Chelle's blog

I fought the hill... and -I- won!!!

Chelle — Mon, 10 May 2010 11:22:02 GMT

[ Mood: Happy ]
So Saturday we were going to out with the beginners group, but it had a few more people than planned and we decided to hold off till Sunday.

Sunday we head out, and there were 3 of us on our glider. Woooooooooooo!

....Except we also just happen to be going to the hill that I had my wierd irrational fear about..

I felt a little unsteady, but I suited up and passed my turn a few times for the boys to practice, as the wind was coming up pretty good and I wanted to wait and work up the nerve anyhow.

After about half an hour I decided to just bite it and go.

So I went to the top of the hill, hooked in, and just stood there.

Then I moved about 5 feet lower down the hill.

And stood there.

One of the amazing instructors for Muller Windsports that had been out a few weekends came over to me and gave me a "pep talk", made me remember to breathe, and basically while he was mid-sentence I picked up my glider, balanced it in about 2.4 seconds, and bolted down the hill-

AND FLEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, I screamed like a banshee, and by the time I made it to the bottom of the hill and landed in an ineligant tummy-slide I was laughing hysterically.

The next time I went up to the top of the hill I picked up the glider, felt a couple wind gusts, and decided to defect that turn to the boys.

BUT- the next 2 turns (which ended up being the last ones) I took, bolted, tummy-slid, and laughed my terrified ass off!!!

So now that I can run down a hill - next time I can work on pushing out a LITTLE later to hopefully land on my feet and not lying down

Thank you SO much to the amazing advice and confidence from Judy, Helen, and Red.

Judy and Helen - you ladies are an absolute inspiration to me. Everything you have told me has helped me tremendously, and knowing it's okay to be nervous and safety conscious is amazing.

I also put my name on the tandem list for Mount 7 out in Golden, BC.

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! Hahahahahaaaaaaa.

It's kind of nice though that 3 of the 5 instructors that do the tandems out there have been instructors in our groups, so there is familiarity and I have absolute and total confidence in their phenomenal abilities.

Intermediate course is it June.. Dun dun DUNNNNN!

And untill then, every second weekend I'll out hitting the hill over and over practicing!

Woooooooooooo!!!

Chelle — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 18:27:07 GMT

[ Mood: Silly ]
Well, in the nature of things, yesterday we had amazing weather (albeit a wee chilly) and today dumped snow. Literally - like 5 inches.

Saturday we went to the training hill, and interestingly enough I apparently developed a strange, irrational fear in the past week.

No idea where it came from, but as soon as I hooked in on the hill I got ridiculously nervous!

So after forcing myself to do a few runs part way down the hill, I discovered I was scared not of the hill, but of my own actions (or more reactions) and the competancy of them.

Strangely enough I nailed all the runs I did, got my best flares yet, had really great balancing, and got told by our Yoda of the Hang Gliding World Instructer that I had great technique and ground handling.

So now a new challenge - how to convince myself that my own reaction time and decisions are trustworthy and I can actually do this.

Very strange...

So on one hand all the advice paid off and my technique improved leaps and bounds - now I apparently have a wierd mental block I need to overcome.

And I thought practicing flaring would be my hardest challenge Oh how little I knew... haha

Today we got our snow dump so HG was cancelled, but I do beleive there's another practice in 2 weeks.

Wooo Wooooooo!!!!

So it means I have 2 weeks to wrap my head around this one and try and find a way to conquer it.....

Or at least a plan of attack

One More Day....

Chelle — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:56:58 GMT

[ Mood: Hypnotized ]
[ Currently: Working ]
So tomorrow will be practice #2.

Thankfully from the week I've been on the forums I have learned many MANY valuable lessons and have had some amazing advice from some fantastic pilots.

Tomorrow we'll see how the transition from knowledge to remembering it in my dash down the hill transpires.

It was originally forcasted to be a balmy +15C this weekend, and that has changed to high of +4 with chance of snow.

Woo hooo! Yaaaaaaaaaaay Canada, Eh!

Good thing we went last time and bought thermal undies - I definitely envy those of you in the states that have no need of them

Just have to remember to prep-talk...
-Let the glider fly itself, it was made to do it
-Flaring is tricky, but had some great advice to push "behind" you, and hopefully that'll do the trick
-NOOOOOO death grips - I am not strangling the down tubes
-Get a secure stance when balancing: I have feeling this one will come in real handy
-Try not to eat it (again)

Hopefully the combination of all those things (and I'm sure the bunch I forgot) will help me get off the ground this weekend.

I'm very lucky that our instructors are awesome and really truly do seem like jedi's of the HG world.

Not to mention 1 sounds like Arnold Swartzeneggar, and that's pretty rad

Thanks again for everything that took the time to read my questions and better yet answer them.

Y'all really do have a fantastic group here

Here's hoping!

Keep your fingers crossed for me...

First Beginner Lesson

Chelle — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 23:46:57 GMT

[ Mood: In Love ]
Well it was actually last weekend, but regardless, should probably start from the beginning.

Never blogged and completely new to HG, so be patient and go easy

I started a post looking for advice because my first go on the "bunny hill" for beginners was a wee challenging.

And by challenging I mean I bailed / ate it ..... a lot, haha.

Had a great time doing it though, and I am too stubborn to give up.

Thankfully for this site I got some amazing advice and I'm really hoping this weekend (try #2) on the training "hill", and I am bound, set, and determined that this weekend will go better than the last.

I also went out to watch some gliders tow and I am hooked - absolutely hooked and mesmerized by seeing them in the air.

It absolutely and completely fascinates and amazes me.

Well until next time with hopefully good news to report - Same Bat time, same Bat Channel.