It’s taken me some time(17 weeks) to finally recount my experiences through the coast-to-coast expedition and share them at a personal level. It’s going to be a fine balance between sharing the trials, tribulations, and highlights without giving too much away that will be covered in the Documentary that Greg Anthony Harris is producing.
We are Flyers, Filmmakers and Dreamers.
Greg Anthony harris
This is the first of 13 posts that I will release on a daily basis covering the events from the day before launch through until the days after completing the trip. If you haven’t been following along, we definitely recommend going back a few posts starting when the team came together for the first time in San Diego. If you want the full story, go back to the first announcement about starting the coast-to-coast trip.
Days Leading up to the Launch
I recall starting the countdown and appearing on Robert Michiels Paragliding Talk not knowing exactly when we would pull the trigger, but knowing that we had made the decision that we were definitely going in November even with very uncertain weather. Looking back over the winter and the severe cold weather in Texas, we clearly made the right decision.
Just a few days before Thanksgiving we pulled the trigger and the team quickly began travel to San Diego even though we still had a list of unresolved issues, such as having Flight Data Recorders in order to make the record official.
We all arrived the day before Thanksgiving where Anthony ParaGringo, our Launch Site Liaison generously took care of us and fed the team daily as we prepared.
The Day before
Our day began with an impromptu gathering with the San Diego Raptors. Weather conditions weren’t great but a few of us got a short flight in. It was during my flight that the first of many concerns arose, especially regarding the flight characteristics of my Paramotor.
Ray Pearce, my crew chief, felt that it was severe enough that something urgently needed to be done. What was it – Torque Twist, and it was bad and far worse than I was letting on, but I felt I could manage it. I had experienced some torque twist on a previous flight after getting the motor back from Blackhawk Paramotors requesting adjustments to the engine mount for fuel tank clearance and pitch after they were found to be too close for comfort. At the time I put the twisting down to flying a new glider and pushing the power harder than I had previously done. For some strange reason, I didn’t connect torque with the mount changes.
The pressure was on! I felt we weren’t in a position to be making any more last-minute changes and as a result, I pushed back and shrugged the issue off as manageable.
Later that afternoon we finally went down to the Launch Zone and set up camp. The reality began to set in for the entire team. As you can tell from the live video this was a stressful time for the team and especially myself. I’m sure the documentary will capture the feelings we were all experiencing.
Catch Up with us tomorrow for Launch Day!
