| Author |
Comment |
| Kurt
|
Flying
report, Wednesday,1/2
Spencer and I got a tandem sledride at Goat. John Blacet got the same.
(Only not tandem) Good to get out of the house! Anyone want to fly
Thursday?
|
|
John Blacet
|
Re: Flying
report
Perfect day at Goat! Held out for an hour before boredom set in.
Did not go south due to no beach and perhaps a little north. Very
smooth; got over 500'. Where was everyone?
Boy, that Laminar
can fly slow
|
| MattsFlyin
|
First
Flight
So...Who got the first air for 2002? Was it Spence and the Glide
King or was Johnny B Flyin or ....???
|
| Kurt
|
First
Spencer was first because we swung him around in his harness by his
'biner before launch. It is so great to hear his little "yippee!"
over my shoulder after launch.
|
|
John Blacet
|
Re: First
I claim first *soaring* flight!
This WE might be warm (NE
maybe though...).
|
| Leo
Jones
|
Soaring below
launch?
Hmmm! Does soaring mean that you have to get above launch? Spencer
and Kurt got about 2 feet higher than John, maybe even above
launch!
Well you did it guys. We all met at the Grade where it
was totally socked in - vis c.50ft and no wind. That went, in about
2 hours, to seeing a fuzzy sun (first time for weeks), to west at
about 7-8mph ,socked in mostly but enough occasional holes to try to
fly a zagi in, to rapidly clearing 10-mph+ but NW.
We then
went to Goat Rock where it was totally socked in vis c.50ft. Within
20 mins it cleared and blew in 10-12 from the NW. Buzzards and red
tails, and zagis were soaring. Sadly hang gliders couldn't.
Paragliders might have.
|
| Vince
|
Sledding at
Elk, 1/12
Justin and a bunch of his paragliding friends showed up at Elk,
along with Bill V. and Rich S. Todd, Gregg, Matt, Leo J. and myself
showed up as wuffos. The paragliders seemed to be having fun, Bill
launched and stayed up for a while. Rich was last to launch and hit
some kind of anti-gravity time warp kind of thing and stayed up.
When we all arrived at the LZ he was still up over launch. I managed
about 2 hours in three flights (behind a 4 banging noise maker). I
took Rich and his children up for a flight over their house and Elk.
The kids seemed to get quite a kick out of it, even though they did
not like the "roller coaster".
All in all it was a warm sunny
day. Thanks to Greg, Leo, and Matt for picking me up at the
airport.
Vince
|
| todd
|
elk, 1/19
Sat. Rich and I got a good flite at Elk! we flew to Pitney and got
to 6900. Man was it cold! I went south almost to Lakeport before
someone asked me about the keys to my car. So, I had to fly back
north but didn't make the L.Z. It was nice to get a soaring flite in
JAN.
|
|
John Blacet
|
Goat Sun. 1/20
Goat was classic great air; got out about 11:15 just in time to
watch the PGs land due to the wind picking up.
They did a
nice job helping me launch in about 20. Drove my car down
too!
Saw Bob Storms and Matt Jagelka heading out on the way back to town....
|
|
Matts Lyin
|
Goat
Fright
As Bob Storms and I drove out to Goat Rock we saw John Blacet
leaving. We got to launch and it was 28-30. Decided to fly anyway.
Bob helped me launch then he launched. Bob wiped out on take-off and
I crash landed trying to top land. There were no injuries to us or
our hang gliders because...?
|
|
Vince Endter
|
Ed Levin
Monday, 1/21
I went up to Sled Heaven today. Got to launch only to find out that
some paraglider pilot had crashed into the rocks just below
launch. Witnesses said he was scratching too close. The injured
pilot said he thought he was higher. Someone called for a helicopter
so the site was closed down for a couple of hours of beautiful
soaring weather. I won't go into all the detail that the
rangers, fire department, EMT's went though to get him, but I
have to wonder if this was the first time they have ever done
something like this.
When the show was finally over, they opened launch again. I launched
about 2:00. A few paraglider pilots launched before me. I played
pylon racer for about 5 minutes, dodging the paragliders. I managed
to get about 50' above them and stayed that way for another 15
minutes. I saw a rain shower to the north over Mission Peak. It
looked like it was going to pass to the east of me. Suddenly I was
in a 600 fpm climb and about 300' over launch. I knew something
was wrong. I looked to the north and the rain was heading my way. I
dove straight for the LZ. It started raining and rained constantly
until after I had landed and bagged the glider. I had lost only
500' by the time I was over the LZ (still 2000 agl). I found a
little sink, pulled on the flaps and cored my way down. I made it
down before any of the PG's or the three other hang gliders.
There was no wind in the LZ, and the rain was a bit lighter. Both
the glider and I were soaked. I flared a little early (which turned
out about right due to the wet wing) and managed a telemark landing
(sliding on the wet weeds with one leg out in front and one knee just
off the ground). The reason I wanted to fly today was to test out my
new WW control frame and my custom vario mount. Both worked out
fine. The WW base tube on the WW control frame seems to be a little
further out in front than the stock Atos base tube (even though the
WW base tube has less of a bump than the Atos tube). And for some
reason there seemed to be more bar pressure (could be just me since
this was my first flight in several months). The thinner wires on
the WW control frame sing more than the stock Atos wires (when
approaching VNE).
Vince
|
| Leo
Jones
|
Goat
Tuesday, 1/22
Charley and I were there at Goat at 11am. It was a beautiful day,
straight in at 12 -14, clear sunny and cold. Kurt arrived then John
B. Charley went first and flew about in light conditions 150ft over.
I followed a few minute later. After about 10 mins I got up to about
400MSL and decided to go south. It was light but I thought it would
get better. It didn't, it got lighter. The air was surprisingly
gusty and I was soaring the knob from 450 ft to 650 ft, which didn't
seem very high. Kurt launched and he and Charley were getting lower,
so I deciced to head back with 500ft to avoid a beach landing. Got
back by flying around the end and we were all at cliff top level, so
I bailed and landed in almost no wind on the beach. Within a few
minutes Kurt then Charley landed also.
Clouds came in and we
went back up top to find it blowing in at nearly 30. It was COLD.
Kurt was the only one willing to fly again so we hung on to his
glider while he set it up, and dragged him to the edge and he flew
for an hour or so in better conditions.
We flew, it was nice,
I got to fly with red tails below me and watch them doing mating
stuff.
Spring is coming.
Leo
|
|
John Blacet
|
Re: Lyin or
Flyin?
Today found Charley, Leo, Kurt and Myself out at
Goat. I was late; got to watch some flying in 15 to 18 before it
died off and beached the HGs.
As they broke down, it got back
up to 20, 25, 30. Kurt set back up and we twanged him off: hope he
can get down.
It was chilly!
|
| Leo
Jones
|
Goat
Sunday, 1/27
I arrived just after midday, to see John Blacet in the air. It was
clear, sunny, cold, and blowing 16-18 on launch. I set up, John went
south but wasn't very high at first. Kurt and Scot arrived. I took
off then Kurt then Scot. For a while it seemed it would die off, but
it picked up again, John came back, Scot went south followed by
Kurt. Everyone had nice flights, with folks getting to 600 - 800ft
and Scot and Kurt flying for over 2 hours. A very pretty day.
|
| MattsFlyin
|
Saturday's
Aviation News - St. Helena, 2/2
Bob Storms and I drove and hiked while Todd, Scot, Jon, Justin and
Ernie flew. Conditions were very light NW-WNW. Cloudbase was only
about 100' above the top and cloud cover was minimal.The longet
flight was about 40-45 min and the highset altitude was about 4200'.
Those who launched later had abit more bouyancy than the earlier
pilots. Eveyone reached the ground unharmed at Pierre's.
Bob and
found abit more of the wreckage and were able to determine that
there were indeed two AD-6s at the site. Both empenages are stiil
discernable and located within 25yds of each other on an E-W
bearing. We saw 3 main landing gear struts and about six prop blades
too. Looks like they piled in while flying in tight formation. After
reaching the lowest remnants of debris 25yds downhill of the visible
(from in-flight) tail we searched around for 15 min to locate the
engines. We couldn't find them and had to stop looking due to the
late hour. The lone cylinder was still there but no sign of the 35
others. Todd mentioned that years ago his Dad had tried to reach one
of the Wright 3350s that was stuck up in a tree but could only watch
and listen as it broke loose and bowled itself down into the canyon.
So it will take another trip at least to find them. Justin mentioned
he recalled seeing more wreckage north of the current site last
year(?) so maybe there is a Hellcat up there somewhere too. We took
a slightly different track on the way back up the hill and found
more flaps and an elevator.
And I found my hat too!
Anyone
need an oil pressure relief valve?
|
| Rich
Sauer
|
elk 2/10
Another good day at Elk. Todd and I got about 1000' over launch.
Bill preflighted his glider and decided against flying when he found
a large dent about 1 foot from the noise plate in his leading edge.
How was Diablo?
Rich
|
| highhuber
|
Diablo
flying
Diablo was very inverted with light crossing winds at the west
launch. Kurt and I basically got sled rides. Vince decided it wasn't
worth the risk and broke down. Shoulda been at Elk. Hows about
posting your intentions before hand sos we could know whose going
wheres! We may have come up there instead. Stay high, hh
|
| Bill
Vogel
|
Sunday flying
ELK (2/10)
Todd and Rich flew Elk on Sunday and were over top most of the
time.
|
|
Hangfly
|
Monday
Report - 2/11
Justin and I flew Elk today. Steve Acton also came along but broke
down due to rust and no wind launches.
We did OK considering
there was hardly any lift. Justin, in his paraglider, was able to
get higher than me in my Fusion. At one point I thought my position
was really improving when I worked a little bubble and got above
Justin. The next thing I knew I was sinking out.
Oh well. It was
a beautiful spring-like day and we got to fly. We launched the south
side and were both up about 20 minutes. I got about 10 feet over
launch. Justin got a little higher.
Come on spring!
CW
|
|
Hangfly
| The membership
wonders
How about a report on the tree planting / flying around St John
this past weekend?
Also I heard a rumer that it was once again
legal to land at East Park Reservoir. Would it be out of line to ask
for a breif report from the officer's meeting, mister
Secretary?
Charley :wink
|
| Greg
|
Work Party at
Fouts Springs
Fouts Springs Work Party Saturday, Feburary 9th
Ernie
Camacho and I represented Sonoma Wings at the Fouts Springs work
party. We met up at the Timberline Bar and Grill for a huge meal
Friday night, then it was over to the Davis Flat campground for the
night. Temperatures were cold enough to freeze a two gallon jug of
water solid by the next morning. Sunday morning we met up with Liz
Herne and a few other PG folks, lots of dirt bikers and Leo’s
friends from the Blue Ribbon Coalition and got to work planting some
three hundred trees and shrubs.
The job was helped along by a
large extend-a-hoe with a digging auger, a Bob Cat with a digging
auger, and a hand operated gas powered digging auger. Very rocky
soil! In addition to planting the trees and shrubs, we also spread
more fertiltzer and straw. By around two p.m. all the materials were
used up and work ended. The forest service people were very
appreciative of all the groups that pitched in. We all got baseball
caps in as thanks.
After work Liz and
the PG people went to fly Potato Hill, and Ernie and I went
exploring up to Lett’s Lake on twenty mile loop that goes from near
the visitor’s center through the mountains and comes out at Fouts
Springs. Neither Ernie nor I brought our gliders, so we headed home
Saturday night.
We found out that the
road up St. John is closed temporarily due to a recent small plane
crash on the North side of St. John. Appearantly not all the
wreckage and other debris, body parts, have been scraped up. The
plane hit at high speed. Call the forest service to see if the road
has been reopened before going there to fly. And yes, we can now
land at East Park Reservoir once again. The hang gliding prohibition
has been removed from the recent Board of Supervisors ordinance at
the lake. More about the Resource Management Plan meeting for East
Park Reservoir that Jon, Leo, and I attended on Thursday, January
31st later today.
Greg Sugg
|
| Vince
| Flight reports
2/16-2/18
It was a good day for ED Levin (Northern California). When I
arrived at launch there were about 4 paragliders in the air and one
or two hang gliders. By the time I was set up there were 20 hang
gliders setting up and about 8 paragliders in the air. A quick check
of my “package” and I was off in two steps. The wind was only about
12 mph but was buoyant. I was hoping to make it to Mission today
since I came up short yesterday. I turned right after launch and
headed that way. The winds were out of the south/southeast and I
found myself getting low at the same place I did yesterday. I headed
back to launch and arrived there about 800’ below. It took about 10
minutes to get back up. By then there were about 20 gliders in the
air, and no more paragliders.
I climbed to 2600’ and headed
toward Mission again. This time I only had to stop twice and arrived
there at 2200’. I got back to 2600’ headed toward Ed Levin. This
time when I returned I was still at 2100’. There now were 23 gliders
in the air, all in about ½ mile of ridge. It was fun dodging all the
traffic (I looked at it as training for the death gaggles in comps).
I got bored and headed back to Mission. No one followed either time.
This time it was even easier. I did not have to stop and was able to
glide all the way there with a 40+mph ground speed. There were a lot
of hikers on the peak, all waving like mad. I made a couple of
passes for the crowd and started to climb again. The lift was almost
smooth and about 100 fpm up. Just before 3,000’ my hands were
getting cold and I was getting bored so I left for the Ed Levin LZ.
The flight was just over an hour. My new Rotor was very
comfortable with no hot spots. I am now used to my WW carbon speed
bar, which I like more than the stock basetube. On the way back I
was able to fold my arms on the basetube (which is flat) and rest my
head on my arms, enjoying the view as I flew back. After landing I
looked back up at launch. There were still over 20 gliders in the
air. I would bet that a couple of hardy souls got close to 4 hours
today.
Vince
|
| highhuber
|
Flight Report
2/17
Elk Mt. Got to 5500' ft. after waiting till 3:15 to launch.
Everyone else except Rich was either on the ground or headed there.
It's wise to wait till later during this time of year especially
launching the north side of the hill. Rich had scratched back up
from way low and just as he was getting back to launch altitude, I
took off. I didn't catch the strongest core of what he was in so had
to hang out for awhile after Rich topped out at cloudbase and headed
for Middle Mt. Finally made it to cloudbase and since Rich was on his
way to the LZ at this point I headed for Pitney.
Caught good
lift (550 ft/mn.) over Pitney back to cloudbase and headed toward
Clover Valley. Found some lite lift on the way and gained maybe 1000
ft. before committing to the hill at the end of Clover. Here I found
another strong core and this took me back to cloudbase at 5500'.
Easily made it over the ridge along Clear Lake and headed for
Lucerne and the big field just before it, which is only landable on
the north end (BTW the south end is grapes). Worked a few small
bumps along this ridge but nothing enough to keep going so flew out
over the lake and finally put her on the ground for a nice flight of
13mi. 1.5hrs. of pure joy. hh
|
| Vince
|
Flight reports
2/23-2/24
It looked a little unstable today so I thought that I would try
flying Mission for the first time. When I arrived there were several
pilots in the LZ looking for rides. The air temperature was 62 in
the LZ and the Ed Levin robot was reporting 42, looked like a good
lapse rate. After a few minutes, the Mission key holders started to
show up. I got a ride with a pilot named George. In the scramble to
go, I left my sweater and long underwear in my truck. I did have one
jacket. At launch there were a couple of paragliders already up, and
a couple more getting ready to launch. By the time I was finished
setting up, there were about 15 gliders at launch and two in the
air.
For those that have never flown Mission, there is a
gate through the barbed wire fence that you must carry your glider
through to get to the launch. I managed to get through the gate with
out assistance (so much for rigids being hard to ground handle).
There was someone there who helped me turn around so I could hook
in. After a quick hang check it was off to the races. The winds were
about 10 to 14 out of the northwest. The lift was mostly of the
ridge variety being helped by small thermals. I worked my way south
over the peak.
The lift felt good (about 100 to 200 fpm with
occasional 400 to 600 fpm) so I kept heading south. By the second
set of towers I was 1600’ over launch height. I continued on until
over Ed Levin launch. I was still above 3200’ (about 900 over) and
it look good to continue south. Alas, I had no driver, my truck was
back at mission, and no one was on 147.495 (the new Ed Levin
frequency). I turned and headed back to Mission. I played around in
small thermals and headed out toward the freeway. Even out over the
houses there were small thermals. I started getting cold so I headed
for the LZ. As I was turning final, my kneepad got caught in the
zipper string and my leg got stuck. As I tried to get unstuck and
fly my final, I got turned 40 degrees or so and just had enough time
flare. My landing looked more like a slide into home plate than a
landing. The WW base tube does a good job of sliding. Both glider
and myself emerged unharmed. Total flight time was about an hour and
a half.
Vince
|
| Leo
Jones
|
Deadly
kneepads!
I had virtually the same thing happen to me at Elk a year or so
ago. Zipper string got caught round kneepad and I couldn't get my
leg out. Turning finals and flying one handed is not a good idea,
and I got turned pretty badly near the ground til I decided it was
better to fly the glider rather than worrry about my stuck leg. I
slid in on belly on rocks but no damage!
Now if I wear knee
pads I unzip early and check where the string is.
Leo
|
|
John Blacet
|
Goat Rock, 2/23
After waiting through some brief squalls, conditions at Goat turned
out great. Bob Storms was first to go and stayed in the air while
the last squall squished through.
Also flying were Ernie,
with his new used Laminar (likes it!), Jon, Kurt, John, and (in a
rare appearance) Andy. Everyone got high and went south, had
fun.
Bob had the only king posted glider in the group. Coming
back from the south as the wind picked up, he got pretty low around
the front of the launch point. It looked like he was cliff level or
lower. None of the other gliders had any problems. Performance
difference? or timing?
Andy brought out and briefly flew a
HUGE RC sailplane. Beautiful!
|
| Jon
James
|
Elk, Sat. 3/2
Sat at Elk was great. Paragliers were soaring by 1. Justin bailed
so there were 3 hgs, Kurt Bainum, Chris Arai, and me.
Jerry Schimke was up
for an hour, then top landed just as we got there. We launched
around 2:30 and got to 5600 to 5800 feet, stayed up for 1 to 1.5
hours. It was south all day until dark.
Sunday will be good
too. Over the top of Elk, after my 2nd low save, my vario read 600
ft/min up.
Matt's new glider flew pretty good.
|
|
Hangfly
|
Elk Report 3/3
Scot went XC! Fun day for the non-XC group too. We had real thermals. In early
March! Nicely formed cores, some over 1000fpm up took us up to
7000'.
The paraglider turnout was light so it wasn't crowded at
all. I got to go round and round with Anthony for awhile in one
thermal and with Justin for a long gain in another. I sure couldn't match
their sink rate!
Walley said there were about 20 paragliders. Six
or seven was the most I counted in the air at once while I was
flying.
HG pilots in attendance: Scot Huber, Ernie Camacho (2nd flight on his Laminar), Albert Branson (and Donna),
Kurt and his daughter, Dallas, Patrick, Linda Sauer, and Matt on his maiden flight
with his new Talon.
Matt's new glider looks nice!
CW
|
| highhuber
|
Flight Reports
3/3
The Real story: Launched at 3:06 and was at 6800' within 2 thermals
and about 20mn. Winds were SW about 8. Headed for Pitney where I
found another thermal to 6100'. Worked my way up the ridge toward
High Glade where I found another one to 6400. This gave me enough to
go for it and I was soon over High Glade tower but not finding much.
Finally moved over Low Gap toward Bartlett Mt. and caught a good one
back to 6200'. Got up on Bartlett but was down to 5600 before I
found one to 6600 which drifted me back over Windy Point. Never
being up in that part of the woods before I didn't realize I needed
to clear Pinnacle Rock to make it to Long Valley. Pinnacle was about
2miles farther south and I didn't think I had enough to clear it but
made one turn and figured there was no way out but over as the wind
was from the west around 8 and Clover Valley was not looking good. I
sucked it up and put on the VG tucked in my arms and headed straight
for Pinnacle. With the tail wind and the rising terrain I was
getting an ahsome glide and came over the front of Pinnacle looking
at the trees 150 ft. below. It was a great feeling going over the
top with Long Valley stretched out below for miles. I glided for
another 9 miles on the north side of the Valley going way farther
than I would have figured. The air was very bouyant but no more
thermals as the day was done. I spotted a couple of deer up on the
side of the canyon as I glided over them. They were looking up at me
with puzzled looks on there faces. I guess they figured some kind of
time warp had happened and terradactals were hunting them again. I
gave them a big shout to ease their nerves. Made it to the far east
end almost to the paved road before putting her on the ground.
21.9mi. 2:10 mn. hh ps. did anybody pick up my windsock from the LZ?
|
| Dallas
|
thanks
everyone
Hey, just wanted to say thanks to everyone who helped Patrick and
me out on Sunday. Scot for the ride up the hill, Ernie for the
directions and help with my camera remote, and everyone else this
weekend who talked to us, helped us launch, and gave us quite a bit
of insight into the local flying not to mention the tips about the
flying for the day. Patrick launched just as the first group was
starting to go down and ended up with a sledder, I waited till after
Matt took off and just before Scot and spent a full hour w/o a
vario looking up at Scot and Charley. What a great introduction to
Northern California flying!
-Dallas
|
| MattsFlyin
|
Is That a
Cricket In Your Pocket? Talon Flight
With 1/4 VG set, I stood on the south launch at Elk and waited for
the breeze to pick up. Standing on launch with the slipstream
downtubes was better than with streamlined ones because the wider
tubes dug into my shoulders much less! They actually felt very
comfortable although I noticed they bowed a little when wedged
"goodntite" on my shoulders!
As the cycle began I lowered the
nose of the Talon slightly and focused on balance. The wind smoothly
increased so I began my takeoff. It was a minimal effort launch due
to the good balance of the glider. Easy in pitch and roll,
effortless on glide. So effortless I soon found myself low on the
west point's south side.
Since my vario mount didn't fit the new
streamlined base tube I was using Charlie's backup, an old Ball DC-3
or something. With no mount available I put it in my harness' outer
pocket so could hear it while flying.
And I could hear it, as
long as I tilted my head to the right and no one was talking on the
radio and... Needless to say I didn't fly as efficiently as I'd hoped.
The vario did work well enough to get me out of the west point's
south side and up to 1300' over. But only once.
So 45 minutes
later I bailed to the LZ to check landing conditions. On the way
there I flew through a few bouyant areas and could have extended my
flight a bit. Very light from the south, almost straight up the
river was the landing data. This was my first flight in 5 months and
it was great! Although I had thought about the landing approach
while preflighting the LZ, I was in auto-land mode now and "S"
turned aimlessly!
Found the landing characteristics very
predictable and thus easy read. The glider slowed down without
rolling off to one side or the other. As the bar pressure decreased
and I slowly eased it out the wing was stable. When I reached "mush"
zone it was noticeable. Flare timing was easy, at least on this day!
|
| Kurt
|
Elk
report, 3/8
Ernie and I got 2 hours. Launch at 3:00. most of our time was at
6k. No wind, snow on Hull, cold!!
|
|
Ernie Camacho
|
Re: Elk report
Friday, 3/8
I’d made some changes to my harness that I wanted to test in the
air. And, I still needed to spend some quality time with my ‘new’
Laminar to see how it handles in thermal conditions. I checked the
weather to see if it would be worth my playing hooky today. Using
our website’s weather page to its fullest, I came to the conclusion
that tomorrow probably wouldn’t be a flying day, even if we did
finish the ‘chute packing party early enough. And, it looked like a
possibly good day at Elk: light winds, decent lapse rate – at least
it wasn’t inverted, and maybe 6k max. altitude.
I put a
notice on the BB, hoping someone would be willing to play hooky too.
Kurt bit, saying he wanted to test some tuning changes he’d made to
his Sensor. We hooked up by 11, got to Elk, chained his motorcycle
at the LZ, and went up to the south launch. The wind was coming up
perfectly, from the south. By the time we’d set up, the wind was
dying down, switching around to the west, with some NW puffs. Not
nice. Plus, we’d seen no ‘locals’ in the air. Maybe this perfectly
clear day was going to end up giving us only sled rides. Kurt
remembered that last weekend Scot had taken off last and had gotten
the best flight of the day, so we waited. A few buzzards came by,
but didn’t go up. We waited. It was looking more north. We waited.
Then, about 3pm we saw a raven heading toward us from the south,
playing in the air as they often do. It was hard to tell if he was
working lift or just playing, but as he came around the west end of
the knob, he definitely went UP. We were in our gear and off the
hill – wind nicely coming from the SW now – within 5 minutes. Around
the west end we found the lift - nice gentle thermals - and we were
off to the races.
My radio was on the blink so we couldn’t
talk, but there was no need to. My vario was acting weird too, so I
turned it off. We just buzzed around, getting used to our gliders,
snapping photos, sharing thermals, YeeHawing each other, and
enjoying the beautiful day. We couldn't get much higher than 6K. The
SkewT chart had been right!
After about 2 hours I noticed the
evening shadows starting to work their way across the LZ – it was
about time to head home. I wanted to explore the high end of my
glider’s speed range so I headed away from the hill toward the LZ
and smooth air. I pulled the VG tight and pulled in to about my
thighs. Huh? No bar pressure at all! I came back to normal, then
slowly pulled the bar down toward my knees, testing the bar pressure
for any hint that it might want to continue on toward my feet. It
seemed OK, just completely neutral. I guess that’s the way it must
be so I kept it down at my knees for the rest of the trip across the
gap. I had no way to tell how fast I was going. Even if my vario had
been turned on, it was down around my thighs somewhere. All I know
is, I was going FAST. Fast, but rock solid. Nice. Over the LZ I
eased back, and played around to burn up altitude and set up for a
landing in the creek bed.
I’d like to say my landing was
flawless, but… I’ll skip the excuses and just say that I ended up
flaring too late and plopped belly first into the only puddle of
water anywhere near my approach path. Add yet another water landing
to my logbook.
Kurt followed me in and landed without
fanfare. We packed up, Kurt retrieved his truck, and we headed to
Rich’s house to say howdy. I asked Rich about the Laminar’s behavior
and he tells me “You shouldn’t ever fly it at full VG and full speed
– there’s no bar pressure.” Duh! To keep a modicum of pressure, it
wants to be at around ¾ VG. Another lesson learned. On the way home
we picked up some burritos at Angel’s in Ukiah – a perfect end to a
perfect day! This is gonna be a GREAT YEAR!
|
|
Hangfly
|
Parachte Packing Workshop
Report, 3/9
I think I remember these folks getting 'chutes packed today. Did I
forget anyone?
Justin, Anthony, Peter, Sterling, JW, Cory (observer),
Clifton, Ernie, Greg, Larry, John DeA, John B, Matt, Charley, Scot, Bernhard.
Six PGs, nine Hangies.
We started on time, at 9:00, and had the
tables and tarps put away by 1:00. Afterwards we played dog hacky
and towed a paraglider in the field by Justin's yard. A few of us
actually got to fly!
We had a productive and fun time.
Thanks
so much to those who did the leg work for this and Justin for use of
the shop.
Hangfly
|
| MattsFlyin
|
FLight Report
From Sunday 3-17
Ernie called me, I called Jon, I called Ernie, Jon called Ernie, I
called Charlie. Jon said yes then no, Charlie said no unconvincingly
and then said no. Ernie called me, I said yes so off we went. On the
radio Ernie called Linda. Rich was not home (Hai Karate!). Ernie
called Bill, Bill called Scot and Todd. Todd said no, Scott said
yes. From the LZ me, Ernie, Scot with two friends and Kurt with
Spencer rode up. At launch I said no, Scot Said no, Kurt said yes
and Ernie said yes. Too rowdy for tandems, 5k ceiling too low for
mega x/c. Wind N to NNE about 10-15 at first then 15-20 an hour
later and cold. Lots of fast moving clouds with hail and rain dumped
on us. Hull is once again snow covered. Kurt launched and then said
no. Ernie launched and then said no. Too rowdy!! Both bailed to the
LZ with rowdy approaches and yet good landings. YES!
|
|
John Blacet
|
Re: FLight
Report From Sunday 3-17
Goat was flyable when I got there. Waited out a squall and launched
in 18. Flew about 1/2 hour. Got bumpy and I noticed the cloud
shadows
racing down the hill toward me instead of up the river.
Landed in light condx, but by the time I got to the break down area,
all HELL broke loose! It must have been 45. Good timing.
|
| Scot
Huber
|
Flight Report
Elk Monday, 3/18
Hoping for postfrontal conditions and having two drivers living
with me for a couple weeks we headed to Elk with St. H. being
closed. Beautiful day but not a cloud in site. Launched at 3:15
after putting in new mylar and VG rope. Could only get to 5300 over
Elk and then headed for Pitney where I got to 6300. Worked my way
toward High Glade but not enough to commit so headed toward Clover
Valley where I worked up the ridge toward Pinnacle but could only
get to 5g which is not enough. Came back out to Clover and over
Hogsback Ridge with enough to glide to the Sentry market on the Nice
cutoff road. A fun day under beautiful clear blue skies. Hull has
alot of snow on it and Snow Mt. is living up to the name. Could see
the Sierras also as it was very clear.
2hrs. 10.9mi. HH
|
|
Hangfly
|
Wednsday flight
report
Happy Spring!
I got to fly a paraglider today under the careful
guidance of Peter Humes. He took me to his private training site and
after several practice inflations and kiting runs I flew.
It was
a short flight but I made a 180 and a couple of 90 degree
turns.
YEE! HAA!
Hangfly
|
| Scot
Huber
|
flight report/
goat rock Sat. 3/23
Launched shortly after noon into 12mph winds. Got high enough to
make the south hill. John B. and Kurt launched maybe 1/2 hr. later
and both were on the beach after a few turns. Too much wing loading
I guess.
I flew with Justin and Peter Humes and I think Anthony
on the south hill for a while. Kurt carried his glider back up the
hill and John drove his up. Both relaunced about 2pm. Ernie showed
up and he was in the air around 2:45. I'm still flying.
Anyway I
got high on the south end around 3:15. 900ft. and decided to go
south. My radio was dead by this time but John saw me go and Kurt
knows where my hide-a-key is so I'm off. Made the first hill and
made a few turns but was just maintaining at about 750 ft. so headed
to the next big hill which faces more directly into the wind. Got
there easily and worked it back up to 1110ft. which had me ducking
clouds.
Kept working my way down the hills working the north
faces until just before Salmon Creek where I was playing tag with a
power line and I wasn't liking it. Made it over the line with 50ft.
to the bowl behind it but wasn't gaining so came back out and cleared
it with maybe 40 ft.
Knew the old record was Salmon Creek beach
and figured I could beat it so headed down toward Bodega. Didn't
find anymore good faces to work as the power lines are right on the
best spot so headed over to the highway and landed. The ranger came
by and said something about our site insurance being current and I
assured him it was. I landed across from the horse ranch 1/2 mile
south of Salmon Creek. 3:51mn. 7.5 mi. hh
|
| highhuber
|
Mt. St. Helena,
Sunday 3/24
Launched about 2:30 into a nice cycle, Justin had climbed back to
cloud base from way low at this point and was headed for Calistoga
on the Pente. I caught strong lift right off launch and climbed to
5700 which was above cloud base. Hung around for a little while
thinking maybe cloubase would rise but it's not happening so I
headed for the Pallisades.
Got there pretty low about 3600 and
worked some lite lift until a good one took me back to around 5000.
Headed for Angwin airport finding some lite lift here and there but
it was overdeveloped on top of the range so headed to Chiles Valley
which was in the sun.
I worked light lift over the ridge on the
east flank but was basically ridge soaring down it since the winds
were about 10 from the southwest and I was heading southeast.
Finally landed in a nice field in Chiles Valley which was surrounded
by grapes. The owner owns a big castle-style house on the hill above
it and will not be pleased if we land on his property again so try
to avoid it. You can't miss the castle.
Didn't get any records but
had fun tryin. 17.3 mi. 1 hr. 30mn.
Scot
p.s. Justin made Calistoga
airport so is in the record books with double points for xc.
|
|
Ernie Camacho
|
Diablo Sunday
3/24
I headed south on 101 to hook up with Kurt and Greg. When I passed
Jon and Matt headed north to Elk, I said howdy on the radio. I
fellow I know in Antioch (thanks, Mike!) agreed to drive for us so
we were set for some epic flying, and the conditions looked good for
it: nice puffy clouds one or two thousand feet above the top, light
winds. Epic!
At the north launch a bunch of locals were
already setting up as we arrived: Robert Moore, his driver Janet,
Dick Girard, Kevin Dutt, Mark Grubs, and some others. The wind was
light from the NNW, but takeoffs were clean and folks were climbing
out. I was the last off and found a bunch of nothing. I slowly
worked my way down the ridge to Eagle Pk, then on to Mitchell Rock,
turning only a few times, in pretty-much nothing. Mitchell Rock was
my last hope. As I drifted over the top if it, a couple hundred feet
off the deck, I found lift - yes! It was light, but lasted through a
360, then another. I milked it for a long time, slowly climbing
straight up to t/o level. There was a cloud over the ridge back
toward t/o so I headed that way. It seemed as if the only real
region of lift was under this particular cloud, although the whole
sky was covered (2/3 cover). I eventually worked my way up past
6000, dancing with the cloud, but every time I left for the North
Peak, I'd lose a bunch. The locals had all left for Windy Peak, and
didn't get much further than that. We three played around the peak
and enjoyed the breathtakingly beautiful day. At one point, 5000
over North Peak, I was tempted to head for the trailer park, but as
I sank down to 48, 47, within a few minutes, I thought better of it
and headed back to Eagle Pk. Landings at Mitchell were uneventful
into a very light SW wind.
This was Kurt's first time
getting up at Diablo and he was stoked! After a great day yesterday
at Goat Rock this weekend, that at first looked to be a bust, turned
out to be a keeper! I shot two rolls of film this weekend, and Kurt
shot a roll or two also. Hopefully a few good shots will end up in
our scrapbooks.
Spring is here! I love my new glider! I love
my new harness! This is going to be a great year -
yes!
Ernie
p.s. in a few minutes I'm gonna buy a used
Aircotec. I hope Scot is right when he says he loves his...
|
|
Ernie Camacho
|
Elk flying,
Friday, 3/29
Rich Sauer, Bill Vogel and I started up the hill late, along around
3-ish. It was real light, no vultures in the air even.
At the
top it was splitting the ridge so we set up on the north launch. By
the time we were ready to go, around 4PM, the wind was coming in
nicely, but still no birds flying.
Bill was first off and
maintained for a while on the ridge, then ventured out further and
lost it. Meanwhile I got into the air, made a few passes and went
around to the west end to see what I could find - nothing. Rich was
last off and managed to stay on the ridge for a decent
while.
Both Bill and I worked our way down to the LZ, with me
landing first, and Bill coming in a few minutes later. About half an
hour later Rich came in. We all had nice landings, although Rich had
to really push out and run it out to get stopped before running into
the rocks piled at the edge of the creekbed, right next to where we
were breaking down.
All in all it was what we expected. The
high pressure over us is keeping the thermals at bay. The only real
lift today was ridge lift. But we did fly! I tested a slight change
I'd made to my harness, Bill tested some tuning changes he and Rich
had made to his new Laminar MR700, and Rich tested out his new MR
Tenax harness. Ah, yes, equipment tweaking at the beginning of the
season!
I don't know about tomorrow. The wind is coming from
the wrong direction for Hull, and most anywhere else looks like it'd
be extended sledders. Maybe Goat will be worthwhile.
|
| Scot
Huber
|
Flight Report
Sunday 3/31- Elk Mt.
Launched first at 2:46 into a nice cycle and worked it up to 5g in
about 20 mn. Rich, Todd, Bill, Kurt with Spencer on the tandem were
off soon after and John Blacet too. I headed for Pitney after
getting wire twanged in a knarly themal at 5200. Found enough there
to head for High Glade tower where I got to around 6g. Kept on to
Bartlett where I was getting low but found 200 up which gave me
enough to head over Pinnacle and onto Rupperts Ridge. Found good
thermals tracing the ridge top down to the end of Long Valley where
I cimbed back to 6400. Left for Chalk Hill and found another one
back to 6400. From there I worked lite stuff east following the top
of Red Rocks. I was slowly losing altitude and after passing the
Oasis and Walker Ridge rd. I spotted a field which I could bail to
down in the canyon belowTurkey Run Mine if I couldn't make it over
County Line Ridge.
That's where I ended up landing for a nice
flight of 32.4mis. 2:24mn. Brian Scharp came by on his way home from
the inlaws up by Redding and we had a nice talk and hopefully we'll
see his smiling face on the hill one of these days. Also I got to
meet Stretch who seems real nice so hopefully we'll see some more of
him also. Brian says Stretch was his sky Guru so I'm looking forward
to some flying with him. hh
|
| Vince
|
Saturday 4/6/02
flight report, St. Helena
Five pilots flew St. Helena, John B, Kurt, Todd, Scot and Matt
(thanks for lunch Matt). The cloud base did not get above launch
until after 1:00. The cycles started coming in good after that. Todd
launch first, followed by Scot, Kurt, Matt and John. Pilots were
topping out around 5,000’. Scot and Todd tried to make it to Fresno.
They got as far as the Palisades. Every time they tried to head
further south they would start sinking out. Todd left first to land,
heading for the old glider port in Calistoga. When he was over the
runway, CU's stated forming and he was going up at 1,000 fpm+ and
getting wire twangs. He flew over to the west to get down in better
air and had a great landing. About 10 minutes later the police
showed up. The officer informed us that the glider port was private
property and the owner does not want anyone to land
there.
Scot came out about 30 minutes later. No more CU's by
then. Just as he landed, the owner’s representative drove up and
repeated what the office had told us.
Kurt, Matt and John
landed Janes.
As I was driving Scot's truck down the
mountain, I almost had a head on accident. The other vehicle was an
ATV with a guy driving and a small child (about 5 or 6 years old)
sitting on the gas tank. They were going between 20 and 30 miles an
hour around a blind curve. He went into the ditch on the left side
of the truck. He did not stop.
Vince
|
| Kurt
|
Saturday, St. Helna
2:08 min. at St. Helena. Beautiful day. Great landing field. Happy
landowner Jane is looking forward to 5/5 party!
|
|
John Blacet
|
Re: Saturday, St.
Helena
S Helena was pretty good, even though the top was still in cloud
when we got there.
Max altitudes were 5200/5400. Lot's of
lift.
Landed in Janes field just east of the one we normally
use (now divided by a fence - hard to see!). You can walk into the
normal field and exit via the (unlocked) gate.
Jane came
over to chat and ask about Cinco.
Scot and Todd flew to St
Helena and got "talked to" by the Sheriff and landowner at the old
glider port.
|
| derk
|
Mt. Tam, Sat.
It rained at my place this morning, so I thought there's no flying
at all. At 12:00 it was suddenly sunny and I checked the soaring
report - which looked great for Diablo. Too late for me, too long of
a drive. So I flew my old Xtralite at Mt Tam, which was fun. How was
Diablo? Did anyone fly there?
derk
|
|
Albert Branson
|
Sunday Flight
Report - 4/7
Got to the LZ at 1:00. Someone was on top setting up. Bill was
there waiting and Todd along with Susie, and Fatima pulled in at the
same time as me. Rich showed up with Daniel, then Stretch with his
friend (sorry I can’t remember his name, was it Mark?) and his son
Chris. It was good to see Stretch. It’s been years since he’s flown.
We started up the hill just as the guy flying an Ultra Sport (who
are you?) launched. Got to the top, the wind was splitting the
ridge, so we decided to head down to the North Launch. By this time
the guy in the Ultra Sport was way low to the East, on the South
side of the mountain. Looked like he got a bit of lee-side rotor.
Once he was over the LZ, he climbed back out and was over the top
beckoning us to join him.
Cycles were coming up okay, but were
slightly cross from the right. Stretch was off first. Left us all a
bit breathless as he dragged his left tip through the brush, but
pulled it off. Rich was off next, then Bill, and Todd. I was off
last. Lift was good, strong cores taking me up to 5500. Headed over
to Horse and found nothing. Got back to Elk and back up to 5500 and
decided to follow Rich to Pitney. We were both low and sniffing
around for a while. Todd joined us and soon after caught some
500-600 and climbed to 6500. Rich and Todd climbed right past me. I
gotta get me one of those Laminar gliders. Rich headed back to Elk,
Todd and I left for Lakeport. I caught a nice one over Upper Lake
that took me to 7400, and cloud base. It was a pretty easy glide to
Lakeport. I knew I wasn’t going to make it to Lampson where Todd
landed, so I found a nice field near Kmart and landed there for
1:40, and 17.5 miles. It was a great time. Thanks to Susie and
Fatima for bringing our trucks out to us.
|
|
Hangfly
|
St Helena
Report - 4/7
Sunday flight report from St Helena.
First off, Matt, then me,
then Leo, then Jon, then John B, then Kurt, last Ernie. Gregg H.
drove for us. Thanks Gregg!
Matt was first to land but had the
longest flight. A couple people got back to launch height briefly.
You could call em short soaring flights or long sledders. Take your
pick.
We got to land in Jane's huge field full of wild
flowers.
Glad to hear Stretch flew. How was his flight? Will he
be flying regularly again? I hope.
Charley
|
|
|
Vince goes to
Florida
Four pilots from Sonoma Wings are going to the two competitions
in Florida: the Wallaby and Quest meets. They are Vince Endter,
Rich Sauer, Chris Arai, and Bob Kanick.
Vince is keeping a journal of his first-time Florida adventure.
Since it's a bit long, we've put it on a page of its own:
Click here for Vince's Journal
|
|
John Blacet
|
St. Helena,
Saturday 4/13
|
|
Pink Pilots: John, Charlie, Kurt, Matt, Ernie, Leo, Jon
|
The head ranger was supposed to go up with us but was unavailable
for some reason, so we loaded up Kurt to the gills and drove on
up.
When we arrived at launch, it was very light and blowing
down quite often. Everyone set up except Leo, who ended up driving
and saving us the dreaded retrieve (thanks, Leo!).
Eventually
launching were: Jon, Matt, Ernie, John, Kurt, Charley, Justin (PG), Bob Storms
(trying out Matt's Ram Air).
Conditions over the mountain
were pretty good despite the lack of strong cycles at
launch. We could get up to about 5500-5800 in numerous small bouncy
cores. Away from the peak, nothing much was up.
Landing was
in the big field at Jane's in light westerlies with the smell of
wild flowers in the air. Very warm on the ground! T-shirts were shed
and pink bellies emerged....
|
| derk
|
Sunday -
3/14
I checked the soundings and it really doesn't look very good today.
About the same as yesterday. Not good enough to justify many hours
driving, at least for me. How was it at St Helena Saturday? I flew
Mt Tam but it wasn't soarable so I went straight out to the ocean
for a Polar flight, something I've wanted to do since getting the
Brauniger vario. Only a 7 minute flight but I gathered enough data
for an updated polar on my Brauniger. It is not as easy as I thought
to fly a constant speed +/- 1mph, especially if flying fast. Did
anyone else do a polar flight with the Brauniger yet? I'd like to
exchange experience (e.g. VG position etc). My new polar sure isn't
as optimistic as the pre-programmed one.
derk
|
| Kurt
|
Elk on Sunday
7 pilots from Biserkley, Scot and I got some good smooth ridge
soaring. Most flights over an hour. 5000 agl.
|
| Bernhard
|
Flying Mt Tam on
Sunday
At first it was totally blown out. Andy Whitehill was offering his
Laminar. At 2 pm, less than a constant breeze made us look again. We
saw a local climb out and rushed to the truck. Tam "worked". The
wind must have been converging on the hill because I was able to
circle up in it at times just like in a thermal column. The Laminar
did well, no surprises there. After almost an hour of flying, the LZ
had to be approached with the left wing tip pointing towards it.
Landing on the beach was something else: Turning downwind and final
can be said in a single word: "swoosh". Stepping down onto my feet
made me wonder how that happened. Maybe the Laminar knew where to
go. I stepped onto the basetube and moved forward to get the wires
so I could unhook. Then I saw the foot-high sandstorm coming down
the beach.
Within the hour I ordered a new Laminar.
Nobody
else besides Andy and me, was flying there. I wonder why...
|
|
Hangfly
|
Goat Rock
Tuesday, 4/16
I landed around noon alright, but not because it was getting too
windy. I sunk out at 11:41.
I launched at 10:30. Could have gone
earlier but it took a while to flag down a wuffo willing to launch
me. I was ready by 9:45. By 10 I had my harness and helmet on and
began trying to wave cars into the parking lot.
Conditions were
light but steady. Sometimes there were white caps, sometimes not. I
considered self-launching.
Got 200' over right away. The air was
very smooth. After about 30 minutes the wind gradually started
getting lighter. It took me 40 minutes to sink out. I made countless
passes 10 feet above and 10 feet below take-off.
By the time I
got my glider on the car it had begun to sprinkle. By now the wind
was SW 3 to 5. The rain followed me all the way to Santa Rosa.
It
would have been a good day to have a PG at Goat.
Hangfly
|
| highhuber
|
Flight Report
Friday 4/19 Elk Mt.
Kurt and I, along with Colin King, a college student who is the son
of one of my clients, headed up with high hopes for a good day. We
got it. On the way up we were seeing small cumys going off here and
there and dissipating rapidly, but they were very high for so early in
the day.
We arrived at Upper Lake and Bartlett Mt. had some nice
development happening on it, with lots of snow on the ground. We were
stoked. Todd who took yesterday off and sat on St. Helena with it
blowing over the back doesn't show today. Guess you figured work was
a higher priority, Todd.
We set up quickly on the north launch
with major development right over the campground going off and high
like 7500 ft. Kurt goes first and I'm right on his heels and not
concentrating on keeping my nose down and get turned 90 degrees to
the left immediately. I'm hooking my arm around the downtube and
pulling in with all my might and just when I think I'm a tree
ornament she comes around and I let out a big sigh and fly away.
Kurt missed the whole thing as he was turning right and climbing.
It's 1:21 when I launch.
We work ratty lift around the Mt. for a
while and Kurt gets high while I'm trying to plug in my headset. He
heads for the cumy over the campground and I get tired of the rough
air over Elk and head for Pitney at 4500. Kurt is skying out heading
for Middle Mt. where he climbs to 8G. I finally find some kickass
lift on Pitney, 900 up and will soon be joining him. The winds are
showing NE at around 17 at 8G. There is nice development on the
Mayacamas all the way to St. Helena and Kurt is going for it.
But as
things go he hits nothing but big sink for 4 miles and figures he
isn't going to make the band of lift to the SW so he tries valiantly
to come back toward Bartlett where I'm heading after hearing his
report. I'm staying at around 8G heading down Pitney ridge toward
High Glade and there is major lift ahead marked by huge clouds which
are forming over the top of the Mt. and drifting toward the Lake. I
fly past High Glade under the clouds and hit strong lift to 10 G
where it is cold. Kurt is sinking out in Clover Valley where he soon
lands. Thanks for marking the sink, buddy.
I'm flying cross wind
but finding strong lift all the way to the end of the ridge over
Clear Lake and just keep following the edge of the cloud line as it
takes me out over the Lake at the narrows at 9G. I'm heading
directly for Konocti and get there at about 8000. I core a good
thermal back to 10G and keep on toward St. Helena, following the clouds.
I get a little low for a while after Konocti, 7G, but look for the
clouds and find more lift to the east under them. Soon I'm back to
8500 as a sailplane comes from Crazy Creek heading for Konocti at
7G.
I fly over Mt. Hannah and on to Boggs Mt. and make a tactical
error, I feel, at this point by fixating on St. Helena and not flying the
sky. There is some development on the ridge behind Middletown but
a lot more on Cobb and points west as It is blowing ENE at this point.
I head directly for St. Helena but hit massive sink and with not enough
altitude to make it back to Cobb I head for Middletown ridge. I get
there under building clouds but am too low to find a core and end up
on the ground on Hwy 29 1/2 mile south of the casino.
It was an
awesome day of flying for me as I've always wanted to make the jump
across Clear Lake but never dreamed it would be in this direction.
The lift was strong, as was the sink - 1100 up and 1200 down. I feel I
should have stayed to the west more and headed for Alexander Valley
and possibly Healdsburg. But, this was my best flight from Elk by far.
2:24 mn. 41.9mi. Lets do it again tomorrow. hh
|
| Scot
Huber
|
Flight Reports
4/20
Elk Mt. 4/20.
Another promising-looking day at Elk. Kurt, Jon,
Todd, Leo, Derk, Greg, Ernie, John Lord and myself, along with the
Berkeley bunch, set up on the south face.
Cumys are popping off
all over the place. One of the Bezerkely guys goes and doesn't find
much on Elk and eventually heads for Pitney where he climbs out.
Todd is off next and is also not finding anything on the south side
so heads to the west as I launch next. The wind sock is starting to
show signs of going northwest so I want to get off now and not carry
down. It's 1:51.
I head toward the west face but see Todd
getting low so come back in front of launch and find nothing but
sink so head for Pitney at 3200. Come in low over the bald spot
at the bottom, nothing, see a smoke plume rising from a fire at the
house a little farther to the south so go for it. It's marking a
thermal and with 500 ft. above the river bed I start to climb
out.
Todd is landing at this point and I report my find as the
lift gets better. Soon Jon is under me and we're topping out over
the campground with the winds from the SW drifting us back toward
Elk. Greg is soon there as is Kurt and they climb out also.
There are good clouds on Cow Mt. and some showing up on Bartlett
but most of Pitney ridge is in Blue. I head for High Glade hoping I
can make it across the hole with Jon on my heels. Kurt and Greg try
to follow about 20 mn. later but find too much sink so turn back and
head for Cow. I get to the base of High Glade hill low and figure I
have a few more turns before I'll have to make for Clover Valley.
Jon is already moving that way. I find some lite lift and keep
working it until I'm high enough to move further back where the lift
gets good. I top out at 8G just west of High Glade tower and head
for Bartlett and the development there. Jon is working his way up
onto High Glade hill. He's a few thousand below me but going for
it.
Jon heads for Bartlett low as I'm over windy point at 8G.
He's too deep to make it back to Clover and too low to make it to
Pinnacle and into Long Valley and with the SW wind he drifts back
and over the top and is now going down Mary Ann Ridge lowww toward
Bartlett Springs. Todd is chasing us by this point and Jon isn't
talking much so I report Jon's location to Todd as he can't reach Jon on the radio.
I cross Pinnacle and head for Rupperts watching Jon get way lowww.
I figure he's in Twin Valley for sure but he takes what altitude he
has and heads for the base of Goat where he climbs out and is soon
reporting 9G over the top. Nice save Jon!!
I get high on Rupperts
and head for Chalk Mtn. with nice development in front of me. It's
just the wind that's not great. It's SW at 10 so I'm not making
very good time (but I'm having a great time!).
I find a good one at
Chalk and circle up to my max altitude for the day of 8200. I'm over
the dam at Indian Valley Reservoir and the wind keeps getting more
south southwesterly and I figure there's no way to make it down the
Blue Ridge and Vacaville (my declared goal) so I turn NE and head
toward Bear Valley.
I find a nice thermal above Stag Flat on the
east edge of Bear and start climbing; soon a sailplane is under me.
A few more turns and here come two more. It's a gaggle with me on
the top. Todd is on 20 watching us climb out and tells me not to let
them climb through me. I don't as they can't turn as tight and the
core is narrow. I top out at 7200 and head for Cortina Ridge where
Hwy 20 cuts through to the central valley. Jon is on the ground in
the valley a few miles to the north of me and Todd goes looking
for him.
I come out into the valley at 6G and head toward
Interstate 5. The wind is due south so I'm being drifted north but
getting a good glide. I find some 400 up near Williams and climb
about 700ft. in it and continue on. I cross right over Williams and
head out Hwy 20 toward Sutter Buttes, stretching my glide. I land
4mi. NE of Williams at 5:30. 3Hrs. 39mn. 45.7mi.
Greg and Kurt made it to Lampson Field. Seven of us had dinner in
Middletown and celebrated our day in the sky playing birdmen. Isn't
flying the best!!! hh
|
| Greg
|
Elk Saturday
4/20
As you know, Kurt and I couldn't follow Jon and Scot on the east
side of the lake, so we decided to go on the west side into the wind
because there was cloud activity there. We went over Middle
Mountain, across Bachelor Valley and down the southwest side of
Scott's Valley. Eventually we came to a massive blue hole just south
of Lakeport and landed on the south side of Lampson Field. It was a
20 miler.
|
| Jon
James
|
Elk Sat,
4-20
It was a strange day, beautiful clouds everywhere but we waited too
long on Elk. The wind was changing. Todd took off first and went
down (and chased us). We took off in light rotor at 2, flew
straight to Pitney, and got up from about 500 feet over a trash
fire behind a house. I caught up with Scot at 6700 and we headed
for Clover Valley.
Scot went pretty deep and low up the
north end of Bartlett, then he climbed well. I stayed farther out
over Clover Valley, climbed, then headed toward Windy Ridge
(north end of Bartlett). At Windy Ridge, I was down to 5500. It
was a long way back out to Clover Valley so, what the heck, I
went over the back low. I flew along Mary Ann Ridge, finding
nothing.
Mark Bennett landed back here many years ago, ruined
2 tires getting out. I couldn't make it to Long Valley, but there
were places to land down at Bartlett Springs. At the east end of
Mary Ann Ridge, I saw a nice LZ below me at Twin Valley, with a
road. Well, that was some comfort. I was in dinosaur country,
1500 feet over a good LZ, with Goat Mountain directly in front
of me with a big cloud over it. It was like at King, going over
the back, flying at the Lemhis.
I flew straight toward Goat. It's
huge. Over a sunny slope of Goat, I climbed to 7000. I came
in on Goat about a mile south of the peak at about 5700, ridge
height. I flew by Goat Rock, expecting lift in the bowl there but
found none. Continuing south, and finding nothing, I began to get
worried because there were no landing areas in sight. Spanish
Ridge obscured Bartlett Springs. Spanish Ridge looked pretty
bad; very steep and narrow canyons. I looked east. Very bad
terrain.
There was a road running up Goat from the south. It
looked good. I came to an area of several hillocks on the ridge
by the road, this was Wilson Camp. The 3rd hillock was bare. I
unzipped to land on it. I was a little high, so I turned away
from the ridge to lose a little height before turning in to land. I
flew into a good thermal. I zipped back up on the 3rd circle,
reminding myself not to give up. Climbed to 9000 over Horse
Rock.
From there, it was a glide to the north end of Indian
Valley Reservoir. There was a nice cloud street running down the
west side of Indina Valley, but by the time I got there, it was
gone so I continued east.
I came out to Bear Valley over
Bartlett Springs Road, over the south end of Bear Valley Buttes.
The clouds looked good out over the valley. The wind had been
increasing from the southwest. I flew over the road to Leesville,
but thought it was the road to Ladoga, so I sent Todd on a wild
goose chase, but he got to me as I was zipping up my glider bag,
and we got to Scot just as he got his bagged. Thank you,
Todd!
I bailed over the last ridge north of 20 and was in the
central valley, low. There was a strong south wind. I climbed
once for a 1000' gain and made it another mile closer to 20. Had
a nice landing in a 15 south, 34.6 miles. Scot went past Williams
for 45.7.
Oh, yeah, back at the Park-n-Ride, unloading from Kurt's truck,
I tripped over my glider and did a face plant. Hit the
pavement with my tooth, but, fortunately, my lip was in between
to protect my tooth.
I now have a fat lip and a sore
knee. Watch out, it can be dangerous out there.
|
| Dallas
| Hull 4/20
Patrick myself and a friend of mine headed for Hull on Saturday. We
had the whole mountain to ourselves. Patrick launched around 2:30
into NW winds and began to sky out then headed east and sank out,
tried to top land on the road about 700 feet below us (timberline
launch) and got slammed. Bent a batten, broke both downtubes and
bent his keel (we took the sail off today to verify everything).
About an hour later I tandem off with my friend and avoiding the
east side of launch we play around in a bunch of thermals, get to
7200msl before the cloud-suck spooks me and we head out to land after 1.5
very cold and wonderful hours. Great first flight for my friend.
Drove by Elk on our way out around 7pm; I guess you all had
left by then.
-Dallas
|
| Kurt
|
Flight report
Sunday 4/21
I am tired! Here is the short version. Kurt Todd Matt and Albert
got to cloudbase at Elk 9000 ft flew to declared goal at Lake
Pillsbury lz. Then to the top of Hull over to San Headron back to lz
to complete a triangle. Goodnight!
|
|
Albert Branson
|
Elk Report
4/21
Donna and I got to the Elk LZ too late for a ride up so we
continued on to the top. When we got there, several pilots were setting
up including Kurt, Matt, Todd, Greg, and John D. There were four
other folks there but I don’t know who they are.
Conditions
looked pretty good and a couple of the unknown pilots were doing
very well, getting 1000-1500 over. Someone said, “let’s fly to Hull”
and Todd, Matt, Kurt and myself agreed. Setting my criteria, I
thought that if I get to 8500 and the wind aloft was south at all, I
would go.
Matt was off first, then Kurt. It seemed as though Matt
was having difficulty finding lift, left of launch, but Kurt went up.
I didn’t see where it was Kurt got up so I will let him tell his
story.
By the time I launched, the wind was splitting the
ridge so I took off in a “straight in” lull. I milled around the
west point and finally found something that took me right up to
8500. I was thinking to myself, did I really mean I would head to
Hull if I got to 8500? Just then, my three buddies Matt, Todd, and
Kurt said they were leaving for Hull, so I just had to go.
As soon
as I turned to leave, I thought "holy S%&T that’s a long way
with no LZ". The air was fat and there were clouds all along the way
so that helped my psyche. Kurt and I stopped about ½ way across for
some 400 up, which really turned on and got us to cloudbase at 9000.
Matt and Todd were also there. It was so cool to have all of us in a
line pointing the same direction.
We all kept going toward Hull and
found good lift over the house. I was 100 feet short of the top
of the mountain and could find no lift. I played around at lower
launch for a while before heading out to land. I had a less than
graceful landing, of course, because it was being filmed. Gunter,
Roy, Tom, Anthony, Justin, Doug, and Roger were there to greet me.
Donna, bless her heart, drove my truck from the top of Elk, stopped
for a six pack of Red Tail Ale, and met me in the LZ.
What a great
time! 1:30 of air time over 11.4 miles of the scariest terrain, a
declared goal, cloudbase, and some of the best people around!
|
| MattsFlyin
|
Flight from Elk
to Hull
As Todd, Kurt, John D, Greg S, Albert and I set up our gliders on
Elk's south launch we experienced a simultaneous mass epiphany.
Watching a few of the Berkeley Club get stinkin' high we all had the
same thought...Hull!! I was first off and proceeded to show everyone
where the lift wasn't. After everyone else launched and was climbing out
I finally found lift. I joined them at 7500 and after another 1000ft climb
four of us (Todd, Kurt and Albert) left for the Hull LZ.
Making
a bee-line for the dam, we could see cloudstreets to Snow. Passing
near the dam at 8000, we angled toward Snow to work the cloud suck. It
felt like a real big-air X/C day, a strange feeling so close to
home. We could have easily made it to Snow, but probably not much
further, judging from the cloudstreets. I decided to try for the top of
Hull and then to complete a triangle.
Flying above the forest between
Elk and Snow was a treat! We all stayed fairly close together and it
was obvious this was an exceptional day. I passed the Hull LZ at
6200ft and soon found myself in a real ripper. I heard excitement in
Todd's voice as he watched me skyout to over 8000 near the House. I
couldn't reply till I'd topped out and relaxed my grip. My vario went
from beep...beep...to BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!! Max recorded lift for
30 secs was 1200fpm. I was thermaling with 3/4 VG! I decided to
explore my speed range and dove for the peak of Hull. In about 30
secs I was at 7500 over the peak. I heard Todd come over at 8500. Kurt
and Albert got to Timberline at launch height. Kurt went up; Albert
went down.
Todd shot over to San Hedrin and then to the LZ
(Hull). I circled up at Tule Lake to almost 7000 and headed for the
dam. Kurt flew by me at Tule Lake and headed for the LZ at Hull.
I made it to the dam at 4000 and circled around back to the Hull LZ.
I thought about flying back to the Elk LZ but there were no clouds along the way.
I got to the
LZ with 3300ft and wore myself out trying to get down. I watched Kurt
nail the spot, almost a perfect bullseye. HA! I thought. He's left
me room to best him! I tried to nail the bullseye but was a bit long
despite my double-flare technique.
This was a real day to remember! I made a 20.83
triangle: dam to Hull Pk to Tule Lake to dam. I should have gotten a
much bigger triangle but I didn't think about it till it was too
late!!!
Matt
|
|
Todd
|
Elk,Hull
I also got a triangle from the dam,Hull,San Hedrin,dam. what a GREAT day!
|
| JW
Seely
|
flight report,
Baja Calif.
I went down to Torrey Pines on 4/13 intending to fly and take some
lessons toward a higher rating on my PG. When I arrived I was met by
the first rain San Diego had seen in months and months.
If you
have seen Torrey its the same. Beautiful. After waiting 3 days I
finally got to fly. Wonderful bouyant air, all day.
On 4/19,
myself and 10 other PGers went to San Antonio del Mar. Its way off
the beaten path 2 hrs south of Ensenda. Look it up, it is on the
Baja, Calif. map, Pacific side.
We camped on a small bluff 30ft
above the beach. The beach started at a huge sand dune piled up
by the wind. 200 ft high and about 600 to 800 acres in size. Next
time I go, I'm packin sand toys for big boys.
After a couple of
crashes on takeoff due to my inexperience, I was able to fly in my
comfort level as long as I wanted. I came down because I got
hungry.
The cliffs start at 0 ft, sea level and the site is
good for beginners as well experts, both Hang and PG. There are 3
launch/landing sites. One 10 above the beach, one 150 ft above and
the highest at about 300 ft. The highest launch is an easy 5 min
walk from camp. The cliffs go South and rise gradually to 1000
ft. The gradual rise travels for over 20 miles. The beach goes for
at least 14 miles along the cliffs, so if you sink out and land on
the beach, your flybuddies can drive on the beach to pick you up.
The Locals use the beach like their own private road system.
The
lift is like Goat Rock, best flown in the winter/spring. Watch the
lift begin in the morning and when its good, go fly. Keeping an eye
on the white caps on the ocean. The air can be laminar when it goes
over the top of the cliffs, so I spent my time out in front to keep
from getting blown back. Several pilots got blown back into the
desert and it was a long walk back.
This place was apparently discovered by
Hang Gliders in the early 80s, but only PGers seem to go there now.
Seems like a great place to fly a HG. With lots of surrounding
mountains, a HG could fly for days.
If you go be prepared to be
self contained. The are noooooo facilities. No water, no nothing.
The people are friendly. If you go, please tip generously. So far,
they like all flyers.
|
| Derk
|
Flight Reports
w/e 4/27-4/28
Mt. Tam was great on Saturday. Very soarable conditions with
everybody got above launch. For whatever reason there have been only
six HG pilots all day long. On a day like this. Two HGs were still
soaring at 7PM !
I flew my old Moyes Xtralite and couldn't quite
make cloudbase as some of the Laminars did (50% of the gliders in
the air were Laminars).
Derk
|
| Kurt
|
Hull
Great day at Hull. Charlie and I got as much airtime as we wanted.
Playing with wispy clouds, FREEZING! Kelsy had her first tandem. She
likes it! Sunday was East. The road past upper launch was blocked by
snow. We heard people flying at Elk.
|
| Leo
Jones
|
St Helena
Saturday, Jon, Matt and I shivered in freezing gusty winds on
launch, but didn't take too long deciding that it was just too gusty
- 0-25, to fly. East towards the Central Valley were long lines of
cloud streets, but it was dark and gloomy over St.Helena and towards
the West. It was very clear, the clouds had razor sharp flat
bottoms, and birds were hurtling skywards, but it looked and felt
turbulent, nasty and face freezing cold.
The sunday forecast
was for even colder and cloudier conditions, but at 8am it was clear
blue and fresh in Santa Rosa, so Jon, Matt, me, John B, Scot and
Todd decided to try again and Larry came along to drive. By the time
we were on launch it was gloomy, dark and cold, but with little
wind, though the clouds seemed to be moving fast from the south. It
looked and felt very unappealing. However after an hour it began to
look a little less dismal, and Jon, John and me decided what the
hell, we need the practice, we might as well fly down.
Jon
went first and went up straight away. I followed about 10 mins later
and cruised around in buoyant air a couple of hundred feet over. Jon
flew out to the vally and soon reported lift and getting to over
5000ft. John B took off and after a while a little sunlight lit up
the mountain and whoa! it suddenly got quite kickass in spots, with
1200ft/min lift in places and thermals to nearly 5500ft. Scot
changed his mind about flying and set up. I decided to head out over
the valley as Jon seemed to be enjoying himself over the hills on
the far side, but I found nothing at all and landed in Jane's big
field. John B took his time and soon climbed to over 4k over the
last foothills on the way out, and Scot joined him and they skyed
out. John eventually came back but Scot of course continued north
and eventually landed at Cloverdale airport, where Larry and I found
him after driving up and down the freeway between Healdsburg and
Cloverdale a few times (leave your radio ON, Scot!!)
Great
flight Scot, and a very unexpectedly good day's flying. Thanks for
driving, Larry.
Leo
|
| derk
|
Warm and sunny
...
... it was, at the coast on Sunday where I spend the entire day
refreshing my rusty paragliding skills in almost perfect soaring
conditions for my old, low performance glider.
Derk
|
| Scot
Huber
|
St Helena
4/28
After watching Jon get high over the top I decided to (Go For It).
had a shitty launch according to Matt but got away okay. Found some
gnarly lift over the spine which I worked to about 500 over. It was
showing SE at 14 on the Aircotec so I figured I was on th lee side
getting rotored. I headed out to the valley toward Janes where Jon
had been skying out. Found some 300 up on Ida Clayton ridge and got
back to 4400. John Blacet joined me from the west and it was very
bouyant and the lift seemed fairly pradictable so decided to head
north as the wind was south around 9.
Got to Pine Mt. which
seperates Knights valley from Alexander Valley easily enough but was
getting low over it. Decided to see if I could make Justins field to
the north. There was some sunshine on the bare vineyards below and I
hit a ripper coming off it at 1000/ fpm which took from 2000 to 5400
where I was whiting out with the bar stuffed. I contined north past
Justins finding small patches of lift where the sun was shining. By
Asti it was totally overdeveloped and I headed out toward the
freeway and landed at the cloverdale airport. A fun day of flight
which started out looking pretty bad. 2hrs. 20.9mi. Thanks for
driving Larry and thanks for dinner Leo. See you all sat. hh
|
|
Anthony
A
|
PG
Elk/Sun
The BAPA fly-in at Elk Mtn was a wash. When I arrived at the LZ @
11am on Sunday most everyone was packing up and heading home. No one
flew Friday afternoon, no flights on Saturday and only 3 flights
(out of ~7 that drove up the mtn) on Sunday morning - in switchy
conditions both at launch and LZ. Joseppie & Camille arrived
from Humbolt. After telling a few lies around the campfire and
eating some breakfast we volunteered Greg (new SW PG pilot) to drive
for us. It looked like the LZ conditions had stabilized with only
minor oscillations in the southerly winds.
When we got to
launch, like everywhere at altitude this weekend, it was cold. The
wind was coming straight from Clear Lake along the river at 12-17
mph with occasional gusts to 20. The cummies covered 90% of the sky
with sporadic patches of sunshine. Cloudbase was ~1200’ above
launch. As Joe & Cami are light on mtn flying experience I drew
the wind-dummy straw. I launched around 1pm and immediately went up.
Ridge soaring the mountaintop mixed with the usual house thermals
close to the mtn was the order of the day. The air was relatively
smooth and very buoyant so I encouraged Joe into the air. Cami
decided not to fly. Joe was picked up in the air while still
reversed at launch but unwound 180º uneventfully. Moments later
while still close his wing suffered a minor frontal fold. It came
out quickly but served to spook him a little. We boated around doing
360’s and ridge soaring getting about 800 over in thermals. After an
hour our frost-nipped fingers forced us to the ground. Landings were
uneventful in the consistent winds.
As we packed up our gear
and bid adieu to Greg, Keith & Nick (and his new husky puppy)
arrived. We headed back up and conditions were still the same with a
few more sunny patches than previously. Joseppie was first off with
a textbook inflation and launch. Keith was off second and I followed
shortly thereafter. We flew for another hour mimicking our earlier
flight, trading “highest” honors before heading out to the LZ with
cold appendages. This time the wind was up to its usual tricks in
the LZ, switchy with big ups and downs near to the ground. I
overshot my mark and landed just short of the water while Keith and
Nick landed w/o incident in the parking lot.
It was a good
day if a little cold. The BAPA flyers gave up too soon. With the
proper gear (anyone know of battery powered gloves?) one could have
stayed in the air from noon to five.
|
|
