| Author |
Comment |
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buzzett
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Re: Stonyford
Parade/float - 5/3
Scot made it to the house last night and helped finish the banner.
We left for Stonyford at 7:00 am. The weather turned out to be nice
for the parade. The sun shined the whole time. Several people made
positive comments about hang gliding and a few of the locals were
glad we could make it over for the fesivities. We tossed candy to
the kids ( we need alot more for next year). As the guys finished
packing down the glider, the rain came. We made a stop a Granzellas
in Williams for Lunch and then drove on back to my place.
Thank
you to the members that showed up and supported our Stonyford public
relations ~~Scot Huber, Daniel, Rich and Linda Sauer.
Linda
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|
Hangfly
|
Rock
Report - 5/4
I know it's only Goat Rock, but it was good when I got there and it
was still good when I left. When I arrived at the Rock a little
after noon JB was in his car at launch he was already aired out from
flying earlier. I set up and launched right about 1:00. It was
straight in at 15 to 17mph. About 2:00 it started picking up and
getting better. I landed at 3:20, it was getting pretty strong by
then but still flyable. Saw lots of TVs, Ospreys and Redtails,
including TVs diving at each other. (mating ritual?) Flew to the
south end, north to the river and out over the Rock. Got to 750'.
Big Fun. Hope it was good inland too.
Hangfly :p
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| Jon
James
|
Elk, 5/4
It was pretty good at Elk.
Raining in the LZ at noon, we
hung out at Rich & Linda's
until 1:30. It cleared, we
launched starting at 3:30.
I got to 4700, went to Pitney, got
up again, got flushed
to the Thistle field. Matt met the same
fate. You couldn't leave Pitney. Kurt and Brian flew for a couple of
hours.
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|
Hangfly
|
St
Helena Flight Report - 5/6
Tuesday at St Helena was great fun! Right before I launched, just
before 2:30, I told Matt, it looks like there won't be any straight
in cycles or thermals. Then I launched and slowly climbed straight
to cloudbase at 4500'. Matt was just seconds behind me and suffered
the same fate. We spent the next hour and 15 minutes boating in and
out of the clouds around St Helena. When the rain was finally
pressing in we went out and landed in Jane's field FULL of lupins.
The whole LZ smells incredible. You will all get to experience it
Saturday. We expected to be taking sled rides and got awesome
filghts, sometimes really close to three redtails. Afterwards we
spent a nice couple hours with Jane.
Hangfly :b
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|
Brian Padgett
|
My First Mini XC
- Flight report 05/04/03
The short of it...
It was great!
The real
story...
Wow! I started out Sunday morning, ready to fly. I
called Kurt early and got myself together for a great day of flying.
After looking out side in Santa Rosa, I was optimistic, but then
talked to Linda and felt like no flying was going to be done. I
stayed optimistic and loaded up anyway. On the drive to Elk everyone
sounded a bit bummed but about all the rain we were in and how hard
it was coming down. Matt turned around and we passed him in Hopland.
Kurt was able to talk him into turning back to fly with just a
little persuasion and we all were back on our way to the LZ. John
was far ahead of us and we never reached him on the radio to hear
his thoughts about the weather.
We ended up hiding from the rain
at Linda and Rich’s for a while, and then decided to take off for
the LZ when we saw a blue hole in the sky.
We grabbed the buckets
to help fill in the roots and on the way, it started raining once
again. It was raining enough that they were chasing the dirt bikers
out and making them go home. We were persistent about flying so we
hung out in the LZ in the rain talking about how much fun we were
going to have in the air. Matt put on his hood and shook head, Linda
and I hid under Gregg’s umbrella while John and Kurt stood under the
soaked gliders.
After a little BSing we thought we better go up
the mountain so we do not miss the next blue hole. On the way up we
pulled over scooped up wet gravel for the roots in the road and
continued onward. The gravel is really helping, so hopefully pilots
continue to help out with that. :)
Once we reached launch we got out of the trucks and looked
around. It was still raining, but the wind was coming straight in on
the North launch. We waited through the rain a little longer and the
next thing I know, Kurt was unloading his glider. I saw it as a sign
and did the same. Everyone was setting up as quickly as
possible.
I took a little longer getting ready since I was
setting up the Mosquito.
Before long John Launched, he looked
great and went right up. He didn’t hang out and Elk long. Matt went
shortly after followed by Kurt. Launches were looking great. I got
everything together, hooked the Mosquito on the Eagle, strapped in
and was soon ready to launch.
Linda guided my nose and Gregg
guided my Mosquito tall over to launch. I was over heating getting
ready, but knew I would be fine and happy I suited up so much once I
was in the air. Linda and Gregg watched my wires and I launched
unpowered with great success. (Thank you both!)
I hung out at Elk
knowing that everyone else had already left. After I got to 4500ft.
I decided it was time to catch up with the rest of the group. I
started the motor to ensure if I started to sink out that I could
get back up. I shut off and went for Pitney. This was a first for me
as I have never left a flying site before!!
I was
looking forward to my first XC. I heard that John was sinking out
and Matt got the same a bit later. It sounded like a long XC was out
of the question. :(
I am not
sure how long they stayed up, but they seemed to be happy to fly on
such a crappy start of a day. On my way to Pitney, the sink was just
too much for my glider so I had to power up and make it assisted by
the Mosquito. I was over Pitney at 4500ft so I shut the power off
and folded my prop. I had a good glide down wind and found enough
lift to stay up on my own and have fun. I started getting my but
kicked south of Pitney so I tried to work my way back. With a good
head wind and too much sink I was down at 3300ft and too low to
think about staying up. It was time to power back up! I flew with
power for a while and made to cloud base or just above it. I shut
the power back off and found very little lift up there above 5000ft.
I flew down to about 4500 and found sufficient lift over a nice
little meadow. I hung out and left that spot several time. I was
lucky to keep Kurt in sight to see what he was doing. At time he was
above me and then I was above him.
A great time in the air was
being had by both of us. This went on for over 2 hours. I had to use
power at time to regain my altitude, but that is why I got the
Mosquito, right?!
Soon, I found myself in a lot of turbulence (or
punchy lift) and I was quickly getting sick. I felt like if I went
weightless one more time, so would my lunch! Sure enough… weightless
again, and shortly after that I had racing stripped on my harness.
:o
My
eyes were watering and I decided that it was time to land even
though I only used 2/3 of my gas for the harness.
The thistle
field was in sight where other had landed so I went in to land
there. I unzipped and my landing gear dropped down. There was some
turbulence on the way down from the ridges but I just kept the speed
on and stayed focused even though I was feeling pretty ill. I
finally did a completely correct landing pattern that I felt good
about. My down wind, base and final all felt right. I had enough
speed and everything went as it should. I heard the landing gear of
the Mosquito touch and at the right moment a light flare and it was
a great two or three step landing. I loving landing with the
Mosquito!! Kurt landed shortly after me and looked good. No one
could yell whack or run to put ice on his knee
I realize
something every time I fly. This time is was that I need to work out
a better head set for my radio. My ear piece fell out and soon I
could barely hear a thing. It wasn’t bad, but if we had gone on a
long XC, it could have caused me problems if I lost sight of others
or needed direction.
In the end, it was awesome! I wiped off my
harness and speed bar (and myself) and packed up. Now I know I need
to get some medication before long fights like that especially since
all my fights should be longer now!! I am still recovering today but
looking forward to a real XC soon.
Great flying everyone! See
you at St. Helena in the air!!
-Brian
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|
Dave Clement
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flight report
5/9
I decided to take a partial vacation day from the firehouse and go
flying with the boys. Since my fire station is at the base of the
mountain, I could go straight to work when I'm done flying. I met up
with Robert Moore and a new face (pilot) Dave Merry (something) and
of course our trust- worthy driver Janet. We headed up the mountain
and stopped at Juniper launch and ran into Chris and Scott already
there. We set up and watched a couple rag wings get up and over the
back side. The day was looking promising. Clouds were setting up
everywhere. Robert Moore launched first in his rigid and was only
able to scrape at launch for ever. Two other pilots launched and
they were able to get higher. I launched at about 2:30 and was able
to slowly work up above juniper ridge but was unable to make it to
cloud base. Scot launched and he slowly went to cloudbase and was
met up there with Dave Merry- and Robert Moore and they all turned
downwind and headed towards Antioch. I can't say how far they went
East so I'll keep you all hanging for now. I ended up flying for
just over an hour and landed on the hillside next to Blakes
Restaurant at the Boundary Oaks Golf course. I had the Boys on my
fire engine come and give my a ride back to my truck. Another solid
day on Diablo. :)
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|
Lori Allen
|
Re: flight
report 5/9
Thanks and keep those Diablo reports coming. It's nice knowing that
Scot's getting in some good flights. Tell him his girlfriend says
hi. ;-)
Lori
|
| Chris
McKeon
|
Flight report
5/9
Hi Lori.
Scott took the Southern route that day. My
Heloper-driver Mark chassed him.
The reason he went to the
South and not to Antioch, was because he had lost a tip wand for his
Atos in the field he had out-landed at during his last
flight.
He had left it in a field where he landed and the tip
wand
did not make it back into the glider bag.
He landed
at the Altimont. Then they drove to the field
and Mark found the
tip wand.
For dirving and finding the tip wand. I would like
to vote
Mark for........"Person of the Day."
The deal was
to fly on Friday, and then work on Saturday. Scott wanted to fly.
This was fine with me it
was Saturday.
But it looked like
a good XC day for sure. So I let Mark
take the day off to drive
for Scott.
I do not know where Scott went. I spoke with him
on
the radio just before he went over the back.
I hope
he had a good XC flight.
If he did get a good XC flight then
he will be in good
spirits for work on Monday.
My helper
Mark is turning out to be a good driver. I am
sure Scott would
agreee for sure.
All for now.
Best
Regards.
The Big
Guy.
|
| ben
|
Panoche: FIRST
EPIC FLIGHT - 5/10
Well, I've been somewhat worried that all my talk about how great
the Panoche V. is would soon be ignored if something didn't happen.
So here it is:
Don and I woke at 9 am to small cumies poppin
everwhere. In particular, right over launch. We headed up the hill
and were setting up by 11. We were'nt ready until noon, and by that
time the cumies were gone and the thermals seemed lighter. This had
been my
experience on previous attempts, so I hurried up.
I launched around 12:30 and was at 7k within 4 minutes. With
that altitude I started WNW along the ridgeline for about a mile.
Unfortunately, all my altitude was soon lost and I high-tailed it
back to Sampson Peak. By the time I reached our old launch, I was
500' below the peak staring down at the Valley of Doom. I thought it
was over, but another thermal took me to 6.5k, so I headed out
again, this time following a ridgeline nearer the road because I
didn't really think I'd get far. Luckily, the ridge was fairly
barren and treeless, and it's mile long length generated thermals
which got stronger and stronger.
At the end of the ridge, I
headed for the next ridgeline, trying to stay over the hills that
had already heated east sides and currently heating west sides. It
was up and down for a while, but I saw a big rocky bowl ahead that
would surely get me high. Still, I couldn't
make it, and for 10+
minutes I scratched and circled 100' over the trees just southeast
of castle rock. The ratty air kept turning me this way and that, and
I finally had to give up and turn to east (road) side of the ridge.
I gradually sank until I decided to follow a spine out to the road.
All this time I was only two hundred over the trees, and as
luck would have it, another thermal put me at 6k. At least I could
make the south side of Griswold Canyon--a flight that would be good
enough to get other pilots out there which was my main goal. You can
see from the map that there is a valley on the way. I sank through
this and found myself at about 3k over Borbas Bump (where we'll fly
this Sat.). There was ALOT of lift, but I couldn't get over 4k.
Still, I could see the Panoche Inn and was hoping I could drop in
for a beer and a great sandwich.
Giving up hope of getting
higher, I headed out over the flatland. My altitude diminished, and
at 600' over I had pretty much given up hope of making the bar.
Then, another thermal got me to 5k and the bar was easy. When I got
there, I started planning the landing, but another dang thermal got
me high and I headed WNW out of Panoche Valley. At this point I
began to consider heading for Tres Pinos. It certainly would have
been cool to land at Pat's training field, but without a driver or a
radio and only an idiot for company, I decided to had
back to
the bar and land.
I would have (really) but you guessed it,
I was back at 6.5k. Ok, I thought, maybe I'd rather land at Mercey
Hot Springs and soak while Don brings the car. So off I went.
There was lift over the whole valley, but not enough to keep
me from losing altitude. Also, I finally figured out (thanks to
cloud shadows) that I was fighting a head wind. To top it off, I
didn't have VG thanks to some sand from Marina Beach. Anyway, I
arrived at the pass dividing Panoche Valley from MHS and caught
another one. It was just enough to get me there.
I was about
1k over and again planning to land when another pesky thermal got me
to 6+k. Ok, I thought, maybe I would really rather have a beer and a
sandwich. So, I headed back. By this time of course, I realized I
could go anywhere. If I had had a driver, I would have headed to I5
and then North. There was not inversion over the San Joaqin that I
could see.
Anyway, I arrived at the bar and literally forced
myself down. It took a while, but there I was, 150' from beer and
food.
4 hours and probably 100 land miles.
So, a
couple points:
This site is f***ing unbelievable. It's like
a mini Owens. There is always a road and an LZ within glide. A
driver would not have to freak or stress or work to follow the
glider because it would always be in sight and nearby.
Second, you need to set up and be ready to fly by 11am.
Third, would you rather land by the bar or the Hot Springs?
See you next weekend.
See the map at http://www.edit-write.com/images/pioneer_flight.gif
ben
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|
Charlie Nelson
|
St Helena
flight report 5-10
Cumis and beer go well together.
The Diez de Mayo was a great
success.
20 pilots enjoyed sunshine and small puffs of cloud over
the summit, [cloudbase was +/- 6700'msl]... and Sierra Nevada Pale
Ale and delicious Mex food at Jane's field.
Many sincere thanks
to the members who put all this on! This was my 3rd Cinco , and the
flying was the best I've seen yet. I followed the west ridge off the
peak and found the smoothest ,most long lasting thermal I've seen in
years. The circular lift started off a grassy hillside at about
1500' msl and extended up to 5500, :-)
allowing
hands free climbing at 400-600 fpm. and it stayed right there from 4
- 6pm. I wanted to delay landing because it looked windy on the
ponds, and this thermal was fun...... elsewhere, according to
witnesses at the LZ , the westerlies kicked in around 3 pm, about 20
mph , and created quite a gradient about 15 feet high that made it a
bit tough to land gracefully. A good number of pilots chose to land
500' or more east of the big oak to avoid the tree line rotor. By
the time I landed at 6 it had backed off a tad so I could go for the
bomb drop and the spot. neither effort was a prize winner but I
nabbed the duration, 4 hrs.
Bob Storms had the closest spot
landing , 28 ft.
Robin Taha won the flour bomb drop. +/- 60
feet.
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|
Hangfly
|
St Helena
report
Well, a great time was had by all. It would be interesting to have
everyone who flew post their flight times. I think we set a record
for airtime hours in one day at St Helena. Besides Charlie's 4+hrs
Matt was just a couple minutes short of 4 hrs and there were a lot
of flights well over 3 hrs! It was really cool to hang out in the LZ
and watch 20 gliders in the air at once and to see them raining out
of the sky in the end. Jane was very pleased with the whole affair.
She loves her jacket. Thanks Roy. We were visited by several
friendly land owners from the surrounding area. One may have a
possible training hill. We did a thorough walk about of the grounds
at the end of the day yesterday. The #1 item of trash I picked up
was plastic seals from water bottles. Four pilots flew Sunday, Me,
Todd, Kurt and Lou. We had two hour flights with rough air over the
mountain and very smooth light lift over the valley. Todd tried to
make Crazy Creek butts came up a little short.
Hangfly
|
|
Daniel Pifko
|
Flash: St. H
Newbie Has Great 1st Time, Thanks Organizers
This was my first flight off St. Helena, and I couldn't have asked
for a better time.
As appears to always be the case at SW
events, I found only friendly and smiling faces all around. The trek
up the hill zoomed by with anecdotes and chitchat and the pilots in
the albeit crowded setup area were nothing but accommodating.
The air was Goldilocks fat. Not too rowdy and not too light,
but juuuuuuuuuuuust right. I must fly that place again real soon
now.
The food and fun in the LZ was great, other than the
target being a half mile from its rightful spot under my flour bomb.
Thanks to everyone who organized the day, and special thanks
to those who pioneered the site and keep it open. It's much
appreciated.
Daniel
|
|
Ernie Camacho
|
Some
photos
Here's a few photos I took. I wanted to document everything, but I
was a bit too busy to take as many shots as I wanted. I know others
were snapping away so send me your shots and I'll add
them.
And, if you want to add to the caption of any of these,
send me the text and I'll add it.
Click here to see the photos
|
|
Hangfly
|
Reports
Cool pics Ernie. How can I do that with mine?
We need to see
more flight reports. I told all the locals I talked to to check here
and read about people's flights. Don't disappoint them. Out of 20
flights there must have been a few more interesting tidbits. Was the
air crowded? Did anyone fly to the end of the valley and
back?
Hangfly
|
|
Ernie Camacho
|
Photo
software
You can get a copy of Adobe Photoshop Elements at Costco, I
believe. It's about $40. It is a lite version of the full-featured
Photoshop, and allows you to do a lot of things with your digital
photos. One of those things is to assemble a bunch of photos into a
web-based photo gallery. Then all you have to do is copy them up to
the web somewhere. If it's club-related I can put them up on our
website for you.
So, all you folks who were at the fly-in,
send me your photos, and submit your stories right here.
|
|
cccfpd (Dave Clement)
|
Re: St Helena
flight report 5-10
I'm very lucky to have met and flown with so many great pilots and
friends of the Sonoma Wings Club. Saturday was my first flight off
of St Helena , and what a nice flight it was. My son Tom came along
too and helped his old dad carry his glider and gear to the
take-off. Then he went back and helped Kurt carry his rigid and
someones harness to take-off. I'm hoping that I can get him started
this summer with some lessons. I'm looking for someone who is
qualified to teach hanggliding locally. Please give me a call if you
can help us. Back to my first flight, it was fantastic. Almost 2
hours in the air and a great meal afterwards, it just doesn't get
any better then that. Mt St. Helena will certainly be in my future
more often. Thanks Todd for the ride up also, I owe you some fuel $.
Looking forward to the next outing with these wonderful pilots and
families. Hope to bring Fred next time. Thanks Dave Clement :D
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|
Ernie Camacho
|
More
photos
Here's a bunch of photos taken by Charley Warren, with a few by
Donna Matthias. They were taken on the Tuesday before the fly-in and
during the fly-in.
Click here for Charley's photos
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|
Chris Gallagher
|
Great flyin and
feedin
Here is my two cents worth. I don't know how long I was in the air
cause I didn't check my watch or set my chrono on the vario. I do
know I had a great time in the air and on the ground. I just turned
the tips up on my litespeed and was eager to see if it thermaled any
better. It did. I launched right after Justin went almost straight
up in his paraglider, into a nice thermal, right under a passing
cloud. Got out in front of launch and cranked it up to 4400 ft right
away. I followed it behind launch until I lost it then fought
massive sink just to clear launch.
I then flew
out to the spine and looked up at several gliders way above the peak
and tried to figure out how to join them. I worked broken lift along
the spine and out in front of the north face for what seemed like
ages before I found the express elevator up.
From then on
it was up down up down from 6500 to 5500 for the rest of the flight.
I flew all over the mountain and looked longingly back at Berryessa
as the cloud tendrils were touching my sail but some days it is not
all about the flying. I began to get very hungry and as the sky
began to clear of gliders I knew I better get down to eat some of
that excellent mexican food. As a good Texas boy I have a major
addiction to the stuff. I flew out over launch and then went on to
use Joe Montana's as a turn point. The lift in the valley seemed to
be everywhere as I slowly worked my way down. It got a bit rowdy in
the last 500 feet or so and I decided I didn't want to embarrass
myself in front of the crowd or break my glider so I landed in the
big field with the smell of lupine all around. My lovely wife came
out to meet me with a cold beer and a hug. My friend, Steve, who
brought his family for the festivities came to help me carry.
:-)
It doesn't
get much better than this. Beautiful weather, great flying, good
food and wonderful companions. Deborah, Steve and his family all had
a great time too.
Thanks to all who made this possible.
Sunday was mothers day so I gave the day to my wife and family. Hope
you were able to kill the keg.
|
| Scot
Huber
|
Flight Report
/Diablo 5-10-03
Got off the hill early as it was looking good. Nice fat cumies and
high cloud base. Scratched down Lime Ridge NW of Juniper launch
loosing 500' before I found a good core to 5000. Headed over the top
and climbed to 5200 before heading toward Windy Point to the SE.
Winds were from the west down low but NW above 5000. Figured if I
could get south of the Altimont I'd have a tail wind so went for it.
Got low at Windy but used ridge lift to work along toward Brushy
Peak. Was down to 1600' in front of Brushy but got a garbage thermal
off the land fill and worked it up to 4700'. Crossed the freeway low
to the south of the Altimont Pass but found a nice core back to
5000'. As soon as I was past the Altimont the winds went NW at 10. A
nice cloud street was in front of me and my driver (Thanks Mark) was
under me. I found a ripper a few miles farther south and was off and
running after a slow begining. I was topping out around 6000 and
making good time until I really had to pee about the 50 mile mark.
Lost 3000 ft taking off gloves and getting it done. Was out toward
Hwy 5 at Crows Landing exit and unzipped with a few more turns left
when I got a low save, which I had help in finding with 3 Redtails.
Back to 4000' heading down Hwy 5 I got low where I had landed on my
last flight but had enough altitude to work light lift until I found
a good one right at the dam on O'neil Forebay to the west of Santa
Nella. This one took me to 5000 and drifted me over the bay. I'm
guessing the afternoon sea breeze and warm valley air were
converging here as there was lft going off everywhere. I headed
south down five as it was getting late 6pm and figured the day would
soon be over. As I crossed the Hwys 152/5 interchange I got a boomer
to 6700 at 6:15 which was the highest I got all day. Go figure.
Worked the hills in zero sink for about 20 more miles and put her
down in a big field next to the freeway just south of the J1 Mercy
Hot Springs exit. It was 7:06. Mark was soon on the scene and we
whooped it up and celebrated a great day at( Ryans Place ) a good
resteraunt in Los Banos.
5Hrs. 43 mns. 102.3 miles Scot
ps,
special thanks to Chris McKeon
|
| Chris
McKeon
|
Re: Flight
Report /Diablo 5-10-03
To the team of Scot and Mark.
I got a voice mail
message from Mark today Sunday. He
sounded pretty tired. He said
he and Scot did not get home until very late at night. I think he
saiid he did not get home until 11:00 PM. He said Scot had a
_really_ long flight this time.
Being that Scot's Los Banos
XC was about 80 Miles I had good feeling that Scot might have
broken a 100
miles from Diablo.
Way to go
Scot!
Also we can not say enough about Mark my driver/helper.
He was the one who found Scot's tip wand in the
field.
He has been totally up for driving. And being a
Newbee
dirver he has done a excellent job.
I guess I will
hear all bout it tomorrow at work.
Best
Regards.
Chris.
|
|
cccfpd (Dave Clement)
|
Diablo
Report
After talking to Robert Moore on Sunday evening, I found out that a
few other local pilots also did well off Diablo on Saturday. Kevin
Dutt flew approx. 80 miles on a flex wing, a couple of rigids went
for about 55 miles each. Mark Grubbs and Steve (something) were the
pilots. Robert stated he took the wrong path and didn't go far.
Dave Clement
|
| kb6nyu
|
Diablo
5-10-03
Scot-
Good job and congrats on Saturday. Good thing for you
that you were on another frequency...we had to listen to Kevin
Dutt's VOX keying up through the whole flight.
-mark grubbs
|
|
Vince Endter
|
Re: Diablo 100
miler
Scot, congratulations! I told Nancy Saturday morning that it was a
100 mile day. I'm glad you proved me right. My shoulder should be
good enough to fly by this weekend.
Vince
|
| Bill
Vogel
|
Mt Diablo
Scot, when I saw your post, I could not believe it, never thought Mt.
Diablo had that kind of potential. I talked with Chris and he told me more.
Were you flying your flex wing or rigid wing? I tried to follow your
direction but do not know the area that well. I need to get a topo
and see what ridges you followed. Pretty amazing. Bill
|
|
Hangfly
|
Elk Mt
Report, 5/16
Saturday was windy and rough. Four pilots opted not to fly. Ray,
Matt, Charley, Greg S and Ernie flew. We got to 4500' in mostly
ridge lift with broken stringy thermals mixed in. I think I had the
longest flight, at 1:05. Everyone had good landings in the creekbed
dispite very turbulent conditions the last couple hundred
feet.
The club was not very well attended. Some locals who were
there to fly didn't even attend! Greg will be posting the full
report.
Hangfly
|
| MattsFlyin
|
Elk
The first annual meeting at a flying site was a huge...failure.
Poor flying conditions and even worse attendance at the meeting.
Who's idea was this anyway?
Oh
well, the few that did attend had a great time anyway.
Next
time I suggest we set the meeting place a day or two prior so we can
check the weather!! The whole purpose of this idea is to have the
meetings where we will get the highest number of members to attend
and to include those who live too far from Santa Rosa.
Looks
like the June meeting is back in town but I'll probably miss it due
to flying!
The July meeting could be somewhere awesome! Where
will most of us be??
Matt
|
|
Barry Levine
|
Owens Memorial
Weekend 2003
I hope Woodrat was fun--you missed some fun.
The NWS called for
general phatness Friday:
OWENS VALLEY AND ADJACENT EASTERN SIERRA
SLOPES-
> INCLUDING BISHOP...ASPENDELL...LONE
PINE...OLANCHA...MT WHITNEY
>
> NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
LAS VEGAS NV
> 330 AM PDT THU MAY 22 2003
>
FRIDAY...BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY... A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS
OVER
THE
> MOUNTAINS IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGHS IN THE MID
90S. LIGHT WIND. CHANCE OF
RAIN
> 20 PERCENT.
>
FRIDAY NIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY... A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS
OVER THE
> MOUNTAINS IN THE EVENING.
We drove down via
Tehachapi Thursday night, made camp in the Alabama hills
at 3a.m.
Friday we had launch to ourselves at Walt's pt, and
conditions
looked as good as promised. Windless, with first
cumuli popping before 9:30.
Scott got off first, I was about
fourth in sequence, at 11:02. I got up at
the saddle in big easy
lift (maybe we should have launched an hour earlier?)
and headed
north. By Whitney Portal, I was high enough to wonder why
the
radio was so quiet (turns out that I had neglected lock my
keypad, but I
wouldn't confirm that until after I had landed). I
didn't drop under 12k
from Lone Pine Peak until Goodale. Fluffy
white cu's around 17k, showing just a bit of South wind. The Wall
was just one more thermal
trigger en route. I arrived at Goodale
at 13k, left it at 15k (couldn't see
any evidence of my wreckage
there) and proceeded to Tinemaha, where a rigid
wing was already
high above me. I sank like a brick crossing to Tinemaha,
but
there was no evidence of West wind, either in my track or
in
cloudtracks. Actually, there were no clouds just here--just
Tinemaha baking
in the sun at 1pm. I topped out at 15.7k again
there, and was thinking of
crossing the valley when I blundered
into another core that took me to
17,842', still with little
drift. I set out gliding towards Black, through the usual howling
sink. Down to
11,8k over Lone Pine, I found a valley thermal and
climbed again to 17,8k. I
took the opportunity to thaw the valve
of my camelback in my mouth, take a
drink and a dried banana,
then arrived on top of Black at 12k. As I was
climbing over
Black, I got to watch two other gliders scratching its
surface. I
have never succeeded in climbing up on Black, and was glad
to
skip that stage this day. Topping out at 15k, I headed north.
At 11k over
Flynn's I got to experiment with unusual attitudes,as
I was pounded in the
Black rotor. The gliders lower than me were
having no more fun, and several
flights ended there that day.
Life was better after I got near Paiute. I
again climbed over
15k, then lost much of it crossing onto White. I found
myself
scratching up the face of White, on a phat day, from 10k. The
lift
was smooth, and I kept circling, from down below treeline,
wondering when the punchline would arrive.
At 15k I felt high
enough to pull on VG and point north. The vario didn't
stop
singing. Northbound at barstuff, I reached 16k, 16.5k, 17k. By
this
time, I was angling out towards route 6 and the edge of the
cloudstreet.
Finally, I reached Boundary standing in sunshine,
beyond the development. It
was disappointingly calm there. I flew
right over the peak without a beep.
By now I had run out of O2
(gotta get a bigger bottle). Since I had no radio
contact, it was
going to be Janie's. Big sink between Boundary and the
runway got
me down for an uneventful landing, 102 miles in 4hrs58min,
my
first 100miler. I pulled out the radio (confirmed that I
hadn't locked the
keypad), set it back onto our frequency, and
contacted Ryan. He completed
his first 100miler for the year
about twenty minutes behind me. He went on to fly another 100miler
Saturday, among the holiday crowd (60gliders?)while I chose to
drive. Sunday looked unpleasant enough that I tore down at launch.
Monday dawned bright and calm. I got up at the saddle, but it
took 40minutes to reach 11k. I started WORKING my way northward,
climbing on every bump, rarely getting over 11.7k. Finally I could
see Lone Pine Peak. It's tall, it's steep, it's out front, and it's
baking in the sun. Surely I could crawl up the terrain there? I
arrived below 10k, and scraped up Lone Pine's exquisitely rugged
face to 11.1k before jumping Whitney Portal. I made it back to the
same ceiling on the other side. Rather than run up the Sierra low,
as the highway got further away, I headed out. Scott had already
landed above Manzanar, and managed to lead me by the hand into a
thermal over his field. This got me out to I-395, and I managed to
connect the dots, drifting up the freeway in occasional bugfarts as
far as Independence before succumbing to gravity. A better pilot
might have crossed onto the skirts of Mazurka. 3hrs20min, never
above 11.4k for maybe 25miles. I would have been proud to pull a
long flight out of that day!
respectfully submitted this 27th of
May, 2003
Barry
|
| Scot
Huber
|
Owens Memorial
weekend/ flight reports
I took off late for Walts 11:37 Fri. morning. Beamed right up to
14,500 and headed toward Whitney getting to 16,500 before passing
over it. Beautiful cumy filled sky and a nice 10 mph SE tailwind
made the going easy. Any way I passed all the flexwings with Barry
the last at Tinnemaha where I was at 17,500 before heading out into
the valley. I only thermaled maybe 6 times the whole Sierras. Just
dolphin flying between 14,500 and 17, 000 and climbing to 17,500 at
Tinnemaha. I crossed following clouds and bypassed Black completely
coming in at Paiute at around 14,000 after catching good lift in the
valley. My driver had a tooth ache when I went to pick him up so I
was planning on an out and return, using my motorcycle to retrieve
my vehicle from the mt. It was sitting at the postage stamp which
was my planned landing spot. I flew to White Mt. and with virga
falling beyond it decided to turn back there. I was at 81.5 miles in
2hrs. 30mns. Wanted a 100mile out and return but not to be with the
OD. Anyway I flew 44 miles back toward Walts and then succumbed to
ground suck and the strong south wind. It was 5:16 . the return
flight took 3hrs and 7mns. to go 44 miles. I caught a ride with the
Berkeley gang back to my bike and then drove up and got the truck and
then retrieved my glider which was stashed in the mesquite back at
Aberdeen station Rd. where I landed. They had no room for my wing. I
got to Tuttle for a late dinner and then to bed about midnight.
I flew 125.5 miles total but my flight paths only crossed near
Black which gives me a 27 mile O@R to White Mt. for 108 GFI
points.
Sat. I decided to leave the bike in Lone Pine and do a
defined task which I had previously scoped out on the computer. I
also figured out a mount for my camera on the Atos on launch so got
off late again at 12:15. I flew over Whitney again but this time
right over the peak by 200 ft. Wanted to shout to some hikers but
none there as the Mt. is buried in snow. I flew to Mt. Keith which
is just past Mt. Williamson for the first leg. 20 miles. Got to
16,750 over Keith and headed for Mazourka Peak on the Inyos. Climbed
out at Mazourka and headed for Mt. Waucoba the highest peak in
Westgard Pass and my second turn point. took some work to get high
enough to make it there and out but finally did it after climbing to
16,500 at Mt. Inyo. It's 29 miles from Keith. I then turned and
headed for Cerro Gordo launch just south of Cerro Gordo Peak at the
south end of the Inyos.36 miles away. The lift was smoking over the
Inyos and I didn't turn for over an hour going 30+ miles into a
headwind of around 12 to 15 from the SEto SW. I stayed between
15,000 and 16,500 the whole way seeing numerous sailplanes all
around me but mostly below me. No hanggliders. I turned just beyond
Burgess Mine beyond New York Peak to get a wind indication on my
Aircotec. It showed SW at around 17 here. I was at 16, 000. I headed
to Cerro Gordo to the SE finding lots of lift with a cell developing
right over Keeler and approaching Cerro. I got my turnpoint and
headed for Lone Pine getting sleeted on passing through virga. Had a
nice rainbow behind me as I flew out into the sun. Hope I got it on
film. I wanted to complete a flight to Mt. Keith for a near 100 mile
triangle but it also had a cell over it and after working the
Alabama Hills for little lift decided it wasn't doable. so turned
back and landed in Lone Pine. Total distance on course was 101 miles
not counting the 8 miles I flew closer to Keith over the Alabamas
and back to Lone Pine. 5hrs 22mns. 101 GFI points.
Sunday was
clear with cirrus clouds so decided to head to Washoe and try for a
flight off of
Slide Mt. Monday getting some shots of Lake Tahoe
surrounded in snow. No luck it looked as bad as sunday so drove home
early to beat the rush.
I really enjoyed flying the task on Sat.
and landing 10 miles from launch was also great. I'm thinking we
should do more defined tasks and save our drivers and gas money and
hrs on the road for special days when it looks like a record is
doable. Maybe I'm just getting old
;-) Scot
|
|
Vince Endter
|
Re: Owens
Memorial weekend/ flight reports
Great flights for all who went to the Owens this past weekend. I
heard that is was the most crowded it has been in 4 or 5 years.
Scot, I'm glad to see someone else trying flights other than just
down wind runs. Rich and I have been trying to spread the word that
these defined flights can give a pilot a real sense of
accomplishment when completed. I have some ideas for the St. John
fly in.
Vince
|
| Leo
Jones
|
Defined
flights!!!!
Well!
Dare I say ITYS?
It takes a few seasons maybe,
of getting blown downwind, before you begin to see the
light!
Leo
|
| Scot
Huber
|
Defined
Flights
I guess the superior performance of an Atos makes defined flights
so much easier to accomplish that I find them now more fun, although
had I had a driver I probably would of gone for the big miles.
There's just not many places around here to accomplish a hundred
mile task but I bet a triangle from Hull to Elk to St John and back
would be a good challenge. Anyone up for it this weekend? Lori will
be here to chase and I bet Linda could fire up Rich for the
challenge. Maybe we could have different pilots starting from
different sites that way if someone goes down on route they could be
retrieved locally. We could all meet up after for dinner somewhere.
Who can you make it? Larry may come out with his new Bird too.
hh
|
| Ashley Groves
|
Owens
Flights
I had my intro to the Owens via Eric Froehlich, Wayne Michelsen,
and Ben Rogers. We met Rob, another fellow pilot that Eric knows, at
the site.
Saturday:
Rob had a great flight Friday, and was
willing to be driver. The four of us launch. WOW is all I can say.
It was a lot of scale to wrap my brain around. I am scratching, yet
I am at 12,000 ft, that's 8,000 ft above the valley floor. I topped
out at 14,600 and should of gone back above the peaks, but I was
playing it conservative and skirted the front fingers on my first
day.
Eventually I made a silly mistake of blundering into the
lee side of a mountain with the Southerly winds while low, and then
I just punched out to the valley. I got out at 9,000 and decided
just to boat over the valley floor and land. I flew to 395. I was
going to see how far North I could go but that involved flying over
some strange black swirls mixed with the sage brush. I was not too
sure what that was, so I decided not to risk landing there. That was
a good choice, as that was nasty lava fields.
So I flew back
South instead. The descent was bumpy and trashy, but I had a nice no
stepper in the sage brush. I landed North of the Rest Stop, at 34.6
miles from the launch.
That was the shortest flight in the
group. Eric cleared Bishop. Ben and Wayne jumped the valley and flew
up the Whites, but did not push through some nasty looking clouds
further North and also landed up along 6.
Sunday:
Eric
volunteered as driver. The day turned out to look light. Rob and I
decide to save ourselves for an evening flight when the predicted
Westerlies flow in, while Ben and Wayne launch. Both of them beat
our predictions and the bulk of pilots and land up near Big Pine.
The wind was South all day, so no evening flight
happened.
Monday:
Even lighter but nothing to save
ourselves for. Rob volunteers as Driver. Eric and I land at the
postage stamps (closest bail out). Wayne and Ben get to Whitney
Portal, but cannot climb above 11, 500. Not wanting to fly low and
far from the closest road, they land near Lone Pine.
At least
1 good day, and I had a great time.
|
| Bruce
Rhymes
|
Memorial Day/
Woodrat Mtn.
Greetings, from Lassen County! Back home in Susanville, I'm glad to
be able to put faces with the names I see on the Bulletin Board,
now. It was good to meet and fly with you all at Woodrat. Wish I'd
chased Todd and Lou, though! My tandem with Liz Hern was a fun
ending to the weekend, and her first-ever hang gliding flight...
felt like we ran a loooong way on launch, and the cycle was
definitely lighter than I'd prefer. Knew it was safe enough, but do
any of you have a critique for a Tandem 1 pilot? Wings were level,
nose attitude felt right for me, just a long run... lemme know,
anyway. The landing was fine, just tangled our feet up on the
one-stepper. She's talking about becoming bi-wingual, and we didn't
even soar! See y'all at King, if not before. -Bruce Rhymes
|
|
Hangfly
|
Re: Memorial
Day/ Woodrat Mtn.
This was my first time at Woodrat and it was lots of fun. I've
never flown with so many paragliders. At one point I was flying with
literaly dozens of them. Nasty wakes! I made a big circle around
one. That was cool. I only flew Sunday. I'm sure people who were
there for more of the flying will fill you in on their flights.
Here's what I know. Lou flew 18.5 miles, Todd 18.1. Lou and I
both flew for 3:20 on Sunday. Matt got chewed out by an angry
landowner. There were 17 Sonoma Wings members there. Please fill in
anyone I missed. If my memory serves they were Bill V,Todd, Lou,
Matt and Lori, Donna, Kurt, Brian P, Charley, Greg S, Gregg H, Bob
Stanley, Albert n Alison, Dianna M, Larry Smith and Chris G. There
were over 100 pilots entered. I'm sure more than that flew because I
wasn't entered.
Hangfly the Airhead
|
|
Gregg Hackett
|
Re: Memorial
Day/ Woodrat Mtn.
Last I heard there were 116 entered. It was very crowded in the
sky, especially with those pointy things flying so fast...;0).
Grant, Iris, Mark B. and I went down to Heard on Sunday but by the
time we found the LZ and launch it was blown out. We then went to
Potato Hill and flew Monday. I think Sonoma Wings had more people
there than any other group. It was a lot of fun and I would
encourage all to go next year (oh yeah, we did all go).
Gregg
|
|
Albert Branson
|
Re: Memorial
Day/ Woodrat Mtn.
Just wanted to put in my two cents worth. Allison and I had a great
time. Gregg Hackett, Thanks for saveing us a great spot to camp.
Matt and Lori, what can I say... you ROCK! The dinner we put
together Sunday night was awsome. Hanging with you at the fire was a
great time for us. It was great to see Billy V and Cathy there with
the "palace". Thanks for the ride up. I still owe you. Kurt, it was
fun to fly around above and below you as you skipped through the
sky. Brian, it was cool to finaly see you fly the Mosquito. Charley
and Elaine. So good to see the two of you out and about in the
flying scene. Wish we could have all camped together. Todd, Susie,
Kelsey, and Luna, always good to see your family. Lou, dude it was
fun to watch you take on the air, and do so well. I will drive for
you anytime. It was also a nice drive back to Lake county with you.
You are a cool person. It is nice to get to know you.
I think I
will return next year if I can see you all there.
Albert
|
|
Ernie Camacho
|
Flying Hull
5/24-25
I didn't make it to Woodrat. The transmission in my Land Cruiser blew shortly after I
got on 5, up by Willows. I had AAA tow me and my tent trailer to
Rich Sauer's transmission shop in Lakeport. Luckily the 2 tows were
within the limits of my Plus Card so I didn't have to pay. Rich
picked me up at the shop and treated me to a night at his place.
Saturday morning the Sauer family and I went to Hull where we met up
with: Gunter, Roy Wormington, Doug Carmichael, Shawn Stiver, Mike
Kunitani, Steve Acton, Roger Butler, and Andy Long. The sky was
clear but the wind was northy. At Timberline we had to wait for
short respites from the right crosswind, then two or three would
launch in a rush. The lift was light and broken, but with skill you
could stay up for a nice flight. I didn't work the lift as well and
landed in the slot (the regular LZ is under water) after about 50
minutes.
Mike invited me to spend the night at his cabin,
which he was preparing for the season, and get a ride home with him
on Sunday.
Sunday found only Mike, Shawn, me, and Shawn's
driver friend Jim, at the LZ. The cloud layer was low, around 5,800
at times, but the wind was straight in and we were able to play tag
with the wispys as the clouds blew through from the west. It was a
fun flight, and a nice weekend. I just wonder what it would have
been like if I'd make it up to Oregon.
|
|
Hangfly
|
Re: Flying Hull
5/24-25
Yea for Rich and Mike! We wondered all weekend what Ernie was
doing. Thanks for helping him fly.
Woodrat was lots of fun. I've
never flown with so many paragliders. At one point I was flying with
literaly dozens of them. Nasty wakes! I only flew Sunday. I'm sure
people who were there for more of the flying will fill you in more
on their flights. Here's what I know. Lou flew 18.5 miles, Todd
18.1. Lou and I both flew for 3:20 on Sunday. Matt got chewed out by
an angry landowner. There were 16 Sonoma Wings members there. If my
memory serves they were Bill V,Todd, Lou, Matt and Lori, Donna,
Kurt, Brian P, Charley, Greg S, Gregg H, Bob Stanley, Albert n
Alison, Dianna M and Chris G. There were over 100 pilots entered.
I'm sure more than that flew because I wasn't entered. Ernie, I'm
glad you were able to salvage your weekend, you would have had a
great time at Woodrat!
Hangfly the Airhead
|
|
buzzett
|
others
Vince also flew on Saturday. He flew up in his cardinal and landed
at gravely.
Linda
|
| Shawn
|
Hull Monday
Report
Monday at Hull started with a solid overcast, and no wind at the
lake. As the morning progressed, the overcast gradually burned away,
and by the time we got to launch around 1pm, it had turned into a
clear blue day. After watching a raven chase off a pair of bald
eagles at launch, I took off around 1:45. The lift was scratchy at
best, but I was able to work mutlple cores around the Red Spot for
around 45 minutes up to about 5900' before the lift was shut off
like a light switch and I flew down the spine to the airport without
finding a single workable thermal. The wind was coming off the trees
in the slot so I made a non eventful landing at the airport in 5-8
mph winds. After I launched I got to fly with one of the eagles I
saw earlier, he made a couple of turns with me at the Red Spot
before heading on his way. Awesome!
Shawn
|
| Dallas
|
Idaho over
Memorial Day
Hi all,
I woke up on Friday the 23rd at 6am to take my fiancee
to the airport and then went to work, finally left Sacramento at
3pm. Took me 1.5 hours to get to Auburn (should have taken 20
minutes) however from there on to Twin Falls, Idaho it was smooth
driving. Arrived at my parent's house at 2am MST. Fell asleep by 3am
and woke 2.5 hours later at 5:30am for the 2 hour drive to King
Mountain. Arrive at King at 8:00am, wait for about 20 minutes for a
fellow aerobatic pilot Dik Kalbus to arrive, throw on with him, pick
up a bagger and the three of us plus my dad (as driver) head up
Coyote Mt.
We're set up and running off the very top of the hill
towards the backside (east) directly into the wind. I come around
the valley, follow the ridge a bit to gain some altitude and arrive
at the LZ with probably 2,800 ft of play space (no vario). Give a
hoop and holler, and nail a 5 full rotation spin right off the bat.
Pull out of the spin, come up, nice deep stall, and slam the bar
back to my toes with my knees at my chin. Dive dive dive, ease the
bar up, ease it up further on up over the top into another sweet
dive for another loop and then one more dive for a kickin' rollover
to the left. Bring the glider into a tight downwind base and
screaming hot uphill final to a nice no stepper.
Dik follows and
apparently almost launches unhooked (my dad saw it and saved him
from who knows what kind of pain) then I guess launched nose high
and had quite an eventfull and explictive filled runout. He gets off
ok though, but doesn't seem to find the lift that I found and gets
to the lz with only enough room for a 120 degree climbover before
landing.
We try to break down quickly but its hard with everyone
in the lz wanting to ask questions and chat. Finally broken down and
head up to King for the afternoon fun. We should have gotten up
there 2 hours earlier :-( Most pilots that day got to around 16,500
and many went south to the Arco airport though a couple hopped over
the back past Coyote and went to another airport who's name escapes
me.
My mom has a nice chat with Lori (Hi Lori!) while I'm setting
up and by the time I'm ready to go the wind has really shifted from
the north. No one is willing to risk the north launch so there's
lots of sitting around waiting. Kevin Frost finally barrels off and
is followed by another guy in what appeared to be a lighten-ing of
the north to allow a couple thermals to come up the hill. Wrong.
They acutally launched into a pretty nasty rotor and get hammered
the whole way out the lz. This spooks everyone and all but 4 people
break down and drive down the mountain. The rest of us wait it out
and watch the virga and cells dropping out in the valley. Really
pretty.
Finally Dik decides to try the North ramp, barrels off
and goes through the washing machine in that crazy scary looking
valley. Comes out ok and puts her down nice. After we loose sight of
him the wind stops. I means stops stops. Like the wind sock and
streamers are hanging limp. There's 3 of us left, the other two are
still really spooked and are afraid of a cell that's dropping a good
amount of rain about 30 miles to the south of us (remember the wind
was from the north most of the day so what's the problem?). I get
annoyed waiting and push in front. Wait for the streamers to go limp
again, and RUN run run run run. Perfect no wind launch from 7500ft.
Sweeeeeeet. Fly out over the lz and immediately start going up. Make
it to 8,600 ft before I test the boundries of this 'thermal' and
find that most of the valley is lifting and the sky has become
completly overcast. Spooked of cloudsuck and the possibility of
gusts/changing wind directions and run away from the lift, find some
cold air and duck back down to the lz for a decent into the wind but
downhill landing.
I guess Sunday up there was good too (report
Lori?) but people couldn't break through 9-10k. I worked on a new
camera mount all day at my parent's house then Monday went 20
minutes to a small town called Kimberly where I did two flights (15
min, and 45 min) off a 700 foot tall 3 mile long ridge that faces
due west into the prevailing wind. Tried out two camera mounts and
had fun scratching 50 feet below launch for awhile before gaining
enough to top land both times.
Drove back Tuesday and went to bed
:-)
-Dallas
|
|
Lori Allen
|
Re: Idaho over
Memorial Day
Dallas, I don't have a lot to report. I had a soaring flight on
Sunday but sure as hell didn't deserve it. :(
Surely you
didn't miss my launch that caused such a social stir at upper. I
obviously have an issue with jumping into my launch the first slope
launch of the year after not slope launching for many months. Work,
weather and a knee injury (from a bonked landing dammit!) are my
excuses.
Was
going back to the training hill this week but I've been ill ever
since I got home on Sunday which may have contributed to my rather
lethargic attempt to get off. I did this last year at McClellan and
bonked in. This year I got away with it, but it upsets me more
because last year should have taught me a lesson. Next time no
flying until I've done some training hill warm-up launches. I've
still got to many cliff-launch/tow dolly bad habits that haven't
gone away apparently.
By the way, your parents were totally
cool. Your mother seems to take your aerobatic activities in stride
it seems.
Lori
|
| Dallas
|
pics
Like I said, I wish I could have launched 3 or so hours earlier to
get the good sun light and rippin thermals but alas. Anyway here are
some pictures to whet your whistle for the upcoming meet...
homepage.mac.com/dallas_w...inMay2003/
|
|
Greg Sugg
|
Re: pics
Dallas, You're our primary anti gravity and unusual attitudes
technician. I was hoping for a picture or two with the horizon
upside down :-)
.
Thanks for your fun reports.
Greg
|
|
Hangfly
|
5/31-6/1 Weekend Flight
reports
Hull was not very good this weekend. Wind was mostly blowing strong
over the back. Scot and I flew Saturday. It was an uneventful race
to the LZ at the airport windsock. Sunday a lot of Berkley pilots
flew as well as a bunch of Sonoma Wings pilots. It was a little
better conditions but still pretty much a flight down. The LZ was
certainly more eventful. One Berkley pilot slid sideways 50' on his
belly on landing. Justin groundlooped hard and got a little banged
up. He broke a keel and downtube also. There was a severe gradient
coming into the airstrip.
My son Philip saw two gliders over St
John Saturday. Who were they? Where did they go?
Charley :b
|
|
buzzett
|
Sunday
On Sunday Albert and Bill flew Elk with Allison and me as chase.
They both landed in the alternate LZ. After the flight, Rich and
Daniel joined us for a swim in the creek and cheescake to celebrate
my birthday. Thanks Albert and Allison for making it a memorable
day.
Linda
|
|
buzzett
|
Saturday
I didn't realize my Sat. report didn't post. Here it is.
Rich ,
Bill, Daniel and I drove over to Hull. The cross wind was stronger
than the week-end before. The boys opted not to fly. I got to have
a great visit with Lori as we raced Scot to the LZ. I hope your cold
is better! After visiting with everyone and shareing a bottle of
wine for my B-day, we headed home to get Kim and meet Scot and Lori
for dinner in Ukiah at El Sombrero. What a great week-end all
around.
Linda
|
|
Chris Gallagher
|
Flight
Report, Reno 6/7-8
I only had one day to fly this weekend so I went to Reno and met
some of the Diablo regulars. We drove up to Slide and when we got to
launch at 12:30 there was hardly any room left to set up. The place
was packed I'm telling you. The paragliders were way up there and
the hang gliders were just beginning to launch. This was my first
time at Slide so I set up and watched a few launches and climb outs
so I could get a feel for what was happening. I wound up helping a
few launches and before you know it I was the last one off at 1:32.
I went over to the chutes and worked one up to 13.5K by
drifting back over launch. The winds were just then beginning to
take over from the NW and it got choppy and broken so I decided to
head south along the spine. The sink was incredible there so I
jumped the valley and got over Duck hill with about 7.9K. I
scratched around there for what seemed an eternity and drifted SE
along the hills till I hooked one back up to 11.8K. I then went
North of the Carson airport and then back out over Carson toward the
valley, staying just west of Prison Hill and Hot Springs Mountain. I
got back down to 8K at the south end of Carson and worked one up to
11K and headed South to Minden. Got down to 7.8K SW of the Douglas
county airport and was looking for landing fields when I found some
very light stuff to scratch in. I drifted SE of the Minden airport
and slowly crawled to 9.3K for about 3 miles of drifting along
watching the sailplanes tow up, when I caught one that took me back
to 13K. I then headed for the end of the valley. I didn't think I
was going to make it through the gap as the valley climbs back up
toward Bodie Flat and got really low just South of the fish
hatchery. I found a nice big, flat field right by 395 and began to
set up my landing. I unzipped my harness and started my approach
when my vario started screaming at 1,200 ft/min. I was then sucked
up to 15K and was grinning from ear to ear. I headed out over Bodie
Flat on a long glide with the intention of jumping the low hills to
the east and heading back up the next valley. It was not to be. The
bottom dropped out and I set up for a landing at Holbrook Junction
where 208 connects with 395. As I turned up wind I stopped flying
forward. It was a zero to one glide into a stiff wind. I stuffed the
bar to my knees for a 2 to 1 glide, managed to fly over the power
lines and at about 5 feet from the ground the bottom fell out and I
sacrificed a down tube to the XC gods. I was all fired up and my
chase crew pulled up just as got to the road. We started breaking
down as quickly as we could because we needed to pick up another
pilot who had flown over the Pine nut mountains to just NE of
Yerington.
As we were breaking down I looked up and saw an
EMT walking through the sage toward us. I then saw a fire truck and
two paramedics in full turnout gear right behind him. I walked over
and assured them I was fine and talked them out of a medical exam.
After we chatted a little bit they turned around the other fire
truck and invited us to their barbecue in town. We went back to
breaking down and as I turned around I was face to face with a
sherriff who was standing right behind me. He asked me if it were a
"planned landing", to which I replied I planned to fly further but
when I couldn't I picked this field and put her down. He was happy
because he didn't want to file any paper work. After a short radio
conversation he was satisfied and on his way.
3 hrs 20 mins.
Go for it miles--44.15 (a new personal best, thank you)
|
|
Albert Branson
|
Re: Flight
Report
GREAT JOB CHRIS! Congratulations! A great story too.
Albert
|
| Bruce
Rhymes
|
re: Flight
Report
Nice going, Chris! Your flight beats my best flight at Slide, and
I've been there a bunch! We'll try to add more miles at King with
you and the rest of the bunch... Bruce Rhymes
|
| Dallas
|
My First XC! aka
I went to slide too...
homepage.mac.com/dallas_w...lide60703/
(I
hit the hood of my lens on the guard rail so it blocked the corners
of my lens which is why they're black, oh well still turned out
pretty good).
Short version: 2.5 hours, 32 miles for my first
XC flight ever!
Longer version: I was the first one at launch
at 9am on Saturday, but one of the last to finish setting up because
of mounting a camera and being an abassador of the sport to a couple
really nice tourists. Finally get ready to launch and waiting in
line I get frustrated looking at the paras and a couple other
gliders hanging out at 15k while no one is launching. So I move to
the east launch, as soon as I get over the rail, the somewhat south
wind stops, so I level the wings and run off in a no winder and
immediatley start going up. 3 turns later I look back to see the
lemmings pile off the mountain.
I stick close to the
mountains for most of the flight, only taking a quick detour out to
Carson City for a ride back up to 16k from a lonely small but
forming cloud before heading back to the range. I got to 16,200 at
one point according to the vario and also hit 1200fpm that was so
silky smooth and easy to core that I couldn't believe it. Most of
the flight was ratty in lift (but really strong if you could find
it) and 600-1000 fpm down outside of it. Flying along at one point I
felt some light lift, started to turn left, and saw a golden eagle
off to my right, when I came back around he was 250 feet above me so
I turned to follow him and was rewarded with a much stronger and
smoother core.
I landed at the intersection of 88 and 206
when the rotor from the westerlies and the wall of storm stopped me
cold. Nice big cow pasture, downwind, base, final to a no stepper to
the northwest.
All this flying right side up is messing with
my head
-Dallas
|
| Scot
Huber
|
Flight
Reports - St. John
Nice flying Chris and Dallas. Nice pics. too. Wish I'd have been
there instead of St. John. it sucked. I flew around for 2.5 hrs. and
never got above launch. Some serious inversion in the valley. Landed
in town. I'd be up for Slide again this coming weekend if ST. J.
looks the same as this week. Scot
|
|
Charlie Nelson
|
Slide
short version... 30 miles to Rte 88 at the Carson River
long
version...... This was my first XC off Slide. I assumed I was
following a seasoned Slide pilot, who turned out to be Dallas :-)
I was
below and behind him most of the way, , getting to 15.6 K west of
Carson City. .......... .. I didn't see the eagle , should've been
higher I guess. .......
Great flying Brian, you must have
skirted the OD at the South end of Carson Valley. I saw virga there
at 2 pm......meanwhile I was scratching down low at Verdi, headed
out to land at the foot of the Sierra near a golf course, and hit a
big bubble at 500 AGL that took me to 10,000. Dallas was a short
distance above me , in the same thermal. He went to 11k or more,
nice work. I landed by a big cottonwood for shade , next to the
Carson R., it was about 92 degrees on the ground,and cold above,
making for a tremendous day.
Thanks for the ride Dave, Dallas,
and esp. Sarah for driving.
the
other Charlie
|
|
Albert Branson
|
Last
Sunday at Hull (6/8)
Nice day at Hull on Sunday. There were great folks flying that I
haven't flown with in a while. I really like this time of
year....reuniting with people you haven't seen all year, meeting new
folks showing up for the first time. Andy Long was waiting for
Allison and I at the Potter Valley store at a predetermined time so
that we could ride to the mountain together. After two years Kemosbe
and Tanto ride again. The flight was not memorable in terms of epic
flights, but the air offered a good challenge. Not a lot of time
over the top, but great practice scratching. It was great to see and
fly with Mike K. Andy, Greg Sugg, Bob Stanley. Nice to see that Todd
and Susie showed up, although I didn't get to fly with Todd much,
it's always great to see them. Kurt was there with Donna and the
family for some tandems and rigid stuff. Met Doug and Cindy. Great
folks. I hope to see them at the sites more this year. All in all, a
fun day.
Albert
|
|
Ernie Camacho
|
Grammar
Alert!
Grammar Police citation:
a. "Andy was waiting for me at the
store"
b. "Andy was waiting for I at the store"
Which sounds
correct? Right. So it has to be:
"Andy was waiting for Allison
and me at the store"
And I can see that your comic book
reading has been slacking. It's Kemosabe and Tonto.
And who
is this Bob Stanley fellow? I seem to remember someone by that
name...
Good to see you had fun Sunday. Saturday was similar,
with the inversion keeping us from getting up. Although a sledder is
always more fun than standing on the ground, a longer flight would
have been nice.
The sight of that sky diver falling out of
the sky was fun. He opened late enough to cause me to hold my
breath.
Some of the Elk Creek gang - Bob, Bob, Ken - came
over to fly. It was nice meeting them.
It was nice seeing
Brian take his first flight off Hull, a place he'd been to many
times during his life, but never before seen from this new vantage
point. Several pilots experienced Hull for the first time this
weekend. Makes me feel old...
Ernie
|
|
Greg Sugg
|
Flying XC
XC rules! Those of you who haven't flown XC should give it a try.
XC is a new definition of hang gliding to those who haven't tried
it. It rejuvenates hang gliding for those in the sport over ten
years like Viagra rejuvenates other things for those in the "sport"
for over 60 or 70 years. Even if you haven't been a pilot ALL that
long, If your launch and landing skills are good, and if your
judgement is good, try XC.! you'll love it. "I guarantee
it"!
Greg
|
| Leo
Jones
|
Training
hill - 6/8
On sunday 8th June, Jon, Matt and Laurie, Justin and Karin, and I
went out to meet the Meyers at the Foot Ranch, and to check out the
possibilities for using a hill on their land for limited
training.
Bruce and Margery Meyer were very gracious and made
us very welcome. I put up some nestboxes for owls to control rodents
on their dam. We had fun checking out the training hill. I tried to
fly an old "Dream" that was a piece of junk with a horrible left
turn in, as I found out (see photo). Jon had more fun with his old
Magic. Justin wowed the crowd with his paraglider.
It was a
very fun and productive afternoon. I think Ernie will put up links
to photos.
Leo
|
|
Ernie Camacho
|
Training hill -
Photos
Yep, here's the photos Leo sent me. They're up on the web site, but
the only way to get to them right now is:
through this link.
I'll
make a link to them from the St. Helena page as soon as I figure out
what to call it, or when it becomes more of a sure
thing.
Great work, all!
|
|
Vince Endter
|
Regionals 2003 flight report (6/20-22)
I don’t know if there is anyone left that will read this, but here
goes anyway. Rich, Jon, Bill, Larry and I flew at the regionals at
McClellan this past weekend. For reasons that are too long to
explain, I did not enter but was a wind dummy for the rigid wing
pilots. The lift of Friday was good with climbs to 11,000+ for some.
The sink was greater than the lift a lot of the time. I made goal in
three thermals. At one point I left one at 10,000’ and hit sink
greater than 600 fpm until I was on final to land next to hwy 50 at
the dry lake. I hit a little lift and was able to work it back to
8,000’ and an easy glide into goal. It turned out that most everyone
was making low saves that day. Jon was the first into goal but he
was one of the first to launch. Rich was 6th for the day. Bill got
flushed and landed about half way to goal. Bruce Barmakian was able
to glide from his first thermal at McClellan to a couple of miles
short of silver springs where he had to climb a couple of hundred
more feet. His time was 43 minutes.
Saturday was much like
Friday but with a little less tail wind and stronger sink. I was
over Virginia City at 11,500 and my vario said I had Silver Springs
by 600’. I went on glide and at one point it said I had it by
1,600’. Then I hit the really bad sink. Rich’s vario said 1,500+
down at this point. Mine said 1,100+ down. My vario showed that I
was 1,000’ low to make goal at 8 miles out. I turned in some lift
and was back in the black. As soon as I left the lift the bad sink
was back and I had to stop again to take a couple more turns as soon
as I found lift. I made goal by 200’. Rich was down so low a couple
of miles from goal that Jon (who was above him) said he did not see
how any air could get under him to lift him up. He pulled it out
though to win the day. Jon again was first to goal and was also one
of the first to launch. Bill made it and came across goal 3000’
high. He was having trouble coming down.
I left for home
Sunday morning after getting Scot’s WW control frame wires set up.
Linda called and said that Jon was again the first to goal and that
Rich had the fastest time to goal. Rich finished 3rd for the meet.
Jon said he had never been first to goal before this and now he does
it three times in a row.
Vince
|
| Dallas
|
Good
fun
Thanks for the report Vince. I free flew up there so didn't really
follow the comp. Here's the story I posted to FlightPlans:
I
went to regionals this weekend with Eric Froelhic and Ashley Groves.
We met up with Dave Merriman early Saturday morning in Carson City.
Dave is flying Clifton Moody's WW XC on account of doing a downwind
landing the day before and breaking a le on his Stealth. Dave sets
up first and goes to launch. Mushes off and takes out a downtube :-(
The rest of us launch near the end of the pack. We all get up and
Eric, Ashley and myself head over the back at different times and
altitudes. I go around 9,800. I continue my reign as the
one-thermal-wonder and find nothing but sink and dolphin flying all
the way to Dayton or about 15 miles. Eric makes it further up along
50 and Ashley wins our little group day by making it to the dry lake
bed. Dave drove, and after stopping at Ray Leonard's for a new
downtube picks us up.
Dave has the darn swell idea of
breaking down lickity split and hustling back up the mountain for
the glass off. We do, and Dave gets off first, then Eric, myself and
Ashley. Its blowing pretty darn strong but silky smooth. I had a
crumby launch but pulled it out ok. We soar around for about an
hour. I kissed 8k a couple times but that was all the higher we got
and had to be pretty careful about penatration. Dave and I decide
its our "mission from God" to terrorize Eric, and we chase him all
over the sky doing wangs and spins and flying tip to tip and trying
to get Eric (the only topless in our group) to let us stand on his
wing. Eric doesn't think this is near as much fun as Dave and I do
and keeps flying away :-) Eric and Ashley land while Dave and I
slink over to Duck Hill which we work for probably a dozen passes or
so, never more than 150-200 feet above the ground doing real slow
and flat turns, just milking every bit of it. We land after the sun
passes below the mountains. Sweeeeeeet.
The next morning,
Sunday, we launched from Slide. Dave is going to drive and we
corrdinate radios w/a great group of Berkeley pilots. I get sucked
into ambassador work and spend a good hour talking to tourists so am
the last one off in our group. Things were looking pretty weak but
we all get up and are flying around. Most headed across the valley
at about 12,700 while I'm at about 11,500 (being late off the
mountain and all). We all arrive at McClealan at about 9,100 and
right when we get there all the comp pilots start bailing off below
us. Being a bit higher than the guys who left in front of me, I find
the real thermal first, get up to 10,500 and head over the back. I
hear Ashley is on the radio at 10k over Virginia City and that's the
last anyone hears from Ashley for about 7 hours (his story, he can
tell it). I end up flying alone going along 50. At least 3 times I'm
down below 1,000agl before finding a life saver back up to 10 or
11k. Lots of sink in between and really ratty when it was going up
and very light drift. I get past the big lake/resivoir and am on
course to make it to the 95/50 junction by Fallon. I hear Dave on
the radio telling me he's on his way about 15 miles from me but to
be aware the wind on the ground is 10mph from the North. Well, I
don't believe its blowing north down there as the cloud shadows are
still going from the southwest and that had been the drift all day
and the day before. I dribble along and am coming in to land at the
50/95 junction, turn to the south on final, cross through the
shear!?! around 75-100 ft agl *&^#@!!!! and radio to Dave that
I'm going down and am going to go down hard (you can use your
imagination for my exact wording). BAM! Black... I come to really
quickly, open my eyes and see blood. Lots of blood. "Dave hurry". I
stand up, unhook from the glider (its on its nose, wheels in the air
all aluminum intact!?!?) and realize that I don't hurt. Like nothing
hurts. I'm shaken but not stirred. Get my helmet off and realize the
blood is from a cut on my forehead but all my bones are where they
should be and seriously: nothing hurts, not even my head.
A
lady comes running up yelling to her husband to bring a first aid
kit. I told her not to bother because I carry one with me :-) She's
a nurse or something and cleans and bandages my cut. The cop that
also happened to see my wonderful "no-stepper" and the lady's
husband help carry my glider over closer to the highway. The cop
stays with me untill Dave gets there (only about 15 minutes after I
fell) and we break down then go grab Eric. Dave and Eric go on a
hunt for Ashley while the Berkeley guys give me a ride to the
emergency care center. There the doc superglues the laceration
together and tells me to not drink tonight and if I've already
started (duh!) to stop (shaaa!!) and that I can't sleep for 12 hours
and can't get the cut wet at all for another 48 (washed my hair this
morning in the sink). The cut is about an inch long vertical above
my right eye. With any luck the eye will blacken and chicks will dig
it ;-)
So let the Harry Potter jokes
begin.
-Dallas
PS 2:45 minutes and 50.7 miles on that last
flight! Whoot! Sail off inspection to follow. Hehe :-) So my totals
for the weekend are: 4h30m, 60-70miles, $350 bill for my insurance
company, and a smile that hasn't stopped yet.
|
|
buzzett
|
Linda's
report
The family pulled into Carson at 11:00 p.m. Thurs.and got a hotel
for the weekend. Friday looked pretty windy. Rich Finished fifth for
the day, but had a 14 minute spread between him and the first place
finisher. I helped with launches during the meet. Not to much
carnage. Saturday dawned and I was out finding 2 Harry potter books
at 7:00 a.m.. The kids decided to stay at the hotel and read by the
pool that day. Rich finished first for the day. Had the usual dinner
at micasa 2 and enjoyed everyones company. Sunday, Rich again
finished first for the day. The awards were held at Bully's sports
bar in Carson. 1st, Phil, 2nd Kenny and Rich third. Ray commented
that this was a very close race. Drove home and arrived at 10:30
p.m.. What a great trip. I got to visit with other drivers I hadn't
seen since last year and met many wonderful new freinds and drivers.
Great week-end
Linda
|
| Ashley Groves
|
Sorry,
I got excited and wrote too long
Early Saturday AM myself, Eric Froehlich, Patrick ??? (Saturday
Only), and Dallas Willis rendezvous with Dave Merriman in Carson
City. Time was wasting, so we ditch 2 cars and take two cars up
McClellan. Dave has secured us a driver, his dad and step mom, so we
are pretty pumped about all of us having X-C potential. The sun is
shining and our hopes are up.
We arrive to find the
competitors have set up and are waiting to launch. We all get to
work and are ready just when the last of the competitors are
launching. Almost all of us get off with good launches and Dave is
now the driver.
We are all in the air hunting for the
thermals. Dallas, myself, and Patrick are circling up above 9K. The
thermal dies, I am hunting around for another thermal when I see
Dallas heading over the back. We are at the same altitude, but he
has a mighty lead on me. I choose to play catch up; it is my first
time over the back of McClellan. Hot Dog!
I pull in to
follow. I am constantly at his altitude, but he has the advantage of
being further ahead. He circles... once. A little higher. I find
something, but it is small and ratty. I push on. The game continues.
Altitude is dropping. I realize my ploy is foolhardy, I'm playing
the leaders game, not my own. I find some light lift and hang back,
scratching in and out of a small and elusive thermal, but my gains
are small at best or I hold my altitude at worse.
My thermal
isn't a boomer by any measure, but I am up 100 or 200 ft every time
I check my altitude. As I watch I see Dallas fight a long and slow
fight but eventually he lands at Dayton. Or, in the terms of my
knowledge of the landscape it is: Down- the- only- two- lane- road-
off- 50- that- crosses- the- only- river- at- the- narrow- part- of-
the- only- naturally- green- patch- past- the- residential-
community- to- where- it- is- one- lane- and- he- is- on- the-
right- in- a- nice- clear- patch. Just in case we have to find
him.
Lift is small but always there. I loose it, hunt around,
head down wind and I find another snack in seconds. I drift this way
from the back side of McClellan to the far side of 50, over Dallas.
Breaking no land speed records I am finally at 9.5 K. The landscape
opens up, and I cruise down the right side of 50. Eventually I
ponder if I have gotten myself into a blue cloud street. Then I
notice the big cummies to my left on the far side of 50... all in a
line... that looks where all the gooood lift is.
I pull in
and jump the cloud street expecting sink, and I find it. Just cut
through until I hit jackpot I tell myself. The sink pulls me down as
I cover ground, but the clouds are never close enough. Far from the
cloud street, and far from 50, I cut my losses and return to 50
knowing the following sink will end my day. I have 50 on glide. As I
drop I go to open my pod. Where is my string? I fumble and fumble as
my easy glide to 50 deteriorates.
Eventually I curl up to
look for my string. Despite my preflight check the Velcro tab has
gotten loose. I reach down, grab it, and look up. Dang it!!! I have
gone 180 during my groping and lost valuable altitude and distance.
I am doomed to a good distance from 50, but fortunately there are
dirt roads below me. I pick a nice clear patch and have a clean
landing.
16.8 miles, and somehow the furthest for our group.
Upon breakdown I notice my VG is still wrapped around my down tube
for launch. I forgot to use it in my whole flight!
The crew
contacts me on the radio. Judging by the sun 50 seems to run SW. So
when they ask me if I am North, does that mean parallel to the road
or perpendicular??? After confusing them thoroughly they eventually
find me. I thought directly towards the sun from the salt flats was
pretty clear, but Eric rejected such directions.
I pick up my
harness and glider and get going towards the car. Dave gets a road
pretty close, 100 yards or so, and parks. I close in and they hop
out of the car just as the combined weight really is taking its
toll. "These guys are great", I think to myself in expectation of
the relief from the burden. But then they get into a discussion with
hands waving in the direction of the sun. I guess I deserve
that.
Dave secures a new down tube and is jonsing to fly. So
we head for a glass off on McClellan. I had imagined wonder winds,
but it is just strong head wind with ridge soaring. We all launch. I
did not find this flight a satisfactory as Dave or Dallas, but then
again I am not whooping it up with acrobatics. After a touchy fight
with some penetration, I land on the far side of the LZ. Eric, who
was on a mission to break a recent landing funk, had a nice clean
landing.
Sunday it is Slide, it is my first time there. The
sky is over cast with some altostratus clouds and we do not expect
much. I confirm with Dave the plan is to jump to McClellan over the
back and down 50, but I expect a fight against a sledder.
I
set up and hang back to watch multiple pilot negotiate the guard
rail and launch. Most pilots are scratching hard, some low or in the
bail out, but I see one pilot high.
Being one of the later
pilots my long wait is rewarded with a cycle that is much lighter
and slightly cross, but I run hard and have a good launch. On my
second pass in front of launch I blunder into a thermal that takes
me up to 12K. I see almost all the gliders below, but a lone Berkley
pilot above me, but my thermal gets rather turbulent and nasty so I
leave and look for another. My second thermal also trashes out at
12K, so I decide to test the air in the valley.
I pull on VG
and head out. The valley has some buoyancy, so I drift slowly. I am
over 10K and 2/3 of the way over to McClellan, so I radio my jump to
the guys. Committed, I head to McClellan. Dave had suggested
crossing North of McClellan as a better route, but I want to cruise
over the WW Regionals. I hit some mighty sink as I speed in toward
the competition. All the gliders are set up, two on launch but no
one in the air. I hope my victory pass over the group does not turn
into a sink- of- shame as I start dropping to 7K when I find some
lift. I return to 8K, fly over the top of McClellan, hit 10K and go
over the back. Likity-split. Maybe Kenny B. pointed out the climbing
LiteSport to the crowds.
I radio my jump over the back in to
the group. I find more thermals, and life is easy. I am slow and
patient. I am not racing, I just want to stay aloft. Eventually I am
over 12K and cold, so I leave lift and I push downwind. Near the
salt flats I radio in that I am at 10K. I see a small group of
competitors fly far below, I no longer have the air to myself.
Shortly afterwards my radio battery dies.
I watch the small
gaggle reach finish as the clouds and I drift lazily down wind with
the Westerlies. I am looking down, and several other gliders have
already made goal, slipped past undetected from my height. But the
are pointed E, into the wind. What is that about? I watch a glider
making goal land... but he never turns. Not down wind! Turn! But his
landing seems OK with some running. A second glider lands going
West. A slight bonk, but OK. What the??? I am confused. A third
glider lands going West, and the landing is clean. I spot some
water. East wind on the surface? Yes! West winds above? Yes! I feel
unsettled by this, but it seems true.
With my radio dead, I
decide to drift down wind (upper winds down wind) but not fly too
far down 50. I don't want some late night retrieve or other snafu.
Past an intersection that I later learn is alt 95, I half heartedly
laze in passing thermals. Eventually I get low. A few hundred feet
up I ask myself, "Are you really going to land going West?" All
evidence say Yes. I wish I had not left Eric's streamer in my
unreachable harness bag.
Then a gift, one last tell tale to
tell me the truth. A car pulls of onto a dirt road! But it teasingly
putters at 2 MPH, raising not a whiff of dust.
I unzip, and
pull in for some speed as I get low. I get upright. Power lines off
to my left, guard rail and road to my right, I pull in mightily. At
no more than 70ft up BANG! a thermal tosses my glider left, nose
down and towards power lines. No way man, and I fight back and make
a correction on course.
The thermal fights the glider, and I
fight back. Legs down and ungainly being tossed like a frog being
held for dissection, I am in the thermal. My vario screams 1K up as
I shoot up. But at this point the object is to land, and not
continue the X-C. On the far side of the thermal, I pull hard in. I
am going to land ½ mile further down the road now. Ground closes
in...air speed up... ground speed dropping! I am 10 ft up and
finally convinced of the wind direction. WHOHAW! The area is clear
of obstructions, I start rounding into ground effect, eyes on the
horizon, I have a nice landing in the bag. This is where I blow
it.
I have my right hand on the down tube, my left on the
control for speed. I transition my left hand to the down tube as I
push out... only my left hand misses the down tube! I have pushed
out only with my right! Quickly I give a hard correction with my
left hand but, like some sort of flailing monkey I miss a second
time!!! My spastic hand pushes only on air, and my weight follows.
With my weight left, right wing up and high air speed (Oh yeah,
still half VG too!) my glider banks hard left.
I get my left
hand on the down tube only after my left wing tip hits. I whimper.
The glider banks high and hard. This is not going to be a lazy
ground loop where you run into a uncoordinated heap, this is going
to hurt.
My glider and I are facing straight down. This is
probably one of my better wingovers, with the exception I am 6 ft
up. I have flown the glider as far into the crash as possible, I get
my hands off the down tubes, curl up and squeeze my eyes shut.
"F*CK!!!" A thud shortly follows.
Feeling nothing but dazed,
I open an eye. I see sky, sun, and a wheel. huh? I am lying on my
right. I spit sand out of my mouth and look around. I am laying in
the dirt next to my leading edge. The glider is on its king post,
but the sail is completely exposed to the East winds. I leap up and
quickly remove my carbineer before a gust pulls the glider over with
me on top.
I remove myself from the glider and give it a
quick inspection before I try to move anything. It seems fine! I
right the glider, quarter it to the wind, colors facing highway 50
about 30 yards over. I do a quick check and I am unhurt. Expecting
at least a bloody or broken nose, I find nothing, Thank You full
face helmet! I have a slight headache, a slightly stiff shoulder,
and a bruise below and above my right kneepad, which was almost
removed on impact. I think I saved my knee some serious grief by
wearing one. I recheck my glider. Down tubes straight... I feel no
defects felt in the leading edges... King post OK... Keel seems
OK...hmmmm. I will have to do a better inspection later, but I can
pack up like normal. The worse damage seems to be the mud.
Apparently my camel back had squirted water all on the undersurface
of my glider which immediately combined with the dust to make mud.
Miles in the dry desert and my glider gets muddy. Figures.
I
do find the trace my wing tip made in the sand. And the impression
my body made in the ground. Head, neck, torso, leg, knee, feet, all
there. Thankfully the sand was so soft. This could have been so much
worse. Literally inches from my face, my glider's leading edge had
unearthed an ancient and desiccated cow pie...
This was about
2:45 PM and 39.4 miles. Not a bad day, crash excluded.
So I
get my back-up battery into my radio turn it on, then pack up my
harness and glider. Attempts to raise the ground crew failed. A car
with a man and a women pull over and ask if I am OK. I tell them I
am fine and people are coming. They mentioned something about a
crash of an ultra light down the road. I make some small talk and
warmly thank them for stopping. In hind site I now wonder if these
are the people that helped Dallas.
I sit by the side of 50
and wait. Hungry, I snack on some of my emergency desert rations...
some beef jerky. Which was good, because I was miles away from
anything. A cop car pulls over and also asks if I am OK. I tell him
the same thing as the couple and thank him. He mentions there were a
lot of gliders landing up and down the road. I now wonder if this
was the cop that stopped for Dallas. After 30 minutes I figure
something may be wrong. I had drained my camel back while eating, so
I refilled it with my reserve water, stashed my harness and glider
in a ditch out of sight, and started walking. I had expected to see
the Dave mobile any moment coming down the road, but it never does.
At 7:00 PM and 4.5 miles later I get to a phone, but I have
no one's cell phone numbers with me. I think and the only phone
number I know that could be helpful is Rajiv. I call him and there
is no answer, so I leave a message. 7:30 the same. By this time the
crew had gotten worried. Calls to my wife (who was not home), to the
State Troopers, to other pilots all turned up nothing. Later I would
learn that during this turmoil Rajiv was at home and was snoozing on
the couch watching a boring movie on TV. At 8PM Rajiv answers just
as the machine picks up.
Rajiv doesn't know any of these
phone numbers, but he gets to work. Eventually he gets Wayne's home
number off the Yosemite trip list and gets the info from Wayne. I
finally get back through to Rajiv around 8:20 and call Eric. Thus
the retrieve is concluded.
It is still a little uncertain how
the retrieve had missed me. It seems like I was ahead of Dallas
time-wise. I launched earlier, passed McClellan before pilots
launched, and flew a shorter time, 2.5 hours. Clearly they had
passed me to get Dallas (he was 10 miles past me on the road) and
after the retrieve.
I was in very clear view of highway 50.
Maybe 30 yards, unobstructed view both ways as I was in an empty
field. But this was at a slight curve in the road and not a
straightaway, so I would be in view for only a few
minutes.
Dallas had written, "The cop stays with me untill
Dave gets there (only about 15 minutes after I fell) and we break
down then go grab Eric." This would have put Dave rushing to Dallas'
position when he passed my location, (about 10 minutes down the
road) and was probably going pretty fast and not looking around like
a tourist while I was busy packing up.
They then had to pass
a second time. Dallas was probably still pretty dazed, and Dave was
probably not expecting me a mere 10 minutes down the road on ground
he had already passed. I should have spotted them on the return,
provided I was finished. Dave was helping Dallas pack up, so it
could be possible that they were ready first. I was finished and
sitting by the side of the road at 4:35 PM.
The only time I
was out of sight was when I stashed my gear and when I later got my
water. Both of these times would literally have been maybe 30
seconds each out of the 4.5 hours I spent out there, and would have
to have been incredibly bad luck if that is when they
passed.
Another question is why I did not hear the chatter
between the car and Dallas as Dallas passed overhead. I should have
definitely been able to at least hear Dallas on the radio. I did
notice the antenna was somewhat loose on the long walk back, and it
never was before. I may have damaged it in the crash. I have to
inspect this as well as my glider now.
After getting Dallas
stitched up, the search resumed. Upon getting back to 50 alt 95
junction Dave and Eric cruised up alt 95N looking for me.
Unfortunately this was never mentioned before, but it is the typical
route. I, like Dallas, had stayed on 50, the plan before launch.
After checking 95, they returned to Washoe. They talked with other
pilots, none of whom had seen me. As most pilots stopped at goal, or
would have gone up Alt 95, none had passed my location. After that
thoughts of my landing out in the desert went wild and tales of my
demise became exaggerated. But truth was duller than fiction; a
recheck of highway 50 was all that was needed.
The retrieve
turned out to be kind of a bummer that day, but all in all I had a
great time, a great adventure, and some great flying. It was a good
way to observe the summer solstice.
Take home
messages:
Whether you are driver or pilot, be sure everyone has
everyone's cell phone#. It can save a lot of hassle.
If you
have the option of choosing your landing, land near civilization,
where there are phones (and beer).
Some Firsts:
First time
over the back at McClellan.
First time at Slide.
First time
over 10K in Reno.
Some not-so-great firsts
First time
needing reserve water.
First time needing reserve food.
First
time being thankful for full-face helmet.
First time being
thankful for wearing kneepads.
First time biffing hard into the
ground.
Some notables:
Saturday X-C flight broke my
75-hour mark.
Sunday is my new personal best record for X-C, 39.5
miles.
Eric "In a landing funk" Froehlich gets the golden landing
award. He | |
