Hi there, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the CloudBase Mayhem. My guest today is Matthew Fittis. You might have seen an article about him recently in Cross Country Magazine. It was titled, Eat, Sleep, Fly 100K, and Repeat. He won what used to be called the chocolate bar, but he won the contest to have the most 100K flights in a year. He set the goal of having one per week, so 52, which he hit. And this is his story. We got to sit down together in person here at the Red Rocks Wide Open, which just wrapped up today. We recorded this a couple days ago, sitting next to the river, a beautiful spot. And had a pretty wild and amazing week of racing. Some bad days of weather, but wrapped it up with two epic tasks.
And the first task that we flew a line over on the east side of the Wasatch Plateau that I'd never even seen. So, fun racing. We're racing here out in southern Utah. We start the World Cup tomorrow. A bunch of those pilots are just getting into town. And it should be a lot of fun. But we were able to squeeze in this talk and had a blast with Matt. He's a great pilot. He's only been at it a few years, but chasing it really, really hard. He's kind of focusing on comps now. And he has some good perspectives on many things, including his very first year of flying. He went over to beer and was going solo. And, you know, you don't... You don't know what you don't know at that stage of flying and had a pretty atrocious crash and a long comeback from that. So, he talks about that and fear injury and just coming back to the love of flying.
I had a lot of fun with this one. Hope you enjoy and keep an eye on the socials on the PWCA website and Instagram at xredrocks for all the racing going down this week. Thanks, y 'all. Enjoy.
Matthew, I feel you nice to be able to do this. Live, in person. I don't get to do this very often, but you've traveled a long way to be here at the Wide Open here in Utah. What's your first impressions?
Oh, it's great. I'm getting super tall and really enjoying the scenery, especially on that first task. It's unbelievable over on that east-facing...
Oh, isn't that cool? At the end of the day, that was magical. I don't think many people have ever actually flown out there. No.
I never
have. I've been here a bunch of times.
So, you intentionally didn't take a camera? No, just to focus on the comp, but it would have been nice to have to get some photos of that. Yeah, incredible scenery.
Yeah, it was pretty magical. Hopefully, we'll get some more.
So, your background. We just touched on some of that stuff. How'd you get in all this mayhem?
Well, I had no idea paragliding existed until I was hiking in Chamonix in France, up on Plum Praha. And I saw this guy running towards the edge of the cliff and thought, what's this guy doing? Until the paraglider popped. So, I got up behind him and off he flew. I thought, that looks like fun. I'm going to do that. And then, I think it was a month later, I was enrolled and did the course.
All right. Were you there in Chamonix?
No. So, I was living in London, UK, working there. And basically, to do the course in UK, it can take over a year, I was told. So, I looked up down in Spain. It was a two-week course to get my club pilot rating. I was a beginner. So, I got my club pilot rating, which I went and did. Yeah, it was good.
And then, you kind of cut your teeth in the UK?
Yeah. So, I was flying south down. So, I'd drive down sometimes twice on a weekend to do a little bit of ridge soaring at Devil's Dyke or Bo Peep.
Yeah. So, I kind of cut my teeth, but didn't really achieve all that much in that time.
Yeah. What year is this?
I'm not sure. I'm not sure. July, I did the course. August, I bought the kit and started flying. And
was it just kind of instant infatuation or was it? Oh, yeah.
Day one, it was - You were into it. Yeah. I was like, this is my thing.
Yeah. Right. Did you know that you could fly hundreds of kilometers? Did you know anything about XC? Or was it just the fascination with soaring around?
No idea you could go XC. So, it took me a while to even get like a few hundred feet above the hill. And then I got taken to Algodonellis by a mate of mine that I met flying in the UK. And then, yeah, I did my first thermal there and sort of got up the top of the stack and thought, okay, that was fun. And I just went and landed. I didn't know you could go anywhere, do anything.
And then, yeah, it wasn't until a few months later, I sort of realized you could go XC. And yeah, travel by solar power and the wind.
When I first got into it, I mean, this was, I guess, a couple of weeks after I got my novice license. We call it a P2 here in the States. But I was posted up at Tiger and I had seen people fly there for years. And I always thought, oh, it's so boring. They just launch, they fly around and they land right here. And then I did that. And I wasn't really - I was really super infatuated with it right off the bat because I thought that's what you did. I didn't know that you could do that. I think what struck me very early on, I saw an early X-Alps and went, wait, what are these people doing? How are they doing that? They're not landing where they took off. X-Alps. Love you.
Just saw it. I just saw it. It was mind boggling. How would you ever do that? What in the world are these people doing?
So growing up in Newcastle, I'd always wanted to fly. When I was there for university as well, I'd seen people hang gliding on the coast and -
Newcastle, Sydney. Yeah. North of Sydney, about two hours. Okay.
Yeah. No idea paragliding existed. I'd seen people doing this for years. I had actually sent an inquiry about doing the course, but being a poor uni student, I just balked at the idea of spending that much money on doing something. I also didn't have a car to transport or hang glide. It would have been a very bad idea to - Yeah.... get my hang glider rating. And that was 2011. So a long time before even paragliding existed. Okay. But I wanted to fly the whole time. I'd been considering doing GA, general aviation, and even sailplanes. And as soon as I discovered paragliding, I thought, oh, that's perfect. It's convenient. It's inexpensive.
End of the day, you put everything in a bag and away you go. You get on the bus, you hitch a ride. What
were you doing for work in the UK?
So I got a very specific title. It's called a nuclear medicine scientist. It's basically a funny way of saying a radiographer. So instead of shooting radiation at people with an X-ray machine, you inject radioactive dyes and use it to monitor cancer and lots of stuff like heart disease and brain disease and that sort of thing.
Yeah. And in your article that is titled... You shared it with me earlier. It's a great read in XCMAG. Eat, sleep, fly 100K, repeat. We'll get to that. But you're not doing that now? You're taking a break from that now? Because healthcare, COVID, that was just not fun? Yeah.
That was kind of a catalyst, COVID. But I was sort of getting a bit burnt out and not really enjoying it. And then paragliding, I really like being outdoors. And that's being cooped up in a windowless room in a hospital and sort of not really congruent with what I want. So yeah, 2022, I sort of left UK to move back to Australia to pursue some other work. But I've kind of been stuck paragliding since being a Parabomb, which is kind of up my alley. Right. Yeah.
You... The first year...
Let's see. You were doing a bunch of soaring and ridge soaring in the UK and then you go to beer by yourself or something? What was that all about? Or am I jumping ahead of there?
Jumping ahead. Okay. So I flew in the UK a bunch and then went to Manila, Australia. Ah, okay. Which I did maybe a few weeks over summer.
Managed to bum on my way to my first 100K just by chance, I think, and strong thermals and wind, which blew me there.
And you were flying without a Vario?
Yeah. No Vario. No instrument. I had no idea where I was going. I was just trying to land by a road and sort of... I was flying with someone else. I think they had a vague idea of where they were going, but yeah, we both landed and pulled my phone out of my pocket, which had XC track running. And so I'd flown 101K, which was PV at the time and which was PV for the guy I was flying with. Wow. Yeah. Totally stoked. Yeah. Yeah. And then I think I went back to UK for a bit and sort of... I did some thermic flying in the UK and then I hit 100 hours on my B wing, which was kind of ragged out when I got it. So I bought a new C wing or newish and then went to Turkey for an SIV.
Ah. Met some people on the SIV that were going to beer, so I ended up going to beer. Did a guided week in beer, then ended up spending another three weeks doing my own thing. And sort of had 100 hours before that point. And then a month later, I got 200 hours, so I spent 100 hours in beer.
This was the first year?
I did, yeah, 100 hours in 12 months, then went to beer, then did 100 hours in one month.
Wow. Yeah. All right. And is that when you pounded?
No, that was after beer, I went to Nepal. Okay. Same
trip though? Yeah, same trip. Okay. So you were posted up in beer for a while and you did the guided thing there and then a few weeks on your own? Yeah. And were you doing kind of the beer to... Dharamshala.
Dharamshala. Just the milk run. Out and backs. Yeah. A few top landings and things on golf course 360.
I don't think I had... I had some bivvy kit at that point, but I was sort of happy to get to the comfort of the hotel in the evening. Yeah. I've been back there and bivvy there a few times since. It's a special place. It's incredible. Yeah. It's pretty cold at like 4,000 meters there. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. After beer, I went to Nepal by myself and thought it was a hot shit, knew everything.
So
you're 200 hours-ish? Yeah. Yeah. Kind of prime intermediate syndrome. Yeah. I wasn't aware of that term at that stage. Right. Yeah. Sure.
Yeah. Just flying in rotor thinking, no, this is bumpy. It's fun. Then just turning and flying deeper over terrain and taking a big whack and just too close to the ground to do anything about it and landing a bit awkwardly.
Wow. Yeah. What happened?
Broke my back. L1 vertebrae burst fracture. Both my arms. And luckily I was near a road. So someone driving past was able to find me and take me to the hospital. Well, they flagged down a ute. Because you're by yourself. Yeah. Okay. I met some people there and a mate was there by coincidence, but we weren't flying together or anything. But yeah, this girl on a scooter came past, found me and flagged down a ute, as you call it, a truck over here. Yeah. Yeah. They picked me up by my arms and legs and put me in the back of this truck. Oh God. Drove me down the bumpiest road in probably all of Asia. Oh Jesus.
Manipal Teaching Hospital in Pokhara, which yeah, it's not the most pleasant of hospitals. Not really where you want
to find yourself with a broken back and a couple of broken arms.
Yeah. I was strapped to a board there for I think 24 or 36 hours before they could get a chopper in to get me to Kathmandu. Oh. But I had to have surgery, Kathmandu, and then yeah, I got a nice flight from Kathmandu back to Australia.
You had an insurance flight or something? Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
It was just a first business class ticket. Yeah. They didn't want to let me leave, but I'd had enough. So I ended up just buying my own business class ticket. So I could at least lie down on the flight. I'd been up walking around a bit.
Any... When you... Yeah. When you hit the ground, was there any scary moments of, holy shit, I can't feel things? Or were you... Oh. It was going through your mind?
No. It was just intense pain. Yeah. That's all that drew my focus. And then trying to use my broken arms to undo my harness, which wasn't working very well.
But then in the hospital, yeah, I sort of tested the reflex on my feet.
That was all fine?
No. It was sort of a lot limited. Oh. I couldn't
really move one
foot and feel that one. I couldn't really move my other leg. Ooh. I think I could move it, just not forcefully push. They did a test where they tried to resist my movement. I could sort of wriggle my toes, but not... It was probably due to the fracture and the swelling and that sort of thing. But yeah, there was a bit of bone sticking to my spinal cord, which I was lucky it wasn't even further, I suppose.
Were there any kind of red flags going into this? I read in the article that you were, in some ways, or by your own way of describing it, you were kind of a lone wolf. You were kind of doing your own thing. But were there mentors or people around you that are going, hey man, you're taking it too fast? Or what do you put the blame of that accident on? Just ignorance? Yeah. You just weren't ready to fly? Squirrelly on me. Yeah.
Yeah. I just didn't know what I didn't know, which I guess... And yeah, that's being a lone wolf, as you say, going out, doing my own thing and sort of a bit... I was a bit apprehensive to approach people and say, hey, what should I do here? But it was also like, I want to fly, so it looks good enough to fly. I'm just going to go fly to the hell with it. Yeah. I kind of wish I was more... Yes. Big regret breaking my back.
Yeah. I imagine. And
yeah, I wish I hadn't. But all things considered, it's in reasonably good shape now and doesn't hold me back too much.
So there are some... It's still an issue physically?
If I do too much, carry the comp kit around too far, it aches a bit of an evening. But it's probably get worse as I get older, but it's not too limiting.
And what was the fallout or... I don't know how to put that. How did it all go afterwards? Were you keen to get back flying immediately or were you less enthused?
My immediate reaction was I'm never flying again. Really? Yeah. And then I think two, three hours later, I was like, if I don't fly again, what's the point? But in saying that, I didn't fly for about nine months. It was sort of... This was just before COVID. So I went back. Two weeks hospital in Nepal, two more in Australia. Yeah. And then I was very slow recovery and then COVID hit. And so, yeah, I was just doing a lot of hiking and trying to get fit again that way. Yeah.
Wanting to fly, but outside factors were preventing it. I think nine months later, I did a few coastal soaring flights. And then, yeah, it was a bit tricky with COVID. And then I ended up driving my van around Australia. Because I did have to go back to UK because I had all my stuff in storage over there. A friend had put it over in a storage locker.
So you had to get permission to leave Australia at the time. So yeah, I think... Oh, that might have been later on you were able to get permission, but there was a time when you weren't allowed to leave. So I ended up just driving my van around Australia, but not flying. I visited a lot of sites, but I had my kit with me, but I didn't really feel confident flying remote areas of Australia. I
had a lot of family
on my own that I didn't know too much about. So I think I had a few flights when I got around to Perth. And then by that time, you're allowed to leave. So I hopped on a plane back to UK, went back to work, sorted my stuff out over there.
And when you first got back into the air, were there any mental... Oh, yeah.
Yeah. I was shaking like a leaf after my first flight.
Oh, wow.
I landed and then... Yeah. I thought I was cold in flight, but I landed and I'm still shaking.
So that was... Yeah.
That passed pretty quickly, I think. That was just maybe the adrenaline from those flights back in the air.
Sure. Was there anything you did real purposefully to deal with the fear or deal with the... Was it just time?
I think it was time. And like I was saying earlier, I listened to all your podcasts. I listened to
your podcast. You listen to every podcast. And then I got some
safety. That's kind of what I wish I'd known before I'd done all this.
And sort of it all kind of goes back to where I learned to fly. It was a bit of a rush job. Like a two-week EPCP course, which is the British standard. Okay. But yeah, I didn't really do any soaring or top landing. I think I had one soaring flight, but I didn't top land, I didn't slope land, I didn't... Yeah, there's a bunch of stuff I didn't do or even know. Yeah. that could be done so that was a bit lacking i think but then it's also i the way i went about continuing to fly was sort of doing my own thing i did have some mentors um yeah a couple of times they pulled me out when i was doing like flying low over the car park and stuff to come in and land and i think he's more worried about me crashing into his van or something
not not not doing anything too dangerous just maybe taking risks that weren't warranted tell
me about the kraken kraken
so
my mate ham um i don't think he's the sole creator they came up with the kraken crackers club so it's a way of sharing the stoke from your flight uh this yeah so you have a really good flight uh cross country you land out in the middle of nowhere you
land out in the middle of nowhere you land out in the middle of nowhere at
least in Australia, side of the road. Yeah, you're sort of buzzing, excited from your flight. You want to tell someone about it, but there's no one there. You've got to pack your stuff up. You've got to find a way of getting back, either hitchhike or find a retrieve. And then, yeah, so this is a way of sharing that stoke and just, yeah, celebrating with other people. So we carry a small bottle of Kraken. Yeah, it fits right in your harness. And it's rum. Yeah, so it's Kraken Spice Rum. I think it's American, isn't it?
I think it is.
Yeah. So we carry that. There's three criteria where you're able to open it upon landing. That is if you fly 100 kilometers in a turnpoint flight, fly above 3,000 meters if you launch from below 1,000 meters. So
it doesn't work here.
No. I think you need to get to 6,000, which is probably illegal here. Right.
It's a little tall.
And then if you successfully deploy your reserve is another. No one's claimed that one yet, unfortunately.
So you've cracked 52 of those in 23.
I didn't do the 452. There was a time there where I was doing a couple a week, and then I thought I'd, you
know. Maybe not drown yourself in rum.
Or don't rub it in everyone's faces.
And you'd have to carry a lot of bottles of rum to beer and all the places you went.
I did carry it. I didn't always fill it up with crack and be an old monk in beer. There you go. So when I did the 52nd 100K flight, I actually took a one liter bottle and pulled that out upon landing.
Fantastic. Okay. So let's, I realize we've missed some stuff, but we can go back. So how did you take this on? I don't know. Did you know Bruce Marks? Doesn't ring a bell. Okay. So he was my supporter in the first two XLs. So this is kind of before. Before your times. Cause that was 2015 and 2017. And back in the day, X contest had, it's, it was called the chocolate bar. Chocolate club. Chocolate club. And, and if you won, if you got the most 100K flights in a year, you got basically a year supply of Swiss chocolate. And my buddy Bruce won it three years in a row. And so I was excited to read your article about, cause he, I mean, I had never met anybody that chases so hard as Bruce, but, but.
I was excited to read your article because your numbers are really similar. I don't think he ever got 52. I think a couple of times he was kind of in the high forties. It'd be fun to go back and take a look. I went and
had a look at what was it? The highest previously was 44, 44, maybe around 2016 or so. Yeah, that sounds about right.
Yeah. 2016 was when he was chasing it hard. Cause he had a pretty bad accident in 2016 in the sauce up above Zermatt. And then after that he had, he slowed down quite a bit. Um, but yeah, so it is 52, the most that anybody's ever gotten a year.
Yeah. Wow. 44 was the best previously. And oh, really? Yeah.
Okay. Uh, Bruce would appreciate that.
Unfortunately, you don't get chocolates anymore. I know that's a bummer. It was
pretty good chocolate too. Okay.
So that's 2023, correct? Yeah. Okay. That was last year.
Yeah. So X contest. Yeah. So that was in October to September, so October, 2022, that started, but I didn't, didn't fly until probably mid November, 2022. Okay.
Um, and that was in beer.
Yeah. I went to be, so I'd left the UK to return to Australia. I thought I'd stop by beer for late, late, a couple of weeks in November. It wasn't super great. It gets a bit inverted around that time of year. Yeah. It hard to get above the ridge. You got 300 K flights, but I wasn't chasing it yet at that point. It was just to get. It was just to get some hours and experience before going back to Australia. Um, yeah. Once in Australia, went to Manila and yeah, it's been three months there. Three months at Manila. I think two to three, it might've been when yeah, December, two months, December to Feb. And then Feb went down to Brighton, Corion where they have the Australian. Is
Manila an interesting place to hang out for two months? It can be interesting.
People come through. Okay, cool. No, it's, it's, it's great. I've never flown there. Oh, you should, you're missing out.
Well, I know the flying's really good, but is the area, there's places to eat and isn't it kind of remote?
Yeah, it's pretty remote. We stay out at Godfrey's, we call it the farm. Um, it's maybe 15 minutes from town. It's pretty nice. There's a swimming pool there, a clubhouse. He's got a few cabins, but everyone either camps in tent or sleeps in a camper van. Yeah. Um, I think there's about five pubs in the town. Ah, it's a very small town though. Right. It's not really justified the amount of pubs they have. But, um, yeah.
And what do you call, they're not just pubs, they're the, they're kind of a club, right? Where you go to, what are those called in Australia where you can get a steak and a beer? They're, uh. Well,
there's pubs and clubs. There's RSL, maybe that's return services league. Yeah, right. So there's three pubs, um, the RSL and a bowling club. Okay. Um, bowling where they play lawn bowls. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, yeah. If you don't like flying Manila's. It's not the place to be. Right. A lot of people don't bring their spouses and things. Right. It's the, they
would go crazy and get divorced. Yeah.
Um, yeah. So spent two months there and just, uh, aim to get 200. That was my goal for that trip. Then we've got that on New Year's Eve and we got back just in time for the party. Ah, thanks. And, um, yeah, I spent the next rest of January just trying to win the Australian egg contest. Yeah. Which I think I got into second and then sort of downgraded to third, um, but still second in sports class by the time I went to the comps, um, which was worth it anyway. They were pretty fun.
Yeah. And was it, were these your first comps? Yeah. Um, So that's like Corian and bright and stuff. Corian and bright. Um, I think that
year, yeah, it's kind of wet down. I think we've got two tasks in. Yeah. Corian and then three and bright or something. Okay. So it wasn't that great of a year, but from there I went back to beer in spring, which was really good.
Yeah. Um, Have you been to, been to beer more than once in spring?
Yeah, I've been again this year. Okay. Um, just, just for a couple of weeks though.
That's what looks really good to me is the spring.
Yeah. It's when Philip and all those guys are out doing the records. Yeah. It's yeah. You can fly. I've seen thermals at 7am. Um, and then you fly until maybe seven, 8pm. Wow. Um, but it's to get those records, you've got to go over some super committing terrain and yeah, it might take you a week to get back. If you land in some places. Really?
Is it that deep? Well, there's
some valleys. He'd probably, if you walked back and take that long, but you'd probably walk up or fly out, try to relaunch. Yeah.
Um, yeah, it's super fun, but I just normally stick to the front range, but yeah, even in spring, the back doesn't work too well. Okay. It's too much snow. Yeah. So caked in snow. Um, but then I think by that point I was chasing the a hundred K club. It wasn't trying to win it outright, but it was trying to beat the next guy or next person above me in the line. Yeah. And then I think I got into second, it was probably maybe five behind this other guy, Sean holiday. He was sort of winning it and then it became a battle. I catch up to him. Then did you know him? No, I'd not met him.
Where's he from?
Uh, South Africa. Okay. Yeah. I'd actually went out and met him that year. I saw he was at a comp in Macedonia and that was the only flyable place in Europe that week. So I splashed out on a ticket, went there.
So you're obsessed at this point.
Well, he's there. I gotta go there. He's doing a hundred K every day. So I'm going to lose. And then, yeah. And was it
something at this point? Was it already? I want to get 52 because there's 52 weeks in the year. Is that how you, how did you come up 52? That
was said as an offhand, just joked to my mate and I said, Oh yeah, I'll just do 52 one a week. That's that'd be easy. Yeah. I think I was aiming for 30 or 40. I'll just get to the top and I just, yeah, happened to say, yeah, 52 is just a nice round number, you know, one a week. And then he'd actually made a post about it and started telling people I was going for this. So. Was that on the Kraken? Um, yeah. Well, the Australian XC page or something. Okay. So then at that point I had to, you know, the gauntlet has been thrown down. Right, right,
right. Now you gotta do it. Yeah.
I'm thinking we can look bad if I don't.
Yeah. Um, when I met Sean and yeah, super nice guy, uh, in
Macedonia. Yeah.
We flew together a bunch. It was, I brought, must've bought the crap weather with me. Cause we didn't have a very, very good.
Um, yeah, it was super nice to meet him and hang out there. They had the worlds for the hang gliding on at that time.
And was he also shooting for that? Is that what he was gaming? He
was okay. He wouldn't admit it, but he was, yeah. Right. I talked, I knew, I know some people that knew him and then they're like, oh, that's all. He talks about the hundred K club. He's like, who's this Matthew fitter's guy.
Um, yeah, they went back. So at this
point you're at second, you're in second, you're behind him. Yeah. Yeah. In Macedonia.
Yeah. Maybe four or five behind. Okay. I think. And then we kind of went neck and neck and then I'd been back in France and then ended up going to San Andre, you know, late in the season. That's still going to work. We're going to be like September. Yeah. Okay. Early September or mid September, just before Cooper care. Um, so I went down there and I was just smashing about up and down the dorm use to some Vincent and four and coming back, I'd actually, people thought I was crazy for doing this, but I had a, I'd called it the a hundred K insurance policy. So go down the Ridge, come back along the Ridge a bit, then turn back and do an extra 10 K just to make sure if I didn't get all the way back to St.
Andre, I'd still get a hundred K with 10 points, not, not just a hundred K triangle.
So I became super familiar. Um, I know that the, um, uh, what is it? The. Yeah,
I know all, I know that like the back of my hand now, wow,
that the Chevrolet Blanc was the turn point in 2019 and didn't make it that far, but yeah,
damn it. It's Chevrolet Blanc. And then, ah, what is it? The big peak, um, just the north of it, the south end of the Dormier. So I can't remember, but yeah, yeah. There's some incredible fly through there and, ah, it's beautiful. We weren't having the best conditions every day, but I was just making it work often. Going. Yeah. I went through there and having to have take different lines every time. So I was doing the same flight essentially, but it was no way, no way we're two flights the same. So, so taking different lines and trying different things, trying to do it faster, more efficient. I think it really taught me a lot about flying. It was sure it was a bit repetitive and banal, but yeah, I think it made me a better pilot for chasing this thing.
What
were you flying?
Um, float fusion light. Okay. So I bought that in April the year before, I think 20, 20, 22. Yep. Yeah. Um, is
this the one in the article you put 650 hours on or something? By the end of
that season, there's 600 and bit hours on it. I think I trimmed it myself at about 150 hours.
I'd be curious to know the porosity on it. Yeah. It still flies. I was flying it, um, back in February or March. Took it for a few flights, but it's not what it used to be.
No, I imagine not. You're flying a bed sheet now.
Well, I didn't go easy on it either. I do SATs and back fly it and all sorts of crazy stuff, trying to get as high over it as I can doing wing overs and it's super fun wing to fly. It's very good for that stage of the pilot I was really gave him my confidence back after my accident and all that.
And then were you, so you're in, you're in. You're in San Andres, September, so the year's closing down. Is that where you got the 52?
Yeah, I think there's maybe a week to go. Um, yeah, there's maybe a few rain days. It's really come down to the wire and sort of starting to get a bit nervous. You know, I had 50, I just need two more and then, yeah, I think maybe with a week to go, I got the last two and got over the line.
And what did, was it Sean? What'd he get?
Oh, um, he got 40, 44. He might've got 44. Tied for the record. Um, but yeah, maybe a couple of days ago, he sent me this WhatsApp image of someone waving a white flag.
And who's
winning this
year? Uh, a guy called Ariel, American guy, actually. Ah, Zlav Latsky. Yeah. It's I can, I can not pronounce it. So I
just butchered it, but, oh, I didn't know he was going for that. And where's he at?
He was gone for it last year as well. He's, I think he's, he's in Europe. Um, but I mean, where's
he at in numbers?
Wolf. Wolf, maybe 44 odd. Um, okay. I'm trying not to check, so I wasn't really chasing it this year, but I've ended up in second, just by
doing your thing. Yeah. Yeah. No,
I really, why not this year? Um, cause I just remember, yeah, being a bit repetitive last year. I want to focus on comps and that sort of thing this year. Okay. I think it, I really did like it, but it, in some ways it did detract from the flying. Like if I had to say 99 K flight, I'd be a bit pissed off and, ah, yeah, you don't want that. I put all those hours on my wing for nothing. I didn't, I didn't get a little point in the a hundred K club.
Bruce
was like that. Yeah. He'd get really pissed off and you get 99 or something. And often, did you ever find that pursuing that was potentially too much risk? I didn't ever make you do anything stupid. No, maybe, maybe
hang on. Like when conditions like really deteriorate, not in terms of bad weather or anything, just sort of the day switched off. Yeah. I'd be sitting in a zero or a 0.1 for as long as it took. Ah,
that's pretty good training though. Yeah, I know, but that's not bad.
It doesn't make you fly fast for comps and everything, but it's, it's good for XC. No, I don't think I did anything sketchy or anything. No, it's made me, I just sort of hang on, get, try to squeeze every little bit out of the day if possible. And it probably made me fly less hours than otherwise, if I was going for two hundreds per se, because as soon as I get a hundred, I'm like, all right, I'm done. You can go and land.
Yeah. Yeah. The statistics in the article were pretty amazing. You did 9,000 something kilometers, uh, almost 500 hours. I think he said 447 or something. Something like that.
Yeah. I think that's what I've got published on X contest, but there's probably a bunch of stuff.
That's a lot of
hours in a year. Yeah. And then this year you said you've got 400 and something. I
just checked. I've got 399.9 or something. Wow. From this morning's flight.
That's it. I had another 20 minutes. That was an hour and five. Oh, was it? Oh, cool. That was nice air until it wasn't.
Um, any, how do you, how do you stay motivated? How do you stay psyched about it? That's a lot of hours. Um, that's
a good question. I think just having different goals, like I was trying to get 300 K this year. Um, and I think in a little way I was trying to win the a hundred K club again. Yeah. Yeah. It's yeah, but I was also doing BV, um, went BV for the first time in beer really this year or last October. Sorry. Yeah. Um, yeah, it's super incredible and then, yeah, it's doing stuff like that and flying with mates, um, I don't know the pure numbers motivation, but doing comps now, that's kind of my focus, um, and yeah, wanting to do well at comps, that's, that takes a lot, a lot of focus and determination and new equipment.
Yeah. Right. Yeah. And you're now you're flying the Enzo.
Yeah. I bought that, um, in Spain. Yeah.
Spain, a couple of months ago, did this Italian open and the Swiss open.
And what was that jump? Like, how did that feel?
Uh, I've been flying the flow XC Racer too, and it didn't feel like that much of a step. It feels great to be able to keep up with people really gaggle and even lead out. And yeah, I didn't, didn't see it as a big jump in my mind. I think it was a bigger jump than I found it to be literally.
What would you say has been the most important, if you could grab a snapshot of your flying career, you know, if you could just take a picture of a moment, what, what would you think is, has been the most impactful point in your flying something that's changed your approach, your desire, your safety, your risk tolerance. Has there been a moment where. That you reflect back on maybe the accident.
Yeah, that's a tough one. All I can really think about is the accident. Um, that was definitely a turning point. Um, just in terms of attitude and, uh, awareness of safety and stupid, making stupid decisions and that sort of thing.
Um, I dunno, it's some, also mine goes to like having epic flights, like I was telling you before flying over the Finster Horn.
Let's talk about that. That's a. That sounds amazing.
Yeah. So we, well, we could go back a little bit earlier, sort of did the fall BIV across the Pyrenees. Um, that was something incredible as well.
And you guys did the full kind of X beer route without the X.
We didn't do the X, so we didn't fancy punishing ourselves that much. Right. Yeah. We started the coasts. Um, I think we got a good flight from Nauru and actually, um, I think I flew 15. 20 K and then it was probably four days of walking before we got to fly again, um, place called and so, uh, Joe, and then we flew from there to Castilla on the sauce, sort of landed in Indora, hiked out next day, flew again to, I don't know, somewhere. It was maybe 80. Okay. But we ended up, I think it took us about two weeks, which is maybe a bit longer than the XPA guys take, but we had maybe 25 kilos. I think they have about seven. So, right.
But then how many
of you are there? How many of you were there?
Six started and four of us finished. Oh,
wow. Yeah. What were the stats? How much do you fly? How much did you walk?
Uh, about 300 K each. Oh, wow. Okay. Wasn't it? I think it's four 50, 500 coast to coast. And we weren't exactly flying and walking in the straight line the whole time. Um, are
there any big hike and fly races in your future? Is that something you just
supported my mate Lucas in XPA this year? Yeah. Right. Um, he. He had to pull out after a couple of days. He had his feet kind of turned to mush with blisters and things, and he started getting knee problems. Um, so he thought in instead of ruining the rest of his trip to Europe, he'd pull out and yeah, lick his wounds. Yeah, that was, that was great fun. Another friend of ours, Ray was driving the van. I was sort of in charge of tactics and everything else, I suppose. Yeah. Um, but then Shane tie. Yeah. Uh, so Lucas is, he's technically Australian, but he was representing Argentina, but then he pulled out and we're like, all right, we're going to now we'll help support Shane as well.
And Shane ended up coming third. Yeah. Completely out of the bag. Yeah. It's first hike and fly race.
Really? Yeah. And he was third.
Yeah. Wow. He was leading for like a day and a half. Yeah. I
saw that. What do you chalk that up to?
Oh, just being an all around. An animal. Great pilot. Yeah. Does I can fly XC does Acro. Yeah. I think, and I don't think he was racing. That's what he says. He was just having fun. It's just flying XC, you know, trying to stay in the air so he doesn't have to walk, which worked out really well for him.
Wow. Cool. Um, but
yeah, then I bought the Enzo cause I booked to do the Italian and the Swiss comp and then come here for these two. And I thought spending all this money to travel around the world and I may as well then do comps. And things I may as well, you know, get what everyone else is fine. Yeah.
Okay. Yeah. How are you finding the comp progression?
Um, it's good. I started learning a lot. Um, but it's sort of caught between trusting my instincts and following the gaggle. Hmm. Cause you know, you don't want to go do something stupid and then end up low and then way behind, whereas stay with the gaggle, you're not going to be left behind. Right. So it's kind of do I, don't I, uh, yeah, I don't think I know better than at least the guys in these sorts of comps. So yeah, it's kind of, I want to go over there, but everyone else is going there, so I'll go with them. But yeah, really liking it. I like the challenge and being
able to compare, you know, you go XC fly to do this flight, but then. Hmm. You know, that was good. It was bad. I did this wrong. I did this right. You can't really directly compare that to others. Whereas if you go to a comp, everyone's doing the same routes, flying the same air. See, I did this here. That guy did that there. Oh, maybe I should try that next time. It's really, yeah, I think it's teaching me a lot about just flying in general.
We, we got sidetracked on your Verbier flight to come back to the, the, was that the best flight of your life?
Uh, it's up there. It's probably this three. I think. I think of when I think of the best flights. Wow.
Let's hear them.
They're all, all ones. I've sort of sat down and I'm going to, this is like outrageous, sort of probably not achievable, but I'm going to fly from here to there, then do this land there. And yeah, this Verbier is, we plan to fly to Interlaken and most people probably don't know there's a big mountain in the way called the Eiger.
So yeah, we set off from there, hopped away down the south side of the Rhone Valley. Jumped across maybe Vichy or Brig flew to Fiche.
So you, you stay on the south side past Sion and all that, you're heading
kind of towards Zermatt. Yeah. We didn't want to go through the airspace basically. Yep. Yep. So you're south of the airspace. Yeah. Maybe bummed along there for 80, 90 K or so. Yep. Um, yeah, crossed over. It was a lot better on the sunny side. Uh, unfortunately my friend didn't make the crossing. He bombed it. So I think it was Vichy or Brig somewhere there. Yeah. Um, yeah, I, I was just going to go land at Fiche actually. I just went for a look. I was going to just look at the top of it and then go down and land. And then my friend said, Oh, I'll meet you in Interlaken on a WhatsApp. So I thought, okay. So I got up high and then I didn't even think it was possible at this point.
So I just went up, made my way, got higher and higher, pushed further into the mountain. And then.
But you're on the Fiche side of the Alex glacier. So you're. Yeah. You're heading, you're heading kind of towards up, up towards the Grimsel and the Furka. Yeah. And then you just start punching north.
That's it. Yeah. So I had one run and I thought, Oh, this is a crazy, this is really daunting terrain. And it's a big, that's big glacier in the way. I've got to make sure I get over there or I don't know if I'll be able to get back, get back. Yeah. Then I ended up getting super high, like over 4,000 meters and it's able to just reach soar along. The Finster horn and then just pop over into Grimdor Grimvald Grimvald. Yeah. Um, yeah, it was incredible. I mean,
then it's just a glide. There's nothing to do.
No wind at all. I'm thousand plus meters above little fluffy clouds way below. Oh, bitching. Soaring along. That's when I was able to pull the phone out and snap some photos. Wicked.
Um, yeah. The other. And you just landed
down at the LZ and interlocking where all the tandems land. Yeah. Where did you go? Really? Yeah. Yeah. Cool.
I, yeah, I remember that. And the funny thing is I was coming to land and my mate's coming on the train and he sees me. Yeah. Really? You must have beaten
them, right? I mean, it take longer on the train than it did for you. I'm sure the train
just goes straight through the mountain.
Yeah. Oh, that's true. That's right. It just punches right through the candlestick. Doesn't it? Yeah. Wow. Cool. What are the other two?
Um, what are the other two? So last year I was in. Uh, Grumman, uh, near Annecy and I'd met a friend who lives near to a place called Sigurdsville and I said, he said, oh, come say whenever you like. I said, okay, tomorrow I'm going to fly to your house kind of as a joke. And then I sort of planned it on flag C and then put out this route and then I thought, okay, and then yeah, just took off, got high, crossed a few valleys. It was a really tricky day. It was pretty windy from the west. So I was just sort of doing a lot of soaring. The thermals weren't working. Then I just sort of, I just scratched my way and then eventually got onto the really south end of Neeson.
Yeah. And from then on, it was just motoring down the highway and just sailed straight across the lake, landed. In Interlaken? Yeah.
Wait, how did you, how did you fly through Chamonix and spit out the back? No, no, west,
Morzine, I think. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. I. Not too familiar with it. I'm not really.
Up to the, up to the Chablis and around south of the Lake Geneva.
Um, no, it's
sort of East Lake Geneva. Yeah. Crossed over sort of maybe a little bit north of Martigny and then sort of had my, make my way Northwest again from there slowly. Yeah,
yeah, yeah. Wicked. Uh, that's magic through there. Oh, that was a special place.
Yeah. It's cause they run the IGA tour through there, don't they? Yeah. I was, a lot of the flight. I was really strong. I was struggling and low and just sort of reach soaring to try and get up. And, but then once I got high and then over more towards the Neeson chain, it was so incredible with these waterfalls and yeah, it's another time I didn't have a GoPro or anything on me and the third flight, I, I literally got back to Australia last year. I just had my glider with me. Um, a friend lent me a car to drive while they needed their car driven. From Sydney to Manila. So I drove her car up there for her, um, slept in friend's caravan for a couple of nights.
And I was like, I need to go to my parents' house. I got a van camper van parked there. So it was about 200 K flight from Manila. And so I said, all right, I'm going to fly to my parents' house. So I had my glider bag, I had my glider and everything, and then I had a little backpack, which I just put over the top of my harness and then took off. And literally I put out this route. I sort of had to fly around some airspace and just follow that route. And you made it. Yeah, I made it 500 meters short of the back fence.
Ah, man, sick.
200 and something K.
That's awesome. So it sounds like you really like the flights where you kind of call it out. Yeah. Those are pretty
special. It's like achieving a goal. I think. Yeah,
absolutely. Oh, wicked. That sounds really fun.
Yeah. And I thought, I thought there's no chance I'm going to be able to do this. Right. We'd had a bit of a party the night before and I was sitting up on launch thinking, um, probably won't even fly.
It helps having low
expectations, doesn't it? That's it. You know, it's just going to fly, see what happens. Um, a friend was driving that way later. So if I bombed, they could just give me a lift most of the way. Right. So I'll just fly until I land and then see what happens. But then I was most of the way there, I'm actually make it call my dad and get ready with the camera.
Do you ever, this will be kind of last question, but, uh, do you ever worry about the X contest thing is there's so many wonderful things about it. I really dig it, but it also makes what we do numbers. Do you ever worry about that? That's, you know, for example, you've done the 50. 200 K flights another year, you do 40. It's never going to, it's just a match up. Just do you have to, yeah. But I mean, there's kind of no end to that, you know, is there, I don't know. Do you think about that bother you to worry about it? Do you worry about it? I,
yeah, I think it's, maybe it's attracts a bit from the flying. Um, yeah, a lot of this season, I wasn't posting flights just unless they were a hundred. So
yeah, I don't, yeah,
yeah. I don't see where it ends actually. Right. But yeah, I think, um, since I've done that, I don't really want to do it again. Take that box. Yeah. I don't know, but I'd still, as it is now, I'd still like to win against Dario, but
you spent, and I said, there was last question, but I lied one more. You spent kind of the first year of flying, according to that article without flying with the Vario. Mm-hmm. Um, how important do you think that is to your. Um, now
that I fly with one very, um, it also depends where you fly, like us flying, just bridge soaring in the UK and then in Manila where the thermals were like rockets. So you could feel when you're in a thermal snap your neck back and pulling you up in the air.
Um, but like for stuff like comps, I think it's really comes in handy if you've got to eat cats and light lift and that sort of thing, or. When you go on bar, if you're on a sinky line and that sort of thing. Yeah. Yeah. I do like flying with that one now. I sometimes switch it off just to have that, to start a piece, a little bit of wind noise. Yeah. So peaceful up there, but yeah, I, I think I've become dependent on it. Yeah. But it, it'd be impossible to fly that many flights without it. I think. Sure. Yeah.
But a good, good thing to shut up every once in a while.
Yeah. Yeah. It's nothing that compares to that being super, super tall and then turning it off the beeping and just you and the wind noise.
Yeah. It's incredible.
Good place, Dan. Yeah. Thanks man. Uh, good luck in the rest of this call. Well, we have some good weather and good luck in the world cup. Thanks man. Cheers. Cheers. If
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