Perfect Day

Monday, 15th February 2016

Flightlog

Had a medical appointment today. One of hassles of living in Newcastle and working in Singleton is that you can't just duck out for a quick vein scan, a sick day is required.
My legs were scanned and it is obviously apparent that most of the veins in my left leg are only for show, and show they do. I have a veinous blob near my knee that looks like my left testicle has somehow dropped down through the inside of my thigh and positioned itself at the surface of the skin. I'm surprised I have any blood circulating at all as most of it is pooled in my left lower leg.

As I left the Scannery I noticed 2 paragliders off Strezzie flying in the mist. The day was warm and humid and heavy with moisture. I drove home and grabbed the new glider and headed back to La Strez.
I got setup and started flying by about lunchtime. I'm still in awe with the ability of the new wing - gaining good height and just generally having a ball.
Cottsy and Waynus showed up and the onshore breeze was gaining strength to hangglider standard.
For a while there it was just me and one other paraglider doing the rounds of Strezzie. Having the place to yourself is fantastic - the sight of the hangy dudes setting up does disappoint somewhat.
Anyway, the mist had cleared, the air was buoyant and favourable. I noticed 3 blokes trudging up the path in King Edward Park with overly large backpacks where backpacks are normally worn: on the back.
One yelled at me quizzically "Is this the way to launch" I nodded in the affirmative and watched while the hapless tourists had to negotiate with none other than Cottsy for a briefing on launching at this site. It would be like getting Donald Trump to negotiate extra benefits for women or Hitler negotiating on behalf of the Jewish Friendly Society. Poor fools.
Cottsy launched first, then, while one of the parapunters was setting up, he swooped the poor bugger. Cottsy chortled to himself as he flew up and off. Classic Cottsy.
Before too long all three punters had launched and Waynus was ready to launch as well. By this time the sky was getting crowded: 2 hangies and 5 paragliders. I decided to head down to Empire Park as I had been narkling for just over an hour.
Came in nice and deep into the park - still slightly jittery from New Years Day but landed fine. Kited the glider over towards the road as one of the tourists came in to land.
The 3 gents were from Finland and had been flying in the New Zealand nationals at Manilla. All three had flown a 230km task the day before and had never flown in coastal conditions before!
I packed up my (fantastic new) wing and told the dude I'd get my car from Strezzie and give him a lift up.
When finally made it to the top of the hill (hey, it's a long walk...) I saw Ray Dunn and got caught up in conversation and almost forgot about my new found Finnish Friend. By the time I drove back down I saw him getting into a car with one of the pilots flying earlier in the day so no harm done!
All up, a 90 minute flight on the Apco.