SAFA Skysailor Magazine

37 SPRING 2025 | September-October-November SKY SAILOR I asked one of our experienced team pilots for some advice for the first day of flying in the comp: “Stay high, be careful of the ‘death gaggles’ and stay alive!” Good advice for a first timer flying in a sky with 140 other wings! I only left the ‘death gaggles’ twice throughout the comp – once when I found myself in the middle of a spiralling gaggle with next to no exit, which spooked me a bit, and again when another pilot didn’t seem to know which direction to circle and constantly switched – time to leave! left upright I have ever seen without break- ing a tube! Time for a replacement. After some serious begging, thanks to Pistol, I replaced the upright, then made a few adjustments to the glider – move the hang point forward one hole, rotate the tip wand down one hole to straighten the glide – now I could go a bit faster without blowing a valve! The flying was simply awesome! As an ‘extra’ on the team I didn’t need to stress about my performance, but could enjoy the experience, fly for myself – and go hard.