Powered Paragliding Ontario Flyin 2006
More wind, more rain, and a bit more flying...
I awoke, after a cold and uncomfortable night's sleep with a sore head, very little hair and the hum of a paramotor being warmed up. Matt was up and ready to fly and the sky was still dark. WIth a forecast of increasing wind strength, Matt was determined to make the most of the slight morning breeze before it built to a stiff gale. He was first up after a perfect one legged, hopping launch. He was still nursing his broken toe!
This is a great photo, but don't be fooled... Matt was flying low so that his prop wash blasted Andre in his tent. A few low passes were enough to wake everyone up.
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Thanks to Matt we were all soon up and flying before the wind grounded us all for the day. Dan was working on improving his launches and landing and did a great job, despite the fact that his wing was quite wet.
Dan is up on his first attempt.
I managed to get about an hour of flying in and made a few touch and go landings as well as doing some very fast downwind low passes. Eventually we all had to concede that the wind was getting unmanageable. We had virtually no penetration and were forced to land and get some breakfast. Fortunately Dan does not come unprepared. He had brought two cars a camper, two gazibos and a multitude of generators hot plates and cooking equipment that were soon put to use preparing breakfast.
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Dan gets breakfast ready
We ate a delicious, but rather unhealthy, breakfast consisting of home made waffles and syrup, fried potatoes, bacon, sausages, scrambled egg and toast with juice and fruit.
The day progressed and the wind grew stronger...
The wind was soon strong enough to get the kites out. I have a little stunt kite that really zips around in a good breeze. Andre had his kites and buggies out as did Dan.
Dan getting dragged by his traction kite.
The rest of the day was spent sitting in the field hoping the wind would die down. It kind of reminded me of my freeflight paragliding trips to Wales.
Mete got in the air briefly just before sunset. He flew in light drizzle - nutter! Noone else bothered. Sunday looked like a better forecast, but I wasn't around to see it. I decided to get home to a nice warm shower, a restaurant meal and my own bed.
Sunday's write up will follow, in a few days...
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