| Author |
Comment |
Hangfly
Club Secretary
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Friday
flying - 1/1/04
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! to all my Sonoma Wings friends! :b
I'm
thinkin', I'm leaving my house at 08:00 tomorrow to go for a 10:00
launch at the coast. Most likely Goat Rock, but you never know. Will
make the call in the am.
Hangfly the Airhead
:b
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Gregg Hackett
Member
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Re: Friday
flying
Just got back from Goat Rock, you guys should have been there, it
was 20-25 west.........too strong for me, just right for
you..............maybe tomorrow?
Gregg
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Kurt Anna
Member
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Goat
report - 1/2/04
we watched killerwhales breaching, a rainbow, and some
trolls...
so, we sat at the grade and watched the wind shift
and then went to goat rock for the first successful flight of the
year.
yes, others launched, but we landed intact...
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Leo Jones
Member
|
A promising
start to 2004 (1/3/04)
Friday's flying. Two sites, four flights (well nearly four) and
only 3 crashes!
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Hangfly
Club Secretary
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Flight
report - 1/2/04
I'll take exception to what Anna said and claim the first
successful flight of the day. After all I launched, got above launch
and top landed.
I arrived at Vista Trail about 10:30, it was
raining lightly. It had rained most of the drive out to the coast.
Pilots began arriving and we carried out to launch in no wind, and
clearing conditions. We could see wind coming on the water so Kurt,
Jon and I set up. When it finaly started to feel soarable the wind
was 10 to 12 and crossing from the north. It had been blowing in
pretty straight while we were getting ready.
I launched about
1:40. By now the wind line we had been watching had arrived and the
wind was 20 degrees cross most of the time. It was fairly straight
when I took off and was blowing 15 to 18.
I flew into the bowl to
the north and got a little lift. I made a few passes above launch, a
few even, and a few below launch. The next time I got what I felt
like was enough height to top land I went for it. And in the end I
ended up on the ground. So, in that respect, even the landing was
successful. I came in a little sideways and blew out a downtube
though. That put me in the running for the 2004 turkey award.
My
error was not setting up landing with enough height. I was unable to
pull forward without going off the hill again so I let the glider
keep going sideways, til just before the ground. I had very little
ground speed thanks to the breeze. So I whacked lightly but
sideways, which always takes out a tube.  So, the
lesson is to leave yourself plenty of altitude to set up a good
appraoch.
I didn't
see the next tube break so I can't say anything about that one,
other than it also happened at the Grade and the pilot didn't fly. I
did see the incident at Goat Rock and can report it was scary!
At
the Grade were Matt, Leo, Kurt, Anna, Jon J and Charley. At Goat
Rock were the above, John B, Gregg H and Peter Humes.
Let's hear
about those other tubing wasting efforts.
Hangfly
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kurt
Member
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grade
rebuttal
depends how you define "successful"... k and a
kurt says:
our efforts for turkey award still involved no whacking - rolling
off and SUV, yes, downtube or other breakage, no.
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Fred Clement
Safety Officer
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Wacking
Gliders
As your new safety Officer I would like to help my fellow pilots
eliminate broken down tubes this flying season by getting some
wheels on your glider. From Northern Supply you can get 12 inch
pneumatic wheels for 5 dollars each plus shipping. You can make a
hub to pass your V.G. string through and walla you might save
yourself more than a broken down tube.
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Leo Jones
Member
|
Wheels
I don't think whels would hav helped here!! Reports might though.
'Fess up guys.
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|
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New Years trip to Big Sur - 1/1-4
The story is on a page of its own.
To see it, Click Here
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Leo Jones
Member
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Saturday
report - 1/24
Goat was very good on saturday. Jon and I got there at about 11.30
am to find warm sunshine,and a 2mph southerly wind. There was
obviously wind on the ocean and within minutes it started to blow
in. Matt and Charley arrived as we were setting up.
Jon took
off first at about 12.30. It was already getting strong on the edge
of the cliff requiring good wiremen. Jon Blacet turned up. I took
off into a 20 - 25mph wind and Charley followed a few minutes later.
By now the wind had strengthened to 30+ in the compression on the
edge of the cliff and Matt and John B decided not to try to launch
in those conditions. MAtt flew his Zagi.
In the air it was
great. We easily got to 400ft + over launch and to over 800ft at the
south end. It was possible to fly over Goat Rock and even over Arch
Rock. Rotor from Goat Rock was minimal - we were probably above it.
By 2.30 it was becoming possilbe to park and even back up, and
getting back from the south end was becoming a slow process. A few
sprinkes had begun to fall from development over the land though it
was still sunny over the ocean, but we all decided to land in case
it got any stronger. We all had tippy toe landings on the
beach.
It was a very pretty day at the coast.
Leo
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kurt
Member
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goat 1/24
joh n blacet and
kurt launched around 12:30.
it got too windy gregg sugg
bagged (nice all those "g"s)
it, kurt and jon flew.
kurt
landed on the south beach and took out a tube. jon landed on the
north beach.
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kurt
Member
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goat
oops, john didn't whack, really. don't know how that got there.
kurt did...
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Hangfly
Club Secretary
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Goat
Report
We know for a long time there has been a problem with the left wing
"walking forward" when launching in strong winds at Goat. I believe
the airflow up launch at Goat Rock has changed. This may have been a
contributing factor in John B's incident there a couple weeks ago.
Saturday we three pilots who launched had good take-offs but the
left wing was more unruly than usual. We tried moving left and right
to get into better flow but it didn't seem to make much difference.
The wind was pretty straight in. I would remind pilots launching
from there in strong conditions to take an extra step foreward to
get into cleaner airflow. We know that the shape of the hill at
launch has changed over the past few years and we should probably
investigate launching other places on the ridgeline. What do others
think?
Now my take on Saturdays flying. After a tricky but good
launch I went right up to 450', made a few passes and went to the
south end. I got as high as 850' down there and flew all the way out
over Arched Rock! It's been a long time since I got that high at the
Rock! I was only up for an hour due to building conditions. Wind
readings were 30mph+ while we were flying and 36 to 38 measured as
we were leaving.
Hangfly
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John Blacet
Member
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Tricky
Launches
I think that the wind direction is definitely the main factor. If
it is a little more west than NW, then I have been seeing problems
for quite a while. WNW is not very typical though and the velocity
is also a factor.
**** If you are trying to launch in 20-25
WNW, be patient and have at least two good wire folks! Make sure
that the person on the (left) wing knows to release
*after* the
nose man clears and to let his arm follow the wing out until he has
to let go. ****
Sunday's launches in NW winds were very
straight forward.
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Chris Gallagher
Member
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Diablo
Sunday 1/25
I flew with two WOR Diablo regulars. It was blowing in (NW)when we
got there but died out and went occasionaly downwind. Waited for a
long time for a decent cycle. Good launch. About 20 min airtime.
Landed on two feet in Mitchell Cyn. Did not see anyone else there
but didn't stop at Juniper and did not see any parapanties peaking
above Juniper Ridge.
Been flying Diablo quite often this
winter. Interesting place.
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Gregg Hackett
Member
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Re: Diablo
Sunday 1/25
I was at Juniper Sunday. When I got there it was NE, waited a while
and it started coming straight in at about 8 mph. Thought I would
wait (all alone) and see if it was going to stay that way. In about
15 min. it started coming over the back so I left and went to the
Dump. I talked to a pilot that was 300-400 over at Tam. Talked to
pilots at Mission and it was over the back. Too bad I went to the
Dump, there were good flights at Mission.........
;-(
Gregg
P.S. Passed Greg on Lakeville going to
Diablo, I thought you were going to Diablo?
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Greg Sugg
Club Site Director
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Re: Diablo
Sunday 1/25
I went to Goat Rock with Kurt and Anna instead of Diablo. John
Blacet flew, and Kurt flew with Anna, but the wind picked up to such
a pint that I couldn't launch alone. I bagged it and went to assist
Kurt and Anna who "landed" down wind on the beach to the south.
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Greg Sugg
Club Site Director
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Nice Day at
Diablo - 2/7
It was a good flying day at Diablo. Anna and Spencer drove for us.
Kurt, Jon and I took off around 1:45 from the Tower launch into
switching NE/NW winds of 2 to 8 mph. The lift was smooth ranging up
to 300 fpm mostly. Gradually we got higher with Kurt topping out at
4,400 msl later on. We all flew for over an hour landing at Mitchell
Canyon.
After we launched, Robert Moore, Kevin Dutt, John ?,
and driver Janet Williams arrived and joined us in the air. The air
was very clear with great views of the Sierra, Lassen, Elk, Snow,
you name it.
I got to try out a '99 Laminar ST which handled
very nicely. Of course being used to the Fusion, the Laminar was
annoying to setup and breakdown, but Jon gave me some good tips
which made both easier. Looks like I'll be flying the Laminar this
year.
We all went out for pizza afterward. Special thanks to
Anna for driving and to Spencer for supervising Anna.
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Gregg Hackett
Member
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Goat Rock - 2/8
I went to Goat Rock yesterday because it looked like the only place
I would have a possibility of flying.....and I did get to fly. Had
one flight of about 30 minutes and 4 sledders. I did learn one
thing: The Bodega Bouy was saying NE and the Bodega Marine Lab. was
saying W.........west was correct. So, you may want to use the
Bodega Marine Lab. for what is really happening at
Goat.
Gregg
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AnthonyA
Member
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Drakes
Alert
Well, with the Southeasterlies blowing Drakes Beach looks flyable
this Friday (Feb 13) morning, if you can get there before the rain.
Actually Drakes looks to be the spot for the next day or two. As
most of you know, better than me, you always risk getting wet out
there but if your timings right you can get some airtime in between
squalls.
soft landings
Anthony
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AnthonyA
Member
|
 Sat Feb 14
Nice to be right. (Better to be lucky?)
The buoys were all
showing S or SE tho the SF buoy was showing a low velocity. So I
called the rangers at the Pt Reyes Lighthouse and they told me S at
a steady 15. I wasn't able to get there till late, launched at 3:30
pm and soared (w/ the local Haks & Vultures) for over an hour.
Sweet !
Relatively
warm, no precip and by all indications soarable most of the day by
us lightweight bag pilots. S 10-14, maybe a little lite for the
sticks?
ciao
A2s
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Gregg Hackett
Member
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Diablo, 2/14
Diablo was great Sat. many baggies and a few hangies...flew cloud
base for more than an hour.....had to land to adjust new harness,
thaw frozen hands and PEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Sun., Anthony, Miki (Anthony's
pretty little friend) and I made two sledders, second one in the
rain.......yuk.
Gregg
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A good day at the Grade - 2/26
The Grade gives good flights only rarely. This was one of those days. There were enough posts to
put them on a page of their own.
For see that page, Click Here
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Gregg Hackett
Member
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St. Helena - 2/28
Justin, Anthony & I are going to St. Helena, anyone up for
that?
Gregg
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Jon James
Member
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Flew
They flew, 3 got to 5500 '
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AnthonyA
Member
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Flt Rpt - 2/28
The cycles were straight in with occasionals from the right and the
left. Gregg landed in the parking lot next to the old glider port,
Justin near Tubbs Lane. I launched last and the house thermal of the
day was right in front of the tall white & red tower. I
scratched around there for quite awhile unable to execute a full 360
due to proximity issues. Finally busted thru with a 3 « m/s thermal,
up to cloudbase! A sailplane circled out in front of me. After my
fingertips were numb for some while I headed out to the valley
wondering if I would make it out against the headwind. Was
considering bailing out to Ida Clayton when I was saved by a small
thermal, enough to assure me of making it to the primary at Janes.
At this point a tail-dragger passed by and below me to the west. As
I descended he began to circle me. Some bicyclers stopped to observe
and right above the rock pile I picked up another small thermal.
There was a red-tail below me & I thought, "how cool!" Those
bikers were looking up thru three ever-widening circles of flyers -
1st the Hawk, then me, then the tail-dragger above me. Talk about
perspective. I landed near the green barn, & by the time I was
packed up, our pretty 24 y/o Swiss/Italian driver arrived for a
retrieve. We then headed to the Hydro in Calistoga to retrieve
Justin & Gregg who where one ahead of us tipping back a chilly
Sir Budsy. Nice day.
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Leo Jones
Member
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Re. Flt
Rpt
Totally Cool!
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Larry L Roberts
Member
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Re: Flt Rpt -
Great Day
I did not find that much lift at St Helena when I circled in front
of Anthony - I was flying the Schleicher sailplane. I saw the
paraglider and had to zoom over St Helena from the Hwy 29 side and
circle on the West side of the towers. I then headed back to Boggs.
I lost 1000 feet over the 9 miles. I saw the cloud in front of the
normal launch site and thought I could find some lift under it but
nothing was there. Next time I will try to get in the thermal with
you Anthony. Flew 2 hours on that flight and had a ball. This is the
third day and 5th flight for me in my own glider. Should have taken
my Ham Radio with me.
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Hangfly
Club Secretary
|
Leap Day
Leaping
Since I started flying in 1976 there have been 8 opportunities to
fly on leap day. Checking my logbooks Saturday night I find I have
never done it. Pressure's on for Sunday. Set up on launch at St
Helena Sunday Matt find ourselves mostly in cloud. At times we can
see across Knights Valley and we are optimistic. Finally around 3:00
we get enough clearing to launch. I go left hugging the mountain and
go right up into the whisps at the bottom of the cloud. Not knowing
how thick the cloud is I peel away and go around to the NW side of
the mountain. Nothing but light spotty lift, I find myself gliding
out once I get down to the knob out front. Finally, over the house
across the road from Jane's big field, I find light workable lift. I
boat around here for about five minutes before it turns to light
sink. I have a good landing in Jane's big field. My first Leap Day
Leap in the bag!
Bonuses for the day include talking to Pierre
Ehrett, Rich, Jane's Foreman and of course Jane herself. Pierre came
by on his Segway scooter and offered Matt and me a ride on it. Matt
nearly jumped the fence! It was cool. We talked to Pierre for about
15 minutes. You PG guys should be talking to him. He still has a PG.
And he seems interested in staying current. It would be really fun
to fly with him and land at his place. Rich was very friendly to us.
As we were breaking down the mountain became totally socked in.
All in all a fun time! Thanks to Lori and Michelle for driving and
for freezing with us on launch.
Hangfly the Leaping Airhead
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Ernie Camacho
Club President
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Sat - diablo
- 2/28/04
The usual suspects showed up. I'd driven to Greg Sugg's house and
we took his van to the Safeway store, where we met Robert Moore
& his driver, Janet; Dick Gerard, Dave Merriman and his driver
Lindy, and a few others. When we got to the north launch, more
pilots showed up, including Chris Gallagher, Dave and Fred Clement,
Bruno, Kevin Dutt.
The conditions were light, with only small
wispy clouds here and there in the distance and a thin high
overcast. Luckily, some cycles of up air at launch made our
take-offs easy. A lot of gliders found themselves circling around
above take-off while a couple, including me, hung out lower above
Eagle Peak, trying to get up to the main show.
I got up to a
bit over 3,000 ft., then lost it and landed in Mitchell Canyon after
about a half-hour. Greg did much better, getting up to around 4,500
ft. for an hour or more, coming down only when his hands got too
cold (don't laugh, freezing hands are no fun!). I think Chris got
the highest at around 4,800. I had both of my cameras mounted and
loaded, but forgot to take any pictures. I futzed with my harness in
flight, trying to get the zipper to work right. It's still early in
the flying season and these flights are good for working out the
bugs in our complicated gear set-ups. BTW, my new
motocross-with-faceshield helmet is working out fine, as is my new
headset/ptt.
It was just another beautiful day at Diablo:
clear skies, green grass, easy take-off and landing, and of course a
group dinner at a brew pub.
Ernie
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Greg Sugg
Club Site Director
|
Diablo Saturday
and in weeks to come
It was another nice day at Diablo. "We all had a real good time."
But, in the coming weeks as we move into spring, we will see better
post forntal conditions with cloud bases of 6,000' (and more) and
NNW winds. In these conditions XC down the Central Valley can get
really good. Flights of over 150 miles have been made right down
I-5. Just ask Kevin Dutt or Scot. Diablo is best for XC in NNW post
frontal spring conditions.
Saturday was my second flight on
my 1999 Laminar ST. This is the best handling, and therefore, best
thermaling, glider I have ever flown. It is a pain in the ass to set
up and break down compared to my Fusion. I'm hoping to get this all
wired soon.
Mt. Diablo is defined as a local site for the
Red Tail trophy. Let's fly it. Fresno is about 142 miles from Mt.
Diablo. :-)
p.s. A couple of years ago, while driving to
L.A., I saw a couple of funnel clouds about midway between Mt.
Diablo and Fresno. Soarable conditions do exist out there in the
spring time.
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Robert Moore
Visitor
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Mount Diablo
Rules
Folks,
Things are a litle tense at Diablo these days. New
park management staff are not as lax as previously, and WOR has
issues to resolve with them. I know you administer another State
Park flying site, and can relate.
As the Diablo Site
Committee Chairman, I am obliged to remind non-WOR members that that
our Annual Special Event Permit with the Park requires all HG pilots
to be WOR members, and to sign the waiver form.
I have no
idea who from SW is also WOR, but the Site Committee will be
obligated to check out pilots who show up at Diablo with unknown
status. We would also have the unpleasant duty of turning away those
who cannot document their membership status. It's pretty much what
you folks have to do to keep St. Helena alive.
Please do
everyone a favor and spread the word.
Thanks,
Robert
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MattsFlyin
Club Treasurer
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News From
Florida
Here's a bit of news from one of our club members who moved to
Florida.
Hi Matt,
The cross-country trip was
challenging, with my 3 cats in the car, but I made it. I took me a
week. I flew Dry Canyon, Alamagordo, NM on the way, though it was
only a sled ride. Since then, I've flown a couple tandem
aerotows at the FL ridge and a solo (that I wasn't really ready
for--straight into a punchy thermal on tow) and then easy tandem
check flight at Wallaby. I'll head back there for a solo in smoother
conditions soon...
I hear there has been some good flying at Tam
lately. Do you ever go down there? Well, I hope you get some good
flights this spring. I guess I'll probably go to Wallaby for the
competitions though I don't really want to compete. So hopefully
I'll see all of you Sonoma folks then.
Ciao,
Diana
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Bruce Rymes
Visitor
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Towin' at the
Skedaddles
Hello Flying Friends:
I thought you all might enjoy hearing
about our early-spring towing day, which turned out better than the
weather forecast would have predicted. Yesterday, Sat. Mar. 6th, I
got together with a couple of Reno pilots and Lassen County local
pilot, Bill Martens for a day of tow-launching at the Skedaddle
Range, east of Susanville. Snow-covered rugged desert terrain,
golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, kestrels and peregrine falcons all
live along this range, and came out for a look... Bill Martens had
his first hour-long soaring flight at the Skedaddles, and Dennis
Harris got to 9,700'MSL, flew for over two hours, and landed 15-20
miles downwind. Steve Stuckey brought his shiny new U2160, and
insisted I fly it, so... I only got a 1,200'AGL tow, but scratched
on the ridge and gained another 1,000' to fly in smooth, widespread
lift along the 2 1/2 mile long range. Temps in the mid-50's,
sunshine and a light breeze to land into... hard to beat. We had ten
easy tows among us, without even driving up a dirt road! Hope to
host you guys for a tow day on just such a nice afternoon. Safe
flying,
Bruce Rhymes,
Susanville, CA
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Ernie Camacho
Club President
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So, where's the
Skedaddles?
Here's my best guess at where the Skedaddles Range is. This Keyhole
image is facing due East, looking at the Skedaddle Mountains, on the
NE corner of Honey Lake, just east of Susanville.
From Bruce'
story, I take it that they towed up on the stretch of paved road
right at the base of the ridge. BTW, that lake that you can just
barely see in the top-right of the image is Pyramid Lake, north of
Fernly NV.
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Bruce Rhymes
Visitor
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Skedaddles
You've got the right spot, Ernie... the tow road even shows up in
the map. We got together on short notice this time, but I'll promise
to send an alert next time... it'd be fun to share some airtime with
you guys. Go To Cruise! Bruce Rhymes
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Chris McKeon
Member
|
Very interesting
conditions at Diablo today 3-8-04
I was very suprised by condtions on Diablo today. Ashley Graves
had called me Sat PM. to see if I wanted to fly today Sunday. I said
sure count me in, lets talk around 9:00 AM. Ashley called me, and
said it did not look good
for flying, high pressure. So he would
do other things.
I went for it anyways, and had also had set
things up for Jenny and her son Kurt meet me up there for a picnic
up on the Mtn. no matter what.
It sure seemed like a standard
high pressure, day. But as I drove up the Mtn. at around the
altitude of the Ranger station, there was some wind. I went to
Juniper it was blowing down at around 15 MPH.
I then drove
to the NW Tower launch and it was N-NE at around 15 MPH to 20MPH,
sometimes it would gust stronger than that. I was really suprised by
this. I _thought_ it would be pretty calm up there.
So there
I was me and my Predator. But no other Pilots.
I would have had
to have wire help, pluss the concern of
Rotor coming over Ransom
Ridge. So I bagged if for the day.
But I sure wish I could
have flown. No question one could have stayed up in ridge lift,
above the inversion.
Maybe some other pilots will find this
interesting, I did.
Best High Speed
Wishes.
Chris.
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Shannon
Visitor
|
McClure SOARING
MCCLURE HAS BEEN GREAT THREE HOURS SAT. TWO AND HALF ON SUN BOTH
DAYS HAD TO LAND BEFORE ALL THE BEER WAS GONE. HIGH PRESURE LOW
PRESURE NORTH ,SOUTH IT SEEM'S TO BE GOOD FLYING. THE PAST FOUR
WEEKENDS SPRING HAS HIT WE HAVE BEEN GETTING UP TO (5200) ,(3200)
OVER THE HILL WITH ALL THE SOARING YOU WANT. HOPE THINGS ARE GOING
WELL FOR ALL OF YOU COME AND GETUSUM AT MCCLURE. SHANNON
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Charlie
Member
|
 sunday at Windy
Hill - 3/7
flight report/ Windy Hill Sunday.
(For those not familiar, this
Bay facing site faces E). The conditions were similar to Diablo, 10-
15 NE, steady all day til sunset . very unusual. the wind often dies
there by one pm; High pressure frequently creates turbulent
conditions here , and I was expecting a sharp plummet as I flew out
and crossed over the row of tall redwood trees in front of launch.
but Sunday , it was smooth , warm bouyant air all the way out. Not
soarable on my Sport 167, but hey, I was launching at 3 pm. Also,
there's usually a sharp wind gradient as you descend a few hundred
below the ridge top . But Sunday that NE wind continued at 10 -15
all the way to the ground . I suspect some enjoyable flying was
missed because I got there late, and didn't bring my vario. There
were crows buzzing around but no bird was showing me lift; I
couldn't seem to find any on my own ,  .
I got a
fun 12 minute flight , (should have gone to McClure ) and the usual
hike back up. It was my only flight there this winter, and only one
other guy flew it this spring.
not a great year for Windy Hill.
(seldom launchable.)
(sticker required to fly there; a ranger
checked my status.)
Diablo MAY have been fine flying. You made a
good decision not to launch , though , Chris.
If Windy Hill was
any indication, the rotors MAY have been benign that day, as you
seemed to suspect. But who wants to find out it's rasty and you're
eeking down in the canyon?
Shannon , it's good to know McClure is
kicking off sum already.
(Ernie C., I received that Ebay Minolta
camera, it is ideal , have an order in for the remote, thanks a
million for the help. I have paid 150 to 180 dollars several times
for zoom cameras identical to this one over the years, and it's nice
to get a good deal on one. 26 bucks plus shipping.)
The other
Charlie
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Ashley Groves
Visitor
|
NO BEER???
"...HAD TO LAND BEFORE ALL THE BEER WAS GONE" Gee Shannon, is there
a beer shortage in the LZ? Doesn't sound too good... 
Just
kidding. It is good to hear that I should have gotten my sorry butt
in gear and head to McClure instead of puttering around the house.
Ashley
|
buzzett
2002 Service Award holder
|
Elk 3/13
Albert and I had a good day it Elk , 1500' to 2000' over the top and
about an hour and a half. I will go again sunday .Rich
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Ralph Hyde
Member
|
 I was there, but I
left
Well, I hate to say it, but I spent Friday night in my tent at
Middle Creek campground, but left Saturday morning.
Julie
and I had a big disagreement and fight where she's staying in Chico,
and I left there in a very low
frame of mind. I had a miserable night, no sleep, and the
motorcycles started up at 7 AM.
Though I thought it might be
good, I was in no condition to fly, nor even to be with people, so I
folded up my tent and drove back to Chico, then to Quincy, now I'm
back in Lakeview. Things have been partly resolved with
Julie.
Glad you guys had a good weekend. Maybe I'll have
better luck next time.
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Greg Sugg
Club Site Director
|
 Nice Day
Sunday - 3/14
Today Ernie, Jon, Matt, Charley, Rich and I flew Elk in mostly
smooth ridge lift conditions. It was light NW when we got to launch,
but picked up to 10 or 15 mph or more by the time we launched. Some
embedded thermals managed to make their way through, but we were
served up primarily ridge lift. We all flew for around an hour and a
half before the lift began to deteriorate. Ernie, Charley and I
landed at the campground LZ, while Jon, Matt, and Rich landed down
the creek toward the lake. All in all, it was a nice day.
|
Jon James
Member
|
missed you
Hi Ralph,
I'm sorry we missed you, but it sounds good that
you
went to Chico.
The flying was very nice
|
Leo Jones
Member
|
Nice spring day
at St Helena. (3/20)
What a beautiful day at St Helena. 5 hang gliders and 6 paragliders
flew. Larry Roberts was wind dummy in his sailplane. Lift was a bit
spotty over the mountain, but excellent out over Ida Clayton Road
and foothills. I got to 5000+ ft over the mountain and climbed from
1800 to 4500 in the valley, and flew for 2 hours. Everyone had good
soaring flights and good landings.
Jane's bull is not
unfriendly, not today anyway, and the cows were slightly interested
spectators.
Leo
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Vince Endter
Member
|
Elk Sat
3-20
Rich and I were joined by 10 pilots from the Berkley club. We
launched around 1:00 in mostly ridge lift. After a half an hour the
thermals started to come through and we started getting higher,
about 500 over launch. In another half hour we were getting to 1500
over (5600'). We (Rich and I) generally stayed 1000' over the rest
of the pilots so we did not have any traffic.
There were
quite a few raptors in the air today. We flew with several in
thermals. One flew with us for a couple of minutes less than 30'
away, close enough to see it was missing two tail feathers.
It was a very good day of practice. Some times the lift was
800 fpm with my 10 second averager indicating above 500 fpm. There
were a few thermals that really took standing on a tip to stay in.
Rich was inpressed that I was able to stay with him in these. Total
time was a little over 2 hours each.
I was a little worried
at first because my harness shoulder strap was pressing on my
surgery incision, but it never really hurt in flight. In fact I had
no shoulder pain after 2 hours of flying. This is the first pain
free flight for almost a year.
Vince
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kcarter
Visitor
|
Glassy Elk
Yeah, yeah, you two were always higher than the rest, and for good
reason (some pilots in our club had their head up their butt). But
you two landed right when the mountain glassed-off, which is a first
for me. Maybe that kind of flying is boring for ya, but I kind of
enjoyed the sight-seeing for a couple hours after having worked some
thermals for a while.
-Kurtis
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Scot
Member
|
McClure to
Yosemite/ 3-14
I launched almost last and climbed out to about 4500' not that high
but had decided before hand Yosemite was the goal for the day. Over
the back and scratching low with Ken Muscio tagging along. We got to
the edge of the park about 2hrs and 25 miles later by force of will
alone. I climbed to 9600' in front of El Capitan and headed for
Glacier point. Ken was a little behind me suffering the flexwing
disadvantage.
I turned around at Glacier deciding that was deep
enough, considering conditions, and the fact that landing in the
park is grounds for equipment confiscation by the rangers. Ken was
losing altitude and ended up in Big Meadow suffering just those
consequences. I flew on for another ten miles and landed in a nice
meadow around dusk. Was eating tri tips with a nice local gal who
cooked me dinner when the retrieve finally showed up, 2 hrs. later.
If you don't believe this flight report I have it all on video and
will be showing it sometime in the near future to interested
parties. Of course I forgot to add the fact that my new Mosquito
Harness made it all possible but that's a minor footnote in a
memorable day. hh
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Roy Wormington
Visitor
|
Yosimite
Didn't we have a big discussion here about buzzing around sensitive
hang gliding sites with power harnesses.
Roy
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Vince Endter
'02,'03 Go-For-It Champ
|
Re:
Yosimite
Congress in all their wisdom decided a few years ago that they new
more about air traffic control than the FAA. They passed several
laws against overflight of many of our national parks. The Grand
Canyon and Yosemite are the most sensitive. If one were to look at
their San Francisco sectional they would see the following regarding
overflight of Yosemite:
"Public law prohibits flight of VFR
helicopters or fixed wing aircraft below 2000 feet above the surface
of Yosemite National Park. "Surface" refers to the highest terrain
within the park within 2000 feet laterally of the route of flight or
within the Yosemite Valley the uppermost rim of the
valley."
The above is a Federal law not a FAA rule.
The
general consensus for the overflight of the valley is 11,000'
minimum.
Vince
|
Leo Jones
Member
|
Turkey award
nomination
Turkey award nomination?
|
Brian Padgett
Member
|
Re: Turkey award
nomination
I wish I could have joined in! (But in an Eagle, I would be left in
the dust) I understand the sensitivity of many places, especially
places like Yosemite, but this just sounds like a beautiful
flight!
Scot, are you flying with one tank or two? That is a lot
of flying, so if you are on one tank you must have only used power
when in need and thermalled a lot. Good flying man!
If the
powered harness population continues to grow, maybe we can start
searching out new sites together and find flight paths that could
possibly locate places to foot launch for others.
I know there is
some good that the Mosquito can bring to this sport other than
controversy, noise and division of pilots.
May this sport grow
with all of us!!
Brian
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Ernie Camacho
Club President
|
Re: flying
Sunday 3/21
Gregg Hacket and I went up to Elk. A bunch of Berkeley club pilots
were setting up on the north launch. Gregg took off into weak
conditions and landed in short order. I couldn't find anyone to
drive my truck down so I didn't fly. We spent a few hours driving
the dirt roads up to High Glade lookout, so I'll know how to get
there if my next XC attempt comes up short. I couldn't find the way
from there to Bartlett peak, though - it seems the road goes through
some private property with "no trespassing" signs.
So, a
flying day that looked promising turned out to be disappointing, but
we still had fun, and the weather is fantastic!
Ernie
|
Jon James
Member
|
Elk, 3-27
Elk was good all day Sat but not too good
Most para pilots
seemed to take 2 flights, some 3 Eric Reed flew to
Lucerne
Cloudbase was low. North launch worked early and
late
but most used the south launch and there were a lot of
launches, six paragliders in the air most of the day
Early
flights either went up or went down but by 2:15 it got good as the
clouds cleared up
Matt and I launched at 2:30 and got to
cloudbase at 4600 I flew with no vario, which was fun, but we sank
out at Pitney and had short flights. Good landings in the busy LZ
and a long breakdown on a nice afternoon with good friends oh, and
Linda's new dog
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Greg Sugg
Club Site Director
|
 Good time at the
fund raiser. (3/28)
Scot, Donna and I went to Elk Creek for the Elk Creek Volunteer
Fire Dept. fund raiser BBQ and baked goodies auction. Before the
event we flew off of Red Mountain with some of the Cloud Street
Gangsters: Ken Petlock, Jim Goebel, Bob Bay, Dave Freeman, and Tom
(forgot yer last name, sorry). Bob's wife, Weiwei, and Tom drove two
vehicles down, and Donna drove Scot's truck. The wind was coming
from the north, but thermals were few and only at the mountain, so
we all had sledders down to the LZ near the ponds on road 313 (south
of Chrome) where we had left some vehicles. The day started out
overcast but cleared up nicely by the time we were down. We also got
to meet Ken's wife, Karen, and her father.
At the BBQ fund
raiser later on we had a grand time and proceeded to bid up all
sorts of cakes, pies, and the like. We managed to use up $100.00 of
club money at the auction and all left with a major sugar rush. We
wore SW shirts, caps, or jackets for PR recognition. The event was
well attended by the local residents. When we left around 7:30 p.m.,
the little town of Elk Creek was jammed with cars and trucks. It was
a very nice day.
|
Hangfly
Club Secretary
|
BAPA Fly-in
Report (3/29)
When my children were small I used to enjoy throwing them up in the
air and catching them. You know, some things never change. I still
enjoy tossing my children into the air, it's just that now with them
weighing over 100lbs I need some assistance. The BAPA fly-in at Elk
Mt, seemed like the ideal place to find that help. I was able to
purchase a couple tandem flights for April and her friend Andrea and
thereby "throw" her into the air. With all the people around I was
even able to fly. From my perspective Sunday was lots of fun.
Conditions were just like early spring. Light lift not going very
high. I was able to soar around for an hour, mostly below launch. I
did get a couple good thermals and got to 5000' at one point.
I'm
sure the PG flyers will have the actual fly-in report but I can tell
you there were lots of 'em there. They made for thick traffic which
I mostly avoided. Thanks to all the drivers and PG pilots. And
especially thanks to Anthony for making April's 15th birthday week
some big fun!
Hangfly
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Chris Gallagher
Member
|
Diablo
3/26
Took Friday off and went to Diablo as I am in the middle of a
reconstruction zone at my house and dealing with that precluded
weekend flying. Ceilings were low, went from 4100 to 3700 then back
to 4000. Launced Juniper and flew for close to 2 Hrs. Flew to Lime
Ridge and then couldn't get down. Lift was all over the place and it
was getting late in the day and I had to get home. Kept doing
spiral dives and wingovers to lose altitude and then would gain it
all back. Finally landed. It was fun.
Sorry I missed the Elk
Creek BBQ. It is always fun.
|
Ashley Groves
Visitor
|
Re: Diablo
3/27
Flew with some Diablo regulars. Launched the towers. The ceiling
was still low, but me and another flex launched into a flush that
sent us scratching on Eagle Peak before landing (approx 20 minutes).
Although being a little less bold than others about scratching
closer to the canyons at launch may have been a part of it.
A
couple rigids were able to get up flew about 90 minutes or so.
|
michkro
Visitor
|
potato
pics - 4/4
Here are the pictures from Potato Hill trip this weekend:
click here
Michal
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Jon James
Member
|
Tread Lightly Report, 4/3-4
Saturday in Stonyford was very nice.
Donna, Ashley, Kerri,
Arron, Charley, Ernie, Bob B and Weiwei attended the groundbreaking.
Liz, Chad, and a couple other paragliders did get to the top (of St
John) early enough to fly over the ceremony.
Kurt, Anna,
Spencer, Leo and I arrived as the ceremony was breaking up. We went
to the top, with Greg, and launched into nice cycles around 2. We
got to about 7000 in small, strong, punchy thermals. A sailplane
came over, LU, hi Larry, he got to 7000 too.
I landed at
Fouts, along with Kurt and Bob. Erich landed at the Visitor Center,
Leo and Greg landed at Marys. All were good landings, some very
good. Gregg flew off Potato Hill.
At Mary's, Gate work began
around 4. There were about a dozen workers. 4 holes were dug, 4
posts planted. We worked until 6
Then the campers and the
workers retired to the Reservoir, for swimming (brrr), camping, and
a fire.
|
Leo Jones
Member
|
St. John April
3rd 2004
What a wonderful day. I've never been to Stonyford this early in
the year. Bear Valley was an ocean of wildflowers - worth visiting
for this alone. In truth the whole area was green and full of
flowers - we are so used to seeing it as a dried up sea of
starthistle in 100 degree plus temps.
We saw several Hummers
on the way up towards North Fork campground - treading lightly on
Mother Earth of course - and were pleasantly surprised to find the
road to launch completely clear of snow and fallen trees. Erich
Hinrichs was already there set up - no vehicle in sight - he'd
carried his glider the 7 miles up St John! It was blowing in, though
light and a bit crossed from the right. He was the first one off in
2004. Who has flown off St. John this early before?
As Jon
reported, thermals were small and hard to work but it was an easy
glide out to town from 6500ft - I arrived with over 3000ft.
Everywhere was lush and green, with the streams full of water.
Landing at Mary's was a delight.
The post hole digging was
fun - the ground was very hard - even with an auger on a tractor. We
met with Rodeo Queens. Joe Hester came over to say Hi.
St
John is good to go.
Leo
|
Greg Sugg
Club Site Director
|
Rodeo
Queens
That's nothin' Leo. A few years ago I saw a guy in the Castro with
black leather chaps and black leather hot pants! Maybe he grew up on
a ranch.
|
Hangfly
Club Secretary
|
Don't forget
Michal
Michal Krombholtz was also at the groundbreaking representing
Sonoma Wings and BAPA. The HG/PG community was represented by Sonoma
Wings, BAPA and the Cloudstreet Gang. We planted native trees in the
North Fork campground and were treated to a nice lunch. One fun
thing that happened was, while the token Hummer exec was giving his
speech Liz Hearn was flying over the ceremonies doing 360s with long
streamers trailing her glider. Most people at the CG dedication were
watching Liz and ignoring whatever the Hummer guy was saying. See
Michal's pics. The big squirrel was called Lightfoot. Unfortunately
we later saw him smashed on the road on the way out. No doubt hit by
a Hummer.
My take on working with Mary was that she could most
likely out-work most middle-aged men. It was very hard digging. We
now have a better appreciation for why the town is called
Stonyford.
Hangfly
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|
Stonyford gate install - 4/3
A work party installed a gate for Mary Quiberg. There are several photos of the work. Since those
photos take up space, the work party story is on a separate page.
To see that page, Click Here
|
Roy Wormington
Visitor
|
Hull
Moutain, 4/10
Hull mountain was great Saturday. With light winds from the North,
South, and East a killer convergence set up over much of the
mountain with sometimes smooth lift and sometimes kick ass lift
(1300 ft. per min. to 2000 ft. per min. up). It was pretty rowdy at
first but mellowed out a little latter and I was able to get to
11000 ft. over Lower take off in smooth lift.
Doug got to over
9000 ft earlier and decided the turbulence was to much for him and
went and worked the smoother lift over the LZ. All in All I would
say it was the best first day of flying I have ever seen at Hull.
Also the landing area was dry but it is shrinking fast as
they bring the lake level up.
Roy 
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Greg Sugg
Club Site Director
|
Re: Hull
Moutain, 4/10
Sounds good Roy. I wish I had been there. A bunch of us went to St.
Helena which was blowing over the back until late in the day. Four
of us were finally able to launch in borderline conditions with
light winds usually over the back. I launched at 4:45 pm. Still, it
was soarable to 6,000' or so.
Greg
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Roy Wormington
Visitor
|
Hull 4/10
When Doug and I and our trusty driver Gunter first got to
Timberline it was blowing light east and we were afraid we wouldn't
be able to launch, but then it turned north for a while, then
started cycling in. We got off the mountain about 2:30.
The
road up the mountain is open to Timberline and a few hardy four
wheelers made it through some drifts of snow to lower, but it looks
like it is going to be awhile before anyone can drive above
lower.
The logging road is closed again. They tell me it was
open until a few days ago.
They are filling up the lake so
the lakeside landing area is shrinking. Yesterday it was narrow but
plenty of room, but it will probably be smaller next weekend. It
looks like we will be back soon to landing in the slot and at the
end of the runway.
Roy
|
hank
Visitor
|
Red Spot next
week
I'm back to Red Spot for the coming week, to see what's happening
after last September's fire, and trying out a new fold-up 2-meter
antenna with four droopy radials. Say hi if you fly over, or c'mon
in.
|
Kurt
Member
|
Elk report, 4/11
Saturday was ok 5200' but Sunday was better with altitude to 8350'.
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woodeichleaycom
Visitor
|
Thanks for the
great first Elk Mountain flight
I want to thank Kurt, Rich and the person who drove (I can't
remember his name right now) for going out of their way Sunday
morning to make a lifetime dream come true. Elk mountain in the
morning is a great confidence builder for a new pilot, it was the
smoothest most relaxing flight I've ever had. I'd really like a copy
of the video that was made. Thanks again, I hope to be soaring with
you guys soon. Sonoma Wings is a great group of guys (and girls)!
|
Vince Endter
'02,'03 Go-For-It Champ
|
Re: 8,000'
Well, you got to 8,000', did you go anywhere?
Vince
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Ralph Hyde
Member
|
 Drove for myself at
Lakeview
Today (4/12) I had my first flight at Black Cap this year.
And I
tried out my new method of driving for myself. First I towed the
Trooper to Hunter's with the 4Runner. Then drove up in the Trooper.
Then had a 1 hour soaring flight, landed at Hunters. Drove the
4Runner up to retrieve, and towed the Trooper down. Glad I kept that
old Trooper!  And glad I had
my motorhome towbar and a receiver on the 4Runner! 
I'm
trying to get Jules back into flying, but haven't quite got there
yet, though he saw me flying today.
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Ernie and Vince Florida - 4/10-30
Ernie, and his family are at Quest, working the Flytec Championship as volunteers, and
spending some quality time together.
For the journal of their adventure, Click Here
Vince is also at Quest, flying as a competitor. His journal is up on his website.
Here's Vince's journal
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Kurt
Member
|
Flight
report - 4/24
Saturday I flew past Lower Lake on 53 from Elk for 32.5 mi. and
landed next to Todd at 7:00 PM. I got to 8,000 over The Pinnacle! It
took me over 4 hours. I think riding a bike would have been faster
but not as beautiful as seeing the sun set over Clear Lake from that
altitude.
Sunday I flew from Elk to Hull with Rich. We left
Horse at 8,000'. There were many other great flights and stories to
tell this weekend, post 'em!
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Leo Jones
Member
|
Hull - sunday 4/25
flying report
Hull turned out to be extremely good on sunday. Conditions looked
stable, and we decided it would not be good XC conditions at Elk,
and we hoped to get better than a sledder at Hull. Matt, Jon, Scot,
Donna and I got to launch at about 1 pm and it was blowing in, with
some quite good cycles. By the time we were set up there were small
cumies forming intermittently over Sanhedrin, but when I got on
launch the wind had died and I began to feel a breeze on the back of
my legs. I waited for about 10 mins before it blew in at all, had a
good launch aand found it very smooth and somewhat sinky in front of
launch. I turned left, found a small thermal, banked it up and
slowly began to climb. I found better lift to the right of launch
and soon climbed out to 9500ft. There is still quite a lot of snow
on the back of Hull.
Jon launched next after several minutes
of waiting, and sunk out some at first but soon began to climb out
rapidly. I decided to leave for Sanhedrin towards the clouds that
were now continuously forming there. It was very sinky and quite
oddly turbulent on the way there. Jon climbed out to 10,500ft and
followed. I found lift just before the Frog pond - I was below
7000ft then and I was glad to find it. Jon got there with way more
height and very soon announced he was at 10K
again.
Conditions at Sanhedrin were excellent under the
clouds, and soon we were at 11K and getting up to cloud base. Scot
soon joined us. I flew around for quite a while taking pics and not
paying much attention to my flying but still had to dive to stay out
of clouds. There was lots of lift.
Meantime back on launch
Matt had had to abort his launch when a dust devil formed right in
front of him just as he started his run. He face planted but with no
damage to the glider and not much to the mountain. Minus some skin
and blood he eventually re launched and had a good flight.
It
was pretty cool up there. There were some odd patches of turbulence
that did not seem to be connected with any thermal activity - there
seemed to be a lot of convergence related lift and sink. I got
seriously wire twanged twice with little warning, but mostly it was
quitte smooth with great lift. I flew over Mike Kunitani's house
with 7K but when I flew back to the mountain to complete my triangle
it was really sinky and I could not get up.
Kurt and Rich
flew from Elk to Hull. Scot flew out and landed 2/3rds of the way
down Potter Valley. The rest of us landed in the slot in very light
wind.
Three other Bay area pilots also flew. It was very
green and beautiful up there.
Leo
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MattsFlyin
Club Treasurer
|
Dusty
Launch
Seeing a dustdevil appear right in front of me made me yell "Oh
Sh*t" really loud. It had instantly disappated all the lift and
replaced it with sink right in the middle of my launch run. I barely
had enough time or room to stop by pushing out and cover up at the
last second. Ended up with a cut hand and scratched face.
The
glider was fine, a detailed preflight revealed as I drank some water
and and tied off a few arteries. As the spectators quickly hurried
away I donned my helmet for another go. Final check of hang strap,
wind speed and tourniquets and I was off! Almost two hours later I
landed in the slot after doing the basic Hull triangle for the Go
For It.
Hull Pk - Tule Lk - LZ Spot - Hull Pk
1 hr 48
min
10,574 ft
12-1300 fpm lift sustained!
52.5 points (17.5
x 3)
Matt
|
MattsFlyin
Club Treasurer
|
Dusty
Manners
Thank you very much to David, Donna, Mark and Stephanie for getting
my gear and plugging my leaks.
Matt
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maallensbcglobalnet
Visitor
|
Hull last
weekend 4/24-25
Hey Sky gods,
This is Mark Allen, the guy in the yellow
Klassic who flew with you at Hull last weekend. It was a good day
and I enjoyed the company, but was somewhat insulted that at least
three of you left me in the dust at about 9.0-9.5K. I rarely got
over that altitude, but three times you guys gained another 1K+ over
me. I found the thermals somewhat broken over the 9K mark, and I
couldn't seem to get much more out of them. What was I doing wrong?
What were you guys doing to get that extra 1-2K? Any advice would be
appreciated, and thanks again for sharing your air. Contact us at
Humboldt Wings to see granite peaks and alpine lakes over Weaver
Bally with us this summer.
- Mark Allen
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Leo Jones
Member
|
Re. Hull last weekend
Hi Mark,
Sorry, I didn't mean to insult you when I thought you
guys were Bay Area pilots.
Hull in spring often see days when
there is little lift on the mountain but good lift in convergence
coming from Sanhedrin - I got to 11,500ft -and out over the lake and
LZ. Sunday was exceptional in that there was great convergence, and
good lift over the mountain, though Red Spot and the house - both
usually good reliable thermal sources - were not working at
all.
I have a photo of you over the mountain - I can send it
to you if you want.
Looking forward to flying with you guys
again.
Leo
thermaleo(at)yahoo(dot)com
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