I must digress a bit here just to paint a picture of the man who shaped my flying attitude.
We first met Butterfly on the Isle of Wight whilst participating in our first competition, light hearted affair it was, since we had been club pilots for about 2 weeks it seemed daunting at the time. We were traitors for the weekend because although we were members of the IOW club we actually flew for the Green Dragons to make their numbers up. I like to think that they won the comp. due to our input, we also like to think we're 'going to win the lottery. One of the tasks was to take place at the school that Butterfly runs. This sent chills down our spine as we had heard all about this guy who was, as far as we could tell, a Demigod.
Going back a bit earlier whilst we were training on Chillerton Hill, IOW, all us day 4-5ers were sat on the hill watching "redtails" fly about (club pilots with <10 hours airtime) when one of them 360'd a bit too close to the hill. He got away with it but landed immediately. Then out from nowhere a pilot flew in from the right of the hill, came to a hover 5 feet from the ground in front of us and told this redtail that the last person that did that was unscrewed from the ground and flown off in a helicopter. This hovering pilot then shifted his weight a bit and flew off. Well, we were all stunned, how can these things be that controllable? we only go forward and if we slow down too much we stall and fall to the ground. Who was this man? I 'wanna be like him, I 'wanna fly one of them there canopies. "That's Butterfly" said a learned bystander, "damn good pilot." he added.
So the task was a big secret. All the participants were made to stand out side his school whilst one by one we were called in by name. No one came out! What the hells going on in there we thought, and we conjured up all sorts of images in our mind of what this Butterfly character looked like and how we would feel conjuring up memories of when we were back at school getting a beasting by the head teacher. "GARY JACKSON you're next" was the bellow. I went in and was ushered to the man himself standing by a harness hanging from the ceiling. "When would you throw a reserve"? was his opening line, not "how do you do, I'm Butterfly the Demigod" My answer was off the top of my head since I was not flying with a reserve at the time and had no reason to find out about all the handling skills, how, when and where do you throw it. I got some answers right and he then handed me a cushion with a handle attached. "Here's your reserve, can you pack it into the harness" No, I replied, but I know a man who can (to coin a phrase). He showed me and then gave me a helmet and asked me to get into the harness.
A chair was provided which I stood on and lowered myself into the harness. I did up the straps and made myself comfortable, the chair was then removed. My feet fell straight to the floor and I stood up. "minus 10 points for being too bloody tall" the scorekeeper bellowed. I lifted my legs slightly to appease the Spam head. Butterfly then told me I was flying nice and high and the air was getting rough. He was holding onto the risers pulling them around making me twist and shake around. Suddenly I was on my side hanging from the rafters by 1 riser only. "Oh har bloody har" I thought, but then it dawned on me that all those questions at the beginning were a prelude to what happens next By this time everyone in the room had started to count out loud, 1, 2, 3 etc. I looked for the handle, pulled the cushion out and threw it at the sky, a picture on the wall marked "sky". I nearly got it and marks were then awarded for speed of deployment etc. Ordeal over, it was now my wife's turn.
Most of the above was a straight rerun. Extra points were awarded to her for asking for a crash hat that fitted. All too soon the bit where she was hanging on her side arrived. She looked, grabbed, pulled and swung her hand round to launch the 0.25 square metre reserve at the sky. This took all of 2 seconds but by which time she had rotated around the single riser and was facing the wrong direction. The full force of the cushion was launched directly at Butterfly who was standing too close. By sheer good fortune Butterfly's dangly bits got in the way and prevented any damage to the school walls. Another extra 10 points were awarded for style. Butterfly has 2 caterpillars now called Jack and Joe, so no damage was done.
I have been away with Butterfly on several trips and each one has been a good do. He never ceases to amaze me the way he manages to fly when every one else is grounded because it isn't flyable. I accused him him Crete of probably being able to fly in a vacuum. Its all a state mind apparently.