Rest day.
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| Old Turkish woman gets water |
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| Mosque |
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| Grazing sheep |
Day 4A huge task today: 108 km. And there was a lot of wind, maybe a 25 km/h SW. The first half of the task was beautiful.. huge clouds, dramatic terrain, and some convergence cruising. There was a long leg over the plateau and into the wind, however, that we didn't quite manage to get through. Everyone landed near the far edge of the plateau, most within 2 km of each other. Alex Hofer won the day, again.
Tomorrow is a scheduled rest day and since the forecast is also poor, the timing is perfect.
Luca Donini didn't fly today, I'm not sure why.
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| Gliding against a 25 km/h wind over the plateau |
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| Ozone Mantra R10.2 |
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| Looking along courseline |
Day 3More wind on launch today, which kept us grounded. But the task committee was optimistic so we waited, waited, and waited some more. At around 2:30 pm there were long lighter cycles that were launchable so the race was on. It was a 60 km ish task with a couple of turnpoints. Nothing new. But the goal was remote so we were able to fly over some new ranges and valleys.
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| Chilling at launch |
For the first time in ages I nailed the start, high and seconds after the 4 pm start time. The first peloton moved quickly and soon we were halfway through the task and cruising at 2/3 bar through an area of convergence and still climbing slowly. The leg of the task took us into a wide, green valley, and the conditions became remarkably lighter. The lead gaggle had to stop to turn while some pilots who held back earlier were able to fly over. Some of the lead gaggle went on marginal final glides and landed a field short of the goal line. I had to stop for a bit a few kilometres from goal to climb to a reasonable glide angle to goal, in the 10 km/h tailwind.
Luc Armant crossed goal just before me, at 1 m above the goal line and landed going downwind by sliding on his feet in the dirt field. Pretty cool.
Got 953 points today.
Day 2 |
| Desert flower |
It was ridiculously windy when we arrived at launch today but the organization had hot coffee and tea to warm us up and promised that the wind would lighten. Sure enough the wind calmed a little and a task was called. It was somewhat similar to the previous day, perhaps a little short. I got to the startgate a little late and low but a few strong climbs brought me within reach of the main lead gaggle, except for about 3 that were ahead. Expecting the plateau to work I headed out a little lower when the lead gaggle left on final. Some good air brought me into a marginal glide to goal with much of it into a headwind.
While flying 2/3 bar into the wind over the plateau I lost my glider for the first time. It was pretty smooth so maybe I wasn't paying enough attention but I didn't notice it coming. It balled up, and reopened with a huge cravatte. I tried countering it but it started to wind in quickly and the Gs started to build. I followed through to stall the whole thing, the cravatte cleared, but I didn't check the surge well enough on the exit and ended up with a huge cravatte on the other side. I stalled it again but got a twist when the glider fell back. I untwisted and this time caught the surge despite losing one of the brakes. The cravatte wasn't clear but was much smaller, which I was able to clear with a few deep pumps. My max descente rate was -17 m/s (60 km/h).
I lost a lot of height but I could still clear the edge of the plateau, into the valley. My numbers weren't even possible now and the rest of the glide was in the valley, which tends to be quite stable. Flying very delicately, and repeating to myself 'I am Helium.', I reached the last turnpoint but eventually landed 6 km short of goal, with Stephan Stieglair and Yassen Savov.
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| Soundbox |
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| Waiting at the startgate |
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| CB in the distance |
Day 1
We had difficult launch conditions today. Adrian Thomas blew his launch and had 37 stitches to his lips, a female pilot thought she had sprained her ankle during a botched launch and relaunched only to find out after she landed that she had actually broken her leg. Gin did some kung fu tumbling down and through the rocks at launch but was ok.
The task was strong and fast, lots of glider blowouts. There was a tricky bit that caught some pilots out, really good pilots, but other than that the task was fairly straightforward.
There are many new 2-liner gliders here, notably from Gin, Niviuk, Axis, and Airwave. They all seem to have amazing performance.
I flew most of the task at 2/3 bar and final glide at full bar. Man, my R10.2 is fast at full bar. Andre Rainsford won the day and about 100 pilots made. The level of the pilots here is amazing. The top 15-20 or so from each World Cup have been invited to this Superfinal. When I look down the scoresheet down to last place I recognize most of the names as being hot pilots. I managed a 906 point day, so I'm happy.
Official Practice Day
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| Samuel Nascimento over the white rock |
I went up the hill to fly but the launch conditions weren't the best. Luca Donini and Richard Gallon took advantage of a 15 s window to launch from another side of the launch. I think they were walking back towards the buses, saw the wind blow up the side of the hill and took it! Most of us later launched from a lower launch, called Dynamite. The name made me nervous but it wasn't too bad.. I saw some dodgy launches but nothing ridiculous.
It was a nice chill session after all the stress at upper launch and waiting around in the heat with the wind blowing down.
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| Dynamite Launch |
We were able to fly over the limestone rock and turquoise pools again.
This time we landed on the other side of the road from the official goal field, in a green field, to avoid the moon dust. Much better.
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| Pleasant LZ |
Day Off
I took the next day off to get organized and hit the gym. Except there was no gym in Pamukkale so I had to search for on in another city. And I found a really nice one.
First Flight
I woke up the next morning literally flying out of my bed in anticipation of flying Turkey for the first time. At breakfast I met many friends whom I have not seen in a while; we could barely speak fast enough trying to catch up and talk about all the awesome flying we were about to do.
The ride to upper launch took about an hour and when we arrived it was blowing down hard. At first I was convinced we wouldn't be able to fly but eventually some nice thermal cycles began to come up the slope of launch. It was actually the last competition day of the Russian Open but I was keen to fly the task because flying a real competition task is much better training than flying around aimlessly trying to get to know the area.
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| So good to be in the air again |
It is an amazing feeling to be immersed in the sounds, smells, and energy of a new place. It is all unknown and yet all known. Wind is always wind, sun is always sun, and sky is always sky. But there are many flavours in life and today had a flavour that I hadn't tasted before.
The task was really fun, we climbed as high as 3300 m, and from that height I could see how interesting the terrain was in every direction. I hope that the tasks will extend into these interesting areas during the Superfinal.
Midway along the task I was cruising at 3300 m along a high plateau, with a huge grin on my face, when I suddenly realized that this time my Dad would not be around to cheer for me. My heart went into free-fall. Although I am an adult, the realization came that I am now an orphan and doing it alone.
I left my camera at the hotel but managed to dig my cell phone out of my pocket and take a few photos without dropping it!
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| Limestone rock and turqoise pools near Pamukkale |
Arriving at goal, I soared a small hill made of white limestone rock that had many natural pools with turqoise water. This area is famous for these pools. From the air I could see hundreds of people sun tanning and swimming. While packing up my glider I heard the evening prayers broadcasted by loudspeaker from a mosque nearby. I'm used to this, having grown up in Malaysia, but this was the first time I have flown in an Islamic area.
What I have noticed is that Turkish people are very friendly, happy, and helpful people. Inspiring.
I will be using my SPOT during the Superfinal.
My Share page is here:
You will be able to track my flights during the competition. Every 10-20 min my exact location is sent via satellite to the web and superimposed upon a map.
Traveling
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| I know so little about this part of the World |
I love traveling. The long red-eye flights, changing time zones, unknown languages, airline food, and sleep deprivation put me into an alternate state. It feels as if I am staying still and my surroundings are changing rapidly around me. It is a strange feeling. I can be left alone with my thoughts because, well, there really isn't much else to do except think. Sometimes my thoughts take me to strange places.
At one moment I looked out the window of my plane and saw a small plant growing through a crack in the asphalt runway. I was impressed by how a small plant could emerge from underneath a laid runway and survive the heat, noise, and high velocity gases from jet engines that pass by every few minutes, 24 hours a day. I decided that I will appreciate the good things in my life and not feel that my situation is so difficult. I then realized how similar runways are all over the World and how wherever you are physically doesn't make as much difference as the people you are with. I decided to focus on being close to the important people in my life, rather than being in my favorite locations on the planet, but alone.
I boarded a 2 am flight from Kuala Lumpur to Dubai, experienced what real heat is like, then a flight to Istanbul, where I discovered what olive oil in excess is, then a domestic flight to Denizli. A taxi ride later I was standing in front of my hotel in Pamukkale, Turkey, where I will be spending the next two weeks racing with the best paraglider pilots in the World. Ah, life aint too bad.
Waiting
In a few days I leave for Denizli, Turkey, for the Superfinal. After racing the Pocos de Caldas and Chelan events to finish 8th in the Americas Continental World Cup, I was invited to the 2-week Superfinal. Qualifying for this thing was my objective but I wasn't planning on going; but when I received the invitation it was clear to me that I _had_ to go. Now that my blog is private and only my VIPs are reading this, I can take this blog thing to a whole new level. Uncensored stories about the pleasure, pain, and raw experience of traveling the World in search of perfect skies.
www.paraglidingworldcup.org 
