first good thermal off launch and I followed him up. 

For the next half hour we thermalled with the rest of the field waiting for the start but looking at a rain shower and building cumulus down range to the first turn point.  Ten minutes later the task was cancelled and landing recommended.  The alarm set on my FlyMaster went off for the race start as I was setting up to land.  Over an hour in the air and some good practice thermaling in gaggles was some small consolation.

Nice to be on the ground!

The scorekeeper for the comp is the pilot who was injured and there seems not to be a good backup.  I got put in the back of the launch order for the day which I discovered was because my points for the first task had disappeared.  Two calls to the meet director and it is still not fixed. Hopefully I can get that straightened out before Thursday. 

We spent the afternoon lounging by the pool and waiting for dinner.  Our Chinese pilot volunteered to cook dinner.  She did a great job.  After dinner Mary Beth had everyone making Australian S’mores.  We had another nice evening sitting around talking, listening to music, and probably consuming a little too much alcohol.

Thursday February 23, 2012

This was the 6^th day of the comp and the weather was very good. 

After the morning briefing I got with the scorekeeper and had my track logs re-entered.  My start number jumped from 43 to 24.  In the end it didn’t matter because as soon as I saw pilots going up I jumped in the box and launched early.

Once up at launch the task was posted and we all got busy programming our GPS’s and waiting to see how the wind technicians flew before launching. I launched 35 minutes before the start gate opened.  It took a while to get to cloudbase (1900 meters) and when the start cylinder opened I was low and had to work to get up as I watched the gaggle head down range to Thowgla, The first turn point.  The first leg was upwind so it took me a while to get there.  I was catching a few gliders along the way who had left at a lower altitude and were struggling low on the ridge.  It was good for me because I found a few thermals along the way where people had managed to climb out.

I thought I knew where the first turn point was and instead of watching my GPS headed for where I thought it was.  I lost a little time and altitude but managed to correct and found a thermal that took me up to 1600 meters.  Now I was headed back the opposite direction to the next turn point.  I decided I would stay on the sunnier and upwind side of the ridge line and head back to Mt Elliot before making a valley jump.  I hit sink and made a decision to head back upwind to a nice bowl which was the last place I had a good climb.  Unfortunately I didn’t find the thermal and ended up sinking out with a 2k hike back to Thowgla Rd.   Looking at my flight in Google earth and thinking about this heading back upwind was not the best decision.  I should have gone for a point down the ridge where I had lift before.  I think it’s much easier to catch thermals when you are running downwind than upwind.  You lose too much altitude heading upwind to chase a thermal.
2 hours and 11 minutes in the air.
Max speed 60 kph
Max climb 4.5 meters/sec.
Max sink 4.2 meters/sec.
Max altitude 1899 meters

Hiking out from the ridge that got the best of me

This isn’t going to help my standings in the comp but I learned a lot from this flight.  Actually I learned a lot from all of them so far.  I’d just like to learn and score more points.
Meredyth Malocsay is here and flying well. 

Mary Beth kept busy retrieving for her team.  Nice to have trips other than just to the bail out LZ today.

Friday February 24

The comp is now pretty much in a routine with the briefings and going up the hill.  Weather looks good for tasks for the rest of the comp.

Mary Beth wasn’t needed to drive for the other teams so she positioned the Jackaroo in the bail out LZ and doing retrieves for our team today.  She managed to pocket $450 dollars driving for the other pilots.  Probably good to have that as a repair fund for the Jackaroo.  Coolant temperature is fine now with the new radiator.  But punctured tires are always a risk.
There was a small amount of excitement when one of the first pilots to launch had a knot in his cascades on the left side.  He yanked hard to get it out and then because he was turning pulled down the right brake.  The glider stalled and he fell on the downslope of the hill.  In the end he was OK with no broken bones or serious injuries.

The task took us south over the valley and Corryong then on south to Murray Cudgewa the first turn point.  I was trailing the gaggle as usual but had plenty of altitude.  I was climbing in a weak thermal and I left it to join the gaggle from below hoping to thermal up with them.  I missed the thermal and then spent the next half hour scratching and searching for a thermal to take me back up just south of town. 

Finally I found something and a half hour later I was up at 1600 meters and ready to continue to the next turn point.  By this time Cam and Sabrina had caught up with me and we thermalled together as some sail planes flew around us.  I had the GoPro shooting a photo every 5 seconds so I managed to get a picture of the sail planes with Cam and my wing in frame.

As we headed on course we sank down and spent another 40 minutes or so thermaling leeside in a bowl trying to get enough altitude to get over a ridge where we “knew” there should be good thermals kicking off.  We never made it.  Sabrina had a low save but ended up landing later.  Cam and I stuggled to get past the ridge running together but our ground speed got down to 6kph in sink.  I turned back to climb back up.  Cam went a little farther and ended up sinking out.
I climbed back up but not high enough and tried to go around the ridge line in the valley.  Too low and I sunk out another 4k past am but still short of the first turn point.  Meanwhile I think nearly 20 pilots made goal.  Ugh!

We were all happy with our flights but disappointed with our distance and scoring.  I had two hours and 34 minutes in the air and two low saves.  The camera took nearly 2000 pictures which I sorted through later in the evening. 
I talked to one of the instructors and got a little insight.  It is very difficult to join a thermal from below when you have some distance to travel.  I would have been better off to continue in the thermal I had when I was over Corryong instead of trying to join the gaggle.  Chasing gaggles from below is not a good idea.

Retrieves went well since three of us landed in the same location and Matt made goal.  Meanwhile power went out in Corryong.  We spent the rest of the evening by the pool drinking beer and grilling sausages and looking at photos from the day.
Tomorrow is my last chance to make it to goal.

Saturday February 25, 2012

Last day of the comp today.  The  task took us south about 9 K to Thowgla and then west22k  to the same Murray Cudgewa turn point I bombed out at on the previous task then back to Thowgla and then on to the Corryong Airport.
I launched early but was not high enough when the race started to head out.  I left maybe 10 minutes after the race started and made the first turn point with plenty of altitude.  Flying toward Murray Cudgewa I had a nice low save but ended up plenty high and on glide to the turn point.  There was sink than I expected getting there and I was low just after hitting the turn point.   A few turns low on the hill and I was soon maneuvering to land on the same field I landed at the day before.  Two hours and thirty minutes in the air and only two turn points. 

Cam and Sabrina were just a few minutes ahead of me and managed to make that point and get back up.  Cam managed to tag Thowgla coming back and glide short of the goal. 
I ended up 32^nd out of 42 overall and 8^th out of 11 in my wing’s performance class. Flying was great even though I didn’t score the points I wanted.  Last year I did better on points even though I don’t think I flew nearly as well.  Go figure.

I flew with the GoPro camera mounted in the wing looking down at me today.  Matt, the Swiss pilot flying with our team, loaned me a mount he had made.  It works well and taking pictures every 5 seconds I had 1800 pictures to choose from. 

Mary Beth picked me up after landing and we headed over to the airport wait to wait for Cam to land but unfortunately he didn’t make it to goal.

We had a nice dinner at the Bottom Pub followed by an awards ceremony. 
Tomorrow  we’ll have breakfast with Heidi and Cam before doing laundry, packing, and maybe flying if the weather permits.  Then back to Manilla for a week to work on cracking the 100K cross country barrier.

Sunday February 26, 2012
This is a no fly day.  Rain and overcast. I was hoping to fly today but nose needed a break from the sun anyway. 

 Breakfast with Heidi, Cam, and Sabrina followed by laundry, packing, and doing computer things.  Lots of pictures to edit and post.  Mary Beth used her free pizza award prize for spotting and correctly saying Emu at the pilots briefing a couple of days ago.  We helped Sabrina with her arrange accommodation reservations on Monday and will drive her to the bus stop tomorrow.

It’s pretty amazing what you can do on the internet and with E-mail as far as managing your finances.  It makes things pretty easy when you travel.  Online statements and electronic banking are great.  The only thing I worry about is someone stealing my computer and cracking my passwords.

Tomorrow it’s on to Manilla.



Heidi's picture of a sunset at our motel

More pictures at this link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/100100812428273095003/Corryong#

Manilla Febrary 7-14

Tuesday February 7

After breakfast at the motel we headed for more stores to find air mattresses and a tent.  Found them at Ray’s outdoors. That done, we headed for Manilla.

The coolant temperature on the Jackaroo was starting to run a little high but stabilized on the high side.  Mary Beth recommended taking it back to Traveler’s Auto barn to have them take a look at it.  I wanted to press on.  We monitored it on the way to Manilla and it stayed high but within the normal range.  Mary Beth was right.  We should have had it looked at but more about that later.

We checked in at River Gums Caravan Park before heading to Godfrey’s to pick up my much anticipated new harness. It’s an Advance Impress 3.  Lightweight and very much in demand.  Believe it or not it was cheaper to buy it in Australia than from the U.S distributer. 

Godfrey was in the middle of his XC camp and XC competition but took the time to install a new reserve in the harness.  I spent a little time hanging in it before heading back to the cabin at River Gum.
 

Sunset on the drive back from Godfrey's

Manilla

Wednesday February 8

Driving out to Godfrey’s the coolant temperature started going up and just as we were ready to start climbing up the hill it spiked to hot.  We spent the next few hours driving a few kilometers back towards Manilla, stopping to let the engine cool down.  The NRMA (Aussi equivalent of AAA) came out and picked up the car and took it back to the garage.  Turns out that one of the hose clamps was not tight and the coolant had apparently been slowly leaking which is why the temperature had just been high for a long time but finally we ran out of coolant.  Even checking the coolant reservoir we didn’t see it during the trip from Sidney to Manilla.  The mechanic tightened the clamp and pressure checked the system and we were good to go.  By the time all that was done flying was over for the day.

I told you we should have had them look at this before we left Sydney!

Thursday February 9

My first flight with the new harness. I launched early from the north launch.  I spent half the 8 minute flight down to the bailout LZ trying to get into the pod.  Mary Beth picked me up and I headed up for another try.  I still need to make some adjustments and perfect getting into the pod before I start singing soprano. 

Still need to adjust my harness

The second flight was much better.  I launched again from the north launch and I had a pleasant XC going with with easy climbs in gentle thermals as I headed south towards Manilla. I was climbing up in a thermal over the town when my cell phone started ringing and ringing.  I guessed Mary Beth had a problem so I circled down and landed at our campground.  

I had guessed right. Mary Beth had pulled over to let another car pass on while driving down from launch and she heard the “wishing” sound and pulled over to find her right front tire flat with a rip in the sidewall.  Ugh, third flat driving down from launch in 5 years.  The NRMA was out in less than half an hour to help her change the tire and she made it back to the campground fairly quickly. Much easier than the flats she had experienced at Golden or Lakeview sites.

Anyway 15K from launch to the campground in 54 minutes is a start.  Just 85K short of my 100K goal. 

North Launch at Manilla

 I arrived in the middle of the XC camp.  Lots of pilots here from all over the world. Godfrey has added a pavilion and a swimming pool to his campsite.  Pretty nice all things considered.  His place was booked so we e are staying just outside Manilla in a caravan park with a nice big park for a landing paddock (meaning LZ) next to it.

River Gums Caravan park

I spent some time in the simulator adjusting the leg straps and speed bag straps to make hopefully make things easier as far as getting in to the harness is concerned.

We’re currently under the influence of a trough with lots of moisture and unstable conditions.  It’s supposed to move out in the next few days.  Godfrey promises things will improve.

Friday February 11

Mary Beth drove out to Godfrey’s and then returned to Manilla to shop and wait for the new tire to arrive and be mounted.  I took the “basher” up to launch and then scurried to find a ride down when it started raining on launch.  When it rains the roads get very slippery and dangerous driving down.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in Godfrey’s participating in a group discussion or reserve tosses and what to do.  The instructor leading the discussion did not for some reason start by advising to grab the B’s.  Instead he just said grab anything and disable the glider.  Our local club instructors in Portland are much more knowledgeable or at least have a different slant on things. 

One interesting point in the discussion was when a pilot should consider upgrading to a higher performance wing.  Comfort level in your current wing, Your XC performance relative to other pilots you fly with in the same class wing, and are you thermaling well enough that your current wing’s glide performance limits your XC capability were mentioned. 

Mary Beth came back with the new tire mounted ($210 ouch)

Hoping to fly tomorrow.

Saturday February 12

A trip up to launch in the “basher” was followed by a trip back down when the day was cancelled due to wind and overdevelopment.  A number of pilots kited in the field at Godfrey’s before the big storm came through and dumped on everyone.  It was nice and dry inside the pavilion.  Mary Beth had been napping in the car and was trapped in the front with the rear lift gate open until the deluge subsided. Luckily the wind was blowing the rain sideways and not to many things got wet.

I stayed around for the awards ceremony and barbecue which was held midafternoon due to the rain cancelling things.  Two no fly days in a row.

Sunday February 12

The XC camp is over but still a lot of pilots here.  I took the “basher” up and waited for the sun to warm up the west launch.  I launched and found a thermal just to the left of launch and soon was up to 1300 meters as I drifted back over the mountain and looking for more height.  As often happens I soon was in big sink and found myself back in front of launch and low looking for lift.  I didn’t find anything and decided to fly through the gap around the back and land at the lee side bailout.  I was worried about the rotor and there were a few bumps getting to the bailout LZ.

Mary Beth picked me up and took me back to the west launch.  I struggled again off launch along with six other pilots but eventually found myself at 2000 meters and headed for Manilla.  Mary Beth was on the radio and following in the car.

I chased a cloud but didn’t quite catch it and then looked for a nice brown field to provide lift and didn’t find it.  It was a little dicey to make the jump across the river to land at the campground so I opted for a fallow field to land.  Mary Beth arrived just as I was finishing packing up.

My favorite retrieve driver

Monday February 13

One sled ride from a forward off the south launch.  Used the helmet cam to show the launch and flight down towards Godfrey’s.  The camera was aiming a little low so I got an my nose and the faceguard of my helmet in the frame. 

Mary Beth picked me up and we went back up to the west launch and waited. 

Finally around 1:30 there was a big enough hole in the broken cloud layer to heat up the area in front of launch and a number of us launched.  I made a low save on the way to the bailout and slowly climbed up to 2200 meters.  Winds were forecast to be south but were more west.  Undeterred I kept my original plan and headed North.  Once you get past the first range things open up and it gets more difficult.  I had some trouble to find a path around some of the clouds and soon found myslelf down low and looking for lift out in the valley.  I found one and drifted with it before heading north again and looking for another thermal.  I didn’t find one and I had the option of continuing searching in some areas away from the main road or landing near the road.  I chose landing near the road.  I landed in a field with some high grass.  Downwind with a slide.  My harness will be well worn by the time I get back to the states if this keeps up.

Mary Beth who had been chasing was picking up another pilot three kilometers south of where I landed.  Once again she managed to pull up before I got packed up.  She drove me and two pilots from New Caledonia back to Godfrey’s.

One of the pilots helped me adjust the speed system in the harness.  I needed to reduce the length of the lines by about 30mm in order to get pulley to pulley.  I still need to figure out how to step into the harness.  I don’t think I am leaning forward enough and pulling my leg high enough to step in.

Beer makes harness adjustments easier

We picked up fish and chips for dinner at the place in Manilla.  Fish and chips were fine.  The place is owned by a Greek but his salads clearly had been modified for Australian tastes.  I would not recommend them.

I have one more day to here to get that 100K flight before heading to Corryong on Wednesday.  18K in one hour and 40 minutes does not give me a lot of confidence to make it tomorrow.  I’ll likely have to come back and work harder on working the clouds to stay at cloud base.

Tomorrow is another day.

Tuesday February 14—A new personal best XC

In addition to being Valentines day this was a day where I recorded my second longest flight and furthest distance in XC.  Four hours and forty-six minutes in the air with a landing distance of 82.6 kilometers from the takeoff spot.

The sky was clear in morning.  That’s always a good sign that it is not going to over develop with thunderstorms in the afternoon. We spent the morning getting ready for tomorrows drive to Corryong before heading up the hill.

I launched from the East launch just after noon and was soon up around 2000 meters with a plan to head north along a line of clouds.  Things worked well and I spent the next three hours heading west towards Boggabri following a cloud street.  Then I turned Northwest flying along a highway and looking for themals coming up from fields.  By this time it was later in the day and the winds had picked up and instead of going with little or no tail wind I was now doing 55-60 kilometers per hour when I was not thermaling.  Two other gliders came up to me and then passed me.  I finally ran out of luck finding thermals and landed 82.6 kilometers from Mt. Borah. There was one field still generating thermals and the other gliders managed to catch something there and went on another 8K before landing.  I didn’t get my 100k goal but was very pleased with my flying.  Picking a course and staying up finding  thermals along the way.

I landed in a field that was barren or so I thought.  Unforturnately there were lots of small burrs from something similar to the star thistles we have in Oregon.  They were hell to get off my wing and harness as I packed up.  Anyway I called Mary Beth on the cell phone gave her my coordinates and hit the spot locator safe landing button. 

I had not been able to call Mary Beth on the radio.  I didn’t check the microphone position when I hooked in to the harness and unfortunately I was sitting on the cord and could not get to it.  When I unhooked the microphone I still could not hit the transmit button with my mouth close enough to the radio to transmit clearly.  I also had picked a channel that was very busy with road crews talking so I eventually just switched it off and flew.  Mary Beth started calling my phone every few minutes after four pm and I knew she would be concerned but there was little I could do.  I owe her big time for this.  Not exactly the Valentine’s day one would expect.  But she was very happy and understood how I felt about the day.

It was about an hour and half drive for Mary Beth to retrieve me since she could not chase me in the car.  I sat by the road and ate beef jerky and drank the rest of my water while I waited.  It was interesting to see the land I had flown over from a different perspective on the drive back. Some of the “brown” fields had a lot of water in them.  I’m glad I didn’t land in any of them.

When we arrived back at the River Gums I celebrated with a microwaved dinner, beer, and popcorn.  Then we packed up and I loaded the car for the 10 hour drive to Corryong.

More pictures here

https://picasaweb.google.com/100100812428273095003/ManillaAustralia2012#

Getting to Australia

Getting there--The adventure begins

We were all packed and ready to go by 1:30 PM.  Unfortunately even to be at the airport two hours prior to the departure time, we were an hour and a half early.  Arriving at the airport at 3:30 we got through the gate in record time.  Time enough for lattes at Starbucks and an hour wait before boarding.  It’s good not to be rushed, I guess.  Could it be that we are some of the few traveling over Super Bowl weekend and that’s why things are going so smoothly?  Arrgh, I forgot to set the DVR to record the game.  Now we’ll miss all those commercials that have already been previewed on TV and the internet over the last few days.

Mary Beth passed the full body scan in Portland going through security with her metal knee.  Just for good measure as I followed her, the TSA security agent patted down my knees as well.  Nice to know we are being kept safe.

Boarding Alaska Airlines Mary Beth used her limp and cane to our advantage.  Boarding first was something we had not been able to do since Emily, now 23, was a baby. 

Mary Beth managed the hike quite well from the domestic to the international terminal and then we went through security again.  LAX does not have the full body scanning equipment so Mary Beth was put in the glass box after passing the metal detector.  We had time for a drink at one of the bars while we waited to board the plane.  $18 dollars for a beer and gin and tonic. Yikes.

On the fourteen hour flight from Los Angeles to Sydney we had an open seat between us so we were able to stretch out a little.  We both managed to sleep a little on the flight.  I only managed to watch two movies. 

It was a long trek from the arrival gate to customs.  Once again Mary Beth got sympathy with the cane and we were put in a shorter line. 

Once through customs it was a 20 minute taxi ride to pick up the car.

Getting the car.

We had made arrangements after Mary Beth’s careful research to buy a car from a company called Traveler’s Auto Barn.  The reimbursed us our taxi fare to the airport and after signing numerous documents and even taking a quiz at the end we were almost ready to take delivery of our 1998 Holden Jackaroo.  It’s a 4wd SUV or, as they refer to it down, here a “Ute”.   Unfortunately they were concerned about a check engine light that had come on and wanted to check it out.  Seems one of the sensors did not like ethanol.  We have been using straight unleaded since and never have seen that light come on. 

Finally we got the car and were off.  We started by heading to K-mart and Telstra to pick up camping supplies and a SIM for Mary Beth’s phone.  We ended the day after doing some more shopping and dinner at Costco.  Dinner was a $2.50 hot dog and soda ($1.00 more than in the U.S). 

Retirement

My new office

I’ve been retired, more or less for three months now.  Hard to believe it’s been that long.  It’s time to try and record my thoughts.
Every day seems like a Saturday.  When I was still working that was the day I got things done or went flying.  Now I can fly if the weather is good or do all those things I had meant to do for the last few years. 

For example, we finally updated our wills.  Nothing much changed except we needed to have them done in Oregon and Sarah and Emily are now old enough to act as executors.  

Lots of yard work got done even with the Oregon winter rain. Lawn debris in the back yard was finally put in the container and is now gone.  Red tip fungus treatment applied.  Moss killer on the grass and even up on the roof.  I’m not sure I’ll go up on the roof again.  It’s probably not as dangerous as some of the launches I make with my paraglider but it is certainly a lot scarier.

I also managed to finally work out a retirement budget in detail.  Up to now it’s just been a very macro approach using one of the planning tools in Microsoft Money Plus.  Now we just need to keep to it.  We even managed to visit our Fidelity account executive for the first time. 

There are lots of things we spent money on that we now see we don’t really need.  The telephone land line is now gone.  We both have cell phones.  The premium digital cable channels the extra HD box are history.  There are more shows out there available on Netflix or Amazon prime than we could ever manage to watch. I do confess, though I will miss watching Bill Macy in “Shameless” on the Showtime channel.

We made a start at getting rid of “stuff”.  Emily helped but we have a long way to go.  Eventually we need to move to a smaller house and there is no way we need all the things we have accumulated in in the last 40 years.  We have things we paid to have moved to Portland from our parent’s houses that will probably just need to be donated.  The girls at this point are better than us on keeping their mementos to a minimum.   Several car loads went to the Salvation Army before the end of the year.  We need to do a lot more this coming year.

At first I was very busy taking care of Mary Beth after her knee replacement surgery.  After three weeks she was getting around pretty well.  Now after nearly three months she has most of her flexibility back but still needs to work on endurance.  I have washed a lot of dishes (really just loading and unloading the dishwasher).  That’s something I rarely did when I was working. 

Now I make breakfast every morning and go to the gym.  I’m proud of myself in that I have managed to go and do a short 40 minute workout every day except for Christmas and a couple of days I was out of town.  I need to because there are so many things to eat around the house that are too easy to get to.

The big question is am I really going to be 100 percent retired.  In January I worked three days consulting for one of my old suppliers.  I think there will be some opportunities to do more of that when I come back from Australia.  The question I need to answer is “ Do I really want to?”.  I retired at 63 to do as much paragliding as possible before I am too old for the sport.  Even being a supplier technical rep and coming in only occasionally means there will be good flying days that I will miss.  Stay tuned. 

Life (except for travel has settled into a routine.  Up at 6:15.  Fix breakfast.  Watch news and read E-mail until 7:45.  Go to the gym for the morning workout.  Shower and then check the weather all before 9:30.  Arrange for flying ride or pick one of the household tasks on the list to accomplish.  In the winter more likely than not  it is not a good day to fly.  Fix a sandwich or salad for lunch at 11:45.  Continue with the day’s tasks until 5:30 or 6. Mary Beth cooks dinner and we settle in for a movie or a TV show.  Generally I’m in bed by 10:00.

I miss all those friends from work and some of the challenges that came with the job-- But maybe not all that much.  There are plenty of other things to do out there in retirement—Even if I ever get tired of paragliding.