New logo for Trike Valley

Almost 4 years ago, I had my first hang gliding lessons from Tom Haagdorens at Trike Valley. Tom's someone who's extremely passionate about our sport and is as passionate about teaching our sport. You can read more about my first 2 years, during which I was constantly given good advice by Tom in this post.
Anyway, Tom's hang gliding school now has a new logo. And I think it is the best hang gliding logo I've seen so far. Here it is:

I wish Tom all the best with his hang gliding school! He's doing an outstanding job.

Change in plans

Wasn't I supposed to be in Australia? Yes, I was, but I couldn't interrupt my job from mid December due to some Belgian rules. I have to wait until April. So instead of a 9 month journey, it will be 6 months of flying.
And the schedule is getting clearer and clearer. My plane leaves for Florida on April 7th. I will have almost 3 weeks of training there before the Rob Kells Memorial is held. Immediately after, we fly north (towards Huntsville, Alabama?) in a rally comp, the Flytec Race and Rally. And that is immediately followed by the Midwest competition, taking place just south of Chicago. By then it is late May and I will return to Europe to fly the comp season there. Highlights are the World Championship in Italy in July and the Belgian Championship (first week of August).
So, what am I doing right now? I'm planning what to do in between competitions in the summer. I would love to go flying in Piedrahita (late June or mid August). So, if you're interested, send me a mail!
And I'm getting physically prepared for hang gliding. I started swimming, because I want to strengthen my shoulders. That should have a positive effect during the longer flights...

2011 has started

Today I had the chance to test the new sail. I was a bit nervous because it was the first time I disassembled and assembled a glider and it had to fly of course. But it was looking good and it also felt good during a run on the grass.
And, it flew straight with VG of and VG full on. And that is very, very important. So that's a big relief. Now let's hope it also glides as well as the previous sail.
It was the first flight with the Combat after 4 months of inactivity and I definitely lost some of the feeling for it. 2 Nice landings and one rather sloppy landing. Not the landing itself, but the approach wasn't nice. I was overcorrecting a little. Will be fine again after the next serious flight ;-)
Here's the revamped bird:

Not very daily yet

I retitled my blog to 'The Daily Thermal' because I was anticipating very frequent flying, starting from mid december in Australia. I had already booked my plane, but I was unable to get my 9 sabbatical months from mid december. I have to be patient until April.
So, I missed the Aussie comps. But, apart from one 300 km task, they didn't have the usual (for us Europeans exceptional) Oz conditions due to a strong La Nina. You all know about the floods...
I didn't miss to much. And I guess they'll be organizing the worlds in Forbes in 2013, so let's hope our planet goes completely berserk and we have a strong El Nino in 2013, because I plan to be there then!
We must survive the legendary year 2012 first of course... Belgium might even have a government in 2013.

Best wishes for 2011!

For 2011 we wish you that you may fly under beautiful clouds, enjoy long stretched convergence zones and have many, many happy landings! Enjoy life, enjoy our sport!

Belgian flying

Hang gliding in Belgium can be really beautiful. This is some footage of a september flight (the one which ended with the crash). There was some wind and the thermals were not strong, but is was a very nice flight. It's a shame that there was some condensation going on in the camera, but I think it still shows the beauty of flying. Enjoy it.

Going for it

It's decided. I will interrupt my job for 9 months and will fly as much as I can during that time. The main target is the World Championship this summer in Italy. In the meanwhile, I hope to learn and experience a lot.
My budget is limited, very limited. Some promising talks with possible sponsors have failed to deliver anything. Last week there was a TV broadcast showing how difficult it is to find sponsorship for not well known sports. One of the interviewed sportsmen was Bert Schmelzer, sailplane pilot and 6th during the last world champs. He couldn't find any sponsors either...
Anyway, the flight to Australia is booked. Now I need to find a way to get the glider there.
And interrupting the job means that I have two more months before I need to say goodbye to a good friend during the past hang gliding years. The BMW 1 always carried my glider in style :-) Best car I ever had!