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Weekend Warrior Weekend 2008

The second installment of this groundbreaking series was organized by Gradient Team pilots James Lawson and Che Golus on the Anzac long weekend.        
                      James is trying to find some ray of sunshine                                                                                                  this is how your face should look like despite the forecast...

Driving rain and a ferocious blast of Antarctic air drew in a massive crowd of over 50 pilots plus a plenty of groupies; which have become a feature of the Warrior Weekends.With no flying to be had on the first day, the
next best thing was to watch flying videos. But no boring commercial productions – a filmfest was organized to showcase the best homemade Aussie paragliding videos judged by some of Manilla’s most prominent flying personalities. The feature film “The Little Aussie X-Alps Battler: I Climbed Every Mountain (Except for the Tunnel I Took)” by Che Golus premiered with much acclaim from the boozed-up crowd. You can check out all the entries at You Tube. As expected, the sun rose on Saturday morning but the wind and clouds were nowhere to be seen.
       
                 James briefs participants before the first and only successful task                                                                                                                        YES, it is on!

A task was called to Halls Creek with a turnpoint thrown in at Manilla for good measure. Pilots enjoyed some of the best April flying available the Southern Hemisphere has to offer, with reports of first-time XC pilots
arriving over goal. Meanwhile the guns were barring into goal in well under an hour, while some weary pilots were still arriving on launch. Reports of a hard landing at goal saw the well-rehearsed emergency plan kick
into gear and airspace was cleared for the rescue chopper to do it’s thing - although this meant the day wouldn’t score.

Bugger the crutches, let's get wild!

Saturday night’s end-of-season gala spectacular turned into the biggest and best party on the C-grade comp circuit despite Isso’s illegal fire-works show being cancelled at the last minute due to liability issues.
The main attraction DJ Stoopah took the B&S themes out of the rural party scene for a night and the city slickers rejoiced and grooved on well into the night. The same wild weather that attracted everyone on the Friday sent everyone home early on Sunday. While I mumbled a farewell speech for all those assembled, the morning aftereffects may have resulted in a few omissions. So here’s a complete list of "thankyous".

*All the pilots who came: It wouldn’t be the same without you.
*Godfrey Wenness: It wouldn’t be the same without your hill and clubhouse.
*Andrew Polidano: It wouldn’t be as fun without the free booze and the posse of girls you provide.
*Vic’n’Tom’s: What can you say? Except it just definitely wouldn’t be the same without you guys.
*NSWHPA: Thanks for the cash.
*Our staff: Tobes (DJ Stoopah), Bron, Em, Alex and Jude. Hard to find good help these days,
but we found ‘em.

*Gradient and Paragliding Headquarters: These guys are arguably the most generous manufacturer and suppliers in Australia and without their support of Aussie pilots like us, Che and I probably wouldn’t have had the time or money or motivation to organize this sort of events. Thanks.