Greg Babush's Blog

Bohinj & Bled

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:30:00 +0000

A group of us went to visit Bohinj and see the waterfall Slap Savica and explore around the lake. The sky was an incredible blend of clouds, sunshine and falling rain.

Železniki

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 07:00:00 +0000

After the Ratitovec Open we have spent our time exploring Slovenia because the weather has not presented good opportunity for flying. Hikes in the rain, exploring towns and memorials occupy our time.

Pete and Joanna pose on a peak near Ratitovec during a moment of sunshine.

Ratitovec Open

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:40:00 +0000

Congratulations to 1st Jurij Vidic, 2nd Borut Hafner & 3rd Dušan Durkovič in the open category of the 2009 Ratitovec Open, and to 1st Melnaie Pfister in the women's cagetory.

I ended up 14th in the open category. We have been hanging out with a local pilot, passing the time as rain has bombarded most of Europe. The clouds have just broken and spots of blue sky are visible.... with luck we will fly tomorrow. The Slovenain Open/pre-PWC starts Sunday, more fun flying in the Slovenian Alpes!

Puddle fun: Melanie was a little slow to realize that when we said "don't get hit" we meant by the puddle, not by the car!

Slovenia

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Allison has departed for NYC, and my heart is sad. Just in time to cheer things up, Melanie arrived from SLC and we began our travels by fixing our oil leak with a €10 part so that we don't need to spend €30 on another liter of oil. That's about a 10x price difference between Europe and USA for a quart/liter of oil.

We arrived late Wed. to Železniki, Slovenia for the Ratitovec Open. This comp has some serious prize money, with €500, €400, €300 going to the top 3 places. This is my first time to Slovenia besides quickly passing through this tiny country on the train in previous trips en-route to Eastern-Europe. I am so stoked to be here, as the place is amazingly beautiful, the flying is awesome, and the people super friendly.

Melanie, feeling left out of some of Allison, Jens', and my earlier cow adventures had to befriend a cow herself. Ski lifts climbed to the peaks above launch, and we got to explore a bit before today's 57km task. Yesterday we had a 72km task. I came in below the final turnpoint, and with no lift in the valley I had to glide into goal a little sad for not completing the task but stoked to have had such a fun and amazing first flight in Slovenia. Today both Melanie and I made goal!!!

Heidelberg

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 04:00:00 +0000

We spent Allison's last day in Heidelberg. Our guide, Jens, is a true Heidelberger, and the famous Heidelberg Castle is visible behind the trio. Tomorrow we go to Frankfurt Flughafen to do a chick swap: Allison departs for NYC and Melanie arrives from SLC.

Interlaken, Switzerland

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:15:00 +0000

This is my first time to Interlaken, where the Eiger, Monch, & Jungfrau dominate the eastern skyline. We didn't get any XC during this short visit, but had a number of fun flights and I saw some friends I hadn't seen since I was in Europe two years ago.

We didn't need an alarm clock as we were awoken by dozens of curious cows visiting our camp at 6am, each wearing a large and very loud cow-bell.

Coupe du Monde

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:00:00 +0000

This is one of the coolest paragliding competition posters I've seen. I just missed making the selection, so after nearly a week in France we are soon departing for Interlaken, CH.

Talloires

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Our last couple nights around Lac Annecy we spent sleeping under the millions of stars twinkling high above the Rhône-Alpes. The forecast perdicts another day of brilliant weather before potential over-development. We are thinking about going to Interlaken in a day or two.

Life around Annecy

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:30:00 +0000

We are getting to know the area quite well, and the weather has been great for flying. Camping, flying, cooking, brilliant sunsets and starry nights, with the occasional shower/thunderstorm to keep things exciting... ahhhhh life in the Alps!

We've perfected a provincial lentil stew topped with a tasty regional cheese and of course enjoyed with a fresh baguette. Leftovers fill our bellies at lunch the following day. When we're not flying we invent ways to try and elude gravity.

Lac Annecy

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:30:00 +0000

Allison, Jens and I have arrived to Annecy. The Rhône-Alpes have huge flying potential, and we are psyched to be here.

Rainy Daze

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Yatze, Speed, California Speed, Backgammon... the things we do to entertain ourselves on rainy days. Jens and I have the car packed for the Rhône-Alpes and he is printing a site guide for French flying sites. Tomorrow morning we pick Allison up at the Zurich airport and on we go to Annecy!

Between storms Jens & I wandered the forest trails behind his house, we just returned and dinner is in the oven... mmmmm I can smell it cooking!

Paragliding Worlds on ABC News

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 10:00:00 +0000

I first saw this right after the worlds in February , and wanted to share it with those who haven't seen it yet. The short clip about the Paragliding Worlds is very well edited and features Jim Orava reflecting on paragliding from it's early days to today.

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7432260

BaWü Overall Results!!

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Today's task was canceled because of high winds and development, and so after two tasks I remain in 2nd place overall! My UP Edge is such a sweet ship. Congrats to Davide Licini in 1st, Peter Jung in 3rd, Caroll Licini 1st of the ladies and everybody for a fun exciting meet!

Results can be found at http://www.dhv.de/typo/Ergebnisse.5430.0.html

BaWü Task 2

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 03:00:00 +0000

Yesterday we didn't go up to launch because of very strong winds both in the forecast and also observed in the morning. Allison and I went exploring in the forest and had a picnic lunch.

Today we called a 46.6km task, also to Landeplatz Bleibach, which is just 3.5km from Jens' house. It was very difficult to get out of the Oppenau valley today due to high winds and not getting very high. Just when I was almost giving up and heading over the valley I caught a great climb to some dark high clouds which made it easy to run downwind and establish on the high terrain. I flew alone the next 30km, only seeing Markus just before goal. Today there were fewer pilots in goal, as most pilots landed on course.

Oppenau: BaWü Air-Games

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:00:00 +0000

I am competing in the BaWü Air-Games in Oppenau, Germany. This is a huge festival, with performances by base jumpers, d-bag speed gliders, sky-divers in speed suits, Chrigel Maurer and Gabor Kezi doing infinities and syncro, John Heiney doing hang-gliding loops and acro, and model airplanes and helicoptors. The competition is fully subscribed with 115 pilots.

Oppenau is a great place to fly. The valley you launch into has been very windy, but once we were on course the winds weren't so strong. cloud base was about 1600m. We flew a 58.8km task, I made goal pretty fast, very happy to get 6th for the day. visit the site at: http://www.bawue-airgames.de/

Deutschland

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:20:00 +0000

Allison & I arrived to Kollnau and the summer adventures with Jens have begun. We are off to the Bawü Open in Oppenau asap!

Mountainfilm In Telluride

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:00:00 +0000

I'm back home again in Telluride for Mountainfilm! This year's festival is going to be awesome. Visit the festival site online at: http://www.mountainfilm.org/

Live Tracking at US Paragliding Nationals, Dunlap, CA

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 14:00:00 +0000

The 2009 US Paragliding Nationals are from 26 April - 2 May in Dunlap, CA

There will be live tracking at:

http://pgnatstracking.appjet.net/files/pgnatstracking.htm

Speed Flying the training hill

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:30:00 +0000

The 13m Airwave Skima arrived, so Allison and I visited the training hill to see if we could get our feet off the ground. Not quite steep enough for more than a few seconds of air, we did get to run like a tornado!

Can it get any better?

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:00:00 +0000

The forecast for the week looks grim. We will see if Valadares delivers rain or good flights...

PWC Governador Valadares

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 02:20:00 +0000

The PWC begins tomorrow, I'll be SpotCasting again at: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0nUyyiGKzvV6lflJaICdlNxCQiaqnZ6rf

Launching at Pico do Ibituruna

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:00:00 +0000

JR Nershi got these great pics of me launching during the Valadares Open. Thanks!

2009 Valadares Open

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 11:50:00 +0000

The Valadares Open begins today. Conditions look great and the 150 pilots competing in the event are psyched to be here.

I am SpotCasting my flights at: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0nUyyiGKzvV6lflJaICdlNxCQiaqnZ6rf Flights will appear for 24hrs before being replace by the following day's flight.

Check out my flights the past week, as well as flights during the Valadares Open and PWC at: http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/pilots/detail:froynglaven

Competition results are posted at: http://www.xcbrasil.org/reg/FVPO2009/?l=en

Brasil

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 04:00:00 +0000

Brasil! I arrived into Rio early Sunday afternoon and had 6 hours to explore the city before catching a night bus to Governador Valadares. I ventured to Ipanema and had fun at the beach, watched some paragliders land, and then relaxed at a cafe, having a quinoa salad and açaí.

Leaving Rio at 9pm, I tossed and turn most of the 8 hr ride and fell into what seemed my only deep sleep right before arriving to GV.

The flying conditions here have been great. I flew a 48km out and return for my first flight. Each day I've been able to fly farther, and today I landed just before Caratinga, flying nearly 90km. I am excited there are a few days left to free fly before the Valadares Open begins. Flights are logged at XContest, view them here: http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/pilots/detail:froynglaven

True/False Film Fest

greg@gregbabush.com (greg babush) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 04:30:00 +0000

I am lucky to have almost 2 weeks in Columbia, MO being a part of the 2009 True/False Film Festival. This is a vibrant community and I look forward my time here and future visits.

Check out the festival at http://www.truefalse.org/