Barberton 2004
(South African Nationals 9-15 May 2004)
A selection of photos taken during the 7 day
A great comp! Well organised (thanks James & Co.) and excellent value for money, with us achieving 6 valid tasks out of the 7 flying days. Included in the entry fee was a T-shirt and 4 free Dinners. Scoring went well and transport up the mountain and recovery went very smoothly.
We confronted completely new situations each day and we began to attach much more importance to the pilots around us, because our ability to stay up depended on them. We accepted any small favours of thermals from the thermal-gods with great relief, as we slogged it out day after day, while the conditions got lighter and lighter with every new day. For me it was a very humbling comp, and I was often in awe of the top pilots using light thermals (which I would normally ignore back home) and ride them to the limit. For many pilots it was a real challenge to not drop-out every day.
One of the nice things about Barberton is the Scoring and Turkey-patch is in the same place. Many thanks to all the organisers for an excellent time.
TRIS
Live to fly. The only risk is addiction!
Hi everyone
We had a good turn out at the nationals in Barberton last week with 74 pilots attending all seven days. The weather was good, albeit a little stable around the middle of the week. Seven tasks were set although only six were valid. Sunday to Thursday's weather was typical winter inverted air with good climbs to about 800m Friday was overcast and although a task was set, the validation requirements were not met. Saturday finished with a spectacular show down task to decide the winner from the tough competition. And in true paragliding style, the competition ended with one strong party!
The final positions were:
1st Neville Hulett
2nd Hans Fokkens
3rd Andrew Smith
I can't remember the other results off hand but I will post them later in the week.
To those pilots that did attend, thank you for supporting us and we hope you had a good time and good flying.
Special thanks goes to the meet director, Allan Livingston, the competition organising committee of Jono Duncan, Tom Knox, Rob Sterling, to those that assisted us in organising, Sam Braid, John Broderick, to Maryna Strydom for the maps, and a big thank you too to Tracy King for the fantastic t-shirts etc.
As you probably have figured out by now, we've done enough organising for this month, so there won't be a 1st para meeting in May. The next one will take place in June.
Take care and fly safe
James Braid