Muller Windsports

Annual Reserve Clinic

2012-02-13T13:16:00.001-07:00

Muller Windsports Annual Reserve Clinic for hang gliders and paragliders

Location: Ecole Ste-Marguerite Bourgeoys
4700 Richard Road SW
Note that the school is next door to Bishop Caroll High School

Date. Saturday, March 10, 2012
Time: 9am
Repack fee: $45.00 includes pizza lunch

For pilots who don't have equipment for a repack lunch will be $10
If you are a student without equipment we will lend you equipment so that you can do a practice deployment

Please contact us if you will be having pizza for lunch so that we can have enough.

Vincene, Keith & John

HPAC Exam writing day Nov. 26 & Season Finale BBQ

2011-11-17T22:07:00.001-07:00

HPAC Exam writing day Nov. 26 & Season Finale BBQ

This session is for everyone. Whether you have just started flying or have been flying for years come and write the exam for your level. Please let me know by November 21 which exam level you would like to write so we can have the appropriate number of exams available. Also if you would like to have a study guide for a particular level, I can send you one.

To all Paragliding and Hang gliding pilots in the Calgary area we would like to offer an exam writing session at Muller Windsports. John Janssen will be there to mark and help the Hang glider Pilots and Keith MacCullough will be there to mark and help the Paraglider pilots.

If you are unsure if you qualify for any ratings please contact Vincene and she will forward to John or Keith. You can also check for your self by looking here http://hpac.ca/?PRD=410

We ask that you please RSVP and let us know what exams you plan to write. I suggest that even if you are slightly short on the flight portions that you write the exam anyway as you have one year from the time you pass to get the flight portion completed. Please make sure your membership is up to date as well.

Location: Muller Windsports Shop in Cochrane

Date: November 26th

Time: 8:30am

Bring: Logbooks

Current first aid for the intermediate and advanced exams

Spare paper and a pencil and eraser

After the exams are completed there will be an end of season BBQ for the pilots.

Look forward to seeing you all there

Keith, John and Vincene

Golden Glassoff/Muller High Flights

2011-09-13T09:44:00.000-06:00

Muller Windsports September High Flight Course

Golden, BC

Saturday September 17 & Sunday September 18

Students meet Saturday morning at 8:30am in the landing area

Saturday night BBQ.

In past years there has been the "Golden Glassoff' dressup party. This year it's not going to happen.

Instead we are hosting a BBQ for those around. Students, instructors and anybody else that want to participate.

The Golden Tandem pilots (Scott, Hugo and Peter) are going to provide meat for the BBQ. Bratwurst and burgers

Mark Florence will look after the BBQ and salads. Salads etc donated by Muller Windsports.

BYOB and drinks.

We need numbers, so if you are coming, can you please email Vincene at fly@mullerwindsports.com

Please RSVP to Vincene no later than Thursday Night

We are thinking of firing up the BBQ around 7pm on Saturday night. It's dark at 8pm so everybody should be on the ground by 7:30pm at the latest.

Amy has generously lent us the use of the BBQ, deck and kitchen for food prep.

Start to the Fall Season

2011-08-08T12:17:00.001-06:00

Hi Current Students and New Students
Its that time again that we get all get out and get flying again. Lessons for Intermediate Students starts tomorrow August 9th at 6 pm. We ask that you follow the same program as the Spring session by calling the student phone at 40pm for evening sessions and 4pm and the day before for morning sessions. We look forward to seeing the old faces and the new ones.
Lets get flying
Cheers
Keith

Planes, Paragliders, Trains and Automobiles

2011-07-18T06:12:00.000-06:00

Yes, I am still travelling. I had the most amazing stay in Switzerland with some great Friends. Thanks Anders and Susanne and the yet to be named child that has yet to arrive. Yes Susanne is due to have a baby tomorrow. I stayed in what will be the babies room so fittingly I slept like a baby in the room. I arrived on Monday night after many trains across 3 countries and a plane from Madrid. Susanne was there when I arrived as a South African family reassured me that if I could not find Anders and Susanne I was more than welcome to stay in there hotel room....haha. People are so nice sometimes it amazes me. I had many great conversations with the family as it turns out they were standing behind me when I arrived at the train desk in Munich and thought to themselves what a poor guy carrying all those bags and looking so tired.
So arriving at the pad in Interlacken to a very warm evening all I could think was maybe not being at the Worlds was not going to be so bad. One beer and then two beers and then SLEEP. I went to sleep at midnight and woke up at 10:30 the next morning not having woken up even once all night. Anders jokingly wondered whether I had actually died in his babies room.
Anders is a full time tandem pilot and does between 6- 10 tandems almost daily so he was very busy as its high season right now. At any given time there are about 20 tandems in the air at once. ITS CRAZY. they all land in a special field in town. The passengers range from 5 year old Saudi kids to extremely old Koreans. I thought the Golden guys had it tough till I saw what goes on here. They drive to launch then hike for 15 minutes to the launch. Every pilot has wheels like a luggage bag to drag there gliders up the paved path to launch. Each company is like a rafting company with about 10 pilots working for each company. They have a system worked out where the lay the gliders on top of each other on launch so as one goes the next can go and so on until they are all in the air together. They have all sorts of different ways to take pictures of the passengers with extra A lines connected to the camera so they dont even have to hold on to the camera. Most of the pilots here in a season do between 300-500 tandems in a summer.

Susanne decided I should fly so she took me to a Suisse bakery and let me get lunch then took me to the launch or as I referred to it the Golf Country Club. This launch was so grassy I felt bad even walking on it never mind laying my glider on it. After lunch I took to the skies for an afternoon sled ride. Upon Landing I looked over at Anders and asked if they turned off the lift just cause I was around. It turns out that just like Canada this place gets baked out too and when its that warm it becomes very soft.

It was now time to go to the Lake as the pregnant one decided she was to warm for this...haha. I was more than happy to tag along. We went to Lake Thun which is one of many lakes around but also the biggest. It was about 32 degrees so getting in the glacial water was more than refreshing and also the cleanest lake water I have ever seen so close to a city.
The Night ended with the biggest storm I have ever seen and I am not kidding. The winds reached 125km/hr in town and blew over trees that were over 100 years old. Some broke that were more than 3 feet wide and others just plain blew right over roots and all. It was crazy. I filmed it from various angles so will post some video when I get back. After the storm what do any normal people do but go walk around and check out the damage. Staying with Suanne and Anders is like staying with people with way to many friends...haha. During are walk we of course ran into other friends sitting on a patio overlooking the damaged town and promptly invited in for drinks.

The RAIN. Vincene warned me about the rain plagued alps but I never truly understood. I guess looking around at all the green grass should have been a clue. Think Vancouver in January with huge mountains surrounding you. It was biblical amounts. I ran from store to store and napped and napped and watched movies. After going to new levels of rest Susanne suggest we head up to Lauterbruan which is close to Wengen of ski fame. What a cool town where Anders took me hiking in the rain to see waterfalls and keep ourselves from driving Susanne crazy. She was happy sipping her coffee in a friends coffee shop.

On Friday I went with Anders to fly the World Famous Grindelwald which was spectacular to say the least. I flew like a moron and not understanding how far they push into the lee side here and landed at the valley floor instead of flying home but at least I understand now why flying in the lee in Europe is so popular as its the only thing that works...wink.

More great dinners with new friends and old. Who would have thought in Interlacken they would have the best Thai food that I have ever had?

Saturday was spent hiking up in an ALP eating fresh cheese and chasing cows with bells around there necks. Good fun if you have never done it. They are so friendly we even pet them. But the bells do get annoying. The Alp was up at the end of the pass in Adelboden.

I now sit on another train headed to my european family house in Salzburg. Home to Rudi, Esther, Paul and Jakob. I look forward to seeing them all as everything on this trip is spontaneous as I should still be in Spain. I will spend Sunday through till Wednesday morning with them and head to Munich for my flight to Montreal and finally get to see Loic and Caroline.

Sorry for so many words but these trains in the rain are great for spewing words. Now I know why Gadd's posts tend to drag when he is on a train...haha

All the Best for Everyone back Home

Keith( still making the best of everything )

Coffee spot on the other side of the house

2011-07-12T02:51:00.000-06:00

Yodelahihi

2011-07-12T02:37:00.000-06:00

View from my shower window this morning. Switzerland

Bull Fights and Short Nights

2011-07-11T06:37:00.000-06:00

The last 48 hours have been crazy. Deciding to leave Piedrahita after a very disappointing decision by the FAI left me calling Luftansa and being told fine we can get you to Munich Germany for 300Euros or all the way to Montreal for 2000Euros I decided Germany it is. I had already been talking with my Best European friend Anders and his Wife Susanne who is do to have a baby any day. I decided I would fly to Munich on Monday morning then train across Germany to Interlacken Switzerland.

Before that I was still in Piedrahita and some how had to get out. This is when KEITH'S LUCK finally struck. My flights were all changed by late Saturday afternoon leaving me time to join my adopted team the Americans for a swim at one of the local swimming holes.

Early Sunday morning chaos all begin with me packed and ready to go only to find out the one and only bus going to Madrid did not leave till 5pm which just simply was going to suck for my luck. Well up to the plaza to see if my Canadian Charm could get me to Madrid sooner. Well sure enough it did and in a very nice kind of way. Steve Ham mentioned that one of the drivers from the comp had just left in his personal vehicle to go home which was just past Madrid. A short phone call later and 5mins later I was sitting in a pimped out BMW travelling at close to 200km/hr at times across Spain to Madrid. Before long Benjamin and I were speaking and sort of understanding one another with many nods and pointing. I was lucky that my terrible French and his even worse French was still better communication than my english and his spanish. I managed to convey that I knew nothing about bull fighting and this was a terrible trip so far. He proceeded at speeds quicker than I have ever travelled in a car to get me into Madrid in record time. My new best friend then drove right through the trendy section of Madrid to the Plaza de Toro. Next thing you know I was the proud owner to a Seat at Sunday evenings Bull Fights.

Now time to find Brett at his Hotel which turned out to be no problem with a local. Now time to get Brett to the subway and with little convincing he was all the proud owner to a ticket to the fights.

Our Madrid Metro skills are top notch now and we were able to criss cross back and forth with little to no trouble at all around the city.

The fights I will not describe as they are certainly not for the faint of heart but the ambience in the stadium is like nothing I have ever felt before in my life. It was truly inspirational to be a part of and I am so glad to have gone. Brett and I got lucky again as the man next to me was the proud father of a young matador and was there with his family cheering on a female Matador who is 19. The rules are hard to figure out but by the end we were able to tell who should win and who sucks. The basics are that 3 Matadors and 6 bulls, with the matadors taking turns killing one bull each.

By the end of the night it was close to 2am when we got back to Brett's room close to the airport and with maybe 2 hours shut eye I was back up at 5am and in a 3 minute taxi ride that cost 17 euros to get to my 7:30 am flight. Europe is ridiculously expensive.

Its now Monday afternoon and I am sitting on the very packed train to Switzerland with plans for a cold beer and dinner with very good friends.

Germany is stunningly beautiful so far and I have managed to put a large grin back on my face after a disappointing trip so far. I guess all things happen for a reason but this is one that sticks out as strange. Between all the comps I did just to qualify then the support of all the local pilots here I am not competing at all and doing something I honestly never thought I would ever get to do and that is travel Europe. I am totally 100% relaxed and feeling all sorts of energy return. I figured this morning on the plane to Munich to just not worry about and to really enjoy myself.

One last thing I plan to do after Interlacken is travel to see Rudy and Esther as I looked on a map and they are too close to not go see my favourite Austrians.

So thanks again for making this a vacation of a lifetime after a major disappointment at the comp.

I will try to continue my blog with the goings on around Europe. Oh the weather is great...haha but very humid here in Germany after very dry Spain

Keith

Change of plans

2011-07-09T15:19:00.001-06:00

So I have decided to go to europe as they wanted 2000 Euros for me to switch my ticket....haha. They only charged me about 300 to go to Munich on Monday then take my normal flight from Munich to Montreal on the 20th. So I will leave piedrahita Sunday afternoon and spend a night in a hotel in Madrid then take my flight to munich then take a train to Interlacken Switzerland. I will stay with Anders and fly around the alps and then head back to Munich and likely spend a day or two there before flying back to Canada. I have been invited to many dinners in suisse as the pilots found out I was coming which is super nice and bound to save me a bit of money.
I appreciate all the support as this not exactly what I had planned when you all chipped in for me to go to the World Paragliding Championship. I will at least get some flying and see a part of the World that I have always wanted to visit.
WIsh me luck on this new unplanned adventure
Cheers
Keith

BAD DAY

2011-07-07T16:10:00.001-06:00

As most of you are aware we had the worst thing that could happen in a competition happen and it happened twice in one day. We lost two of our pilots to accidents yesterday. They were from Argentina and Chile. As you can imagine it has been extremely somber around here and there is much talk of abandoning the competition. I am unsure of my views as they are mixed and it depends on when you ask me. I took the day off and went exploring a 12th century castle in a little village then went for a swim with the team in a great little river spot. It was a great chance to discuss and reflect on why we do this. I was left with nothing beats a great day of flying with my friends. So for now I will stay and see what comes of the many meetings on whether this competition can be saved by using a different format. I also may just hang up my hat and choose a different way to spend my time while in Spain. I am lucky that I have the support of all of you back home and know that you will all hopefully accept my decision whatever that may be. But life is too important
Cheers
Keith

Day 1

2011-07-05T16:00:00.000-06:00

It started off great as the team was all in relative good position at the start. We all got established on course and after about 75 km we ran into the first set of Airspace. After that we got separated so I will tell you about my day from here. I managed to still be with the lead group but choose a hard left line to avoid the airspace and that was maybe not the best choice as the pilots who stayed close to the edge of the airspace had a much easier time of it. With me now a little bit behind I instead of being patient with my climbs rushed myself to get back into the lead group which of course left me low over some trees with no way to go downwind so I fought the headwind back to clear terrain with a ground speed around 5-10km/hr. Once over land able terrain I got myself a great climb that the gaggles behind me of course joined so at least I was now with some company. We continued downwind again with ground speeds in the 80-90km/hr range so was making great progress. I took another giant climb up to the ceiling level which was 3048m so stayed under 3000 to be safe which left me not paying attention. I headed downwind as I was the top of my group and glided straight towards goal. At this point I thought to myself isn't there more airspace so I turned on my map page to find out that of course there was albeit a small piece and I was smack dap in the middle of it along with the rest of my gaggle. I did the best thing possible and fly back in to the wind to at least land outside of it and hope that it was only a don't land area and not a don't go here area. Wishful thinking on my part as I was told that it was a don't go area. SO it appears my first day will be left with a ZERO. Instead of getting credit for my 112km flight which only ended cause I figured out I was in airspace. The gaggle I was with got to goal early but they will likely get ZEROS too as they were in the space as well.

Claudio flew very well and made GOAL and I believe Brett landed around the 90km mark.

Tomorrow is a new day

Keith

More Info for the Worlds

2011-07-04T15:27:00.001-06:00

Here are some blogs for the comp and feel free to pass along

http://canadianparaglidingteam.blogspot.com/
http://www.flypiedrahita.com/blog/
http://www.xcmag.com/
http://alaskaparajack.blogspot.com/

My SPOT should be tracking plus they will have live tracking for the comp too. SO you could sit at home early in the morning and watch the paint dry if you feel so inclined.

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0exBicqind4ap6IoIoiXahrraJrnqxzTI

The live tracking should be on
search for it on http://www.piedrahita2011.com

Great test day today flew around for a bunch but took it easy too

Good Night All
Keith

Back to the gate

2011-06-29T13:50:00.001-06:00

Well it's 1:45pm flight was suppose to leave at 12:55pm. 12 year old girl next to me has temper tantrum and wants off while we were staged to takeoff. Captain turns around and now were back at gate waiting for them to find their bags. Damn kids and their parents. Haha. Oh well zero chance of us making the connection to Madrid. Off to a great start. Haha
Cheers
K

Sent from my iPhone

Reminder for Fundraiser/Party on Saturday Night

2011-06-15T12:55:00.001-06:00

Hi Everyone

I would just like to remind everyone of the fundraiser for Keith's trip to the World Championships in Spain is this Saturday.

Sounds like there will be a great turnout so hope you can join us.

Details:

Muller Windsports Shop in Cochrane

Saturday June 18th at 6pm or after

Food:

Burgers and Buns from Mullerwindsports

Salads by Marcey Skye and Nancy McMurdo

Maybe some munchies by whoever else wants to bring some...

50/50 draw

Tickets are 1$

and the draw will be around 9pm

There will also be TShirts and Hoodies for sale with proceeds going to the World Team

Please bring cash or check for tshirts and hoodies

https://picasaweb.google.com/claudio.mota/Samples?authkey=Gv1sRgCI-YhauSpevBtAE#5616086599905167090

Should be a fun night

Vincene

Extra Lessons

2011-06-11T16:29:00.001-06:00

Due to the bad weather we will have sessions at Cochrane Sunday and Monday
evenings.
Please call the student phone at 4pm Sunday and Monday to check conditions
403-804-8373
Keith

Odds and Ends

2011-06-07T21:32:00.001-06:00

Well let's start with the weather.... Even though it has not been great there have still been many flights made by students this season and also a few great ground handling sessions. The classroom sessions have been well attended and we seem to have a great group ready to go to Golden for high flights.

Were trying to get an instructor to possibly open up Sunday and Monday night for the next few weeks to allow for more options. I will update the schedule if that happens so keep an eye out for that.

We also have the fundraiser party for my trip to the World Championships in Spain on Saturday the 18th at 6ish in the shop. I invite you all to attend as it's also a great chance to meet each other and get to know one another away from your lessons.

Any ?'s please let us know
Cheers
Muller Windsports

Help Send Keith to Spain

2011-05-26T11:09:00.001-06:00

Hi Everyone
Well its that time again....
I have made the 2011 National Paragliding Team this year and will be attending the World Championships in Spain this July. The competition starts on July 3rd and goes until the 17th. I will be leaving Calgary at the end of June to get some practice days before it starts and hopefully get to learn on my new glider before the first day.

As some of you know I have run successful fundraisers for my adventures in the past and would like to take this opportunity to invite you to this years BIG PARTY.

This years will be slightly different in that it will be done in summer not winter so we can hold it in the Muller Windsports Shop in Cochrane.
I have done my usual and delegated some tasks for my favourite ladies who will be helping me out by making some Salads and Vincene of course is going above and beyond by picking up some boxes of Burgers and Buns.

So this year we will be cooking up some eats and of course my favourite the 50/50 draw. I will also have a jar for direct donations as well as a jar for donations to the rest of the National Team. The Team this year consists of two new members in that Brett Hazlett and Claudio Mota will be coming. I look forward to competing with my new team members and I think we have a chance to do very well.

Having the fundraiser is what helps pay for my Entry fees, Plane Tickets and Hotels. As we all know competing in the World of Paragliding is not a money making operation so help from my friends and family at home keep the dream alive. So I hope you can all attend and of course your welcome to invite others and there is also no obligation to donate as I would be happy just to see everyone before I leave anyway.

Details:
June 18th/2011 at 6:00pm or whenever you get there.
50/50 draw at 9:00pm
We will provide some Burgers and Salads
If anyone else would like to help provide some food please let me know.....

For those that can't attend and would like to be apart of the 50/50 draw please let me know and I will have my accounting department at some official sounding name accounting department look after your needs...haha.

Cheers
Keith MacCullough

Airspace Warning for Prairie Mountain Area of Alberta

2011-05-25T16:50:00.000-06:00

To Whomever it may concern

Please be advised that it has been brought to our attention by The Senior Investigator for Transportation Safety Board of Canada that there was a close call for airspace violation in the Prairie Mountain Area of Alberta on April 24^th/2011 at around 3pm mountain time involving 2 paragliders. The incident was reported by an AIRCANADA JAZZ flight crew that thought it was close enough to report it.

So lets all be more aware of where we can and cannot fly when comes to airspace in Alberta and make sure that you are in correct Airspace.

Please pass this message around to other pilots so we don't risk losing a flying site.

Muller Windsports Ltd

Box 2018

Cochrane, AB T4C 1B8

403-932-6760

Email:fly@mullerwindsports.com

Facebook photos: mullerwindsports

Home page: http://www.mullerwindsports.com

Facebook Page

2011-04-26T09:25:00.001-06:00

Hello Everyone
It turned out to be a nice weekend for the students and the advanced pilots during easter. The Intermediate students got some great ground handling on Saturday morning and the advanced pilots got great ridge soaring Saturday evening. Then for Sunday it was flying for the students in the morning and another great evening for the advanced pilots. We even got Kai his first 30min flight on his new glider....great work Kai.
For pictures please check out our facebook Page. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Muller-Windsports/202166306474260
you do not have to be on facebook to see this page it is open. If you are on facebook please click the LIKE button so you can get future posts. This page will be used to post photos of the different flying activities going on in the area.
Hopefully were on to some better weather and more flying to come.
Cheers
Keith

Everest Presentation

2011-04-07T08:57:00.001-06:00

Paraglider Pilot, Lucille de Beaudrap will do a presentation on her 2010 summit trip to Mt Everest.

Lucille has visited schools & organizations and groups with this presentation.

Who can forget the excitement last May as we followed her spot, step by painful step to the summit!

Join us at the Muller Shop, Cochrane Flying Site to hear about her experience of a lifetime

Date: Saturday, April 30, 2011

Time: 7:00pm

Muller Windsports Ltd
Box 2018
Cochrane, AB, T4C 1B8
email: fly@mullerwindsports.com
ph: 403-932-6760
fax: 403-851-0737
N51 11.753
W114 26.895
http:www.mullerwindsports.com
Canadian Distributor Ozone Kites
check Endless Summer:

check mullerwindsports on facebook for photos

Start to the Season

2011-04-05T10:45:00.001-06:00

Today is our official start day but due to the very large snowfall we are going to wait till thursday for everything to dry up as the path up the hill is still very muddy.
Please start calling the 403-804-8373 number at 4pm thursday if you would like to come out for a session. Please do not leave messages just call back as I am likely talking to another student if I dont answer.

The schedule has been updated in the top right corner of this page so please have a look to make sure there is a session at the time you would like to try and come.

I also have a twitter account for the non-students to check to see if the conditions are good at least when I am there.
@cochranewind

As a reminder students are to call the day before at 4 pm to come out the next morning. So example is I would like to fly wednesday morning so I would call 403-804-8373 at 4pm on tuesday to check for the conditions wednesday morning.

Looking forward to a great season with you all.
Cheers
Keith

National Parks

2011-04-04T15:04:00.000-06:00

Hi to all pilots,

As most of you know, HPAC has been working for nearly three years with Parks Canada to reverse a decades-long prohibition against hang gliding and paragliding in National Parks. I am repeating a little of the background here for new pilots who have recently joined our community.

NATIONAL ASSESSMENT: In Fall 2008 Parks Canada conducted a two-day National Assessment of our sport and whether its practise in Parks would be in harmony with the uses for National Parks. We had commissioned an independent Environmental Impact Assessment to demonstrate both the environmental as well as socio-economic impacts of our sport in preparation for this Assessment.
The result in the Fall of 2010 was that the prohibition was reversed in principle, but still required written policy and regulatory changes to become "legal". While several other sports were being considered over the last couple of years, ours was the only one that required the more complex regulatory changes, that would lay the groundwork for approaching individual park superintendents for permission to fly in any given park.
Just recently, Parks Canada's package on our sport, completely approved and requiring only the Minister's signature, was delivered to the Minister's Office.

THE CURRENT ELECTION: Then the election was recently called before the signature could be obtained. The package is now back with Parks Canada and will be resubmitted for signature by the Minister, as soon as the election is over, a new minister has been named and the office is open for business (this could be the fall, if the House does not get called back before then, or later this spring, if they do). Parks Canada informs us that because there are no budgetary requests attached and because it is a totally non-partisan issue, the signature will be forthcoming easily, regardless of who the minister or party will be. Parks Canada has invested a large amount of funding to expand the numbers of activities that can take place in Parks, and we are part of that initiative.

LOCAL ASSESSMENT: After the signature has been obtained, it becomes "the law" of the land which means that individual Park Superintendents can then allow flying in their park, if they choose. But they are not obligated to allow it, as they have final jurisdiction as to what takes place in their park. A number of Parks have been identified for being approached by Parks Canada-designated pilots from our community, when we get the go-ahead by Parks Canada after we have "the signature".
For the Atlantic, it is Michael Fuller; Mountain Parks (BC and Alberta) Will Gadd; Quebec Dom Juretic and BC Gulf Islands Margit Nance. Please contact any of these people if you have questions about your region.

Further Updates will be forthcoming as we get them. But most important, FLYING IN NATIONAL PARKS CONTINUES TO BE ILLEGAL. Prematurely doing so will jeopardize that Park from the get-go and so we appreciate your patience a little longer. Thanks to all.

Margit Nance
Site Preservation Chair, HPAC

check mullerwindsports on facebook for photos

Hagar Exam

2011-04-01T22:39:00.001-06:00

We are currently in the midst of our annual instructors course. The Transport Canada Presention has just completed and this year we had two inspectors

here. Lenora Crane of TC is well aware of the problems that Alberta pilots have in writing the HAGAR. The department head in Calgary has authorized an

off site writing of the exam if we can organize a group of pilots to write.

John Janssen and Keith MacCullough, the seniors faciliting the current course are willing to organize a study night for the Hagar including map reading.

Doug Skye is prepared to run this session. The plan is to have this session a night or two before the Hagar Exam.

Lenora is happy to oversee the exam but this will happen only once this year. We will see if this can be an annual event but this depends on the budget for

Transport Canada.

If you are interested in writing the exam please email and I will add your name to the contact list. I will then notify you dates and times of both the study session and

the exam writing.

If you don't need to have the hagar at this point in your flying career I would recommend taking this opportunity to write it now. You have no idea how difficult and expensive it has been for Alberta pilots for the past number of years to write the HAGAR using one of the local flight schools at Springbank Airport.

So please contact me ASAP so that we can get these sessions planned.

Vincene

Muller Windsports Ltd
Box 2018
Cochrane, AB, T4C 1B8
email: fly@mullerwindsports.com
ph: 403-932-6760
fax: 403-851-0737
N51 11.753
W114 26.895
http:www.mullerwindsports.com

Xalps

2011-03-22T08:36:00.001-06:00

Date: Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Time: 7pm

Place: Muller Shop, Cochrane Hill

Max Fanderl will do a presentation on the XAlps Event. Max has participated in the last two events and is currently training for the 2011 event this coming summer.

Don't miss this event. bring your friends even if they are not pilots.

Paragliding and hiking a Girlfriend/Boyfriend compatibility test?

Max & Penny participate in the RedBull xAlps for the 3rd time

www.RedBullxAlps.com

Paragliding and hiking through 864km (as the crow flies) of treacherous mountain terrain.
8 turnpoints from Austria (Salzburg) via Italy, Swizerland, France to Monaco
Up to 20 days of racing, 24 hours/day

The Red Bull xAlps.com has established itself as one of the toughest and most spectacular adventure races in the world. The race goes on day and night, through sun, wind, rain and snow, until the first pilot reaches Monaco.

These fun and exciting presentations demonstrate how a couple with 2 young children and working their jobs, manage to have fun while coping with the additional stress of training, preparations, added expenses and the race itself. We will also give you our inside perspective of the strategic planning in choosing equipment and gear, choosing routes with various mapping techniques, how to work with international connections, how we prepare the nutrition plan, how we train physically and how we prepare mentally for the race, as most of one's successes or failures are controlled by the mind and attitude.

Max Fanderl

2011-02-22T17:03:00.001-07:00

INSTRUCTORS COURSE

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING

Muller Windsports will host an Instructors Course for hang gliding and paragliding.

Dates: April 1, 2, 3, 2011

Facilitators: John Janssen & Keith MacCullough HPAC Senior Instructors

The course will run from 9 - 5pm daily.

Fee: $300.00

Current instructors who wish to be re-certified can also attend. Fee for Re-certification is $150.00. Please make sure that your first aid is current.

HPAC Criteria for Instructors:

APPRENTICE INSTRUCTOR

- be a member of the HPAC/ACVL

- have a Intermediate rating

INSTRUCTOR (note: applicants have a year from date of course to complete requirements. Instructors re-certifying need to have valid first aid for the duration of their certification)

-be a member of the HPAC/ACVL

- be 18 years of age

- have a HPAC/ACVL Intermediate rating

- have a current First Aid Certificate

- assist a certified instructor for a minimum of 25 hours as an apprentice

- successfully complete an Instructor Certification Seminar (minimum 24 hour course)

- have the recommendation of a Senior Instructor

For more information please contact:

Vincene Muller ph(403) 932-6760, fax (403) 851-0737

or email: fly@mullerwindsports.com

Reserve Clinic

2011-02-22T17:01:00.001-07:00

MULLER WINDSPORTS

RESERVE CLINIC 2011

DATE: Saturday, March 12, 2011

Repack Fee: $40.00 Deployment, inspection and repack. The lecture is free.

PLACE: Ecole Ste-Marguetite Bougeys, 4700 Richard Rd SW

(note: the school is next door to Bishop Carol High

TIME: 8:30AM

Format: Deployments will start at 8:30am for pilots who have attended previous clinics.

Lecture will start at 10am. It is recommended that pilots who have not attended a clinic should attend the lecture.

After the lecture, deployments will continue. Repacks will start during the lecture. If work needs to be done on your equipment it will be done at the shop during the week.

If you are a new pilot and don't yet have a reserve we will try to make sure you get a practice deployment. There is no charge if you have no equipment.

1:30pm- Pizza – included in repack fee or $10 if you didn't pay for repack.

End of Season Party

2010-10-14T10:19:00.001-06:00

You are invited to the end of season party for Muller Intermediate Students.

Date: Saturday October 30

time: 12 noon

Please let us know if you can attend so that we can have enough food

cheers

Vincene & Keith

SIV and HIGH FLIGHTS

2010-09-14T18:27:00.001-06:00

Dear Students
Hope everyone has managed to stay dry through this horrible weather. There are couple important dates coming up:
The first is the fall high flights for all the students that qualify on the weekend of September 25 and 26 and an option of the evening on September 24. The ground school will be held on Tuesday the 21st of September at 7:00pm for .
The second event will be the fall SIV course held in the Salt Lake City area on October 9,10 and 11. The SIV course has limited availability so please contact us ASAP if your interested for this course.

I hope to see most of you soon as the weather improves

Cheers
Keith

Golden Glassoff and Muller Student High Flights

2010-09-14T18:20:00.001-06:00

Hi all,

The Golden Glassoff is scheduled for sept 25 (fly 26 if rain). Amy and Jamie are thinking of doing a paid BBQ on the friday, not sure yet.

Entry is $20 includes saturday's supper and dance music.

We'll be allowed and maybe even encouraged to do some maintenance work on the LZ. This is completely voluntary, I'll do some if the weather is not so good. The things to do would be: cutting invading bushes and small trees (chainsaw not necessary), cutting large thistles, shoveling some gopher holes, and misc.

thanks,
Serge.

Fall Season Begins

2010-09-01T15:12:00.001-06:00

Hello to All
It has been a great summer for flying with many student flights being completed in Golden and other venues. The fall season is well underway in Cochrane and hopefully we will get many flights.
We are planning an SIV for October long weekend and would like to know who would like to attend this course down in UTAH. Please email Vincene to confirm that you would like to attend.
There is also the Golden Glass Off which is an end of the season party out in Golden on September 25 and 26. This event also doubles as our Fall High Flight Course. So we hope to see you all out flying this Fall either in Golden or Cochrane. If you have any questions please feel free to contact either Vincene or myself.
Cheers
Keith

Golden High Flight Course

2010-06-22T23:43:00.001-06:00

MULLER WINDSPORTS LTD

HIGH FLIGHT COURSE

Groundschool: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 7:00pm or after flying.

Date: Saturday, July 3 & Sunday July 4, 2010

BONUS IF YOU CAN MAKE IT TO GEAR ON FRIDAY, JULY 2 BY 6:30PM

WE WILL MAKE AN ATTEMPT TO DO AN EVENING FLIGHT

Please let us know if you can make it in time.

Meeting Time: 7:00am

Meeting Place: The Golden Eco-Adventure Ranch (the LZ),

872 MacBeath Road, Nicholson, BC.

Drive Approximately 5km south of Golden BC on Hwy.95, Turn right at Nicholson Road; Take the first right on Canyon Road to cross the bridge that spans the Columbia River. Proceed to where MacBeath Road splits off to the right. The Ranch will be on your right. Proceed for 1 km along MacBeath Road until you reach the Golden Eco-Adventure Ranch driveway and turn right.

What you need to bring:

Glider, Harness,Helmet,Reserve ,Boots,Water, snacks

Muller Windsports offers a high flight course at Golden for students who have completed the Intermediate Course and purchased equipment from us. There is no charge for the course.

We meet at the Golden Eco-Adventure Ranch parking lot at 7:00am on Saturday

After an inspection of the landing area we will load up into vehicles and drive up to launch.

Instructors will give you a briefing and flight plan and you will then have the flight of your dreams. We will aim for an early flight before the thermal activity gets strong.

On Sunday we will meet at 7:30am at the Nicholson landing area and go up for another flight.

Please contact us if you are interested in joining us.

Keith

Check these websites.

Information on Camping : http://www.goldenadventurepark.com/

Other Accommodation: http://www.flygolden.ca/wheretostay.htm

Information of flying Golden:http://www.flygolden.ca/

Flying Golden

The official landing site is privately owned. The owners require that all pilots who land on their property have HPAC liability insurance. Membership forms will be handed out at the groundschool. Membership cost per year is $140.00.

2010 Thermal Course

2010-06-22T23:42:00.001-06:00

Hi Everyone
For those that Qualify

As most of you know I will be running my annual Thermal Course in Golden on the weekend of July 11 and 12 ( Bonus Friday Evening the 10th )

Just wanted to let everyone know a couple details.

Its a tight group and everyone knows each other so we should have some fun.

You should all bring these items

You
Glider
Harness
Reserve
Helmet
Vario
GPS(if you have one)
Umbrella for sun or rain
Camp Chair for the morning and evening talks
Warm Clothes including gloves for high altitude
2m radio if you have one if not I will have FRS for everyone
bring your laptop if your interested in downloading your flights from your GPS(bring cables for your gps as I dont have them for all types)

Thats it for now

We will meet Saturday at 8am in whatever Campsite Vincene's trailer is at in the eco adventure ranch or LZ. maybe go for a flight Friday with everyone to check all our gear over and get a flight in.
we will go over a bunch of info during the morning then head up to launch. Time will be tight between groundschool and flying so make sure your ready to go at 8 am with lunch and gear.

Hope for good weather or it will be hours of talking about thermals to make up the time but either way your brains may be mash potatoes by the time were done.

I will be providing dinner at the GEAR on Saturday evening as I have hired Jamie to cook for you all.

I have hired Vincene to take care of us all and of course abuse her amazing driving skills hopefully.

The cost this year is 350$ no gst ...haha
I prefer cash as then I wont have to charge more for taxes...wink wink

if you have any questions please ask

Cheers
Keith

Amazing Weather

2010-05-13T12:44:00.000-06:00

Its been two days in a row now that have turned epic conditions for flying. With Wednesday being the best for the more advanced pilots. Tuesday night saw 4-6 flights each by the 14 students that were here and then again Wednesday morning another 4 flights each for the students that came. But Wednesday night was just the icing on the cake for flying. Its was ridge and thermal soaring from midday till about 9pm. Many pilots got upwards of a couple hours of soaring time it was so good. The students had lots of wind to practice their groundhandling and many also got a flight or two. Unfortunately the wind was a little strong to get everyone a flight but it was still a great night.

Friday Afternoon

2010-04-30T14:17:00.001-06:00

We start the digging

Closed till Tuesday

2010-04-30T13:46:00.001-06:00

Picture shows it all taken Friday morning!!!!!

2010 Paragliding Info

2010-03-27T10:58:00.001-06:00

2010 Intermediate Paragliding Schedule

Listed below is the schedule for April, 2010. Note all flight training is weather dependent

Friday, April 2 training at Cochrane from 8am – noon

Call back at 4pm to find out conditions for evening training. Evening training is

from 6pm depending on weather

Saturday, April 3 training at Cochrane from 8am – noon

Call back at 4pm to find out conditions for evening training. Evening training is

from 6pm depending on weather

Please phone 403-804-8373 or email fly@mullerwindsports.com if you can make it.

Instructors can be available Tuesday thru Friday mornings and evenings. For morning sessions please call the day before at 4pm so that the Instructor will be available. Evenings can often be windy, so we ask that you call at 4pm to check conditions, this may save you a wasted trip.

Weekend schedules. On weekends when we have introductory courses in Calgary, Intermediate

Students can call Saturday afternoons at 4pm to check on an evening session.

Student Phone #403-804-8373, please leave a message and one of the instructors will contact you.

Student Blog – mullerwindsports.blogspot.com – there is a schedule on the right hand side of the page. This will list when we have introductory morning courses and intermediate sessions.

The first set of grounds schools are:

#1 Saturday, April 24 at 1:30pm

#2 Saturday, May 15 at 1:30pm

#3 Saturday, May 29 at 1:30pm

Note: if you can't make a ground school, you can pick it up next time around.

We are closed Sunday evening and Monday

Vincene 403-932-6760 – regular office hours

Keith 403-804-8373 – leave a message

Start of Season

2010-03-26T10:47:00.001-06:00

So it is currently snowing very hard here cochrane. So we will be
delayed this weekend as it will be very messy. Please contact us this
week if you would like to get going with lessons.
Cheers
Keith

Sent from my iPhone

2010 Muller Windsports Reserve Seminar Report

2010-03-17T20:59:00.001-06:00

For the second year we had the reserve seminar at the French Community Centre in Calgary. Thanks to Caroline Lampron for looking after booking arrangements.

We had a very good turnout, over 70 pilots both hang gliders and paragliders. Many paraglider pilots had previously had repacks due to winter travelling and this certainly helped the repackers.

Several problems were discovered during deployments.

Damp lines and bridles.

Usually due to storage in vehicles or unheated garages. Fortunately the reserves were dry and they will be hung in the shop to completely dry before being repacked. Make sure harnesses and reserves are stored inside to avoid this happening. Also make sure that any camelbacks or water bottles are taken out of harnesses after each day of flying.

Incorrect packing rubber bands

One older hang gliding reserve had been repacked with incorrect rubber bands. They looked much like those found in the veggie department at the local supermarkert. This reserve would not have worked.

Older reserves

A few old time pilots have very old reserves. Due to the age, they should be replaced. No point having reserve that comes out and should work if the fabric doesn't hold up.

Dirty equipment

Many pilots (both hang glider and paraglider) have a lot of dirt in the reserve containers. We had harnesses with dirt, grass and gravel. Some pilots had harnesses that had water, juice and whatever spilled on them. Please try and make sure that you keep your equipment as clean as possible.

Deployment problems

With one paraglider harness, the reserve came out incorrectly. It a real life situation it would have worked but not as fast as it would have if it was in the correct deployment bag for that harness. The reserve was a used one and just needed the right deployment bag to work faster.

Some hang glider pilots had difficulty pulling reserves out of containers. Problem was solved when they changed their method of pulling the handles. Not all systems work the same and pilots have to adapt their way of pulling the various different types of handles to make the best deployment.

One experienced hang glider pilots decided to try a deployment using his left hand on a right hand internal side mount. This was an exercise to see what would happen if he had his right hand trapped in the wires. It took him twice as long to deploy but his time was still quite good.

Four paragliding students and three hang gliding students who don't yet have equipment deployed.

Having watched all morning, they did a great job.

So the statistics are as follows:

34 hang glider deployments, 15 were new pilots

37 paraglider deployments, 16 were new pilots

Jean-Michel Wan had the fastest deployment time for both hang gliders and paragliders. All pilots were hooked up to the simulator and spun. Most pilots remembered to wait to throw after the spin, into clear air (in our case, the person catching the reserve), and most remembered to pull back the bridle.

Many thanks to John Janssen (HG) and Keith MacCullough (PG) who worked so hard with the deployments. Keith did a great job with the new simulator which made it so much better for the hang glider pilots. Thanks to our packers, Bernard Winkelmann, Ole Andreas Haddeland, Marty Quinn, Rob Clarkson & Clay Brauer. Helpers Tina Haddeland, Doug Skye & Clint Doering. Pizza arrived at 1pm and it was great!

Reserve Pack Clinic

2010-03-08T15:39:00.001-07:00

Date: Saturday, March 13, 2010
Location: La Cite des Rocheuses (French School)
Address: 4800 Richard Rd, SW
Calgary, AB
cel #'s 403-804-8373
Time: starting at 8:30am
Cost: $40.00 per repack includes pizza for lunch

If you are a student without equipment you are invited to attend and participate. We will lend you equipment so that you have a chance to deploy a reserve.

Pizza will be provided at lunch time for those who pay for a repack. It will be $10 for those without equipment being repacked.

email if you have any questions or call us at the shop 403-932-6760

Alberta Paragliding Website

2009-11-19T21:12:00.001-07:00

Hey Evryone

If you feel this website is of use to you then Paying Kevin Perry a small amount of money would help with the expenses that he incurred all on his own. There is a paypal at the bottom of the page to chip in to keep this going. I personally feel this is long needed to help pilots in Alberta. This is not a Muller Windsports project and I would like to keep it that way this is a page for pilots from a pilot. A site like this is only use full if everyone chips in with articles and information. SO lets encourage Kevin to spend his time and money by helping him out.

Hello everyone. albertaparagliding.com is up and running. We are continuing to improve it on a weekly basis. There is a home page with local news and useful paragliding links. I'm pretty sure the forum will prove to be the most useful item. In particular, the forum topic "the flying planner" where you can tell your friends that you're going out to the hill or ask friends to join you for some paragliding. Sign up! The more people that use the site, the more chances you will have to fly with friends rather than alone. We all need a local website where we can share information and plan on flying days and or vacations. I hope you find it useful. If you have any suggestions please post it on the Alberta paragliding forum.

http://albertaparagliding.com

http://forumpg.albertaparagliding.com/index.php

End of Year Round Up

2009-10-22T12:36:00.001-06:00

>>> Date: Saturday, October 31
>>>
>>> For those who wish to write the HPAC rating exams
>>> 9:00am exam writing. please bring your logbook and a pen
>>>
>>> 12:30pm BBQ for end of season students
>>>
>>> after the BBQ will be ground school #4. This is a bonus ground
>>> school
>>> that sumarizes the information that you will need when continuing
>>> in the
>>> sport. If you have questions, this is the time to ask.
>>>
>>> Can you please confirm your attendance. Also let us know what
>>> exams you
>>> will be writing so that we can have enough exams and answer sheets
>>> on
>>> hand.
>>>
>>> let us know numbers for the BBQ
>>>
>>> Keith & Vincene
>>

Golden Glassoff

2009-09-21T11:56:00.003-06:00

To All you free flight freaks:

Mark off your planners/ Daytimers to be at the Muller flight park, Golden B.C. for the 4^th annual Golden Glass off, Saturday Sept 26/09[weather day is Sunday]. A good time to be had for all. Get working on your costumes and shine up the dancing shoes, not to mention the great harvest meal. We have a great dance band coming called the electric squirrels. All the proceeds raised from this fun event this year will be equally split between the Willi cross country challenge event fund and the Search and Rescue organization.

Serge is spearheading a work party on the Sat. Or the Sunday depending on the weather. We plan on realigning and lengthen the North /South runway to better serve the Hangliders. We also would like to cut some brush/ fill in holes/ try and rid the field of the dreaded gopher. I will supply the beer.

Hope you all can make it.

Cheers

John R. McIsaac

Muller Intermediate Paragliding Students Year End Event

2009-09-21T11:56:00.001-06:00

Saturday, October 31

Students who are HPAC members

9:00am exam writing. bring your logbook. those with enough hours can write whatever exams they have the requirements for.

Noon

all intermediate students are invited to the season end BBQ.

1:00pm (or thereabouts)

ground school #4. This is an extra ground school to cover the little extras that will help your future flying. bring questions and Keith will try and give the answers.

Vincene

What Could Possibly Go Wrong

2009-09-13T08:20:00.000-06:00

Just a few of the work party

2009-09-13T08:18:00.001-06:00

Muller Windsports Finest

2009-09-13T08:16:00.001-06:00

Work Party

2009-09-13T07:17:00.001-06:00

I would like to thank everybody who came out to the work party today at the Cochrane flying site. A great job and what a huge difference it has made.

thanks so much for donating your time and tools.

Vincene

Cochrane Hill Work Party

2009-09-03T21:07:00.001-06:00

Subject: Cochrane Hill Work party

Saturday September 12 at 1:30pm pm we are having a work party to clean up the hill to make it more user friendly to pilots.

We want to fill in gopher holes and cut brush below launch.

Please bring any gardening tools and help out. should be fun

after the work is completed we will have burgers and beer to celebrate

Let us know how many people will be coming so that we can stock up the burgers and beer

talk to Keith if you have any ideas on what else needs to be done to improve the launch/landing area

looking forward to seeing you

Keith

Muller Windsports Ltd
Box 2018
Cochrane, AB, T4C 1B8
ph: 403-932-6760
N51 11.753
W114 26.895
http:www.mullerwindsports.com
check Endless Summer:

Keith and Caroline's Latest Addition

2009-08-05T17:28:00.001-06:00

Hello to All

Well sorry for the mass email but no time to give everyone a personal message. I hope to hear from you all and get back to you soon. Sorry if this is a total shock to anyone it just means we have not talked since december....hahaha.

As some of you already heard Caroline and I were expecting our first child this month. Well he is here. He was born Tuesday morning at 12:36am. His name is Loic Gregory MacCullough and weighed 8.4lbs and 52cm length. He came two weeks early but both Momma and Baby are healthy. The labour was very quick as we only spent 1.5 hours in the delivery room and 4 hours total at the hospital before he arrived ( Thanks Sue she ate no pie ). Caroline took nothing for medication in anyway so like I always knew she is one amazing woman. She was unbelievable in there and made it very easy for me when things were looking mighty tough for her.

Some of you saw me in Golden BC Sunday night and Caroline texted me Monday morning so sorry I could not stay and say goodbye....grin. She even let me take a 2.5hr nap Monday afternoon before going to the hospital at just after 8pm

Were super psyched to have a baby together and hope for many great times with you all in the years to come.

Hope all is well for all of you this summer.

Love

Keith, Caroline and Loic

P.S. please change your address books to this email for me as I use the other one very little now...Thanks

For those that want more I have set up my gallery at

http://gallery.me.com/mullerwindsports#100004

username is: loic
password: maccullough

Student Update

2009-07-22T20:43:00.001-06:00

Hey Students
Here is some upcoming Info and Scheduling:

First of all we would like to congratulate the 20 students that
completed their High Flights in Golden and most have now had flights
without my assistance...RIGHT ON!!!
The schedule has been very full lately with me teaching courses in
Golden but with the thunderstorms nightly at Cochrane it has not been
great midweek so not a lot of flying which is normal for July at
Cochrane.

Starting this Friday July 24th and continuing till August 5th we will
be closed for teaching as I will be competing in Golden at the WIlli.
I suggest those that qualify to meet up with us in Golden for some
nice morning and evening flying.

The second part of the scheduling most of you are aware of but my
girlfriend and I are expecting a child sometime around Aug. 15th so I
will be passing the reins to Doug, Ross and Brad during my break as I
will be home caring for my girlfriend and baby. My plan is to only be
gone for a week and while I am gone there will most likely not be any
morning flying unless Ross is not away at work as well. Ross will let
Vincene know his schedule so just call in as per instructed on the
online student schedule.

I will also be looking into the Fall Ground Schedule in the next
couple weeks and will post them on the schedule likely early August
sometime. They will not be till September. I would also like to
encourage those that want to aim for the fall High Flight Course to
let Vincene or myself aware of that.

Cheers for now and enjoy the next couple weeks
Keith(time for me to fly and yes I actually fly as well....grin)

Golden High Flights

2009-07-13T23:41:00.002-06:00

I would like to thank the person(s) who left the champagne package in my trailer on Sunday. You can be sure that I will enjoy it!

I took over 500 photos this past weekend. They will all be on a dvd and should be ready for pickup at the shop by Wednesday.

Cody, yours in the mail.

There should be at least a couple of good ones of each of you!

It was a great weekend and we were very lucky with the weather.

Vincene

2009-07-13T23:37:00.002-06:00

Should have been here

2009-06-27T20:17:00.001-06:00

Well as the title says right after I called the day the wing died
completly. For those that stayed it turned on. I opened the beer and
now sits back in the fridge. Barrett, Kristy, Kevin, Ian, Candice,
crystal and the man of the night Tyler. Tyler managed to soar above
hill height for a few minutes and pulled off a great top landing for
his first soaring flight. Nice job Tyler.
Sorry for those that left.
K

Sent from my iPhone

Cochrane Thursday Night

2009-06-19T08:25:00.001-06:00

An Epic Day by Dan Miller

2009-05-29T07:00:00.001-06:00

Sunday, May 18. An Epic Day

We get started early today, and conditions are spectacular from 7:00 in the morning until 3:00 in the afternoon. Everyone gets three flights today (and some of us get four and five). A couple of launches are a bit hairy, and there are a few Albatross landings, but the improvement in our skills takes a quantum leap forward. We practice lots of maneuvers, some thermal flying, and even a few recreational flights.

Trevor perfects the spiral, Dan gets an "outstanding!" from Chris on his wing-overs, and Terry neatly cores a thermal over the beach directly above our heads for what seems like forever. Daniel earns the nickname "Big Ears" for an unprecedented 15-minute descent holding the same maneuver for an entire flight. (He lost radio contact after releasing from the tow, and the air over the lake was a bit turbulent in the afternoon.) Clint earns our undying admiration for a perfect triple-S maneuver: stall, spin, and sat. It's the scariest thing we've seen yet, and Clint performs it beautifully.

Chris has not let anyone ride in the boat with him this weekend. He is superstitious about that: he says there is a curse associated with riding in the boat. Every time someone does, something goes wrong. After everyone has had his third flight of the day, Clint decides to challenge fate by taking a ride in the boat. Nothing goes wrong... yet.

Later in the day, Clint is back on shore, hooking in for another tow. He takes a rough bounce on launch, puts his hand out to steady his balance, and his hand strikes a rock on the beach. He looks down, sees one of his fingers sticking out at a funny angle, and brakes hard to abort the launch. (Paraglider pilots may be a little nuts, but no one wants to fly with a broken finger.) Chris stops the tow within about six feet, so Clint isn't hurt getting dragged along the rocky shore. But he is pulled into the water, so he's the first one to get wet this weekend.

A few minutes later Chris is on the prow of the boat, which is now pulled up to the edge of the water. The rest of us are standing on either side of Clint, and we are all leaning in close to inspect his little finger, which looks like it has just grown a crazy-ass fourth knuckle. Someone suggests that maybe it is only dislocated, but Clint can't move it and he's sure it's broken. There's a discussion on where we ought to take him: to the hospital in Salt Lake City or to the walk-in clinic in Nephi (which is about 100 miles closer). "You know," says Clint conversationally, not showing that he is feeling any pain at all, "if I was a horse you'd shoot me." Chris gives him a powerful pain-killer and a king-size can of Red Bull. (What you have to do to get a free Red Bull these days...) Everyone takes a step back to see what will happen when that massive dose of codeine, caffeine, and sugar hits his bloodstream. "I don't know, man," says Chris helpfully, looking at Clint's finger. "I'd sure like to give that thing a pull." The codeine, caffeine, and sugar hits all at once about three seconds later, because Clint grabs his pinky and gives it a good hard tug. The bones crack four times. Chris lurches to the side of the boat and nearly hurls overboard. But Clint is smiling now, and wiggling his finger without any hint of a grimace. "It worked!" he says happily. Mathieu decides to nickname him "Pinky," and the name sticks for the rest of the day.

All's well that ends well, as they say, and this third day of our SIV course is truly epic. We have driven 16 hours from Calgary to be here, and it has been totally worth it.

Often I wonder why we do this. Paragliding is not as dangerous as most people think, but it is still a lot more dangerous than many of the alternatives. Why take up paragliding and not gardening or croquet? This question fascinates me. Answering it requires an article on its own, but there are several things that come to mind immediately. There are the obvious things, of course: the exhilaration of flying... the peace and quiet in the sky... the aesthetics of the wing... the beauty of a smooth launch or a well-carved turn... the feel of the sun and the wind on your face... But there are very human elements to it as well. Paragliding is a life-altering experience, and the people with whom you share that experience become an important part of it. We are privileged with great teachers, instructors, and coaches, and we owe a lifelong debt of gratitude to those who have introduced us to the sport and continue to guide and direct our flying experiences. This weekend would never have happened without Vincene, Keith, and Clint from Muller Windsports, or Chris from Super Fly, and our lives would be something less without it. So thanks from each one of us - we will never forget it!

Saturday Evening

2009-05-25T14:25:00.001-06:00

Here is a photo of everyone ground handling on Saturday evening after
a bunch of flights

Photo by Tomo (san)

Busy day Saturday

2009-05-25T14:13:00.001-06:00

Great morning with 20 students coming out which is a record....
the weather continued all day and the students were back for the
evening with almost everyone getting flights before the wind went
cross and a bit strong but ground handling was still great.

Photo by Tomo ( all round great guy ) student from 2008

Day 2 Blog from SIV by Dan Miller

2009-05-25T14:06:00.003-06:00

Friday, May 16. First Flights

The six of us meet at Yuba Lake early on Friday morning, where we join up with Steve and Terry – so all eight of us have arrived safely and without any incidents at the border. Chris has said that he will meet us at "seven-ish." We soon learn that in Utah this means "any time before eight o'clock."

Yuba Lake itself is a good size, and although it sits in the middle of a parched desert landscape, the temperature in the morning is very cold. There is frost on the vehicles, and the temperature has dropped nearly to zero degrees Celsius. (By early afternoon the temperature reaches over 30 degrees.)

Chris arrives with the boat and he makes some brief introductory comments. We review proper tow procedures, and Clint – our fearless coach and official wind dummy – is the first one to launch. Dan, Trevor, Mathieu, and Steve all get their first experience towing and flying maneuvers next, and we are visibly timid up there. Chris is patient with each of us, but he is less talkative than I think we expected. Difficulties with the boat force us to switch to the truck, so Daniel and Tomo have their first experiences towing up behind the vehicle – by which time the wind has started to pick up – so it is a lot more difficult than towing up behind the boat.

The witching hour arrives after Tomo's flight, so we are done for the day. Everyone except Terry has had his first tow and flight with basic maneuvers, and we are all kind of shaky. It has made each of us a bit giddy, and we're still a little freaked out by the whole experience – like nervous and giggling school girls after a wild prom night. Our flights are strangely difficult for us to remember: all buzzed up and blurred out.

Each of the flights is recorded on video, so we return to the hotel to watch ourselves and make notes for tomorrow. In the evening we return to Point of the Mountain, and this time we visit the north side. We have never seen so many gliders in the air at one time – we count 34 just driving up to the launch site. The flight park itself is unbelievable: it has a paved parking lot with sidewalks, benches, and washrooms with running water. The launch/landing field is half-way up the ridge – pilots can fly sled-runs to a groomed field at the base, or bench up to the top of the ridge, or simply boat around above the field – which is a sprawling, manicured lawn. Daniel suggests that Vincene ought to till the field at Cochrane Hill and lay sod so that we can have something similar back home. Everyone laughs, and all of us helpfully suggest that he be the one to make that recommendation to Vincene when we return.

The wind is smooth and consistent, but too strong for us. We are content to sit on the grass at the edge of the field and watch the gliders until sunset. We meet several local pilots, who are just as friendly as Mathieu has said, and we enjoy the evening watching dozens of gliders launch, soar, and land. We are even treated to some fantastic acrobatics. Done well, paragliding is a beautiful thing – there is simply nothing that compares to its simple elegance. However, when it is done poorly… paragliding becomes something else entirely. We watch one pilot in particular, with great interest, as he struggles on launch for more than fifteen minutes. We laugh a little to ourselves, because we can all hear Keith in our heads hollering: "No jumping!" and "If you look down once more, I'm going to kick you in the nuts!"

We have dinner at a buffet restaurant in the city, where Mathieu eats a staggering amount of food (we lose count after the fifth or sixth plate), and then we drive back to the thriving metropolis of Scipio (two gas stations, a Dairy Queen, and a Subway). Mathieu is forced to stand in the parking lot for a while, venting thermals of his own, before he can safely enter the building.

Tomorrow will be Day 2, and although we are more confident now than we were at the start of the day, we are still a little apprehensive about the day to come.

/end

Day 1 Blog from 2009 SIV course by Dan Miller

2009-05-25T14:06:00.001-06:00

Here is a blog from Dan Miller who took the intermediate course in
2008 and has no gone to his first SIV course. Great job Guys
Cheers
Keith

Thursday, May 15. We made it!

Clint and Tomo and Daniel (Guillaume) and Dan (Miller) leave Calgary
around 5:30 PM, driving in Clint's truck. The landscape south of the
city is stunning, and we are treated to a magnificent sunset. The
massive wind turbines north of Lethbridge are awe-inspiring, as is the
trestle bridge – which was the longest in the world when the bridge
was built almost a hundred years ago.

We arrive at the United States border shortly before 10:00. The four
of us make an interesting group, and we raise a few eyebrows there.
Tomo is travelling with a Japanese passport, and he has never visited
the United States before. Clint has entries in his passport for Egypt
and Jordan, and Dan has entries for Cuba. Daniel is Korean, visiting
Canada on a temporary work visa, and travelling with a Belgian
passport that was issued in France. To top it all off, we are all
looking a little nervous… (We have heard all about SIV maneuvers and
they sound pretty damn scary.) However, it takes only 40 minutes to
do the paperwork, which is a lot less than it might have been.
Surprisingly, the folks at US customs are great, and we don't
experience any hassles or major delays. Nobody has to endure a strip
search or (much worse) watch uniformed neanderthals with handguns
unpack his glider and spread it all over the pavement at the border.

We alternate drivers through the night, and we arrive in Salt Lake
City at 8:00 in the morning. The first place we visit is (of course)
Point of the Mountain. If there is any possibility of a flight at the
south side, then we want to be there for it. Conditions are too
strong, though, and only the hang gliders are setting up. The hill is
impressive – and we are all feeling a little jealous. (Only Clint has
seen the north slope, so the rest of us have no idea how jealous we
will become.)

We drive to Sandy, just south of Salt Lake City, to say hello to the
guys at Super Fly. Chris is out towing, so we decide to continue
south to Yuba Lake and check out the site for tomorrow's course. At
Yuba Lake we find four other pilots on the beach. They have been
doing maneuvers over the water all morning, and they don't look any
worse for the wear. The "witching hour" at Yuba Lake starts at noon,
and the wind changes while we're chatting. When Chris returns to
shore with the boat, he suggests they switch to towing behind the
truck, so we head over to the road and wait for him there.

When the truck arrives, it looks like something out of a Mad Max
movie. It's a large vehicle, painted jet black, with tinted windows
and black hubs on huge knobby tires. The box has been replaced with a
flat-bed dominated by tow equipment: a huge spool of tow line, a gas
engine, and an enormous tool box. We are standing at the side of the
road in the blasting heat when the truck pulls up in a cloud of dust,
and for a moment it reminds me of one of the horsemen of the apocalypse.

With the exception of Clint, we have never met Chris Santacroce
before. The truck stops and Chris climbs out. He is tanned and dusty
and grinning like a Chesire cat. "Welcome to the desert!" he says,
with all the grace and charm of a host welcoming guests to paradise.
It takes no more than three seconds to get a very clear impression of
Chris, and time only reinforces that first impression: he is equal
parts boyish enthusiasm, impish mischief, grandfatherly wisdom, and
Zen master – like a genie who has escaped his lamp.

One at a time, he tows the other four pilots to an impressive height,
and we stay to watch their flights for a while. Afterward we drive to
a small town called Scipio, about ten miles south of Yuba Lake, where
we meet up with Mathieu and Trevor, and we check in to the hotel for a
few hours of sleep.

(Mathieu arrived a day earlier, and conditions were ideal last night
for ridge soaring. He is still euphoric over his first soaring
flight, more than 20 minutes in the air. Mathieu has also had time
for some sight-seeing in Salt Lake City, and several times he comments
on how clean the city is, and how friendly the people there. One
couple handed him the keys to their vehicle when he offered to drive
it down to the landing zone for them. Just imagine how remarkable
that is: an American giving his car keys to a complete stranger with a
strong French accent!)

After dinner we drive out to the lake and we practice a few
inflations. The wind is too light for anything except forwards. It
is good to practice though. The weather in and around Calgary has
been dismal the past several months, so most of us have not even
inflated our gliders this year. We return to the hotel early, anxious
and jittery over tomorrow's first SIV flights.

Great Mornings Lately

2009-05-19T09:02:00.001-06:00

Well as you can see from the title the long weekend gave us what we
have been looking for. We had 10 students with all different levels
out fr some flying and ground handling on Saturday morning. Some had
as many as 5 flights but most had at least 3. After the wind picked up
a bit they all did a bunch of ground handling in order to perfect
those higher wind launches. The rest of day was blown out but after
hiking up the hill 5 times I am sure some of them did not care
( Kevin.....grin. Congrats on being a Dad again ). Sunday was again
perfect for student flights in the morning. Ross had 5-6 students out
with Ladde and Candace getting their Maiden flights off the big
hill...congrats. So nice work to all those that came out and the
forecast sure does look nice for the rest of the week so call in.
Cheers
Keith

SIV UTAH

2009-05-18T11:46:00.001-06:00

Hey Vincene and Keith (Vincene, could you please forward this to Keith as

I do not have his email address),

could you please TEXT Trevors cell phone number to me, as he has my

harness to pass on to Santa and I need to get it back from him if he picks

it up from santa.

We had a great towing yesterday after Chris got a couple of injectors

replaced in his boats engine - everyone did really well and got at least 1

tow in each. Tomo had a little excitement on his second flight, and his

360 turned into a sprial dive, which Chris managed to get him out of in

time.

Epic day today... we towed up until late afternoon, and everyone got in at

least 2 more tows today, so some had 4 maneuver flights total, others had

5 or 6, and all finished the course with a smile on their face! Tomo was

a little more hesitant today after his spiral dive yeasterday, but still

managed couple of good flights.

I had a bit of a blip on my last attempt. It was starting to pick up and

get quite switchy with thermals on the beach. I was hooked in, and there

wwas zero wind. The instant I started my inflation, a thermal kicked off,

and the wind was straight down beach - my glider weather vained away from

the water, i got picked up and tossed down. I caught mh hand in a rut,

and when I looked at it, my finger was going 90 degrees in the wrong

direction. I thought it was broke, so I tried to abort the flight - Chris

thought I was trying to correct, and unfortunatley I got pulled into the

water and did a face plant in knee deep water, so my glider and reserve

got soaked so I couldnt fly any more. We looked at my finger and thought

it was broke cause of the direction, or severely disolcated. He gave me

800 mg of ibuprofen, and I chased that with a can of redbull. After about

10 minutes, he mnade the comment "I just want to pull that finger

stright...just give it a yank!" Not sure if he was serious or not, but

with a bit of hestiation i gritted my teeth, and pulled. It made a

horrific asound just like in the movies with about 4 bone pops, I groaned,

and it was back in place (all the guys kinda had a horrific look on their

faces when it cracked like that), but my glider and reserve were still

wet so that ended up my last short flight of the day. That is about all

that happened this weekend in terms of injuries (lol, at least this time

it didnt cost TIC another $30000, lol). If chris can do a repack for me

tomorrow, I will try and fly at the point with the rest of the crew

tomorrow night if conditions allow. Everyone is flying with a lot more

confidence than they came down with, so they might fly the point under

Chris instruction.

Was awesome down here, especially the weather, and Mathieu tells me he is

still a fabulous great guy. He even managed his first thermals over the

beach and gained a bit of alitutude!"

Believe it or not, Trevor was probably the rockstar of this group of guys

doing their first SIVs, nailing most of his maneuvers and then towing up

for some thermals on his last flight which lasted 20 - 30 minutes..

ANywas, that is all for now.

See you in a few days.

Clint

Fwd: SIV update

2009-05-16T07:03:00.001-06:00

>
>
>
>> Hey Vincene and Keith,
>>
>> weather down here is awesome! 20-30C sunshine....
>>
>> just give you a quick update...
>>
>> I towed up first thing this morning, did a few basic manuevers, was a
>> blast.. came in to land... I know I have put weight on but man that
>> is the
>> hottest that I have ever come in (no wind to help slow my fat ass
>> down),
>> and the flare didnt do much to slow me down, but managed to stay on
>> my
>> feet
>>
>> Dan towed up next... was a little dicey (he said he had his break
>> handle
>> caught thru his risers and couldnt turn while on tow... never
>> occurred to
>> him to avoid the handle and just go for the actual break line...
>> but, with
>> a little anxious moments Chris got him back on track and he did a tow
>> (close to lockout a couple of times)... did his manuevers really well
>>
>> Trevor went next... awesome first SIV flight
>>
>> Then the Frenchy-left-backward edmontonian with a fake accent
>> towed...
>> awesome first SIV flight
>>
>> Then Steve... awesome first SIV flight
>>
>> then the boat broke down... Chris not sure if it is an engine
>> problem or
>> what, but we had to stop... so he gave the guys who hadnt towed the
>> option
>> of doing a first tow off the truck down the road
>>
>> was starting to thermal slightly
>>
>> Daniel went first... dicey tow but chris again got him up (again
>> almost
>> lock out a couple of times)... he did some of the over the land
>> manuevers
>> (the best was... do a right 90... alright, that was a left 90 but
>> it will
>> have to do cause it's done now)
>>
>> Tomo went next.. was thermalling a bit more.. he did a good job
>> reversing
>> (first attempt got pulled off his feet), but second time got up...
>> bit of
>> a dicey tow again, almost lock out).. he released and hit nothing
>> but sink
>> cause he was down in about 2 minutes and didnt do any maneuvers
>>
>> Chris said it was too dicey for any of the newbies to continue
>> today... I
>> think he might have been a little miffed with people not doing what
>> they
>> were supposed to while on tow, even after explaining, but whatever
>>
>> I did a final tow, thermalled around for 25 minutes or so and then
>> decided
>> to land cause the thermals were getting a bit strong for my comfort
>> level
>> in the desert and the wind was picking up (starting to get parked,
>> and not
>> too familiar with the how strong they get here, so chose to get
>> down while
>> i could still move forward!)
>>
>>
>> Chris has taken the boat back to his buddy, so hopefully he will
>> have it
>> repaired in the next couple of days. We are gonna head into SLC in
>> an
>> hour, and maybe try the Point if the wind cooperates. As it
>> stands, we
>> have had 6 people tow and manuever; Tomo towed but did not
>> manuever, and
>> Terry has yet to tow.
>>
>> Cheers, and i'll see you on Wednesday or Thursday.
>>
>> Clint
>>
>>
>> __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus
>> signature database 4080 (20090515) __________
>>
>> The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
>>
>> http://www.eset.com
>>
>>
>

US Paragliding Nationals

2009-04-24T17:27:00.000-06:00

Well if your reading this you may care where I am. I have just arrived in sunny California to attend another paragliding comp. For those interested the results should be at this address
http://www.santacruzparagliding.com/natshome.html

The results are in the column on the right.
I will try to update but as you know I get lazy.
All for now
K

Sunday April 19th

2009-04-20T11:28:00.000-06:00

A great group came out this morning with Cody from Rocky Mountain
House getting 3 flights. Ryan and Dustin from Calgary got there first
nervous flights off of Cochrane Hill as well. The wind proved great
for groundhandling the rest of the morning for Julia, Elaine, Cody,
Dustin, Shane, and Ryan. After a break for lunch we moved into
Groundschool #1 and it was well attended by the large crop of
Intermediate Students.

As most of you are aware I will be away competing from Thursday April
23 to May 4th. My other Instructors will be picking up the slack with
evening and weekends available for Instruction. When I return we will
be running a full schedule for till July.

Look forward to seeing you all out sometime soon

Cheers
Keith

It All Begins

2009-04-09T08:47:00.001-06:00

Wednesday night saw Kevin and Karen out for a great evening of
groundhandling. The winds were rather cross for flying but it was a
perfect evening for reverse inflations. The snow has now melted to the
point we can fly and groundhandle without getting to dirty or wet.
Hope to see you all out soon.
Cheers Keith

Reserve Clinic

2009-02-23T20:13:00.001-07:00

MULLER WINDSPORTS

RESERVE CLINIC 2009

DATE:               Saturday, March 7, 2009

Repack Fee: $40.00 Deployment, inspection and repack.  The lecture is free.

PLACE:               Ecole Ste-Marguetite Bougeoys,

4700 Richard Rd SW

(note: the school is next door to Bishop Carol High School & near the Farmers Market)

TIME:     9AM

Format: Deployments will start at 9am for pilots who have attended previous clinics.

Lecture will start at 10am.  It is recommended that pilots who have not attended a clinic should attend the lecture.

After the lecture, deployments will continue.  Repacks will start during the lecture.  If work needs to be done on your equipment it will be done at the shop during the week.

If you are a new pilot and don't yet have a reserve we will try to make sure you get a practice deployment.  There is no charge if you have no equipment.

1:30pm- Pizza – included in repack fee or $10 if you didn't pay for repack.

AHPA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING   2:00

Can you please let us know if you will be staying for pizza so that we can order enough

Email fly@mullerwindsports.com

Day 10 and BIG

2009-02-05T21:09:00.001-07:00

Big Task. 117km with goal at the Monarca Butterflies. We criss crossed everywhere and anywhere. It was great day to be in the lead gaggle as it was going to be tough. We tagged the start and got climbs every time we needed them. It was going well as I stuck with the lead gaggle most of the day. I was charging hard as I was totally psyched to be flying today on a totally blue day with no clouds for people to cheat. The day got extra exciting at the end as I waited at base to go out to the flats so I would not be alone. Farmer came along just in time to charge out with me. About 2km's short of goal I took a climb with the others so I would get in for sure as it was to late to get stupid after suck a long day. This cost me a minute or so behind Farmer as he and Micky won the day. I was most likely top 10 for the day...Sweet. Tomorrow is the final day so party party. I did not see my teammates in goal. The goal was at 9000 feet so it was very tough to get in as we had to thermal half a km from the line just to get in as base was not much higher.
Cheers
K

This place is Insane

2009-02-04T21:11:00.001-07:00

Today another 106km task. We are all so tired that everyone walks around like zombies. The task had an interesting start radius allowing for several different angles to take it. I choose the one halfway between good and bad. I got to the first turnpoint not as low as one group but lower than another group. After a very sweet climb we were all back together. I raced across no man's land to the next point with a fast group managing to catch most everyone in front of us. At this point we got stinking and high and very cold...4000m which you need to remember its still winter here. Arcteryx has me well equipped but I was still chilly. After some quick pushes into the course we hooked the convergence line and made good time across the lake to a point on the other side. I fell back a little here as i tried to be safe but it actually cost me as the group got a great climb from low and we coming in it was not there. So much for staying high as it sometimes backfires. I worked my way back up but a little behind the first gaggle. At this point I noticed Urban Valic over my head going the other way. he had decided to run around the lake the short way and was now in front by about 30mins. He of course won the day by a huge margin and I am 30mins behind him for the task. I was maybe TOP 30 or so today so not bad on a very tough and challenging task. I did not see my teammates today so not sure how they did. Tomorrow they want a huge task then easy on friday to finish. I will need a break from flying soon as I think I have 50 hours on the new gliders already....CRAZY.
Going to bed
Keith

Sorry for no posts lately

2009-02-03T18:01:00.001-07:00

Well I guess to catch you up on what's happening down here. We had a terrible accident where a Swiss pilot died and I was unfortunately one of the witness's. I wont talk about it as it has been written about already all over the internet. I will just say it was a horrible sight. We had a Rest day last Saturday and Sunday turned into a memorial flight to pay respects to the fallen pilot. We all flew with flowers and tossed them out over the lake....very touching. Yesterday we had a long day with a 97km task. I finished not late but not early. I think I was Top 40. This morning I was sitting in 47th Overall so not bad but not great. Today we had a 114km task all over the bloody place finishing at the lake. I was charging hard for the first half but made a bad choice for a glide line and got lower than the gaggle. So survival mode it had to be. I got out after a delay and just happy to still be in the air as the trees were very close when I was low....grin. Back on course I was with the 3rd pack trying to catch up to the front packs and actually doing it. I tagged the final turnpoint at 3500m so very high. I had the rest of the course on a 6 to 1 glide. Off I went and made the end of the speed section with room to spare. I still had 5 km to glide to the lake to actually make goal. I still had it at 6.5 to 1 and its always a very lifty glide. UNTIL TODAY. I got absolutely drilled. I have never fallen so quickly. I looked at my instruments to make sure I was still going forward it was so bad. Lucky for me there was a golf course that we are not suppose to land in and that was where I made it too. I landed 1.7km short of the goal field but actually only about 50 feet in height as if it were not for the trees I would have made it as I was up on a plateau. Well some times you have good luck and sometimes bad so I guess i will chalk this one to very bad luck.
Hope all is well back home and see most of you soon. We have 3 tasks left and then its party time and then come home to get some work done and yes I am actually excited about that.
Cheers to you all
Keith (Not frustrated at all)

Day 5

2009-01-29T21:16:00.001-07:00

Huge task today. They called 114km all over the place. I had a great start then led with a couple other guys to the first turnpoint and on to the second I was still with the lead group. We took a line of course line thinking it would be better to get to the hills quicker then work them. BAD IDEA. The group behind cut the corner and met us at the second turnpoint. From here the cloud flying was little out of hand and we continued on getting very low. The task then took us out into the wild blue yonder of the flats. We first had to tag the penon. We had a great glide out into the far off hills across the flats. Once out there we got thermals that were blown apart in the wind. Some drifted more than they went up...grin. I got out of there and back into launch. thinking the front of the penon would work better we went for it. No luck for me here as I got drilled in the strong winds. The group with me only made it a bit further. I landed at the base of the Penon for almost 100km of the 114km. So not a horrible day but it was not Goal. Tomorrow is the last day before REST. We all need it as it was another 4.5 hrs of flying today and more for others.
Cheers
K

Even More Tired

2009-01-28T17:43:00.000-07:00

Is it possible to be more tired...
Well today we had a 84km task all over the place including the Monarca Butterflies. It was another cluster in the start gaggle but once the start happened the fast gliders got out in front and we then had space. I was with the lead group going into the first turnpoint but lower. I decided to make the wise decision to take a climb as there was no point in being stupid so early. The climb allowed me to catch the lead group again as they got low. I headed across the mesa and well on speed bar took a nice blowout and my wingtip stuck in so I lost some height fishing it out. I was now low and behind again. At this point the group behind me got me and I lead them into the flats where we took the convergence out to the butterflies. After getting stuck for a few minutes with the lead gaggle in sight it was just not to be and I resorted to being second group for the day. So all and all another good day but not sure how I did. maybe 15-20 mins behind the leaders. I did not see anyone from Team Canada in goal when I left so can not report on them at all. Hope they made it.
Cheers
K

Tired......

2009-01-27T21:12:00.001-07:00

Well today we had yet another long task with it being 95km or so. I managed to get myself nice and low after the 2nd turnpoint but eventually worked my way free. I then had some great climbs which put me back into the lead gaggle for awhile at least. At the final turnpoint I made my last mistake by not hanging on to the climb the leaders were in and fell off the bottom. I searched for what seemed like ever on a horrible little lee side spine. I finally got what I was looking for and went across the mesa low. At the end of the mesa near launch I found what had to be the worst and best climb of my life. Worst cause it was so rough I had only half a glider for most of it and best cause it allowed me to go on final glide for the remaining 12km's to goal. The glide was in the convergence so I maintained 80% speed bar the whole time and came in with 100m to spare altitude. A Japanese guy in goal asked me where the fire was and with some hand gestures I explained that we are racing here....grin. Brett and Jim both made it in and not sure about Nicole yet. Not sure how well I did as there were many in front of me today but of course just happy to be in Goal again. Yesterdays results will be recalculated as about 10 pilots got scored for making goal but did not cross the line because of landing short. Tomorrow is another day. I hope for a better result as I feel my glider is going very well and I am getting very comfy with it.
Cheers
K

Day Two

2009-01-26T18:52:00.001-07:00

Big Task today. They called a 92km task all over the place. I was with the lead group for the first half but left a climb to look for a better one that was the same but the climb I left ended up getting much better. This left me low with a group of pilots who did the same. I was able to get going again but took a 15min delay doing so. I then got to the final turnpoint and got drilled in sink to almost landing which took another 10mins to recover from. The group then proceeded to go quicker making smart decisions. We took one last climb which allowed us to go on final from about 8km out with a 9 to 1 glide ratio so I did not come in very high but in. I think I may be top 40 but we will see. Thanks for the emails from back home. Time for dinner as its 8pm.
Cheers
K

First Day

2009-01-25T18:14:00.001-07:00

Great day today. I was able to fly safely with the gaggle for the first half then managed to connect into the convergence. This allowed me to take the lead for the day which I maintained until the final turnpoint where I managed to make my big mistake for the day. I still got in the TOP 10. I believe I was 6th or 7th. Tonight I will celebrate with Team Norway with a couple beers and a nice meal. Thanks for all the support back home and hopefully I can maintain this great start. The task was 75.4km and most of the field finished. Jim Orava and Nicole both finished for the Canadian Team and hopefully Brett can get in tomorrow too.
Cheers
Keith

Opening Ceremony

2009-01-24T10:51:00.001-07:00

Today is a rest day. We are catching up on sleep and laundry and eating and drinking. I feel good going into tomorrow and feel my glider is now going to be great. It is very fast and glides very well. The handling is getting better as I figure it all out. The parade and all the boring meetings are tonight. We will be escorted around by little mexican kids so it should be funny trying to talk to them. Not really much to say today except it is very warm and not cold.....grin
Cheers
K

Opening Ceremony

2009-01-24T10:36:00.001-07:00

Quick

2009-01-22T21:05:00.001-07:00

Everything is good. Making changes to my glider daily. I got new risers last night. 4 reserves tosses today. Chad and Peter are having fun. Food is great. Chat soon. I wrote a long post then lost it 3 times so I am going to bed annoyed with this crap so i hope your all reading it.
K

Quick Update

2009-01-20T21:10:00.001-07:00

Got here in Mexico Late Last Nite. Almost missed my flight out of Calgary as it left at 8 not 8.30am yeah I know......grin. Woke up this morning and went flying. Good to catch up with old friends here training for the Worlds. I got to really test the new glider and was very Happy with what I found. Its not typical GIN glider but very nice, More on that later. So after two hours and a cruise around the area I landed at the lake for a nice beer and a rest for tomorrow. The internet is rough here so for the next few days updates will be tough. once the meet starts it will be better as we have internet at HQ. All for now and check out the Spo track from the post below and you can see part of my flight for how it works. You can start tracking around11am <calgary time and it should move every 10mins or so. All for now. time for sleep as the sun is HOT and the days rough....I know how sorry you all feel for me.
Cheers
K

Keith's Paragliding Travels

2009-01-19T00:05:00.000-07:00

Well If your getting this email I probably think you might care about where I am or if not then just delete this and ignore.
I am off in about 6 hours to Valle de Bravo, Mexico for the Paragliding World Championships. I will get a week of practice in then the game begins on Sunday the 25th. I plan to try and update my blog but I will also give you the links for other sites with info. My other major plan is to fly with my SPOT locator beacon, It will update every 10mins live with where I am so if you want to get fired then go watch this site.

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?&glId=0QnTjoYYNEq9Fu8JuDoV2aAexa2FdM2Cu

http://mullerwindsports.blogspot.com/

http://www.keithmac22.blogspot.com/

http://www.canadiannationalteam.ca/

The Best Coverage probably
http://www.eagleparagliding.com/?q=node/212

The Official Coverage
http://www.pwmex2009.com/

So hope all is well for all of you and Thanks so much for all the support now its my turn to go represent.

Cheers
Keith

Thanks for a Great Evening

2009-01-15T18:48:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to say thanks again to all those that came and to those that chipped in some money. It was a very successful evening and I will do my best to represent Canada and make you all proud.
Cheers and Thanks again
Keith

test

2009-01-12T23:17:00.001-07:00

TEST

2009-01-10T21:30:00.001-07:00

Come to Shank's Crowfoot to have a few drinks and support my Paragliding Endeavors. I will be having a 50/50 draw as the fundraiser part so don't feel like you have to pay money if you come, I would like to just see all my friends. My good friend John McIsaac from Canmore will be doing a slide show on his attempts at climbing Everest without O2. I think we have a great evening planned. Bring Friends and Family

Location: Crowfoot Shanks

Date: January 14th/2009

Time:around 7pm

Final Day of 2008 Season

2008-11-02T09:37:00.001-07:00

Saturday November 8 will be the last day of paragliding training for 2008.

For those that have the requirements for the Novice Rating you can write the Novice exam at 8:30am at the Cochrane Shop. There will be time to correct and go over the exam afterwards.

At 1pm we are having hot dogs on the barbie followed by ground school #4.

Ground School #4 is offered only once a year at the end of the season and covers information that you need to know when moving along in your paragliding career. Try not to miss it.

Let me know if you can make the BBQ so that we can plan supplies.

for pilots who attended the recent high flights in Golden weekend last month you can pick up a photo dvd of the event.

Vincene

Great Afternoon

2008-11-01T11:26:00.005-06:00

Saturday proved to be a lot of fun for Trevor and Jason. The usual suspects were out as well with Devin getting nice and high in the warm winds coming from the East. The entertainment came from a large grassfire just down the hill in Gleneagles with helicopters having to come in and fight it. After that it was back to very cross wind conditions but the boys made the best of it with extended flights and side hill landings. So all and all a great day for the start of november. Hopefully see you all out next weekend for some grub and chatting.

Cheers

Keith

WINDY

2008-10-25T08:18:00.002-06:00

Yes WINDY

that is the story for the last couple weeks. It has been crazy just how windy it has been. That being said I will be running the final groundschool of the year Sunday afternoon at 1 pm. It will be #3. Call out to the shop if you can make it.

Cheers

More Flying

2008-10-21T22:45:00.003-06:00

Don't forget this weekend is still ok for coming out to fly. I will be around if anyone wants to come out. Please call into the shop at 8:30am if your interested.

Cheers

Keith

PS don't forget to call me and get your name on the list for the end of season bbq on November 8th.

Fall Flying

2008-10-15T11:39:00.002-06:00

Just to keep you all up to date on the goings of the last month. I have not forgotten about the blog but I have been busy trying to wrap up students before winter hits. The flying has been inconsistent but it has had its moments. The last couple Saturday mornings have given up some great flights for those that have come out to brave the frost.

We all had a great weekend in Golden for the High Flights and an even better party...Right Tomo. Saturday was blown out but Sunday we woke up to beautiful clear skies with great flights for everyone. Not a single Muller Student blew a launch while many more experienced pilots did....grin.

Vincene and I have decided to host a BBQ for this years Intermediates on November the 8th a 1pm. There will be smokies and buns. I will also be giving my year end groundschool called number 4. Please RSVP so we have enough food.

For those that are qualified to write the HPAC novice exam I will be hosting a writing of it before the BBQ at 8:30am. If you are unsure if you qualify please call or send me an email. We will mark it after you write it and send the results if you pass to the HPAC for your ratings card.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and we will see ya all soon

Cheers

Keith

Saturday Sept. 13th

2008-09-14T22:32:00.002-06:00

The morning started off a little windy so no work got done but shortly after the afternoon groundschool everything got great. The thermals took a little time to go away to make room for safe conditions. Soon as they did conditions got perfect for flights. Several students completed flights until winds eventually died off and the shade rolled in from the setting sun. So another great evening for flights with most getting upwards of 4 each. Great work all who came out.

Cheers

Thursday Sept.11th

2008-09-14T22:18:00.002-06:00

The weather gods shined again. We spent the afternoon with some of the instructors getting some flying in. Young Devin rocked the show early with a little bit of Thermal instruction and now knows the Cochrane house thermal inside and out. After two years of flying Cochrane he completed his first 360's coring up over the hill in the lift. With enough of watching him I decided to go get my glider and get some flying in as well. Ross, myself and a few others soared away until the wind picked up just enough to not make it uncomfortable. At this point the students arrived to watch a few Hanggliders soaring. After not long I decided to go check the air and lets just say I did not want to land. Well I did land and got the students going. Todd launched and soared well down to the east side of the ridge and back before realizing he had no radio turned on but he was still above the top of the hill so he turned it on and I talked him through another pass on the ridge. After a 5 min flight I talked him through his first perfect top landing. Good Job Todd. Soon after Todd's flight we got Allan in the air for his first extended flight. Nice launch Allan. The evening continued till darkness began with all of the students getting flights of various lengths. We should give a big welcome to Elaine and Gary for getting their first flights off of the big hill. Nice work everyone and keep it up.

The word of the day is RELAX......grin

Cheers

Monday Sept. 8th 2008

2008-09-14T22:13:00.002-06:00

After receiving a horrible forecast for Tuesday I decided to switch my day off and work tonight. Well it sure turned out to be a great evening. We had several students out for flights with Darcy leading the way with 9. Most others had at least 4. So with 11 students getting flights the batteries on the radios sure took a beating. Hope the nice weather continues as we prepare for the Golden High Flights. I would also like to Welcome James and Jason into the Karma ownership club after purchasing new Karmas this past week.

Cheers

Keith

Long Time No Chat

2008-09-03T21:43:00.003-06:00

Well the Fall season is upon us with a few great nights in the past couple weeks. It all started on my Birthday August 20th that turned out to be ridge soarable all evening bringing out several students for some extended flights.

Vincene and I then took a group of the instructors down for some extra training over the water in Park City Utah. They all had several flights learning to spin, stall and recover from various collapses while there.

We came home this week to the most amazing Tuesday evening of soarable conditions. It started around 3pm and finished just before dark. Matt from the USA and myself enjoyed a couple hours before Peter(nurse) showed up to get his allotment of airtime. At this point around 6pm James, Ken, Allan, Jason, Trevor, Peter(lawyer) and Tomo got their evening going. Most had 4 or 5 flights in windy but safe conditions. Most of the flights were launched using reverse technique, so practice up kids if you want a better chance of getting nice flights in the windier conditions.

The surprise of the evening was our good buddy Blake who managed his first 7 Flights ever and is now ready to do his own approaches. Great Job Blake.

I was super pleased with the progress that everyone showed throughout the evening considering it was the first time out for some since early July.

So Cheers to you all

Hope to see you all out in the coming days as the fall should bring us some nice flying weather.

Cheers

Keith

Schedule Changes

2008-07-24T23:59:00.004-06:00

Well as some of you know this summer has been a volatile weather patterns in the evenings but the students have been flying a lot in the mornings during the week of course. This week we have been shut down not by weather but the fact they are repaving the road to the shop. The construction has made the road impassable for today and tomorrow.

That leads us to next week. I will be away for the next 3 weeks as I will be competing in the Paragliding Nationals for the first week then some holiday time after that. Vincene will be in and out of the office if you need something but we will not have any Instructors until August 4th in the evening. Either Doug or Brad will take care of the tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday nights for those two weeks. Check the schedule on the right of the blog for updates.

Some of the boys have been flying a ton out in Golden and have now completed their Novice exams. So congratulations to Chad, Peter(nurse), Ian for their passing the exam and Jean Michel for completing his intermediate level.

Hope everyones summers are going well and see ya in August.

Every Morning

2008-07-09T21:49:00.003-06:00

Well as the title says it has been flyable for the students every morning since we came back from Golden. Several new students have been out getting flights in the mornings. I am sure most of you have been on Stampede hiatus so we will see most of you again starting next week I guess....grin. For anyone wanting to come out this weekend Doug will be working with you as I am headed to Golden to hopefully fly far. Please call in Friday afternoon if you can make it Saturday morning.

For those of you who qualify for writing the novice exam I will be holding a writing session at 6pm on July 22nd.

For those of you that do not have the windtalker number that is connected to the shop please dial (403)932-3551. I ask that you phone this number to get used to what is windy and what is not. We have been suffering from a lot of thunder activity and in these cases the windtalker is unplugged to stop it from frying.

Hope all is well in whatever your up to and see ya soon.

Keith

Golden High Flights

2008-07-01T21:32:00.002-06:00

Perfect Weather was what happened. We had a great group of pilots show up for our first High Flights of the year. We had Peter(nurse), Mathieu, Chad, Darcy, Jeff V, Jeff L, Tomo, Curtis, Dan, Ian and Steve joined us for flights. Most guys got at least 3 flights with some getting a fourth on Canada Day morning with no instruction. Very well done guys. I was very impressed at how well everyone responded to being at a different site. The temperatures were very HOT with a daily swim needed to just be able to function. The students kept busy with various activities such as hiking and biking.

Please check the schedule for the updated student training times.

Hope everyone had a Great Canada Day

Cheers

Keith

Long Days

2008-06-26T23:45:00.003-06:00

Well yet another day (Wednesday) that started at 8am and finished at 9:30pm. The day started off looking less than desirable but slowly became very nice around 9am. We had several students getting around 3 flights each.

After the afternoon passed we saw Ken R, Ken L, Jeff L, Ang, Daniel, Peter(transport), Peter(Nurse), Allan, Jeff V, Steve, Mathieu, Chad, Devin, Clint and even myself getting a flight. The night was the night for Chad as he was able to fly for a solid 10mins with at least 100ft over the top of the hill for his first real Ridgesoaring flight with a Top landing. The night was gusty but allowed for some great groundhandling. The students with patience and great reverses where then allowed to fly in the almost too windy conditions.

The flying in the mornings has been perfect in the mornings with the exception of only a couple days in the past couple weeks. Most students have been getting about 4 flights each morning. This morning we had a few first time intermediates getting their first flights off of Cochrane. Looking forward to introducing them to you all in your next visits to the hill.

This weekend we will be in Golden for High Flights but will resume on Wednesday evening for classes. Please call in on Wednesday at 4pm if you can make it out.

Have a Great Long Weekend

Keith

WHAT A NIGHT!!!!!!!

2008-06-20T21:25:00.004-06:00

Well let's just say Thursday Night was the Night we had all been waiting for. We had conditions that allowed for some to get their first ridge soaring experiences to several that had some great flights and of course a couple newbies who got some groundhandling in. The day started at 8am with Peter (nurse), Allan, Darcy getting several flights. We started again around 5pm with Peter(nurse), Jeff V, Clint, Chad, Marc and Ian all getting some ridge soaring flights. A couple of them even managed some form of top landing and some with better grace than others.

Shortly after that Jeff L, Daniel, Allan and Alain all got several extended flights to the bottom. So when it was all said and done we stopped around 9:30 pm as the sun was setting on a great day of flying.

I would also like to congratulate Allan, Peter (nurse) and Daniel on their purchase of equipment so they can continue their flying careers for many years to come.

Don't forget for those going to Golden we have Ground School Sunday at 2pm

Keith

Monday

2008-06-17T20:37:00.004-06:00

Farmer and Keith at Cochrane

Photo by Tomo Murase

Well lets just say that Monday proved to be better than Sunday. The day was filled with lots of flying. Myself and a couple more experienced pilots flew during the afternoon while it was rough and windy. But it calmed down enough around dinner time to allow Clint and Chad to take to the air for some ridge soaring. They both had several flights with a couple top landings as well as some side hill landing practice in the SE winds. With the wind at times on the more strong side the students were left to watch for a bit. Farmer and I took to the air for an hour of playing paragliders on the ridge while waiting for it to calm down a bit for the students. The wind calmed down still early in the evening so out came the student gliders with extended flights for most. Tomo, Jeff L, Jeff V, Curtis, Mike, Lilly and Richard all had great flights with some getting a few flights. The conditions allowed for most of them to do their own approaches into the LZ with very little help from Brad or myself. Lets hope this forecast continues. I am interested in taking a group towing on Friday, so please email if your interested at mullerwindsports(at thingy)mac.com

Cheers

Keith

Great Father's Day

2008-06-15T21:39:00.004-06:00

View From Golden looking South to Invermere BC

Well today was the day. We had a great morning teaching a bunch of first timers at the Ogden Site then it was on to Cochrane hill for some intermediate training. It started with Instructor Clint getting his first real ridge soaring flight with a top landing to wrap it up. Great Job Clint. We then proceeded to get Daniel, Tomo, Peter(Lawyer), Peter(Nurse), Jeff, and two new intermediates from this morning's class a bunch of groundhandling. It was amazing flying for the more experienced pilots including myself all afternoon and early evening. After a few hours of groundhandling everyone got flights with the exception of James and Andrew as it was their first time out. Everyone out tonight is now capable of launching from the reverse position so nice work all of you that came out tonight. The forecast is looking great for this week so I have added Monday evening as a training night. Hopefully see most of you out this week for some training.

Cheers

Keith

Clouds

2008-06-11T19:41:00.002-06:00

Great photo of clouds

Test Post

2008-06-11T18:45:00.000-06:00

I have decided to keep it simple and use a Blogger account let me know if you can see this.

the schedule will be at the .mac account page which is