Hi there, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the CloudBase Mayhem. This show was originally recorded as a bonus episode. Alejandro Baraniak reached out quite a while back and said, Hey, I've been listening to the show, and I've got a story of my own, but it's just about an accident. It's about making a mistake, trying not to be inconvenienced, and something many of us have done, trying to land at a train station and putting it into a small place. Nick Greece has talked a lot about the dangers of trying not to be inconvenienced, and he was racing in the Veraco Fly for the first time, doing a hike and fly race in the Alps and the Volos. We've talked a lot about the Veraco Fly on the podcast, and it was a year that there was quite a few other accidents that year.
It was just two years back, I believe, and they actually ended up canceling the race because there were so many, but this is a talk with Alejandro. It's a short one, just about what went wrong and some of the takeaways and what he learned from it. And he also sent me a little email afterwards that said that one of the things we didn't talk about was the importance of talking to somebody, talking to an expert about your accident, and he feels strongly that this was one of the reasons he didn't have a fear injury after it. So, in the end, it all came out okay. He had a lot of injuries that he's had to and still dealing with, but a good lesson here. So, have a listen to Alejandro's story about participating in the Veraco Fly and a day that went a little sideways.
Enjoy.
Welcome to the mayhem. I understand you're busy with a couple of little ones, and you're living right where the Veraco Fly starts. Is that right?
Yeah, yeah, that's right. I've been living here. I've been living here since three years, and it's been a few more since I moved to Switzerland.
And you're from Spain?
Yeah, correct.
What part?
Catalonia. I grew up at the seaside, but my mom comes from a village in the Pyrenees where paragliding started in Spain. So, I did spend all my holidays there, and I've seen people flying since I was, I don't know, two or three years old.
How long have you been flying?
So, officially, I think it's been 11 or 12 years. Okay. But the first five years, I don't really count them because I did do my instruction, but then I was a student. I didn't have money for gear, so I was flying only in summer when I was renting some gear from my instructor. And I think I checked, and there were two or three years where I did two or three flights per year. And was that in the Pyrenees? Yeah, that was in the Pyrenees. There were guided flights, although I had finished my instruction or my training. But I really do count flying when I... Got my own gear, and I started flying on my own, which was 2015, so eight years ago.
And was the impetus to move to Switzerland because of flying or work?
No, it was more work. I was finishing my master's in engineering, and I had to do my master's thesis in a company. And I found a research institute that accepted me near Geneva, and I moved there. And I mean, yeah, the Alps are really close by. There are some other smaller mountains, I don't know, maybe 10 minutes from where I was living. So that was a big plus for me because although I grew up at the seaside, I've always been more of a mountain person. And yeah, that was a big, big plus. And then where I was doing my master's thesis, a couple of years later, I continued working there. I met my wife, who, she's from Austria, and she's very much into skiing.
And yeah, we then decided to stay in the area. I found later on a job in Valais, or Valais, I don't know what word you use in English. And yeah, when I came here to the area for the interview, I was like, wow, yeah, this place is good. I saw the high peaks with the snow and so on, although it was September. So yeah, I was straight away hooked on. And yeah, then moving to Vercoran, which is a village with a paragliding school and so on, was also not surprising. It wasn't so much my idea. We were living down in the valley in the capital, although it's a small town, it's 30,000 people. And we wanted to move to a quieter place. And my wife really pushed a bit for Vercoran because, among other things, it has a gondola that takes you from down in the valley up, so you don't depend so much on the car.
And yeah, we ended up getting an apartment here, and we're really, really happy.
I've got this fantasy. I'm going to move the family over to the Alps after I get this house build done. We'll hopefully move in in July. And not permanently. I think this is where we're going to live. But I'd love to come over for, you know, I used to do a lot of tooling around before I had Fallon. I had the Niviuk mobile. I had this motorhome and the Hymer. And I spent a lot of years and years with Bruce, you know, in the Alps, getting to know it. And then, of course, with the ex-Alps and stuff. But I'd love to come back and just spend an entire summer. And it's good to hear that you've transplanted yourself from another country, and it's all working out. Because do you speak German?
No. Yes, but not super fluently. I can go to Germany or Austria and, yeah, manage myself without needing someone to translate. But where I'm living, it's still where they speak French. And I do speak French, and that's fine. Yeah. But the German part is really, really close by.
But I think I would say it's a bit different for Austria. But in Switzerland, unless you go to a very remote place, all the German speakers speak quite good English. Yeah,
it's pretty easy. You can get around easily. Yeah, it's also civilized in the Alps. I love it. It's so fantastic. Okay, so what's your hike and fly background? Because we're going to be talking about the Verco fly and the unfortunate incident. Was that last year?
No, that was almost two years
ago. Two years ago, the one that Nick, the one they canceled.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay, so we'll talk about the weather and why they did that and what was going on. I mean, I know there was a bunch of accidents, but what's your hike and fly history?
So while learning how to paraglide, nothing. I learned with heavy gear the traditional way. Where I learned in the Pyrenees, it's not like the Alps. So you have to take the... The minivan up on not a great road. I don't know how they continue getting companies to rent their minivans to those schools in summertime because they just destroy them.
And then when I had to buy my gear, I wanted it to have like a reversible harness. I didn't want to carry those massive backpacks, which are not so comfortable. They have changed a lot. But like 10 years ago, they were like, yeah, just for 10 minute walks. So they were okay. But otherwise, it was horrible. But it was a heavy... It was... Yeah, on today's standard, it was a heavy kid. I think I was carrying 15 kilos around. And where I was living next to Geneva in Switzerland, there's some small mountains called the Jura Mountains. And I had maybe 800 meters of denivelation from the parking spot to the top of the mountain. And that's how I started my... Yeah, but I was a bit younger.
I was stronger. And that's how I started. Might have been a bit not the most... I would not recommend the same way to start for someone that had my experience back in the day. Because, yeah, it's... The takeoff is not the easiest. Wind is always a bit cross there. But yeah, that's how I started. We didn't have so much access nearby to where I was living. To chairlifts. Or some sort of lift. And yeah, and I was always sort of attracted. I think it was around that time when I started following the X-Ups. So I'm talking about 2015. So there was not that much hike and fly back then.
At least it was not that... What's the word? Yeah, trendy or... Yeah. 90 % of pilots
were... It wasn't a
race every weekend. Yeah, exactly. COVID really kicked that off,
didn't it? I mean, it was interesting. It
was interesting
to watch what happened, at least in Europe, way more than it did here. But the lockdowns and the closing of the resorts just put everybody on their feet. You know, it just closed down the gondolas and the chairs and everybody had to hike to get some. And so they did. It was... And I just... Man, it's taken off. It's pretty cool.
It's true. I never thought about it. But I know that it did the same thing with ski touring. Yeah. A lot of people got into ski touring. A lot of people got into ski touring because of COVID. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Probably also with paragliding. And around that time, a friend of mine who's become a really, really good friend who was working the same company as I was, he got into flying.
He's German, did his training in Germany. He took some week or two weeks off, did the training there and then came back. And he's extremely fit. He's a biker. He really, really is fit. And we started doing hiking. Hiking and flying together. And yeah, then it continued. And I basically... I have two kits for flying, like what I call my heavy kit, which is not heavy, but it's more like a hike and fly or cross. And then the light one, which is used to be a single skin wing with a really minimalistic harness and a front container. But with the, yeah, air quotes, heavy kit, I do... Yeah. Sometimes I take the lift. Because where I'm living, there's a tiny ski resort and there's a lift that can take you up the mountain or I go hiking.
And yeah, I really like that feeling that you can go a bit wherever you want and taking off.
And had you done other hike and fly races or events before the VercoFly two years ago?
No, I had been a supporter for this friend of mine, Jochen, at the Born to Fly in Ansi the previous year. I did hike a bit with him to takeoffs and so on, but not as a race, no.
And I had the VercoFly founder on the show quite a while back. So people that have listened to that know, but just refresh us on how the VercoFly works because it's a really cool race. It's unsupported.
Yeah, exactly. It's unsupported because it's taking place in this area of the Alps where we have so many huts. Yeah. So there are two categories, like the pro and the adventure category. The pro, it's obviously for pros or really good pilots. They don't take anyone. You have to be accepted. In that one, there's a rank at the end of the race and they get points depending on
the number of flights they do per day and how big they are. It's a bit complicated to understand the ranking system. And when you follow it live, you have no idea who's first and who's second. Yeah. Yeah. It's more for the pilots than for the people at home. And then for the adventure category, there's a series of tasks to do, but there's no ranking. So no one will, you could lie if you want, but it's about having a good time. And the goal is to take as many huts as you can from a list they give you and then pass through some places. Like if you go to the top of this mountain hiking or even flying, you get a bonus point. If you swim into this mountain. Lake, you get some more points. If you have an omelet in this hut, lost in the forest, you get also some points.
So yeah, the goal is to have fun.
That sounds just amazing. It's what a good time. Wow. Very cool. And it's
the fact that it's unsupported. It's great for people that, I mean, yeah. Having someone that will say, okay, yeah, we'll follow you during three days. And I don't care if the weather's good. I will do whatever you tell me. I'll cook for you. We'll sleep in a van. I'll. I'll, uh, I'll, um, cheer you up when you're down and I'll, uh, it's, it's not that easy for everyone, especially if you come. I mean, if it's next door, yeah, you'll find probably a friend that's able to do that. But I mean, to the VelcoFly, we've had people coming all the way from Norway. So I can imagine that it's not easy for someone like that to, to find a supporter. So that the concept is really good. And, and I think they even should try to sell it a bit more from the environmentally friendly point of view, because it's a bunch of cars.
That are not running around following the pilots.
Yeah, that's true. There, you know, uh, Hans is always talking about, wouldn't it be cool to have the noble Red Bull X-Alps, you know, just, just no rules, no, uh, no supporters, just you in the mountains and, and, and going for it. And that would be tough as a 12 day race for sure. But it would be, it would be pretty interesting, you know, cause every addition gets a little bit more strict in a sense because of the airspace and the parks and, you know, there's, there's a lot to it, but, uh, you know, a huge component, both expense wise and also just, uh, logistics wise as your team, of course, it's, it's critical and it's nice to be able to just go race. I was laughing with Ben, my supporter, all four of the races last year, because he's done all my training or sorry, last night, because he's done all my training.
We were, we were talking about this race that I host called the X Red Rocks here in the fall. And, you know, in all the races I've done, I've totally had to rely on my team. Um, for pretty much everything other than flying and, you know, the cooking and the mapping and the navigate, I mean, I land and within four minutes, I've got a route to the next spot. And so to do a bunch of these without them is going to be great. Cause it's going to force me to figure all that stuff out. Yeah. I've always just relied on them for everything. And so I like these self-supported ones that are great. And it's four days, right? The Verco fly.
Yeah. Four days. Yeah.
Okay. So this one unusually for that time of year. I had quite strong weather. Is that correct? I saw a lot of posts about it.
Yeah. I wouldn't call it like that. Just, just let me go back for a second. Uh, this was my second edition of the Verco fly. I had participated the previous year.
Okay. In the adventure category. Both. Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. Both, both, both. I don't have the physical or the flying level for the pro category. Okay. Um, yeah. Um, so looking, I have a little bit of a video. Cause I had a shitty GoPro, which, uh, uh, yeah, the battery, uh, turned off, uh, in the middle of my only flight that year. Um, but it was not that strong. Um, I do remember talking with, uh, Lauren Borella, uh, the organizer on the phone, uh, from hospital on the day after. Um, and, and he told me that it was strange. The, there was something strange in the air. Um, yeah. He could not say exactly what it was. I mean, it was thermic. It was August.
Um, so it was sunny and yeah, people were going up easily, but the previous year had been much stronger with the first day we had crazy west wind and you could see people flying up to, uh, 4,000 meters and more. Sometimes only soaring on the mountain. Um, it was not that strong, but it was simply, there was something different, strange. I don't know exactly what it was. I do know that was not the cause for my accident.
Okay. So, um,
yeah. Okay. So, um, the, the race starts at the top of the ski resort. There's a, a nice restaurant there. You do all the checkups, uh, you sign whatever you have to sign and, and then they, they do a countdown and you start hiking or you can take off if you want. Cause there's a takeoff there. And, uh, yeah, uh, my, my wife came to see the takeoff cause we, at that time she was. With my, my son who was only six months old. And I remember telling her, yeah, the goal is to have fun and to in four days, get back home in one piece. And, um, cause I wanted to take it easier than the previous year, previous year, I had been a bit stressed during the race. And so I wanted to do well, and this year I just wanted to have fun.
So most of the participants just start hiking up, uh, towards a reach that's just, uh, let's say direction South. And, um, yeah, you get to, to a small mountain, like, which takes about 45 minutes hiking. That's the first of the bonus points for the adventure category. You send a selfie of yourself to, to, to the organizers and yeah, you're supposed to have the, the, that bonus. And then, uh, 10 minutes after that, there's a nice place for taking off where I have taken off plenty of times. I prepared myself, but I could see that it was a bit in a rush, but I thought it was still fine. I took off. It was a bit windy as it is usually there at around that time of the day. Um, but it was a good takeoff and then I, I sort of, uh, I thermal the beat and then I reach sort, um, following some of the pilots and, uh, in the direction of the first hut that you have to take either on the ground or on the, on the air for the adventure category, the broads have to land.
And, uh, yeah, I ticked it was happy and I was direction the next one. And if you want, I can read to you my. My note that I wrote to myself two years ago after the accident, um, first flight of the Verco fly could take off flew well over Bec de Bosson, which is the first hut and one direction proflery, which is another hut didn't have enough altitude to cross the valley. So I decided to land next to the chairlift of Evelyn here. I must say that at the adventure category, they allow you to take public transport and, and chairlift or gondolas, uh, if there are. Uh, I must have been in the rotor because on final approach, I had a lot of speed, got sudden lift and Christ against two cars in the car park, broken left femur surgery, broken left collarbone, uh, T 11.
So the vertebra was also cracked and compressed right ankle shit. So, yeah, to, to explain, to give a bit more of context, I w I was crossing the valley and I took a, a bad line. I saw other pilots doing well and, uh, the very good ones, uh, far away. In the distance, I could see them that they were high. I took a bad line and I had sink, but yeah, I was like, okay, well shit, I will have to land somewhere. And, uh, I had the option of landing on the mountain and then having to walk, maybe, I don't know, have an hour bit more and being in a place where I could have taken off again, the place where I could have landed on the mountain was, yeah, I mean, it was a little bit steep, but not nothing crazy, full of grass.
Um, no obstacles around it, the wind was coming down the mountain at that point and I'm like, nah, nah, nah, don't complicate yourself. You can land here, but you said you wanted to make it safe, go land down in the valley. And while I was on direction to the valley, um, I had several landing options. One, which is the official in that village, which is massive. It's bigger than a football field. Um, but I wanted to take the chairlift and I'm like, ah, if I land here, it will take me. Yeah. At least have an hour to make it to the chairlift. Uh, no, let's land next to the chairlift to save this half an hour. I mean, that's really stupid when you think, yeah, when you think about it, but at that moment I'm like, nah, let's, let's save that half an hour, um, to have more time on the day for hiking and flying and so on.
And I told myself, yeah, let's land next to the chairlift. You've landed there in the past.
Um, and, uh, it was an event, uh, I did land there like three or four times. So I convinced myself it's going to be fine. The thing I didn't tell myself is that I landed there always in October, November, no thermal activity covered sky, um, no Valley wind. So yeah, no problem that day. Yeah. It was summer. There was thermals. Uh, there was quite some Valley wind and the place where I landed or where I crashed, um, it's just behind, uh, a cliff and when you look at it on Google maps. Uh, or sorry, on Google earth and yeah, you can share the, the flight if you want for people to, to check exactly where I crashed, it's clear that it's, it's on the Lee of, of a big obstacle that the, the chances of having rotor are really, really, really high, but I don't know why on the air, I remember seeing that cliff and telling myself, oh yeah, that's a big cliff, but I sort of convinced myself it's, it was going to be fine.
And, um, I, uh, I. I was, uh, yeah, going to, to the landing spot and for some reason, I don't know. I, I always do. I always check my speed to know where the wind is coming from, but, uh, I cannot tell exactly why I didn't do it. Maybe it was because I had landed there already in the past and I was used to land in whatever direction there, or cause I had done quite some, uh, top landings that summer. And I was confident with my landing abilities, but, um, yeah, I was doing. Uh, on the final landing approach, the, the, I don't know how you call it in English, but here they call it a Volta, like a U like aeroplanes do. So you go downwind then crosswind and then, uh, against the wind.
And when I was going crosswind, um, wow, I, I just got lift and so much speed. I could feel it cause I was really close to the ground. So I had the reference to see, wow, I'm really going fast. And, uh, I totally lost control. Um, and then I don't remember the moment of the crash. I just remember a couple of seconds before, but I w I just crashed into two cars. And, uh, my Vario, uh, reading says that I went from about 45 kilometers an hour to zero at that moment. So I crashed really, really fast. Luckily, um, I saw it coming just a bit before and I had my legs out and I think that, yeah, saved me from heart, like from a bigger injury because my gear was perfect.
I checked it out afterwards. Uh, well, when, uh, when it was given back to me after I got back from hospital and the harness had nothing, not even a scratch, I just landed with my, my legs against, uh, the car and yeah. And, and I broke my, my femur at, I remember sending a message to my wife, uh, when the rescuers got to me, cause until the rescuers got to me, my memory is a bit, uh, it's not very much there. I don't know if I, I passed out or it's because of the painkillers that gave me. But I remember telling my wife, Hey, I, I, I've injured my leg. They're taking me to hospital. Uh, not a big deal. Uh, I, I should be fine soon thinking, yeah, it's just maybe the, um, TBS, something like that, but it was much more than that.
And I found that, that in about that in hospital.
Um, and yeah, then, uh, remember again, being in the helicopter, um, completely naked, except my underwear, my phone and my wallet. And just texting my wife, like I was so high with the painkillers. It was difficult to, to focus and, and read the screen. Um, and then, yeah, um, arriving, uh, uh, the ER and getting all the tests, the x-rays, the scans and yeah. Getting given the, the bad information. I got surgery that same night and, and then, yeah, I was for a couple of days in hospital until I could go home. Um, then
what? What did the recovery look like? Was it a year? Was it how long it take?
Um, uh, it's, it's difficult to say, so, uh, I'm not a newbie in hospitals or in injuries. So, um, I know what to do to recover fast or to at least be able to be a bit mobile, but, uh, in hospital, they told me I would have to stay one week there and then they would send me to some rehab center close to home, like have an hour from home. Um, and I was like, shit, I, I was feeling horrible because I was leaving my wife at home with a six months old kid and I'm, was being like, uh, yeah, useless. Um, I was really being bad, uh, feeling bad. And I was telling the, the doctor, no, no, no, I can, I cannot stay this long in hospital and I cannot go for a month to a rehab center. Uh, it has to be better.
And he told me, Hey, look, we'll, we'll see better because this was on a Saturday. We'll see better next week on Monday or Tuesday, how you are feeling. And. I mean, three days after I could manage, uh, with one crutch, cause since I broke a collarbone, I could not use two crutches to kind of limp to the bathroom and to more or less be not super dependent. And I convinced them to let me go home. And yeah, then at home, it was not easy for the first, I would say month. Um, but yeah, after three weeks from, since the accident, I started getting physio at home. And I.
If I'm not mistaken. I was not allowed to fully put all the weight of my leg for almost three months. Um, but yeah, my, my first flight is less than three months after the accident. And, uh, so that was mid November and end of November, I started skiing already. So yeah, when the physio was, uh, laughing at me for doing that, the doctor was not so happy. Um, but, but it was okay. Um, I mean, I was taking care. I was not skiing like crazy. Uh, also the flight, it was simply, um, down flights, no thermaling with a big fly, a big landing to, to land and, and taking it really, really easy. Um, and to feel fully recovered, I would say that, yeah, six months afterwards I was running without pain, uh, maybe a bit before, but yeah, after six months I was really feeling good mentally.
Yeah. Mentally was a bit tougher. Uh, next summer, uh, the first flights were, were a bit difficult.
Um, now I would say I feel fine from a mental point of view for flying, but yeah, it, uh, that, that, that took longer.
Hmm. Do you, so you had, would you define it as a fear injury?
Um, so the, the cause of the injury, no, the, the, the outcome or.
No, just coming back to it. You know? You know, that, that we've, there, there's been some studies now and, you know, my friend Jessica loves working on it for thesis for fear injuries, but there's, you know, the, the, any kind of trauma that we experience can the, especially from the mental side can often be pretty debilitating when you're trying to partake again. And it doesn't have to be in flying. It could be in whatever, driving a car. It could be, it's kind of a, I think it's pretty tied to a PTSD type, uh, scenario. Where it's just, you know, you, you start having a lot of irrational fear.
Um, no, I would not say so much for this accident, but I did, um, break my TV amphibole in a ski accident, uh, four years ago. I still don't understand how it happened. Exactly. It was with a ski touring binding and it did not release. And yeah, I broke it before falling. Um, and that, that I do have still a fear injury from that one. Um, because, uh, I, I still have not recovered my confidence while skiing. Yeah. Um, I used to push a lot and now whenever there is hard snow and I'm on touring skis, I'm, I'm scared.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Breaking, breaking things hurts. You don't, you don't want to break. Yeah, it does. It sucks. Sucks having surgery. Did I miss anything? Anything you wanted to add that we didn't talk about?
Um, yeah, something I would tell to pilots that have gone through a serious accident like I did. Get their gear. Get their gear checked by a friend, by an instructor after the accident, I, my gear was not damaged, uh, in my crash, my, my harness was destroyed because the rescuers just got through everything. Um, but it really wasn't, there was no scratches. The wing looked fine, but when I went to ground handle, uh, before my first flight, I could see that the lines, especially close to the risers, they were quite stiff. I had no idea what it is. What, what, why was that? A friend of mine told me maybe they were in contact with, um, um, I had my, my water bottle with some, no, no, no, they didn't burn.
Um, I had my water bottle with some, uh, electrolytes in, which had spilled around the harness and a friend of mine told me maybe it was that. Anyway, I sent it to, uh, get it checked by advance. Uh, yeah, my wing was an advance and, and the guy there told me I've been working here more than 10 years and I've never seen anything like this. Yeah. I recommend you to, to change the lower lines, which I did because yeah, it's not worth like, you know, it was maybe 200 Euro compared to. So the salt
in the electrolytes, maybe the salt. Maybe, I'm not sure. Wow.
But, uh, yeah, I would recommend because my, my wing was in, in the cabinet for like three months almost before I saw that. So just get it checked while you're recovering. If it needs to get repaired, get it repaired. And then when you're better, you can straight away go fly.
So the, I mean, and I'm sure you've broken this down a million times, but the reason you reached out with the, the podcast we did with Nick and Russ, Nick, I think mentions, uh, he's got a better way to articulate it than I am now, but you'd never be afraid to be inconvenienced. That's one of the, one of the many, many people have gotten hurt because of doing exactly what you did, but they don't, uh, this will save me 20 minutes of walking. This'll be, it'd be better to land at the train. It'd be better to land on the road. It'd be better to, and, and we all do it. Uh, and then of course, in retrospect, especially if you get hurt, you think, yeah, that was ridiculous. Could have walked a half an hour, you know, I'm here to have fun, but there, so that's, that's the obvious one to me, but there, there are, you know, and again, it's not a knock on you.
We all do it, but it's, you know, it's just the human, it's the, it's a very human thing, but yeah. What are, what are some of the other things that, you know, it sounded like maybe you were in a little bit of a hurry on launch, but what are, what are the, what are the things you've carried with you that you're trying to avoid now?
Uh, complacency, just because you've landed in a, in the same spot doesn't mean it's going to be always the same. Um, so, so treat it as, as if it was a new landing spot each time, get out of the harness early. Um, if I would have stayed in the harness, probably I would have really. Injured my, my pelvis or my back. And that, that could have meant paralysis in my lower limbs. So really get out of the harness early.
Um, then yeah, for hike and fly races, um, except for the pros, which will probably not pay that much attention to this episode, but like, just go to enjoy it. Just think about it. Like, yeah, for sure. It's nice to keep up with everyone and, and, and fly with more people or hike with. Other people and you can talk meanwhile, but, but if you cannot follow, cause you're not as fit as the others, or you're not as good as flying as the others, don't push it. Just bring it a little bit down. Cause you're going to be tired. It's going to be probably new terrain. Um, bring it a little bit down and just enjoy it. And if it's just, you have like an hour flying a day and you spend seven hours hiking. Yeah.
It doesn't matter. Uh, what's important is to get back home in one piece. I I'm I'm. Really tailoring this to the, um, to people like me that don't make a living out of it and, and don't want to make a rank out of those competitions. Just really go there to enjoy it. And you'll have time to talk at landing with other pilots or at the hut or when the race finishes.
You know, that easier said than done though. Isn't it? I mean, as, as a race race organizer, I'm really listening in to what you're saying because it's, it's, it's very interesting from that side of things. You know, the. The first X-ray drugs we did, we didn't score the adventure category because in our minds, we thought, you know, you remove the scoring, you remove the, the desire to go really hard and everybody will just have fun. No one will race, but everybody still raced. Didn't matter, you know, and then the feedback was, is they, they want to be scored. You know, it's, it's, it's, it's again, it's the human condition. And like you talk about it in the
past. Yeah.
I mean, you're absolutely right. And we need to. We
need to meditate
on that and actually live it, but the, but it's hard to do that. And the, the, the other thing, I mean, even with the Verco fly, like you're talking about, it's really geared towards fun. However, you're getting bonus points for an omelet at a, you know, you're the, it's still geared towards getting more points, even if you're only in the adventure category, if I understand that correctly. And so I, this is no knock on Laurent at all. That's awesome. It's so fun. And it's really geared towards fun. And yet if I was participating in it, I'd want the most points I'd still want to get all those points. I'd still want to, you know, I'd still want, what's great is there. It sounds like, you know, they're not rewarding top landing.
It's you can, you can hit a, you can hit a, a hut or a way point in the air and the adventure category, which is exactly how we do it with the X red rock. So the pros have to land the adventure category can hit it on the ground or in the air. So they're not, they're not incentivized. They're not incentivized to, to top land, but which is in my mind where hike and fly racing gets really dangerous is the top landing. So especially when you're tired and all those things, but it's, you know, I fully hear you and there's nothing I could disagree with whatsoever, but man, it's hard to, it's hard to have a race and not have it be a race. That's the thing. I mean, or an event or whatever you want to call these things and you have the different categories. We've got three. Now we have the, we
have the academy
and the adventure and the pro and the academy won't be scored. They can fly the same course that the adventure do, and they're getting mentoring and everything else, but I guarantee they're going to race too. You know, the ones that, because it's just the environment that the environment is, is such that I want to go have fun with my friends, but it'd be nice to beat them too. Yeah.
Yeah, no, no. I understand.
I fully understand. And I've been in that position of like wanting to be scored. Cause the first year I participated, there was no scoring for the adventure category. And I was like, I would, I would have liked to know how I did compared to the other. How
do you shape up? You know, how did, how did you do? And it's nice to have the points thing.
Yeah. So what I, there's something I proposed to Laurent last year. It was not, it did not happen. I don't know why, but I don't know how it, how you organize the X-Red Rocks, but in the VercoFly, most of the pilots, or I would say almost all of them, unless they live really nearby, they arrived to VercoFly the evening before the flight, the race starts and I proposed to him, Hey, why let's say that we can make this as an optional activity, let's have dinner at some pizza place altogether. And some pilots can give their, their experience from other, other races. And I was willing to, to give my.
knowledge of how my accident happened and maybe that would count down or, or put into perspective pilots, like me, that, yeah, there are just there for fun and it's really not worth it for half an hour, like pushing it and may be having an accident like I had, but I know it's difficult. People will keep on risking, but at least. Yeah. Making them a bit more aware. And when you give maybe a, how's what's the expression? like a first-person experience yeah first-hand experience yeah um you can transmit a bit better what happened it's not simply the race organizer which is a really good pilot telling them be careful don't risk it here don't do this don't do that it's someone that just had a bad accident and it's like you the year before and yeah
good thoughts alejandro thanks for sharing your story i'm glad you're all recovered it's fantastic to hear the kids in the background and uh no and i'm sure they're they're they're pretty stoked to have their pops so the glad you made it through it glad you're still flying and i hope to see you in a future verco fly i've been threatening to come over and do one forever it's just always tough timing for me but if this if this alp stream that i have comes together and i move the family over there my goal is just to do all of them born to fly and splay and verco and just do a bunch of other because my only experience really is is the xl so but thanks for sharing your story and i'm glad you're all right you're
welcome thank you for having me if
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