Day 2 - Task 2 - World Championships

Task 2 - 185.3km with a dogleg at LaMesa and then a 114 km leg to the north northeast to Crosby

3 Brits in Goal today.

We took the first start with a lot of others – it was a bit of a zoo to start with but pilots soon started falling out and getting left behind. It was not too bad up to the first turn point and then all went green and sticky - we were nearly down at one point and after a climb out from 500' we stayed high working all the 1s and ½s - Hans the German pilot was with us, Fabien from France, Atilla and Gary (don’t know who the other guys were). It was really nice to work as a team today. Atilla was the guy pulling us along most of the time. After yesterday I was cautious so didn’t want to push too hard and go down.

The Brits are winning after today!

Aeros Boys in Goal (Gary and I were 1 second apart)

Attila - First in

Me - all sweaty!
Best Little Airport - goal


Team GB results:
4 - GW 931
5 - RL 925
13 - CW 848
39 - RH 503
51 - DM 391
85 - BK 206

Check out Jamie's daily goal reports CLICK
Official scoring at the Oz Report CLICK

Random Pics

The Launch Line


Chief launch line dude Drew looking as cool as ever


Steve Kroop "AKA Flytec" as always with a smile on his face and enjoying the vibe


We were guessing that this was a prison helicopter due to it having a steel side on it with a little hatch that landed during the first briefing?


Robin Hamilton chilling out after de rigging at goal


Exhausted and Sweaty


The ladies who are looking after us every morning at breakfast- cooking the Texas waffles!


There are some prairie dogs in this pic honest but when you get close they do a runner!


The Goal Field Chicks


The Italian 'ground crew' - Elio Cataldi's family

Day 1 - Task 1 - World Championships

Task 1 - 143.3km north – no turnpoints.

Good effort from the Brit team with all six of us in goal.

It was a long hard task today for those of us that took the early start gate – Kevin Carter and myself struggled together for ages!

We stopped on the way back from goal for something to eat in a 'dry county' (no beer!!) and I got talking to a young chick that had ripped jeans on we were instantly acquainted because my ¾ pants were ripped also! After a chat about the worlds and where we were from I sat back at the table with the boys. She then came back and gave me her CD! Carl’s eyes nearly fell out of their sockets, Bruce started to drool and Dave just held his mouth open:-) She is a country and rock singer and a very good one too as we found out on the way back when we listened to the CD. I was a little tired so didn’t think to get a pic - she will probably be coming to Big Spring to check it out so shall get a pic then.

Team GB results:
4 - CW 967
13 - RH 919
22 - DM 898
31 - GW 858
50 - BK 657
53 - RL 635

Check out Jamie's daily goal reports CLICK
Official scoring at the Oz Report CLICK

Practice Day 2 & Opening Ceremony

Its the 2nd and final practice day today - I decide to chill, 'tweak' my glider and do a bit of blogging!

Will 13 be lucky for me?..... just kidding I'm Pilot No 31



OPENING CEREMONY - Theme Song of the 2007 Worlds - CLICK

Team GB : Back Row L-R: Richard Lovelace, Carl Wallbank. Front Row L-R: Robin Hamilton, Gary Wirdnam, Dave Matthews, Bruce Kavanagh

The Candians - Check out their blog HERE

Primoz from Slovenia - he's the lone team member

Practice Day 1 - World Championships, Texas

It was the first practice day today and there are slippery suckers to watch out for!

The local ranger caught this one


Its very hot and a little bit windy – a small 70km task is set. This proved to be a good but hard task with only 8 of us making it.

I was hoping to buy a new Canon Powershot G7 camera in Texas as the $ is so good but so far we cannot find a dealer that will ship it to anywhere other than a home address! Thanks to Jamie for trying and being willing to use her US credit card to pay for it. Check out Jamie's blog HERE

How many gliders can fit in a hanger?

Leakey - Texas Open 3-5 August

The Texas Open - The National Fly-In held 3-5 August at the Real Co Airport, Leakey, Texas.

30 odd 'Worlds' pilots registered and we were hoping to get in a few days of practice prior to the Worlds.

It was great to get my girl rigged and back together and have a couple of flights.... the weather wasn't very good unfortunately and the scoring system let us down but we had a good time.

My trusty union flag tent was yet again used in anger as we 'wild' camped at Leakey by the river which was also my bath/shower for a few days.



I shared my wash room with a cow!



Now this is a proper bbq

Yep! You've been K9nd

I've arrived!


The little pesky K9's at Dallas airport sniffed something in my rucksack so all my kit was taken for a search with the only rude person I have met so far in Texas. This was the guard that said "Yep-you been K9nd-turn left room 1!" The door was at right angles to the hall which was only 6 foot across! He insisted that I take my kit through this door. After 5 minutes of trying to be nice (after 36 hours travelling) I explained in a loud voice that it was not made of rubber and didn’t **** bend! This worked and I went in the back way..........nothing was found... other than a peach. So I was K9nd for a piece of fruit!

As arranged I met up with Kiwi Jon at the airport and after collecting our PT Cruiser (in cream!) and Jon's glider....still in it's box.....we hit the road heading for Leakey.

The road to Texas

The train that passed my signal box just as I was about to leave work ~ thanks to my boss Alan for coming in to take over an hour early so I could leave in good time to catch my Channel Tunnel crossing before the m25 became a car park!



A round hot air balloon near the Channel Tunnel.



A fantastic sky on the way down south – this was the view full length of the country. It became bluer the nearer the south coast I got.



The Channel Tunnel train that took me on my journey. Thank God they don’t charge for a big carriage if you have any legal size load on your roof.





My little trolley which I used to carry all my kit – it worked well but was a nightmare on the escalators of which there are many in Frankfurt airport - everything had to be decanted.



Lufthansa were great and didn't even blink when they saw the glider and all arrived safe.

The car is packed!

Bobbie is not happy that I'm leaving her. If she had five fingers I know which one would be up!



My girl is short packed and ready to be popped on the roof of my car at 0545 in the morning! I have to work the morning shift but will be leaving York heading for Texas just after lunchtime tomorrow – probably around 1pm.



Again I have a long journey ahead of me as I have a 5 hour drive to the South Coast where I catch the Euro Tunnel than a further long drive to Frankfurt Int to catch the plane – it would be so much easier if the UK carriers welcomed hang gliders, but that’s another story.

Travelling alone isn’t going to be much fun, especially when I’ve got all the kit to carry and no one to watch over it or help. Hopefully, the trolley that I’ve manufactured to carry all the kit from the car to the airport terminal will work out well. I’ve incorporated the glider-rider frame and used micro scooter wheels (a mod of a kayak trolley) – all lightweight so its shouldn’t bump the baggage allowance up (too much).

Looking forward to meeting up with Kiwi Jon at Dallas Fort Worth and we are heading off to Leakey together – should be fun, if the weather improves! I hear the UK is not the only country on ‘flood’ alert at the moment.

A view I shall be leaving behind me - The Scarborough Spa Express, passing my signal box. I'm missing a ride on the footplate whilst in Texas.



Is Butler too cool to care?

Bad weather and a little flying

The weather at home has been awful - I've only managed a couple of flights since returning from Canada. One at my 'local' site Sutton Bank. The guy in the distance is Gary Wirdnam, fellow Worlds team member on a borrowed Oleg Racer as his new Combat is short packed ready to go to Texas.

I had an interesting drive to work the other day. This is the road to work which turned into a river!! We had to stop the trains running later on in the day due to flooding on the line. Sorry about the picture quality the picture was taken on my crappy crappy phone.......