HGFA Skysailor Magazine

SKY SAILOR 37 March | April 2019 wife was watching our flight from our designated LZ. I gave Skye the radio mike and she radioed her mother, “Can you see us Mummy? We are flying towards you.” After hearing back that mum was watching, Skye smiled like a toothless toddler in a candy store, “Now let’s fly over the church Daddy.” After a 90-degree turn to the left, we headed over the picturesque village of Neustift and their incredible Catholic church (with painted ceiling à la Sistine Chapel). “I want to do wingovers Daddy.” Now, I’m an old school acro pilot, so I didn’t need to be asked twice. The lightly loaded glider was behaving like a bus and struggled to gain energy. Skye, unhappy with our mediocre acro, kept telling me to go, “Higher, higher.” I proudly laughed at her boisterous nature and told her we couldn’t go higher (liar) as we had to get ready to land. After another quick radio communication with my wife to confirm our landing intentions, we set up our final approach directly behind our accommodation. The small field was covered in knee-high grass and we had to slope land due to its steep angle and had approximately 100m before the next house. We arrived with slightly more height than desired, so I headed higher up the slope to burn off height, and with a smooth progressive flare we landed softly in the grass. We high fived and hugged, excited to complete our little challenge set seven months earlier. Walking the 30m down the grassy slope to my anxious wife, I let out a contented sigh and thought to myself ‘Glad that worked out well.’ After the 30-hour international flight completed two days earlier, physically exhausted and mentally drained from the responsibility of the last four hours, I wanted nothing more than to take a nap. On reaching my wife and six-month old second daughter waiting for us on the path, my wife asked Skye, “How was that?” After a slight pause, Skye replied, “It was good, but I’m ready to go horse riding now.” Oh, the energy of the youth… Free flight is one of the most rewarding and challenging pursuits to occupy our spare time. Unfortunately, it is also an incredibly selfish sport, resulting in the pilot spending hours chasing the sky whilst our families either sit at home, or on the ground. Involving your family and friends in paragliding activities allows you to share the adventure, opening their eyes to our amazing sport and potentially increasing our sports numbers. Whether it be hiking up to a launch together, or sharing the skies in a tandem, a family free flight adventure is never forgotten. I launched Viv for a test flight at 8:45am. “I will come back and land,” he said, “I only need five minutes to check her out as it is not my glider, it’s Swendo’s.” I landed and towed Scott, then Jako. Around 9am, Viv came back, did not land but hooked up with Scott who had flown east to his start circle, then drifted back to Jako. They drifted out of town at about only 2300ft above ground. I don’t worry much about wind under 35km, so I can’t really say what it was. I let the boys estimate it for themselves. If anyone but Scott Barrett, or one or two others, had rung me and said, “I would like to launch at around 8:30am,” I may have even stayed in bed a little longer, but Annie’s dad and I had hit the road at 4:45am that day. Towing my Dragonfly trailer, we’d arrived at Dalby at 8:06 am and ran out some ropes. Smokey arrived at 9am and we then towed the other six pilots. The rest is history. Scott nominated the 500km goal with paperwork. Jako (Michael Jackson) completed 500km, without paperwork, Viv Clements flew 400.8km. Congratulations to all, you are incredible athletes. Even though Viv is a Kiwi – and we all know that bird can’t fly – this one certainly can. As Boof always said, “How good is Dalby?” Launch: Dalby – Nominated goal: Charleville – Distance: 500km On 8 December 2018, Scott Barrett flying a C4, Michael (Jako) Jackson flying a 5S and Dalby President, Viv Clements, flying a Laminar 14.1 came to Dalby with six of other regular pilots for the possibility of a good flight, according to the Met forecast. by Bruce Crerar (Tug Pilot) Dalby 500km Distance Record Bruce Crerar on his tug