SAFA Skysailor Magazine

27 March | April 2021 SKY SAILOR All in all, I can’t complain, day two is complete with four turnpoints and fresh oysters for dinner before crawling into the back of the car to sleep for the night. Being a parabum isn’t a bad way to live, and I’m stoked that the challenge prompted me to fly an extra site instead of hanging around at South Side and waiting for the tide. Day three is no good for flying, and Matt, Pete and I wind our way towards Apollo Bay. The sea has shifted to turquoise, the windows are down in the car, and I cruise the coast soaking in the sunshine before meeting Matt and his partner at Mariner’s Lookout above Apollo Bay, in very crossed, light wind conditions. We sit on launch and wait, sarongs used as windsocks, postulating about the required glide angle needed to make the beach, but it never becomes possible, and throwing my phone won’t log a flight or ping the launch turnpoint with flyskyhy, so we resolve to find more seafood. I don’t mind, I’ve started to unwind, the coast is stunning, my groundhandling is feeling solid, the flying is just a bonus. On day four, we head out past the tourist signs of the Twelve Apostles to the remote west coast of Victoria. A site that feels, to us anyway, in the middle of nowhere – Flaxman’s Hill – should be working, and it’s on the way to Warnambool, so it makes sense for us to head there. I arrive at the end of a long dirt road, miles from any- where, a pilot who only two days ago was a little intimidated by the cliffs at South Side, to be confronted with a coastline of uninterrupted high sandstone walls stretching towards the horizon, and an ocean covered in white caps. Pilots are flying speedwings and cobra launching in strong compres- sion in a packed dirt carpark. For an inland pilot, it looks challenging, and the launch, with a fence to hop over on take off, makes it even more committing. I try to launch three times, before I opt out – the wind reminds me of the day at Ocean Grove – it seems strange to think that in the same wind on a flat beach three days ago, I didn’t feel I could control my wing at all! We wait and wait, weighing the game of staying put, or trying to find another site further along the coast that might be working, when finally conditions come on. We launch on the locals’ launch instead of from the carpark, with Matt offering to topland and help me, but as an aspiring PG4 I insist I need to do this by myself, and I take off safely to fly up the coast. We spend two hours flying, and again I follow Matt along the cliffs. There’s only one turnpoint out here, but it doesn’t matter, because I finally nail my toplandings. We head west to Warnambool and spend the afternoon groundhandling on the beach, while the Skyhigh guys who’ve come along show me new levels of possibilities in wing control. Dave Goralski and Wally Podoba come down to the beach to help the group of us out, and by the end of the session I’m understanding the basics of cobra launches. Not bad for day four: I’ve flown Flaxman’s Hill, learnt how to topland, and played with cobra launches. We arrive at Portland for the SkyHigh fly-in in time for dinner. With eight turnpoints under my belt for the road trip, I add a couple of extra turnpoints at the fly-in, I’ve flown or groundhandled at seven new sites along the way. Once I head back inland, I’ll feel like a different pilot on launch. In the current Turnpoint Challenge standing, Maarten is leading the Fun category at 47 with me on 42. If I can get a solid flight off Tawonga and along the ridge, I might even pass him… There are turnpoint challenges across Australia. Don’t let a feeling of being ‘too new’ as a pilot stop you from getting involved. It’s a great way to get a little out of your comfort zone, fly new lines, learn new skills, meet other pilots and try some new sites. Anthony Gerimia demonstrates his coastal skills at Warnambool as Wally Podoba watches on