A Plague of Locusts

That’s what Heather figures we will have tomorrow. A meet director has a thankless job at the best of times, but this has been a comp to test the best. So far we have had just one task. Everything from smoke, wind, fire bans, thick overcast, and today, rain has canceled the flying. There are only two days left and tempers are wearing thin. Many pilots have already left, and if we don’t fly tomorrow I’m sure many more will follow. I even considered leaving, but the current trough of slow moving low pressure would probably just follow me wherever I go. I’m better off to sit tight and let it pass and maybe get in some flying after the comp. It is such a contrast to the great weather that we had at Forbes, and a reminder that a large part of a great flight is luck at getting great conditions.

After the task was cancelled this afternoon I headed back to the caravan park to settle in with the computer. Jeff Remple, a pilot from Canada, was on to my plan and stopped by to tell me he was going to go and rent a bike and ride up to the ski area at Falls Creek. “That’s nice, have fun.” I was planning on cultivating a good crop of lethargy. It soon became clear, however, that part of Jeff’s plan was that I was coming along. Well, with some effort he shamed me into going to the bike shop and soon we were getting fitted with rental bikes. Somehow he ended up with the one with all the gears. Falls Creek is 30km up the road, and when I say up I mean UP. It’s a steady climb the whole way on a twisty mountain road. We each had on shorts and cotton t-shirts and had one bottle of water along. I had already driven up to Falls Creek so I knew what the road was like. I was fairly sure we wouldn’t go the whole way. What I hadn’t counted on was that Jeff is much like me, and once we started there was no turning back. About 20km into the ride it started to rain, then a few km up the road we were both out of water. Fortunately Andrew and Anna came by and filled our water bottles, which is probably the only reason we made it to the top. Once there we were exhausted and drenched. It was after 6pm by this time, and we knew we would probably miss the dinner at the Cricket Club, so we hunted down a café where we got a superb hot chocolate and a porter house steak. We were still soaking wet when we finished and I knew it was going to be a cold and uncomfortable ride down the hill. When the proprietor asked if we wanted anything else, I took a long shot and said “You don’t happen to have T-shirts for sale do you?” Well she didn’t, but she loaned us a couple of staff uniform shirts. Nothing has ever felt so warm and cozy. We had an exhilarating glide down the hill, and rolled into town just about sunset. The warm shower felt great, and we stopped by Andrew and Anna’s campsite to thank them for the refreshment and ended up staying for drinks and conversation, culminating with an invitation to come by their place and go flying on the way to Manilla. It’s now on my calendar.

I’ve added a link on the right to some picture taken at the Forbes Comp by a local photographer. There are a few of me in there, including a couple on tow launching out of the cart. Look for a grey black and blue glider and a black helmet and black harness with a red stripe.