Back online

Thanks to Davis, I am back online at the old railway station in Hay, NSW.

I traveled from Deni to Hay yesterday. It is hot and windy here. Someone said living in Hay was like "living in the nozzle of a hair dryer". I think they knew what they were talking about.

I will be marching in a parade tomorrow evening as part of the opening cermonies for the 2005 Worlds. The competition starts the next morning. The second driver for the team USA, Liz Sharpe, arrived yesterday. The rest of the team is already here or will be arriving soon.

I apologize for the lack of information about the Australian Open in Deni last week. I found a wireless internet connection that was promptly shut down when the owners found out everyone in town was using it. The flying during Open varied from windy blue days to very weak overcast days. Although I was struggling with new equipment problems during most of the meet, I still had memorable flights. I had more low saves during the second-to-the-last day than in the rest of my flying career. Every glide ended with me setting up an landing approaching, stumbling into very weak lift, and then drifting across the countryside at 400-600 feet until the thermal would lift off or I could find the sweet spot. I left 4 pilots on the ground at 4 different spots when they could not find the weak lift that kept me going. I even chased some emus across the plains. They started running in the same direction I was flying and continued running for a long time. I could hear them and I am sure they heard me yelling at them!

The first couple days of the Open were nice strong days with lots of dusties (dust devils) to mark the thermals. Bill Moyes even towed me into a dusty at 600 feet. Talk about anticipation! I pinned off when the dust devil tossed the tug plane to the side as if it were a gnat. After my adrenaline level returned to normal after that good trashing I climbed out in that dust devil at 1400 fpm and "enjoyed" watching Bill tow the next victim into the dust devil far below.

On the windest day, I got seperated from the main gaggle and flew by myself. Although many pilots complained about the day, I enjoyed it the most because it reminded me of our windy spring days at Mount Ascutney. After several hours in the air, I hovered down from 400 to a no-step landing in a huge harvested wheat field. It took me 15 minutes just to unhook in the howling wind. I estimate the wind was at least 30-35 mph when I landed.

Liz just walked in and wants to see the tow paddock. (That's a nice way to describe a big dusty field full of flies and scrub!)