Task 3 Killarney 93.6km

Goal! Even though I was a bit slow, arriving 27th of 34 pilots to goal, nothing could wipe the smile off my face. Todays's task was one of the longest tasks I've ever flown in a comp. I arrived to goal high and celebrated with a full stall and practiced some tailslides. Our retrieve bus finally got our iski together and stocked with beverages. The refreshing Aussie beer made the 1.5hr bus ride back to Killarney a bit cooler.

Task 2 Killarney 78.9km

Task 2 took pilots east to Felton East. I flew just 28.2km and finished 38th for the day. I realized two important factors from todays flight. Flying alone is much more difficult that with other pilots, and when getting low and finding some 0 sink it's necessary to search for lift. One can't expect to find lift further downwind and must circle and search anywhere 0 sink or light lift is found. Today I briefly flew with Ondrej Dupal, an excellent pilot and the designer of Gradient Wings, and he joined me while I was thermaling in light lift, only to wander around a bit and find better lift. Going upwind is hard when windy, but crosswind is possible and often there's a stronger core or lift nearby. This is a great tactic for finding better lift. I'm excited for tomorrow's task, and can't wait to fly to goal.

Task 1 Killarney 76.4km

Task 1 was an elapsed start and from the 2km launch cylinder we went directly to goal 76.4km downwind to the west. I was flying well until I passed some 0 lift/sink around 58km as I was getting rather low. Instead of searching for lift in that spot I continued on for the optimistic better lift downwind, and, of course, landed, flying my Gin Zoom Race 60.5km and finished 23rd for the day out of 74 pilots.



I had about a 1km hike from where I landed to the highway, walking through woods and fields. It's a maze through the trees as huge orb spiders have gigantic webs stretching from one tree to the next. I saw numerous kangaroos on my hike as well.

Day 1 Killarney Paragliding Classic

Competitions in Australia don't provide retrieve, so pilots organize themselves grouping together in vehicles or hired buses. I joined a group of Aussie pilots in a retrieve bus for 10 pilots owned and driven by Rex, a Killarney local. This is a curious fact that simplifies the responsibilities of the competition organizers, something I feel may work well in the states.



All 74 competitors went to launch hopeful for a task, but day 1 was canceled due to strong gusty winds. By this time I'm settled in my campsite at the Killarney Caravan Park.

OZ

Today I took my first steps in OZ, having flown from Chicago to LAX to Fiji to Brisbane. After a quick 20 min train from the airport to downtown I hopped a bus to Warwick, 30km from Killarney, which sits in the Warwick Shire and is the home of the Killarney Paragliding Classic.

On my first day in Killarney I went for a drive with some other pilots to look at the various launches in the area and I saw my first kangaroo and dingo. Woo-hoo!

Iquitos & the Peruvian Amazon

The martians are leaving and they're bringing thousands of popsicles with them. With an exchange rate of 3.41 soles for $1usd chupetes cost of either $0.15 or $0.30usd. Flavors for 50 centavos: lucuma, menta, chocolate, cerveza, fresa, coco, mango, uva & cocona. Super especiales (with cream) were 1 sole: aguaje, coco, ungurahui, camu-camu, mango & pijuayo. Shambo was the place to be when the temperature's hot, which was every afternoon.

Tuk-tuks as I liked to call them, known locally as moto-taxis, would bring you just about anywhere in Iquitos for 1.5 - 2 soles. There is no road in or out of Iquitos, home to appx. 400,000 people, the largest city in the world accessable only by boat or air.


The Maranon River flows past Iquitos merging just downstream with the Rio Napo to form the Amazon River.


After a long week in Iquitos we flew to Tarapoto, also located in the Amazon Basin, at the end of the highway. From there a day on the bus brought us into the foothills of the Andes to the town of Chachapoyas. 4 hours from Chachapoyas were the ruins of Kuelap, fameous for the high stone wall surrounding this site and the circular houses found within. Llamas wander the grounds eating the grass, natures perfect lawn mower.


After Keulap we took a humbling 14hr bus ride of exposed cliffs and insanity to Celendin. 7 times the driver requested that all passengers leave the bus and walk past some super sketchy sections of road, over a timid wooden bridge or past sections of road that looked like the first of the coming rains would wash the road away down thousands of feet to the valley floor. We slept 6hrs in Celedin then departed via colectivo at 6am for the 4hr ride to Cajamarca where we had lunch and immediately departed for the 5.5hr ride to Trujillo. After dinner we caught a night bus for the 9hr ride to Lima, setting a new personal record of 40 of the previous 48hrs aboard busses.

My last night in Lima was spent partying & dancing until 3am when I had to head to the airport for a 6am flight to Caracas followed by a flight to Miami and then finally Chicago, arriving at half past midnight. I now have a couple days remaining of my week in IL before I head to Australia. There I'll be competing in 4 paragliding competitions, including the Australian Paragliding Nationals and the pre-Worlds. Check back soon for stories & pix from down under.

Machu Picchu

A 4 hr train ride from Cusco delivered us to the realm of Machu Picchu where we spent the night in Aguas Calientes and awoke early the following morning in the rain to catch the first bus at 5:30am to the ruins.


Our first stop was at the house of the guardian, which presents an excellent view of the site and is the spot of the classic photos of Machu Picchu, and also sheltered us from the rain. Clouds and mist drifted about continually hiding and showing us the scenery and the high peaks surrounding us.


Mid-morning the clouds broke and a brilliant sun warmed the ground and our bodies, jackets stashed we set out to explore in shorts and t-shirts. Dave & I hiked Huayna Picchu and captured a birds-eye view of the ruins. The Incas were serious mountain people who seemed to have no fear of hights, sheer cliffs boardered many of the building and lookouts from Huayna Picchu. A near vertical stairway led one through a series of terraces to the very top of the peak where a large hawk sat cleaning it's feathers before casually launching and lazily circling in the rising air where it quickly gained altitude and drifted off into the distance. Photos of these scenes and hundreds more were lost on the corrupted harddrive of my iPod.

Cuzco

El Capitalo Historica del Peru. It was a dream arriving in Cusco, blury lights, no more bus rides and I felt energetic after the decent in elevation from Puno, my body savoring the additional oxygen in the air. After spending the entire 3 day visit to Puno in bed my body craved to stretch itself and I was excited to explore my surroundings.


The first site we visited was Chinchero. Before walking to the ruins Dave, Karla & I enjoyed a taste of the local homebrew, a sweet unique tasting beer with a high alcohol content. Local arts and crafts were for sale as well as a huge variety of grains, fruits and vegetables. Potatoes, originating in Peru, exist here with over 1000 varieties.


Inca stonework dates back over 500 years.


Chinchero.


Ollantaytambo.





Pisaq.




A recent Gin video shows pilots flying here at Pisaq soaring above the ruins. There's room to layout on the flat spot and launch to the left as there was a steady breeze coming in between 10 & 15 kph.