DO NOT try this at home....

Oh wait, this IS my home!

On a recent unflyable Sunday, I was able to cap the obsolete vent that leaks into the kitchen. Thanks to the fact that my fear of falling has diminished, a couple of ladders and a ready camera.. this episode (that totally freaked out my neighbors) occurred and was captured on film...

Saturday, August 23rd Dansville
Tough to decide, based on the forecast today, where to go. Another beautiful day so it would have to be somewhere. I thought Dansville had better potential than Italy Valley and having just been to Italy Valley yesterday... My plan was to launch at 2pm, and I think Mark launched exactly then. Marlin and I were set up, Doug had just arrived, and I waited in the slot forever while Mark was in painfully light climbs out of my line of sight. Nothing was blowing into launch for a good half hour, and I finally took the lightest of all cycles I would dare to take on this flat slope launch. I ran my ass off and maintained just to the west of launch. I didn't want to have any chance of having to land in the apartment LZ so I kept heading west towards the spa. Mark and a few sailplanes were over there and pretty high, I got some decent lift and hung tight with it. I had some breathing room at 300 meters over and saw there were actually a lot of sailplanes around. I got up high and just started to play with them. Thermalling with 3 at a time, and another hang glider- jeez too bad the PG didn't join us!! It was great when I started actually climbing right up through them, (ha! repeatedly!) and I think I may have gotten the altitude of the day with 1130 meters over launch. (3700') Launch is at 1450' msl.. what say the sailplane guys? Later Riz got a bit crotchety with me at the airport... because he was one of the guys upon whose canopy I was looking... There was lift everywhere, it was pretty easy to stay high. The climbs were very nice and smooth. Mark landed at the airport and I took a big swing around the whole ridge and valley and then went to land there as well. Doug was already on his way down there with my car. Again I LANDED WITHOUT WHACKING! ON MY FEET... On my old glider. hmmm...And I got to give the sailplane guys a little crap for good measure. It was sooooo much fun flying with them today!
Great day, great flight.
Airtime: 1:37
Alt2: 1130 meters

Friday, August 22- Italy Valley
I took off work early and met Karl, Katrin, Mark and Mukrim at Italy Valley. Mukrim was up, Katrin and Mark in the LZ and Karl getting ready to launch again. A Syracuse pilot had also landed before I arrived. It seemed pretty straight in at launch, maybe a little strong at times, until, of course, I got set up. Mark and the two PGs were duking it out low, and I was waiting for a cycle. When they started climbing a little , I launched (probably a bit early) and dove in with them. It was easy to get up and stay up, but not very high- a hundred meters or so was about it for a while. When it got scratchier, Mark declared it too crowded and left the ridge to the rest of us and went to go land, and of course then it started to get better. Mukrim and I went way south and got maybe 400meters over and played with a hawk. He only turns right, I realized. Katrin launched and we went back to the ridge but it started getting lighter. I was trying to stay out of Katrin's way, not knowing her comfort level (I had gotten very close to Mukrim while thermalling) and got way below launch and decided landing was imminent. I was pretty stressed about landing with the sheep below, with the wind very switchy down there, so when I got a bite of some strong lift, 100 meters below and in front of launch, I grabbed hold. This was the best thermal of the day, taking me, Karl and Katrin up almost 2000 FEET over... and high enough for me to set up a top landing if I wanted to. I did grab one more climb out in the valley and when that ended I did a big search around, seeing that K and K had already landed on top. I found virtually nothing and watched while Marc Sachdev opted to launch right then.. sledded... I top landed and no one was more surprised than me that I LANDED WITHOUT WHACKING!!! What's up with that??? Oh maybe because I am flying my old glider- the one I could always land... hmmm what could be different... or was it just stupid luck in the tall weeds... ?It was one of the nicest flights, so worth leaving work...
Airtime: 1:38
Alt2: 630 meters

Sunday, August 17th

Harris Hill- a couple of journalists, friends of my daughter's roommate, came along thinking that hang gliding was a wickedly exciting, thrilling way to spend an afternoon.... What they found was that hang gliding is not for the impatient or reckless, and certainly not the "thrill a minute" they expected- especially when the weather is uncooperative. Josh (the editor of the Genesee Sun) and John, the videographer/photographer, followed along from Avon to get a story about me and my recent adventures in Italy, and about hang gliding in general. They were incredibly patient and inquisitive as we were setting up, and they devised an ingenious way to fabricate a video camera mount- first on Mark's glider, and then on mine- with duct tape. The plan was for Mark to fly a bit first, do some wangs and wingovers in front of launch, then land, then I would retrieve the camera and try to get it up to cloudbase on my flight. So Mark, after potato-ing forever, highlighting the pure thrill of the sport, launched and had to blow through a ton of lift to try to stay low near launch where we were all waiting. When he landed I raced back up top with the camera, and got up to launch all wired up. I almost hit Josh when I started my run, he didn't expect to have to dive out of the way as he clicked picture after picture. But I never got very high my whole flight. Frustrating, scratching along at times, swearing and remembering the video camera recording what I was doing and saying- I tried to make it all appear effortless.... At one point I was hanging out near the sail port, waiting for a tug to take a glider off their launch. There was a climb right out in front of them, I wanted to join the sailplane out there, but the tug just wouldn't go. After a while I gave up and went away, and then of course the tug took off... I think he was waiting for me to get the hell out of the way... By the time I could explore out there, the climb was gone. Doug launched his PG and joined me for a bit, and then we both got low, below launch. He and I were joking earlier about the downside of fame- the paparazzi following me around all the time and the flashes from their cameras keeping me awake at night....I headed north and scratched hard and he landed. I spent a long time 45 meters below launch, finally getting up again, but not before getting kicked towards the trees in a scary moment. Scratching close- haven't done that for a while- it was exhausting, but I did wind up getting up when Mark launched again. I was soaked with sweat, dressed for cloudbase, and finally I went to land. The journalists were in the LZ waiting for me, clicking away... I came in and gave them a taste of what Italy was like for me- Flare, Tuck, and Roll... I picked the glider's nose out of the dirt and promptly fell backward trying not to break my harness backplate, laughing my ass off. It really was a fun day- what a difference a couple of very enthusiastic wuffos can make! Anyhow, the link to their article is below- it was incredibly flattering. They say the camera adds 20lbs... it makes me wonder how many cameras they had on me....

Airtime: 52 minutes

Alt 2: 110 meters

here is part of the story for Sunday, August 17th
http://www.geneseesun.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33:flying-superwoman-competes-in-international-gliding-competition-article-and-more-images-on-tuesday&catid=24:news&Itemid=61

mom and lisa: that is a LINK... you click on it... just like this one:
http://picasaweb.google.com/gottaflyatfrontiernet.net/MonteCucco2008

More flying to report this past weekend, August 16th first: Saturday was an early day at Hammondsport due to other obligations but everyone that was there made the most of it for sure. Katrin, Karl and Rick were doing site work but I insisted it was flyable since Ryan was soaring his PG. We all set up and Mark went first and got up pretty easily. I took a long time to launch because Ryan and Mark were sinking out while I was in the slot. Finally I decided that if they could hang onto the ridge, well, I could too... so MOVE OVER... I had an easy launch and got right up then hooked a decent thermal a short time later. It was pretty windy and a little ratty, but once I got up high, it was just easy. I spent the next 90 minutes just racing around from cloud to cloud. Katrin and Rick and Marlin launched and I don't know who else was there for sure. I heard that Doug and Dan and Moritz and Marc were there, but since I landed at the airport and left straight from there, I'm not certain. Marlin was kicking some ass while I was flying around and I went back across the valley to the ridge just to go check him out. He said later the big cloud that was sucking us up scared him so he bailed. But he was thermalling like he'd been doing it forever, not just this once and it was pretty cool to watch. A few times I headed out to land but with switchy winds on the ground, I would chicken out and find a climb and get back up high and cold. Then finally I was just a bit bored. With no way to really go XC and get around Elmira airport, with a west crossing wind, and other obligations, I finished exploring the whole valley and went to land at the airport. A fairly good whack ended the flight (as usual lately) and I was home before dinner.
Airtime: 1:40
Alt2: 940meters
distance: zero

After any competition, free flying gets weird. No jumble of nerves, no throngs of competitors, no start clock, no death gaggles.... It's strangely serene and uneventful. My first flight after Monte Cucco was at Bristol, Saturday August 9th. I had some help carrying into launch- as usual- but for a change I really wasn't in dire need. My back, since the second full day in Italy, was feeling like a back that never had any issues at all. This is after two-plus weeks of flying, driving, sitting in airplanes, Italian flare-tuck-roll landings, and sleeping on a twin hotel mattress. The are so many variables in this equation, I really can't pinpoint what exactly solved the problem. Gorio's strange maneuvers, whole garlic cloves swallowed every morning, no running, the twin mattress, clean air, good food, or Italy itself. Who freaking knows? But I hadn't felt even a twinge of pain for almost 3 weeks when we flew Bristol last week.

Anyhow- the flight... Doug and Chuck and Doug and Mark and Matt and Lon and Rick and Karl and Katrin and her extended family... who else? Well I think that was it. This pic is stolen right from Rick's blog....

So there was some scratching going on, but some pilots getting up. I launched and got into something after a desperate low scramble to the south. Mark was way high trying to guide me and once I got into the big climb, it was this smooth, widespread, solid 1m/s climb. We had somewhat of a plan to go somewhere, but we didn't know where so when I got to base, we decided to try for Bloomfield and I don't remember where and then back, I think. Mark was doing something weird, climbing into the control frame and screwing around while I headed across the valley to a big fat cloud. When I got there, however, the fat cloud was not really working and I searched in vain for something cohesive. He came out lower and together we tried to find something, anything but it was literally a losing battle. For all the nice clouds and the decent initial climb and the large area I searched, you'd think we'd be having no trouble at all finding lift. But there was really nothing so I just waffled around a while. When I did finally head north to avoid landing in the switchy LZ, I found a hawk going up but too late, he was mostly drifting over unlandable area, and in my mellow flying mood, I didn't feel like pushing it. So I landed (pretty well for a change) after almost an hour in some old guy's field and proceded to break down. I found out later that Rick kicked butt and put a few more miles to his XC and Karl and Doug were scattered around the area as well. So, not a stellar flight, but really enjoyable and relaxed after the racing. My glider flew great- I am so happy with this wing and the way it flies- especially after I stressed about un-shortpacking it by myself. Mark noticed a ding on the back of the leading edge however, when I first set it up, but further inspection caused us to believe it was simply a water mark from being rained on the day before.

It was great to be back, but I was sad that my adventures in Italy were over. It was nice to meet Katrin's family and to fly with my friends again- even to get my ass kicked by "Sledder Brown". It will take a little more time, I'm sure, to re-connect here. And a few more flights....

Friday August 1st we did have another task on the last day at the World Meet. I was pretty stoked, feeling strong and determined to put a few of these girls behind me on courseline. All my equipment and back issues were behind me, and I knew I finally had a handle on the type of flying required for these mountains. I launched and got up quickly and had lots of company. Everyone was playing nicely today and we waited for the start clock. I kept an eye on Jamie, of course, and tried to leave the safety of Monte Cucco launch but things weren't as lifty on course. We would leave in small groups and then run back to the OD that was behind the mountain. Nicole was playing pieces of Jason Mraz's song over the radio and that was getting me into the groove. Finally the race was on and everyone went on a huge long glide towards the windmills to the south. We were just a couple of hundred feet over the ridge there and a few girls cracked steep banked turns and then had a million gliders to deal with. It was a gnarly snaky strong climb and everyone was desperately trying to get high in it. Lisa called that she had seen lighting behind Monte Cucco but we were moving well away from that (and towards another interesting Marge Simpson coif). I saw Lisa doing a little better away from the bunch near the windmills and I joined her. Soon the two climbs came together but Lisa was reluctant to duke it out in heavy traffic. Seeing that she was going to be left behind I told her "embrace the gaggle!!!" and so she did- she came in with us and now we were all screaming upward and it was looking like a good race would be on... until it STOPPED! I saw legs come out of harnesses and start bicycling and damn!!!! It's over!!!! A minute later as I headed out into the clear valley I got word from Francesco that the day was called. Oh wow, what a way to end. All fired up and nowhere to go with it... I stuffed the bar and flew towards Sigillo faster than I have ever flown before- 66mph was what I came up with. It was smooth and easy except I couldnt rock down low enough with my head (adjustment needed for sure). I have just never stuffed the bar like that for so long and it felt really good. I gotta say, my glider has been flying so sweetly since I have been here and besides the zipper issues and Italian-style landings, overall I am very happy with my equipment. I never had radio issues either- thanks to Jeremy Swerdlow- I will be praising that guy forever because that's how long that PTT he made is going to last. Also, my vario was working perfectly thanks to Steve "who's your daddy" Kroop... after several comps with little quirks.
Anyhow, I went and landed- no so great again even though there was wind in the LZ. But lots of traffic and I had a rigid coming in around the same time. The smiles and celebrations in the LZ were incredible, champagne poured on Alex and Corinna and Manfred. I was so glad to be there but so sorry it was all over.
The dinner and party that night at the Dominus were great, dancing until the wee hours. The chick they had half naked doing a table dance all night was a little weird given that it was also the Women's Worlds. Like where's the half naked guy??? In the morning we all got ready for the closing ceremony and of course we were all there at 10am but it didn't start until after 11am... Italian style, you know? We roasted while we waited and tried to find water for a few slightly dehydrated people....
Then the ceremony, lots of yakking, great outfits on the Germans and Italians... (wish the US team had sponsorship!!!) and lots of pictures. Then it was all over and we had to go pack our stuff. Lisa wanted to test fly a Laminar so with help from the Italians, once again, we got our gliders short packed and she had a sweet flight on a new Icaro glider.
Leaving Italy was one of the hardest things for me to do. I fell in love with the place, and the people and the flying. I know it will be a while before I am back there, but it left such a mark on me, I know it won't be too long.
If I could do it over, there are a few things I would do differently. First- I would have my equipment (harness) in tip top shape. Second, I would fly the area before hand- for a week or two. The type of flying is unlike anything I have experienced in the US- just different air and features. High pressure in Italy makes for really good flying, unlike here where it kills the lift low. Lots to learn about all of this- next time I would definitely insist on flying the area first for a while. The Pre-Worlds makes that possible for the men, but of course, this meet had difficulties getting organized initially and there was no time for a Pre-meet. As far as the organization goes- Flavio Tibaldi and Corinna did a great job with everything. It was first class and top-notch. I was so impressed- and I see how much should go into such an event. Third- we need a full team. And fourth- SPONSORSHIP. Obviously those two may be connected. I know that Kari and Lauren would have been there representing the US if not for the huge financial burden. Team flying is essential to reach goal quickly. I was flying alone mostly, as usual, and pretty slow. The Foundation for Free Flight graciously covered our entry fees and we sold a lot a T-shirts. Thanks to everyone who bought them and then made donations above and beyond the cost. Thanks to Roger Baker for such an easy to sell design! But still, I will be in debt for a little while and it was difficult to watch the other teams with many of those financial problems solved. Also I would never have been able to do it if my boss wasn't so generous and I knew I left my kids/pets/ and house in Mark's and Karin's capable hands. I was lucky to have a few contacts in Italy to facilitate the logistics. Mario Luppa was responsible for my cell phone and the hotel accommodations (plus his wife made certain I didn't get lost and led me to the hotel late that first night) and he really picked the right place at the right price. Marco at the Dominus was a delight- the atmosphere and the food there was phenomenal. New friends- Domenico the nut-job, Timothy Ettridge, Nicole- what can I say about Nicole??? Wow, she was such a bright spot and a good friend and a great driver and I can't wait to see her again and she left such a mark on me. And Lisa, my teammate- she was so encouraging and upbeat and capable and we forged an unexpected bond. Amazing women. The three of us had laughs unmatched in my life- c'mon- the ROOSTER, the dirty dancing with an unseen audience, the glass recycler at 6am!!!! What an incredible experience. I am forever changed. I need to stop now.

http://picasaweb.google.com/gottaflyatfrontiernet.net/MonteCucco2008

I have so much more to share about Italy... .Unfortunately, I have lost my voice almost completely (people hang up on me when I answer my phone...) and I am buried at work and at home. Also I am so sad to have it all be behind me and the feeling is so overwhelming, I don't know if I can delve into it without just losing it. I will continue to add some photos to the Picasa page when I have time. I hope they are easy to access.

This may be the last task of the 11th Women’s World Championships. Hard to believe it’s just about over. My flight started with a good strong launch and a sweet climb right out in front. I was worried about traffic but I seemed to be climbing right through everyone at first. I thought I’d be at base soon, but, just like every day we’ve flown on this north side, the lift would break off at around 400meters ATO. There were a few gliders stupid high though, so I knew there was a way to get through, but try as we might, it just wasn’t happening. Getting frustrated with the bouncing up and down, trading places with Jamie, I actually just started swearing and yelling at the air. I left the launch area and headed south and things improved only slightly. We were supposed to go to the eastern ridge on this task, a route I hadn’t yet really seen from the air, and the first valley we had to cross to get to the start seemed like a million miles wide. Getting nothing good on the ridge forced me to venture across. I saw a lot of gliders low and landing and I was totally psyched to get a nice climb right in the middle. Best climb so far… It was enough to get me over to the start and the TP, and things improved for a while. I saw a couple of other flex wings and one got very low. I began to get low as well when I saw two rigid wings in a nice field that even had a windsock. I thought, how nice, I’ll have company breaking down after an easy landing with a windsock. Surely if the rigids had gone down, it wouldn’t be too humiliating a finish for me. But as I rounded the field, I went over a factory that had a screamer of a climb right on top. I was thinking those poor bastards have to watch a girl rocket up right over their heads. As I climbed out (best climb of the day so far) it occurred to me that that was way too nice of a set- up to be for real. As I got above the nearby ridge, I saw a few other gliders in the air, and a whole bunch on the top of the mountain… Now I realized that this was Tre Pizzi, with it’s north/east launch, where we had spent a blown out practice day playing hackysack. It looked so different from the air. Well I was hitting 6.0m/s all the way up and thinking this was so great, but when I looked south, I saw a lot of shaded areas and OD in the sky. I knew I had better hurry to avoid the rain. I stayed pretty high all the way down the ridge, and with 7 K to go to hit the WP, I had to cross a narrow valley and a mountain and I got so low crossing I thought I could drag my feet on the bare summit. It was pretty freaky and when I looked over the other side, the valley where the WP was was anything but flat. It was sharp and creased and looked like Naples, NY- nowhere to land at all. I was under a fully OD’d sky, getting rained on now, and sinking pretty good so I just tagged the WP and dove for as many extra Ks as I could. That put me over a vineyard, and one small field with a 45deg slope…. Lots of power lines around ( to light up the grapes???) and it was Fly-On-a-Wall or nothing. No clue which way the wind was blowing, I’d been flying straight for too long and I had been getting every direction possible for miles… So I just did my “Italian Landing” otherwise known as “Flare, Tuck and Roll” (and take the hit with the glider instead of my body) and it worked out pretty well. I phoned Nicole and waited in a thunderstorm by the side of the road. I saw two gliders later that hit the WP and headed to flat ground- not in the direction of courseline. I know now that was Jamie and Kathleen. I had no clue how many girls made goal then, but at dinner I saw the score sheet and saw that 6 or so had made it and I came in 7th or 8th for the day. Still didn’t move me up any overall. Oh well, I had a good flight, a great launch, and a very exciting landing. What could be better- except for the freaking FOOD in Italy. Oh my God… the food.
More later.. I have just arrived home and copied this from a word doc that I wrote last Thursday! I will post a bunch of pics and some thoughts on the last (cancelled) day and the closing ceremonies. I have to stop crying first, in order to get some things done at home. ...