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