Onto Lookout

From South Carolina we headed west to Lookout mountain, home of the Inspirational (one or these years) goals of the rally. On route we passed through some of the tornado damage areas. It is wide spread, this damage is 1/2 mile from Lookout mountain flight park.
You can see the tornado track through the forest, the leaves have been striped off and wood snapped up.
We got to launch, just as this guy was launching for a shorter flight than he had planned on.
I got to help out with my first tree rescue. Nobody had a figure 8 though... Otherwize we could have had him down in minutes. Might be a good thing to add to my list of carry around stuff). When Mountain rescue arrived they preferred we not help while 30 of them stood around for 30mins not doing anything in particular. We left for a hike.

Cloudland Canyon State Park is where we went it was surprisingly pretty. Just 5 miles from Launch.
A very manicured trail. Paris, Konrad and Randee hiked down to the waterfall.
Rhododendron, red sandstone and waterfalls, very photogenic :)
Someone build this huge staircase ! Was probably a good half mile of lumber...
We finished the evening off at Canyon Grill, Claire Vassort. A huge thanks to Dean Funk for putting us up, and up with us ;)

Rallying into South Carolina

The last two days of the Flytec Race and Rally continued to have excellent weather conditions. 2 more really good and challenging tasks were set. Including a big downwind dogleg task of 194km (around 120 miles) to Vidalia.I didn't take many pictures as I was focusing on racing, we did fly down this interstate 16 to infinite.
Another day another goal. Landing at the Onion capital of the U.S. I was concerned before launch, but had no reactions in the air like I have in the past. Pollens collect and become more dense at the top of lift, which is where we spend a fair bit of time.
That night we ate at a really cool "Tree House" resturant, the mood and food was fabulous.
Pilots meetings have been very civilized as the local airports have been very welcoming.
Goal of the last day was in South Carolina on the far side of a forest/swamp/river crossing. Never did I think I would make it as I arrived at the edge in shade less than 1000ft, but I found a lethargic burble that after 25mins got me high enough to pucker up and go for it.
The final day looked to be a wash, so pilots checked scores and we headed to a local park.
After a nice swim, the presentation started. Jonny won, with Paris in 2nd and Carl 3rd. All results here

I was pretty happy with my 15th place, the field of pilots was exceptional and the points spread close. The terrain we flew over was new and different, I set up on Monday in Florida, and broke down on Friday evening in South Carolina. Amazing flying, amazing memories... An experience of a lifetime. Thanks Jamie, and all the others that also made this happen.

Do check out Jonny's in air videos.

And of course the official blog.

http://flytecraceandrally.wordpress.com/

Flying toward Alabama

On a day that ended up being cancelled, I went with Zac, Dustin & Carl toward Alabama from the Jimmy Carter Southerfield airport.
The lift was abundant and well behaved.
The climb was fast to 8000'

Zac was enjoying the air.
The soil is a reddish color there, nice contrast against the trees.I returned back to the airport passing over Americas, no problem, setup and ready for the next day.

Rallying north.

We have had awesome weather so far this year. Yesterday on Day3 we glided into Americas, the farthest we've ever made it. We launched from Moutrie, in full on race conditions.The start was pretty spread out, I started way west, for the north exit, it didn't work to badly.
Jonny is trouncing this competition so far winning every day.
I did not set up or break down this day :) but flew 111km
Pretty neat tying up next to planes and walking into the air conditioned pilots lounge. Quite civilized :)

Race and Rally Day1

http://flytecraceandrally.wordpress.com/

Starting at Quest, where we will end up on day7 ? We don't know...

Day 1 was interesting, sporadic climb rates top of lift was a little low, although I did get to 5500ft at one point.
I wish I had taken the time to grab my camera because I think I flew right over John Travolta's house.
I made a bad choice to wait for another start gate early.

No one made goal today though some came close.

I landed about 50KM short.

A Florida flight in pictures

Florida Ridge

Quite a few folks here, the weather has been fairly friendly.
The standard launch line.
On one of my days I found myself with out a pencil and the need to remember a number,

in the middle of nowhere and next to an oak tree here was my solution.
Day 4 today, a fun task which required a little stragey, blue holes, and forests to traverse.
I like courses that require some thought, although flat out racing is fun too.
Goal was next to the river, with Fort Meyers in the background to the west. Thanks to Lauren for the great retrieve :)

Free flying the Florida Ridge meet

I am free flying the first Florida meet, while I get comfortable flying with an unfamiliar harness setup. The weather has been reasonable 3 tasks in 3 days so far.

http://www.soaringspot.com/2011rk/results/flex/total/

there are some nice accounts of the ongoing events by

Jonny's fun in air videos http://jonnydurand.blogspot.com/

Jamie http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com/

Kathryn http://www.kathrynoriordan.com/

I'll flying with Ricker the next few days to get tuned up - he showed me how to fly yesterday.

Hopefully I'll take some pictures soon.

From West to East

3 of us West coasters left the left coast a week ago and started the trip east to the spring hang gliding competitions in Florida. We stopped where Jonny put my glider back together. 2 broken leading edges.
The way it should look.
We drove through the night and ended up in mid Texas end of the next day, exhausted. Enjoyed some very nice hospitality from Zac's girlfriends family.
In Lousiana I10 is elevated above several extended swamps.
Neat to see some different scenery after driving through Texas.Just 20 hours to go...