I have been flying paragliders since 1986, before that hang gliders for several year. I started my paragliding school in Bright, Australia in 1988 and taught over 3,000 people to fly before moving on to specialise in paragliding XC Tours and XC skills development clinics.
We now run regular XC Tours to the USA and Canada in June and July during the northern summer and tours to Australia in January and February in our southern summer. Between these tours we run several clinics developing thermalling and cross country skills, also competition skills.
I regularly rank highly on the Australian ladders, have been on the Australian World's team on three occasions and declined places on two others. My highest FAI ranking was 46th and my longest XC distance is 230km. I have been fortunate to have been able to fly and compete in many parts of the world including much of Europe, USA and Canada, Australia, Koran, Japan and Taiwan.
A well run, professional competition such as the Turkey XC contest is an excellent tool to bring pilots from all over the world to discover a region and it's country. I am looking forward to exploring Turkey with it's amazing meteorology and terrain. It would be good to be able to extend our XC Tours to include your beautiful country.
I voluntarily serve as the Vice President of the Hang Gliding Federation of Australia (HGFA), our national association representing paragliding, hang gliding and microlighting. I would be honoured to have the opportunity to meet with your Turkish association to exchange gifts, discuss common challenges, opportunities and develop mutual relationships.
