Just do it!...

...is the mantra of the girls here in Àger this week.

We have the fastest windummies in the west helping us out here.
Jamie Messenger and John Ellison, both top level World cup pilots on their 'underwired' ;-) 'Mantra R10's (the F1 of paragliders) are doing their stuff giving us feedback on conditions and generally watching out for the safety of the pilots by following the gaggles. We did laugh on launch when one of them commented that he didn't really want to launch in case he bombed out - Boys,  Just do it!

Todays task was a a great race start after the pilots gaggled near start to then take the 1st tp in the Àger valley. After they climbed out to base above the ridge its rumoured that task winner Bea turned less than 3 times on her glide to goal.
The lead gaggle of Bea, Laurie, Trude, Kirsty, Klaudia and Sandra were pushing each other all the way to the goal cylinder. Landing at the lakeside beach for a swim, a beer or 3 and to watch the French play SIV games over the lake was a great way to end the task.
We just had 1 moment of excitement in the organisation today when a pilot bumped into the mother-of-all-thermals the likes of which she had never experienced before....the squeal on the safety frequency as she went stratospheric had us anxiously scanning the sky for a reserve deployment. We all breathed a huge sigh of relief when a shaky voice came over the radio some minutes later to report that she was 'ok now'.

Everyone here is learning something; from the competition novices to the experienced leading pilots and the organisation as well. Sometimes it seems that 'school' can be fun!