You know in those PBS or National Geographic channel programs where they talk about the Tibetan, or Indian women who sit around and grind corn between two stones? Going round and round and round and round and round?? Well, that's how I felt today. Still being very tired from yesterday's epic flight (5.7 hrs in the cockpit) I was less than enthusiastic about flying today, but glad to have a chance to repair some of yesterday's damage.
We got to the airport got the gliders ready, and took them out to the grid -- where we found out that the grid sheet was wrong, and then had to rearrange the gliders Giorgio and Richard took care of this while Mike and I relaxed. Luckily, Giorgio took one look at the grid sheet, and saw that we could just move the cones numbering the gliders, and then instead of moving 30+ gliders, only 3 needed to be moved. Again, some sort of chaos - everyday.
At the pilots meeting, we were informed that the weather would likely overdevelop into thunderstorms, especially on the east side of the task area, and we'd be flying close to home in case conditions started to get bad. However, due to the much higher moisture content of the air, cloudbase would be around 2000m, as opposed to the 3000+ that we had seen in the days before. A trough is moving through our area, bringing lots of instability and humidity. A turn area task was called with turns at Avezzano, Spoleto, Carsoli, Morre, a steering turn at Piediluco and Reiti finish. There were 10km and 20km radii around Carsoli and Piediluco respectively. This means that it's up to the pilot where she should turn to maximize distance and speed within a target task time.
We got ready to take off, and this time my tow pilot stayed on the ground for much longer than normal, steadily gaining speed, until right before the end of the runway he lifted off (at about 150kph). I was freaking out thinking that there was a problem with my plane and that I'd have to try and find a place to land while I was going 150kph 5 feet off of the ground. Everything was ok though. I found a good thermal to climb in, and worked my way up to Terminillo. Bases were much lower than before, as forcasted, and this made for tougher conditions. I was staying very close to Mike as I didn't want to be flying alone again today. A word about team flying. Mike and I each flying our own gliders, but there are significant advantages to flying together. his means that there are two gliders sampling the airmass, and you are twice as likely to find lift, and when lift is found, it's easier to find the stronger lift. All of the teams that have more than 1 pilot in each class team fly. To make this easier, it's logical that all of the pilots have the same gliders to reduce differences in climb rates and cruise performance.
We screwed around for a while, waiting for the conditions to get better, when I noticed one lone glider about 400m higher than me headed toward the start in the north. He had come from the east side of Terminillo and had a clear advantage. Mike and I crossed over to the east side, and limbed with about 12 other gliders. Near the top of the thermal, all of us headed out towards the start. By this time we were much higher than the surrounding clouds and it was awesome to see about 12 gliders flying through cloud canyons toward the turn. (Pictures here)
We made the start and headed towards the south. I was hanging with this group of gliders, but quickly began to fall behind (this means lower). I'm only flying with half water, and I'm thinking that this was the main reason why I couldn't keep up with these guys. Of course it could be that the surface finish of the glider is kind of crappy, but who knows. We headed into the valley near Lago de Salto, and I got progressively lower, low enough that I was below the ridge that the others caught a thermal on. With almost no place to land I headed towards the lake, remembering that Giorgio had told me that many people had landed on the shore of the lake over the years.
Just getting closer to the lake, I saw one last hill that I thought might produce a thermal to get me out of this hole. Sure enough it did, and just a few seconds later, Doug Bradley from South Africa came to join me in my 1m/s misery. We slowly climbed back up, and comiserated that it was good to be flying with someone. (SA and US have the same team frequency, so we were chatting away.) We ended up flying together for the rest of the day, doing true team flying.
Anyway, Doug and I delicately flew around the course as the conditions weren't that strong, and cloudbase was below mountain top. We were getting pretty nervous late in the day near Terni (in the southern part of the turn area -- we weren't maximizing as it took us forever) as we had a long flat glide into Terni, and were uncertain if make it back. There were decent landing fields in this area, so we weren't so worried as before by the lake. But one good climb got us up over final glide and we steadily gained on it as we worked our way home. On the way back, we passed Europe's largest waterfall, and I was able to get some nice pictures of it.
I was happy to have made it around, as this was a challenging day. Even though we were low, we had to keep pushing on or we would have not made it around. I'm still last on the scoresheet, but I realize that I'm gaining incredible experience here (and I'm a little bit further away from the big dissapointment of yesterday). I'm also getting more familiar with the terrain and flying in the mountains. The altitudes that we flew at today are the same altitudes that made me so nervous on the first flight.
We put the gliders away and met up with the South Africans for dinner at Giorgio's favorite restaurant in Cantalice. The other female pilot here (Jen Bradley) is from South Africa, and
I've really been enjoying getting to know her. It's really fun to be at a contest with so many
other junior pilots, especially since there are so few in the US, but there are even fewer female pilots. Because we aren't staying at the airport, we've had to make efforts to go out to dinner with other teams and meet other pilots. San Pastore (our residence - I realized I forgot to tell you that) is gorgeous, but it's remote and keeps us kind of isolated. I can see that I'll make friends here that I'll have for a long time.
I also wanted to say that I really appreciate all of the emails that I've been getting from you. It's been great hearing from people that I haven't heard from in a long time, and in general getting lots of support and funny emails. My sister sent one telling me about the US drunken astronaut scandal, and reminded me that I'm already a better pilot than they were because I'm not flying drunk! Hilarous.
Also, when I'm not scared -- and this is happening less often as I'm becoming more familiar with the area, it's really pretty here. Being in Italy is pretty darn cool. That's all I've got for the moment. The weather was pretty overdeveloped in sections, and I can see lightning to the north. We'll see what tomorrow brings...
Kathy
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
Day 1 - Someone has to be last.
Well, we made it through day one. Only 11 more flying days to go. The day started out with some anxiousness, but an overall feeling of readiness. We've done a lot in the past days trying to get everything ready, and we had the feeling this morning that everything had paid off.
We started by taking the gliders to the weigh station, to confirm that we weren't over the maximum gross of the glider, limited to 525kg in the standard class. (The class that Mike and I are flying in). The scale had been submerged in the ground, and the idea was to drive directly over it, letting the glider come to rest on top of the scale, without taking off any of the tow out gear -- tail dolly, tow bar or wing wheel. However, some of the gliders arrived over weight and had to dump water, which turned the freshly dug hole into a mud pit. Also, the electronic displays were in a large hole next to the scale, which I'm willing to bet, before the contest is over, a glider wheel is going to go into that hole, crushing gear doors. The point I'm trying to make here, is it's a total kluge, but it's Italy and we're not going to change it, so we've got to go with the flow.
We gridded and went to the pilots meeting. The standard brief regarding safety issues, flow on the airport, and the weather. Weather looks good, similar to our last practice days. Top of climb at about 3000m, and some scattered cumulus, especially in the eastern mountains. Looks like a good fun day. There's been a lot of discussion about the rule that states that all competitors must circle left before the start of the task. This is a very standard rule and is meant to keep pilots safe by reducing the possibility of mid-air collisions. During the practice days, especially the last day, when approximately 60 gliders were all flying in 3 closely packed thermals on the east side of Mount Terminillo, people were flying in all sorts of directions. The US team thought this was very unsafe, to the point that I was willing to start early in order to get out of these crazy "gaggles". Anyway, during the pilot's meeting on the 27th, it was brought up that this rule should be enforced, and there was lots of debate as to if the rule (which is many years old, and standard) is correct and actually safer. It was decided that for this contest, the rule would be changed, and whoever starts the thermal would select the direction, implying that a dual cored thermal (totally not uncommon here in the mountains) could have gliders flying in head on situations. We decided to revisit the dicussion, and Leo Brigliadori agreed that it is indeed safer to have all gliders flying in the same direction. But in the pilots meeting, it was almost like he was trying to aviod the subject and not bring it up at all. Two captains had to stand up and ask, before he begrudginly clarified that the rule would not be changed. Nothing makes sense here...
We programmed our PDA's with the 368.5km task, taking us first to Trasacco in the south, to Gualdo Tadino in the north, back to BGO S Pietro, near a lake about 40km south of Reiti, back
to the north for a steering turn and finish. The fastest pilots have all been finishing the tasks under minimum time, and Leo was trying in increase the distance so that the task time is about 4hrs.
I've made friends with some of the swiss team, and they kindly offered to come over and help with my ancient LX5000 since it doesn't have the turn points in it. But, it's so old and has never been updated that it couldn't communicate with the PDA's. Thanks to the swiss for being so thoughful, and obviously the owner of my glider never flies it since just about nothing works. Oh, the battery mount broke this morning as well. Oh, and I've been asked about 3 times how my glider flies since the gelcoat is cracked and crazing. I was excited to fly a nice new shiny LS8, but this thing really is kind of a piece. Its totally not worth the 600 euros a week we are paying to rent it.
Anyway, yesterday during the opening ceremonies, I lost my locket necklace that some of my closest friends gave to me just before I left. I spent about an hour this morning looking for it and i haven't found it yet. I'm pretty sick over it, and I'm hoping that it turns up. It really means a lot to me.
The launch gets delayed until about 1pm, to make sure that the day is really ready to go, and before I know it I'm up and flying. First, I'm just happy to find a good thermal that I can climb up in, given that on practice day 2, I wasn't able to get up and almost had to go back to the airport for a relight. I move towards Terminillo to get the highest climbs, and soon find myself in gaggles with about 40 other gliders. Even though everyone is circling left now, which is a big improvement, it's still chaos. Mike and I move to make the start, and I'm having trouble seeing my PDA. I have to change one setting, and as I do, I make a quick circle to avoid running into other gliders, which is in sink, and before i know it, everyone comes to join me flying in the sink. Pretty funny. However, I do lose sight of Mike, and I'm heading towards what I think is the start, and a few minutes later, and much lower I realize that I've missed the start, and I was flying toward a border in the Reiti airspace. Mike has already started, and I'm down to about 1800m now, and I decide to restart. This is going to take me about 45 minutes, and I'm really hoping and praying it's worth the gamble.
I head back to Terminillo, and start climbing. I notice that I'm the only glider there and all the others have started. This means I'll be flying alone. I finally climb up and decide to start, but when I cross the line I'm only about 100m higher than I would have been if I had just stuck with the original start. That sucks. The first glide is usually pretty rough -- it's long and over rough terrain, and you don't usually get a thermal for about 30 or 40km. I ended up about 200m agl in a valley near the Chelano valley. Since I'm much more familiar with the terrain to the south, I knew I could keep pushing into a valley just beyond sight with plenty of good landing fields. I get low enough that I've put my gear down, and I suddenly find some ridge lift on the east side of the valley. I start working it, keeping my landing field in sight, and I'm able to work back up the side of the mountain, to about 1700m. I look over the top of me, and see other gliders circling under a big fluffy cumulus and go zipping off towards the first turn. I head into the Chelano valley, and I know that I need to make a tactical climb to get across this valley, so I start working the hills. I'm having a very hard time, and I end up wasting about an hour there just screwing around trying to get higher. In hindsight it would have been much better to have just flown across the valley with what I had and then climb on the other side. Well, I finally cross, find a marginal climb on the other side, and cross again. I get back to Chelano with the same problem. I can't climb high enough to get over the ridge into the L'Aquila valley. Finally, I just get frustrated and dart around the mountain into the next valley. Very low again, (156m agl) I choose a field and put my gear down. All the time I'm thinking how much this sucks to be happening on the first day. Son of a *****. I'm spiraling at the end of my field, taking a good look at the sheep that inhabit it, hoping that they don't move into my path, when the variometer starts to sing. Sure enough, I'm in a thermal which I'm able to climb to 3000m, where I should have been all day. Its about515 now, Mike has finished the task, and I've got about 250km still to go. I'm starting to realize that I might not make it...
I'm in some really good streets now, and I'm high enough to take advantage of them. I head towards the north to Gran Sasso, but I realize that the sea breeze has already pushed far enough inland that Gran Sasso wont' be working for me. I line up on a ridge of mountians
called Norcia. I'm not as familiar with the terrain to the north, and I'm nervous about flying
that way late in the day when the thermals might be quitting, so I'm keeping myself within glide of Foligno airport as I go north. It's actually working quite nicely, and I'm enjoying the run that I have on the convergence between the mountain air and the sea air. There are low
wisps that I can fly through, with good visibility so I do. I finally make the Gualdo Tadino
turn at about 630pm, and head back towards Flaminio airport. Still working the convergence
line, I'm now 70km from Reiti, and I realize that I can make it home. At least I won't have to land out but I'm not going to be able to make the final two turns. I forgot to mention that I have seen one other glider with me, and I can't tell if he's part of the contest or not. It does make me feel better that there's someone else out there with me. I take a few more turns just to make sure that I'll make it home. It's much hazier than before and the cumulus over Terminillo have overdeveloped and it looks really flat. I finally get in touch with Richard, who's relieved that I'm coming home. As I'm getting ready to cross into the valley, I get hit with a wave of very humid air and suddenly I'm dripping in sweat. I come in and land, relieved to be home, and hoping that someone else has landed out, but really knowing that I'm in last place on day 1. A few minutes later, the scores are up, and sure enough, I'm the only one from standard class who didn't finish the task.
It's pretty stinking dissapointing, although I know I made the right decision. If I hadn't landed at Reiti, I would have surely ended up somewhere to the south of here without a landing field, probably with a smooshed glider. Still it stings. The pilots here are very very good, and the winners would easily give the top pilots in the US (not juniors) a run for their money. For some reason the US has never been a powerhouse in gliding (at least not in the last 20 years) -- I guess it's a bit like soccer in that way. Plus, I'm one of the least experienced pilots here. Most have close to 1000 hrs or more, and close to 10 contests. I have to remember that it's a great learning experience, and an incredible opportunity. But, it really sucks to be in last place, there's no changing that.
Kathy
We started by taking the gliders to the weigh station, to confirm that we weren't over the maximum gross of the glider, limited to 525kg in the standard class. (The class that Mike and I are flying in). The scale had been submerged in the ground, and the idea was to drive directly over it, letting the glider come to rest on top of the scale, without taking off any of the tow out gear -- tail dolly, tow bar or wing wheel. However, some of the gliders arrived over weight and had to dump water, which turned the freshly dug hole into a mud pit. Also, the electronic displays were in a large hole next to the scale, which I'm willing to bet, before the contest is over, a glider wheel is going to go into that hole, crushing gear doors. The point I'm trying to make here, is it's a total kluge, but it's Italy and we're not going to change it, so we've got to go with the flow.
We gridded and went to the pilots meeting. The standard brief regarding safety issues, flow on the airport, and the weather. Weather looks good, similar to our last practice days. Top of climb at about 3000m, and some scattered cumulus, especially in the eastern mountains. Looks like a good fun day. There's been a lot of discussion about the rule that states that all competitors must circle left before the start of the task. This is a very standard rule and is meant to keep pilots safe by reducing the possibility of mid-air collisions. During the practice days, especially the last day, when approximately 60 gliders were all flying in 3 closely packed thermals on the east side of Mount Terminillo, people were flying in all sorts of directions. The US team thought this was very unsafe, to the point that I was willing to start early in order to get out of these crazy "gaggles". Anyway, during the pilot's meeting on the 27th, it was brought up that this rule should be enforced, and there was lots of debate as to if the rule (which is many years old, and standard) is correct and actually safer. It was decided that for this contest, the rule would be changed, and whoever starts the thermal would select the direction, implying that a dual cored thermal (totally not uncommon here in the mountains) could have gliders flying in head on situations. We decided to revisit the dicussion, and Leo Brigliadori agreed that it is indeed safer to have all gliders flying in the same direction. But in the pilots meeting, it was almost like he was trying to aviod the subject and not bring it up at all. Two captains had to stand up and ask, before he begrudginly clarified that the rule would not be changed. Nothing makes sense here...
We programmed our PDA's with the 368.5km task, taking us first to Trasacco in the south, to Gualdo Tadino in the north, back to BGO S Pietro, near a lake about 40km south of Reiti, back
to the north for a steering turn and finish. The fastest pilots have all been finishing the tasks under minimum time, and Leo was trying in increase the distance so that the task time is about 4hrs.
I've made friends with some of the swiss team, and they kindly offered to come over and help with my ancient LX5000 since it doesn't have the turn points in it. But, it's so old and has never been updated that it couldn't communicate with the PDA's. Thanks to the swiss for being so thoughful, and obviously the owner of my glider never flies it since just about nothing works. Oh, the battery mount broke this morning as well. Oh, and I've been asked about 3 times how my glider flies since the gelcoat is cracked and crazing. I was excited to fly a nice new shiny LS8, but this thing really is kind of a piece. Its totally not worth the 600 euros a week we are paying to rent it.
Anyway, yesterday during the opening ceremonies, I lost my locket necklace that some of my closest friends gave to me just before I left. I spent about an hour this morning looking for it and i haven't found it yet. I'm pretty sick over it, and I'm hoping that it turns up. It really means a lot to me.
The launch gets delayed until about 1pm, to make sure that the day is really ready to go, and before I know it I'm up and flying. First, I'm just happy to find a good thermal that I can climb up in, given that on practice day 2, I wasn't able to get up and almost had to go back to the airport for a relight. I move towards Terminillo to get the highest climbs, and soon find myself in gaggles with about 40 other gliders. Even though everyone is circling left now, which is a big improvement, it's still chaos. Mike and I move to make the start, and I'm having trouble seeing my PDA. I have to change one setting, and as I do, I make a quick circle to avoid running into other gliders, which is in sink, and before i know it, everyone comes to join me flying in the sink. Pretty funny. However, I do lose sight of Mike, and I'm heading towards what I think is the start, and a few minutes later, and much lower I realize that I've missed the start, and I was flying toward a border in the Reiti airspace. Mike has already started, and I'm down to about 1800m now, and I decide to restart. This is going to take me about 45 minutes, and I'm really hoping and praying it's worth the gamble.
I head back to Terminillo, and start climbing. I notice that I'm the only glider there and all the others have started. This means I'll be flying alone. I finally climb up and decide to start, but when I cross the line I'm only about 100m higher than I would have been if I had just stuck with the original start. That sucks. The first glide is usually pretty rough -- it's long and over rough terrain, and you don't usually get a thermal for about 30 or 40km. I ended up about 200m agl in a valley near the Chelano valley. Since I'm much more familiar with the terrain to the south, I knew I could keep pushing into a valley just beyond sight with plenty of good landing fields. I get low enough that I've put my gear down, and I suddenly find some ridge lift on the east side of the valley. I start working it, keeping my landing field in sight, and I'm able to work back up the side of the mountain, to about 1700m. I look over the top of me, and see other gliders circling under a big fluffy cumulus and go zipping off towards the first turn. I head into the Chelano valley, and I know that I need to make a tactical climb to get across this valley, so I start working the hills. I'm having a very hard time, and I end up wasting about an hour there just screwing around trying to get higher. In hindsight it would have been much better to have just flown across the valley with what I had and then climb on the other side. Well, I finally cross, find a marginal climb on the other side, and cross again. I get back to Chelano with the same problem. I can't climb high enough to get over the ridge into the L'Aquila valley. Finally, I just get frustrated and dart around the mountain into the next valley. Very low again, (156m agl) I choose a field and put my gear down. All the time I'm thinking how much this sucks to be happening on the first day. Son of a *****. I'm spiraling at the end of my field, taking a good look at the sheep that inhabit it, hoping that they don't move into my path, when the variometer starts to sing. Sure enough, I'm in a thermal which I'm able to climb to 3000m, where I should have been all day. Its about515 now, Mike has finished the task, and I've got about 250km still to go. I'm starting to realize that I might not make it...
I'm in some really good streets now, and I'm high enough to take advantage of them. I head towards the north to Gran Sasso, but I realize that the sea breeze has already pushed far enough inland that Gran Sasso wont' be working for me. I line up on a ridge of mountians
called Norcia. I'm not as familiar with the terrain to the north, and I'm nervous about flying
that way late in the day when the thermals might be quitting, so I'm keeping myself within glide of Foligno airport as I go north. It's actually working quite nicely, and I'm enjoying the run that I have on the convergence between the mountain air and the sea air. There are low
wisps that I can fly through, with good visibility so I do. I finally make the Gualdo Tadino
turn at about 630pm, and head back towards Flaminio airport. Still working the convergence
line, I'm now 70km from Reiti, and I realize that I can make it home. At least I won't have to land out but I'm not going to be able to make the final two turns. I forgot to mention that I have seen one other glider with me, and I can't tell if he's part of the contest or not. It does make me feel better that there's someone else out there with me. I take a few more turns just to make sure that I'll make it home. It's much hazier than before and the cumulus over Terminillo have overdeveloped and it looks really flat. I finally get in touch with Richard, who's relieved that I'm coming home. As I'm getting ready to cross into the valley, I get hit with a wave of very humid air and suddenly I'm dripping in sweat. I come in and land, relieved to be home, and hoping that someone else has landed out, but really knowing that I'm in last place on day 1. A few minutes later, the scores are up, and sure enough, I'm the only one from standard class who didn't finish the task.
It's pretty stinking dissapointing, although I know I made the right decision. If I hadn't landed at Reiti, I would have surely ended up somewhere to the south of here without a landing field, probably with a smooshed glider. Still it stings. The pilots here are very very good, and the winners would easily give the top pilots in the US (not juniors) a run for their money. For some reason the US has never been a powerhouse in gliding (at least not in the last 20 years) -- I guess it's a bit like soccer in that way. Plus, I'm one of the least experienced pilots here. Most have close to 1000 hrs or more, and close to 10 contests. I have to remember that it's a great learning experience, and an incredible opportunity. But, it really sucks to be in last place, there's no changing that.
Kathy
Friday, July 27, 2007
Falling Behind
Hi all,
Just a quick update here, I realize that I've been falling a little bit behind in the posts, and there aren't any pictures up yet.
Just a quick update here, I realize that I've been falling a little bit behind in the posts, and there aren't any pictures up yet.
I'm planning to post a bunch more tonight, and tomorrow as it's the opening ceremonies and we won't be flying.
In the meantime you can check here for other official updates:
Also, the flying has been getting better and less stressful. I'm getting more familiar with the terrain and flying in the mountains so this is a big help.
Oh and I already landed out. Let's hope that's the only one for this contest. I'll post that story tonight.
Waiting for the pilot's meeting...
Kathy
Monday, July 23, 2007
Stress 7-22
So, we waited for a long time to get the launch going. We were towards the back of the line so we knew that it would be a while. When the launch finally started, the first two gliders weren't able to make it stick, and came back to land. This was our first indication that the day was weak. The launch was paused for a while longer before the first gliders were able to stay up. Let me just add here that it's been over 40 degrees C (over 100 or so) the last few days. Its hotter and dryer than most of the soaring sites that I have flown at in the western united states. It's hot -- to add to that, we don't have a cooler, tent, air conditioning, etc that we would normally have if we were flying a US contest. The heat sucks the energy and patience out of everyone. In fact, Gunella, the office manager at San Pastore, told me just tonight that it's been hotter the past few days in Italy than it's been in the past 200 years.
Anyway, they keep launching, and somehow we find out that the conditions are weak enough that it's not worth flying with water. While water (increased glider weight) increases the speeds at which the highest performance occurs, the penalty is that the glider is coming down faster, so you need stronger conditions to balance this out. So everyone is dumping their water. I had heard that it took a long time for my glider to dump, but I timed it on the grid, and it took 12 minutes to fully dump. Other gliders took approximately 2... This shouldn't be a huge problem, I just need to make sure that I've given it enough time to dump, or take note of the higher weight of the glider, and the associated increased landing speeds and intertia.
I also want to add something here -- Mike Westbrook is not my boyfriend. I am not crew (although crew are wonderful and I couldn't survive a contest with out crew), and yes I am flying this contest! I've been ignored, asked or assumed more times than I can count now, and it's driving me nuts. Out of 58 pilots, there are 2 women registered to fly, so I can understand that it might not be expected -- but seriously, I'm done.
It's my turn to launch. The tow pilot keeps pulling me forward, and I'm totally not ready to go. The tower is talking to me in some sort of garbled english (all airports are supposed to speak english -- world wide) and I haven't even closed my canopy. I don't know if the tow pilot is going to take off or not, and by the second time he pulls me forward, I'm so pissed that I yell an explitive and pull the release. (being pissed isn't always the best way to start a flight in a new glider)
I finally get settled, and take off. The glider is nice a light and responsive. Due to the high temperatures and tailwind, the takeoff is unusually long, and I tried to get the glider to fly earlier than it wanted to. Not a big deal, just not a really pretty takeoff. As soon as I take off, my PDA with my moving map, turnpoints, final glide info, special use airspace etc, quits. Chalk it up to the list of crap that has broken, not worked on this glider...
Oh I forgot to mention that Mike had to pull out of the line due to a faulty radio. It's really hard to hear what the tower is saying and people on the line were telling him that he had to talk to the tower before he took off, but he had tired and nothing worked.
I'm able to climb up to about 1000m, and then Giorgio calls, and we get ready to head off. Normally flights go to the south, so that's where we headed. It was pretty weak, and we were flying awfully close to the mountains. Girogio kept out climbing me, and it was driving me nuts. My stress level was steadily rising, and it only got worse as we headed south. We got into the valley south of Reiti, and I had a really hard time connecting with lift. Then Giorgio and I misunderstood eachother while annoucing our altitudes, and the stress level only got higher. We spent a lot of time in this valley being low, and I had the feeling that flying here could be very tricky. It seems that when you are high in the mountains that you can bail into one of the valleys, but many times you can bail into a bowl or into a valley where there just aren't any places to land. I started to get more and more nervous, uncomfortable and worked up. Mike finally was up and flying, using a handheld radio, and met up with us as we headed north. At one point, Giorgio was directing me to some lift, and I got pretty slow quite close to a hill. I got pushed in by the wind, and pushing the nose over for more airspeed only got me closer, and I swear I could have seen individual blades of grass. At this point, shaking and quite uncomfortable, I decided to head away from the mountains and take a few moments to relax. This was the best thing I could have done. Giorgio came over and joined me, and we headed to the north. I was still quite scared and stressed, but the conditions were better towards the north. Also we moved into a very large valley with lots of landing places.
At this point I feel I have to tell you about the screws that I had just begun to notice. I don't know who did the design, but I have screw heads that stick into the back of my calves. I get terrible cramps and hot spots from these, so at about this time I decided that it was time to head home. Giorgio wanted to show me the way home -- it's ridge soaring (using wind perpendicular to a ridge to gain altitude) on the something like Valkerie in Italian ridge, and it's really scary since you are quite low, and you can't see the valley where you will eventually land. I'm afraid to use this lift consistently, because I think the resutls could be quite drastic if I didn't estimate the wind correcty. Giorgio begs me to trust him, and I do, and it works. (although I freaked out about crossing the powerlines on the last ridge and started to shake again, before I realized I could make it). I made a safe and very long landing at Reiti and was very happy to be on the ground again. Although i have no idea what the tower said to me or if I landed on the correct runway. (supposedly theres 4 laid out in the grass).
We packed everything up, and headed to the pizzaria near to our house, exhausted.
I have always known that this contest would be stressful, but flying today was nearly terrifying. I was very stressed and uncomfortable, and I'm hoping and expecting this to go away as I get more experience flying here. It's a known fact that the best pilots are the ones that remain calm and relaxed, and I'm aware this is something that I really need to work on.
We've discussed the fact that we really should have brought more people to help out. 3 plus 1 hired crew just isn't enough. We have been so busy getting the gliders ready to go and getting situated, that we forget things like buying food for the next meal, because the grocery stores will be closed. Or figuring out when we will be doing laundry. Also, Reiti is totally not ready for the worlds. We've been kicked out of bathrooms, stating that they were private, but the next closest bathrooms were half a mile away. There's not a place where it is cool to sit, or relax. All of these things make it hard. I do have to say that I'm very happy to have Richard as our captian/crew. He's been doing a great job and is very level headed, even when most would have lost it.
On the upside -- the country side is beautiful -- even if I can see it eating my glider...
Signing off for now -- exhausted.
Kathy
Anyway, they keep launching, and somehow we find out that the conditions are weak enough that it's not worth flying with water. While water (increased glider weight) increases the speeds at which the highest performance occurs, the penalty is that the glider is coming down faster, so you need stronger conditions to balance this out. So everyone is dumping their water. I had heard that it took a long time for my glider to dump, but I timed it on the grid, and it took 12 minutes to fully dump. Other gliders took approximately 2... This shouldn't be a huge problem, I just need to make sure that I've given it enough time to dump, or take note of the higher weight of the glider, and the associated increased landing speeds and intertia.
I also want to add something here -- Mike Westbrook is not my boyfriend. I am not crew (although crew are wonderful and I couldn't survive a contest with out crew), and yes I am flying this contest! I've been ignored, asked or assumed more times than I can count now, and it's driving me nuts. Out of 58 pilots, there are 2 women registered to fly, so I can understand that it might not be expected -- but seriously, I'm done.
It's my turn to launch. The tow pilot keeps pulling me forward, and I'm totally not ready to go. The tower is talking to me in some sort of garbled english (all airports are supposed to speak english -- world wide) and I haven't even closed my canopy. I don't know if the tow pilot is going to take off or not, and by the second time he pulls me forward, I'm so pissed that I yell an explitive and pull the release. (being pissed isn't always the best way to start a flight in a new glider)
I finally get settled, and take off. The glider is nice a light and responsive. Due to the high temperatures and tailwind, the takeoff is unusually long, and I tried to get the glider to fly earlier than it wanted to. Not a big deal, just not a really pretty takeoff. As soon as I take off, my PDA with my moving map, turnpoints, final glide info, special use airspace etc, quits. Chalk it up to the list of crap that has broken, not worked on this glider...
Oh I forgot to mention that Mike had to pull out of the line due to a faulty radio. It's really hard to hear what the tower is saying and people on the line were telling him that he had to talk to the tower before he took off, but he had tired and nothing worked.
I'm able to climb up to about 1000m, and then Giorgio calls, and we get ready to head off. Normally flights go to the south, so that's where we headed. It was pretty weak, and we were flying awfully close to the mountains. Girogio kept out climbing me, and it was driving me nuts. My stress level was steadily rising, and it only got worse as we headed south. We got into the valley south of Reiti, and I had a really hard time connecting with lift. Then Giorgio and I misunderstood eachother while annoucing our altitudes, and the stress level only got higher. We spent a lot of time in this valley being low, and I had the feeling that flying here could be very tricky. It seems that when you are high in the mountains that you can bail into one of the valleys, but many times you can bail into a bowl or into a valley where there just aren't any places to land. I started to get more and more nervous, uncomfortable and worked up. Mike finally was up and flying, using a handheld radio, and met up with us as we headed north. At one point, Giorgio was directing me to some lift, and I got pretty slow quite close to a hill. I got pushed in by the wind, and pushing the nose over for more airspeed only got me closer, and I swear I could have seen individual blades of grass. At this point, shaking and quite uncomfortable, I decided to head away from the mountains and take a few moments to relax. This was the best thing I could have done. Giorgio came over and joined me, and we headed to the north. I was still quite scared and stressed, but the conditions were better towards the north. Also we moved into a very large valley with lots of landing places.
At this point I feel I have to tell you about the screws that I had just begun to notice. I don't know who did the design, but I have screw heads that stick into the back of my calves. I get terrible cramps and hot spots from these, so at about this time I decided that it was time to head home. Giorgio wanted to show me the way home -- it's ridge soaring (using wind perpendicular to a ridge to gain altitude) on the something like Valkerie in Italian ridge, and it's really scary since you are quite low, and you can't see the valley where you will eventually land. I'm afraid to use this lift consistently, because I think the resutls could be quite drastic if I didn't estimate the wind correcty. Giorgio begs me to trust him, and I do, and it works. (although I freaked out about crossing the powerlines on the last ridge and started to shake again, before I realized I could make it). I made a safe and very long landing at Reiti and was very happy to be on the ground again. Although i have no idea what the tower said to me or if I landed on the correct runway. (supposedly theres 4 laid out in the grass).
We packed everything up, and headed to the pizzaria near to our house, exhausted.
I have always known that this contest would be stressful, but flying today was nearly terrifying. I was very stressed and uncomfortable, and I'm hoping and expecting this to go away as I get more experience flying here. It's a known fact that the best pilots are the ones that remain calm and relaxed, and I'm aware this is something that I really need to work on.
We've discussed the fact that we really should have brought more people to help out. 3 plus 1 hired crew just isn't enough. We have been so busy getting the gliders ready to go and getting situated, that we forget things like buying food for the next meal, because the grocery stores will be closed. Or figuring out when we will be doing laundry. Also, Reiti is totally not ready for the worlds. We've been kicked out of bathrooms, stating that they were private, but the next closest bathrooms were half a mile away. There's not a place where it is cool to sit, or relax. All of these things make it hard. I do have to say that I'm very happy to have Richard as our captian/crew. He's been doing a great job and is very level headed, even when most would have lost it.
On the upside -- the country side is beautiful -- even if I can see it eating my glider...
Signing off for now -- exhausted.
Kathy
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Practice Day 1
Practice Day 1
I was actually able to wake up to my alarm today, and following a good nights sleep I was quickly ready to go. Richard met us at San Pastore at about 8am, and we headed out to the airport expecting to fly.
Mike's glider was quickly ready to go (I swear he's got fairies running around fixing everything for him) but mine still needed some work. We hadn't tested the backup logger/nav system the LX5000 yesterday, and turned it on today, only to find that it didn't work. The wiring had come loose and Richard had to quicly rewire the glider. Meanwhile I was cleaning the glider, and getting the tape goo off of the wings. Richard and Giorgio did an awesome job rewiring the LX5000.
Finally we were ready to fill the glider. The first wing filled really quickly, not the 1 hr that Chip had reported when he flew this glider 2 weeks ago, but the right wing went much slower. We will be checking the vent lines this afternoon. I'm carrying 170L of water to increase the total weight of the glider, moving the most efficient fight conditions to higher speeds -- good for racing. We towed out to the line, and have been waiting for the first launch at 1pm. We're towards the end of the grid, so we've got some more time to wait.
I'm kind of nervous about flying today, but just slightly. My biggest concerns are with the fact that this is a new aircraft to me, I'll need to make sure I know where all of the levers and handles are, so that I'm not retracting and extending the landing gear, when I want to be using the dive brakes.
Also, the local procedures here are to take off to the north, which means that it's usually a downwind take off. This is a concern, as it takes more speed to get aileron control authority (eg, the ability to pick up a wing), and since my wings are full of water and very heavy, I'll have to be very careful to keep the wings level.
We'll be flying with Giorgio, our crew, who has been flying here for 30+ years. It's a really good feeling to have someone who will be taking us around on a lead and follow type flight. We're getting ready to head out now. More updates soon.
Kathy
PS -- I have other blogs from the previous days that I haven't posted -- I'll put them up this afternoon...
I was actually able to wake up to my alarm today, and following a good nights sleep I was quickly ready to go. Richard met us at San Pastore at about 8am, and we headed out to the airport expecting to fly.
Mike's glider was quickly ready to go (I swear he's got fairies running around fixing everything for him) but mine still needed some work. We hadn't tested the backup logger/nav system the LX5000 yesterday, and turned it on today, only to find that it didn't work. The wiring had come loose and Richard had to quicly rewire the glider. Meanwhile I was cleaning the glider, and getting the tape goo off of the wings. Richard and Giorgio did an awesome job rewiring the LX5000.
Finally we were ready to fill the glider. The first wing filled really quickly, not the 1 hr that Chip had reported when he flew this glider 2 weeks ago, but the right wing went much slower. We will be checking the vent lines this afternoon. I'm carrying 170L of water to increase the total weight of the glider, moving the most efficient fight conditions to higher speeds -- good for racing. We towed out to the line, and have been waiting for the first launch at 1pm. We're towards the end of the grid, so we've got some more time to wait.
I'm kind of nervous about flying today, but just slightly. My biggest concerns are with the fact that this is a new aircraft to me, I'll need to make sure I know where all of the levers and handles are, so that I'm not retracting and extending the landing gear, when I want to be using the dive brakes.
Also, the local procedures here are to take off to the north, which means that it's usually a downwind take off. This is a concern, as it takes more speed to get aileron control authority (eg, the ability to pick up a wing), and since my wings are full of water and very heavy, I'll have to be very careful to keep the wings level.
We'll be flying with Giorgio, our crew, who has been flying here for 30+ years. It's a really good feeling to have someone who will be taking us around on a lead and follow type flight. We're getting ready to head out now. More updates soon.
Kathy
PS -- I have other blogs from the previous days that I haven't posted -- I'll put them up this afternoon...
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Prep Work 7-21
Getting the Gliders Ready to Go
We woke up this morning with a pretty long list of things to do. My stress level had been steadily increasing, and when Mike knocked on my door this morning to wake me up because I had slept through my alarm, I knew this was going to be the most challenging day yet in terms of patience. I had planned to sort through my things, finish getting settled in our apartment and pack everything that I needed for today. Things that generally keep my stress level low. Instead I ran around the house rushing and felt totally unprepared which quickly turned in to impatience and grumpiness.
We found that navigating Reiti was pretty hard -- who knew that street signs aren't fashionable in Italy. So we had to ask directions from our few english speaking friends every time we wanted to go somewhere. Our first stop was the TIM store, to activate our SIM cards (the brain of a telephone using GSM (global services mobile)) that most countries except the US and Japan use. As always, the Italian employee was very heplful and was able to get us what we needed although I slaughtered the language. The next stop was to head to the airport and hopefully check in and get the scoop.
While we realized we weren't able to check in until the 24th we quickly met up with Giorgio, our hired Italian, English/German speaking crew, and Leonardo Brigliadori, the contest manager and owner of Mike's glider, RB. Giorgio and Mike quickly went to work setting up his perfectly prepared contest glider. Meanwhile, I went about trying to find the stupid key to the hitch again. It was so unbeliveably frustrating that we couldn't find that key. Giorgio pulled out the spare tire from the trunk, and sure enough, the key's were stuck in the styrofoam that lines the trunk. I called Jane, the owner of the B&B where Richard is staying, whom we had asked to check with TopCar about the key, to let her know that we had found it. She informed me that the owner was on his way with adaptors for the light connectors going from the car to the glider.
Feeling relieved, I took the car over to my trailer to hitch up the glider and bring it to the area where we were tying down. Unfortunatley, I didn't see the concrete in the grass, and I scratched the lower part of the front bumper of the car. $$$ It's not that bad, but I feel like a huge retard, and I'm expecting to cover the cost. Richard was amazingly calm and relaxed about the whole thing, simply offering to drive the car so I didn't stress. But it didn't help my mood in the least.
We took a break for lunch, to have the best spaghetti bolognese that I've ever had, and then Giorgio took us aside for a briefing of the normal procedures. This was really helpful and Giorgio agreed to fly with us tomorrow to give us a view of the area. We headed back to the grocery store, bought dinner, had a fresh salad, and planned for tomorrow.
I'm getting tired now, and I'm really looking forward to getting some flying in.
Kathy
Anyway, overall, we had a really good day and got a lot accomplished. The gliders are assembled, on the line, I got my NGC stickers on the glider. We will have to wash the trailer to get the bigger logos to stick.
We woke up this morning with a pretty long list of things to do. My stress level had been steadily increasing, and when Mike knocked on my door this morning to wake me up because I had slept through my alarm, I knew this was going to be the most challenging day yet in terms of patience. I had planned to sort through my things, finish getting settled in our apartment and pack everything that I needed for today. Things that generally keep my stress level low. Instead I ran around the house rushing and felt totally unprepared which quickly turned in to impatience and grumpiness.
We found that navigating Reiti was pretty hard -- who knew that street signs aren't fashionable in Italy. So we had to ask directions from our few english speaking friends every time we wanted to go somewhere. Our first stop was the TIM store, to activate our SIM cards (the brain of a telephone using GSM (global services mobile)) that most countries except the US and Japan use. As always, the Italian employee was very heplful and was able to get us what we needed although I slaughtered the language. The next stop was to head to the airport and hopefully check in and get the scoop.
While we realized we weren't able to check in until the 24th we quickly met up with Giorgio, our hired Italian, English/German speaking crew, and Leonardo Brigliadori, the contest manager and owner of Mike's glider, RB. Giorgio and Mike quickly went to work setting up his perfectly prepared contest glider. Meanwhile, I went about trying to find the stupid key to the hitch again. It was so unbeliveably frustrating that we couldn't find that key. Giorgio pulled out the spare tire from the trunk, and sure enough, the key's were stuck in the styrofoam that lines the trunk. I called Jane, the owner of the B&B where Richard is staying, whom we had asked to check with TopCar about the key, to let her know that we had found it. She informed me that the owner was on his way with adaptors for the light connectors going from the car to the glider.
Feeling relieved, I took the car over to my trailer to hitch up the glider and bring it to the area where we were tying down. Unfortunatley, I didn't see the concrete in the grass, and I scratched the lower part of the front bumper of the car. $$$ It's not that bad, but I feel like a huge retard, and I'm expecting to cover the cost. Richard was amazingly calm and relaxed about the whole thing, simply offering to drive the car so I didn't stress. But it didn't help my mood in the least.
We took a break for lunch, to have the best spaghetti bolognese that I've ever had, and then Giorgio took us aside for a briefing of the normal procedures. This was really helpful and Giorgio agreed to fly with us tomorrow to give us a view of the area. We headed back to the grocery store, bought dinner, had a fresh salad, and planned for tomorrow.
I'm getting tired now, and I'm really looking forward to getting some flying in.
Kathy
Anyway, overall, we had a really good day and got a lot accomplished. The gliders are assembled, on the line, I got my NGC stickers on the glider. We will have to wash the trailer to get the bigger logos to stick.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Flight to Italy
I've been sitting in the airport all day (Special thanks to Jes who mentioned that I should get an Admirals Club pass for the showers) working on taking care of emails, writing my blog, organizing things, and in general getting antsy. Oh -- I also remembered a few things that I had forgotten (thankfully not flight critical -- but annoying none the less)
Now, I'm sitting here on my flight to Italy -- it's 2am in Rome, I know I should sleep but I'm just too excited. What an awesome adventure this is going to be. I've been rereading the team handbook, going over the rules, making lists of things that I want to talk to Mike Westbrook and Richard Maleady about (teammate and captain respectively), and little bits and details that I want to take care of.
A few words about Mike Westbrook. In 2003 I was selected by the Womens Soaring Pilots Association (WSPA) (huge supporters of the JWGC 2007 effort -- thank you so much!) to fly Dave Bradley's Pegasus for a soaring season. I decided that I was going to use that summer to fly in my first competition. I spent two weeks preparing in Moriarty, New Mexico, one of those weeks being a WSPA seminar in which I did my second and third cross country flights with Billy Hill and Chip Garner. My flight with Billy was over 300km and my flight with Chip was 502km when optimized by OLC. Not a bad warm up for a regional. I drove down to the Region 9 Championships, and had an awesome time -- I was definitely hooked by racing. Mike was also flying this contest as a warmup for the 15m Nationals, to be held the week after at Hobbs. Mike said to me, "Kathy, you've gotta come back and fly the 15m national championships. What else are you going to do with you summer -- you've got a glider and you don't have a job." (I'm a slacker at heart and highly succeptable to peer pressure) So I did. I suffered innumerable water bag problems, culminating with an in flight, pilot soaking, rupture but it was an awesome experience. I didn't qualify to the juniors at that event, but I know that it certianly was valuable.
I've been the fortunate benefactor of many generous supporters within the soaring community. Starting with all of my instructors at Minden, Black Forest Soaring Society, Colorado Soaring Association and Caracole Soaring, Dave Bradley, Mitch Hudson and the Southern California Douglas Soaring Association for letting me borrow gliders, countless mentors, supporters and cheerleaders, John Chapman for donating his flight miles which are now transporting my silly butt to Italy, WSPA for endless support, and Northrop Grumman for providing corporate sponsorship just to name a few.
Some people have said that the reason juniors are involved in soaring is because they don't recieve enough support -- I can attest that's not the case. The soaring community I know has been very warm and supportive.
Ok Ok -- the orchestra is playing and I can tell it's time to wrap it up... Let's just hope the Tylenol PM kicks in soon.
Kathy
Now, I'm sitting here on my flight to Italy -- it's 2am in Rome, I know I should sleep but I'm just too excited. What an awesome adventure this is going to be. I've been rereading the team handbook, going over the rules, making lists of things that I want to talk to Mike Westbrook and Richard Maleady about (teammate and captain respectively), and little bits and details that I want to take care of.
A few words about Mike Westbrook. In 2003 I was selected by the Womens Soaring Pilots Association (WSPA) (huge supporters of the JWGC 2007 effort -- thank you so much!) to fly Dave Bradley's Pegasus for a soaring season. I decided that I was going to use that summer to fly in my first competition. I spent two weeks preparing in Moriarty, New Mexico, one of those weeks being a WSPA seminar in which I did my second and third cross country flights with Billy Hill and Chip Garner. My flight with Billy was over 300km and my flight with Chip was 502km when optimized by OLC. Not a bad warm up for a regional. I drove down to the Region 9 Championships, and had an awesome time -- I was definitely hooked by racing. Mike was also flying this contest as a warmup for the 15m Nationals, to be held the week after at Hobbs. Mike said to me, "Kathy, you've gotta come back and fly the 15m national championships. What else are you going to do with you summer -- you've got a glider and you don't have a job." (I'm a slacker at heart and highly succeptable to peer pressure) So I did. I suffered innumerable water bag problems, culminating with an in flight, pilot soaking, rupture but it was an awesome experience. I didn't qualify to the juniors at that event, but I know that it certianly was valuable.
I've been the fortunate benefactor of many generous supporters within the soaring community. Starting with all of my instructors at Minden, Black Forest Soaring Society, Colorado Soaring Association and Caracole Soaring, Dave Bradley, Mitch Hudson and the Southern California Douglas Soaring Association for letting me borrow gliders, countless mentors, supporters and cheerleaders, John Chapman for donating his flight miles which are now transporting my silly butt to Italy, WSPA for endless support, and Northrop Grumman for providing corporate sponsorship just to name a few.
Some people have said that the reason juniors are involved in soaring is because they don't recieve enough support -- I can attest that's not the case. The soaring community I know has been very warm and supportive.
Ok Ok -- the orchestra is playing and I can tell it's time to wrap it up... Let's just hope the Tylenol PM kicks in soon.
Kathy
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Surprise Going Away Party
Hi All,I'm truly blessed by good friends. Jes and Tracey, to the right and left of me respectively, along with my roommate Carolina, far left, planned a surprise going away party for me. I knew that we were probably going to go to dinner or something, but when I arrived at Jes's I found a group of about 10 of my friends here in CA waiting for me, all having signed a poster saying "Bon Voyage Kathy"
We spent the night cracking jokes, drinking wine and telling good stories. My biggest dilemma was still what to name my blog. Again, I wanted something fun and lighthearted but I was still having trouble figuring out what to call it. A few minutes later, Jes handed me a glass of wine with a label on the base: "Fly Girl". That's it. Fly Girl's Adventures in Italy. For the moment that's the name of my blog. I feel it fitting as each soaring flight is somewhat like a choose your own adventure book. From the very start of each contest flight, no pilot will make the same decisions, and therefore the result for each pilot is different. You don't get to know who made the "right decisions" until the scores are posted at the end of the day.
This party finally made it all sink in -- I'm really headed to Italy and I'm going to be flying in the worlds. Kind of crazy. Jes and Tracey gave me a locket with pictures of them on the inside, reminding me that though I am alone in the glider, my friends will be with me.
Now I'm frantically packing trying to get everything ready. Mike, Richard and I will all be meeting at baggage claim in Rome. Then the adventure begins...
Kathy
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Welcome!
Hi All,
I'm glad that you are here reading my blog. I've never done this kind of thing before, but I thought it would be the best way to keep everyone up to date with my adventures in Italy.
I decided a long time ago that I wanted to create a blog so that people could follow the happenings in Italy, most importantly because I wouldn't have this amazing opportunity if it weren't for the support of so many generous and forward thinking people. Since you are here reading this, you are obviously a supporter of some kind, and I wholeheartedly thank you for being there and helping me get to this point.
Blog Names
Surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly -- I'm not the most creative of people) coming up with a name for this blog was difficult. I had to choose both the URL and the title of the blog. Coming up with the URL was pretty easy. After takeoff when the glider is being towed by another aircraft to an appropriate height, the glider has the ability to release the tow rope. When the pilot releases the rope and "true" soaring begins it is called being off tow. I thought it an appropriate name for my blog -- and all soaring pilots would find it easy to remember. Hopefully now that it's been explained, it will be easy to remember for everyone.
The title of the blog wasn't as easy. Of course there's the obvious Junior World Gliding Championships, but I wanted something that was a little more playful, or perhaps more representative of the journey and adventure that each soaring flight, let alone soaring flight in a foreign country provides. I emailed some of my creative and humorous friends for their suggestions. Spirit of the South Bay, Kat-A-Log, 2000 Foot High Club, (I reminded my friends that my bosses at work would be reading this) . While these are fun names, I still haven't found the right name for my blog. Stay tuned.
I'd like for this blog to be interactive. If you have a question about soaring or some sort of technical term that I've thrown out here, please don't hesitate to ask -- I will be more than happy to answer. You can either post a comment here on my blog, or send me a private email at kathy.fosha@gmail.com.
Also if you would like more information about the event or the US Soaring Teams, please go to the following links.
http://www.wgcrieti.it/jwgc2007/index.asp
and
http://www.ssa.org/UsTeam/usc_junior.htm
Kathy
I'm glad that you are here reading my blog. I've never done this kind of thing before, but I thought it would be the best way to keep everyone up to date with my adventures in Italy.
I decided a long time ago that I wanted to create a blog so that people could follow the happenings in Italy, most importantly because I wouldn't have this amazing opportunity if it weren't for the support of so many generous and forward thinking people. Since you are here reading this, you are obviously a supporter of some kind, and I wholeheartedly thank you for being there and helping me get to this point.
Blog Names
Surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly -- I'm not the most creative of people) coming up with a name for this blog was difficult. I had to choose both the URL and the title of the blog. Coming up with the URL was pretty easy. After takeoff when the glider is being towed by another aircraft to an appropriate height, the glider has the ability to release the tow rope. When the pilot releases the rope and "true" soaring begins it is called being off tow. I thought it an appropriate name for my blog -- and all soaring pilots would find it easy to remember. Hopefully now that it's been explained, it will be easy to remember for everyone.
The title of the blog wasn't as easy. Of course there's the obvious Junior World Gliding Championships, but I wanted something that was a little more playful, or perhaps more representative of the journey and adventure that each soaring flight, let alone soaring flight in a foreign country provides. I emailed some of my creative and humorous friends for their suggestions. Spirit of the South Bay, Kat-A-Log, 2000 Foot High Club, (I reminded my friends that my bosses at work would be reading this) . While these are fun names, I still haven't found the right name for my blog. Stay tuned.
I'd like for this blog to be interactive. If you have a question about soaring or some sort of technical term that I've thrown out here, please don't hesitate to ask -- I will be more than happy to answer. You can either post a comment here on my blog, or send me a private email at kathy.fosha@gmail.com.
Also if you would like more information about the event or the US Soaring Teams, please go to the following links.
http://www.wgcrieti.it/jwgc2007/index.asp
and
http://www.ssa.org/UsTeam/usc_junior.htm
Kathy
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