Lone Scouting | 1266548700|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

I'm cruising around Georgia this week, checking out all of the possible airfields for this year's Rally.  I'm hoping we find our way to Vidalia, the sweet onion capital of the world.  Funny how you (or maybe just me) hear about a place and think for years that you want to go there...for no very good reason.  Vidalia is one of those places for me.  There are heaps more....totally random places and things.  I often wonder where those strange ideas come from, what the particular interest is in a place.  Dad would say the place doesn't matter, it's just the going that does it for me.  He could be right.

The Ring | 1265825220|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Although I've never been big on marriage, I LOVE the idea of a ring as a symbol of commitment.  I've often dreamed about exactly what ring would look perfect on my somewhat chubby, poorly manicured finger.  For as long as I can remember, I've imagined an emerald cut diamond set in platinum with smaller baguettes along each side.

Following last year's trip to Ecuador, several pilots formed The Cloudbase Foundation to support children in various areas where we fly.  I am a member of the board of directors of the foundation and this morning I received an email from another board member regarding the ring.  I clicked on the link to find the amazing, gorgeous ring pictured above.  No, it's not going to be mine unfortunately!  But the story is really cool.  The owner is a paraglider pilot who inherited the ring from her grandmother.  She is auctioning the ring and distributing the proceeds to various charities, including our Cloudbase Foundation.  Read all about the "With this Ring Project" - it's incredibly cool what she's doing!

Bogong Cup, Day 6 | 1264105800|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
We decided for a task at Stanwell Park today ;-)  Well, the real truth is we got impatient waiting for good weather in Mt. Beauty, so we drove back to Sydney the day before yesterday.  There was a bit of angst that conditions would improve and make a task possible, but in the end, we worried for nothing.  Another high wind day yesterday and no task :-(

But Sydney turned out to be a great choice.  Stanwell was blowing about 120 degrees off, so we thought flying would be out.  We spent the day down at the beach below sunbathing and swimming.  By afternoon we headed up to the park and had a little picnic and bird watching session.  The cockatoos were very friendly and became more and more brave all afternoon.

Today's Sky | 1263953700|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Good decision to cancel the task today ;-)

Day 5 - More Wind | 1263948660|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover
There was quite a discussion at the briefing this morning about yesterday's task and the flying conditions.  It's always interesting to me to see how differently individual pilots experience the same air.  Reports came in that at the higher altitudes there were 60 km winds, some landed in 30 km winds, yet some still felt it was a perfectly safe task and a few said they really enjoyed their flights.  I am hardly the one to argue this issue because I didn't fly (conditions looked way too rough for me) and I am generally quite conservative when it comes to turbulence.  But as a competitor and an organizer it is an interesting discussion.  What kind of hang gliding competition do most pilots want?  Do we want a test of flying skill or a test of courage?  While I wouldn't win either one, I have zero interest in a contest that is merely a test of who is willing to take the most changes and who can endure the most bouncing around in the air.  But it appears there are people that don't mind that sort of thing.