MANILLA XC CAMP 2016 - DAY 7

Gaggles. Photo cred: Joe Ward

Friday turned into another day of flying at Mt Borah for those prepared to brave the strong winds.

The furthest flight was 171km by Karsten from Germany, followed by a mammoth retrieve, including 20km of walking through fields then several hours of waiting for his pick-up.

Best flight by a Kiwi was Tony Skerrett's 154km out west to the north of Wee Waa. (Look, I know he is an FAI Australian, but he was born in NZ so officially, he's ours.)

Tim Percival also pulled out a great flight, coming 4th overall with 98km.

Saturday is the last day and turned out some big flights. Stand by for results.

MANILLA XC CAMP 2016 - DAYS 5 & 6

Mark approaching base. Photo cred: Michal Karnik

Finally our hard work parawaiting has paid off, and we've had two days back in the air.

Day 5 (Wednesday) was hard work but we're on the scoreboard. Mark Hardman was the lead Kiwi, and fourth overall for the day, with a 43km flight.

There was over-development later in the day that brought some of the most intense rain we have ever seen in Manilla. Fortunately HQ at Godfrey's missed the worst of it, but we have reports of some tents floating away in town.

Day 6 was tricky too. It was a toss up between getting off early enough before the wind picked up, and waiting long enough for the ground to really dry from the previous night's rain.

The gaggle above launch got pretty crowded, but paid off for those who stuck it out. The longest flight was 79km, and our own Hamish Dicker got special mention for the longest flight in the Fun class.

Plenty of markers in the air

In case you missed it, you can catch Mark Hardman here, talking to Prime7 news about the upcoming Kiwi Open: Flying High Video

Most of the remaining Kiwi contingent is expected to descend on Manilla late today, so that pretty well guarantees a great flying day tomorrow. Doesn't it?

MANILLA XC CAMP 2016 - DAYS 1-4

Who says paragliding isn't a spectator sport?

The Kiwis descended en masse on Manilla for the XC Camp, which started with a bang! So far we’ve seen multiple pilots getting 100km+ flights and PBs falling left, right and centre.

No, wait. That was last year.

For the 2016 XC Camp we’ve so far been limited to early morning or late afternoon glides down from Mt Borah due to some large, persistent low pressure systems over NSW bringing strong winds. 

However, Team Kiwi is making the most of the holiday time, with swimming, yoga, ground handling, visits to local water holes, slack-lining, catching up on work, card games, barbecues, video editing and the odd cold beer or ten.

We’ve already managed some non-flying injuries, with Jakub pulling a tendon in his knee after getting picked up by an invisible dust devil (aka 'grass devil') while ground-handling, and Sheralee heading home early for hand surgery due to an incident on the rope swing at the water hole. Let’s hope that’s the extent of the damage.

Today (Tuesday) was the first day that looked really promising, and a few pilots managed to get in the air before the wind really picked up and made launching only a possibility for the very experienced or very…brave. With most of the experienced pilots wise enough to wait for better conditions, it made for interesting watching to see the few 'brave' pilots prepare to fly. I’ve never seen so many cameras ready to film what were guaranteed to be exciting launches. Have a look at Louis Tapper's video capturing the day; Manilla Rodeo

More excitement came when a pilot hit some power lines on landing. Now I’m not saying the events were related, but there was a widespread power outage at Godfrey’s camp at about the same time. Hmm. Fortunately it all got sorted out within a few hours, and the pilot is safe and sound.

It was also fortunate that everyone was on the ground early, since we’ve been seeing gusts higher than 70 kph all afternoon on launch.

A handful of Kiwis managed to get away today, but not very far. Mark Hardman and Reuben Muir got about 10km under their belts, flying to the East over Fossickers Way. Gareth Gore pushed into a crosswind towards 4-Ways to get about 6km, and the Kiwi-Czech boys smattered down around Upper Manilla.

The forecast for tomorrow looks promising, and we're ready for action.