Naughty boy -

How is that for a change.I've been a bit sick the last few days (a cold) and did not go to work. Today I feel much better and my son tried his best to get me out of the bed to go paragliding with him on a nearby hill. He regularely watches all my paragliding DVD's, over and over again - now that's what I call, dedication to the sport :-) I wished his mother shared the same feeling.

99 Air Balloones

While on my short vacation I went to see my friend Kobus in Bethleem (South Africa). Because of the favorable geographical location (1500m + above see level) and mild wind, every year the aeronauts have a competition. I missed the comp but I still enjoyed nice views like this one during the pre competition training.

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Marina & Michael

This pic was taken with my Nokia N73 just before it broke.
Michael and Marina enjoying the last few hours in Bethleem. Reflecting back on my 8-day vacation, I can only say one thing for sure - it was veeery nice but a bit stressfull. 9km short of 4000km in such a short periode and with 3 kids 'on board' aged between 3 and 8 years, was a tiny bit too much though. Never the less, it was veeery nice :-)

My Golden2's damage.

This is the damage my new glider got, after been dragged on the ground over a 'sand stone' rock for only a few inches. While taking off at the Rondebosch South-West site, I did not see the trailing edge of my glider resting on top of a 'sand stone' rock. Although I felt the resistance while inflating the wing, I did not realize the trouble I got into. Just after taking off I had a quick look at my lines and I was happy to see they were OK. I had a nice 30+ min flight (ridge soar) and went to land next to my vehicle as usual. The glider flew like usual. Only during packing the wind I saw the damaged cells. I was so upset, I ran back up the hill to the take off spot and found the 'culprit'. A sandstone rock has very interesting properties, one of them been - it has a very rough surface (no sharp edges though). This one was particularly 'vicious'. Just to give you a idea how sharp the rough side is - I rested the palm of my hand on top of the rock and tried to slide it over it. My palm hurt and on closer inspection I saw the skin almost coming of in places. Is a wonder the wing did not suffer more damage. Fortunatelly the damage is right at the trailing edge where the pressure isn't that much during normal flight. Never the less - it is not nice to know my new 'baby' has alread 'battle scars'. After all, I barely have 50flights (just under 10hours air time) on it :-(

Monster bug.

This pic I took with my cell phone in macro mode. Is some sort of bug my kids found while on holiday in Nelspruit. The cell phones of today are incredibly good at taking pictures. I will never bother again with our old film camera.

Mario on Vacation

While driving back from Nelspruit to Bethleem, I had to stop at Barberton and take this picture. In the background you see some of the oldes mountains on earth,dated at just over 3.5 Billion years ! Incidentaly those mountains offer one of the best places on earth when it comes to paragliding/hangliding. With the National paragliding comp comming up in about 6 weeks,I had to see the site. Keep in mind,from here to our home in Jeffrey's Bay is about 1500KM or 15hour driving.
1 x pic attached.

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