Doesn't matter where in the world I go, I always end up gliding. I'm incredibly privileged to be able to see the various countries from a completely different perspective. Canada is no different.
So Saturday came and we're ready to rock. Got up early and headed out to the CuNim Gliding club, about an hour out of Calgary. This is where Chris fly's from and I was pretty excited as we'd spent the previous evening talking about the different flying conditions in Canada, and hearing all the stories of smashing out big tasks in weather similar to South Africa or Australia. I was pretty stoked.
We got the kit ready and were airborne in an hour of arrival. The views!!! Looking over to the West you can see the Rockies, to the East the Skyscrapers of Calgary and the flat plains that go all the way to the centre of the continent. Mind blowing.
I did the launch and the rotor from the wave coming off the mountains was still pretty turbulent. Added to the pretty strong wind, found the lift to be strong but we were constantly being blown south, away from the airfield. Once established I passed the controls over to Chris, as I wanted to enjoy the views and take some photos. I was having a great time, see face below.
It was at this point that Chris mentioned he wanted to head south so we could climb higher... something to do with the airspace. I was like... "you sure?, it's quite windy", but this guy is National Champ, what could go wrong? Well to give the guy credit, trying to thermal away from 300ft on top of a hill in the middle of Canada, whilst being blown further and further away from decent field options, haha comedy.
I mean, I actually quite like landouts, it adds to the adventure and the whole point of gliding to me is to go out, mess around in the conditions and soar. Granted this can go wrong and we probably should have kept closer to the airfield, but this was an adventure.
The field was good, the farmer was super nice and we even had a visit from some rather inquisitive hoofed friends.
An hour later, help had arrived and we were back in time for beers at the club. Pretty good day really.
NB: I should also mention that after the flight we had to go to a childrens halloween party... for the sake of not being on a register, it was actually Chris's partner (Denise) who invited us. A quick stop off at a thrift shop, these places are incredible, and we were good to go. All I can say is, being British and dressed as a pirate went down very well with the cougars.
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