Hawaii

Hawaii is one of those places I've always meant to visit and never have. Less than 10 hours after finishing up the Canadian Nationals was on a jet to Hawaii, and then spent a week there on a film job with a good crew from Impossible Pictures. The whole experience was a great--if fast-paced--time. Scuba diving (first time with an "Aga" mask), climbing waterfalls (not the frozen kind), ocean kayaking, paragliding (a big thanks to the Oahu pilots for all their help!) and some mountain biking to round it all off. We were only on the big island and Oahu unfortunately, but it was one of those full-bore trips that seem a lot longer than a week. Hawaii is an amazingly diverse place, and I only saw two islands and not even close to all of them. So much in such a small space... I hope my next trip will run at a slightly more relaxed pace with more time to dig into the islands, there's a lot to see and do besides sit on the beach.

-San Francisco Airport lounge.

Canadian Paragliding Nationals

We had a really fun event off of Mt. Seven, it brought back meets
from yesteryear. Sixty five competitors, six tasks in seven days, and
minimal injuries. I'd like to thank everyone involved in the event
one way or another, especially Ross, Dale, Lucille, Devon, Caroline,
Nancy (and everyone else back in the kitchen) and all the drivers and
volunteers, who were many. Then there was our Australian Army
Logistics Team, David and Lee, who really made a messy situation flow
well. As always Vincene was everywhere she needed to be, thanks. The
meet would not have worked without all the sudden help from many
unexpected directions at key moments. I've done some meets outside of
Canada recently that sometimes made me question why I fly in comps;
this meet was the opposite of that thanks to everyone who helped make
the vibe what it was. I've already received a stack of emails from
competitors around the world saying they want to do it again next
year, mainly due to the fun atmosphere everyone "local" helped
create. It's way too soon to think about next year (biannual?), but
it was fun to share Golden with both old and new friends.

A special thanks to John and Cathy-Anne for creating GEAR. Without
their vision we wouldn't have such an absolutely incredible place to
base from in so many ways.

Also thank to Keith, Nicole, and Bill for their efforts, the
"Collective" continued to work. And thanks to the free flying HG and
PG pilots who worked with our launch windows and the parking. I know
setting up an HG in the dust isn't great, but by keeping the parking
area free of vehicles we at least had enough room for everyone to set
up and get off the hill. I was told there had been some bad politics
with parking on top in the past, but we had no issues until the last
day and even then it was pretty minor. Thanks.

Finally, congratulations to Keith and Nicole for the very solid
flying that led to their new titles as Canadian National Paragliding
Champions. Results will be up shortly...

Best of luck to the Hang Gliding Worlds Team in Texas!

WG