Unfortunately I had packed my GPS in my luggage, so I was lost for a good part of the flight. But I think I recognized Breckenridge ski area.
Then the north end of Owens valley.
Mono Lake.
Half Dome in Yosemite.
Lake McClure.
New Jerusalem.
Mission peak.
I flew 6 sites in one day! A big thanks to Sharon for the early morning drop off at San Antonio airport.
Joe landed 50 feet passed me and won the day.
Then we headed back to the Awards ceremony back in Luling. Joel Froelich did a great job at the meet. Lots of happy pilots.
Davis won the meet flying consistently through the meet, me in 2nd and Joe in third. Thats a 1, 2, 3 for Northwing. We were happy for this result but it was no "give me". Chris Zimmerman and Ken Robinson both put up a valiant fight.
I really should emphasize the above and beyond effort Joel has put into making the meet fun welcoming and convenient for the pilots. He really has spoiled us. I for one am looking forward to next year.
And who would you vote for ?
You've seen the water tower, but it all goes so much farther than that.
Shoes, bags
Umbrella ! Haven't found any underwear yet though...
Chris is flying the pimped out Falcon 195 - it too has crossbar fairings. They are Mylar with a velcro together trailing edge.
Todays flight was very fun. Good racing conditions, fun climbs and a nice course. 5 made it in to goal, the day was under called deliberately as previous have been over. Todays weather just blew the rest of the week out of the water. After crossing the finish line I climbed back up and flew over town for fun.
It was much cooler at cloudbase. Hot on the ground 97'F ? 
I got to fly back into goal with Chris Zimmerman. 
4 of 5 Freedoms in goal today, just one Falcon. 
Joe is flying the stealth Freedom, Jeff on a Falcon 195. This is the area around Carter Airport that we are operating out of. Airstrip just off Jeff's left wing tip.
I am having a lot of fun flying the Freedom, it is a very confidence inspiring glider. It has a perfect balance in thermals and does not fight back at all, even in the snakyist fickle climbs.
I have flown low over some terrain where I would have been very concerned on the lightspeed, but feel quite comfortable on the freedom.
Up near Austin, Tx, there are some more upmarket resturants. The houses (well mansions) are considerably bigger too.
The confident feel of the Freedom enabled a couple of low saves yesterday. One around 200ft agl! I was unzipped and ready to land any point, and was down there for 5 mins or so before hitting the spiney sucker that got me back up. Still no-one in goal, though Kent Robinson was within spitting distance.
Here we are in Luling Texas. 
Its a small town with the friendly small town feel, and oil pumps liberally scattered in and out of town. It appears that the town is known for water melons. In a few weeks here a Water Melon Thump Queen will be chosen. There are some entertaining posters scattered around town, soliciting votes. 
I am lucky enough to be flying for team Northwing - manufacturer of the Freedom Hang glider. The team consists of Kamron (northwing owner), Joe Evans, Davis Straub, Dan, Chris, Joel Freohlich. 
Day 1 - a task was set west of Austin airspace, open distance but limited to 4 hours from the first start. Here is Joe taking off on the PX15 Freedom, notice the flat sail.
It turned out to be a very soft day, Joe and Davis managed to get up to base just over 4000ft, I pinned off at 2300ft and drifted in zeros for 15miles or so. Occasionally with 50ft/min up. But mostly just trying to stay in the air. 12 miles out I was joined by Chris Zimmerman, we worked together to try and survive. I seemed to maintain, while Chris sank through me, all the while drifting across not particularly good LZ's at 500 feet.
The weather looks to be improving through the week.
I have been doing tandems for http://sfhanggliding.com/ for a few years now, but many more in the recent last year or so.
The weather had other plans however, top of lift was 4400ft msl and not 6500 like the previous day. No matter, we'll give it the old college try. In the above picture the south route goes to the top left, not much in the way of bail outs... Scott Huber followed, alas I didn't see him until over in Hunters Valley. Here is the GPS tracklog. 
From the same vantage point there are landing options upwind, so just stick in that thermal and dribble downwind while hopefully climbing. This was pretty much the strategy in the Florida Flytec Rally too. 
From Hunter ridge you could see Yosemite Valley highlighted with snow through the haze (just right of centre). Click on the picture to make it bigger.
From there I hopped back over Hunter ridge into Bear valley, only finding sink and light lift. I figured a reasonable goal was Mariposa airport, and I probably would have made it, but the consequences of the last glide look a bit dire.
Instead I opted for this field, which worked out well if a little tight.
My Girlfriend Tracey was there 2 minutes after I landed. I was pleased to see her fly Saturday. Somehow she launched after me, flew, packed up, and retrieved me all in the space of 2 hours! And after a bit of a pounding, she did not feel up to flying Sunday. Now I owe her big time.
