A year ago this week . . . .

I smashed into the North Side of Point of the Mountain, Utah after messing up an acro trick, resulting in 2 broken legs, a broken back, and shoulder. The speed with which I hit was great, and if it wasn't for hitting my legs first, I wouldn't have survived. Other acro guys with similar accidents - and even less severe ones! - are no longer here. For a reason I've only figured out recently . . . . I'm still alive.

Really, I should be dead.

Now look, I'm not going to write a survivor's story. It's not like I ran into a burning building, saved an entire family and their dog, and suffered 3rd degree burns all over my body for my efforts. I'm an acro pilot and what happened comes with the territory. While I hope it never happens again, there's a chance it easily could. I'm still doing acro at Mussel Rock and I accept all the risks that come with it. If I have another accident, I only have myself to blame.

That said, no matter what the cause, accidents happen. While it can happen to anyone at any time, not every one will experience it. For those who have, what becomes crucially important is how we choose to react to what's happened. As the platitude goes . . . . it's times like these when we find out what we're made of.

Well, I don't know exactly what I'm made of, but all I know is that I was lucky enough to not experience any brain damage. So, I had the opportunity each and every day to choose how I'd react to what was going on which, most of the time, wasn't very fun. (Won't go into detail, but let's just say that I'm very happy that I can pee on my own!) As I said in a recent interview for Cross Country magazine, the absolute key to my recovery was choosing to be positive every day and doing things to continually improve my situation. I felt this was the only way to hasten my recovery, to appreciate the help from the nurses & rehab staff at Intermountain Health who took daily care of me, and to honor my friends and family who were keeping me in their thoughts.

As I think back to this time last year, what comes up is how my recovery at the hospital was the most difficult experience of my life. What made it easier was knowing that many people in the paragliding community (in the US and from my acro buddies in Europe) were rooting for me, especially some of those in the Bay Area Paragliding Association who had generously donated to help with my medical bills . . . . thank you so much.

The reason I'm writing today isn't to recognize how far I've come; rather, I want to publicly thank a few people who helped me the most at the darkest time of my life. Without them, I wouldn't have made it through as well as I did:

Adam Porcino & Misti Timpson - they were my PTs at IMC and re-taught me how to walk. The most triumphant moments in my life were with them - standing up for the first time, walking 6ft, then 10, then 25, then 50, then 100 . . . . and walking those f*ing stairs! You guys pushed me every day even when I used to drop the f-bomb on you . . . . it's because of your commitment and belief in me back then that I made it and was able to accomplish what I've done in paragliding in 2010. Thank you for giving me my life back.

Irene Smith - she was the nurse in charge of my recovery program. Each morning I asked who was going to be my nurse and was always delighted when Irene was assigned to me. She was always pleasant and one of the main reasons why I remained positive every day - she and her staff deserved nothing less. I hope you enjoyed taking care of me as much as I loved being taken care of by you.

Sabrina Krewin - we started dating about a month before the accident and then broke-up in November. She was there on the mountain right after I crashed and saw my broken body - filleted legs and all. I remember telling her, since we had just started dating, that if she wanted out, it was okay with me as something like this would be too much for ANYONE to deal with. But, she stuck by me and not a day went by that I didn't see her. Even though we didn't work out, Sabrina, I want you to know that I wouldn't have made through without you. In our short time together, I hope you felt loved, cherished, and respected.

Loren Cox - he and I started flying at Mussel Rock right around the same time in 2005, and have been good friends ever since. Even though he had suffered his own accident a few months before me and was still in crunches and a back brace, Loren took care of many things for me, especially in my first week in the hospital. He was not only there for my most painful and most triumphant moments in my recovery, but was also there when I learned to paraglide and got into acro - at my darkest moment (my accident) and my greatest (making the first American Infinite Tumble). I consider you a brother, Loren, and will be always be there for you whenever you need me . . . . always.

Vendie Dasalla - that's my mom. While we're not super close, I learned so much more about her when she came out to stay with me for a month at the Point after I was discharged from the hospital and convalesced at a friend's. It must've been very hard for her to see her son so broken when I was in the hospital, and I can only hope she feels proud of me since I've made my way back. She's never seen me do acro in-person (maybe never will) and will probably never understand exactly what I do up there. But to her credit, she has never discouraged me from doing what I love even though it could easily kill me. Forgive me if I can't say this to your face, but I want you to know, Mom, that I love you very much and you are the greatest woman ever known to me. If I can be half the person you are, I will have lived a life fulfilled.

I said earlier in this post that it was only recently that I figured out why I survived when I shouldn't have. In fact, I view my accident as sort of an inflection point, a moment that marked where one life ended and another one began, bringing me to the last person I want to acknowledge . . . .

Jinju Schroy - she and I just met in early August 2010 at, of all places, Mighty - the club I frequent once a month with the guys. I NEVER meet anyone of any significance at a club, but when I learned that she and her best friend went to Mussel Rock that day to "check out a local beach" (they were visiting from Denver), I was obviously floored and knew I had to learn more about her. (For those who don't know . . . . NO ONE goes to Mussel Rock except paragliders, locals walking their dogs, fishermen, or high school kids smoking weed . . . . tourists would NEVER go there!) I believe things happen for a reason and felt it couldn't have been simple coincidence when I turned to her and said, "So . . . . I heard you're from Denver." The Universe was definitely at work. Well, as it turns out, Jinju and I were meant to meet that night and even though we live in different cities, we are now emotionally inseparable.

Before the accident, I never really saw myself being a husband and a father. While in the hospital, realizing how short life is (I know . . . . another platitude), that obviously changed. Friends have told me that when you meet the right one, time doesn't matter, and that "The One" is The One regardless if you met 10 days or 10 years ago. Geez . . . . were they right!

Jinju, you are the greatest love I've ever known. I feel truly lucky to have met you and I can't imagine my life without you. I see my 2nd life with you as husband, father, lover, partner, soulmate, and best friend. You are, without a doubt in my head, heart, or soul . . . . the reason I survived my accident. I love you more than you'll ever know.

Okay, I'm done.

Thanks for taking time to read my post, guys - hope it wasn't too sappy! But, I'm allowed to be emotional once and a while, right? In closing, I've attached a video I took of myself a week after the accident. I meant to send it out back then to thank everyone for their well wishes, but for some reason, didn't. Only 2 people have seen this before so maybe it's right I show it now . . . .

To living life to its fullest with no regrets,
Nova

Little Wins

Coach Lanier used to tell us at the end of every little league baseball game, "You guys did great! You hustled out there! You ran out every ball! You played hard every inning! You should be proud of yourselves for what you've accomplished! You guys got some little wins today!"

And even though we just got slaughtered 18-0, the game ended in the 4th inning due to the "mercy rule", and poor little Colin Herbert got run over by Billy Burton from Holy Name while trying to protect home plate, there was definitely some wisdom in what Coach Lanier said that day many years ago.

How does this apply to today?

I'll get to that soon - just keep reading. But first, let me re-cap what's happened in the last few days.

On Wednesday, we did the 2nd run for solo. The judges had us do a restricted, free program for the solo which meant we were allowed to chose our maneuvers but they could only appear once. (In an announced program of 5 tricks, pilots will typically put "Tumble left, tumble right, assymetric SAT, helico left, helico right" to garner max points but also to cover for deficiencies in their repertoire.)

My program:

1) Tumble - I've been in a groove with this one, getting 180 over the wing every time - got a bad collapse while the wing was underneath me on the 2nd turn but I exited nicely
2) Rhythmic SAT - took a chance with this one and it didn't pay off as I got a nasty collapse which ended in a cravatte. Felix was also having the same problem.
3) Twister - haven't done this one since Paranoia last summer
4) Helico-to-SAT - a staple in my program that I usually do well, but I missed it this time
5) Helico - I used the energy of the SAT to do a Misty Flip that I changed to helico - got the highest points I've every received for a trick (88)

Because I got a horrible score for the Rhythmic and a low score for the Helico-to-SAT, I finished 16th for the day which put me 13th overall.

On Thursday, we had a day off which was welcomed by all of us. I went to see Chad Bastian compete in microlights but totally missed it. Sorry Chad!

That night, we finally got a proper poker game going other than the heads-up game (one-on-one) Pal and I were playing every other day. I knew there were some pilots who wanted to play but I didn't think actually would, so I was surprised when Antoine quietly asked, "Nova, we play tonight?"

When Pal & I got the chips out for the 10E minimum buy-in No Limit Hold 'em micro stakes cash game at the table sat me, Gabor, Felix, Antoine, Horacio, Hernan, (first timer), Cyrille, and Pal. This was a lot of fun and if you must know who won the most, let's just say that Kid Nova made an easy 30 euros. (Gabor actually won the most when he bluffed me out of a big pot . . . . I really hate it when he does that.)

Back to the point of this post.

So what did I accomplish today? What little wins did I get?

Well, macrocosmically (love that word), I took 10th for the day which I'm pretty proud of considering the level. Microcosmically (another word on the love list), it gets better.
My Tumble (88) was only one point below Felix's and I think our SAT-to-Helicos were the same (88). My Twister score (84) was higher than Pal's which just absolutely astounds me. For the first time, I scored at least 80 in 3 tricks. (Scoring in the 80s is really good as one judge told me.) I have so much respect for their acro that for me to be at the same level as them - or beat them! - even for just a few tricks in single run, is absolutely HUGE.

Overall, I finished 13th in solo which was short of my goal of being in the top 10, but I accomplished one unexpected milestone . . . . I've broken the belief barrier on what's possible for me in acro and that I can be a threat in these comps especially for the World Championships in 2010.

Thanks, Coach, wherever you are.

Day 5 - June 10, Wednesday morning

The day started off great as I got a very nice compliment over breakfast from someone whom we all consider the "godfather of acro". Out of nowhere, he said, "I watched your synchro run yesterday and your tumble was beautiful - it looked like how we do it when we make the Infinite." Whoa!

Then, as we watched this tumble on video, he gave me a key tip on how to keep the wing going to infinite which prompted the comp leader to say jokingly, "Man, don't help the enemy!"

Maybe all the practice I make at Mussel Rock, all the money I've spent in towing, and all the time I spend visualizing my tricks is paying off and being noticed by my acro peers?

Lately, my other-than-paragliding-life hasn't been the greatest with many disappointments and heartaches. On this morning, though, I felt absolutely amazing.

Too bad the day didn't end there! : )

WAG 2009 - 1st 4 days

After arriving late on Friday evening on June 4th, Saturday was a day of catching sleep, reacquainting with friends, and realizing I was actually in Italy. So strange this travel thing, isn't it? 18 hours ago, I was saying good bye to my cat, Tama, back home in Pacifica . . . . and now I'm at the Hotel Ninfa in Avigliana, Italy.

Bizarre.

On Saturday evening, we attended the opening ceremony held at the center square of Torino. At first, I had no idea whom I'd walk with as I couldn't find any Americans nearby, but then my Norwegian friend, Pal, grabbed me and said he was standing behind some. So, I ended up walking with Chad Bastian and the rest of the US Microlight team. Having no idea of WAG's publicity, we expected it to be some little procession of air sport athletes grouped by country with some photographers here and there. Surprisingly, there were a LOT of folks watching this ceremony!

The first day of competition on Sunday was an exciting and stressful one for us. It's exciting because it's the first one of the year, but also stressful because we're doing d-bag helicopter launches. (It's also exciting, too.) If you've never done one, just imagine jumping backwards off a helicopter with your wadded up paraglider, stuffed in a manner it wasn't meant to be stuffed, freefalling and waiting for it to open cleanly in a way that it wasn't meant to be opened, hoping that all the lines that just got stuffed don't get tangled, while trying to ignore the very real existence of prop wash, and - oh yeah! - praying that the one reserve you packed will work if it all goes to shit . . . . this is what we get to experience every day!

SWEET!!!!

And oh, don't forget, after all this, we then have to remember our routine and deal with the pressure of performing perfectly (nice alliteration) in a world-class acro competition.

YEAH!!!! I feel very lucky to be here!

With the first solo task on Sunday, the competitors would get an announced run of 5 maneuvers. Here's what I did and the points out of 100 I received:

1) Tumble (76)
2) Helico - left (71)
3) Helico - right (71)
4) Helico-to-SAT (79)
5) Misty Flip (60)

With this, I finished 12th for the day. While not-so great out of 20, considering that 11 of the world's very best acro pilots are here, I'm not-so disappointed with my placement. I think I will replace the Misty Flip w/the SAT-to-Helico as I have the same chance of making it but with a higher difficulty rating. If I can make cleaner runs from here on out and just do what I do, I think I can make the top 10. It's definitely a stretch, but there's a chance. (For general competition coverage, go here.)

Monday's task was cancelled due to rain. For today, Tuesday, I did my first competitive synchro run with my Norwegian friend, Pal Rognoy. It was a great experience since I'm not-so focused on synchro at the moment, but more importantly, it's always good to get another helico drop and practice more acro. Our run was terrible, but I was SUPER happy with my tumble as the entry AND exit was very nice which is another piece in the puzzle that brings me closer to making more tumbles towards the Infinite very soon.

I'll post a video of one of my runs when I get back home as the upload speed for a video 0f 16 seconds - even at 12:40 a.m. - can take 30 minutes. (A video of my run is about 4 min.)

It's late now and we have an early briefing at 9 a.m. to try and get a solo and a synchro run in.

I'll post again soon!

Home sweet home!

Even though I arrived last Wednesday in the midst of a financial collapse and still feeling some jet lag . . . . it's great to be home. Reality's set in, however, as I've been interviewing already and will most likely be working with some company soon that provides SaaS or Web 2.0 technologies. Yeah, I can hear the "ughs", but I'm actually looking forward to getting back to work, believe it or not.

But what a summer I've had, man . . . . too many things to list now but I'll write about them in a future post.

For sure, it was a once in a lifetime experience, as they say, since it's doubtful I'll do it again in 2009.

Thanks to all of you who took the time to read my posts and have encouraged me along the way.

(Don't forget to check the Ozone team blog as I've just put some pics up there, and - yes I know! - I'll put all the good pics on Flickr.)

Special thanks, of course, goes to Ozone for providing the best paragliders on earth, to Coveritallco for giving me THE best travel backpack EVER (http://www.ogio.com/product.php?product=573), and to SFBAPA and Tim Sirianni who both individually contributed to my little trip.

Lastly, I want to thank Ayumi for supporting me and encouraging me to follow my dreams . . . . now it's your turn!



After my last flight in Europe - acro show at Coupe Icare.

Lake Como

Earlier this week, Ayumi and I spent all-day Monday touring all the towns around Lake Como via Ferry, including Bellagio. I've been to a few lakes in Italy and I thought Como would be the same but - I have to say! - there's something definitely special about it. I don't know if it's the history of who used to live there or the present of who lives there now, but it's more beautiful, colorful, and majestic than any lake I've been to.

If you ever come to Northern Italy, you must see Lake Como.

Because I didn't do a great job of arranging a hotel for us (probably b/c they're all ridiculously expensive), we ended up staying in a hostel in Menaggio. Other than the tiny showers and having to share a room with another couple for a night, it was great, cheap, AND had an awesome view.

After dropping off Ayumi at Malpensa the next morning, I headed to Verel/Chambery, France, which is where I am now. I've spent the last 2 days flying w/Lou Marck at Verel - what a great site to train acro. Launch is at 905m and LZ's around 330m - if you can get to 1000-1100m, you'll have enough height to do infinites, which is what these guys do all the time. Then you bench back up using ridge or thermal lift - and this doesn't even include the additional 500 - 600m you'd get off the mountain behind it on the good days!

The lower bench reminds me of Mussel Rock, just 300 m higher . . . . I'll post some pics, along w/a hundred others, when I get home.

I've been at a McDonald's for the last few hours. If there's one good thing about them (at least in France) is that they all have free WiFi, which is great for a loser like me who can't stay disconnected for more than a few days.

Tonight I will head to the Ozone house at St. Hilaire which is where I'll be staying the next 4 nights during Coupe Icare. Even though this is my first time to this most famous flying festival, I'm not entirely excited. While I get to take part (I think) in the acro show they'll have a few hours every day and I'll see the various festivities and manufacturers, l'm NOT looking forward to dealing with so many people for 6 hours/day.

Yeah . . . . I know . . . . what am I crying about, right?

Ciao Interlaken!

Tonight's my last night in my European home-away-from home.

I wish I could say that Interlaken blew me a farewell kiss with great weather the last few days but that definitely wasn't the case. Instead, we got the first "winter storm" of the year with an expected snow level of 1800 meters . . . . that's only 200 meters above Murren where just a few days ago I was launching in a t-shirt and knicker pants!

What the f--k am I still doing here?????

I feel bad for Ayumi. The first part of her vacation here was spectacular and picturesque; however, the second part had her wishing for the warmer weather of northern Pacifica! Yep, it's f--king cold here right now - be thankful you're in 65 degree Bay Area weather.

We're not even supposed to be in Interlaken right now. We were supposed to be in Monte Generoso, CH for an acro training camp over Lake Lugano, which is right on the border to Italy. This was organized by an FAI judge, Claudio Cattaneo, whose trying to give exposure to his site. I was really looking forward to trying some Infinites from the Rhythmic SAT, but because of the forecast for 1200% chance of rain, he had to postpone it for another 2 weeks.

So, Ayumi and I are heading straight to Lake Como tomorrow for a few days, then she leaves on Tuesday morning for SF. After I drop her off at Malapensa airport, I head to France to hopefully fly Verel for a few days with Lou Marck (Cyrille Marck's brother), before going to Coupe Icare.

My trip is coming to an end, and honestly, I'm glad. In fact, I wish I could leave with Ayumi on Tuesday! I'm really tired of camping and not having the comforts that I have at home. In addition, I really miss flying at Mussel Rock! I know that sounds crazy, but even with all the places I've trained at in Europe - and I've been to almost all of the top places! - "The Dumps" is still my favorite!

While I'll never get the height like in Europe, with the exception of Organya, there's no other place where you can fly for 6 hours straight and get 30 - 40 refills in smooth air!

Actually . . . . I'm full of sh*t.

Mussel Rock sucks.

Ciao Interlaken!

Tourist Time!

It's been awhile since I posted last because . . . . well . . . . not much has been happening.

But yesterday, I took the train to Milano to meet up with Ayumi whom I couldn't wait to see again after 3 months of being apart. With only 1 day there (which is more than enough), we had time to see the Duomo and DaVinci's "The Last Supper", with the latter being really cool to see. While I was only there for a day and went solely to these places, this was my first time and last time to Milan . . . . I thought it was pretty dirty and unimpressive.

We took a morning train back to Interlaken which arrived in the afternoon, leaving us enough time to see Grindelwald and visit the happy cows with their big-ass cowbells.

Since the forecast is calling for rain later in the week, we're gonna try and cram in a lot of activities tomorrow starting with the Schilthorn in the morning, some acro flights for me off Murren in the afternoon, then ending the day with a tour of Trummelbachfalle.

As I've mentioned before, my focus has solely been on acro training since being here, so I haven't seen anything. But now that Ayumi's visiting, I get to be a dumb-ass tourist for the first time . . . . yay me!

New Blog

Peeps -

So here's the deal . . . . from now on, I'll be posting all PG-related stuff on Ozone's team blog site - my page is here. Any personal rantings or stuff PG-13 rated (which means any paragliding gripe that a pilot with less than 13 years of experience should hear) that shouldn't go on the company blog will, of course, be posted here.

Thanks for your patronage.
Please call ahead for availability.
Have your passport and boarding pass ready.
Make sure your seat is in the upright position and tray tables locked.
Kokode hatara kasete kudosai.

Back home . . . . kinda.

Yeah . . . . I'm back in Interlaken.

I was supposed to go to Gerlitzen for 6 days to train over water, but I'm no longer going to the Red Bull Dolomitenmann (website may be down) in Lienz, Austria which is only an hour and a half away. Unfortunately, the team organizer had to bow out due to injury. Since Gerlitzen is a 6.5 hour drive from Omegna, it made more sense to come back here and train in Murren where I have pass that I already paid 59CHF for, good 'til early September.

Murren was beautiful the other day - blue skies and all. I started at 10 and did a flight/hour until 4. I started work on my left helicos trying to get the feeling back. I also did the rhythmic on the left side, trying to get the timing down. I've decided to learn/re-learn the infinity by way of the rhythmic SAT, which is really the correct way to do it. On my last flight, I did one on the right and after 4 - 5 rotations, I started to go over the glider a bit but stopped before I started to get into full tumbling since I'm just taking it step-by-step. That evening, Hans, the Swiss Ozone dealer, held his evening acro sessions where you get a ride to Axalp (ski resort), you fly about 2 km and practice over the Brienzer See, then he waits for you in his boat in case you go in the water. (If you've seen the great movie "Play Gravity", the scene where Mathias & Raul are doing a Rodeo Infinity is where I flew. If you haven't seen it, you must!)

I did 2 flights and did more rhythmics, each time able to get the FLX to tumble, but stopping after a few since I don't have the timing yet to transition cleanly to Infinite. This will come but for right now, I'm very happy that I'm getting the timing of the rhythmic itself.

Once I perfect this, the Infinite is sure to come!

It's 12:40 a.m so I'm going to bed. I'll write more about the World Air Games test event and my first helico jump next . . . .

Acroaria - Run 2

I´m in Torino now and took place in the acro paragliding test event for the World Air Games (WAG) 2009. I´ll post more about this next time.

Regarding Acroaria, I did the same exact routine and did slightly better with another clean run. I don´t know how I did for the day, but I`m happy with my overall results. (We only had 2 runs.) I achieved my goal of making the top 20 by finishing exactly 20th! This is a great improvment over my Paranoia results and will certainly boost my FAI ranking. My APWC ranking is 30th, which isn´t too shabby considering this is my first season.

I don´t have a lot of time to post right now as I´m on someone else's computer using their internet time! I`ll post more soon when I find the next internet spot.

I head back to Omegna to get my car, then go to Gerlitzen, Austria to train, at least that's the plan.

Acroaria - Run 1

After 2 days of crappy weather, we finally got to do a solo and synchro run. Besides Vertigo, this is one of most competitive comps of the year as all the best pilots are here, except for a few. Because it's so close to France, all of the best French pilots are here as well as all the Spaniards (i.e., SAT team except for Raul). It's quite impressive to see so many have runs that consist of rhythmic SAT-to-Infinity, helico-to-helico, SAT-to-helico, helico-to-SAT, and then do ground spirals while landing on the raft. These tricks are so difficult to perform under pressure, it's amazing . . . .

As for my run, I was happy with it. I did SAT-helico (yeah - I can do that now), helico, helico-SAT, and misty flip. I scored mid-70s for the first 3 tricks, but got a low score of 66 for the misty. If I made the misty like I usually do, I think I'd be much higher in the standings. One of my goals for this comp is to end up in the top 20 - so far, I'm 20th out of 40 pilots! And if I can do this without ANY dynamic tricks, it'll really be cool!

This season, I haven't practice anything dynamic, like the rhythmic or tumbling. But after this, I go to Gerlitzen, Austria for 6 days to train over the water so - who knows! - I may have the rhythmic to infinity before the summer's over!

Anyways, here's a video of my run:

Leaving for Italy!

The weather was gorgeous today in Interlaken so I got 6 flights at Murren. I got to practice more SAT-to-Helico which I feel I have now since I did 3 in a row. This is important as I abandoned the helico-helico for now and I needed to replace it with another trick with the same difficulty. At Acroaria, we may get to do 5 tricks which means I'll have to one trick on both sides since I'm not doing any dynamic maneuvers in my program. So it looks like I'll just do SAT-to-Helico, Helico-to-SAT, Helico, Misty right, and Misty left - if I do those cleanly and consistently each day, I think I have good chance of placing in the top 20, which is my goal for the comp.

(As a sidenote, since Paranoia, my ranking has gone up to 74th from 97th making me the top-ranked US pilot! WOO-HOO! If I can place in the top 20 in Acroaria, I could break the top 50 in the world - that would be awesome!)

I had a really great practice today. I'm very happy with my helicos since I learned to moderate the rotational speed with the outside break in Organya. While they may be slightly slower, I'm no longer experiencing any oscillations which is typical of helicos that spin too fast. Now I can consistently hold it for 20 - 25 rotations which I was NEVER able to do before. And when they do start to oscillate, I now have the sensitivity on the outside brake to slow the wing down and then speed it up, thus eliminating the problem. (Enleau was teaching me this last year but it wasn't until last week that I REALLY got it.) Now . . . . if I could just get my left helicos back as they've seemed escape me in Organya. Once I start fixing my left side also, I'll be going back to the helico-helico.

On my last run, I did a helico-SAT, then transitioned to SAT-helico, exiting and going to a misty left, then misty-to-helico that was just beautiful - my best one ever - there was no pause, just went right to it. I was super happy with this run so I decided to end practice right there.

I'm back at the Funny Farm now, ready to grab an early dinner at Little Thai, if they're even open this early. I have to say, I've been to many Thai places and this has got to be one of the best EVER. If you come to Interlaken, don't miss this place.

See ya in Italy!

Back at Euro home base

After 17 days in Organya, I'm back to what I consider "home" in Europe . . . . Interlaken. When you've been away from your "real" home for as long as I've been, you need SOME place to call home and I'd say this is it. I know I can easily buy/eat veggie food, where to sleep, where to get on the internet, where to fly, etc.

Seiko and I got back to Annecy after a 10-hour drive from Spain on Saturday night, afterwhich I quickly got my stuff together and took off to meet Arnel, Erik, Antoine, and Arturo in Mens, FR which is southeast from Grenoble. It was REALLY great to see some familiar faces from home, as I've been feeling a bit homesick the last few weeks. While I feel very fortunate to be doing what I'm doing this summer, I'm getting tired of camping - living out of a tent, using communal bathrooms, and sometimes sleeping in my car when putting up the tent isn't practical or possible.



Before leaving for Spain, I spent a night in a friend's room here at the Funny Farm/Mattenhof Resort
where I use the internet all the time. While the room wasn't spectacular, I got to sleep in a bed with a real comforter and a real pillow . . . . it was amazing! Like this, I miss the most basic things from home: laying in my couch, taking a shower in my bathroom, flying at Mussel Rock, driving my car, having toast with margarine, going to King of Thai after flying, sleeping in my bed, holding Ayumi's hand . . . . I've learned to appreciate the most simple things in this trip. While I'm sure upon my return I'll miss Europe, as of today, I'm looking forward to being home.

That said, I plan on doing some training at Murren for the next few days to acclimate myself back to thicker air before heading to Acroaria on Wednesday afternoon. But the weather looks pretty poopy this week here in CH as well as Italy so who knows what will happen. Nevertheless, I will head out there since I have nothing better to do. After Acroaria, I hope to be part of the WAG test event which will be held in Turin, IT. I say "hope" because only a select number of pilots (20 for solo & synchro, I think?) will get to participate based on (order of importance): helico d-bag experience, top 10 finishers in Acroaria, 2008 FAI ranking, fair subdivision among the different countries. Even though I think my chances aren't good, I'm gonna get a d-bag from Pal while I'm here anyways, just in case. Besides, I may have Arnel take me up in a tandem and I'll d-bag at The Dumps which I think would be a first.

You just never know. : )

Organya, Spain

After being here a week and a half, I'd have to say this place hasn't been the most "magical" as advertised. If you're into competitive acro, Organya's is definitely a place to train, but according to other pilots from France and Austria, it's not Shangri-La. One of best French acro pilots is here, and he thinks his site is just as good. Anyways, Organya is located here about 2 hours NW of Barcelona.

Here's my day-to-day:

830 Get up, have breakfast, and go use the internet.
1130 Go back to campsite, hang out with other pilots, read a book, or go to the pool
1500 Lunch
1530 - 1630 Siesta
1645 - 2030 Train acro
2130 - 0030 Go back to campsite, hang out with other pilots, read a book, or party

Repeat

Pretty simple, eh?

Here are the pluses of Organya:

1) about 1000 meters AGL to play with consistently
2) 4 -5 refills an hour
3) the time to fly is always the same
4) many of the best acro pilots to learn from
5) the campsite has free wireless and a swimming pool for 5E/day

And the minuses:

1) training is over the ground, and the ground is hard
2) if you throw your reserve and you aren't far enough away, you'll land in the mountain and that's BAD
2) it's really f-ing hot every day
3) there's NOTHING to do around here other than flying
4) it's a REALLY long drive versus comparable sites in France (10 hours from Annecy, for example)

I haven't been training as hard as I'd like, esp. with the dynamic maneuvers. I was hoping to do more infinity attempts, but I just don't feel comfortable doing it here. So, I'm focusing solely on the SAT/helico, helico/helico, helico/SAT. What I've realized about my acro flying is that I'm a LONG way from where I thought I was, and thinking about doing the Infinite before mastering the above-mentioned tricks is just a joke. Trying the rhythmic is the most I'll be doing.

I think about Seiko, whom I've been camping and hanging out with a lot. She's been flying acro as long as I've been flying, and she's just now learning the rhythmic and tumbling. But, her SAT/helico, helico/helico, helico/SAT are beautiful. In fact, like some of the great pilots here, she can do in 1 continuous run: SAT/helico, helico/helico (3 - 4 times, going back and forth), helico/SAT (other direction).

The 3 other pilots doing this here are all ranked in the top 10. It's simply beautiful to watch.

From what I've seen this summer, we (Americans) aren't even close. IMHO, I'm only the one from the States who's really trying to raise the acro bar and I feel, at times, I'm one of the worst pilots here.

As I sit here in the restaurant, we can see the training box. It's a little too early for most of us to fly (1430 now), but the Spainards, Horatio Llorens and Alejandro Rodriguez, are training. I just watched Horatio, who's the #1 pilot this season, do the following all flawlessly transitioned from one to the next:

Infinite (10 turns)
Helico
SAT
Helico
Helico (left)
Helico (right)

then exited to Misty/Helico.

As I said, we're not even close.

Paranoia Acrobatixx

I'm back in Interlaken after 5 days in Zell am See and the first time I've had internet since leaving a week ago.

The comp was a great experience despite having done completely shitty in it. I don't even know where I placed but I'm sure it's at the bottom. Really f*cking disappointing but I learned a lot AGAIN about competing.

Atypical for an APWC comp was the fact that we got to announce our program for all 4 runs. Here's what I announced and how I did:

Run 1: helico, helico/helico, helico/SAT
I actually nailed all 3 which was very surprising since it was only the 2nd flight after my accident; in fact, the helico-helico was my first try after I crashed trying it the week before. So, on all levels - physical, psychological, emotional - I did a great run but missed the platform. Good enough for 15th overall out of 35 pilots.

But here's when the wheels come off . . . .

Run 2: same program
I get the helico but miss the helico/helico, do a lackluster helico/SAT, and miss the raft. I now drop to 21st.

Run 3: same program
Not only did I miss each trick, but I lost so much altitude that I couldn't even do the last trick! In addition, when I got pulled up onto the boat, I felt something pop/tear on or near that left gluteal which felt tight all week. Did I mention I missed the platform completely? Not only did I have a crappy run, but I'm really hurting as well. As I'm dripping wet, I contemplate quitting the comp and going home. I just really hated being in that town at that moment. I've now dropped to 28th.

But after a good night of drinks, watching the premiere of "Champions Take Nothing", and hanging out with the other pilots in the campsite, I decide to finish what I started despite the pain.

Run 4: tumble - helico - helico/SAT
So I give up on the helico/helico and decide to do something easier with the tumble, but I didn't get it vertical and the exit wasn't clean so I got a low score for that. Fortunately, after the pendulum from the tumble exit I went right into the helico and nailed it. So, I looked forward to ending it w/a very difficult trick that I actually do well - helico/SAT - but I screwed it up w/a bad helico that lead to no SAT, so I got low points for that. And, oh yeah . . . . I missed the platform.

As I think about the week, here are the good points:

- I got to compete in an APWC event against almost all of the best acro pilots in the world
- Despite the low overall finish, I still get APWC points which will hopefully improve my ranking
- I made some new friends in the world acro community and my name is now recognized among the judges
- The experience sets me up for the worlds in 2010

Here's what I need to work on:

- Forget about the Rhythmic or Infinite until I can perfect the helico and all the combos. Not only is this the right way to learn, but it cannot hurt me for competitions. (In fact, SAT/helico was a trick in the compulsory round at this year's Vertigo. Currently, I can't do this trick.)

As a side note, there are a lot of younger acro pilots who can do the Infinite, but can't helico. In fact, some can't even do asymm spirals to pass a safety selection flight! This isn't right. If there are any aspiring acro pilots reading this, take my advice: don't learn this way! Believe me - you won't get the respect that you think you'll get from real acro pilots 'cause we'll just say, "Oh that's cool . . . . but can you helico? On both sides? You can't? Then why are you doing the Infinite?"

I used to think that if you wanted to finish top 5 in an APWC event, you had to do the Infinite. But after seeing Horatio Llorens win both Vertigo and Paranoia this year w/no infinite (in comps, he just tumbles and does the helico tricks perfect), I no longer believe this. While you definitely need to do some high-coefficient tricks, they need to be completely clean and as close as possible to what the judges want. Being radical and hard core neither garners respect nor points.

Because of this realization, I've decided to take a road trip with my new Japanese friend ('cause I get to speak nihongo w/her), Seiko, to Organya, Spain for 3 weeks train my ass off for Acroaria in mid-August. This is a legendary training spot of the SAT brothers, and the place where the best acro pilots have trained many times in their career. Called the "Magic Mountain", it's too hot and thermic to fly before 4, but after . . . . it's 4 -5 hours of smooth refills with a working altitude of 1000 meters. Even though it's over ground, this is what acro pilots dream of. In addition, the campsite has a swimming pool and free wifi, all for 5E a day!

Despite my injury, I'm so f*cking excited to go. Not only will I learn from all the great pilots who'll be there, but I know I'll be getting to higher levels in my acro flying.

See ya in Espana!

Off to Austria

Tomorrow morning I head to Zell am See for Paranoia Acrobatixx which will be my first Aerobatic Paragliding World Championship (APWC) event. (Vertigo should've been my first . . . . yeah, still pissed about that.)

After 3 straight days of rain, it's finally gonna be clear tomorrow so I hope to get out to Murren early and get some flights before facing the 6-hour drive. This is crucial since it'll be my first flight since the accident as I really didn't want the 1st run in Austria to be it!

Regarding the accident, I'm almost 100% except for some tightness in my left gluteal. After looking at my harness and jacket, and feeling where it hurts on my body, I clearly landed perfectly flat on my leftside, which obviously dissipated the impact energy evenly, making it the only way to avoid breaking anything (except my sunglasses).

Geezus. If it wasn't for hanging solely on my right carabiner as I fell, I'd be in a body cast for sure.

My FLX didn't go unscathed either; it suffered a tear which I quickly had the Swiss Ozone importer repair. He and his wife have a great business JUST selling Ozone wings and doing repairs. Amazing.

Every night in Interlaken, I come to the Funny Farm which is part of the Mattenhof Resort to use their free wifi and basically hang out since it's warm in here and not-so in my tent. If you didn't already know (I didn't before I got here two weeks ago), Interlaken is the extreme sports capital of Europe where a tourist can try paragliding, hanggliding, canyoning, river rafting, skydiving, and zorbing in the summer. The town is just full of American college students who are traveling throughout Europe in an urban backpacking trip.

It's pretty scary.

But the money you can make off these kids is phenomenal. One of my friends here, Sebastian, has been doing PG tandems since last summer. If he hustles and averages 4 tandems/day (VERY conservative number) during this time (3 -4 month period), he can take the rest of the year off and travel. Can you imagine?

While you won't get rich and receive any stock options, it sure sounds better than a cube job, eh? But before any of you T3s get any funny ideas and quit your day job, go get at least 2500 tandem flights, and maybe - just maybe! - your T3 will be transferable. But I seriously doubt it. The requirements to get a coveted Swiss tandem license make the USHPA ones look like 3rd grade.

That said, there are some major business opportunities in Interlaken if you can create something for them to do when it rains . . . . or anything involving a certain green plant.

See you guys next when I'm in Austria!

I'm a Luckbox*

*Luckbox - "A person so full of luck in poker that it is disgusting and ridiculous. There is surely some skill involved, but a luckbox will demonstrate more luck mixed in with that skill than any other player.....ever......in the history of the world......even more than Chris Moneymaker, which is just absurd."
- Urban dictionary

The weather was gorgeous today so I got to Murren early to start training before Paranoia Acrobatixx starts in a week. I was really motivated to get a lot of flights so I hustled from the beginning to do 2 flights an hour. (Usually, you'll get a flight an hour as the gondola runs at :25 after the hour, then 30 min. later at :55.) Since the flight lasts about 3 - 4 minutes (like a tow), it's possible to do this.

After practicing some real basic stuff like asym sprials and dynamic full stalls, I decided to practice the run I'd do at Paranoia: tumble, helico - helico, helico - SAT. At this comp, we won't get much height - maybe 500 meters? - so we'll only have room for 3 tricks.

On my fifth flight, I go for a high tumble. Because my entry was either too slow or I didn't pull enough, the wing went limp after the second turn, causing the left side to collapse into the lines causing a line over/bowtie. Having seen this before over the lake, I knew it wasn't correctable so I decided to throw my reserve before things got ugly. The reserve opened just fine as I began to pull the wing in. Although I landed hard, thanks to the PLF, I landed perfectly, dissipating the energy across my body, in one of the grass fields without a scratch. I folded up my wing, stuffed the reserve in the harness, and walked back to my car. Because I was trying out my friend's harness, I simply put his in the car, grabbed my own harness and was on the next gondola 30 minutes later. For me, it's important to get right back "on the horse" so I don't experience "paralysis by analysis". It happened, I learned from it, so move on . . . .

Skip forward 2 flights.

The flight after the reserve toss was pretty eventful, so on the next one, I was gonna try my routine again, sans the tumble. So, it was just gonna be the helico - helico (twister)and helico - SAT. Although I just started nailing the twister earlier in the week, I wanted to get it cleaner and also incorporate it into an actual run.

I start my run around 700 meters or so. The left helico was perfect - going fast, no oscillations, and completely open. I slowed the right side down after 6 - 7 rotations, and held the wing in parachutal, preparing it to go the other way. However, I did this for too long which will make the wing want to re-start VERY hard. (On an acro glider, if you aren't ready for it, this can be very bad.)

Because I gave the wing too much "re-start power", the left side spun super-fast when I let it fly - so much so that my body couldn't follow thereby causing - in 2 seconds! - 2 riser twists. Now this isn't so bad as I'd simply take my hands out of the toggles and get control of the glider using the rear risers (the PG adage "steer then clear" is good to remember) before the wing starts to wind up in a deep spiral dive. But as soon as I started to do this, the wing suddenly shot out in front of me (in a 2nd re-start?) causing a severe collapse on the left wing tip - or should I say the ENTIRE left side! - so severe that as my falling body passed by the wing, I got caught in the lines.

"Oh Shit!" (OS!) #1: I'm now partially covered in lines, leaned entirely on the left side, and starting to spin uncontrollably. (I don't think I was spiraling because the wing was on top of me the whole time - it started spinning to the left faster and faster.)

OS! moment #2: I go for my right reserve but realize that there are lines covering it. Somehow I get the reserve out of the container but it doesn't fully come out. My guess is because of the lines. I never saw it deploy.

OS! moment #3: Not seeing any good results from OS moment #2, I go for my 2nd reserve which is now underneath me. Because that side isn't covered in lines, I'm able to pull the reserve and it comes out of the container, but it doesn't deploy right away! Somehow, even though I'm spinning uncontrollably, I look up and the see the d-bag with my last reserve floating above me. As any reasonable person would do after having experienced 3 consecutive OS moments, I tugged the F*CK out of the lines to get the reserve out and - VOILA! - it began to open up.

WHEW moment #1: The reserve starts to inflate and I'm elated . . . . but this lasts for 2 seconds.

OS! moment #4: Because I'm spinning so fast and didn't have enough time to pull the wing in, it starts wrapping around the reserve which is just starting to inflate.

OS! moment #5: My last reserve can't inflate. Realizing this, I do my best to somehow unwrap the reserve from the wing. While obviously a desperate measure, I needed to do something.

OS! moment #6: Desperate measure doesn't work. I'm now spinning to the ground with only the hope that whatever part of the wing and whatever part of the reserve that are opened will somehow slow my descent.

OS! moment #7: I'm somehow able to make out that I'll be falling close to a house and hoping that the valley wind will somehow push me away from it.

After seven (7) OS! moments, I hit the ground, unsure of whether or not I PLF'ed, thankful that I missed the house . . . . by 3 meters. As I write this, I have no idea how I landed. All I know is that I landed "perfectly", as you'll soon read.

From all this, after having been checked out by a doctor for any back or spinal injury, I walk away with only a concussion, a bruised left eye, some sore back muscles, and a cut on my right pinkie caused by the one of the lines. I'm grateful that all I have to face is 2 days of painful rest.

Consider that a real WHEW moment.

I want to thank some of the local pilots whose names escape me at the moment for their help in folding my wing and gathering the reserves, driving my car to the hospital, then giving me a ride home.

What I've learned from this is simple . . . . I should take all the money I have and play in as many lotteries as possible in as many countries that have them.

Being the luckbox that I am, there's no doubt I will win every one.

Nissan Outdoor Games

Last night they premiered all the teams' movies and photographs to an audience of around 1500 in Interlaken.

4 movies were shown and I must say, most of them were professionally done and very impressive. I was on Team IBEX and although our film,"The Red Helmet", didn't have the most amazing action sequences for some of the individual sports - paragliding was quite short! - I feel our movie was BY FAR the best . . . . and most emotional as you'll see.

It's been an awesome 5 days and I feel very privileged and proud to have been a part of it. There was a lot of hard work, frustration, respect, elation, fun, and tragedy felt by everyone and I hope that I'll get the chance to do it again in future.

I'll post some pics as well.

Note: When you go to the site and pick "videos", a player will automatically come on your screen and start showing the different teams' films. You'll know which one you're watching by looking on the bottom left.

Please enjoy them!