SAFA Skysailor Magazine

41 SUMMER 2025/2026 | December-January-February SKY SAILOR land, hike back up, launch again. By the end I’d done 12 laps. I would’ve kept going, but I ran out of light – the sun went down, and that was that. The following summer I actually tried to organise an event around it, and had about 10 people join me. Unfortunately, the forecast was quite windy, which made me see a bigger picture. It was November, which had more daytime, and I did nine laps before 11am, so the record could definitely be higher! Note: If you weren’t impressed already, 12 laps of Mystic is equal to roughly 6000m of elevation. That’s equivalent to climbing Mt Feathertop four times, or 70% of Mt Everest! You’ve organised a few events and challenges. What inspired you to do that? Different things, really. I remember talking to some women about what kept them from XC flying, and they said landing in different places was intimidating. So I thought, okay, let’s do a Mystic Hike & Fly challenge, but make it fun. That’s how Capture the Flag came about. Women could join in groups of three, and there were three hikes they had to com- plete with three different landings. I organised landing permissions for dif- ferent paddocks and fields, and we made a big bulls-eye in one of them. Then we added lots of fun extras. I made a selfie moment on one of the mixed tracks up, and we had flags with little trivia questions and puzzles. At the end we had a free barbecue and prizes for everyone. It was a really cool event, I feel like it really brought the community together. I remember seeing the pilots’ faces after they landed; they had the biggest smiles. There was nobody guiding them in on radio, they had to land themselves, and you could tell they were really proud afterwards. Author’s note: This interview is part of a new series profiling women in our sports. If you know a pilot whose story should be shared, please reach out at safamarketing@adacy. com.au . I’d love to hear your suggestions for future articles! Photos: Irene Weijers