Maurita's Birthday Tandems

Click image for more pics!Flying Party of Three

Paul, Romain, and I met up with birthday girl Maurita and her compatriots, Chrys and Gagan, just before noon on what turned out to be one of our hottest days of the summer thus far.

Paul was first off the mountain and it wasn't long before he showed his experience, getting up over the lookout quickly in challenging conditions.

Maurita and I then set up and did a good amount of 'parawaiting' in the heat before finally getting a launchable cycle of wind - just as we were about to pack up. Once we got to the cliffs, she pointed up at Paul and said, "Look at him! Can we get that high?!"

I told her I'd give it my best effort and we eventually scratched our way up to Paul.
Maurita had been on a tandem flight before in South Africa and she commented at this point on how much longer this flight was. As a pilot I always try to give my passengers as good a flight as possible but I can't guarantee a specific length or height of a flight (I wish I could!).

Maurita and I ended up having to do a lot of turns in quick succession and, as occasionally happens, she started feeling a bit motion sick so we headed away from the mountain to land.

Here's a video taken during Maurita's flight:

Back on the ground, we set her up under the shade of the Garry oaks with some water and snacks. Romain then arrived with the van and up we went for Chrys' flight. The cycles were more consistent on takeoff this time and Chrys did a great job launching with me. Way to go Chrys! We eventually flew down to find that the Fulford wind had starting kicking in which allowed for an easy 'hover-down' landing.

Paul had just landed before us after clocking nearly 2hours airtime, reporting that he had to work pretty hard to stay up.

With the Fulford wind strengthening, we decided against Maxwell for Gagan's tandem, instead choosing to have a look at the launch on Bruce Peak.

It wasn't long before we found ourselves greeted with a steady wind blowing in on top of Bruce. "Let's fly!" I said to Gagan and we got set up and ready to go. We inflated the glider nicely on our first attempt and Gagan was soon running on air!

Conditions were pretty buoyant as we cruised down into the valley, arriving over the landing zone with plenty of height. And, like Chrys' flight, the wind allowed for a nice, soft landing.

Here's a video taken during Gagan's flight:

Great spending the day with a fun crew of people.

Happy Birthday Maurita!