VDB Mex

[andy]

Hey all, first off good on Faoro for getting back on the horse.

We are having a killer time down here! Rob, Brad, Pine, Eric Reed, Pete Schaefer, BZ, Bill Belcourt and I are sharing the eagle house. We came a week early to get the back in the groove and had some epic days flying. We met up with Marge and Bob and have been able to fly with them. One day we were flying the convergence all over the mesa and Bob & Marge wer top of the stack, Marge was even throwing down on the side of a clou, very cool!

The comp started yesterday and as some of you have seen on Robs Eagle Paragliding page we did pretty well. The day was kind of high pressure with clouds forming late in the convergence, kind of a low base that went up as the day and the terrain progressed. I was able to fly with Brad for most of the day, my big mistake was hanging out in our last thermal for two more turns. Then when I left for the final turn before goal I got into a convergence line that put me at 11k over the lake-my highest altitude of the day. I was able to fly fast 60-64k/hour but was going up instead of straight.

Today I had a great start and made the first turn high and in good position right behind Brad, Jaime Messenger and some others, when I choose an aggressive line on the espina cliff I flew into what I thought would be the windward side only to be pinned in the most intense sink I think I have ever encountered. I was plummeting to the ground when I look up and see that Rob had made the same mistake. We were hosed, losing 1500 ft almost instantly being left at only 2-3 hundred over. I was a little out front and out of the rotor when I started getting a few bubbles then I saw some birds going up so we both stayed in this thermal for some time, never getting high but staying off the ground. Rob got really, really low at one point, but hung in. Rob finally peeled off and went downwind and got something way over by the penon. I started off in that direction when my thermal finally died, and watched him climb out. I was getting something on the front of the penon when Rob comes back not having gotten over the wall. Finally we got to base and were back on course-felt awesome and were both tottally stoked, but way behind. Working together we made the next turn-point, and were working towards the next when are luck succumbed to the strong valley winds.

Very informative day, lesson learned don't fly into rotor...

Check out Robs write up on eagleparagliding.com, and Brads, at his blog on blogspot. I'll try and write more of my story as time allows.

Happy New Year, Andy