Pries kelias dienas, Kanadietis, skraidykles pilotas, kirsdamas finiso linija, bande sugriebti priza (maisa su pinigais ,100$ cekis, padeta ant finiso linijos). trapecija kliude zeme, …viena ranka buvo begriebianti maisa, kita bande balansuoti trapecija. …pilotas zuvo.
Eilini karta ‘stebiuos’ organizatoriais
From Kari’s website (http://www.karicastle.com/blog/):
Where do I begin? This day is very difficult for me to write. Yesterdays weather was another example of Florida’s excellent conditions. Yet the end of the day proved to over shadow the race day completly.
Chris Muller my dear friend who I’ve know since he was a young boy died yesterday while crossing the goal line. It was not a normal goal crossing in the sense of the way we all cross the line. This was a very small competition between the young and the bold, a few of our young new stars in hang gliding have been going for the bag this week. A bag with a $100 bill in it sits each day on the goal line, on the ground within a few inches! The deal is you have to be coming in on final to goal, you can not set up an approach and you must straight line to get it, grab it then I guess land if all goes well. Johnny Durand has been winning that contest everyday this past week so that helped fuel the desire to go for it I’m sure. Paris who had landed earlier and I were sitting under his glider talking about exactly this….he was saying how he wanted to go for the money bag today but just didn’t feel right about it, the air was a bit rough so he decided against it. He said how hard it was hard for him to make that decision. I said to him in agreement, yes it’s just not worth risking your life is it, for what a $100???? He agreed…seconds later we watched as Chris dove over the tree’s coming into goal….so we watched…everything looked normal Chris style as he’s always pushing the limits in a showman style, he’s so good there was never a doubt anything was about to happen….then just as he let go with one hand to grab the bag the control bar hit the ground and he immediately stopped flying and was drove into the ground. Paris and I just held each other in horror knowing that it could not be good…..I eventually had to go to the scene to see if I could help in any way. When I got there he was in the best hands, completely stabilized, he was breathing with difficulty, the doctor on the scene was Gods blessing he did everything to keep Chris alive until the EMT’s and helicopter came in. I stayed there with Chris…looking into his eyes that were open….saying hang in there Chris…keep breathing……we were all loving him completly willing him to live. When the professionals arrived I walked away truly believing that he would live. I had such a positive feeling inside that there was no way this strong willed young man that Chris grew into would leave us like this.
I thought this would be just another close call…another wake up call for all of us to remember how precious life is and how close we all push our own limits.
I was let down….I received word an hour later that he did leave us. The love around the flight park flowed as the word got out…it was an unbelievable time and space for all of us. I cannot begin to put into words what I’m feeling right now other than…I just can not believe its true. The Chris, who just the night before at the Red Bull party forced me to stay and hold up the Red Bull image and party with the boys….the Chris who in Costa Rica during the filming of Pura vida could do no wrong in front of the camera…the Chris who I watch at his first competition in Dinosaur CO come up short of his first goal by inches….the Chris who was there on the training hill with his father Willie when I learned to fly back in 1981 in Calgary….the Chris who I’ve watched grow up into this beautiful fun spirited man with talent that was so far beyond all of us, that made us all laugh constantly….He’s flown away and left us here to miss him.
I will truly miss you Chris…thank you for the time we had……I love you my friend!
