HGFA Skysailor Magazine

32 SKY SAILOR July | August 2019 W ith a panoramic backdrop of ‘The Mountain’, we’d flipped through weather forecasting websites every morning to make plans for the day. Plans that went out the window as soon as we launched. The forecast for today showed strong wind from the west, building throughout the day. A rumour floated around camp that this was a front blowing in from the west. Apparently, these are often accompanied by gust fronts without any visual cues. Not something you’d want to encounter in a paraglider. For fairly new and keen pilots, the hardest decision to make is whether to fly, but this information quashed any lingering doubts. Still, the Mt Borah weather station was showing a very light westerly and Syed, a new pilot, was interested in an early sleddie. What else is there to do in Manilla other than flying? So we piled into ‘The Beast’ and bounced up the dirt track to the west launch. As indicated by the weather station, we found light thermic cycles rolling in from the dusty red plains. I’d recently upgraded to a Phi Maestro from my trusty Gradient Golden. Not wanting to give up an opportunity to test the wing in light conditions, I decided to launch along with Syed. I promised myself I’d land as soon as the wind picked up. In any case, with the currently light breeze there was a high chance I’d end up in the bomb-out anyway. A wedge-tailed eagle helpfully marked a thermal in front of launch. It was quite narrow and barely strong enough to maintain height. I appreciated Cus popping behind the mountain Chasing the ‘EpiC ThrillA in Manilla’ The biggest Paragliding State of Origin (SoO) event in history was over. Red dust had penetrated every nook and cranny of our tents, cars and nostrils. The SoO had offered some great flights, but a few keen members of Team 4Q (Quirky Queenslanders of Questionable Quality) had stayed behind chasing that elusive ‘epic’ flight. by Hammed Malik Learning from a master