Derf's Grotto

[dropdeadfred]

this is pretty cool..

https://vimeo.com/257443223?ref=fb-share


A cloudy surreal day on day 4 of the Paragliding World Cup in Bright, Australia saw all pilots low over launch for over an hour.

Kirsten Seeto wrote this great explanation "If you have heard me talk about start gaggles in paragliding competitions, here is a short compilation of what it is visually. Basically, it is the field of competitors waiting in the sky for the start of the race. Normally we have 1-1.5 hours to launch and position ourselves optimally for the start of the race. If conditions are tricky you might need a lot of that time to reach the top of lift. When this video was taken lift was weak and thermal tops were low and we were stuck just above hill height till 10mins before the start. We establish the turn direction before the day starts (left or right hand turn) and hence it looks like we are all co-operating. Apart from the odd impatient pilot, the PWC start gaggles were mostly well behaved and there were no collisions. You are pretty busy watching everyone during this time to avoid collision, but there is a certain collective consciousness about it.. to avoid collision you are aware of everyone and everyone is aware of you. We are all feeling the same air at the same time. Sometimes in a rough thermal you will find everyone leave at exactly the same moment, like we all reached our limit of discomfort at the same time. The moments of shared experience in paragliding are the gold, in such an individual sport".