You are here:   Home >   Archives >   2003 Flights, May-Aug

Flight Reports, May-Aug., 2003

Author Comment
buzzett 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

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

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.

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

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

Dave Clement 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. :)

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

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.

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

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

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