Heike's Perspective of Day 1

Well, today finally arrived – day 1 of the worlds in Manilla - the opportunity to represent my country in my country. It’s been quite a journey getting here – lots of training both in the sky and on the ground, life decisions geared towards supporting the preparation, and life’s normal ups and downs along the way. It’s almost hard to believe it’s finally started – and better still, that I am quite calm and have no troubles eating breakfast! The preparations have paid off, and I feel ready.


The hill was busy, with more spectator’s than I’ve ever seen before at the Worlds. Pete, our dedicated team leader, and I spent some time talking about how he could best support me. Whilst I am flying better than ever, I’m also going through a period of being particularly nervous of conditions, which sees me at times just wanting to be safely on the ground – sometimes sensibly so, and sometimes a little earlier than is necessary! We came up with a plan which won’t disrupt the rest of the team, and I leave feeling grateful for his support.


The briefing was put back from 12.00 to 12.30pm and then a 48km race task set in the local area, due to a high possibility of thunderstorms developing later in the day. Good task from our fabulous task committee – Craig Collings (Australia), Kari Castle (USA) and Steve Ham (UK) – with a lot of input from Godfrey, no doubt. I got myself ready to launch pretty quickly, wanting to be up nice and high as early as possible – my stress levels tend to be lower up there, than in the midst of mega-gaggles!

I was the first person to be present in my particular queue (all those with a pilot number higher than 60), and walked straight onto launch, and set up right up the front, next to Craig C. The sky was building quite strongly, with some big clouds just behind launch – the clouds in the direction of the course line were still looking okay. By now others were on launch, including Brian and Craig D. Then the wind picked up on launch, without the usual lulls, and I was beginning to wonder if I wanted to launch in this or not. With only about 1 minute before the window was due to open, the launch was closed, due to the conditions, and about 3 minutes later the task was cancelled, due to the development over launch.


I’ve got to say I was relieved – for today, but even more so for the tone it sets for the competition – a competition where our piloting skills are tested, rather than our levels of courage, suits me.

Thanks to Brett Hardin for the photos.