Vienticinco

Uvia. Rain. We all woke to a solid rain shower today and we ate breakfast as usual but delayed or departure by one hour. 

Brad sporting a Niviuk umbrella. I want!

I remained optimistic and told everyone that we were going up the hill, and would likely fly. 

The road was muddy but the drivers got us all to the top. 

The sky was filled with all kinds of clouds. It was really beautiful. It took a long wait in clouds and even a sprinkle on launch. 

The groomers seemed unaffected today. 

Farmer brought the flag used at the world championships as a patriotic wind indicator. It was really nice. 

Impromtu discussions broke out for the wait. 

Bradley with Christian waiting to launch. 

Rob Sporrer discussing the day. 

John and Marge chillin in the cloud. 

Eventually most everyone launched except John, who opted to pack up and ride the Cipri down. A good call. It never makes sense to ignore your gut. I was feeling great, and I launched last. 

Unfortunately I had an invisible knot in my upper left brake lines that included A and B lines as well. Ugh. I was able to hold my heading with considerable opposite weight shift and brake input, and quickly assessed whether or not I could make the LZ with such a mess in my lines above me. As I flew away towards the house thermal that was completely shaded, I found that I was going up in smooth steady lift nearly to cloud as I held a steady course until I had plenty of altitude to work the problem safely. I opted to fly all the way out to the Oscar's LZ so if I accidently made it worse, I would still be over a safe place to land. Eventually I pulled hard enough that the fragile upper brake line broke, releasing the other tangled lines. Sweet. Now I could go fly. Farmer, Brian, Jef, Rob and I scratched around in light lift near Oscar's until we all ended up landing there. We all would easily make it to the landing there so with the light lift we all tried to stay up as long as we could. 

Most everyone landed at Oscars and I had some local kids help me pack. They liked my hat. 

Back at the hotel I was able to replace my upper brake line that broke with an extra one (from my spare line set I brought down with me) and reassemble everything inside of 30 minutes. 

Hugh was the only one in my group to really seize the day and landed in Zarsal. Well done! 

It wasn't an easy or perfect day, but it had merit. I think it was hard for everyone to see the day change so dramatically for the better, albeit less than ideal. It certainly gave everyone more experience, and we all landed safely.   Well, almost. A hard landing injured the wrist of our Canadian pilot. 

Dorian at the radiology dept in La Union. 

No stranger to injury, it was more impressive to see the previously installed hardware in Dorian's hand than the alleged fracture that Christian supposed existed there. $35 USD and 30 minutes later, we were back at Casa Blanca.  With a DVD of the X-rays. Cool!

5:30 came quickly and Rob Sporrer gave an excellent talk on risk management. 

Tomorrow I give my talk, and it will likely encompass elements of hydration and inflight urination, but will focus more on the talk I gave last year, which had more to do with planning, preparation, goal setting, in addition to having a positive can-do attitude. The psychology of paragliding is really a powerful aspect that I think many don't give enough attention to. Henry Ford once said:

"If you think you can or cannot achieve something, in either case you are probably right."

Our groups have had great energy and super attitudes this far, but it is easy to let our inner dialogue derail our potential for success. I hope I can give everyone permission to be patient and understanding with themselves and empower all of them to take charge of how they think and feel. 

I had a great chat with my family late last night thanks to FaceTime on my iPhone (audio only) and the weak WIFI here at the hotel.  It was really great to hear everyone's voices. I miss everyone and look forward to being home in a week and a half. In the mean time, they seem to be doing really well, and I am having the time of my life. 

Missing you all,

Martín