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Hangola June 1 - 3, 2002

Flight Reports

Went to the park today to kite the glider for a while. Knee seems to be mending quite well. Staying under the glider with all the side to side movement was a little uncomfortable but not painful. Nothing beats flying I know, but kiting that thing was just plain fun! Got picked up twice about 7 or 8 feet.

Total blast. Much easier to transport than the Eagle 164, however I dont think I'll be giving up hang gliding any time soon. See ya out there.

Conditions all day till dark were STFI @ 15-18. Launches commenced @ 1400, landings started @ 1700. The first hour was choppy but steadily improved during the day to smooth hi altitude boating in big fat ones culminating with Bob, Jess, and Doug getting a complimentary face wash @ 6100 over ( about 7600 MSL). Most flite times were in the 2.5 to 3 hr range. Bob, Jess, Doug, TR, Shawn, and Tom (in no special order) sucked it up. Terry the PG pilot took a flight @ 1900 but found it a bit ugly for a PG and landed early............Bob.

It was mostly a blue day, with about 80% of the IIIs and above going over the back. Dave Proctor and Matthew sank out but came back and flew again. Dave then got the flight of the day with 59 miles going through 16. I was about 50 minutes on the ridge with my HPAT, (the battons for my Litespeed are at Ridgley but I didn't have time to pick them up) about 40% of the time at the top of the stack at about 2000 over, and 60% on the bottom at the deck. Finally, about 5 of us got a big fat thermal and slowly drifted with to over 5000 over and just behind launch. Sparky, Richard Hays in a Falcon, Matthew, a couple more and me. I was on top of stack at almost 5400 over launch (About 7400 msl) and made it to Waynesboro with no problem. Dave P. got to over 8,000 during his flight (how about a report Dave)? About two more slow steady thermals took me back up to about 5400 msl. I was going to try to make it through the gap past Waynesboro over 16 but didn't get high enough so I landed as far past W. as I could - rght up against the trees for 27 miles and 2.5 hours. I could have made to HR LZ but had lost too much altitude vainly seeking another thermal. Rich Donahue drove my car and piked me up, then we collected Matthew up and drove to HR LZ.

About 5 guys made to HR LZ: Tom M. Terry Sp. Sparky, Steve Hengen, Steve Crichten, and maybe one or two more. Lots of guys flew. Matthew made it to west of Waynesboro, and others not as far. Rich Hays got to almost Greensboro on his Falcon. His first XC in a long time; he was really psyched afterwards.

Joe Gregor and Mike Chev. went about 6 miles. I had tried to go with them earlier as they left with about 2000 over, but I was not high enough and to far out front. (Lucky for me; about 30 minutes later it really turned on). There were not very many clouds so it was a crapshoot.

I drove Dave P. back to pick his truck at the Pulpit at about 1130 pm, then came back and camped at HR LZ. Emma Jane, Harry and others of the clan had come down earlier. Big crowd, great flying yarns. Bruce S. cooked and did an excellent job. Lots of great food, fixins, and drinks. Sparky, Bob Buchanen, and one or two others played just the right amount of music (not too loud or too long). Great time had by all. Lots of people going to a very-promising Woodstock today but we have a visitor coming.

John Dullahan

It was Bruce Engen, not Steve Hengen, that made it to the HR LZ. And I don't recall Steve Crichton making it to the HR LZ. As to my first flight, I got a whopping 20 minutes and 450 over in a severe SW cross before sinking out.

Dan got about 11 miles-- Craig 14 (his longest and 2nd XC). Cavanaugh got 14 on his first flight-- Gardinater 20. Mark Fink and John Muldoon soared the ridge for a couple of hours.

It was strong and gusty most of the afternoon... Danny Brotto broke down and lots of hang 2s and others bailed. But patience paid off for Karen, BVH, Mark Cavanaugh and Joe Brauch. The strong gusty winds abaited during the last 90 minutes of the day and they all had great glass of flights. Two 2s (Hugh and Chris Snow) that never gave up the ship also got 30 minute end of the day flights.

Matthew (too tired to go to Woodstock today, of Karen and Matthew)

After a nice/but stormy camp-out in the HR LZ, we headed for the Pulpit arriving at 9:30am (Saturday). I flew my Zagi most of the morning waiting for conditions to improve, then launched my Moyes CSX5 at about 2:30pm into 'textured air'. After about 45 minutes,I decided it was too trashy and headed out to land.

Nearly over the LZ, I hit bad trash, followed by a 'ripper'. Decided it was safer to be high, and beamed back up. A 'fat one' came through and several of us gaggled, climbing to 7k msl. I finally decided to break my "I shall not go XC" rule. 3 thermals later and never below 4500 msl, I dove in on the High Rock LZ from 6.5k msl and 7 miles out, losing only 3k. 'Twas a damn shame I couldn't fly over and soar the Rock. I stayed west of the LZ and dumped alt, landing with just over 2hrs. At tree-top level, I popped my glide-spoiling 'Delta Dragger' clamshell fin and touched down a bit short of the spot.

Tom McGowan's glider was already in the LZ. Later, we were joined by Bruce Engen and Terry Spencer.

This was my 1st East coast XC and my 1st XC in a decade. A brief explanation: I hate being stranded without my car and 'stuff', and prefer to avoid the XC-related risks.

The only thing better than the flight itself was landing next to good people, great food, cold kegs of beer and a rockin' sound system. Thanks to Brian VH, Marc Fink and David Rice for helping retrieve my Zagi, car and other stray gear. The party in the LZ was excellent. Many thanks to Bruce and Barb Satatis, Bob Buchanen and others who helped to make this event a success.

'Spark (never say never XC)

Great day at the HR fly-in @ the Pulpit. I was one of the early sacrificial lambs, making the offering to the wind gods (along with BVH, Matthew, and Richard Hays). We all launched in the 12:30 time frame and Matthew did the best, getting 400 over or so before succumbing to gravity along with the rest of us. Apparently the gods were pleased. I wasn't even going to go again, but after I got back on top I talked to Tom on the radio and found out he was 4K over, 8 miles over the back. OK, I don't have to get hit with a 2x4 (alright, sometimes I do, but not this time). So I quickly set up and relaunch around 2:45. It was so late that my goal was to maybe eke it across the valley to the HR LZ. I hooked a thermal to the south of launch and climbed to +2K. I figure that since it is so late that rather than go back for more I will just take this one. As I am on glide a few miles over the back and not super high I hear someone on the radio reporting that "a bunch of us are 5 grand over and leaving". I thought I had screwed the proverbial pooch and figured I would see these bastards screaming over my head any minute. I survive to the first thermal over the back and climb back into the 4-5K MSL range again and go on glide. My track is almost due East. I swing to the South a little to skirt around Chambersburg and work some light lift at the factories on the West side of 81. Not finding anything worth working there I cross 81 and draw an imaginary line from a dark quarry and a cloud to the East. I arrive there below 3K MSL and go into search mode. It pays off and I find the lift. I don't get to base but do make it to a little over 5K MSL. I get down to 1800 MSL before finding lift and gliding to the Michaux State Forest, hitting it slightly south of Rt 30. I see a cloud downwind but I am not that high and haven't hit any really strong lift so am reluctant to cross 10 miles of trees. I turn South and head for the High Rock LZ. As I am going South I find lift along the edge of the forest. I get to the corner of the woods to the NE of Waynesboro and am at 3.6K MSL. I hang out there to get high before the final crosswind glide to Emma Jane's. I hit a little one and gain some altitude before the drift carries me too far back into the forest. So I head back upwind along the same line and hit a better one this time. It gets better and better and as I climb thru 6K I get a response from Mike Balk in the HR LZ and he agrees to chase me so I stay in this thermal and drift across the sea o' trees. After topping out shy of 7K I go on glide. I hit some nice lift a couple of miles WNW of the Fairfield glider port. It is 5PM and this is the best lift of the day, sometimes hitting 500 on the averager. I climb out to 7880 MSL, and base is still another 500-1000 feet higher, I just can't get there. On glide my GPS is reporting a ground speed in the 53-57 MPH range, so I work anything I hit and let the wind do the work. I am not finding anything strong and glide over Rte 15 North of Emmitsburg. At one point I am in massive sink and the Tangent just keeps telling me to fly faster and faster. I can't see how fast because the vario and GPS are back around my waist. When I finally get out of the sink I let the bar back out and take a quick look at the GPS: ground speed 73.4 MPH. From this point on I am just working little lift and drifting. The problem is that I am now getting into the rolling hills towards Rte 83 South of York and LZs are less plentiful and none are flat. I am looking at the GPS and it is reporting fifty some miles to the Pulpit, and I am thinking that I have to break 60 miles to get out of the region IX 60 mile class. I finally end up landing about 7 Miles ESE of Hanover PA at 5:45 PM, distance to the Pulpit: 59.8 miles..... Damn. I think that my mistake was that I didn't go into survival mode early enough. I flew thru some bumps and didn't make a big 360 to see if there was anything in the area. Still this is my longest flight so I am happy. Mike picks me up and we hump my gear out. Oh yeah, did I say that in my quest for 60 miles I totally ignored landing near a road, and we have to carry all my stuff out about a half mile to the truck (thanks Mike!!!). We get back to Emma Jane's at 9PM and there is still lots of awesome food left (thanks Bruce, Barb and all the others) and the music is on. Thanks also to John Dullahan for taking me back to the Pulpit to retrieve my truck. We didn't get back to High Rock til midnight.

Dave P

You guys are incredible! Like Energizer bunnies setting up and taking down the party. Thanks for all the planning and hard work!

It was great to see High Rock for the first time even if I didn't get to fly it. We were there before the TFR went back into effect, but it was way cross for a first-timer. (Thanks, sparkie!) Three of us Hang-2's got to fly for the first time at both Pulpit and Woodstock this weekend. Loud hozannas to Cragin for hanging around till glass-off to throw us off both days. Thanks also to Janet Gregor and others who encouraged us to wait that long on Saturday when it was way too strong all day. I even appreciate all the constructive criticism of my launches and landings - even from people who weren't present to witness them - you know who you are...

The club(s) and the people in them are what really make this sport special.

Hugh

Re: Sunday at Woodstock

Re: Ellis: "...half a heart attack...figure-eight on final..."

So that was you?! Actually it was a good sample demonstration - I found myself high and did much the same thing. - Hugh

Pulpit Saturday

The forecast of NW early, turning west during the day prompted me to get an early start Saturday, arriving at Pulpit launch shortly after 10:00. Thought I'd be an early bird, but found half a dozen gliders already set up. As the early wind dummies tested the sky, I was happy to crew, watch, and appreciate their sacrifice. Seeing Brian Vant-Hull make it all the way to the secondary was not encouraging. As Dave P reported, others followed, and they at least made it to the primary, but did not show a big soarable sky.

Sometime after 1:00 Tom McGowan and a few others got up and stayed up. Tom jumped over the back early. That started the lemmings running to the edge of the mountain. I was one of the lemmings. While early launches had been from the new ramp, the crowd split and began using both ramps. I ended up behind Sparky at the new ramp, who was waiting for Joe G. to launch. Joe was catching a lot of rock and roll on the ramp, so he held position quite a while. Meanwhile, the left ramp was working, and the line there was playing a game of, "How many can we launch before Joe goes?" I won't call Joe a potato, because I was watching the vigorous movement of his wing tips - he was getting messy air. Joe launched after 2:15, and Sparky then got off fairly fast in nicer conditions.

I made it up onto the ramp the same time Dan Tomlinson stepped up on the left. Dan liked his air sooner than I did, so he hit the sky first. He turned right, so I waited for him to clear the area in front of launch before running into the sky at 2:25. As he turned left and hugged the ridge, I followed behind him, finding the lift there meager. As Dan camped out about 100-200 over the center of the ridge, I moved out front over Route 16. I found the big one huge, good thermal was working out front, and I just kept going up, watching Dan get smaller, and wondering why he didn't move out front to use it, too. I watched my altitude hit 6,000 msl as I drifted over the front ridge, and just kept drifting back as I was going up. I crossed the back ridge at 7,000 msl, and kept going into the valley, topping out at 7,100.

All I saw was blue sky between 30 and 16. Joe radioed that he had been hit by the blue hole and was on the ground. I went for one lone wispy, but there was no lift under it. Then, I found a blue thermal that got me from 3,600 back up to 4,200. The drift was still parallel to 30, and I saw a street forming north of 30. Making my way there, I found another smaller bump that got me from 2,000 to 2,400. I did not make it across 30, and was back down to 2,000, or only 1,800 agl. That was not enough to cross over Chambersburg, so I picked a wide open field and landed behind the Exxon at 30 and 995, for 14.0 miles. Plenty of room to box the field and confirm wind direction, so I had a good set up and very satisfying no-step landing. I was stoked with my highest and farthest flight, all in 57 minutes.

Just as I finished bagging my glider, I heard Janet on the radio say she and Sheila were about to turn from 30 onto 995 to go fetch Mark Cavanaugh. Flagged them down, and joined the ladies, Joe G, and Bridget for the round robin to get Mark and then Mike Chevalier. Thanks, for a most convenient retrieve. Dan T had landed a few miles west of me and north of 30. He hitched back to the top.

Back at launch the I helped Brain V-H launch and winced as he got a wing lifted departing the ramp. Based on the conditions, I told the waiting H2's they would not be launching in such a cross. However, as Curt Kemerer, Mark Cavanaugh, Joe Brauch and Karen Carra all took late day launches, winds got much smoother and cleaner. Hugh McElrath and Chris Snow got their gliders back together and launched shortly before 8 for about a half hour of glass-off soaring on their first Pulpit flights.

Picking up my glider at the Exxon en route to Emma Jane's, I made it to the party about 9:30. Lots of great food still available, and a great group of folks to spend the evening with.

Woodstock Sunday

After camping in the High Rock LZ, I made my way down I-81 to Woodstock for the forecast NW 10-20. The first batch of launches all reported rowdy air, so I stayed on the ground a while. We saw a lot of 20-30 instead of the 10-20. Even Terry Spencer hung out through the middle afternoon. Finally, about 6:00 it got better. In the late day launch cycle we pushed off Terry, Ellis Kim, Gary Campbell, Gary Smith, Marlin Savelle, Randy Weber, Sheila Gardner (Mark's turn to play with Bridget and drive retrieve), Bob Ratliffe, Carlos Weill, and Steve Padgett. Once Mark Cavanaugh and Sheila reported satisfactory conditions at altitude, and the launch settled down, I observed off Hugh McElrath, Chris Snow, and Dave Rice. I was the last hang glider off the mountain at 7:00, although Marc Fink, Ben and LE Herrick all followed me in their paragliders about 40 minutes later.

The air was nice over the ridge, and I spend an hour boating around among the herd, cursing McElrath for staying 200 higher than I in his Falcon. I maxed out at 1400 over launch. A flush cycle started shortly before 8:00, and I joined a sequence of gliders in the pattern landing one after another. The winds had been switchy in the LZ, and I saw quite a few questionable approaches - strange directions, messy figure 8's, and few good uphill DBF's. Even saw a successful downhill landing in the primary (scary). Luckily everyone got on the ground safely, if not prettily. Marc in his paraglider and I in my Pulse landed in near formation in a one-two sequence at 8:05, with Gary Smith filming us hitting the ground and walking to breakdown in parallel. My short run-out landing form a standard right turn DBF worked well in the knee-high grass and light switchy winds. Last HG to launch, I was also last HG to land. However, while Ben was already in the LZ, LE had the sky to herself under her bag when I rode back to the top to fetch my van.

I have to call the weekend a rousing success, with close to 40 launches at Pulpit on Saturday, over 20 at Woodstock on Sunday, several Pulpit to HR XCs for the party night, and my own new records for altitude and distance.

Cragin

It was cranking when we showed up at noon.

Optimistically I set up my little Spectrum anyway.

Lots of folks showed up to fly.

Base windspeed was clocked at around 12-14 mph. Dropping every once in a while down to 4 mph and gusting a lot up to 20 mph. The big boys took off around 3:00 (I think): Tom McGowan, John McAllister, Dave Proctor, Mark Cavanaugh, Mike Chevalier, Marlin Seville, Adam and Bruce Engen took off. Dave Campbell(?) potatoed on launch for a while before coming to the sad realization that it had actually picked up some and that it was prudent to back off. Big boy Terry Spencer got stranded with the rest of us.

We stuck it out though and were rewarded with lightening winds around 5:30. It was so light, that by the time I got to launch I launched into dead (eh, calm) air. (It picked up again after I launched) Folks in the second launch cycle were (not in order of launch): Terry Spencer, David Campbell, Cragin Shelton (who graciously observed a bunch of H2s), Gary Smith, Sheila Gardner, Carlos Weill, Steve Padgett, Hugh McElrah, Chris Snow, Dave Rice, Bob, and me. I hope I didn't forget any hangies. After assisting at launch all day, it even calmed down enough for Marc Fink to get a nice flight on his bag, as did Ben and LE Herrick.

The big boys all went XC. Tom and John even made it all the way to Harrisonburg!!! Woohoo! Congratulations! (although it's probably old hat to them) A couple of the rest of us did a roundtrip to Strasbourg. I know Sheila Gardner and Mark Cavanaugh went to Strasbourg. I know I did. I thought I saw a couple more folks heading that way, but don't know who it was. I think everybody got to soar until the last flush cycle at about 8:00 kicked the rest of us out of the air. The last six of us had to land in a space of 5 minutes, if not less. Must have made for a suspense filled spectacle. No incidents there though. :-P

Mark C. got 4.5 hours.

Gary Smith took his cam flying with him. He said he got a bunch of nice footage. Can't wait to see it.

I heard there were some hairy launches and some hairy landings, but everybody survived without any hospital trips.

Once again a demonstration of my belief that the pure aircraft approach is not necessarily a beginner technique. Most crashes at high rock have come from people being too inflexible to modify as needed.

On another note, I was the wind dummy TWICE at the pulpit on the same day. Does doing the halfwit thing twice in a row put you in full possession of your wits, or am I actually a quarterwit?

-Brian.

I had my longest flight on the east coast yesterday. 132 miles from Pleasant Gap to Elkton MD, at the North end of the DelMar peninsula. I'm still recovering from my 0430 return this morning, but wanted to share the basics. Four hours launch (1330) to land (1730). Got to experience the required high wind, 20 minute groveling low save just after going over the back, then spent the next three hours between 5000 to 7500 MSL, with one trip to 8200 near wispy base. Mostly blue, with short lived clouds in widely spaced, sparse streets. Lined up pretty well on one of them 30 miles into the flight and took it for all I could get out of it. Ground cruise speeds at altitude was around 60 MPH in the 25-30 MPH tail wind and some dolphin flying was possible down the lift line. The day ended as the wispies went away and I figure the surface winds prevented any late day thermals. Had hoped to hit the Ric Niehaus convergence at the DelMar peninsula, but it was not to be. Had no driver (when its good, you gotta go) so had to shoot another silver bullet and beg my wife Darlene to come get me - which she did after the kids baseball game ended at 2030. Long night, but worth it. Look forward to swapping lies soon.

Mitch

Cast of characters: Steve K, Ric, Norm Price, Dan, Lenko, Richard Hays, Jeff Harper, Alana (all/most soared)

Two flights for me, one on the Target 140 and the second on Alana's Airborne Sting 118. Thanks, Alana!!! Managed forty minutes on the first flight sans vario or clouds. Sometime in the middle of the afternoon Steve, Ric and Norm (and others, for all I know!!) disappeared and showed up later in various vehicles. Don't know any of their stats. Congrats to Lenko for earning his AT rating!

Judy

I didn't go anywhere. Got 1 1/2 and 4300 . That was me that squeeked it back to the field and had the "interesting" landing down by the RC hut. Whip it around and flare was the plan but I forgot the VG was on and it don't whip around for nothing in that mode. Lucky I got it as far around as I did.

A great couple days of flying....

Saturday was a real treat for both Alana & I. Dennis Monteiro invited us to join him for flights in the Blanik 2-place sailplane he flies out of Morgantown. We arrived at 2:30 & he had Alana at ( 500 ft below) cloudbase by 3- approximately 6300 msl. They flew for an hour, landed EXACTLY on the spot ( ya gotta love those spoilers! ) and Dennis took me to a similar fate.. a few feet higher and a landing within about 5 feet of the first one! Both of the novice stick pilots were overcontrolling a lot , but we both had a blast. Thanks Dennis!

We decided to go to Ridgeley late in the day on Monday where we saw the cast of characters Judy named in her post. By the time the two of us got ready it had begun to shut down... or so we thought. Once again Chad dropped each of us off just in the right spot. Alana got to 3500 & made me work to get up to her.The Talon & I eventually topped out at 4938 after 6 pm...too cold for a T shirt !

Figured out how the "auto-core" feature on the Talon operates.. let the Vg almost all the way off, set the bank angle & let go ! It works even better than the MagicIV which has been the standard against which all 'self-coring' gliders have beeen measured for almost 20 years.

Norm & Ric flew approximately 35 miles after launching at 3:30 on a cloudless day without much drift. ( One of these days I'm going to get there early enough to chase you guys ! )

Hope to see you all at the Ridgeley fly-in this weekend.

Jeff Harper

I know it's been a while and protocol seems to dictate that flying stories should be posted soon after they happen but this one is a week old and if that is bad form, well, you know where the delete key is.

The High Rock Fly-in was both really fun and exhausting. It would have been less of both if I had left for home Sunday morning but after what happened to me on Saturday, that was impossible. On Saturday I learned a very important lesson for all pilots but especially for all my fellow Hang-II's out there. The lesson is this:

DON'T BREAK DOWN UNTIL IT IS DARK!!!!!

Saturday was an awesome flying day at the Pulpit if you had the requisite skills and airtime. For me it was a great day to get wire crew practice and I'm glad that I did. There were lots of good launches and a few 'entertaining' ones. As keel guy, I got to see things from the launching pilot's perspective. I can now tell you all that I'm WAY more conservative than most of you. I also have about a thousand fewer launches so that might have something to do with it.

So 7:00 rolls around, it's still blowing 15 - 20 mph on the ramp, the forecast is for 10-15 all night so I decided to break down. It seemed like no sooner had I strapped the glider to my truck and the wind backed down and smoothed out. Hugh and Chris (the other II's) both flew and had great flights. Oh well, if you can't still love a day like that than you should give up hang gliding and look into bowling or shuffleboard.

To add insult to injury, earlier in the day Matthew promised there would be a glass off in the evening. I arrived in the HR LZ to Matthew reminding me that if I had just listened to him, I would be breaking down in the Pulpit LZ. I would have liked to argue with him except that he was right. In the future I recommend that all Hang-II's listen to Mathew's weather predictions. If he's right, you get to fly. If he's wrong, you can blame him. Kind of a win/win if you ask me.

The party was great and after a short nap, everyone was up on Sunday and figuring out what to do and where to go. The forecast called for 10-20 mph winds from the NW so a bunch of us headed to Woodstock. When I got there, it was gusting to 20 and above so I called my wife and told her not to wait up because I was not going to break down until it got dark!

The set-up area was pretty crowded and knowing I wouldn't be flying for a while, I chose to leave the glider in the bag and make room for the big boys and girls. I watched a bunch more launches. Most were great and some where 'entertaining' but everyone got away safely. Then the cycles started to get really strong and everyone who hadn't launched got comfortable on the ground. A few hours later Sheila spoke to Tom McGowan on the radio who reported that the conditions were 'fairly challenging'. Given Tom's habit of understatement I took this to mean, "Whatever you do, don't let Dave launch. He'll be killed instantly!". So I broke out the chocolate chip cookies to comfort those of us who were stuck on the ground.

After a little while longer it was still blowing like stink but it was also getting late so I told Craigin (who was my observer) that I was going to set up anyway. Hugh, Chris and I found some space and set-up. As we had hoped conditions began to mellow and the rest of the pack of III's and IV's got off the mountain. Out of pity, Hugh and Chris were going to let me launch first but logistics prevailed and Chris was the first of us to get underway.

When it was my turn to launch I remembered something I had learned from Richard Hays on Saturday and I don't think I got a chance to tell him. When he yells clear he YELLS CLEAR. He uses the tone of voice you might hear someone use when they're yelling "Hey get your hands off my daughter!" or the way the police officers yell when they're busting down the door of a crack house on Cops. The point is, it's impossible to make that sound and then waltz off launch. So I waited until the trees sounded even and my wings felt level. I took a deep breath and shouted "Hey, get your hands off my daughter!", then I ran like my life depended on it.

The next thing I knew I had cleared the slot and could hear my vario singing. I turned to the right and just kept going up. It was great to be back in the air at Woodstock. Some of my best soaring flights in the past had been there and it was appropriate that if the first soaring flight of my comeback couldn't be at High Rock, it should be at Woodstock.

I made countless passes between the two closest fingers and topped out at about 1,100' over launch. I even found some bumpy air over the first finger to the north which added to the excitement. I spent a lot of time watching Hugh above me and I couldn't seem to get up where he was. He did a great job getting up there and staying high. I think he looked down on just about everybody's sail at one time or another.

After about 15 minutes, I noticed my neck starting to hurt. I should have gone out to land then, but I stayed on the ridge. At about 25 minutes my neck was really starting to hurt so I left the ridge and found very buoyant air everywhere I went. By the time I got down near the LZ I could barely hold my head up anymore. Things were looking bad, I was in pain and I was not making good decisions. I stayed over the field but made every turn in my approach from too high. When I was on base I thought I was too low to make a figure 8 so I turned on final but was too high. As I flew diagonally across the field I could tell that I was going in the trees on the far end of the field, so I made a gentle left turn and now found myself looking directly at Terry Spencer, his partially broken down Talon and his really big eyes. I knew I was too low to make much of a turn and did not want to drag a wingtip so I just kind of bumped it to the left sort of mushed in. I avoided Terry, his eyes, and his Talon; broke my right downtube and bent the left but suffered no damage to my own structure, calcium or otherwise.

I had a great flight but through a series of bad decisions used up way more of my bag of luck than I ever wanted to in one flight.

Here's what I plan to do about it:

I think my harness has my head hanging too low. It's a cocoon so I think it's pretty easy to adjust the angle. Any and all advice in this area will be appreciated.

I've heard of people putting lines to their helmet to help with neck soreness issues. I fly with a motocross helmet and it has three screws that are used to fasten the brim that the MX guys wear. I think they could serve as attachment points for some shock cord that I could run back to my biner. Any thoughts, or experiences?

My approaches suck. I feel good about my launch skills and if I could put myself on a good final, I feel good about my landing skills too. My approach skills are another matter. I've contacted Steve Wendt about truck towing and plan to go down to Manquin and practice approaches like my life depends on it. Because based on this experience, it does.

A special thanks to Craigin for taking the time to observe the three of us and for making sure you told me how good my launch was before we talked about my approach. And thanks also to Terry Spencer for helping me break down my wounded glider and for remaining calm during the whole ordeal.

Dave

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This page last updated June 4, 2002