Kids were everywhere when I landed today.... it was refreshing because when you land near Governador Valadares, the kids fall over themselves to compete for your 'monee' for help folding up your glider and it can be rather irritating as they can become quite aggressive. These kids were much more shy and were so very excited to have dozens of flying foreigners land in their soccer field. The town's people were extremely friendly and the town itself was very interesting. We gathered near a beautiful old church waiting for retrieve, and enjoyed watching many people on horseback going about their daily activities....

The lead gaggle in the distance (remember to double click on the image to expand it)
Our ever present vulture companions. If it wasn't for the birds showing me a thermal yesterday at the last minute, I would have landed only half way through the race. I was only 100 feet above the ground and was sure I was going to land but sometimes you get lucky and a thermal will release from the ground right up in to you and your glider..... We call it a 'low save' and it is always very exhilarating to be able to keep flying after almost having to land...

PWC Brazil final task

Ready to launch and team USA....

The first round of the PWC 2009 is history. The weather forecast once again didn't materialize and after a few delays a 60k race to goal to the South was called. We had descent racing conditions until about 3pm when the high clouds moved in and shut down the lift. I managed 50k before I landed and was feeling much better after my flight, landing with many top pilots. I finished 51st out of 125 for the day which was my best finish since the first day when I placed 22nd. I needed a boost of confidence so it was a good way to finish out my trip. Two US pilots finished in the top 15 (4th and 14th) so they will get invited to the World Cup superfinal in Italy in the fall..... a great accomplishment for any US pilot.

The journey home begins in a few hours.... I have an actual ticket to fly from Governador Valadares to Belo Horizonte... The rest of the trip is by jumpseat. I hope to get on American Airlines to Miami and then begin the long journey to Anchorage. The Mt Redoubt volcano has been erupting continuously and has been wreaking havoc on the SEA to ANC flights so that portion of the trip is questionable.

Next competition for me is the end of April at the US Nationals in Dunlap California which is near Fresno and King's Canyon. Wil is also competiting and Sue will be able to spend the week with us so really looking forward to that.

Brazil pwc Day 6

I took this picture this morning after we arrived on launch.....

The Brazilian weather gods smiled on us today, and despite the forecast and light rain falling earlier, conditions gradually improved throughout the morning. A 56k task was called and we had a fun afternoon of flying. Cloud base was still quite low around launch but it was plenty good enough to have a race day. I was in heaven being able to launch easily with nice cycles coming up the hill and plenty of thermals out front. I flew relaxed and tried to keep up but even though it was good enough to have a race, conditions were still difficult and slow, with plenty of decisions to be made along the way. The lead gaggle and the 2nd gaggle both headed straight on the course line but into shady territory so I headed more into the sunny country where I thought I'd find stronger thermals. Another US pilot had this same plan but was a few hundred feet higher than I was and was able to connect with a great thermal and pass up the lead gaggle completely. He eventually took 3rd for the day which was a great finish for a US pilot. I headed for the same cloud but by the time I got established in the thermal the cloud was beginning to over develop and the thermals feeding it died out. I was forced to go on glide and ended up landing 22.5 k along the course.

It was really fun today after a dismal week of weather to be able to go out and just fly my glider.... I think many pilots were feeling the same as well.

One more day to go and I get to start the long trip home.... Hopefully the Mt Redoubt volcano will quiet down so that I can make it all the way home without being delayed in Seattle.

Brazil pwc Day 5

Crummy weather again today but after yesterday we went up the hill anyway. They called a 37k race even though it was completely overcast on launch with cloud base right at launch level with some very light rain falling. I was not feeling it in the least bit and wasn't interested in launching only to immediately sink out, land in some wet buggy field and have to pack up and wait for retrieve. So I waited until everyone had launched and then launched and just flew down to the main lz in town where I packed up and had a 10 minute walk back to our posada...

I stood up on launch and watched pilot after pilot execute no wind or very light wind forward and running reverse launches off the cliff. Just amazing talent and so impressive. The first group of pilots launched and disappeared into the clouds out in front. This first group actually found lift in completely overcast conditions and eventually made it the whole 37k to goal. Most pilots landed after gliding from the takeoff as far as they could make it on one glide.

I've accepted the fact that this just wans't my week of flying after being sick and having an injured and very weak ankle. I'm really glad I was able to attend the Valadares Open also as that was a fun week of flying. There are still two days left of potential flying but the weather forecast is just not in our favor. Constant flow of moisture coming down from the Amazon River region has really been keeping things wet and the thermals weak...

I have to thank my son for providing me with some very insightful advice.....

.......the most important thing is to avoid having expectations, you need to have confidence in yourself, but in my experience I always expect too much from myself, and don't focus enough on executing. You don't have to worry about the results. Because that's all they are, results. It's the process that gets you the results that's important. If you continue to focus on the process then the results will take care of themselves. Take it easy Dad, and don't forget to have fun.......

Brazil pwc Day 4

Brazil pwc Day 4

Wednesday, Day 4 we awoke once again to pouring rain and it didn't seem like it was going to be stopping any time soon. They cancelled the task early on so that pilots could take the day to pursue other interests.... About an hour after they cancelled the day, the weather cleared up beautifully with big puffy clouds. Many pilots went up the mountain and had nice flights throughout the afternoon. I'm sure the organizers were very frustrated seeing a race day slip away, especially given the poor weather conditions through the week thus far.

The 3 of us staying on the island which divides the DOCE river west of Governador Valadares walked all the way around the island and enjoyed the river and the flowers which are in full bloom.

Link to PWC website and webcam

http://www.paraglidingworldcup.org/

The world cup website has results posted for each task and overall.

http://www.hipoxia.com.br/pwc2009/results.asp

The Brazil PWC website has pictures and also a link to a LIVE webcam which is set up on launch each morning. It should be running starting around 7am Pacific Time I believe each day through Saturday....

You may have to copy and paste these links into your browser....

PWC Brazil day 3

We arrived at launch and were solidly in the clouds.... I just stayed on the bus and relaxed and listened to music... no sense wandaring around launch when I could stay nice and comfortable in a reclining soft seat... After a few hours I walked up and joined the pilot meeting just starting... see the first picture. Looks good lets go race!! They cancelled the task shortly there after and after waiting for a break in the clouds we all flew down rather than endure a long bus ride back down the mountain to GV.... The 2nd pic is the main GV landing field next to the river which runs through the city. The 3rd pic is of some local wild life grazing in the landing field. When I took this picture, the little baby was just sound asleep in the grass with over 100 paragliders landing all over the place, flying right over her head, and landing right next to her..... One of the first things this little baby saw after birth was probably a paraglider flying over head....

Relaxed by the pool this afternoon, and by this evening I'm feeling pretty much 100% again... Weather forcast is really crummy so hard to say what kind of flying we will get the rest of the week....

PWC Brazil day 3

We headed up the hill today after delaying an hour at the loading point. It had rained earlier and the prognosis was dismal but we headed up just on the chance that we might get lucky. This first picture shows the wing bag trucks, the 2nd shows our fleet of transport busses for getting up to launch and retrieve. The third photo shows the mountain and our launch spot which looks over Governador Valadares called Ibituruna. I took the picture from our morning meeting place by the main GV landing field.

Brazil pwc Day 2

Photos from top to bottom:
Pilots headed off from over launch towards the start cyclinder.... Why was I taking pictures instead of launching early and being up there with them? Those are the pilots who won the day.....

A fmily affair... one of the top German pilots and UP test pilot with his family before launching....

The south launch with most pilots just standing and waiting for a cycle to come up the hill so they can be on their way.... Again, why was I taking a picture instead of being out there ready and waiting also? All these pilots flew far along the race course today....

Getting ready for the task and safety briefing...

I think in many places in Brazil, the spiders would win the battle if you stumbled into one of these huge mazes of webs.....

Last night I was abrubtly awakened by a deafening blast of thunder and lightening. It then proceeded to rain buckets for an hour or so.... I awoke to complete cloud cover and 100% humidity.... But Governador Valadares is known for it's ability to offer up flyable days even when the weather doesn't look so good. We headed up the hill and found ourselves in the clouds. We all relaxed and socialized for a few hours when sure enough things started to break up somewhat and pilots started to get ready. It was very overcast with a low cloud base but it looked like there would be a chance that they would call a task. They indeed did call a task even though conditions looked marginal at best. Pilots who launched early just barely soared above launch altitude. I was hesitant to launch because I didn't want to fight a bunch of gliders in weak conditions just above launch. Thinking about the first day, however, I realized that in the pwc you get scored for even the shortest flight so I'd better get going.

Once again I really struggled getting my glider launched. The launch winds were very fickle and would come up lightly on one side of launch, and then the other. I tried the north side of the launch which is kind of flat and requires a very strong backwards run to pull your glider over head - and then you can turn and run forward. I tried this twice (each time waiting in line) without success. My ankle injury from last week was seriously impeding my ability to do a reverse launch so I was resigned back to the other side where the hill is much steeper and more manageable for me given my current maneuverability. I finally had a "cycle" of wind come up the hill in my favor and had a nice clean launch, but once again I was very late for the start, and almost the entire field had already headed off toward the start cylinder. I hooked up with a few stragglers and gained the little bit of altitude I could without going into the clouds. I then headed out on glide and proceeded to make multiple mistakes which had me on the ground I think it was 22 minutes after I took off. As I was dripping sweat trying to fend off the young (and not so young) kids who were pestering me to help me fold up my glider, I looked up to see pretty much the entire field of pilots climbing out in the rapidly improving conditions and heading out on the race course.....

I'm not exactly sure what's affecting my decision making.... The first day pretty much everyone just sunk out after the first glide but even on that first day I made two critical mistakes.... the first being I flew most of the long glide with one of my wing tips lightly tucked which was detrimental to my glide and caused me to land shorter than I would have... I never looked up to notice it... The 2nd mistake was completely missing the first gps turn point as I was so focused away from my instruments looking around for any signs of lift. I had to turn around and go back to tag the turnpoint and that cost my an easy top 10 finish in my first pwc task....

Today, when I look back on my short flight, it was a comedy of errors for me. I suppose I could attribute my actions to being sick... Usually when we're sick we can still function and perform adequately for what we do.... I'm not so sure that playing this game without being 100% or better is likely to produce good results. Perhaps it's trying to perform in this arena with a far more competitive field than I used to. These pilots are all top pilots and they are all used to racing with other top pilots. If you're not in top form you just can't play with these guys.... quite simple, really. Once again it's not so much the physical skillset which is the determining factor - it's the mental ability to execute in 3 dimensions - do it correctly the first time, everytime, and do it in a timely manner....

The frustration comes because I may not have competed in the world cup before, but I have competed in some strong international competitions and done consistently well. I finished seventh place at the Monarca this year which had several of the worlds top pilots in attendance.....

The weather forcast is poor, but if we fly tomorrow, my goal is going to be to see if I can just follow and learn for a flight and see if I can get my head back in the game, or at least try and figure out what my issues are....

Link to the Official Brazil PWC website

http://www.hipoxia.com.br/pwc2009/

PWC Brazil day 1

Well after spending my entire rest day in bed except for an hour to register, I drug my butt out of bed this morning and pressed on with day 1 preparations. I felt better but far from 100%. The weather looked pretty good so we loaded the busses and the 125 of us plus all the support personnel headed up the mountain. I packed away my medications (the result of a 2am taxi ride) and off we went. I reveled in the organization of the world cup, visited with several pilots, and numbered my glider as per the regulations. They called a nice 70k task with several turn points and we all got ready and launched when the launch window opened. Everyone got right up to cloud base and jockeyed for position in the start cyclinder. As soon as the start time passed most of the 125 pilots were in excellent position and everyone went on glide towards the first turn point which was about 7k away. It was quite a site and I was sorry I didn't have my camera with me today. I've asked a few friends to send me a couple of pics which I'll post if I get them.

After several minutes of all of these really good pilots gliding along it became obvious that the day didn't look quite as good as it had earlier. There were plenty of clouds ahead, so there must be some thermals coming up soon. Litterally every single pilot was on the ground shortly there after and my first PWC task was over. It was quite a site seeing gliders all over the place just gliding into a landing without finding even the smallest of thermals - this in the middle of the afternoon when things should really be cooking! When I was gliding quite low I noticed that the buzzards were all grouped up and struggling themselves just to stay in the air without flapping there wings.

I don't think the day will be valid but they won't say for sure until they've had a chance to look at everyone's gps....

I'm back at the posada and all of the US guys have gone out to dinner.... I'm in bed and hoping for a good 12 hours to try and recover more from this narly bug I'm hosting. As the sun was setting this eve it looked as though there were multiple layers of clouds moving into the region, so tomorrow may be quite iffy. Sometimes it's just amazing how bringing a big competition to town can make the weather go haywire. It's been beautifully soarable here for almost a month without any interruptions.....go figure....

Jack

Our digs here are pretty nice with good service and nice grounds. The parrot is my neighbor in the garden next to my room. He doesn't speak english but loves company.....

Saturday, March 21st - rest day

Well as luck would have it I woke up today not feeling well at all and have a nice sore throat to go along with it. I've been sick so rarely over the past several years that this is quite frustrating for me. I've been only just barely keeping up both mentally and physically through this past week with the heat and stress of the competition.... Thank goodness I at least have 24 hours to try and get started on recovery. It's quite interesting that I became sick, as yesterday morning, I skipped my daily vitamin regimin, trying to conserve on my limited supply. Makes me wonder what a good choice that was to skip, and if I might have lost the edge on my immune system as a result. Needless to say I will be taking it quite easy today and tonight. If I don't fly on the first day, the competition is basically over for me before it even starts. On the other side of the coin, the last time I flew while sick at a competition about 6 years ago, I ended up with pneumonia which took almost a year to completely recover from.... Tough decisions ahead...

The goal of this competition for the US pilots is to try and get a finish in the top 20. If you do this you get an automatic invite to the Superfinal in Italy in the fall. This is the ultimate competition in my sport, and would be a once in a lifetime experience for any pilot.....
Jack

Valadares Open day 7

Valadares Open Day 6 & 7

Goal Day 6 with the Brazilian national champion, Frank Brown (no relation!) Took 3rd place on this day after good decision making and fast flying.

Day 7 was the one day where all I had to do was make it to goal and I would have scored in the top 10 for the comp.... this was not to be, however, as conditions were very light and difficult at the start and pilots were scattered all over the place. I ended up not being very decisive with my route and was flying very slowly. I eventually ended up in a large valley system, missing the last thermal to cloud base as the entire area shaded over and the thermals shut down. I had a very easy landing in a nice large field and then was retreived immediately as I reached the highway by a motorcycle taxi. This was an interesting proposition for me as I really wanted to get back to GV, and I was sure it would be hours until the official retrieve showed up, if ever.... The motorcycle seemed sound, and the driver experienced, so the riskiest part of the whole week began on the back of a motorcycle for the half hour ride back to GV.

I dropped out of the top 10 into 14th place for the comp and I am quite happy with this. I took a 2nd, 3rd, and and 8th place finish through the week which was my best performance ever in a comp. I got to know my new glider and am now feeling very confident. I'm very warmed up for the world cup which starts tomorrow.

All the big guns are arriving into town over the past few days. I'm really looking forward to competiting in a world cup event, and the great support and organization which goes along with it. Today is a rest day for the US pilots. I'm not feeling too well so I'm really hoping that I'm not coming down with some sort of bug just as the pwc Brazil begins.... I have to be 100% to even begin to compete with this guys..

Valadares Open Day 6 & 7

Flowering trees are in full blume here and it is quite beautiful

Valadares Open Day 6 & 7

A view from the bus ride up to launch

Valadares Open Day 6 & 7

Fellow US pilots and friends also competing in the Valadares from California, Utah, and Sitka, Alaska....

Day 5 was another challenging day for me as this time my struggles with the glider were not on the ground, but in the air. After missing the start yet once again, I settled onto the course line with just a few other pilots. I was starting to make up some good ground and was just about to catch up with the lead gaggle when I got too aggressive after arriving at cloud base and going on glide. I've been pushing the new glider so that I can find out what the performance limits are. Conditions are pretty mellow here so I've been opening up the trimmers full and going about hafl speed as soon as I'm done climbing and headed out on glide. I was really trying to play catch up and pushed the glider too hard when still under the cloud and kind of rough conditions. The glider frontal stalled strongly and exited with about a 30% crevat on the left side. I was able to counter it ok without stalling the wing but was unable to fish it out with the stabilo or any other lines for that matter. I was forced to stall the glider to get the crevat out and then was back on my way. I lost 3 or 4 hundred feet during the maneuver along with any hope of catching up with the lead gaggle. I hooked up with my good friend BZ from Sitka and we worked our way out to the river after some very low saves and then we both noticed some very menacing weather further down the course line. The task was cancelled at that point and there was no scoring for the day..... By the time we were all packed up a farily strong gust front came through the area, and it poured cats and dogs in Governador Valadares for several hours after.....

The pilot on the left is a seemingly unlikely top pilot - Nikolai Shorokhov - Russian who doesn't even begin to look the part on the ground, -smokes like a chimney.... but becomes amazing when he get's under his Boomerang. He dozen speak goot Englesh but he did give me some nice tips on flying my new glider.....

I've never sweated so much in my life - this I am sure of!! Sometimes it's difficult to stay hydrated, even when drinking water constantly. I'm easily going through 5 liters or more water per day. I was never much for cold showers but I haven't reached for the hot water faucet yet! The posada I'm staying in now is pretty nice - they have a pool to enjoy and I have a small jucuzi tub in my room which I fired up yesterday. It was great for doing some laundry also!

This was the goal for Task 5. I think I made it in in the 40s or so. Many pilots didn't make it to goal on this day so I was happy to have made it. I also had my first landing on my new glider where I was able to land on my feet!!

I finally had my camera with me today so was able to take a couple of pics. In this picture I'm on glide alone, which is how I flew most of the race today.... although it really wasn't much of a race for me..... When you play with pilots of this caliber, you'll rarely recover from a late start.....

These ladies are keeping plenty busy with the competition pilots. I've been just barely treading water so far physically. Still somewhat sore from a hard landing on the 2nd day. Just hauling my 65 lb glider bag around in the heat is difficult. A little sun burn and a few blisters on the feet from walking around in sweat soaked shoes and socks. I'm hanging in there and taking it one day at a time.....

Valadares Open Day 4

Well today my race started with a couple of blown launches and then completely missing the start by almost 15 minutes. It was a huge challenge to stay focused and get the Boomerang 6 into the air in a controlled manner. Conditions for launching were extremely difficult with little to no wind which kept switching around from one side of launch to the other. My glider is having it's way with me with a very confusing riser setup and a huge lifting force when it accelerates overhead. Needless to say my confidence was somewhat shaken as when I did finally launch it was uncontrolled and quite sketchy - not characteristic for me at all. At least the large crowd was throughly entertained as I went careening off of launch, almost twisting up in my risers, and dragging my pod so much that the bottom of it was turned inside out..... I don't think I was smiling when I heard all of the shouts and whistles and cheers as I finally got myself sorted out and on my way.

The performance of this glider is so strong that it requires a different technique for launching - something that I'm not used to. My orginal plan to arrive here a day early was to take my new glider and shake it out, kite it, and get used to the different riser set.... that never happened and I just jumped off into the deep end with it. It glides and climbs like a dream but is by far the most demanding glider I've ever flown. So now I get to get up early tomorrow morning and go have a little kiting session with my wing down at the main landing field by the river. I can't afford any distractions on launch, especially with a heat index every day of well over 100. It's also difficult dealing with 150 pilots that with few exceptions are very talented. It seems that everyone makes the decision to launch at about the same time as we all watch the day develop. Then if there is no wind on launch to speed up the launch process, it can become very frustrating watching the clock tick down towards the race start time while everyone is jockying for a launch spot, and many pilots are having difficulties.....

I started the day in 8th place overall, after taking 8th yesterday, and 2nd on Sunday. My inability to make the start today cost me plenty I'm sure but tomorrow's another day so I get to hit reset and try again. I did make it to goal today but I was like 50 th or something. It was a much better flying day than the past couple of days and the thermals were much stronger. I almost sunk out late in the race with several other pilots when a high layer of thick cirrus clouds blocked out the sun. I struggled for a good 20 minutes not climbing or descending and although I know I should never think that I'm going to land, it really looked like that was going to happen...... About two thirds of our group did sink out but I was able to hold on long enough for the sun to poke through and start some light thermal cycles and then a half a dozen buzzards marked a beautiful late afternoon thermal which took me all the way to cloud base.... from there it was an easy 9 k glide through the last turn point and then to goal. It would have been much easier had another pilot not tried to pass me on the way.... I figured it was as good a time as any to accelerate my glider and see what it could do. It was very fast and the other glider gave up trying to catch me. I had my first landing where I was able to land on my feet - and to top it all off, I was the last pilot on the first retrieve bus so I didn't have to wait 3 hours like last night to get back to GV!

Valadares Open

Racing like crazy in Brazil

Sorry friends and family for being so late getting to my blog. It has been seriously hectic for me since I boarded the flight from Anchorage last Wednesday morning.

Things started somewhat uncomfortably as I was forced into the jumpseat from Anchorage to Chicago, the longest scheduled 737 flight in the world. Things went quite smoothly in Chicago. Traveling international jumpseat I wasn't too sure of how things would work. My plan was to take United from Chicago to Sao Paulo. This worked splendidly and I was seated in Business class up front in a seat which actually reclined into a laying down position. Nice 4 course meal, drinks and then pillows and a blanket and I actually slept rather comfortably for 7 of the 10 hours of flight. Wow! Anchorage to Chicago, and then to Sao Paulo and I hadn't spent one cent and was actually rested. What a deal.

The honey moon ended about an hour after we landed in Brazil when I discovered that my bags, being marked with "standby" stickers, were left sitting on the ramp in O'hare. Some very special treatment by the agent in Chicago who didn't bother to call down to the ramp and have the standby bags boarded after I was given a seat. No problem, I thought, they will just send them the next day and I'll get them soon enough. So much for my warmup day but thats no big deal. I went on with my trip catching my flight from Sao Paulo to Belo Horizonte, and then another regional flight from Belo Horizonte to Governador Valadares. Well of course I spent half of the next day on the phone explaining that I just had to have my paraglider because I was in a competition which was starting the next day. "No problem - your lugguage arrived from Chicago this morning and we'll have it expedited to you and you'll receive it no later than 10 pm." So I relaxed somewhat not realizing that I was just being fed the standard fare of bs to placate me so I'd stop calling them. 48 hours later, after numerous opportunites for them to send my bags had come and gone, the luggage arrived.

The first day of the competition had come and being without my gear I ended up begging to borrow gear at the last minute. A US pilot who is here as a tour guide to visiting pilots offered me his harness, which was a much smaller size than I normally fly with. One of the top Brazilian pilots, Frank Brown offered me his SOL Tracer comp glider as he had a brand new proto type glider to fly. I had my instruments and helmet with me so at least I was able to race the first day instead of sitting out waiting for my gear. It was interesting flying a very different competition glider but the flight was excruciating as the harness was way too small and I was very uncomfortable. I did manage goal but was very slow arriving.

On Sunday, day 2 I had my gear and was excited to race. I'd never even taken my new Boomerang 6 out of the bag so I was a bit apprehensive about that. After nearly crashing into another woman pilot who had blown her launch and was down below me, I got away from the hill and was instantly amazed at the feel and performance of my new glider. It seems for the first time I am really on equal footing with the best gliders out there. I'm very happy with it but must remember that conditions are mild here and I can't really pass judgement until I fly it in stronger conditions. I flew well yesterday, taking second place for the day (so I'm told but haven'tactually seen the posted scores). There were some pilots who flew a bit further than I, but I received more leading points for pushing out ahead and taking more risk than those behind. I did have a rather hard landing and tweaked an ankle, but thank goodness I decided to wear my lace-up ankle braces which clearly prevented a far more seirous injury. This new glider is a very different animal than I'm used to, and so far, landing it with no wind has been a bit challenging. I'm rather sore but nothing serious....

We had thunderstorms and tons of rain over night, and conditions didn't look so good this morning for having a task, but in classic GV tradition, things dried out, cloud base gradually rose throughout the morning, and we were able to have a fun task of about 45 K. After the very first glide from the start cylinder, I don't know for sure, but I've been told that 40 or more pilots sunk out right away. The conditions were quite light and there was some serious decision making to be made very early in the race. I took about a half a dozen turns in this gaggle of at least 100 gliders and decided right then and there that this was just crazy and dangerous. There were all these pilots circling in a small bubble of lift and gradually sinking lower and lower. That was some serious gaggle suck and I decided that I was going to press on and that if I sunk out it was a good safety decision and that was that. Well, I didn't sink out and was able to get established after scratching around for about 10 minutes in a pretty good climb which took me all the way to cloud base. I flew part of the race with a gaggle of about 8-9 gliders, and then part of the race by myself. Only a few pilots made the goal and I landed about 7 k short... Might have made the top 10 for the day and I was happy with my decision making through most of the flight. Towards the end the day was shutting down and I made a good plan to use the rest of my altitude, and then changed my mind after I'd flown half way to where I thought I would find a thermal. I made a 90 deg turn and by the time I flew to my new destination I was low and couldn't find anything to keep me going. Even the buzzards were scratching around in very light conditions and wern't able to climb at all.....

This morning I moved from a small box of a room which was in the centro area to a Posada which is out on the 'island' and is much nicer. A couple of the other US pilots are staying here so it's nice to be with my flying friends.

The organization at this comp is quite marginal at best. I guess there was quite a bit of political wrangling about which organization would run the competition, and the group which is running it is making plenty of mistakes. But we are racing, getting retrieved (eventually), and having a great time. The next comp will be the PWC (paragliding world cup) and will be strongly organized and run so am looking forward to that. The competition at the Brazil Nationals is strong, but the pwc will be far stronger. I suspect that I will be 'schooled' in many different ways.... I'm just excited that I get to particiapate in such competition as the pwc.

I have to sleep now and 'reset' and do it all over again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next.....I'll try and post some pictures when I can....

Jack

Link to the official Valadares Open website for results and other info. They are very slow in posting results and have had multiple scoring issues..... The last two digits of each of the "Task" lines are the date. The only scores posted so far are for March 14th, the first race day which was Saturday.
http://www.xcbrasil.org/reg/FVPO2009/?a=rs