Enjoy it to the fullest! -- a talk about Amakusa's beautiful natural environment

Next Friday (Nov. 3rd) at 1 pm, at the Amakusa City Civic Center, I will give a free talk (in Japanese) about Amakusa's beautiful natural environment and how it is an amazing and yet almost unused resource, and about our efforts to develop and protect it.  Please attend if interested!

Fun in Kuratake

It is so nice to be able to share Kuratake with friends from near and far. This weekend several groups of foreigners found their way to the takeoff, camping, flying, and having fun.

music video filming in the best location EVER!

camping and together time

tandem with Blane (fellow Canuck)!

tandem with Jamie (fellow U of W alumni)

Leah from England

circle of friends

the early morning crew

Thanks for all coming out and supporting Rick! It was an awesome weekend.

Farewell and Good Luck Party 壮行会

Last Saturday night we enjoyed a roaring party at Nabeshima with a large group of students, friends, and supporters.

A long time student and friend Dr. Yamashita gave the opening kanpai speech.

The party was held at one of our favorite restaurants in Amakusa- Yakiniku Nabeshima. 

We received lots of encouragement and best wishes.

At the end of the party, our good friend Mr. Urakawa gave the closing speech followed by everyone clapping once to finish the party.
Thank you everyone for coming to the party and believing in Rick!
Also, thanks for the shots Carl.
GO RICK GO!

Paraglider Richard Brezina: 'I am not a stranger to high adventure' | The Japan Times

Paraglider Richard Brezina: 'I am not a stranger to high adventure' | The Japan Times: Canadian native living in Kyushu recalls his experiences of extreme sports in Japan.

A Tour of Mt. Aso and Mt. Kuju in Kyushu

Another nice one last weekend!  This 74 km FAI triangle around Mt. Aso and Kuju has never been flown before, to my knowledge.  Enjoy the scenery and come fly with us in southern Japan sometime!

Support from KUMADEN and YAESU

Local ham radio shop KUMADEN and prominent ham equipment maker YAESU are supporting me with a high-tech transceiver and accessories for use during the X-Alps.  The transceiver (FT2D) is equipped, among other things, with GPS and APRS capability.  APRS is ham radio's version of live-tracking and will add a layer of confidence, security, and safety to my race.  Besides being live-tracked on the internet, my supporters will also get real-time data about my position, transmitted to them directly over ham frequencies (and hence independent of the cell-phone network).  They will be able to tell at a glance how many kilometers I am from the support car, in what direction, as well as further information about my rate of progress.

The transciever has a dual tuner, which means it's actually two transcievers in one.  It can tune to virtually any frequency from sub-AM band to 1GHz, so that I can listen in on the European weather beacons while still having a channel open to talk to my supporters.

Thank you KUMADEN and YAESU for your support!

Saturday Tandem

Saturday came with changeable weather.  We had to wait out a passing rain shower before tandeming, and the southwest wind was already getting a little strong.  But we had a surprisingly nice flight!  Thanks Joleen for your support, and I had fun today chatting with you while airborne! 

The second flight on the Delta 2 was about as rough as it could get.  Is it because it's the height of the season?  There was an incipient front collapse at least one every five minutes, and violent up- and donwdrafts.  Great training!

Kumanichi News Report

熊日のレポーターの中島さんの記事ありがとうございます。ベストを尽くしますー！

Montbell Supports Team Canada for the Red Bull X-Alps

I am very happy to announce that Team Canada Red Bull X-Alps 2017 is going to be supported by Japanese outdoor gear and clothing company Montbell through the Montbell Challenge Support Program. This program supports people that are pursuing adventure and exploration by offering necessary gear and support. We are very happy with this new sponsor because we feel it is a good fit with our team. Montbell, originally created and based in Japan, now has shops all around the world including Switzerland and the U.S.

Yesterday was the perfect day to go check out the Montbell shop in Minami Aso City as it was pouring rain with strong winds. The Minami Aso Montbell shop is situated in a town that was devastated by the Kumamoto Earthquake on April 14th, 2016.  At that time the Montbell provided tents and sleeping bags for the disaster hit areas with their own parking lot turning into a tent city overnight. Montbell's Minami Aso shop was instrumental in organizing relief and support to the people living in the area.

Since the earthquake, we had not been to Minami Aso, as the Great Aso Bridge had been wiped out during the disaster and access to the area had become difficult. Yesterday, despite the driving rain, the area looked beautiful and once again thriving with a lot of construction and newly rebuilt homes and roads.

We arrived at the shop in the early afternoon, and managed to stay until closing time. The Red Bull X-Alps race is such a multi faceted race that it is difficult to choose the ideal gear. Lightweight and minimal ended up being the main criterion for choosing the necessary items. For example, thermal underwear was available in silk, polyester and wool, and in thin, medium and heavy weights. These all had to be tried on in various sizes before final decisions were made.

Since we live on the Amakusa Islands and spend most of our free time in the mountains or on the sea, we usually buy all our gear online. Of course this is very convenient for us, but actually touching the fabric, trying it on, accessing the feeling of the clothing on your body and receiving valuable advice from experienced staff is so important! We would like to thank the shop manager Mr. Yamamoto and to our personal assistant deluxe, Mr. Murakami, who ran around the shop endlessly selecting different garments.

In the end we had to go through our treasures and once again re-access what we really needed and what we could do without. We chose a lightweight tent and sleeping bag, a warm lightweight down jacket, a windbreaker, a rain poncho, running shorts and t-shirts, wool long underwear, spandex leggings, goretex hiking shoes and various weights of synthetic socks. By the end of the day we were knackered but satisfied that our newest sponsor Montbell will help our team get to the goal in Monaco.

Foreigners who LOVE Kumamoto- Richard Brezina

Click on the CC settings icon at the bottom of your screen for specially written subtitles in English!

KAB`s Kuma Power TV show featured Richard Brezina on April 3rd. Living in Japan but representing Canada in the Red Bull X-Alps 2017, the show highlights Richard`s daily life and training in Amakusa, Kumamoto, JAPAN.
Thanks to the KAB staff for doing such a great job putting this show together, especially the director, Mr.Uchida!

For more information about Team Canada Red Bull X-Alps 2017, check out http://rickbrezina.info/
To support Team Canada Red Bull X-Alps, sponsor us on crowd funding: http://fnd.us/ricksxalps?ref=sh_c6R2ce

 #ricksxalps #redbullxalps #teamcanada

The Red Bull X-Alps 2017 Route Is Out There!

The route for this year's X-Alps has finally been announced!

As has already been said numerous times in the short time since the announcement, this is an unprecedented route, what with the crazy departures southward, its length even as straight lines between the turn-points, and the long distances between the points themselves.  The route crisscrosses the Alps fully 3 times right where they are the widest, and each time is pretty well against the grain of how a paraglider might fly.  Visiting areas that I am sure even veteran Alps pilots are not too familiar with, the course guarantees frustrating bomb-outs and a sh*tload of walking up and down endless hills in the middle of nowhere!

I am personally quite happy about this, even though I think it will be the most difficult X-Alps ever.  That's because I believe it plays to whatever advantages I may have.  First of all, everyone's not knowing the route well will 'level the playing field', as has already been said, and that's great for rookies and those for whom the Alps is not their backyard.  Second, I believe I am fit and ready for serious punishment, even, I dare say, more than some of my competition!  Third, the complexities of this route make efficient, accurate, and error-free navigation (both in the air and on the ground) a priority, and that is something I know I am good at.  Certainly, it will be a great challenge and lots of work to study the route and its flights online.  In fact, much of the research and hard work I've already been doing just went right out the window, since the route doesn't even go where I thought it would!

I am sure the previously all-important Mt. Blanc turn-point has been dumped mainly in order to keep the route length within reasonable bounds, but this too opens up some interesting possibilities.  It seems that nearly the entire second half the course will be spent fighting the stable air of the Italian Piedmont.  Quite by coincidence, I ended up flying the very area for nearly a week last summer, not really because I wanted to, but because the weather sucked everywhere else!  I never imagined this would become the X-Alps course.  The flying here is pretty different from the rest of the Alps, and a little more like my 'home' areas in Japan!

I'm excited to hear more detailed analyses and opinions as everyone digests this new data.  For now, congrats to the organizers for surprising us all!

50 km Walk by the Sea

This is an excellent tour and recommended also for running or cycling.  Using the two ferries which connect Amakusa to Nagashima, it is possible to walk around the entire Hachiman Strait in a 48 km loop, and the scenery is great most of the way!  All but a few hundred meters were on paved roads.  The 18km Nagashima part (foreground) is hilly with four significant climbs, whereas the 30km Amakusa part has two minor hills and is otherwise almost flat.

Having left my paragliding gear in our shack at the Kuratake takeoff the day before, I improvised a 12 kg load with some lead diving weights and a couple of 1.5 liter bottle of Coca-Cola.  Similar enough to an X-Alps backpack, I hoped!

Not the best weather today; sun alternating with cloud and an hourly shower with sudden gusts of wind and rain mixed with sleet.  Quite cold for this time of year!

With its unique landscape right next to but quite different from Amakusa, Nagashima is a small treasure.  The course was a pleasure to hike, although we did not expect the hills to slow us down quite so much, and so we had to run the last 5 km pretty hard to just barely make the second ferry. Had we ridden the first ferry of the day to Nagashima, we would have had an extra 30 minutes to do this part, and it would have been more comfortable...but it was hard to get up at 7 in the morning after a long, late night of looking at xcontest tracks from the Alps!

Back in Amakusa, the ferry docks in Ushibuka, a typical rural fishing town.  No pretenses here about how a clothes rack may be used!

Fairly soaked from a passing rain shower near Ubushima Island, also known as Amakusa-Fuji.  Two or three times we got pretty soaked, but dried again as we walked at a sprightly pace.

Rainbows are a bonus on these kinds of days.  Tiny Matejima Island sits in the middle of Hachiman Strait.  During plague outbreaks a couple hundred years ago people were dumped on Matejima and left to die.  It is said their plaintive cries could be heard across the straits.

Hard to tell freshly flooded rice fields from the sea!  In the lee of Amakusa mountains today, winds alternated from violently gusty to completely calm.

Home stretch (about 10 km to go).  Miyanogawachi village, (or, 'Myangaach' in the local dialect).

Inclement Weather Tandems

Nice day today!  In spite of drizzle, difficult NE wind, and lack of time, I managed three fun tandem flights.  Thanks guys for all the support and thank you Mary-Ellen for your assistance - you were really helpful especially since Leanne couldn't come.  Great job everyone!

Support Pouring In

 Today I received this lovely photo! Thank you to all my paragliding friends in Miyazaki and around Japan for the overwhelming financial support and encouragement.

We also really treasure all the great friends we have made through paragliding in Japan and around the world. This week, we received this lovely letter, and lucky charm from our dear friend Mr. Yugawa. Despite recently turning 80 years old, he still continues to paraglide and be an active member of the paragliding school in Nagasaki.

Yomiuri Shimbun Article

An article about me appeared in the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper today.  The Yomiuri is one of Japan's main papers, read throughout the country.

The article talks about how I am training for the X-Alps, a major international competition, on the unassuming island of Amakusa in the Japanese countryside.  It says that I chose to live here because I love its nature and opportunities for outdoor sports.  It also gives some details about the X-Alps and my own background.  Thank you Tanaka-san for spending a half-day with us to gather the information and feeling for am accurate and very professionally reported article.

Sunday Tandem

Not the best weather last weekend, but we managed to squeeze in a hike and fly and a tandem before it started to rain.

Practice makes perfect! Hiroko gets a 'crash course' before her tandem flight.

Hiroko at the controls.

Thanks Hiroko and Carl for the support!

The rest of the weekend was spent shopping for shoes and then testing them out with a 35 km run.

Recent Events Scrapbook

Waiting for a favorable gust of wind in catabatic conditions at Kuratake.

Shooting  a TV interview for the local cable station.

On a 20km training walk with pack.

Trail running with friends; top of Mt. Kuratake.

Takeoff on another great day.

Today's flight on XContest.

Hike and Fly Mt. Waita

Here is a video of one of my flights last weekend.  Pretty exciting!  Sorry about the rough editing; I am really too busy with the X-Alps business these days to spend any more time!  Enjoy!

ICARO Transalp Helmet

Leanne and I already own ICARO 4fight full-face helmets, and are rather satisfied with them after 2 or 3 expensive lemons we managed to buy as we were learning the sport.  So a couple of weeks ago we shouted out to the good folks at ICARO for sponsoring my X-Alps effort with the ultra-light Transalp Helmet. An enthusiastic "Yes" came back almost immediately and a week later, an incredibly lightweight package was delivered to our door.  All I had to do was ask!  At less than 400 grams, the helmet is feather-light, comfortable, and looks great too.  What's more, I noticed that the wind noise in flight is much reduced compared to any other helmet I've tried.  For the first time I could hear everything that my tandem passenger way saying in flight.

Thanks a million, ICARO! Not only for the wonderful helmet, but for your enthusiasm and hassle-free, no-strings-attached approach, which also saved us a lot of time and effort during a busy time.  You really put your money where your mouth is!  Now have another essential piece of top-notch equipment that will help me perform my best in the X-Alps!