Killarny Comp, Day 3

10:00 am: There are no clouds in the sky this morning. That and the pale blue horizon makes me think it's going to have that "high pressure" feeling in the sky, oh, and did I mention that we are going to fly today?

7:00 pm: We flew today. The task went 75 km towards the coast with one turn point. The terrain is beautiful, large valleys, high plateaus, patches of forest, and it's very green. There were a few good clouds today, the best ones were north of the course line over the mountains. Some pilots took advantage of that and it served them well because an unusually strong sea breeze had penetrated way inland and anyone down low was fighting a strong headwind.

Nominal distance is 30k, and I doubt the average distance today is over 30k, so the day won't be worth a lot of points. I don't think anyone made goal either. That aside, people got to 3000 meters, many flew to Woodenbong, and the mood is way up all around. By the way, I wonder if I could sell any bumper stickers that say: "I've never tried a Woodenbong".

Paul Russel (UK) had an interesting day, first he bombed out from the now hated west launch, and the retrieve vehicle he was in ran into the other retrieve vehicle on the way back to launch, he then launched and got away only to have an eagle attack and rip his wing. Another pilot had an unplanned manoeuvres clinic while crossing low over a forest and landed in the trees. No one ever said paragliding was the smartest thing a person could do.

Hey, but something keeps us coming back for more.

It's good to get the first day out of the way, it takes some of the pressure off somehow.

Tomorrow we have thunderstorms in the forecast, so we should have some white cotton candy to float around in (or run away from).

Stay Tuned