St. John 1999 Fly-Fest - the rest of the story.

Finally, we come to Saturday, the day of the meet. Many pilots showed up Friday night and by the pilots meeting Saturday we had 21 contest entrants. There were a few pilots there who chose not to enter. We spelled out the rules, gave away some prizes and headed up to launch. The wind was generally light northwest. The wind wasn't really blowing in on any of the launches but was rotoring up everywhere.

Launch conditions were trying. No one was very interested in being the first off the mountain. Several pilots had set up by the ramp and carried their gliders up to the northeast and west launches (a grueling hike). After much waiting, a paraglider made its way up from Potato Hill. After it flew over us and headed out to the valley, pilots sucked up and began to launch. There were only four launches from the ramp. Eight people got off the northeast launch. Several of the launches were less than good.

Those who got off the mounteain went pretty much straight up to 12,000 ft. Out of 26 gliders set up, less than half flew. A few pilots went north and were able to get past Elk Creek for up to 20 miles. Those who flew south fared much better. At one point Leo and Jon were at the south end of Bear Valley at 10,000 ft.. Jon chose to land at the junction of Hwy. 20 and Hwy. 16, where he had always wanted to fly to. That was 34 miles. Leo, Ernie and Tim headed out into the Sacramento Valley. Leo made it the farthest. He flew to Arbuckle for 43 miles. Ernie and Tim got 31 miles. So, those who flew had a great time. Those who didn't sulked. Everyone was back in camp that night talking about the prospects for better flying on Sunday. Well, almost everyone. Scot ended up spending the night out. He'd flown over the ridge and sunk out into an area called Logan's Valley. He was able to use a cell phone to call the Timberline and let us know where he was. Despite their valiant efforts Matt and Laurie Jagelka were unable to find him. They drove around in the dark until midnight looking for Scot and made it back to camp on fumes. It turned out that Scot figured he wasn't going to be picked up and turned off his radio. Meanwhile, Scot had been taken in by the Logan clan who were on the property hunting for the weekend. They fed Scot and gave him beer and a bed to sleep in. So while some people were worried that he was sleeping in his glider sail, Scot was making friends with a family that had been in the area since before California was even a state! Scot spent almost 24 hours out by the time he was retrieved Sunday afternoon.

Sunday morning while Jon was in having breakfast at the Timberline, he was informed that there had been an escape from the Fouts Springs "Bad Boys" camp. Jon relayed the info to us at the lake via the radio. The Sheriff wouldn't let anyhone into the area until they were all caught. There were three of 'em and they were being chased by helicopters, dogs and officers on foot. We decided to have a pilots meeting anyway in hopes that they would be caught quickly. Two of them were. We put out tarps for a turn point, made preparations to fly, and waited. The wait was agonizing. Flying conditions looked good. I went to get Scot to help relieve the tension. About 3:30 in the afternoon Todd was in town getting ice and witnessed Sheriffs deputies handcuffing someone in front of the Timberline Bar and Grill. He radioed out to the lake for a flogging party to join him in town. It was in fact the last escaped prisoner and the Sheriff gave us permission to go into the area.

Many pilots had gone north to see about flying Red Mountain, so we were too spread out to finish the meet. And, it was getting late. We had the awards dinner moved up to 5:00 PM.

Despite the miserable turn of events everyone had a pretty good time. We gave away most of the prizes. Everyone who came got at least one. There were prizes left over that will be raffled off at the next club meeting.

The final results were:
Leo Jones 43 miles - Fusion
Jon James 34 miles - Fusion
Ernie Camacho 31 miles - WW XC
Tim Washick 31 miles - Stealth (came back 3 miles to keep Ernie company)
Vince Endter 29 miles - WW Super Sport (his first XC!)

Charlie Warren, reporting.