After too many days of not blogging – I will try to catch this comp up now that it has ended. Sitting in a Laundromat in La Belle with not much else to do anyhow.
Tuesday’s task was a dogleg to the west and then NW, and I flew with the big boys for just a little bit at the beginning. I can only get my VG on around halfway on this day, and only a few times before my arm just can’t pull it anymore. So I lose a lot on the glides, but I can climb pretty well. Mark decked it pretty early and I watched him land not too far from my sugar cane field from Monday and I was flying alone into an ever darkening sky. I saw rain to the south and got low when everything shaded over. I had a beautiful no wind landing in a huge flat field (everything is flat here) and had a horse really interested and excited by my landing. I thought the landowner was pissed about that when he walked over but he was super cool and laughing about his crazy horse. He and his daughter kept me company and helped me get my glider to his front yard to break it down while I waited for Dana to come get me. Really nice people and really nice dogs and a few mini goats to boot.
I worked on my VG with Ben’s help and got it to go a little more easily, but Wednesday’s flight I was able to get only a little more pull- just over half- and got it done a few more times. The task was to the east, and the sky looked like shit, so Jamie and I waited around to see what would happen. I was last to launch besides a few re-lights and I got on the cart and waited for the tugs to refuel. Almost every glider had left the flight park to start the task so I was impatient now. My tow started off great, until about ten feet off the cart. Then the tug landed and the line went slack. My first thought was- surely he’ll take off again and fix this- but no… I was too low and late to get upright so I just figured I’d roll it in. But no again… the wheels dug in and didn’t roll and face first I hit the dirt. In seconds there was a bunch of people pulling the glider upright for me and since I whacked near the road, I had a strange moment when I saw a slew of emergency vehicles enter the field. What the hell were they doing here so fast??? Later I found out that someone had called earlier thinking a diving tug was in trouble. But the whole thing really freaked me out and I had a ‘girl moment’. The tug pilot was so apologetic- he hadn’t put the fuel line back in after filling up so he had run out of gas- then he waited just for me until I got back on the cart. I had a great tow behind him this time and bobbled on out of the start gate. I made the first WP and had a couple more decent climbs but got low just before a stretch of unlandable stuff. I went to where a bunch of other gliders had landed and a huge thermal was just breaking off. I was below 175meters so I didn’t dare push it. I am always reminded of my bad decisions with too-low saves and I realize now it’s just not worth the risk. This meet is just my ‘warm up’ and I gotta stay in one piece for Germany. I landed way way way across the field as I was lifter pretty much all the way across. It was really wet and I carried my glider through calf-deep water for what seemed like forever while the others watched and wondered what the f*ck I was doing landing like a 747….But hey, it was a really sweet splashdown anyhow. I found out later that no one made goal and I actually had a sort of decent finish.
Thursday- long task to the west and then doubling back over the same points. 7 WPs all together including the start. Julia only put 6 in her instrument and missed the last one even though she made it back to goal at the Ridge. I was struggling for along time low and alone (as usual) after I got ditched early. My gliding sucks at less than ¾ VG. After 4 hours, I was in pain. My arm was hurting for the first time in the air and I couldn’t get my camelback. I kept grabbing behind my neck and just coming up with my braid. The camelback remained elusive and I was dry as a bone. I made the way far out turnpoint and got stupid low again, but Steve Larsen was climbing nearby and I found something to get high and cold in. I picked my way back and hit two more WPs and had just goal to make, but I had nothing left and the day was over- it was close to 7pm when I set up my 747 approach over a HUGE field (with a dead cow in the middle) and had a great landing. I had a pretty good carry and when I got it to the road, I was covered in mosquitoes. A couple kids pulled over wide-eyed and happily drove me to the store for bug spray. Mark picked me up before I was completely broke down because I seem to have lost my driver…. To FLYING. Because she told me she was busy taking tandems and couldn’t be bothered!!!! I had landed 18K short…
Friday morning Dana took another tandem and while I wasn’t watching- soloed!!! I saw her landing and her second solo flight. She got towed to the moon and boated on down. Perfectly.
The task was an even longer one Friday, and it got changed 3 times so we all got started late. Mark and I flew together for a while at the start but then we separated and got low in different areas. I counted him as out, but he rallied back, and when I decked it with 25K to go to goal, I watched him fly over my head totally specked out. That sucked! But I had a great flight with some screaming 1500fpm climbs and another great 747 landing.
Dana continues to do solos and landed on her feet this morning to Davis’ amazement. Two parties later and we’re ready to begin the Race and Rally. Too bad the weather is not cooperating at the moment.

The rain cleared up after the soaking we got Sunday. Monday's task we feared was undercalled as the sky filled with nice cu's. The was the obvious lake effect hole over us and to the SSW but the task we called took us to La Belle (west) and then south to Imokolee to get around it. I towed (too) early, got drifted downwind in the broken clims- right into the blue hole. I landed after only a few Ks in sugar cane. My tow was grreat, my glider is flying fine, and I landed pretty good in the stiff breeze. I watched a huge gaggle to the north of me go by as I navigated my retrieve out of acres and acres of crops and canals with few bridges. Th farmhands watched me break down like I was an animal a the zoo, and one gave me a rideto where Dana was waiting. During the ride out to her, I got the greatest eco tour- 30 or more gators in and out of the water, turtles, birds... Pretty cool. But for sure I blew my flight this day and itstill stings. First task in almost a year- damn, thought it would go better. Well, let's see where I get to tomorrow....

My first comp day back since breaking my arm and the sky was dark and stormy looking in two directions. I had a good spot on the staging line and took maybe the 6th tow for flexes. The rigids were just maintaining but I thought maybe we'd drift right outta there. The tow went okay in spite of all the stressing out I had done over shoulder towing after almost a year. But at around a thousand feet, I felt some rain, and in the next few moments I was completely soaked. Russel dragged me around as if searching for a dry spot, but waved me off after finding none. I ran back to the area over the prk where rigids were turning, but my wet glider felt scary and dive-y so I ditched the VG and tried to thermal. When the glider kept nosing over and bar pressure was nonexistant, I realized I had a big problem on my hands that I was ill equipped to handle. Things got worse when the rain increased and I let the VG off completely. Sinking and sort of diving fast, I was close to landing pretty quick but a gust front and heavier rain were making things even freakier for me. When I managed the glider onto the field, of course it was with a big hard whack. Zippy made some observations about my landing which will probably improve things in the future. First tip was to come in with way more speed and keep my hands lower on the uprights until flaring. I hasd felt like my groundspeed was screaming fast and to escape being face or arms first I had climbed up the uprights in defense mode. Not good. I got a whole lot more advice about flying when wet and am still truly amazed that so many pilots have experience with it. In my limited view, rain equals no flying. But so good to know what to do if it ever happens again. Half VG and fly fast and come in super hot. Getting the water off the wings is key to keep it flying. Lessons learned....Tons of rain on the way for the next few days.

Hi, I'm Linda Salamone and I am the entire US Women's Hang Gliding Team for 2010. The Women's World Championship is in Tegelberg, Germany this year- May 8th through May 22nd. Here is the website:
http://www.wmtegelberg2010.de/typo/
My budget is just over $4300. This is the main reason I am alone representing the United States. Not too many people can take unpaid leave from work after exhausting all vacation and digging into their non-existant personal funds to go. Some of you may have already purchased a T-shirt, and a few (awesome) people have simply donated some money to help offset some of my expenses. The Foundation for Free Flight has granted my registration fees, and USHPA has provided some free advertising for my fundraiser T-shirts. I don't really have a lot of creative ideas about how to raise funds besides selling some pretty awesome T-shirts, and in the past, it was pretty successful. This time around, however, I have just this week broken even on what I spent on producing the shirts. I do have a few opportunities coming up at the demo days and the comps in Florida to sell some more, but I'm beginning to panic and I'm certain I'll have to take out a personal loan to make this event happen. I know a lot of people are cutting back on non-essential expenditures, and I get that, but if you're not in a horrible financial mess like a lot of people are, please take a look at this page and see if you might want a shirt- for you, or your wife, or your teenage daughter (the girly camis are super cute- plus when is there a time when you can buy your S/O something hang gliding related at all???). There are some on display and sale at Quest and at Lookout Mountain, too.
http://www.rochesterareaflyers.com/GOTTAFLY.html
It would be great to not have a HUGE box of shirts to haul around until I actually leave for Germany.
Also, if there are any business owners or entrepreneurs that would like exposure in the Bavarian Alps, I'm willing to advertise on my glider/face/chest/butt (half kidding) and I've been told by Corinna that this is likely to be a media circus. So any potential sponsors out there-let me know.
Help me keep the US Women's Team viable, this year and in the years to come.
This shameless post was incredible difficult to send. But I'll only apologize to the HPAC group... they're Canadians...
Thanks for reading this whole thing.
Linda Salamone
gottafly@frontiernet.net
www.gottafly.blogspot.com