Jeffrey Farrell's Paragliding Blog

Finally!!

I finally got to the mountains for some XC flying. A cold front passed through Utah on Thursday and second day post frontal is usually THE day for good XC conditions. Peter, Bill, Cliff, myself and about 30 other pilots showed up on Inspo launch in Provo. This was the biggest contingent of pilots I had seen on Inspo at one time since we had the US Nationals there several years ago. Obviously, everyone else thought it was going to be a stellar day also.

I arrived pretty early to huck some mountain newbies off early but they decided that the restricted LZs were a little too much for them. Good call. After an hour of waiting boredom set in and I had to do something so Peter and I flew off tandem. We didn't hit a single piece of rising air all the way to the LZ. Not a good sign. The inversion layer was just above launch and our flight confirmed that it was going to be a pretty stable day.

The boys arrived in the LZ and we hitched a ride back up to launch. When we arrived the thermal cycles were building and I got ready quick. I launched into a good cycle at 2PM and grabbed a steady but choppy 300' up thermal that took me to the top of the inversion layer at 8,500'. I bounced off of that for 15 minutes or so and decided to drift North and see if anything was happening across Provo Canyon. Down to 6,200' and I found another 400' climb that was drifting quickly to the North. Back up to 8,500' I drifted over to Mahogany and found a long stretch of zero sink and I hit the speed and kept heading North.

As I approached American Fork I was finding nothing but sink and at 500' I hit some of the roughest air I have encountered in the past 6 or 7 years. 1,500' up - 1,500' down every 2 seconds for several minutes. I pushed away from the hillside. Ground speed heading North 12 MPH, groundspeed heading South 12 MPH. Then I realized I had just hit the convergence and at 400' AGL, it was not fun. I landed safely and quite happy to be on the ground.

A big thanks to Pedro for driving and retrieving me.

Zulu Explorer

This is the new Zulu Explorer from Gin Gliders. It is based on the very successful Zulu but made with lighter weight materials for you avid travelers and hikers. It is certified DHV 1-2 just like the other version. We are currently accepting orders!

Tandem XC Video

Just a little taste of Valle for you!

Home away from home

This is my second home, the Meson del Viento in Valle de Bravo, Mexico. It's not jsut the location, architecture, ambiance or restaurant but most importantly, the people. My friend Alex that owns it, his excellent staff, the town folks, the kids that fold the gliders and my fellow pilots make this trip what it is.....extremely special. I would live here full time if I could. Upon arrival I walked in to the lobby and the first words out of Omar's mouth were "Welcome home Mr. Farrell". It certainly feels like it.

Each morning I sneak down to the restaurant quite early to have a capucino in peace before everyone else is up. Not a bad place to start your day huh?

We just completed 2 tours and successfully got our clients some great flights and got them all back home safely. That's 20 people doing 2 flights per day. That's approximately 280 manned flights, in unfamiliar terrain and strong thermal activity. It's a great relief when the last flight of the tour is over and everyone is in one peice. I'm very proud of our exceptional safety record over a ten year period. That says a lot

What else makes a great tour? 1) The people. 2) The flying. 3) The accomodations. 4) Great meals. 5) The guides. I am lucky enpugh to say that we get and have the best of anyone.

This year Nanette Studebaker, Lynette Dickerson, Bruce Moffat, Bruce Elder, Neil Morriss, Elsabeth Boonin, Jacques DeVilliers and his girlfriend Angie, Heather Cherry, Jeff Mcfarland, Brad Cherry, Heather St. Claire, James Bradley, Bud Wruck, Bob & Ginger Boone, Sonny Michalski and Troy Harriss were our client/friends and we had some great flying and even better laughs. It's all good!

Valle de Bravo, Mexico

For the past ten years I have made my annual pilgrimage to Valle de Bravo, Mexico. This year - same deal - I will be spending January in Mexico. Not too bad eh? That;s ten years in a row kids.

January is one of the bleakest months in Salt Lake City and one of the best months for paragliding in Valle. I'm pretty lucky that I get to break up my winter with a month of warm weather in Mexico! Valle feels like my second home and I always look forward to going.

If you are interested in our tours, here is some additional information. http://www.superflyinc.com/news/mexico_07

Sky Goddess

This bundle of energy in the red jump suit is Nanette Studebaker AKA  "Sky Goddess". Well that's my  name for her anyway. Nanette is one of my skydiving instructors from Skydive Chicago. She is also my newest paragliding student!

Throw this woman out of an aircraft and you will see nothing but relaxed grace and innate skill in action. Every jump begins and ends with her fabulous smile, a bunch of "WooHoos!!" and thorough pre and post jump briefings. Dave Cicciarelli is my other instructor but Nanette's much better looking so her photo goes here.

Between the two of them are a combined total of 36 years of skydiving experience and 23,000 jumps. Pros for sure.

SDC is a world class DZ with an incredible facility and fleet a super fleet of aircraft. I think that this photo says it all.

Skydiving Bachelor Party!

My business partner of almost nine years is getting married this Saturday. YES, Chris is getting married. To send him off and celebrate this in Super Fly style, I organized a surprise bachelor party for him at Skydive Ogden. Chris, myself, JC Brown, OJ, Dale, Nik, Carson, Scotty and Mike met there and made a few jumps. Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane and saving your life with a parachute is pretty damn fun. I'm hooked!!!

Check out more pictures in the gallery on the right-hand side of this posting.

Customer Appreciation Party

Last night we held our first annual Super Fly Customer Appreciation Party! We were extremely lucky to also having a fantastic night of flying on the North side. After flying we migrated to Chris' house right next door to launch and had a barbecue and cocktails.

It was quite a turn-out with friends flying in from out of state, our local folks and some even flying in cross country from Olympus.

If you are flying an Advance, Gin or Nova glider you should definitely plan to attend next years party. A good time will be had by all.

North Side Fire

It's never a dull moment at the North side of the Point of the Mountain! If it's not guns being pulled, FAR's being broken or reserves being deployed - it is fire season!

Last night a few 10 year old kids were playing with matches or fireworks at the West end of the ridge. It got a little out of control and within one minute there was a full on brush fire. The 20 mile an hour winds didn't help and within minutes it was a serious matter.

The fire department deployed 8 units and over 50 firefighters to combat the blaze. Within minutes they made the call to issue a Temporary Flight Restriction and a Forward Air Control plane was on the scene along with a helicopter to do water drops. The fire was put out at 9 PM.

Another fine night of flying lost.....

Rat Race 2006

I am quite happy to say that my good friend and team pilot, Bill Belcourt, won the Rat Race. This is yet another feather in Bill's cap after years of consistent competition results and winning the US Nationals in 2005.

Day number ones winner was Len Szafaryn on his maiden voyage of his Boomerang Sport. Bill placed second on his Boomerang III. Days 2-4 were canceled due to poor weather conditions. On the day 5, the sky cleared and we were able to get a task off. Bill won the day and that secured first place for him.

Congratulations also go to 3rd place winner, Hayden Glatte. 4th Eric Reed, 9th Brett Zaenglein, 10th Will Gadd, 11th Greg Babush and 13th Len Szafaryn.

Congratulations also go out to Jug Aggarwall for winning the Serial Class competition on a Zoom Race.

Complete Rat Race Competition results are available here.