SAFA Skysailor Magazine

8 SKY SAILOR November | December 2019 A fter getting my tandem licence over a year ago, and doing many tandem in Australia, my dream was to take Jasmine for a tandem in the mountains. The perfect opportunity presented itself when we travelled to Kössen. I decided to get an all-day pass for the cable car, planning to do a sleddie with Jasmine in a tandem, then fly afterwards on my own. Roger kindly lent me his tandem gear, and on setting up, Jasmine seemed totally unfazed by launching at over 2000m! While the other pilots were launching to set out on their tasks, I only planned to boat around before landing. Leaving a concerned mum on the mountain, we launched and caught a good thermal that carried us up to the summit. We kept on climbing, good strong climbs, a few wing tip collapses, but some 6m/sec screamers lifted us straight to base where we bobbed along under the clouds. I kept asking Jasmine if she was okay, to just receive a one word response, “Yeah.” Typically Jasmine, unfazed by it all… or blind faith in her dad? We left the mountain and started to go XC, heading over ‘Death Valley’ (they have some great names) and down the course line to follow Roger and Mike, ever conscious of my responsibility for my daughter and my pilot skills. We eventually got drilled by sink, planned to land, but on setting up, another thermal lifted us back up the mountain. We followed this until Jasmine announced she would like to land. Roger had top landed to help another pilot, so I decided we’d top land too to take a break. Landing at the top with Jasmine was so nice, we reflected on the flight, we re-launched once more and decided it was time for Jasmine to land at the LZ. We landed nice and gently, with a bit of wind, right next to the cafe. Jasmine got to experience a thermalling flight of one hour 45 minutes – a proper XC flight, along with an insight on why I fly. The vario screaming at 6m/sec up, the drone of sink, flying at the base of clouds, the amazing view, travelling across country, the wing twitching around, even a few wing tip col- lapses. I couldn’t have planned a better experience. This was my second tour with Roger Stanford and Skyout in Austria. This time, my daughter Jasmine tagged along, and was made to feel very welcome, by Roger and the crew. by Dominic Colvile Sharing the Experience