I hadn’t planned to sign up for the Canadian National Paragliding Championships (or to participate in any serious competition for that matter), but it looked as if I would have some spare time on my hands, Pete and a bunch of friends were keen to go, and joining the comp seemed a good way to support the organizers. So in early August we went for a week to Pemberton and here is the story.
Day 1: I decided to launch late, as my success rate of staying up in light lift wasn’t that great. On my best flights in Pemby earlier this year I had launched late, often after sinking out on the first flight. Conditions usually get stronger as the day goes on. But today this strategy didn’t work. The northwest wind picked up (just like once a couple of weeks ago…) producing rough thermals and making it hard work to push out along the ridge to Owl, where I finally flew out to land in the valley. Well, it wasn’t just me having trouble with the rough air. Four pilots tossed their reserves and one crashed into a tree (I watched one toss, Pete saw and called ‘reserve’ for two). Fortunately (and miraculously) nobody was hurt. The helicopter made rounds to pick everybody off the mountain. I bet the good SAR people must have wondered what the rest of the week would bring. Summary day 1: learned a lot about my new vario/GPS. Should have practiced with the new technology ahead of the comp. Should have launched earlier.
Day 2: Launched earlier. This didn’t work either…landed even before the start time. By the time I landed the first puffs of the Whistler Express arrived at the Pemberton LZ. Two other pilots coming in just after me were parked (no forward speed) in the strong wind. Fortunately there was little wind or turbulence near the ground and both touched down nicely. Did I say that it was crazy hot in Pemberton? A dip in Mosquito Lake sounded like an excellent idea for the afternoon. But when I left the Black Squirrel campground, the weather forecast started to materialize and big black clouds appeared over Pemberton. On to plan B and off to see if I could pick up a few pilots before the rain started. Pete had already found a ride and I returned with two other flyers. On the way back to Pemberton, we had a full view of big black clouds accentuated by the occasional flash of lightening. To my surprise there were still four wings in the air, three over Owl Peak directly under the scary black clouds and one in the middle of the valley. The conditions looked well past the point when I wanted to be on the ground with my wing in its bag. The pilot in valley spiraled down and we watched him land OK. The other three were also heading away from the clouds. Later we learned that unfortunately only two of the three pilots made it down safely. The third may have encountered turbulence at low elevation and crashed into the river. Being attached to a big piece of fabric and moving water are a deadly mix. The pilot drowned. The comp was cancelled on the next day. Everybody is sad and shocked.
No flying weather on the next day. Pete, Paddy and I had our kayaks along and went to paddle the Birkenhead River at a nice juicy level. Class 3+ felt like the right level for me with less than 10 whitewater days this year so far.
Day 3: After 2 days off, it was time to get in the air again. I had a slow but nice flight to Owl, climbed with Mags at Barbour, did a low run to Copper, then a sweet thermaling session with Brad there. Crossed to Goat and got to almost 3000 meter flying circles with Greg. Mighty cold up there! Tagged the Tender waypoint and glided across to Camelhump. Though I almost could have pushed over the pass, I thought better of it and tried to find a climb on the shaded valley side. No success and I landed with many other pilots at the bottom of the hump. Nice flight and only my second time over the Hurley Pass Road. Need to keep an eye on maximizing my glide and should have gone back for a climb at Goat or Copper, where I knew where the thermals are.
Day 4: Scratched in the heat at lower launch for ages and still sunk out. But ‘for ages' is relative. While I gave up after 30 minutes or so, another pilot worked valiantly for 2 hour before successfully climbing out and getting away. Lesson of the day: re-define 'for ages'.
Day 5: Increased my scratching threshold to +1 hr and was rewarded. More scratching along the ridge to Owl, where I arrived low but got finally above the peak with Tonya, followed by a sweet glide in the evening sun side by side with her to Miller Ridge. Not far, but a nice last flight for the week.
And the summary of my first competition? Not too bad in the women’s rating: 4th place of 8. Not quite as good overall; Sport: 34/48. Learned many new things about flying. Met lots of people. Had two nice flights, but didn’t fly as well as I would have liked on the other three days. Can’t say that this experience got me motivated to sign up for more of these 'serious' competitions. Just too many things I did not like: para-waiting in the hot sun until the per-determined start time. Being tied down for a week if conditions are iffy for flying but perfectly fine for other activities (paddling, hiking, mountain biking). Bombing out and watching the rest of the show from the ground. And I'd rather not be around again when people push their limits, and some push too far.
