Actually, there’s no paragliding at all in that country, but the scuba diving is pretty good!

So, I just returned from a trip there last week with my girlfriend, while doing some stops in Tokyo and Kobe before and after. Beautiful weather, clear water, amazing beaches . . . . what you’d expect in Micronesia.

I’ll post some pics on my next entry.

PG-wise, we’ve been hit with a huge barrage of storms since last week which left us with IBF (In-between fronts) flying. I was able to fly long enough to get some on-board footage doing a perfect helico and then a misty-to-helico using GoPro’s new wide-angle cam attached to my shin. The misty-to-helico is on Vimeo now via their website as they’re a new member of Nova’s HPPT (Happy Product Partner Team) – welcome GoPro!

Not much has been happening here flying-wise at Mussel Rock. I think the last time I flew was over a month ago!!! While I had a few options to go south like Iquique, Chile or Valle de Bravo, Mexico, I’ve decided to save my money for the upcoming summer where I’ll most likely head to Europe again. The one thing I’m trying hard to make happen this month is to get some towing in so I can practice the Rhythmic and eventually the Infinite. Right now, my only chance “economically” is to head to Salt Lake City and get some land towing, but even that is falling through. These are the times when living in Europe right now, especially in Interlaken (b/c of Mürren), would be the nuts!

My home site of Mussel Rock (aka “The Dumps”) in Pacifica, about 8 miles south of San Francisco, still gives me a lot to work with when the conditions allow me and my tiny FLX to get some altitude. Unlike my fellow European acro pilots, I have very little height (the cliff’s about 200 meters) and even less distance to work with away from it, allowing me only one trick at a time. Because of this, there’s VERY litttle room for error which is why I typically discourage anyone around here from doing anything but the easiest acro at this site. For me, I like the challenge because it forces me to really focus on nailing a trick.

Anyways, in my last post I said that my friend got some video of me the last time I flew. You’ll see me doing a helico and then one of the newer tricks, the misty-to-helico, which is one of my favorites. Mussel Rock is such a beautiful site even though I don’t have much space to work with!

Check it out here.

It’s been close to a month since I flew last at my home site, Mussel Rock. But yesterday, the forecast got it right and we received 5 – 6 hours of 10 – 12 mph WNW wind, enough for me to get up and practice with the new lines on my FLX. Man, what a difference new lines can make!

My friend Arnel took some video of me as I reacquainted myself with my “new” wing with some left and right helicos. He then captured one of my cleanest misty-to-helicos I’ve ever done – I was super-stoked it was on tape. Time to practice them on the left side and mix in some misty-to-SATs . . . .

I’m so happy the wing has regained its dynamics – probably not like when new! – and I can’t wait to get some towing as I’m confident it has the energy to make the Infinite. Unfortunately, since my last post, I’ve explored every reasonable (and cost-effective) avenue I can think of to get some height, such as d-bagging off a paramotor, d-bagging off a hot air balloon, towing at Lake Berryessa, towing in Salt Lake City, towing in Las Vegas, going to Valle de Bravo . . . . but none yet have worked out. So, my goal for making the Infinite may not happen this year.

In the meantime, I’ll be perfectly content to fly maybe one more time this year at the coast!

My home site, Mussel Rock, was on today since 7 a.m. this morning, so I finally got to fly. I flew for about 3 hours and got to practice some left helicos, a few SAT-to-helicos, some misty flips, and a misty-to-helico. It’s only the 2nd time I’ve flown since being home!

I went towing this past weekend to focus solely on making the Infinite. Obviously, this post would be titled something entirely different if I had made it, but I learned a lot even though I’m disappointed and frustrated it didn’t happen.

On the first day, I had 3 flights and attempted the rhythmic entry. I was able to get the wing to change angle each time, but caught many deflations so I couldn’t continue. (You must stop if this happens.) I found this very strange as I never caught deflations like this when I practiced in Stechelberg for a week, so I must go back to the video and compare.

On the second day, I decided to use the tumble entry which I’ve had a lot of success with. (Here’s a video back in May when I first got the FLX.) I got to make 4 attempts, but each one proved unsuccessful as either my timing was off on the corrections, or the wing didn’t have enough energy to make a clean pass after the initial entry. I’ve reviewed my helmet cam footage many times, comparing my entries to the one in the video above, as well as the entries of some other pilots who make the Infinite. From what I can tell, my entries and the timing of the release look pretty good, so the wing ought to have enough energy to make the first pass without collapsing. (The FLX never did this in May when I first got it.)  So, I will need to check if the FLX is out of trim – or perhaps I need a new line set?

I plan on going towing again in a few weeks, so hopefully after some image training, video reviewing, and equipment checking, I’ll make it!

UPDATE: After looking at my videos again and then comparing them to a video I can slo-mo, it looks like I do need to make a correction immediately after releasing upon tumble entry. While some pilots have no need or maybe just a little – like the entry side – I need to correct both, right at the beginning. Gotta love helmet cams!

After a long 3 1/2 months in Europe, I’m finally back home in California, safe and sound. While the trip was successful, I’m glad it’s over. Camping in a tent or a car for that long got tiring and it’s great to sleep in my bed or relax in my couch. There’s something to be said about the comforts of home, right?  Before I re-cap my entire summer in another post, here’s what happened in September after a visit from my girlfriend to Interlaken:

1) Verel – I finally got to fly this site after hearing so much about it from Cyrille Marck. For 2 days, I flew with his brother, Lou, who also has the FLX. While we never got to bench up to the mountain behind launch, getting a few 100 meters above it was enough to do the infinite or some combo tricks. It’s an awesome site to practice at and I definitely liked being over the trees instead over rough terrain like Organya.

2) Coupe Icare – I got to spend some time with Matt, Mike Cavanagh, Dav, and the rest of the Ozone Design Team at Coupe Icare in St. Hilaire, France. This was my first time at CI and, according to Matt, an event not many Americans have attended. There were so many paragliding booths – it was amazing to think that people have made a livelihood from this sport! This would be a virtual impossibility at this scale in the U.S. For me, what made the festival fun were all the clown acts and bands, and the opportunity to take part in the acro show. While I didn’t get a chance to see the costume launches or the release of thousands of candle balloons on Saturday night, it was great to have been of a part of this most famous flying festival. But I think once is enough!

The new FAI rankings for aerobatics came out today, and Felix is ranked #1 in the world.

Es la ostia, hermano!

I ended up #53, which isn’t too bad for my first season. (Or, as Matt Gerdes would say, “Not bad for an American, dude!) This makes me the highest ranked US pilot, for whatever that’s worth. I’ve now hit all of my acro goals for the year, except for one. I still have the rest of the year to accomplish it, and since my rhythmics are looking pretty good now, I think it’ll happen!

That’s a Doors song, if you didn’t know that already.

Up until now, I’ve been posting at my personal blog about my European summer. So please go there to get updated on what I’ve been doing and how I did in all the acro comps. From now on, anything PG-related, I’ll post here. Anything personal or non-PG (or any gripings about PG), I’ll put on “AvonorcA“.

Okay? Okay.

So today was another great day in Murren. They’ve been running the gondola on the quarter-hour most of the day which means you’ll get 2 flights/hour without rushing. Yesterday, I think I got 8 or 9 flights in 5 hours. (I lost count, actually.) I had changed my brake system the night before by removing the pulleys enabling a direct connection with wing, but having them attached via elastic band to the base of the risers with the toggles. (This isn’t new as acro pilots have done this for some time.) Because this allows you to “feel” the wing more, it also works in reverse. Any movement you make will be reflected in the wing – no more hiding behind the pulleys! – which is why yesterday’s training was a good one for me.

For the last month or so, I’ve “lost” my left helicos which I mentioned in previous posts. But yesterday, even with pulley-less brakes, I nailed them like I used to. Now I must re-learn to use the outside brake to control it, then eventually slow it down enough so I can start doing twisters again. (Talk about facing fears – letting one twister get away from me in July led to a rescue throw and one SCARY situation – read “I’m a Luckbox” here.)

Lately, training in Murren has been an everyday-affair, so I’m able to alternate days between stalls and spins, and the dynamic stuff. Today was all about the Rhythmic SAT. I did about 8 or 9 today, alternating evenly on both sides. I was happy with my progress as I went from SAT to tumble (135 deg ones) on almost every one. (I feel that if I continued with the rhythmic, I could definitely transition to the infinite . . . . but neither am I familiar with the transition nor feel 100% comfortable practicing it over the ground.) Luckily, I was able to borrow a friend’s Archos 604 wifi portable video system with a helmet cam input which allowed me to review every flight many times so I could improve on the next one. Excellent teaching tool!

Tomorrow’s weather is supposed to be good so I’ll be at Murren all-day for more training. After making sure my left helicos are working, I plan on facing the demon Twister and making it my friend again.

Wish me luck, please.

Hey – welcome to my blog! Come follow my adventures as I travel throughout Europe for the Acro comp scene. Will I represent? Will I do the Infinity? Will I land in the pontoon in big ears? Read first-hand what this American thinks he’s doing competing acro against the Europeans.