Here is a quick video from Day 3 of Bogong Cup. Unfortunately the internet was so slow that I could not upload videos until now. Snow in summer.

This is it the moment you have all been waiting for the Red Bull Glorious Days documentary will be aired this sunday. Sunday 24th January, 2010 Channel 9 or Win. Red Bull Glorious Days NSW and VIC - 1.30pm (leading into the cricket) QLD - 12.30pm SA - 1.00pm It is on at prime time so hopefully there will be lots of Aussies watching it. Spread the word to all your friends and family and make sure you tape it cause you will want to see it again..

Well the weather just continues to make us rest up for our next comp at manilla. The winds continue to stay strong and the forecast for tomorrow is looking average too. This may go down as one of the worst comps as far as weather goes flying a mere 1 day out of 7 so far. However some pilots have actually flown 4 days fighting the strong winds and turbelence. Some of us enjoyed wake boarding around the lake in Mt beauty yesterday afternoon. We then had a great dinner at the Cricket club in town and drank all night hoping to change the weather patterns.. Untill tomorrow.

Today was looking like the first day we were going to fly. They decided on Mt Emu for the takeoff so we raced up there and set up. The task was a 103kms with 3 turnpoints before returning back down the valley to goal at Mt Beauty Airstrip. I pushed on launch and got off and climbed out with Trent to 6,500ft asl. I quickly raced off down the ridge to try and make the second start. I got drilled 2 minutes before the start and was forced to stay back and do the last start with most everyone else. I had an average start but got away from most of the gaggle apart from Zac who was in front of me and charging. He rounded the 1st turnpoint about 4kms in front of me and went straight line in the valley to the 2nd turnpoint. I went back to the main ridge and had a good run along to the 2nd turnpoint. Zac got low and landed at the 2nd turnpoint just as I was coming in there. I hit a thermal and climbed back out a bit before racing back down the ridge to the last turnpoint. I had a couple of good thermals and glided out into the valley to get the last turnpoint. I came back a little low and took a slow climb as I knew I was a long ways in front of the others. I flew slowly back towards goal just making sure that I did not do anything stupid and land. I did final from about 12kms out at 9:1 glide with a 8knt crosswind and made goal easy. I won the day (or should I say Batman) finishing about 12 minutes in front of Swiss Nick who crossed just before Rohan holtkamp in 3rd. I had my mascot Batman flying with me all day today stuck in my front wires with his arm out and his cape flying. About 15 pilots made goal which was impressive considering the average conditions along the course. BOGONG CUP RESULTS Here is today's video I hope you enjoy.

There is a great turn out of pilots this year with around 60 pilots entered. There are about 12 West Australians which is great to see. Briefing Today the briefing was on hold until 11am when the task committee decided that the conditions were to strong for us to even go up the hill to look. The day was cancelled and many pilots went and did different things to pass the day by. The Trophies..

Well another hard task call with different weather forecast predicted. The task was a 169km dogleg to the North East. We had stable northerly winds near the start gate and then we hit a SW wind with clouds around 10,000ft. We quickly made the turnpoint of 65kms before turning and heading north towards goal. The clouds stopped and we ended up back into the blue stable airmass which proved to difficult for anyone to make goal. I flew for 6 hrs again and landed 22kms from goal coming in 5th for the day while Zac won the day landing only 2.4km short of goal. Here is a quick video for you to watch.

The task was a 185km out and return task with a 20kph SW wind. It was a very easy run to the turnpoint tailwind but took many hours to get beck into the wind. Blay will win the day in just over 4 hrs and Balazs will be second with Gerolf 3rd. I got stuck a couple of times and ended up being about 20 mins slower and will place 6th for the day. Attila was nearly 1 hr slower than me and now Balazs will move into 2nd place with attila close behind in 3rd. I will now have a 400 point lead going into the last 2 days. Here is todays Video.

Another great day at Forbes with a 141km zig zag task. 40 pilots made goal and the winner was from the 2nd start completing the task in 2hrs 12 mins. I did well starting on the 1st clock with Blay and was first into goal and place second for the day in 2hrs 17 mins. It was a fantastic day out in Forbes with 1,000fpm climbs and cloudbase around 9,000ftasl. Zac went down today at the 1st turnpoint which means I will move into 1st place and Attila will move to 2nd with Zac still in 3rd. Balazs and Gerolf are very close behind Zac. I will make the video of the flight in the morning when I wake up so you can see how much fun we had today. Day 7 Video.

With moderate NE winds and the forecast for it to back off we set a 130km triangle task. I launched early and flew around for 1.5 hrs before I eventually started at 2:20pm. Attila and Blay had done the first start and I decided to hang back as I saw Zac and many others were not there. I had an average start and just followed the gaggle to the turnpoint and slowly worked my way to the top. We all arounded the first turnpoint and I raced off in front marking thermals for Zac, gerolf and Jeff. They kept coming in above me and about 35kms from the last turnpoint they left at base about 1,000ft above me. I decided to go more upwind for a cloud and it paid for me and I got a strong 800fpm climb to 8,000ft. I was now above the others and was pushing hard to Catch Attila and Blay who were still 9kms in front of me. Blay kept telling me where they were and I was slowly catching them as I got closer to the finish. I rounded the last turnpoint and flew upwind to goal under blay but did not get his lift. I then detoured a little and found a 700fpm climb and topped out before going on final at 8:1. I made it easy crossing goal at 5ft and doing about 120kph. I was 4th across the line and it will be enough for me to win the day in 2hrs 17 mins. Balazs will be second having a slighty faster time but doing the last start. Gerolf will be 3rd for the day finishing 5 mins behind me. Zac came in 10 mins behind me and will loose 120 points to me but is still 215 points in front. I now have 265 points on Attila who is in 3rd place. About 45 pilots goal today which is exactly what we wanted. A nice easy day with many in goal and an early night as we still have 4 more days to go with no rest. I think this might be the longest comp I have competed in ever without a rest day or a day off due to bad weather. Unfortunately I forgot my camera today so I did not get to make you a video of the days flight. Apparently I fly better with out the camera Im told but I know you all love the videos so much that I will do my best to keep them coming. I do however have a comp to win and I am behind so they maybe a little shorter on the days to come..:-)

With quite a good weather forecast we set a 149km triangle course. There was a mandatory start for the top 20 pilots at 2:20pm. I launched early and climbed straight out to 7,000ft with Flocky. After leaving the tow field I found that the lift was very weak and could not get above 5,000ft. I ended up having a good start compared to many others but was still only 5,000ft and glided off with Carl,Attila and Zac. We had 2 thermals together before Carl and attila went to a small ridge 9kms upwind of course line. I stayed back watching them getting lower then glided off more on course line keeping an eye on them every second. I soon saw them turning and I looked back and saw Zac behind and lower and thought I want to be with friends today. I glided to Carl and Attila and then noticed that Zac had gone more the way I wanted to go, but not alone so early on a blue crappy day. Turns out that this was the mistake of the day as Attila and carl were barely climbing and we all spent the next 45 mins scratching our way closer to the turnpoint. I noticed many pilots overtaking us by following the course line to the east. I decided to dive downwind for the hills as big Jon was there calling good lift. Attila and carl followed and we all climbed up and ran the ridge to the turnpoint. I saw the zac and others at like 9,000ft at the turnpoint and could only dream of getting that high. many pilots landed before the 1st turnpoint and also just after it as it was now headwind for nearly 40kms. My dream came true and soon I was at 9,000ft over the turpoint but could see the others already miles in front. I did a long glide and hit another good climb before diving off headwind again. I then came back in below Attila who I had lost at the turnpoint as he dove headwind and got low. We then spent the rest of the flight together just trying to make goal. Ant called me on the radio and said that Zac and Balazs had just made goal and I was still 42kms out from goal. It was now just after 6pm so the lift was dying and we scratched in almost zero for 20 mins or more before finally starting to climb at 1-200fpm. Big Jon came in and joined us and we all climbed in light lift drifting slowly towards goal. I could see others behind high and one went gliding past and got low in front of us. I think I was the only one to see him and I kept my eye on hiim as he started to climb. He looked like he was climbing better than we were and my numbers to goal were now 16:1 I left the thermal we were in and Big Jon and attila stayed while I glided off for James Stinnent. I came in just below him and climbed up until I saw 11:1 and glided off. I flew fast on final and Beat James in and also Attila as he had stayed back in the climb before. Balazs will win the day 10 seconds in front of Zac the Gerrolf will arrive 15mins later. I finished just over 1 hr behind Balazs and Zac and will loose 300 points to Zac today. Here is how the scores are looking after today. 1 Zac Majors M USA Wills Wing T2C 144 998 974 918 715 995 4600 2 Jonny Durand M AUS Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 867 1000 834 864 702 4267 3 Attila Bertok M HUN Moyes Litespeed S5 890 844 1000 685 700 4119 4 Gerolf Heinrichs M AUT Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 492 745 858 1000 889 3984 5 Peter Szasz M HUN Moyes Litespeed S3.5 748 642 890 634 885 3799 6 Carl Wallbank M GBR Moyes Litespeed RS3.5 881 840 929 728 357 3735 7 Conrad Loten M NZL Moyes Litespeed S4 813 696 818 561 809 3697 8 Balazs Ujhelyi M HUN Moyes Litespeed RS4 457 815 553 871 1000 3696 9 Steve Blenkinsop M AUS Moyes Litespeed S3.5 492 698 927 730 691 3538 10 Lukas Bader M GER Moyes Litespeed RS4 891 348 915 745 259 3158 Todays Painful video.

With lighter winds predicted the task committee came up with a 122km out and return task. We started much earlier today with the last start being at 2pm. Briefing.

I launched early and spent 2 hrs flying before I even started the task. I had a reasonable start and soon found myslef out in front with Carl, Balazs and Gerolf. Gerolf went downwind and in the blue and us 3 went more upwind through the blue hole. We had a reasonable run and arived at the turnpoint at 10,000ft before turning and heading home.

Gliders lined up at launch. It was a bit of struggle but eventually ahd a few good climbs and went on final glide. I arrived 40 seconds behind Balazs and 7 minutes behind Gerolf. It will be enough to move me into 2nd overall and only 40 points behind Zac who is stil leading. I think nearly 40 pilots made goal and everyone was home early for a change. Todays Video.

Today was looking just that little bit to good with clouds starting early in the morning. A short 141km task was set to Borrowa in hopes that we would get a task in before it overdeveloped. I did the first start with Attila,Carl,Blinky and a few others. I managed to get out in front with Attila after 70kms before hitting some rain. I was actually making a video and thought Attila was above me climbing still and when I got high he was gone. I thought he may have gone straight through the rain thinking the task was going to be stopped. Considering we were out in front and the day was overdeveloping fast this could have seemed like a good move. So instead of flying 90 degrees to courseline I went straight through the rain and got very wet..Hmmm I got low and when I hit a thermal the glider was just falling out of the sky as you can see on the video. I spent a long time just trying to stay in the air but kept getting rained. I herd the task was still on so worked hard and eventually got back up after sometime. It was now overcast all the way to goal with a big storm moving in from the southwest. I drifted in a light thermal untill I had 13:1 and left on final glide. I made it easy but found many gliders at goal when I arrived. I knew the rest of my team was down so I started to pack me gear up fast. What happened next was just and amazing show of power from mother nature. As I was pulling battens out in my glider I happended to notice some dust blowing. I had a better look and noticed a gust front coming and yelled out to everyone to pack up fast and brace themselves. I told them it was a five minute warning but as I watched it I saw it coming fast. I then told them all they had a 30 second warning and I would say in exactly 30 seconds the gust front hit. I had manged to close my wings nearly when it hit the had to drrop the glider on the ground. I then noticed everyone having troubles hanging onto their gliders. I saw one get flipped upside down so I quickly raced for my other glider that Carl is flying and helped him hold onto it. After a couple of minutes the wind backed off a little so I said lets drop it to the ground which we did sucessfully. He jumped on the nose and I raced over to help Jonas with his glider. next thing I see is Tony's glider get taken up and over all the gliders and smash into the ground then picked up again and taken another 30 mtrs before exploading into the ground another time. Then gerolf goes upside ontop of Dave's glider and then Blinky gets flipped onto Attila's and the goal car. The gust front must have reached 40knts and lasted for more than 5 minutes. It may have been the most the most damage I have ever seen In hang gliding in one day. Tony cut 2 fingers down to his bones and another 2 just trying to hold his glider down before he let go of it.. Wow what a day well it is bedtime for me as it 2am and I have to get up and do it all over again tomorrow. Here is todays Video.

Day 1 Results Today was looking quite difficult and it was the usal story of Day 1 blues. There was a last minute task change due to overdevelopment near the goal. I waited untill last to tow up as it was not looking so great and I did not want to get blown through the start gate. It was a great plan but soon after I found myself in the situation I was trying to avoid. I managed to do the 2nd start gate but started well below the main gaggle but I knew I could not hang out for another start. I left with Lucas and Lenny and headed down course line hitting light climbs. I got low several times as it was strong crosswind heading to the first turnpoint. I nearly landed at the turnpoint but had a very low save and climbed back out. I now was like 10kms behind the lead gaggle and Zac from the start behind me had just come in above me. I knew that I should really now just make sure I get to goal as I was going to be slow for the day. I was flying with Davis, Conrad and zac for about 35kms before heading straight down course line while the others detoured for the lead gaggle. I did a long glide and soon found myself kicking the tree tops again. I scratched back up and eventually made goal a few minutes behind the lead gaggle. Zac looks like he will win the day as he had 20 mins on the rest of us. The fastest man from the 2nd start.

Here is today's video..

Can you believe that this was only at 9pm.. Here is a young couple we disturbed on our walk to see the fireworks on North Bondi. Turns out they are hang glider pilots from QLD.

The crew at a good friends house party in Bronte.