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Hangola January 5 - 11, 2005

Flight Reports

Finally IT WAS terrific. I towed first, into SOUTH winds (not east) and bombed out after some attempted thermalling in broken lift -- but I felt that I could have stayed up if I flew better, and that the day had potential.

Kicked butt on my second flight. Paul joined me but I guess I scared him out a thermal and he had to land a bit later. Sorry Paul.

I soared to over 4300 feet, and when the thermal I was in died, I bolted for the ponds where I had found broken lift on my first flight. Still extremely high, I found lift. 3 pilots, far below me, presumably from Wallaby, rushed over to join me. The pilot I assume was Mike B began to climb while the others floundered. I was so high I had a huge advantage. When I began to climb into the mist I ran for home. Maybe I should have stayed with the group -- Mike is a GREAT pilot.

I found weak lift where I looked upwind and decided I was being a baby to not fly to the better looking clouds running parallel to the street I flew. I left my 200 up per minute lift and flew to the black, lying clouds. I plummeted from golden Sky Goddess to Ms. Screwed in seconds. I saw a pilot thermal upwind but couldn't reach him. Many bad decisions. I will get wiser. Finally landed, just as Paul launched again. He was pissed that I had beat him.

I assumed it was too late to soar when Paul relaunched but he wouldn't come down. He won this flight with an hour 15 or so. I finally launched again, way after 4:00, with Ron. Before flying, I met up again with Greg Denaier (am not spelling his name right, but he is this great comp pilot who helped me tons a few years back at Quest). I got another 37 minutes. Landed at sunset, had my worst landing since I arrived and had to run a few steps. The Sport is cheating. You should all buy two of them.

Only negative; a sailplane landed, and literally, skidded by me less than ten feet from my side wires while I was waiting to launch. Actually, much less. It made me angry since I am very cautious and don't want to be on the receiving end of an accident due to someone else's hot-dogging. Good for them, but leave me out of it. Hopefully Quest will have a word with the pilot, who is obviously skilled but perhaps had a lapse of judgment.

Very fun in general though. The weather plans a repeat for the next many days.

Lauren

California Report. Not great here. ok day today but lots of rain and snow and more on the way. Jet stream problem. Plus the hot tub is busted. shucks. Trying to learn how to fly a paraglider. Yep.

I spent nearly a week at Wallaby between Christmas and New Years. I met up with Doug Wakefield who flew in from British Columbia with a stop over in Baltimore to visit with relatives.

I flew every day from the 29th to the 2nd of Jan for a total of 7 flights plus one interesting weak link break low. Winds were pretty steady from the East at 10-12 each day on the ground, with the daytime highs rising from the low to the high 70s as the week progressed.

The flying, while not terrific was pleasant and very relaxed. During the first three days nearly everybody except the big guns such as Mike Barber and Mitch Shipley had brief soaring flights. We were typically let off in thermals but with the relatively strong winds we were soon at the downwind edge of the field and faced with leaving the thermal or leaving the field. I consistently chose to stay within a conservative glide of the field. Those who were willing to drift back always got higher. On the fourth day Jan, 1 I had my best flight with a 1400 foot gain off the release at 2100.

On the last day I flew early then listened to Mike Barber coach an XC student to at least Zepher Hills on their way to Spring Hill. Spring Hill at approximately 55 miles wnw of Wallaby was my objective for the week, but until that last day it was not a realistic goal.

Listening to Mike coach this student was an education in itself, he is always planning at least two moves ahead. If he has a target lift point two thermals away he won't necessarily wait to top out the one his in before moving onto the next. Rather he will move to the next when he has sufficient elevation to be comfortable that he and his student can reach it. Then he will apply that same logic to moving on toward goal.

Paul and Lauren stopped by for the New Years Eve party. I bumped into a pilot, Jeff, that Sparky Bruce and I met on our trip out west. Played some chess, didn't drink too much, ate a lot of $5.00 Wallaby meals. All and all it was a very relaxing and enjoyable week.

One of the most interesting things was noticing all the fun the children were having, they soon got to know each other then played on the trampoline, the hot tub, around the grouonds and seemed to have no trouble avoiding boredom during their whole visit. I'm sure that they had every bit as much fun as they would have visiting Mickey Mouse.

Dan T

It was a good day on course today. Strong southerlyish winds for a long down wind task again. Almost the exact same task as yesterday. They added one more turnpoint and moved the start entry circle. I got high in the stack before the start sitting pretty comfortable. I got faked out when everyone went to take the second start clock. I thought pilots were going to wait for the third. No such luck and I was flying back and forth wasting attitude. The leaders got far ahead but I just flew my pace. The next thermal was a strong one. I joined a group circling in 600fpm. A little hunting, some slowing down on a tip and I the vario was singing to the tune of 900+. When it mellowed to 350 I left. The fast climb got me closer to the main pack so I used them to pick a good glide line into the turnpoint. Dozens of gliders were marking the sky ahead and there was definitely a pattern to see. Pilots would get low and scratch in a freshie, not climbing to spectacular until it really switched on. Then they would sky fast before it mellowed back out. Timing was the key there. Each small group I caught, I would find a stronger core, take that for about a minute, then leave when it dropped below 400 fpm. Crazy that I snub my nose at 400. By the second turnpoint I was well established in the lead group. Things got more efficient, we picked better climbs, found the cores sooner, and flew through more soft lift. The air on course was at times edgy. I flew with my hand on the VG line, ALWAYS. There were very recognizable patterns to the air. Big thermal areas with multiple cores. Anytime I got stuck with only 400 I went into flat turning mode and tried to find a stronger core. It was usually hiding between 2 well spaced groups but on a few occasions it was just off the edge of a big group. Throw it up on a tip and grab an extra 200fpm to make up ground. That worked well for me all day. 10 miles out we got a little slow. Goofing off in slow climbs setting up for final glide. Some mistakes got me lower in the pack so Curt and I charged on. The 5030 said I had it by about 200 feet. I just flew fast and hunted for the boomer. Curt and I got in it quick before the rest of the gliders caught on. I think that one screamed at close to a thousand because the instrument told me to climb very high for a faster speed ring setting. The dash into goal had speeds around 60. That was about the upper limit given the roughness of the air. We were getting chucked around hard. Guido Gehrman (past world champ) left early and had to fly into goal slow. Curt and I passed him barely 10 feet before the finish line. My upper harness zipper got stuck on some shorts threads and the goal line wingover didn't leave any spare time to sort it out. Just flared prone and plopped in on my belly. That works really well by the way.

To put the racing into goal into perspective, I would guess that 25 gliders landed in about 2 minutes. That's a lot of racing!

Kev C

Arrived 1:30P to find Kelvin Pierce, Homer, and Adam Arkfeld in the parking lot with the gliders still on the vehicles. Very strong air at launch and aloft with the fast moving clouds. Hugh showed up shortly after we did. Up in the fire tower Hugh measured gusts to 25 MPH with the Hall ASI. Kelvin measured gusts at launch up to 34 MPH. Homer and Adam bailed. Hiked to the old launch and back. More arrivals from Tom McGowan, Mark Cavanaugh, Randy Weber, and John Middleton. They all carried in and were shuttling vehicles to the LZ when I bailed at 3:30PM.

Bacil

Hi Guys,

As mentioned in previous reports, the weather here the last couple of weeks has been fabulous even for Florida standards with warm sunny days and beautiful cool nights. I have been down here in Jan. and Feb. when it wasn't nearly so nice. The soaring, however has been fairly marginal with mostly shorter (30 minutes or so) being the rule. I have had a couple of flights of an hour or more but even then I didn't feel it was solid enough to leave the field.

Well yesterday I promised to go to a horse show with Lauren and skip flying so you can guess what happened. When we returned and had dropped off the horse we stopped by Quest and were met with the expected "Oh Man! Where were you? It was fantastic!" Awesome Bob said he was amazed the rocks fell right back down into the parking area after being sucked up into the clouds. Apparently even the tandems were skying out to CB all afternoon. Now I don't expect any sympathy, just wanted to post this to let everyone know that the basic laws of hang gliding still apply even in Florida. If you aren't there, it's going to be boo wah!

BTW, Lauren and her pony did great taking a first and a second in the two classes she entered. She's off to the horse show again today...by herself this time!!!!!

Paul

Mark C. launched first, cleanly, and reported no problems. (Kelvin had, wisely, as it turned out, elected to break down.) The four remaining pilots started looking at eachother. It wasn't possible for the last pilot to solo launch, so someone had to not fly. Tom was a gentleman, acted like he was rejecting the conditions. When John Middleton and I protested (out of politeness) Tom claimed he wanted a chance to drive my "fancy sports car". John and Randy helped me get in launch position and reported neutral on both wings. When I started my run, it felt like the wind was on top of the wing, pushing down on me - and I was veering to the right as I ran. It all happened so quickly, but I imagine I must have pushed out a bit to get the wind under the wing, which duly occurred, but first and more strongly under the left wing. I was rapidly helicoptered up - and simultaneously rolled and turned to the right. Got way better view of the trees than I wanted as I exited the slot to the side. (John said I went BETWEEN two trees.) I was very much a passenger, holding on to the left downtube for dear life to get back level, but totally out of control of my trajectory. It was a race between how fast I gained altitude and how fast I was pushed to the right that determined whether I went in the trees. Through pure dumb luck, the elevator won. I think John said on the radio to "take it slowly" - meaning to resist the impulse to land immediately and kiss the ground (cow pies in the LZ), but rather fly for awhile and calm down so I wouldn't blow the landing as well. Elevatored up to about 800 over, pulled on 3/4 VG and penetrated out to the LZ to get out of the lift band. Once I was sure I could get down, I came back to the ridge for awhile and regained altitude, but sunset was approaching. Mark, I, and Randy (who hesitated after my miserable performance, but decided it was still flyable) landed in quick succession. My landing was actually pretty good.

My apologies to all concerned for putting them at risk of responding to an emergency. Clearly, this was a shot across my bows - a chance to learn and improve my judgment without having had to pay the price in broken bones and equipment. One lesson is not to launch in strong conditions. Problem is, it seemed quite launchable - we were more concerned that it would be turbulent or we would get blown backwards. I wonder if I need to consider/practice aborting a launch at Woodstock that is going sour from the first second... I will put tape on both downtubes (only the left one has it now) to improve traction between my slippery windbreaker and the DT to get better roll control on launch. On the drive back, I considered all the reasons I have to stay alive and not just let shit happen... - Hugh

Paul mentioned he came to my horse show to help me yesterday, and missed some great flying. I was so grateful not only that he came with, but also that he didn't gripe after discovering how boowah the day had been at Quest. Talk about making MAJOR brownie points!

Today I was faced with a dilemma. I really wanted to fly, but my horse needed one more "practice" show before we hit the big time in Ocala next week. The competition will be fiercer there, and it will be much more expensive to make mistakes, because it is very costly to compete there. You had better be polished like an apple in a painting before entering the arena. To skip one more opportunity to practice seemed irresponsible.

I made a plan to rise at 5 and drive to Altoona for a hunter show being held there. I could enter the classes starting at 9, be done by 11, and drive back and fly in the afternoon.

Anyhow the miracle is it all worked out. First, my horse was champion at the show. Yea Vincent! And I WAS actually done by 11.

When I arrived at Quest Paul had brought out my glider and filled my camelback. I just hooked in and went. I flew for an hour and a half (got to 3775 or something) after Lisa dropped me in the best thermal I have seen since arriving here. Paul got a little more and a little higher though he apparently had to struggle a couple miles away from home at 600 feet before he finally gained enough altitude to come home. He had wanted to fly to Wallaby but it didn't work out. I guess Cambell made it to Wallaby on his rigid.

Later, we had cocktails with Marilyn and visited with Zach, our old friend from Highland. Met up with Mitch Shipley, too, who has a house in Tavares. Very fun day. I shoulda played the lottery this morning.

Lauren

Like Lauren said, I was rewarded with good karma today for being a good husband yesterday. Best conditions since arriving here had me hoping for an out and back to Wallaby or at least a flight TO Wallaby but it wasn't quite that good. First two thermals carried me to CB around 4100' at 400 plus up as I headed south in light easterly winds. I pimped off of Ron Gleason flying his ATOS C a bit and made it about 10 miles to just east of the sail plane field but conditions seemed to be getting lighter and climbs lower. The sky looked pretty blue towards Wallaby and I really didn't relish landing out so I decided to try to run home. Made it to within 2 miles of Quest and found myself at 620 feet when I found broken lift. Held on for what seemed like forever and jumped around to 3 different small thermals but finally had home field on glide and made it back. Campbell made Quest on his ATOS VX but was unable to return and we had to send out the troops (Jim Rooney and Zack) to rescue him and bring him home.

Mitch Shipley arrived while I was flying and landed some time after I did. Not sure of his flight but I'm sure it was good. He landed pretty late in the day after everyone else had been flushed for some time. First time we've seen him here and hopefully we'll be able to fly together soon (translate to: pimp off of him soon).

Sorry if you guys are getting tired of our near daily reports. If so, I guess you know where the delete key is.

Paul

Packed my lunch for flying today: An apple, half a sandwich on homemade bread, half a candy bar, hot chocolate. Carried my harness in and then went back for the glider, my trusty falcon, and waited for conditions to improve. It was overcast, calm, and a little cold. Trimmed a bush or two before the winds started blowing in at a launchable rate. Set up and suited up to find my vario failed along with my new kestrel. So I launched in a light straight in cycle for my sled.

I had a great day flying in Virginia.

Joe

Finally got myself and my lovely girlfriend Heather down to Blue Sky to check out the scene. Hoping to fly and maybe Heather too (she has about 5-6 solo's from Aerotow so far ) via tandem. Things looked pretty good when we arrived, blue sky with big soft puffies albeit low ones.

By the time I said my hellos, got setup and got into the air... Things were starting to look much weaker. Some earlier pilots had reported abundant weak lift so I was still hopeful. Got into the glider and ready for launch when I realized no Vario... Hmm. Too late, launched behind Tug driver Tex in a small tug (Flightstar?) and off to a blue-er sky than I wanted to see. Flew me right over a gaggle of birds and I felt some bumps/lift but it seems I was very low so I stayed on and hoped he'd turn back and drop me there with a bit more 'tude. He did and I pinned off the next time thru, still feeling a bit low but also feeling a bit 'o lift. (GPS later showed me at 1700' AGL).

Got up to 2100 AGL or so (GPS later again) in light lift just feeling around. It was 100-200 fpm (SeeYou later tells me) but fairly abundant and a couple feathery, fuzzy puffies still around. Boated around for 10-15 minutes alone trying to stay up and doing fairly well until finally Bill in a Pulse (with a Vario) showed up. I pimped off him for the next 15 minutes and found some workable stuff (thanks Bill). He seemed to head off towards a cloud over the launch but I liked where I was and stayed and worked it for some light lift for a while. A truck tow guy was now up beneath us and working it to stay level. Bill and the truck tow eventually deck it and I'm alone again, but in a beautiful January sky. I chased some birds with some luck, then inexplicably cored some nasty sink for 3-4 turns! This is a big mistake even without the vario... But it must have felt pretty good at the time ?? Yuck. It looks pretty ugly on SeeYou, at least I figured it out eventually and ran far away!

Headed off to another quite large set of birds in a beautiful vertical gaggle shaped like a tornado but couldn't quite make it over there and still hope to make it back to the LZ. I hoped to make a reasonable impression and land back at Blue Sky and not sink into some farmers field on my first flight down there (been there done it... Quest), so I turned away from that gorgeous gaggle, pulled the VG on my trusty Discus and easily cruised back over head all the spectators watching the new guy. I had a couple hundred to setup an approach and the winds were very light. Pulled in for speed and made a decent showing of it, maybe 30-40 feet from the target. 34 1/2 minutes on a gorgeous, light and pretty warm January Sunday... Pretty happy about it really, for January... And my first flight at Blue Sky. Poor Heather was not so lucky, tandems are done for a few months down there. We'll have to head back to Quest where they love her and tolerate me. Who could blame them.

Everyone was really nice there, Tex, Steve and a few students/pilots we met. Nice place but a bit of a drive for me.

John Simon... FNG

P.S. Paul and Lauren, you dirty rats.. I really enjoy your posts, even if they make me jealous. I wouldn't even have posted this report but to offer some rebuttal to your good fortunes. It's small consolation but all we poor snow birds can hope for up here in the frozen North. Have Fun!!! Congrats Lauren.

I apologize if my reasons for not launching were unclear; I'm surprised anyone would think I was acting gentlemanly. I decided conditions on launch were too strong for me. I was estimating a solid 15 while Hugh was launching. Mark had launched in a nice cycle, but it had picked up on launch soon thereafter. When Mark radioed that conditions had also picked up aloft, I decided to breakdown because I believed conditions had not really been improving. Randy launched later when winds on launch had dropped down to maybe 10. (When I left, it had ramped up again to maybe 20). I did say that the others should make their own decision, but I thought that they would try their luck in finding a cycle to launch in.

While I am comfortable launching at some sites in 15+, Woodstock is not one of them. The mountain is steeper and taller than other sites in our area. I have found through experience that launching in winds over 10 or so at Woodstock can be very turbulent, so I try to pick light cycles to launch at Woodstock. The other reason for in my decision to breakdown was that I was increasingly justifying that I should fly because my car was in the LZ - which is clearly a poor reason.

I don't know what specifically happened to Hugh, and similar to Hugh, I often can't figure out with any certaintly why I have had scary launches there. However, launching in those conditions require excellent launch technique, and even small mistakes can become serious very quickly. I am just glad Hugh pulled it off.

Tom McGowan

Removed the rust yesterday at Oregon Ridge. Got a nice up-puff on my first flight by the concert shell and flew into the lower basin with mucho altitude. Fun stuff for a training hill! Not much else to report except an excess of deer droppings. As the day went by conditions progressed from ENE to S and I packed up after just 4 short, but fun flights.

Alek and I are tentatively planning a Florida trip in mid-to-late March to kick off the Spring-season. Anyone else wants to come, drop me a line.

Hoping for some good mountain days after the next system moves through, looks cold though! Going to REI to buy a balaclava. I put one on my x-mas list, but I'm afraid that nobody in my family knew what it was.

Happy New Year Everyone!

~Daniel

As he started his run, the right wing dropped some (not extreme) and since the general wind direction was crossing some from the left it added to him turning right. I did not see an aggressive correction to the left but the elevator help him fly between two trees and clear it. Once he was clear I radioed him to relax and calm down. Whew!

- john middleton

I took the day off from riding and headed to Quest early with Paul. Rooney stayed up early in lift he reported as "everywhere", but by the time we managed to launch conditions had deteriorated.

Paul flew first, and then a pilot trying Ron's rigid wing. I was next. But I got complacent. The string was too long on my launch dolly, and I paid no attention to it. When I launched, I never did get pressure on my fingers indicating that I should let go of the rope. I finally realized that I had been on the cart forever and released. Bad news. Rocketed straight up.

My weak link broke like a defendant in a Perry Mason trial, and I plummeted to the ground in an ugly fashion. Thankfully didn't break Griffin or hurt myself.

Launched again as soon as I reorganized, around 2 PM. Lift only worked to the west of Quest. Of course my radio wasn't working. I got to 3800 or so and then I started to get bored. This is sad, I know I have a problem.

So I flew over to my horse's farm, to the West. Flew through 500 fpm without turning and got to 4300. Hollered down to all my friends and circled for a while, but I was out of the lift by then. Figured if I landed I would no longer be welcome at the farm and would be asked to leave with my horse immediately, if he hadn't bolted through the fence and killed himself when I landed.

So I flew back to Quest, vario beeping like the friend she is. The lift was simply no where near Quest. I turned and ran back to my black clouds, but they had quit working by then. I turned in zero sink for a bit over Quest and watched gliders land. I saw a LightSpeed land badly, and thought it was Paul. It almost hit a plane and then beaked. I was really mad at him.

I landed after about an hour and a half, only to find Paul had long since left (!!!!) and the guy who had beaked was from Wallaby. Greg and I planned to drive out and pick up Mitch Shipley down Hwy 33, but then I got a call from Paul -- at Wallaby!!!

He is the stallion and I am SOOO jealous. I will let him tell his story. I drove down and picked him up. Saw Jeff that we flew with at Ridgely. Met up with Mike Barber again, who we plan to take a Xc clinic with. Tomorrow I am flying there!!

Lauren

In spite of the optimistic weather reports of a few days before, Sunday turned out cold, damp, and overcast. That didn't stop a tidy little group of pilots from committing aviation at Redwing.

I arrived relatively late to find Norm and Rodney bundled up and chilled to the bone, not so much from the tows up, but from the 60 mph dives back down to the runway. Wayne, Thor, Gupreet, John W. and Doug had already mapped out cloudbase at about 2800 feet. No wind, no lift, but at least it was cold!

The new homeowner beyond the end of the runway brought his buddy the 7 foot tall state trooper over to harass and entertain us for a bit, but ruffled feathers were eventually smoothed and we all got back to business. Why do these people build houses between an active airport and an active Air Force base, and then complain about airplane noise? Some things make no sense.

Anyway, it was a treat for me to get out in January and practice approaches and landings in the smooth dense air. Thanks to Norm and Rodney for bearing the cold for us all!

Tom Curbishley

I'll try to keep this brief. Launched around 1:00 into very light conditions and nearly decked it. Spent the first 30 minutes just trying to get back to tow altitude but then it got better. Lots better!! Had a couple of climbs to CB with the vario consistantly singing at 500 to 700 on a 20 second averager. Max on the averager was right at 800 up. Flew into a slight head wind with the idea of going there and back but was tired when I arrived and remembered the FREE beer keg that Malcom always has on hand. Problem was, this huge cloud had set up over Wallaby and was pumping air up like crazy and it took over 30 minutes to get down. Was worth it though. That beer tasted great.

You guys gotta get down here!

Paul

A couple more things to consider when launching from Woodstock in strong conditions:

1.) Your objective is to get away from the slot/trees/mtn with alacrity. The lift band will be *way* out there, no way are you going to sled! So fly out with 'good' speed (sorry, I've never looked at my airspeed indicator during that portion of flight, can't be objective), concentrate on a clean line, and don't even _think_ about turning!

You may be surprised by the degree to which 'muscle memory' tries to subvert your intentions.

2.) You won't need as much running room, so consider taking several significant steps down into the slot. This gets you well away from those two big rocks on the left & right, and any spoiled airflow they may be causing.

3.) Strong winds can cause air to dump/rotor down into the slot, which can cause your wing to "feel heavy" on launch.

The streamers may all look ok... and you may be sorely tempted to go for it, especially if the lulls are rare and your vehicle is in the LZ ;-) But don't get suckered! Do not launch unless you can feel that there's some lift under your wing. If anything feels weird/different, set it down!

There are no guarantees : you can find yourself in a jam on a strong day even with the best of technique and judgement. This is where your individual decision about risk level comes into play....

If you *do* decide to fly on such a day, then you for darn-sure should have a launch/flight-plan in mind that addresses the challenges the strong winds pose (both general and site-specific).

About my own flight on Saturday: In concentrating on (1), I felt that I over-controlled a bit as I exited the slot, which led to a little bit of oscillation. Nothing radical... but... suppose a huge gust had hit me at just the wrong moment? Could have turned something minor into something major. And we're back to personal decisions about risk levels aren't we?

As it turned out, I had a very fun flight, maybe 35 minutes or so, topping out at about 1000' over. During the stronger cycles, I was flying at 1/2-VG with the bar at upper-chest (on a U2). Conditions were mostly smooth, but with some really major sink at times. Sunset was beautiful : Woodstock, the valley, and the foothills all illuminated by the magical shallow-angle light of the sun as it peeked out from beneath a low-lying deck of clouds. The shadowed side of the mountains a distinct smoky bluish-purple. Got out away from the mountain and put the glider up on a tip, just so I could spin in the sunset rays. Wow, not bad for mid-January!

--mark c.

I just drove 3500 miles to be at Torrey Pines for three of the only five nonflyable days they have a year. Must be me. Good thing I realy drove out with my nephew to get his car out to San Diego . He gets to play with some great toys (Submarines) for the next 4 years.

Gary (boy did the weather stink ) Cargen

All week long the buzz was that a booming day was to be had at Blue Sky, in January! Got out there around 10:30 with my Pulse 11m, said hello to Steve and Tex (Saturday was lousy so Tex didn't make it down til Sunday). My intent was to take several short aerotows in order to keep in practice to AT and constantly, constantly, constantly work on my landings. Nail them generally, really get embarrassed at other times.

On the way up I noted how "lumpy" the air felt. I was thinking it was a little early for any lift, so I pinned off at 1K and began considering my approach and that dreaded landing. Little bubbles of up were EVERYWHERE! I landed (barely), walked over to Tex and asked him to take me to 2K.

The 2nd tow was even lumpier. Many nice big bubbles on the way up, but I've learned that if you let Tex fly the tug he'll take you to the big ones. I watched the tug shoot up into a nice big one ... 1 2 3 tink! Just has I hit the release Tex's arm was waving wildly saying get off NOW! I turned right as he turned left, into 400 up. Up, Up, Up. 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes!!! I saw the Richmond skyline in the distance, and the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west. Glorious!

While I constantly kept an eye on the horizon for jets on approach or Black Hawk maneuvers I also make sure I know where my LZ is. It was 2 miles behind me. I knew my lovely old Pulse was not the most penetrating glider, but loved to go up. It was also time to get a bit closer to LZ I so I started my glide back.

Pretty quickly I realized I wasn't going to make it. But lift was everywhere! At 2K I was still not close enough, 1500, 1000, boom! Up to 3K and closer to home. Flew over the south part of the flight park and caught another 400 up. I was home safe and just enjoyed the approach in (nailed the landing).

Some very friendly folks showed up just before I landed, John and Heather. John was flying a Discus. He towed up, then I towed up. My friend Nick truck towed up. Everyone was in lift ... even Nick!! This was his first experience with realizing that "funky" air was called lift and he took advantage of it. Go Nick! It was nice to see hang gliders soaring over Blue Sky again.

When it was time to land I putted around behind Nick as he started his approach. He was ahead of me, so I gave him lots of room. Nick NAILED the spot!!! Tex made sure that Nick knew I was landing behind him so Nick stayed where he was. Great approach, beautiful belly landing!!! UGH!!!

Daniel Shapiro came out, on the heal from a knee injury, to setup his new Sport 2 (drool, drool) and just look at it.

All that wet weather of 2003 was redeemed by a good 2004, including some very comfortable winter flying. 2005 may also turn into another good year!! So far, so good!!

See you all in the sky!

Bill Priday

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This page last updated January 12, 2005