St. John Fly-in, 2007

Photo Gallery - Ernie's photos

Google Earth track log - Rich Sauer.

Google Earth track log - Chris Arai.

Google Earth track log - Vince Endter.

Vince Endter's flight report.

St. John Site description.

St. John photo page.

This last August 10-12, Sonoma Wings held their fly-in at St. John Mt. / Potato Hill in Northern California. This annual event has been held, on and off, for the last 12 years.

We had a decent turn out of 22 flex wings, 5 rigids, and 8 paragliders.

The fly-in was held over three days, with a defined task on Saturday and free flying on Friday and Sunday. The task was an out and return for hang gliders and a race to goal for paragliders.

The out and return task from St. John Mt. was meant to be challenging, with the out leg in the usual XC downwind direction heading north, but the return leg, coming back into the wind to the LZ and party field, would be a challenge. Rigid wings had a turnpoint 8 miles further out than the flexwings, making for a 48 mile task, while the flexies had 37 miles to fly.

The hangies had a 7.5 mile crosswind task, launching from Potato Hill, up and over a ridge, to the party field. As the day turned out to be very inviting for straight XC, the paragliders, one and all, bailed on the task and went as far downwind as they could. They all had fun, but failed to place in the competition.

Launch conditions on St. John were good, if a little light, coming in at 5-10 mph with stronger cycles a little cross. Most pilots climbed out to between 9 and 10K and, with a 20 mph tailwind at altitude, had little problem getting to the turnpoints. But, getting back through that wind was a different story. Only 1st place finisher Rich Sauer, on his ATOS VR rigid, made goal. 2nd place finisher Chris Arai made it within a mile of the LZ in his flex wing WW Talon, his first flight in over a year. Chris' flight was more impressive in that he chose to go to the rigid turn point at Red Mt., topping everyone but Rich.

Given the conditions, some pilots opted to get high on the mountain and not go on course but fly directly to Mary's LZ where they frittered away their altitude to land at the BBQ. One advantage of Mary's LZ was the cool irrigation canal flowing under the trees 30 feet from the BBQ, where pilots could sit and soak after a hot flight. With a portion of the canal conveniently concreted over, this allowed family-friendly cavorting while watching the pilots landing out in the heat.

A delightful BBQ of marinated tri-tip beef and chicken was cooked up by Ernie and Ernie Jr. (otherwise known as EC) with awards presented afterwards.

That evening, with no moon, the Perseid meteor shower was amazing for those who stayed up.

Sunday proved to have better flying conditions and lots of buoyancy over the LZ, providing more fun for those who stayed.

While I was the official meathead, the real thanks go to Ernie, and especially EC, for the BBQ and their endless and hardworking help. Donna and Charley get accolades for their help in acquiring awards, along with the many people who donated prizes. Rich Sauer's daughter Kim (newly licensed) did some hang 4 driving that helped many pilots, and the LZ owner, Mary, made everything possible with her convenient LZ. Mary was pleased with the hand made Opal pendant presented by Sonoma Wings in thanks.

The Sonoma Wings club is known as a cross-country oriented group, and this fly-in did a lot to encourage fun cross-country competition. More pictures of the fly-in and links to other events can be found on www.sonomawings.com.

Final results are: Rigid division, 1st place Rich Sauer, 2nd place Scot Huber, 3rd Vince Endter, 4th Kurt Bainum, 5th Dave Clement.

In the Topless division, 1st place went to Chris Arai, 2nd place Todd Robinson, 3rd Wayne Michelson, 4th Eric Frolich, and 5th Dave Merriman.

In the Kingpost division, 1st was Bob Stanley, 2nd Joe Jackson.

With no paraglider making progress toward goal from Potato hill, placements were not determined in the paraglider division.

Submitted by Michael O'Leary.

A brief history of the Sonoma Wings St John Fly-in.

The fly-in started in 1995 when then club president, Todd Robinson, got the idea to hold a fly-in to try to expand the XC potential of the site. We called members from all the area clubs we could think of and invited them all, and all their best pilots, to come fly St. John and push its limits.

This year, 2007, was the tenth fly-in. Two years we were prevented from holding the event due to circumstances beyond our control. One year everyone showed up but the Sheriff's department wouldn't let us go up the mountain because they were chasing escapees from Snow Mountain Academy around the area. One other time it was called on account of a forest fire.

In the ten years we have held the event, we have had pilots from 11 area clubs attend. Including; Sonoma Wings, Mother Load Sky Riders, Cloud Street Gang, Wings of Rogallo, Humboldt Wings, Fellow Feathers, Marin County Hang Gliding Assn., Berkeley Club, BAPA, Northern California Hang Gliding Assn., and San Luis Obispo Soaring.

Over the course of the years, the fly-in has indeed achieved its original goal as the site record has gone from 28 miles at the first meet to 158 miles today.

We would like to recognize our many sponsors over the years. The hang gliding community has been incredibly generous donating great prizes every year. Rest assured this generosity has not gone unnoticed as we are all buying your products. The sponsors include; USHPA, Wills Wing, Moyes, Gunnison Gliders, Angle of Attack, Hall Brothers, Mission Soaring, Adventure Productions, Arai Design, Flytec, US Aeros, Kevy Metal Graphics, the Timberline Bar and Grill, and others that are no longer in business.

The fly-in format has changed from time to time and will probably continue to do so. It started as a two-day open distance format. A few years ago Paragliders began to be included, flying from nearby Potato Hill. Since the fly-in is no longer primarily to stretch the limits of the site, Out and Return tasks are the usual fare. Recently the fly-in has become more of a social affair, with a Saturday night BBQ and more families attending. Sonoma Wings has had a great time hosting the St. John Mt. Fly-in and has no plans to stop.

Charley Warren