How have I already been back at work for 2 days?  Time flies (ha ha ha)

We didn't get to fly on the last day, but did get 4 out of 7 paragliding days in so that made for a valid competition.  We drove back home after the awards ceremony on Saturday night where the locals had the advantage with Brett & Nicole winning the top male & female categories. Congrats guys!

Sunday morning I couldn't bear to deal with reality yet so met Al "Hammer" for a flight at his home site, Mt Benedict (or Benny as it's known in the flying community).  Cloud base was low but we took a chance and wow! Was it ever worth it!  Conditions were really light on launch but I soon found a thermal and it took me right up to cloudbase.  A lifty line and some cloud surfing took me a little ways down the valley where I doubled back as the clouds all seemed to be joining together and stopped me from continuing on. Al was the rock star of the day and toplanded to drive his vehicle down (luckily, as I had dropped my keys in his truck!) and all was well...until I hit the Sunday traffic on the highway and at least 3 accidents to navigate around.

A wonderful flying holiday overall, and coming home with more knowledge and new skills is always a bonus!

Task 4 and the task committee sent us down the valley again as the Whistler Express winds were predicted to blow through. It's a local weather pattern where the winds go from 0-40km/hr in an instant, concentrated in front of launch and the main landing field but avoidable if you land down the valley. 
So off we went on course, starting with a valley crossing and then a choice to cross back or stay on the south ridge. I chose the south and I saw 2 of my friends try the north ridge, but we all ended up on the ground within 5 km of each other.  It was a fun ride back on the retrieve shuttle with all of us telling our adventure stories, getting about 15-20 km down the courseline.
I picked another hayfield and once again the shuttle driver pulled up the moment I touched down. The volunteers at this event are amazing!

We've had a couple of days of strong wind which has kept us from having task days. Yesterday we had a proper rest day and did absolutely nothing, so today 4 of us took advantage of the special paraglider deal at the Meadows Golf Course in Pemberton and played 9 holes.  Beautiful course and delicious lunch afterwards in the pub. With all this relaxing it actually feels like a real vacation!  Hoping the wind quits for tomorrow or at least Saturday...we need to do some more paragliding soon!

The Task Committee set up an 84 km (!) task today...below is a picture of what it looked like.  It was an unlucky day for me as I hit sink for 3 solid minutes after launching, and wasn't able to fight my way back into the game. I ended up making it safely back to the main landing zone and reminded myself that every day here is a learning experience!

The flying here is amazing!  Even though we started the day with high clouds shutting down the lift, we were able to get in an out-and-return task down the valley.  We flew 22kms down the valley and the same plus a little further back to the landing field.  I made it to the turn point and just over half way back (38 km total I think?) and was exhausted!  I can definitely feel the fact that I haven't flown many hours this year.

Here's a shot of the start of the race - we all fly around above launch until the start time and take off when the clock ticks down to the start.  It's an adrenaline rush for sure when there are 100 pilots all flying circles in the same area!

The day ended up being windier than forecast, but we got in a task and got to experience the beauty of this valley.  I got up over 2000m and started getting cold (will dress warmer tomorrow!) so kept around that altitude although I could've gotten higher (George got over 2600m!).

I got about 14 km downrange before hitting the wind and having to land, and ended up about halfway through the rankings for the day in my glider category.  We're flying low-intermediate wings (ENB ratings) and fly are in the "Sport" category along with intermediate wings (ENC) so I'm pretty happy with my performance today!

Results are posted daily here: http://canadiannationalspg.weebly.com/results.html

The forecast from yesterday held, and this morning was rainy with low cloudbase. We had our first pilot meeting at 10 am with the Red Bull girls handing out cold beverages which helped keep every one alert as we went over the rules and regulations for the week ahead.

We did make the most of our practice day - we got a chance to work out glitches with our gps trackers and then a few of us drove around the valley to scout out some of the landing fields and get ourselves oriented. The forecast for the rest of the week still looks fantastic and we're all anxious to get in the air tomorrow. Nothing left to do now but fly!

It was a long day of driving - visiting customers during the day then a 4 hour drive north to Pemberton to sign in for the Nationals! Got our souvenir T-shirts and reunited with flying friends from competitions past before heading back to double check all our instruments at the hotel.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a practice day, but the forecast isn't looking too promising at this point. We had some much needed rain here today, and the clouds look like they may stick around and either give off some more drizzle or just block flying by hanging a bit too low in the sky.  The rest of the week looks fantastic though, and the butterflies are kicking in as pilots pull out their best stories of flying here in the big air of the Pemberton Valley.

Off to the Nationals tomorrow after work, so tonight is all about charging instruments and GoPro cameras, packing, and making last minute what-to-buy lists (why can I never find my SPF chapstick?)

I'm a lot less nervous than usual this year, likely because this has been a fairly dismal paragliding season for me (just in terms of actual flying hours) so I'm not in as much of a "competitive" mindset. Of course I'm going in with the intention to push myself and fly my best, but am mostly excited that I finally get a chance to fly Every. Single. Day. My boyfriend is competing as well, so getting to fly alongside him for a week is icing on the cake! The other thing I'm looking forward to is sharing the sky with some amazing people...this year there will be a handful of international pilots attending (including Canadians) who have just returned from competing at the Worlds! I'm excited to learn from them and immerse myself in this week-long "paragliding school".

I'll post updates and pictures along the way, along with fun links for anyone who wants to follow along.  That's it for tonight - next check in will be from Pemberton!