Index to weather maps

Hangola December 22-27, 2000

Today I introduced my new Subaru Forester to High Rock.

I could see a glider in front of launch as I passed Cavetown. On my way to the top I encountered Marc Fink and Kelvin Pierce driving down to retrieve Ed Reno, who had just finished an extended sled after his first launch in the WW US and new harness. They offered a shuttle, I dropped my wing off and headed for the LZ. Once back on top, conditions were cold and not quite soarable, so Marc and Kelvin decided to leave. Ed headed down to retrieve his glider.

I checked launch and found conditions a bit scary... the High Rock Logo and grey paint are quite slippery when snow and moisture are added. I managed to locate a few handfuls of black dirt in the forest that served to improve traction. (note to myself - bring a bucket of sand and salt next time)

Ready to fly and alone on launch I contemplated a slippery self-launch in NW 5-7mph. The self launch was easier than I expected, mostly due to the fact that Bob Gillisse and Ed Reno had arrived (moral support)..

The flight was short, but sweet. I managed two short passes and headed out to land near Ed's tracks in the virgin snow.

As I headed up the snowy road from the LZ to Emma's house, it was easy to see that my new Forester was hooked on Hang Driving.

'Spark

(hoping to fly HR on 01/01/01)

The morning was better.

Unfortunately no one showed until around 12:30. By then it was marginal. The cube was slipperier than snake sn--. Marc and Kelvin belayed themselves and wired me off about the same time Alan showed. If I had been a better pilot I might have gotten more than a quick extendo.

By the time I had gotten back to launch Marc and Kelvin disappeared (to the pulpit?) but Bob G. had woken up to wire Al off. He was happy with his sled and did some high banks over Emma Janes.

Ed

For the first time in a long while the Crestline windtalker showed it blowing in at the summit. In the winter, it usually blows down that far up because the sea air doesn't have the strength to push all the way up. Marshall, the lower launch, is almost always flyable though except in a full blown Santa Ana. Got a ride up with Bill Soderquist, inveterate looper, and set up nose to the wind tied to a tree. I find that way is much easier with my new glider because it keeps the tips from ginding on the ground and makes the haul back a lot easier. It was about 60 and coming in at 10 - 15 or so. Looked like a great day. But it wasn't really. We were getting only 300 over or so in some really rough, strong stuff. After half an hour of boating down the ridge and up the ridge I headed out over the valley. Much nicer. Best therm of the day for me had some hawks in it and I took it almost all the way back up to Crestline launch.

ps. Rob Kells gave me some pointers on tensioning the tips on my glider. I asked him how come he knew that. He said WW has a curved tip prototype that they are working on. That will be interesting.

A nice day at Woodstock today. Arrived at the gate to find Terry Spencer's driver heading down. Terry flew for 1/2 hour but landed due to harness trouble. Pete Schumann and I hiked up in record time to find it blowing straight in 10-15. Flew for 1:20 and 1600' over before landing to head back for X-mas dinner.

Happy holidays.

Tom

Just in case anyone was wondering, Christmas Eve afternoon at Embreeville was picture perfect. Wx was a balmy 36F, with warm southwest winds 6-8 knots. I got some much needed takeoff and landing practice while my daughter Sarah tried to shoot me out of the sky with her water cannon.

Joyous Noel to All!
Gerry Donohoe

Day 1 (12/25)-- Met Keishya and Bob at Cubuy launch which faces SE-- it was blowing pretty hard 10-20 with higher gusts. But it felt like it was backing off so we stuck around as the launch cycles got longer. I launched a Falcon 195 at about 2:30 into some boo-wah conditions. There had been a big black cloud over launch when we had arrived. Karen asked if they had any problems from cloud suck. Bob's reply was &No, that never happens here.& Well it was major cloud suck that day. I got up into the soup countless times while stuffing the bar and spiraling down to excape the lift. Cloud base was only about 1000' feet above launch. Launch is at 1440 AGL. Bob, who also got sucked into the clouds, had to revise his opinion of the conditions at that site.

But after escaping the clouds a few times, I figured out what to do. I'd just circle or park under the cloud. Then once it started getting foggy, I'd zoom upwind to a clear spot or down the ridge to lose about 500 feet and then do it all again. I was able to follow one long cloud way out into the valley.

After 1:45, I got flushed as did some other pilots. Karen wanted to wait till it backed off. Hence, she had an extendo at the end of the day.

Day 2-- I took an early morning tandem with Bob for an article I'm writing for Caribbean Travel and Life. I had to play the tourist for the article. Karen followed with a short morning flight and then we headed to another site-- La Casita, which faces South. One of their newer hang 2s was already in the air when we arrived in the Lz. But he sank out by the time we made it up to launch. I played wind dummy next in an Ulstrasport 135 and got about 20 minutes in some really small thermals before being flushed. I was too chicken to 360 just 100 over next to this steep facing ridge. I felt like I'd be splatted against the ridge like a bug on a windshield if a fell out of the back side of the thermal. A few more pilots launched after me. But only one, named Nelson (must be the name) was able to get up for a little while. Karen decided not to fly since everyone was sinking out and the main LZ was full of cow patties. My knee found a major one.

Day 3-- back to Cubuy. It was pretty touch and go for the first 20 minutes. But then the good old 'we don't have cloud suck' kicked in and I was back into the fog. Once Mr. Dark and Scary disappeared, it was major sink. It was just Keishya and I in the air at the time. Since I was about 500 over her as we headed out to land, I was able to hook a thermal that she was too low to get into. It was a slow riser. It took forever to get back above launch. And at 500 over launch, I was way far from launch since the winds had started to blow the termals down the ridge. Back in the Falcon 195, I tried to putt, putt, putt back too launch. No such luck. Sank out again and almost had a low save. But a guy on his new Lightspeed was co-altitude and in my way. I pulled in to get out of his way and landed. Ended up with an hour and 1100' over.

Karen and a few other pilots then flew and had extendos. Back up at launch again, it hinted at going magic and 2 pilots and a paraglider were staying up about 100 over. Only the PG pilot remained in the sky by the time I lauched. It was scatch city-- most of the time only 50 feet over the trees and having to play dodge the bag-wing. Karen launched and made a few passes but wasn't too comfortable with the traffic-- so she headed out to land while I continued to kick at the trees and dodge the paraglider for a 45 minute sunset flight.

Day 4-- went SCUBA diving. Visibility sucked. So we're going to do touristy things the next two days before coming home.

Matthew (might be up for flying on New Year's Day, of Karen and Matthew)

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This page last updated December 31, 2000