| Author |
Comment |
highhuber
Unregistered User
(4/22/00 8:56:41 pm)
|
St. Helena, 4-20
Thursday.
After cancelling because of high clouds Wed. and talking to Todd Wed. nt.
About his 2 hr. flt. Wed.. I called Greg Sugg to see if he could fly
Thurs. Todd had offered to drive for us after getting off work at 2:30 and
the morning skies being clear we were hopeful of a good flight. We arrived
on top early and had cloud streets toward Cobb Mt. So we discussed landing
options going that way. I had scouted this route out earlier this spring
and felt the LZ,s could be made with sufficient ease to make it doable on
the right day. This would prove to be the day. We decided to fly together
to improve our chances and were ready to launch at 2:15. I went first into
a nice cycle and got up to 5800 ft. in 5 minutes. Greg soon joined me and
we headed for Cobb Mt. The wind was S.W. at 5mph. on my vario. We were
headed NNW so had a bit of a cross tail wind. We found good lift about
every 2miles and stayed between 5500/6500 ft. for the first 9 miles,
occasionally finding ourselves diving to avoid being whited out. Todd was
on the radio advising we head toward Middletown, but he was still on the
west side of S.H. and couldn,t see the blue hole in that direction. We
ignored him and continued on toward Cobb Mt.. Greg glided off heading
there about 2 miles away and I stayed deeper into the mt.s to the west and
found more lift. Greg later told me he got there about 150 ft. over the
top and had to work for awhile to get up, meanwhile I was dodging clouds
at 6500 ft. and went around the mt. To the west. I lost sight of him for
about 10 min.s. We were 11.5 miles from launch. I slowly lost altitude and
headed toward Bottle Rock Road about 3 mi.s Nth of Cobb Mt. There is a
camp ground with a big baseball field which I had my eye on as I got down
to 4000 ft.. Greg caught up to me at this point and we scratched around in
lite lift for 1000 ft. gain We were 15 mi.s out. We headed for Boggs Lake
which has a nice big LZ. Near it and found lift which put us back to 6400
ft. At this point Greg glides off toward Kelseyville as the cloud street
we had been under broke up into scattered clouds. I was behind and since
he wasn,t reporting any lift and Big Valley was approaching I decided the
west side looked like the better route. I found lift soon after and called
to Greg but he decided he was to low to make it back to me at this point,
the LZ,s being few and far between at that point. I topped out in the best
thermal of the day at 7130 ft. and headed for Highland Springs Resevoir. I
continued up the west side of the valley in the foot hills of the
Mayacamas Mt.s.. Shortly thereafter I hear Todd advising Gregg on wind
conditions on the ground as he was looking for somewhere to put down. I
told him my route and was soon approaching Lampson airfield. I found a
good thermal and shared it with a sailplane to 6400 ft. I found one more
good thermal and was heading for a forming cumy farther north . The winds
were showing NW at 7 and I was hoping for one more good one so I could
make it into Scotts, Valley and the nice LZ,s there. I came in low under
the cloud and only found some light wisps of lift so headed back to land
beside a river with a paved road beside it which turn out to be Scotts
Creek and Scotts Creek Rd. The Sky Gods were smiling and so was I . 32.0
miles 2:20 min. A good day of flying !!!!! hh
|
John
Blacet
Administrator
(4/24/00 7:11:57 am)
|
St Helena
Sunday
Hoping the winds would not be so strong,
we got a late start with Leo, John, Vince, Bill, Larry, and Bob.
Conditions at the LZ were light N, so up we went. Fairly good cycles at
launch, with clouds forming showing drift from the E and dissipating W of
the MT. Some speculation of monster rotor, but actually this pattern is
not uncommon and is probably coastal and inland air converging.
I took
off first and pretty much went up like a rocket, eventually getting to 7K.
My mike was not working so XC was not a good idea...
Leo got to 7500,
but his zipper stuck open and it was a bit nippy, so no XC for him either.
No one else seemed interested. Bill was tired from wood splitting and did
not fly. Larry bagged it also. Vince got his first SH flight and is now
very spoiled; thanks for driving up, Vince!
Leo landed at the Newman's
range N end of the valley in a big field, reporting lots of bumppy air
near the ground. He was not exagerating at all! We all made it in OK. It
was quite windy on the ground and it was a "stay on the control bar"
approach for sure.
Another nice day at SH. Justin the PG pilot drove;
thanks Justin!
|
Vince
Unregistered
User
(4/24/00 4:58:28 pm)
|
St.
Helena
Newman's is 5.2 miles from launch, so no
miles for the go for it :-( Leo's vario showed a max average climb (20
second average) of 1450 FPM, mine was 1250 FPM. (Leo, I check my manual
and the first scale is 800, the next scale is 1600 so the 650 you showed
is added to 800 to get 1450). Are these St. Helena thermals always this
nice? It looked like a good day to go to Pope valley. We watched a glider
fly from Pope valley, to St. Helena and back. There was a cloud street the
entire way. I was really itching for some XC but I did not want to put our
kind driver in a bind to go in two directions. I think it was around
freezing at 7000' so Leo was literally freezing his you know what and he
really needed to get down. I got to try out my modified bar mitts which
worked great. My new face shield also worked well, though in the very cold
air, when I breathed through my nose, it would freeze up on the inside of
the shield. My face was much warmer so I am going to keep it. Now I'm
ready for 17,999'.
The landing was one of those "If I don't get
hurt, I promise to go to church" affairs. The wind at 200' was about 15 to
20. I could see serpentine wind streaks in the grass showing 45-degree
wind shift in each direction. Leo was on the radio warning that I was in
for a wild ride. I was kind of hovering over the fence line working back
and forth across the end of the field while I descended. At about 60' I
was getting turned so much I decided to just fly straight, since the field
was so long. I stayed on the base tube until about 8' off the ground. Just
as I flared the wind died to about 5 mph and I settled down to a nice
belly flop landing, but I did not touch down. The grass where I landed was
over waist deep, and I was lying on a nice soft patch. When I tried to
carry my glider back, I could not lift the base tube up enough to clear
the grass. The glider flipped up on it's nose and it took me about 30
seconds to get it back down and keep from turning turtle. I decided to
break down right were I was. On the edge of the field by the road, the
grass was over my head! I sure hope there are no snakes in
there.
|
Leo Jones
Unregistered User
(4/24/00 8:06:14 pm)
|
St Helena,
Sunday
This was one of the Mountain's great days.
We were late getting to launch, and once there we were too chicken to take
off because the clouds were clearly coming from out of the north - (over
the back nearly, of the SW facing launch), but the wind was blowing up
launch in ever strengthening cycles. The cu's seemed to curl over us in
claws, and it did seem, as John said, that there might be some "monster
rotor" out there. Sailplanes flew over, then the towplane from Crazy
Creek, who buzzed the launch and waved to us. The memory of sink over the
back of the mountain was fresh in my mind from a couple of weeks ago, so I
finally persuaded John that it was his duty to go first, and quickly
followed as he immediately started to climb above the mountain. I chose a
lull to launch, the cycles were by now positively ripping through, and
took off straight into a thermal. My zip ripped out when I tried to do it
up. It wasn't rough at all. Within less than 10 minutes I was at 6,500ft,
and soon after at cloudbase at 7500ft. Thermals were strong - I got
1500ft/min on my averager, and they were stronger than that in places.
They were not huge, but they seemed very strong and not very turbulent for
St Helena. The four of us who took off all skied out.
It was pretty
chilly up there, and after forty minutes of wonderful air I'd had enough
of pushing out with my feet and the cold blowing over my legs, so I
decided to try to fly to Numan's ranch at the north end of the valley. It
was very smooth flying there, and surprisingly I didn't seem to have much
of a headwind. I like flying with my GPS. I got there with about 4000ft,
and only slowly descended, until I started to hit some bumps at about
2500ft. I could see plenty of wind on the ponds, and as I got lower I
could see the trees waving about and also realised that I was coming down
a mile or less downwind of some hills, so I prepared myself for some
turbulence. At 500ft I could see great gusts blowing across the big grassy
field I was going to land in, and my groundspeed was showing about 6-8
mph! I abandoned the idea of any kind of aircraft type approach and just
flew gently back and forth over the fence at the downwind edge of the
field. I stayed on the basetube all the way down and got rolled about
pretty badly. I landed in a lull and fell on my belly. Within a few
minutes the wind in the field had gone from about 2 mph to 25 in gusts,
averaging 5 - 15. Everyone got down OK, if some less than elegantly! We
were all thankful not to be landing in the regular LZ in such a
wind.
This does seem to be a pattern at St Helena on unstable northerly
days, little wind on the mountain, great lift, with strong turbulent
northerly winds down in the valley. There's no free lunch. You have to go
XC on these days!
Leo
|
Ernie
Unregistered
User
(4/26/00 8:20:28 pm)
|
Flying in
Santa Barbara
It's Wed. 4/26. I haven't checked in since
I came south last Friday. Great flying off St. Helena!
Down here, I
flew off Eliminator on Saturday. A short flight in light conditions. Only
a couple of pilots managed to stay up.
On Monday, 4 of us hooked up
over the radio (everyone monitors 144.250, a regular party line - great
idea!) for a road trip 120 miles away to Avenue S in Palmdale - near
Edwards AFB. The flying was not so good there either. Unusual high
pressure kept conditions very light. But, the ride was fun and
instructive. Tami Burkar was with us and pointed out several sites along
the way. We stopped at Sylmar on the way back so I got to see the Kagel
site. Hopefully I'll get another shot at Eliminator before I head home on
Sunday. Until then it's sailboarding and biking with the kids.
Hope
you all have short flights this weekend!
--ernie--
BTW, my
landings have been great!
|
highhuber
Unregistered User
(4/30/00 2:47:49 pm)
|
St. Helena Flight
Report
Friday 4/28
Post frontal conditions. Winds on ground 13-20mph, winds
aloft predicted to be even higher. Todd Robinson, Greg Sugg and I, with
Dwayne Todd,s buddy driving for us decide to see for ourselves what the
mt. has to offer. We arrive at launch to find almost calm conditions with
cloud streets stretching to the S.E. and N.W. as far as we can see. There
are cycles coming up launch as we hurriedly set up our wings. Everyone is
psyched conditions look good for a long one.
The wind seems to be picking up as we prepare
to launch. Todd goes first and after a clean launch hits some nasty air
which puts him up on a wingtip and into a slipping dive. I,m working my
way to launch and miss the whole thing. Greg sees it and reports on the
radio of some turbulence out front. Todd has forgotten his radio in his
car at the gate so no word from him. I look up to see Todd giving the
ridge to the right of launch a wide birth and assume we,re in a wind
shadow with winds from the northwest rotoring over the top. I launch
within a couple of minutes of Todd and head left to avoid the worst of the
rotor. I find lift with no turbulence and circle up. Greg is off shortly
and I wait at 6600 for him to top out, as Todd glides off to the
S.E..
We,re experiencing smooth good lift with N.W.
winds at 10 on my Aircotec. We head for the Pinnacles under the street
with no sign of Todd. It takes us nearly 5 mi. to find more lift. As we
circle up I see Todd off toward Berryessa working back to the west. He
later says he found nothing after leaving the mt. too and headed more
towards Pope valley just in case. We converge at Angwin airport and circle
in a good thermal with 2 sailplanes joining us from below. We continue
S.E. over Chiles Valley finding good lift under the street. Todd and Greg
hook a good one together and get high. I,m working lighter stuff and fall
behind. We work down C.Valley with hwy 128 below us. Todd seems to favor
the sun side of cloud streets and I log this into the flying section of my
memory banks.
I finally get into a good one at
the south end of C.Val. and see the last of Todd high heading south down
hwy.121. Greg is at 7000 + and comes on the radio saying his hands are
freezing and he,s going down to land. I try to talk him out of it but he
heads down to land at the 121/128 x-roads. I continue S. down 121 and get
low with Wooden Valley to my East to bail to. (2800ft.) I find a flight
saver and top out in it at 7130. Thankyou sky gods!!!
The cloud street we have
been following ends about 10 miles ahead as the marine layer shuts down
the lift. Travis Airforce Base is off to the S.E. and there is no way I,m
flying over it. There is a convergence line formed where the northerly and
westerly winds meet just north of Travis. It horse shoes around the base
out into the valley and heads south, it seems the only way to extend my
flight. I head straight for it and cross the southern end of the Blue
Ridge. I find a good thermal and climb back to 6700 ft. above the
Vacaville gliderport. I fly under the clouds marking the convergence but
find only weak scattered lift. I,m now over the valley with open flat
fields everywhere, so I stretch my glide as far as I can then turn and
land into a 11mph West wind, a nostepper into a beautiful green pasture
beside a paved road.
I whoop and holler my joy of delight and am sure the local
residents wonder what has descended into their midst. Since they,re only
crickets, frogs mosquitoes birds and snakes I,m not to selfconcious. I,m
on Hay road N.E. of Travis in the middle of a long closed military
reservation marked on the Delorme map. Just S.E. of the cross roads
.
A
fantastic day of flight. 47.7ms. 2:29min. I love this sport!!!!!!!!!!!! .
hh
|
Vince
Unregistered
User
(4/30/00 7:31:26 pm)
|
Sunday at St.
John
I made it up to St. John today with my
gimpy driver Bob Blazer. No other pilots showed up. I got to the ramp
launch at 12:30 and things looked great. Cycles were coming straight up
the ramp about every 2 minutes, at about 8 to 10 mph. I was all set up and
ready to launch at 1:30. By now the wind had shifted to about 45 degrees
right cross. I waited on the ramp for about 15 minutes until I got a nice
straight cycle at about 7 mph. I had a great launch with no
turbulence.
Right after launch I headed to the left and started
sinking out. I did not hit any lift until I got over the switchbacks at
about 5,100'. The thermals were weak and broken. I managed to get back up
to 6,000'. I tried to work my way back up toward launch but kept finding
sink. So, back to the switchbacks. For about 20 minutes I worked my way
back and forth between 5,100 and 5,700. I waited until Bob was most of the
way down the mountain before giving up and heading out toward Stonyford.
I was getting a great glide of about 10 to 1 even with a slight
headwind. At this rate I thought I had a pretty good chance of at least
making Stonyford. Things were going pretty good until I hit some big sink
and my glide rate went to 3 to 1. I could see if this kept up I would not
even make the bee field. After about 2 minutes I was back to about 4.5 to
1 and I new I could make the bee field. I found a little thermal about a
mile from the bee field and circled in it for about 10 minutes but only
gained about 500'. I was also drifting back away from the field.
I
arrived at the bee field about 800 over and flew to the field just east
and dropped my streamer about midfield. It was quite easy to follow all
the way down. It landed about 50' into the bee field and laid over quit
nicely. It is orange for 6' on the bottom and white for 6' on the top.
This is the first time I have tried to use one and it worked textbook
perfect. I popped my drogue shoot and made a nice approach and landing in
about 8 mph wind, in the field east of the bee field (did not want to
encounter any killer bees). It was really nice to not have to fight any
turbulence this time, after last weeks landing.
But my adventure
was not yet over. Bob radioed that he had a flat tire. Being gimpy at the
present (broken shoulder), he could not change it. I figured he was about
2 miles away. I packed up my glider and harness and hid them in a creek
bed and jogged the 2 miles (in my boots, with my radio in hand) back to
the truck. Now I find out that the release mechanism for the spare will
not work. I was forced to cut the cable securing the spare in order to get
it off the truck. The rest of the trip was
uneventful.
Vince
|
Greg Sugg
Unregistered User
(5/1/00
4:34:02 pm)
|
St. Helena
4/28
Scot called me on Thursday night and said
that Todd had a driver for St. Helena for Friday. Although the weather
reports were calling for strong winds, we decided to give it a try. I got
to Scot’s house a little after 11:00 a.m. and loaded my glider onto his
truck. As we drove up to Santa Rosa, the winds weren’t as strong as we
expected. It was early, and the winds could still kick up. I was prepared
for a long day of driving and sight seeing if it turned out that way.
There were some ratty looking clouds starting to build at the mountain. On
the way up to meet Todd at the gate I was admiring the Palisades behind
Calistoga. Those suckers have got to kick off some gnarly thermals on a
good day I thought.
At the gate we met
Todd, Duane and Kelsey. It was probably an exercise in futility, but we
loaded all of Todd’s gear (except his radio) and headed up. The clouds
kept on forming. We were surprised to find almost no wind when we arrived
at the towers, and a nice cloud street stretching down the range toward
the southeast. Things were looking good. Todd was getting excited. We set
up.
Just as we were about to go, the winds
began to pick up and cycle through. Todd was first off. He had a nice
launch, and then, a few hundred feet out he got trashed big time! His
glider pitched forward past vertical and simultaneously dropped the left
wing. He did a big dive, and then flew VERY conservatively straight out
and around to the north side in a big wide arc. Scot was next. Having not
seen Todd’s little excitement, he flew to about the same spot and
blissfully climbed out. I was last, and played it safe until I was well
over the top.
Todd topped out at cloudbase
and started on course to the southeast. Soon I joined Scott at cloudbase
and we headed out. While climbing, I saw Todd white out and didn’t see him
again for a long time. Scot and I stayed in contact, and I flew directly
over the Palisades I had been admiring earlier. How cool! The terrain
behind them (to the east) is much more vast and rugged than I had
imagined. What a beautiful sight… everything below green, cloud base one
or two hundred feet above. As Scot said later, "What a great
sport".
We never even had to consider Pope
Valley; we just stayed right over the range. Scot pointed out the Angwin
airport perched smack on top of the mountains near Napa. It seemed like a
long way off, but in no time we were directly over the runway. We found a
mild thermal there, and climbed as a small plane took off and two sail
planes came in under us. We out climbed them to cloudbase and headed on
once again to join Todd who we had spotted and were closing in on. Sense
we had been near cloud base for most of the flight, my hands were getting
pretty cold.
We finally met up with Todd over Chiles Valley and worked
our way to cloudbase which was now over 7,000’. Lift was abundant. At the
southern end of Chiles Valley my hands were nearly numb. The cloud street
just kept building in front of us. I had to make a difficult decision: I
couldn’t continue, and would have to land. I discussed it with Scot, and
wished him good luck. My last intentional thermal was at the southern end
of Chiles Valley which took me to 7,200’. Approaching cloudbase the lift
increased to 900 fpm. I pulled on about 50 mph, and climbed steadily
toward the edge of the cloud and clear air. The lift continued for a bit
right out into the blue. "What a shame to end it this way", I thought, the
strongest lift and highest altitude of the flight.
As I headed to land in Capell Valley, the last little valley left,
lift was everywhere. I arrived over my LZ, Moskowite Corners, at the
intersection of Hwy. 128 and Hwy. 121,
3,000’ AGL in 300 fpm up air. I
searched around and finally found a worm hole through the lift and cored
it for quite a while. At about 800’ AGL it gave out and I was going up
once again. I eventually got down to pattern height and floated on in with
a 5 mph breeze to land into. Twenty-eight miles of sight seeing from cloud
base over beautiful springtime terrain, and half a block away was a store
which sold Red Tale Ale. How sweet it is.
Todd and Scot continued on to somewhere near Los Angeles I
believe.
|
Vince
Unregistered User
(5/21/00 7:25:36 pm)
|
St. John Flight
Report
I flew Saturday at St. John with
Ernie, Leo, Jon, Scott and Greg. After launch I got up to 8,000 and
it looked like it was not going to get much better so I headed South
to Bear Valley. After leaving the mountain I was unlucky enough to
get 600 fpm sink until I was almost over the bee field. I crossed it
at 2500 and was going to try for the road heading in to town. I got
a small thermal at 2000' MSL and got 500' out of it. I then wasted
the entire gain trying to find it again. I had a choice, land 1/4
mile short of the road and carry my glider the rest of the way, or
head back to the bee field (actually the field adjacent, as the bee
field is now filled with cows). So I flew back to the bee field and
had a great landing. I had used my streamer again, and again it
worked great. Every body (except Scott, he can tell his story) flew
over me at about 4000' msl. This makes me want to get a better
performing glider. Bob with the broken arm got another flat driving
down the mountain. It took him about an hour to change it with one
arm. I thought something had happened to him so I walked/hitch hiked
to town and got Ernie's truck to go back and look for him. Just as I
got to my glider, I heard him call that he was picking up Scott and
everything was OK. I grabbed my glider from where I had stashed it
and went back to town where Leo was waiting. He had hitch hiked back
to town to also pick up Ernie's truck.
Leo then went down to
pick up his glider, Ernie, Jon and Gregg. Jon and Gregg had made it
to Bear Valley! We were heading home and decided to head through
Bear valley so we could hear the great stories from Jon and Gregg.
After leaving Bear valley, we headed down 16 South of 20. To our
surprise, we saw Bill Vogel on the side of the road with Rich's
truck. Bill and Rich had left from Elk. Bill got about 17 miles, and
Rich got 37! I hope they write up their
stories.
Vince
|
Bill Vogel
Unregistered User
(5/23/00 5:51:42 am)
|
Flew
Elk with Rich
Saturday flew Elk, I got off just
before 130pm and Rich
took off about twenty minutes after me. I
was working just over the top and it did not look good, At 6000 or
so Rich took off south and just then I also hooked one to 6400 and
followed. Met up with Rich at High Glade tower he was up and I was
looking in the windows of tower. Long way to clover valley but stuck
with it and headed East. High over cast and it was covering me Rich
was running fast to stay ahead of it. I came down at Oaks and was
pick up then headed out for Rich,He got shut down over Cache Creek
rest area on Hi-way 16. We both had a nice landing and my GPS set
Rich at 37.22 miles. Met land owners in both LZ they were very nice
and said no problem using there land, were concerned that we closed
gates all the time.Sunday lift was lite and I was tired but lanched
late, 300PM and flew for a hour I used CC Lz and Rich went over to
his house and landed. Thats all folks
|
Leo Jones
Unregistered User
(5/23/00 8:56:19 pm)
|
Saturday and Sunday at St John.
Ernie,Jon, and I met Greg, Vince,
and Scot and One Armed Bob the temporary driver, in Stoneyford. We
all went up the mountain on Vince's rocket launcher by about 12.30
to find the ramp looking perfect and nice cycles of increasing
duration blowing straight up the launch. Greg went first, I followed
and got up straight over the switchbacks to 8700ft. That was the
highest I got, but Greg topped 9K over the motherlode. Launch
conditions were very good for St John and everyone had nice
launches. A lot of high clouds came over after we launched. Vince
headed out fairly quickly - his radio apparently not working, Ernie
got up but then got down to the trees again, Scot flew off north
further than anyone then went cruising around Crocket and the ridge
towards Snow - we told him that it was a wilderness area and that
he's have a long hike out if he landed there but then he flew back
down the canyon, got up again over the ridge in front of launch but
didn't quite make it back up to launch level. He landed in the
fields behind the visitor's center.
I headed south towards
Gilmore peak but got nothing til I was south of the dome house and
unzipped for landing when I got a thermal at about 400ft above the
ground. Greg and John were just a little higher and gradually
climbed away, I landed, badly,in a nice flat field with 100 degree+
temperatures. Ernie landed, badly, about a mile away. Jon and Greg
climbed out to over 5000ft and flew 23 miles to the north end of
Bear Valley. Greg told us he'd talked to Rich on the radio who had
just landed after his XC from Elk.
Bob got a flat driving down
and had to change the wheel - with one good arm!
Back in town we
discussed the merits of camping by the lake or up on top of the
mountain, and eating in Stoneyford vs Elk Creek. We then went for a
swim in the lake, and after an interesting encounter with the
sheriff, we ate in Elk Creek and camped by the lake!
Sunday was
bluer and hotter. Only Jon, Greg and I flew, Ernie drove (thanks
Ernie). Launch conditions were less than great, light with
persistent X winds from the left. Greg staggered off, and my launch
wasn't anything to write home about, but this helped Jon, who had a
better one. Conditions were a little stronger than on Saturday, but
seemingly with more broken thermals, and with a marked inversion at
about 9K which produced some unpleasant turbulence. Once again Greg
and I tried to fly towards Gilmore peak and once again we got a
thermal at a very low level over the same place but this once
fizzled on us and we had to land, me again badly! Jon joined us a
few minutes later having climbed up over the landfill.
We need to
fly St. John more - tis the season.
Leo
|
Vince
Unregistered User
(5/29/00 12:24:26 pm)
|
Memorial Day Weekend at St. John
Friday, only Gregg and myself showed
up to fly. We could not find a driver so we flipped a coin to decide
who would fly and who would drive. Gregg won and chose to drive
(which worked in his favor later). The wind was out of the Northwest
so the ramp launch was definitely out. The west launch looked
better. The wind was crossing from the left, but would cycle
straight in every couple of minutes. The velocity was 10 to 15 mph.
I had a nice launch and started going up immediately after
launch. I ridge soared in front of launch until 7000'. I then headed
East under a cloud to 8000' which was cloud base. The wind was
drifting me to the Southeast so I just stayed under the cloud and
drifted along. The cloud broke up and I continued South getting lots
of sink with a little lift thrown in. Sever times I drifted a couple
of miles in zero sink. I was thinking this was one of the nicest
days hang gliding. Then as I passed 2100' I hit the worst turbulence
of my life. My back hit the keel twice and once I was thrown to the
side and almost got my feet stuck in the side wires. To top it off,
my zipper stuck. I was over the only landable field in gliding
distance, to I had to stay in the turbulence and work things out. I
finally was able to blow out my zipper Velcro about 80 agl. I
cleared a slight ridge by about 30' and had just enough time to make
a left turn to final. I thought I had a nice landing until a gust
caught my left wing tip and I body checked my right down tube. I was
glad just to be on the ground.
Saturday, saw Gregg, Jon,
Ernie, Albert, Charlie, John B., Matt, and myself at the West launch
again. The wind conditions were almost the same as Friday. Ernie
launched first, then me, Jon, Gregg, Albert, and Matt (I'm not sure
of the order for Gregg, Matt or Albert). Charlie and John B. chose
to ride with the beer, along with Donna who volunteered to drive.
The air was a little rougher than Friday with mixed lift. I only got
to 8000' but I heard Matt got to 9000'+. We all headed North. I only
found one good thermal but I had a tail wind of 20+ mph. There were
several areas of zero sink as well as some 600+ down. Since I had
never flown North from St. John, I was a little concerned with the
retrieve roads. I headed for Elk Creek to be next to the highway. I
managed to find some 20 fpm up near Elk Creek and managed to stay up
in it for about 10 minutes. This put me about 4 miles North of Elk
Creek. I landed in a large (huge) field and had an excellent
landing. Matt and Jon landed on Alder Springs Road. Albert landed
North of Elk Creek and Gregg ended up South of Elk Creek.
On
Sunday, Jon went home, and Bob Stanley came up. We only had one
driver, Donna (thank you so much). Since I had lost the coin toss, I
owed Gregg a days driving, and I ended up driving instead of flying.
At launch we had Ernie, Bob S., John B., Albert, Charlie, and Gregg.
Matt launched first and climbed straight up. Everyone else soon
followed with mixed results. Ernie worked everything he could find,
but ended up with a tour of the Visitor Center's field. Charlie
headed out to the lake, found something at the dump and made it to
the dolphin. Bob S. found a really nice one and got to 10,000'+
before heading North. Gregg headed North first followed by Matt and
Bob. Both Matt and Bob landed on road 313, South of Crome. Gregg
continued to find lift and made it to North of Paskenta.
Vince
|
Greg
Unregistered User
(5/29/00 3:41:41 pm)
|
Saturday, 5/27 St. John
Winds were out of the south west on
the mountain, so we went up to the west launch. Jon, Ernie and Vince
were in the air ahead of me and all got up over the switch backs, so
I headed there also. This was an error because that area was in the
lee side of the mountain. All I found was turbulence. I worked and
searched until I was down to 5,400’ and headed out across the
canyon.
On the far side of the canyon I found a small bouncy
thermal at 4,200’ and worked it up to 4,500’ and back toward Black
Diamond. Just before I reached Black Diamond, I found another
thermal which I rode to about 5,100’ and a mile NE of the peak
before it fizzled. I continued on sort of NNE finding another small
thermal and some buoyant air. I made the decision to fly near the
road north from Stonyford for retrieval purposes rather than
straight up the center of the valley over a prominent ridge which
would likely have produced better lift. Getting low I was able to
fly at just above stall in zero sink air with a light tail wind for
several miles.
Eventually I set up to land in a field about three
or four miles south of Elk Creek. Everyone who had already landed
was reporting light SE winds on the ground. This agreed with my
experience of a southerly tailwind for the last several miles. As I
came into ground effect, I realized I was heading down wind. I
flared as well as I could, and intended to let go of the down tubes,
but the left tube snapped like a twig within a nanosecond of impact.
The wind was NW at about seven m.p.h.
Charley retrieved me. We
noticed that EVERYWHERE else on the route the winds were light SE
except for about a one mile section where I landed. Go figure. Smoke
bombs from now on when in doubt. I flew 13 miles. It was fun to go
via a new route.
|
John
Blacet
Administrator
(5/29/00 4:08:04 pm)
|
Re:
Saturday,Sunday 5/27 St. John
Greg still needs to tell us all
about SUNDAY, when he did the Paskenta thang...
Vince's
comments pretty much cover the other days, with the exception that
five pilots flew north on Sunday. Albert ended up south of Elk Creek
and John B got to Alder Springs Rd (162).
A lot of people
left Sunday, but a few probably flew today.
|
Greg
Unregistered User
(5/29/00 4:42:03 pm)
|
Sunday,
5/28 St. John
The winds were similar to Friday and
Saturday, south west on the mountain. The group set up at the west
launch. I was second off the mountain behind Matt who climbed out
rapidly over the Mother Lode. Learning from my experience the day
before I felt out the air and went to the right also. It took a
little while, but I eventually got to 9.250’ at the ML and headed
north. The sink was about 300 to 500 fpm crossing the big canyon,
and there was a considerable westerly component to contend with. I
wanted to go deep into the hills but was pointed so much toward the
west that I settled for midway up the next spine. I found no lift at
the first one, so I continued on to the next spine and worked deeper
back in.
Up ahead a few miles I noticed a few shreds of
condensation forming, so I aimed toward it. By the time I was within
a mile of it, the condensation dissipated. I continued on anyway and
eventually found a thermal a few miles shy of even with Elk Creek.
As I was climbing in it, Matt joined me. We worked it for a while,
but the core was illusive. Finally I found the core and climbed
quickly. As I was climbing, I noticed a fuzzy bit of condensation
forming about 200’ directly below me. Then It rapidly started
forming into a small shred of cloud with another a few hundred yards
to the north west. For a few circles I was over it with my "Glory"
shadow inside a circular ring with a bright background. Then the
cloud started to surround me, and it was time to leave. A little
further north I caught a thermal which took me to 9,400’! I was
amazed to get so high on the relatively low hills.
The
altitude proved to be none too much, because it was a very long way
to the next lift. A few ridges before the canyon at Red Mountain I
found a small thermal as I was working my way out to the valley in
desperation. I radioed to Matt that I had found one, but he didn’t
have quite enough altitude to reach it. I worked this one for quite
a while topping out at 4,800’, and headed on to Red Mountain.
Arriving at Red around 3,600’ I was able to find lift on a shoulder
and climbed back to 4,800’. There is a considerable amount of
unretrievable terrain at Red, so I decided to try to get higher
right over the peak. The best I was able to do was 5,000’, so I
headed NE over some lower ridges toward the main road.
As I
worked on, there were a few very light thermals. One I was able to
work from 2,000’ up to 3,000’ which assured me of reaching Paskenta.
Just half a mile west of Paskenta I found another light one in which
I climbed 300’ but drifted directly westward. As it turned out, the
wind direction was changing from SW to ENE. That may have been due
to my descending in altitude. On the north east end of Paskenta I
dropped smoke to confirm my suspicions and landed due east for a
perfect no-stepper in one mph ground wind.
Ernie was there to
retrieve me with a cold beer within 45 minutes! That’s service. I
have wanted to fly to Paskenta for years. This was a big deal for
me. 33 miles according to Ernie’s GPS.
|
Buzzard
Unregistered User
(6/18/00 10:43:17 am)
|
Sat at
St.Johns
Friday Night: I get the map book out
of the Jimmy and started "daydreaming" about that great X/C flight
from St. Johns. You know the one where the thermals are always
there, Landing is perfect, then you wake up. Yep, what a dream!
I
left the house at 9:30 and my faithful driver asked me were the map
book was( still in the dream?). The big question, "do we need
it",back to the house we go. Bill and I set out for St. John at
about 10:30 from his house. His truck was down and the jimmy's A/C
was on the fritz. Well, there is a lake to land at to cool off!
Got there and had Kurts new rig to take up to launch with Kurt,
Ernie, Gregg, Bob, Todd, Bill, myself and Linda to drive. Gregg,
Todd and I were stuck in the back with one seat left in front. We
flipped a coin for it and I won. Everyone got off the hill in light
cycles. Todd didn't have a radio or vario, so he flew halfway to
hull and then landed at the lake. Of course he had Teri waiting for
him.
Linda drove down the hill and got the Jimmy to start chasing
me. Big mistake, everyone headed out
Everyone was getting to
10,000 but me. I left the hill at 9,300, to follow my drift to the
north. Got to the next hill, no bumps, next hill, no bumps. I kept
moving on, figuring I would get to the lower inversion eventualy. My
next thermal was around 309 and climbed back up to 6,700. My next
stop was "crying stone canyon?" with a few lite lifts along the way
to just before red mountain. There was strong sink and lite lift. I
was down to 4,000 when I hooked something that started at 100 up,
then 200, then 300, left at 6,600. Stayed in the hill but headed
towards Paskenta. This sink was lite and lift fairly far apart. Got
to the Prison camp and found a lite thermal that just kept getting
better as I got higher. Next lift was west of Paskenta and got over
6,000 again. By this time I was the head repeater for everyone else
landing. Bob landed and broke both downtubes 2 miles behind a locked
gate. Ernie was on the dirt road part of 309, Kurt on 307/162, Gregg
was next by the foot of red mountain then Bill in Crome. Linda gave
Ernie a ride back to the main road (306). Todd went out and picked
him up and together they retrieved Bob. Linda picked up everyone
else who landed by an accessable road and headed north to follow me.
I was getting worried about leaving the foothills and heading
North/East
I was moving slower and tried to top out everything I
got. I started to fly roads at this point, but they are obscured by
lots of trees. I left the hill at about the 40 mile mark. The sink
rate in between thermals started to get stronger and the thermals
were closer together to my surprise. From then on I topped out every
thermal like it would be my last and headed down the road. I was
heading more East and had to cover more miles to get a straight line
mile. I spotted an airport at the end of the road I was following(
it turned out to be Lowery Rd.) But I was loseing altitude faster
now, it was after 6:00 p.m.. I had to work a 50 up thermal to make
it. There was a field just at the N/W corner of the Airport that
started to look real good. As I glided toward it, it got more
bouyant and I made it over the Airport to check out the wind sock
and hit the runway thermal. It was to late by now and I was done. I
headed out of the thermal and landed at 6:42. Redbluff Municipal
Airport, 55.6 miles, 3hrs,
40mins.
|
John DeAguiar
Unregistered User
(10/2/00 8:00:00 am)
|
Another
Rough day at Elk
Rich S, Bill V and I met at the Elk LZ Sunday at
noon. Conditions at the LZ were light SW. We reached the top just
before 1pm, where it was blowing N 5-10mph. Mild thermal cycles
modulated the prevailing wind at the north launch.
We
launched just after 2pm. We found ridge lift and mild thermals in
the north bowl. It was easy to stay 400-500 over launch. Rich got to
1000 over after maybe 20 minutes. It took me almost two hours to
work my way up to the same height. The lift became especially glassy
and widespread after about 4pm.
Bill landed after almost two
hours of flying. Rich and I decided to stay up until mountain
shadows reached the LZ, which was roughly 5:30.
Total airtime
for me today -- 3:18 =8-)
-JD
|
Bill Vogel
Unregistered User
(10/2/00 8:00:00 am)
|
Another
Rough day at Elk
OK so Rich and John stayed up another hour. Could of
been the dust from motor cycles which swirled and went up in LZ. or
was it the wind direction that Linda was calling out that went
something like this:
wind north about five nooo ten no ugh
alittle later wind east at ten to fifteen.
Rich: You mean
its blowing from pintey?
No its from middle mtn. sort of cross
from upper lake. alittle later Make that from Elk mtn at ten to
fifteen. A little later. Wind is coming down, no up the fence line.
My (Bill v) observation while floating over LZ was generally NW
with Slight variation of SW if you discount the dust devil at south
end of kiddy motor cycle area. Of course that was light and so I
just quartered it held the nose down and ran five steps to in sure
no wing pops when flaring. Generally it was a fun day all landing
were will done and no misshaps at all. Everyone was all smiles for a
good day of ridge lift and smooth air. Bist alway Bill
|
Leo Jones
Unregistered User
(10/2/00 8:00:00 am)
|
Slide/McClellan - you should ha' been there
Nine Sonoma Wingers made the trek, and the flying
was epic. On Saturday we went to Slide, as the winds aloft forecast
was for light and variable winds. Kurt took off first at about noon,
and soon disappeared, a speck in the sky. "You'd better take your
O2", he radioed, as he climbed through 16,000ft. The rest of us soon
followed, and soon all nine of us were at nearly 17,000ft and
heading east to our goal of Winnemucca, aided by the strengthening
westerlies as we climbed. The views over Tahoe and the Sierras were
incredible. It wasn't even cold up there. Two hours later all nine
of us were over Lovelock, nearly 70 miles away, having flown there
in some incredibly bizarre ultra smooth lift, that we had hardly
turned in since we set off. Oh, wait a minute, that was the DREAM I
had!! Darn! Sorry.
Actually it wasn't quite that good, but we
all flew, nearly all of us got up, and some even got to around
10,000ft, but it was quite hard work and XC was not really an
option, though Greg and I tried to fly to McClellan and failed,
landing near Washoe city, and Matt flew over 6 miles (gasp!) along
the Sierras to the south end of Washoe valley for the furthest
flight of the day.
On Sunday the forecast was for increasing
westerlies so we went up to McClellan. It felt nice on launch, with
winds out of the west at 10-15 mph, but though it was ridge soarable
the thermal activity was pretty weak. Most folks got a few hundred
feet over, and Matt eventually got to 1000 over. Scott and Kurt top
landed, thus taking care of the retrieve problem. Everyone else
landed in the bailout LZ.
We all had a good time, even though we
didn't get any epic XCs. No-one bent anything, and we successfully
drank a lot of beer, thus taking care of the beer
problem.
Leo
|
Vince
Unregistered User
(10/7/00 8:00:00 am)
|
Vince
& Greg make Bridgeport!!!!!!
Well, not quite. Greg made it a little past Carson
for 13.5 miles, and I made it all the way to the bailout. I only
spun twice.
Well, not really. I did not spin, but I only made
it to the bailout. I left the mountain to look for the house thermal
over the knob out in front and found 600 fpm all the way to the
lz.
Vince
|
Vince
Unregistered User
(10/8/00 8:00:00 am)
|
Greg
and Vince fly from NV to CA !!!!
This one is true. We launched from slide at about
1:30 and climbed to 12,000. Greg headed south down the Sierras while
I hung around to 13,500. Greg continued to go down the Sierras at
12,000' to 13,000' (where it was warmer) and I followed at 13,000'
to 14,000' (where it was about 25 deg. F.). Greg accused me of
pimping him for thermals, which I was because he was always leaving
first. Finally at Kingsberry grade I was ahead and in a weak
thermal, Greg could not find it and went a little further south and
found a nice one. I came in right under him and found nothing, all
the way to the ground. I managed 30.1 miles and Greg made it 34.0
miles, all the way to the end of the Carson Valley. This was truly a
spectacular flight. The scenery was as good as I have ever seen from
the air. The leaves are turning colors up and down the
Sierras.
Vince
|
Greg Sugg
Unregistered User
(10/9/00 8:00:00 am)
|
Flight
Report: Slide Mtn. 10/8
On Sunday Vince and I set up at Slide launch with
the hope of flying as far as his brother’s house in Minden where we
spent the night. I launched first at 1:20 into a mild SE breeze.
Vince was close behind. After a minimum of searching we both climbed
out, first at the shoulder of the mountain near the slide, and from
about 9000’ on in the center of the slide bowl. At about 10,000’
Vince who had been below just blew on through me… "Out of the way
flex wing!" Over the mountain the drift was north west toward
Truckee. Since we had agreed for logistics reasons that we would fly
south, I headed across the gap and down the range at 11,500’. Vince
soon followed.
At the first peak I climbed from 9,500’ to 13,00’
and pressed on. The next good climb was at the north end of Markett
Lake where I again climbed from about 9,800’ to 13,200’ and left
because my hands were getting too cold. Vince worked it to over
14,000’. The whole time I was struck by the great scenery. I was
cursing myself for not having a camera. Vince later told me that he
had his and took a bunch of pictures. The wind lines on Markett Lake
were showing SE, but the lines on Lake Tahoe were showing SW. At my
altitude I was noticing SW. I pointed this out to Vince.
Heading
south over that area between Washoe Valley and Carson Valley I
initially lost altitude down to 12,400’ and then, flying straight
for a couple of miles climbed back to 13,000’ in turbulent air. At
Carson Pass (Hwy 50) the convergence ended and we were in 600 down
for several miles. I finally found a bitchy little thermal at a peak
about half way between Carson Pass and Kingsbury Grade. I managed
only about a 350’ climb until I decided that this was not for me.
Vince got a little higher. About a half mile further on we got a
pleasant thermal which gave us enough to get to Kingsbury Grade.
Approaching Kingsbury Grade, Daggett pass to the power pilots, I
heard Mike Kunitani telling someone that he was on Windy Ridge! I
radioed back, and said "Hi" just before I lost a few hundred feet
and sunk over the radio horizon from him.
At Kingsbury Grade we
searched all over but couldn’t find much. The mountains there are
the highest in the range, and with the low sun angle this time of
year their east faces were dark already. Vince went west a ways, but
I didn’t want to risk sinking out into the Tahoe basin in my "low
performance flex wing". Finally I found a small one in the middle of
the pass for a couple hundred feet. When it fizzled, I skimmed
directly over the giant condo complex at the top of the Grade…
nothing! Then I found one a little further out to the east. Vince
came in low, but it wasn’t there.
I managed to climb back up over
the top of Heavenly Valley and headed toward a knob to the SE which
I hoped would get me high enough for a shot at Jobs peak, but
Nooooooo! That was it! I scratched along the dark east side of the
mountains until I had to land at the end of the Carson Valley. While
gliding along the beautiful, dark, rocky chutes, I commented to
Vince who had just landed that the air was really smooth. He said
"Yea, I know. That’s a bad sign". This was a flight I’ve dreamed
about for years. It was also my longest flight of the year. And to
think, I almost went to Hull instead.
|
Charley
Unregistered User
(10/8/00 8:00:00 am)
|
Elk Mt
10-7
Seven pilots flew. All had good flights in smooooth
ridge lift. Altitudes to 4900' were reported.
Jon flew Rich's
Laminar. Afterwards Jon was heard to ask, "How much do you think
Rich would take for his glider?"
A hang two named Clifton had his
first soaring flight. He had the longest flight, around two hours.
Most others were around 1.5hrs.
Winds were north 10 to 20 mph.
Most people landed down by the thistle field where conditions were
less squirrely than the regular LZ.
Thanks to the drivers,
Suzanne and Phil.
Pilots: Jon, Clifton, Rich, Leo, Matt, Kurt and
me.
Charley
|
Charley
Unregistered User
(11/16/00 9:00:00 am)
|
St
Helena Report
Pilots flew St Helena both days this weekend,
10-14&15.
Saturday was the best with people reporting getting
to 5900' and landing over the back, by Middletown. Kurt had his
first flight there.
Sunday, lift was weak and confined to the
north side of the mountain over the bare rocks. Launch order was
Scot, Jon, Charley, Kurt, Ernie and Todd. Scot landed last and was
up maybe an hour. My flight was less than twenty minutes! Ouch! The
landing area was interesting. Todd had the only really good landing.
Scot and I both broke downtubes.
We learned that there may be a
potential danger when using a douge 'chute. There may be a
possibility of the bridle catching on a rear wire, when the 'chute
is deployed in a turn. This could cause the glider not to level out
on final and posssibly result in a ground loop. We also learned to
beware of changing air behind buildings even when the wind isn't
strong enough to create rotors.
CW
|
Ernie
Camacho
Moderator
(10/16/00 9:00:00 am)
|
Re: St
Helena Report
I sure do wish we had a video camera capturing our
landings on Sunday!
I'm still not ready to blame Scot's inability
to come out of his turn onto final on his drogue chute, although
since we can't come up with another culprit it remains the prime
suspect.
I'd like to study the ramifications of a drogue chute
exerting a side force on a rear flying wire. I'm not sure just what
effect that would have.
Greg Sugg mentioned another possiblity
when we were discussing it over the phone last night - that the
chute could have snagged on a batten tip. That is indeed a
possibility. But again, what would be the outcome of that - what
force would be exerted on the wing?
At any rate, the first
thing we drogue chute users should check is the length of our
bridles. Wills Wing recommends that the length from the attachment
at the harness to the top of the inflated chute should be no more
than 44 inches (if I remember right). In their opinion, that length
insures that the chute won't snag on either the battens or on the
rear of the keel.
--ernie--
|
Vince
Unregistered User
(10/16/00 9:00:00 am)
|
Re: St
Helena Report
Ernie is correct in the configuration of Wills Wing
drogue chutes. They found if the bridle is to long it could cause
the problems mentioned. There is another problem to watch out for
when using a drogue. WW recommend attaching the bridle to the side
of the harness, not the center. Everything works fine as long as the
chute stays on the side it is attached to. During the recent
regionals, when I was trying to loose altitude at goal, my drogue
swapped sides. This was in turbulence when I was banking steep to
loose altitude. It took just about everything I had to fly straight.
I was able to get it back on the proper side after several attempts.
I don't remember exactly what I did to get it back, but I'm glad I
still had 2000' agl when it happened. So, don't make any high bank
turns when the drogue is deployed.
Vince
|
Scot Huber
Unregistered User
(10/29/00 9:00:00 am)
|
Mt
Vaca
Mt. Vaca/10/29/00 Launched at 3:30 into 17 mph West
wind, flew south about 1 mile but encountered rain so headed back
north. Got low before the dam at Berreyessa, worked myway back up
onto the main ridge and crossed the damabout 700 over, continued
north for 3miles and encountered rotors from secondary ridges in
front of main ridge. Decided it was to late in the day to get much
farther so headed back south. Crossed the dam with good height but
got low about 1.5 miles south and had to bail for nearest LZ which
turns out to be a Marina on the lake with a large parking lot and a
covered boat dock with a roof that looks like an aircraft carrier
but longer. Arriveing over the Marina decide the roof looks too
narrow and slippery decide the boat ramp looks better. Do a couple
of S turns over the water throw the chute and pull in hard to not
overshoot, make a decent landing on ramp and explain to employee of
marina that I didn,t want to land there I just ran out of sky. Matt
and Leo were soon on the scene and we enjoyed a hearty meal in
Sonoma before heading home. Flew 11.1 miles before turning around
and made it about 4 miles back. fun day at a new sight, hh
|
Vince
Unregistered User
(11/12/00 9:00:00 am)
|
Mt.
Diablo - 11/11
Diablo was quite soarable. Greg and I arrived there
first, with Nancy driving. A little latter, Robert, Bruno and Dick
arrived. The wind was out of the north at 5 to 15 at launch and the
robot was reporting 7 to 20 out of the north. There was a lot of
discussion as to whether we were going to launch into a rotor or
not. Greg braved the bushes and hiked down the ridge to put up a
streamer. This new steamer showed we were not launching into a rotor
and people soon started launching. Robert went first, followed by
Greg, me, Bruno, Dick and then John who showed up later. It was
mostly ridge lift with a few small thermals breaking through. I got
about 800' over launch (4200').
It was quite cold. The
temperature in the sun at launch was 40 degrees. At 4200' it was
about 36 degrees. We flew for about an hour (no spins for me) before
succumbing to the cold. Greg had two hand warmers in each of his bar
mitts and his hands were still cold. I was starting to shiver and
was getting quite uncomfortable. Everyone landed at Mitchell canyon.
Other than the cold it was a good flight.
Vince
|
Leo Jones
Unregistered User
(11/12/00 9:00:00 am)
|
St.
Helena - 11/ 11. Bush Gores Matt - Bush Wins!
Jon,Todd,Matt,Kurt,Albert,Ernie,Scot and myself eagerly
set up on St Helena under an epic looking sky. It looked as if you
could fly all over the place, but unfortunately the wind on top was
a consistent 5-8 mph NE - over the back, and there was virtually
nothing coming up launch. Occasionally the streamer would blow in
for a few seconds, but usually we could still feel the breeze on our
backs. The air was cold but it was quite warm in the sun, but there
just wasn't enough heating going on to overpower the wind over the
back. Jon stood on launch for about half an hour before going in a
tiny three second puff, and got off, just, only to get rapidly
flushed in what was obvious sinking rotory air. In the valley the
winds were north or north east.
On launch coditions didn't
improve as we hoped - if anything they got worse. Todd's glider got
flipped over, unbelievably, by a dust devil which seemed to start
right under his wing and move down the slope!Meanwhile sailplanes
were circling at cloudbase on the NE side of the mountain. A motor
glider buzzed around over launch waggling his wings at us. Hawks and
ravens circled and climbed out in front. It was very frustrating.
Matt stood on launch for nearly an hour before he let frustration
overpower his better judgement, and tried to run it off. Despite a
good run and a steep launch and cold dense air his glider sunk,
right wing low, immediately he "ran out of run". His right wing hit
a bush hard and catapulted him around and into another (very
springy) mass of scrub oak. It was a pretty dramatic crash, but he
didn't hit any rocks and the bushes seemed to absorb most of the
impact. Thankfully Matt was unhurt, apart from his ego, and his
glider didn't seem to sustain any major damage other than a broken
downtube. After extricating Matt and glider from the bushes we all
packed up.
Once again, the "Fickle Bitch" taught us all
another lesson.
|
Matt
Unregistered User
(11/19/00 9:39:26 am)
|
Re: St.
Helena - 11/ 11. Bush Gores Matt - Bush Wins!
That was a "Gopher" It launch. I
learned that I forgot to remember what I learned:
1. RESPECT THE
LAWS OF AERODYNAMICS because just knowing them isn't enough.
2. I
still can't run 30mph even downhill.
3. Be conservative when
evaluating conditions, error on the side of safety.
4. Conditions
aren't better and you can't run faster just because you've been
waiting an hour.
I will not use poor judgement again!
I
will not use poor judgement again!
I will not use poor judgement
again!
etc.
|
Ernie
Camacho
Moderator
(11/28/00 12:41:02 pm)
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McClure
Thanksgiving weekend.
The short version: One
flight.
The longer version:
Kurt and I went down Friday,
getting there about 3pm. Those in the air weren't doing that well -
maintaining & slowly sinking out - so we decided not to fly.
Sunset these days is before 5pm.
Saturday Greg Sugg showed up. We
all got into the air, but again, nothing to crow about. approx. 40
minute flights, hanging out on the main ridge in gaggles (there were
about 15 pilots flying) and good landings. Albert and Donna showed
up just in time for dinner at a Mexican Restaurant an hour away
(Rebecca lead us on a 'shortcut' through the foothills).
Sunday
started out promising, but by the time we were all set up, the
ceiling started lowering. A couple of pilots took off and flew along
the bottom of the cloud layer as it slowly sank low enough to
prevent the rest of us from launching. After a few hours of waiting,
we all broke down and went home. All was not lost since we managed
to conduct a bit of club business on the ride home via
radio.
The flying wasn't great, but 3 of us managed to get in
a flight in Nov. And, we renewed friendships with lots of folks we
haven't seen for a while.
Happy Thanksgiving!
BTW, the
flying was fantastic a couple of weeks ago ;-)
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