| Flight details: | I've gone XC!! What an amazing feeling. And to top that, I landed in the landing zone at the hotel. I was sooooo excited, but there was no-one to tell. I was the only one to make it back.
It started the previous day...
I'm in Bassano flying with Kelly Farina from Austrian Arena (who I can highly recommend). I've been out with him before to learn some of the black art of thermalling. Now it's my first XC course. Time for me to step up to the plate. We all get our wings ready - lots of Gin Sprint Evos, one Mentor 3 and an Aspen 4. And there I am with my Ion 2. I feel a bit embarrassed that I'm there with a wing suitable to learn on, like I still have my stabilisers on. I take off - nice confident launch. Off I head to the flats for the climbs I'm certain are going to keep me up for at least an hour, and promptly bomb out! Everyone else gets 2 hours in. Shit!
Next day. Now on the higher launch and I'm nervous. Not of the hill, not of accidents, but of bombing out again. There's the little voice I hear now and again that tells me I just can't do it. What if he's right.
I set up, build my wall - nothing I've not done a hundred times. Get it up, turn and go. Perfect. Then they hit me - so that's what a strong thermal feels like. I tense up - reacting to the jolts and buffeting. My sense of self preservation tells me to get on the ground NOW. Then something changes - I remember my wing is a bumper car. It's made to take the bumps and look after me. I relax and use the air to tell me what's around me. I can hear Kelly's instruction from previous courses - carve a good line and map the climbs. Round I go and I'm climbing. The others have gone ahead, so time for some gas. I couldn't keep up so tried to make the most of every climb. They've jumped the valley now. I top up in a good climb and follow.
Where have they gone? Turns out they got flushed in 8m/s of sink! Not for me - back I go. Time to have fun, take some photos and get to the LZ before I pee myself ( |
