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Hangola January 25 - February 2, 2005

Flight Reports

Boy the sky was looking great this morning! Cummies popping off all the mountains up and down the valley! A sight to make a pilot drool. The drive up turned into the big adventure of the day. Our car (the Czech car) got a flat tire. Oleg, Radek, and I put our thinking caps on and tried to figure out how to remove the spare from under the bed of the SUV. We checked the manual but couldn't find a map to lead us to that ever crucial tool you can't remove the spare without. The jack wasn't lifting the car enough to even get the wheel off the ground until I suggested putting it under the rear axel. Jacking the car up was useless because the suspension would just droop and keep the wheel on the ground. Finally I stumbled onto the magic tool under one of the rear seats. Later once back on the road I found where we overlooked that little detail in the owner's manual. Guys can be so stupid sometimes! At least Radek and Oleg have a language excuse. Me, I got nothing!

Lucky for me I was back in the results yesterday. My late launch position gave me some extra time to set up and I needed every minute of it. Sky looked great, all the pilots were getting up. Away we went. The task call was 127k up/down, and across the valleys. Today they switched to 30 minute intervals between starts. Bummer. We all lined up in light winds at the start gate for the first start. I was a little low on the gaggle but in good position. With a clean start I hit the course within 3 or four seconds of the gate opening. Oleg and the heavies got a bit of a jump and I trailed them by half a climb. With my lessons learned from the bad finish yesterday I restructured my strategies. Now basing when to leave thermals and STF on glides more by how far I needed to get then just numbers. The valley crossings were very long and most of the triggers were high on adjacent mountains. Once in a good climb I was a bit more patient with cores when they petered out. I would hunt longer for a secondary core and take it even if it was half as strong. That made the valley crossings much more comfortable. A large portion of the gliders that had charged ahead of me took a bad choice on a crossing and went to the lee side of a ridge. They all got stuck or drilled. I couldn't make out Oleg or any other standouts but the pilots I was with were making good decisions. The most notable of those was Davis Straub himself. I have NEVER seen him fly so well! His glider doesn't glide so hot, but he was climbing well and making really good decisions.

Flying more conservative I took the key climbs higher and flew a much lower speed ring setting. One glide in particular was very long and I had decided I wanted to glide to a mountain top on the other side of the valley. This particular mountain was alone in a large blue area. Mt Buffalo in the distance was out of reach and topped on all sides by clouds. I paid close attention to a set of wispys that appeared and then faded away over this multi sided mountain I had my sights set on. Seemed as if alternate tips of the peak were taking turns pulsing on and off in about 3-5 minute cycles. This looked like our best bet and with a good glide only me and another pilot could fly straight to the peak and over it. I had about an extra thousand feet so I just boated around and mapped it out. There were multiple cores and the area was clearly turning on. The lift cranked up to well over 600 as the whole area cycled up. Before I hit cloudbase a small group had left a slightly faster climb upwind of my cloud. I was baffled how they could be climbing so well in the blue adjacent to this strong climb under a cloud but I wasn't about to go fishing through sink for an extra 50 fpm. I just used the markers to score a good glide line after them. They charged a bit hard over a small ridge towards tunpoint 2. It was buried back in a small valley behind Mt Buffalo. I wanted to go into the valley high so as to have plenty of altitude to return back out after the turnpoint. I wanted to get back to the ridge well above it, and not have to climb a face or spine. After the turnpoint we mostly all retreated to a spine of Mt Buffalo. I was sitting in the high seat flying smart. The lift was ragged and tense for about 5 minutes but the next cloud was too far away to bail on it. Oleg joined our group and about 6 of us charged on. The next cloud was halfway to the last turnpoint and again we found the best lift well upwind of the cloud. 400 to 600 intermittant. Oleg and I found some pockets to outclimb the rest of the group. He left the climb above me but I was seeing some great numbers with my new 5030 firmware. It now tells you how far goal is even when you aren't on the final leg. That saves memorizing or writing down the distances of all the legs. Even better, it calculates best glide to goal no matter where you are on course. The numbers were telling me if I topped this climb I could glide to the last turnpoint and on to goal almost 40k away! Oleg went pretty deep into the turnpoint radius while I just clipped it. I have been practicing that without a moving map, using just a turnpoint arrow, and it seems to be working well. Not charging to the center of a turn saves more time and altitude then you would think. The shorter line put me even with Oleg and we headed straight for the ridge that runs parallel to courseline. He got above me and in my blind spot so I just dolphin flew along the ridge while watching my final glide numbers improve. About 9k from the airport goal we came down off the ridge and dove for the coordinates. Somehow 4 or 5k out we were neck and neck. In an attempt to anticipate a race all the way to the deck I opted to open my upper harness zipper. Its tricky to open so I like to do it first, and then just pull the cord for the lower zipper when I set up my landing.

Ever get that feeling that you are about to lose it when you try to fly one handed and multitask, but since you are almost done what you are doing you don't want to stop? Well, that happened as I wiggled the zipper up. With 100% VG that glider showed me once and for all who is the bitch in this relationship!. One hand and a chin kept the resulting wingover from climbing out too steep. Figures I would get my chance to race a Wolrd Champ and screw it up with such a freshman move J I know the spectators watching from the crowded airport below enjoyed the show. "Daddy, why is that glider doing loops while the other one leaves him in the dust?" Oleg later admitted I scared him because he thought there was something big in the air about to sneak up on him. I was bummed to see a small group of gliders on the ground but later learned they were all free flyers. Next time I hope I get to carry the race all the way to the line, haha.

Fun Fun

Kev C

Daniel Broxterman and Bruce Engen headed to High Rock, arriving in the LZ a bit after noon. I took some time off of work to join them at, arriving just before 2pm to find the rock cleared of snow ready for aviation. Winds were WNW at 5-8.

Daniel's glider was assembled. Bruce was waiting to see if it was soarable. My glider was at home in the garage.

The clouds parted briefly and allowed a bit of sun through. The familiar smell of cow feces permeated the air ... Mongs field was being fertilized. The wind seemed to increase and straighten.

Daniel made a perfect launch into maybe 8-10mph, turned left and proceeded to soar the ridge. Hmmm.

By then, Bruce had offered to let me fly his Wills Wing U2 160 ... and I couldn't resist. By the time we had it assembled, Daniel was no where to be seen, the sun was again obscured. Ms. Rock had a mood shift - bovine feces, a gray sky and a switchy 3-5mph.

I spent 10 minutes or so on launch, waiting for the fickle breeze to pick up and straighten, until my lower back couldn't stand the strain. I accepted the inevitable, stepping off the edge, turning left ... sinking ... and finally turned out toward the LZ.

The U2 glided very nicely - well beyond the LZ and out over the moist, brown, sh~t-spattered field ... over the cr~p-spewing tractor ... seeking lift ... finding only reduced sink and smooth air. A few minutes later, I flared (a bit late), ran a few steps, and carefully followed Daniel's footprints through the snow-covered LZ, in my thin socks and cold, soggy, leather wingtip shoes.

Life sure is good. Observing an aspiring H3 is a real treat. The added benefit of a sled ride at the Rock ... mid-week ... in mid-winter ... in a U2 ... was icing on the cake.

Thanks very much to Bruce Engen for his hospitality: the glider and the ride back to the top.

'Spark

I flew Otay Mesa. (HG) Does that count? 1000 ft site down on the border. 10:1 to Tijuana. Got to watch some powered PG launches and landings. Fan man. PG with a fan on your back. Just fire that puppy up and run off the mountain. What could go wrong? Can't wait to try it. You would love it Joe. You go first.

...On Sparky and Bruce:

What can you say about a guy who takes off early from work and drives from Harper's Ferry to the Rock SOLELY to observe you (Sparky did not bring a glider)?

What can you say about Bruce offering his U2 to Sparky, wiring us both off, driving shuttle and not flying himself?

Thanks, again, guys!

Daniel

P.S. I had a hard time getting my hands into my bar-mitts while scratching in earnest. The mitts had been pancaked at the bottom of my gear bag. I've stuffed a sock into each one to re-shape them for easier entrance next time.

I am losing track of the days. We have flown every day and I am told this is a record for this competition. Today was another good one. With a forecast calling for NE winds we went to Mt Mystic, a site very popular with a few paraglider schools. Very consistent site. The task was a bit of a figure 8 of about 125 kilometers. About 15 minutes before the start gate the gaggle split into two groups of significance. One large group headed across the valley to Mt Buffalo and the other group heading across a different valley to the Myrtleford ridge. I went to buffalo because it looked like there was a great cloud street to the first turnpoint. Unfortunately it was very difficult to get up on the lee side of buffalo despite all the great looking clouds overhead. I took my time and worked my glide, bobbling in a light thermal over the base of the mountain. That way I could get to buffalo above ridge height and work my way around the corner to the windward side. Across the valley I could see a couple of guys getting a much better line on the opposite ridge. Lucky for me I was high in my group. Oleg and I charged ahead but I left some lift he stayed in to get high. Further down the shoulder of buffalo (on the windward side) I finally found a tight one that took me to cloudbase. At about this time the sky was really turning on. Big tall clouds were forming so I took part of a nice street halfway to the first turnpoint. Some of the guys I was with turned away from course line to get to some clouds but on the way out I had taken the time to spot a few gliders climbing around the corner. Knowing there were good clouds and gliders I headed around the turnpoint on course with not a ton of extra altitude. The clouds were working pretty well and some 400's and 600's got me pretty high when I left early to continue on. Oleg had caught back up and was on top (like usual). A fella who is great with the weather reports at all these comps was marking some lift at the next turnpoint so we charged there. Back under a cloud we started to see the really big numbers (800 plus). The sky was looking a bit worrisome with maybe 30 to 40 percent cloud cover and very high tops. With all the lift and fast climbs we kicked into high gear and took long fast glides. If a cloud had a good climb we would stay with it for maybe as many as a dozen 360's but not if the lift was weak or dying. Most of the way to the last turnpoint the sky started to look much more blue. The cloud we were heading towards was lonely and drying out. Lucky for us it cycled back up when we got there, turning into a thousand at the top. I got distracted when I lost site of the 2 pilots above me and ended up whiting out myself. The bearing display on my instrument does not update as fast as my old garmin and I ended up flying out the wrong side of the cloud and losing lots of distance to the leaders. Frustrated, I glided hard down the small valley towards the last turnpoint. Our courseline at this point was down the center of a small valley that runs 90 degrees to the main Kiewa valley. The last TP was a 90 degree turn in the center of the main Kiewa Valley. I flew fast to the turnpoint and continued across the valley to the west facing ridges. The few clouds that were left showed that side of the valley to maybe bw working better. I arrived about half ridge height in a bowl I figured was feeding some wispies above. Since I charged hard I got a good line over some of the pilots I was behind and I ended up above a bunch of them. At least that gamble was paying off. We scratched up the ridge taking turns mixing and matching groups in different thermals. Oleg and Ollie had caught a better one arriving the highest and headed off down the ridge. I think they took one more thermal to make goal. It was about 20k. I left the handful of gliders who had joined me below. I didn't want to wait for them to catch up and figured I could dolphin the ridge again into goal. I like doing that. I found a few thermals on the way strong enough to mush in or do a couple lazy 3/4 VG circles in. When glide ratio got under 10 I picked up the pace and charged hard. Jonny blew us away with that good start of his and beat everyone by 20 minutes.

Kev C

Forecast is for light and variable winds and a decent cloud base. Task committee calls for the Mt Buffalo launch. It's a dramatic and picturesque cliff launch overlooking a huge rock face and bowl. Much of the mountain is covered with large rock slabs and a thin layer of burned up trees (fires during the comp 2 years ago I'm told). I think the large percentage of rock slab contributes to the turbulent nature of the thermals on that hill. When we flew over Mt Buffalo yesterday I noticed it was the roughest air of the day. Most of the massif was capped by a cloud layer during launch. It's cool to see how much this hill works early in the day compared to all of the surrounding areas. Morning clouds like that big rock pile.

Hanging out for the start is pretty easy. The radius is set 10k from the first turnpoint so we hang out on the shoulder of Buffalo and just wait. Jonny is either shooting video or taking pictures so I try to pee on him. It must have been cold out because he just thought I was screwing with my harness zipper. The course was a zig zag across and up a handful of valleys. Clouds cycled fast but the clusters marked what regions were working well. Cores don't seem to last long here.

I didn't time the start well and had to trail the leaders through the first 2 turnpoints. I stuck around for the strong climbs and took relatively conservative glides. On glide I tried to take wider lines and hope for a thermal the previous markers missed. That worked for me on the glide to TP 2 and I caught back up in a fat thermal there. Gliding to the last turnpoint things started to look a bit more grim. The ridges ahead didn't have nice speckled white cloud patterns like the rest of the course had offered. Instead we charged into the blue, out into the flats. I had lost a bit getting greedy on our last climb and was now gliding about 800 feet lower then Oleg and pals. I flew slower in the buoyant air to try and build my altitude buffer. I was less concerned with speed now, it was more about maintaining altitude buffers. Into the last turnpoint was downwind, blue, and flat. I was worried. The leaders marked a decent climb just next to the turnpoint so I joined them and nailed the point while thermalling. That was a bonus. They left as soon as the climb slowed and I hung back to try and see if the climb had anything left. Lucky for me it came together and gave me that extra altitude I felt I couldn't push on without. The main group had charged to the ridge but were struggling in crappy lift drifting back my way. I had an edge on them but blew it flying too conservative. Jonny got high at the turnpoint and was marking another good one up the valley ahead. We all chased after him. I was slow finding the core and the rest of the gaggle caught up. Today I seemded to be really itching to find my own climbs and it wasn't always paying off well. It happened again and I was lower then meat of the group. They all charged to the west side of the valley and I went to the east side. We were close to having good numbers for final but that far out from goal a positive final glide number didn't mean much. I could see the leaders getting low on the west side so I charged ahead hoping the small gamble would pay off. I dolphin flew turning for a few hundred feet in the good ones while making my way up the ridge. Most of the group seemed stagnant on the other side of the valley so I just kept pushing on. My course line took me further from goal but I felt the line was safer. About 15-20k out I still couldn't get really solid numbers for final glide. 1000-1500 feet above best glide. That didn't look to good to me visual, especially considering coming off the ridgeline into whatever valley winds lay lurking below! I just wanted an extra 500 feet. I could see one or two gliders were driving into goal low. By now I was losing clearance from the ridge top and soon would have to start running down the face. About 400 feet over a saddle I flew into the fatty fat daddy of late afternoon thermals. An 800 fpm screamer! I guess it didn't come as a surprise because I was close to one of the only clouds in this valley. With the lift growing stronger the 5030 kept telling me to climb higher. I wasn't about to complain because a high fast final is so much more comfortable then a low slow one. With about 2,500 feet in the bank I finally headed out. The glide was uneventful and I cruised into goal 5th. Jonny and Gerolf had been high and ahead the entire last leg so only letting 2 other pilots from my original group slip in ahead is not so bad. Shows my course line choice was pretty good. The other 5 or so pilots from that group trickled in within the next 5 or 10 minutes.

The last leg was very tough compared to the rest of the task but a fun day nonetheless!

Kev C

Warm, yes (it's Florida).
Flyable, most of the time.
Soarable, sometimes. Very dependant on your taste for XC and your willingness to be setup before it's soarable.

January has been a hit and miss game. Early January was so flyable/soarable that I was getting tired. It wasn't always brain-dead conditions, but it could be done. It was sunny and 70's for a good long stretch. As the month progressed, the weather got more unstable and the wind blew a bit harder on average. Overnight temps dipped below freezing from time to time. Daily highs were in the 50's-60's (favoring the 60's on average).

Today's going to be blown out. The next couple days will be strong and probably not worth the effort, but who knows. After that, there will hopefully be a pause between the low preassure systems and we will hopefully get some good flying in. That's kinda how it goes around here these days.

Yesterday was a great example of how to work things. Early in the week was breezy, but yesterday promised a pause. All the weather forecasts were for strong lift and light winds. In the morning (7am-ish), we had dense fog. That broke up just in time for the low overcast to sock us in. Where was this strong lift going to come from? I'd like to say that the low overcast broke up soon after that, but it's just not the case. It stuck around. It stuck around for a while. Everyone started to get depressed. Discussions of drunken weather forecasters began to crop up. I mean, the forecast was so good (for this time of year) that some friends flew down from Maryland to join in the fun.

Someone must have brewed up an extra pot of coffee and dosed it with some prozak because even with our low overcast, everyone setup anyway. We were all ready to go when someone walked over to the soar-oh-matic and hit the switch. The sun was still playing hide and seek, and it wasn't 2pm, but damn if it wasn't go-time. There was wide weak stuff dotted with decent cores. If you could work that up into the cloudsuck, you were golden. Our low overcast had risen to 3-4k, broke up just a bit (still big, like covering Groveland big) and started Hoovering. Anything over 2k was boat around wherever you like. Over 3k was Hooverville. Between 1500 and 2k you had to pay a little attention so that you didn't slip out of the wide zero sink while locating a core. After a couple hours, the clouds broke up, the sun came out and it all shut down.

The rest of the day was boyant and smooth. Today it's blowing 20. Kinda how it goes.

Jim

Pete Schumann and I had a nice day at Fisher Road. It was blowing in 10-15, with nice light thermals to maybe 500 over. We decided to fly down the ridge and land at Richie's knob. I got a ride back to launch with a couple of guys who spent the drive back telling me the scoop on the landowners in that area. In all, a very fun day, especially for January.

Tom McGowan

So Heather and I are just back from our FLA trip to Quest and unfortunately .... Orlando. We had hoped to fly for 3 days but it turns out only Thursday was workable. To make it worse, Heather couldn't fly at all in part due to weather and because she couldn't get a quick tandem refresher done in order to continue her solo flying. So the sum total is I flew twice... and Heather nada.

We showed up and immediately saw some familiar faces... Lisa, Windsor, Jim, Zach and A-Bob. The day started out overcast and Zach and Jim R. were trying to teach me how to snakeboard. It turns out that I'm not teachable and we wasted most of the morning doing that and playing foosball (no skills there either). The soundings and Dr. Jack said it was going to be 400-500 up in the afternoon, and by 12-1 the sun was poking through. We all setup and got ready, I rented the mid sized Discus. Jim and a couple others launched and I followed along with Zach. There was good lift to be found but the bases were low. I pinned off at 2000' in a good one (thanks Lisa) and climbed to about 2600' or so and into the mist at about 300 fpm. I easily dove out and had some fun... sure I'd be able to come back and find it again. We all climbed and darted around just north of the field in very light winds and widespread weak lift with spots of punchy 300+. Rooney was zorching all over the sky at a million miles an hour thumbing his nose at me and Zach (flying Jim's Pulse or Sting... I forget which). It was good fun but not being able to get higher than about 2600' I never felt like I had it licked.

Eventually we all got flushed in the same cycle and we all tried to hang on to the bitter end.

Unfortunately I seemed to come down slower and thus everyone was watching as I made a lousy approach and crosswind landing. Tried to run it out but alas the nose just barely touched to a resounding "whack" from the onlookers... I am telling you it BARELY touched the ground. Good flight though for all. I went back up later in what I was sure was going to be a sled run as the day was looking over.... but I got another 25 minutes or so and a much improved one stepper-landing. Few if any witnesses of course to this one.

The next two days were blown/rained out and we went indoor skydiving, House of Blues, Kennedy Space Center.... and more. Had fun but wished I was in the sky. Maybe try again in Feb.

Take care,

John Simon

P.S. Rumors that the Tjadens are in FLA are not true.

Well, the update is a little late but here nonetheless. Feedback on my posts has been very positive and I am excited that I have been able to help/encourage my fellow flying buddies.

Second to last day was looking pretty sketchy. Overcast and swift clouds caused and extended delay of game. Off in the distance several cu-nimbs punched through the cloud layer. Wind forecast was for NE and maybe increasing? Since we were set up on Mystic I was a bit nervous. Last time I watched a pilot fly there in a strong north east he got rotor drilled down the lee side of a very large finger. He didn't make it to the bailout LZ and pulled off a stylish but very stressful landing in a Cricket field. If it had been anyone but Bo, the story might not have had a happy ending!

A (relatively) short task was called to an airport in the flats upwind. Many pilots were unhappy with the lack of caution demonstrated by the safety committee. A small hand full of wind dummies got off before mass revolt prevailed. Watching pilots get drilled below launch finally convinced those in power that we shouldn't be flying. Lukas (a very skilled pilot) barely flared before the trees in the LZ and Laura ran out of room landing in a small tree (no damage, no injuries). The wind howled on launch while we broke down.

Last day was a no brainer. Total overcast with storms heading our way. We headed up the hill but quickly called it quits when the rain started. I heard launch conditions weren't looking good.

This meet was my best finish in a major comp since I started flying. It also marked several notable anniversaries. Just over one year ago I traveled to Australia for my first major competition. It was also on the last day of the Bogong Cup 2004 that I broke my ankle. The learned never ends and this year was no exception.

I have been beyond fortunate in all my competitions in the equipment my generous sponsors offered up so early in my career. Most pilots have to fight their way up the ranks before earning the opportunity to compete on good gear whereas GW at US Aeros and Steve Kroop of Flytec hooked me up before I ever "toed the line." I think this has put me in a very unique position because I have had a clear perspective of my flying style and the cost of my mistakes.

I often find myself repeating the same story about flying by the numbers and using speed to fly theory. Never have the effects of this been more apparent then this year. Every task I used STF at some point to make up ground I lost due to my own mistakes. This year I switched up to the 15m Combat L and that glider suited my style perfectly. On glides where I left with the group (primarily at the Worlds) I could use my glide advantage to arrive at the next climb higher (and in better position for the next glide or final). More often though, I found my other advantage after making mistakes and getting low in the group. Being small on a big wing I can slow down and tighten up so much that I could make up hundreds of feet on a single climb. This was also most obvious at the Worlds meet where the groups were larger and differences easier to quantify. Every step of the way was an opportunity to register the lessons learned from the mistakes I made and whether or not was able to make up for them (short term or long term).

The biggest mistake I made was freaking out about starting late in a clock when with lead pilots. It was the first time I had ever seen top guys leave in middle of a clock and my instincts were to hang back for a clean start on the last clock. That was so foolish. A large gaggle will leave behind stragglers you can use to make up ground. A group of leaders that messed up their own start are not going to leave any stragglers, especially when they are just a few minutes behind a big group. Leaving late doesn't have an advantage if their aren't course markers to help you make up time.

The most common mistake I still make is not moving to better lift the second I get a hint that it is better. I see another pilot climb faster but hold back for an extra 360 or two. I need to trust my instincts more. Another common mistake I make is trying to wrap up in cores that are too broken or not well organized. That seemed to happen more at Bogong (mountain meet) than Hay (flat lands).

Flying by the numbers is another point that seems to always work in my favor. Maybe that is the advantage of coming into this game after the new instruments have been so well developed. Last year I flew the 4030 race with a Garmin 76S and this year I flew with the new Flytec 5030. One of the most exciting features of the 5030 for me came in the form of some new firmware features. Distance to goal (around the entire course), and height above goal (around the course). Those features are a first for glide calculations. In the past, a pilot had to either wait until they were past the last turnpoint to get numbers from the instrument or do the math in their heads. Now what I can do is watch my height above goal get less negative in flight, signaling approximately how many thermals I will need before gliding in. Having that information at my fingertips helps me decide my aggression level when I am with a group. Move to the top of the stack, or charge ahead and try to get a fast climb before others can follow. My final glide numbers were bulletproof, often getting me to goal 5, 10, and once even a half hour ahead of pilots I was in my last thermal with. Without good numbers many people slow down and get tentative the last 20 percent of a flight. I have heard Manfred quoted for noting this phenomena and I am surprised how many times I have witnessed it myself.

Without a doubt the shining moment in this trip was the second task of Bogong where I left Oleg out on final. The flytec told me I could make goal long before even rounding the last turnpoint. Our climb had diminished and I was below him. I knew we could make it so I led out and took a line I knew would be buoyant but might not hide a boomer. Oleg like the pro he is hid above me behind my sail so I couldn't always see him. As the kilometers ticked away I was thrilled to see my smart line over the ridges slowly boost my buffer. Equally as exciting was the knowledge that I was getting at least as good a glide as my hero, who is on a SMALLER (supposedly better gliding) wing! The excitement lasted all the way to just a few K's from goal where our position had matured to neck and neck (literally!) and the exact same altitude. Of course I blew it with a pilot error trying to unzip my harness in advance. The resulting wingover/loop was indeed quite spectacular.

The drug-like buzz that my decisions, my gear, and some luck got me that close to the best pilot in the world still has me smiling :).

Kev C

<snip>

Saturday, 1/29, Mill Point

Eddie Miller, Wesley Comerer and I flew at the Mill Point hill. The forecast was for 4 but we were seeing 15 or more around 1pm. With that little hill's straight shape, steep slope and long length, it creates a good-sized lift band in those conditions. On his 2nd or 3rd flight, Wesley launched in some fantastic air and was able to soar for quite a while. It was the flight of the day. I'd say he got 30-40 feet over and was staying up fairly far in front. Eddie and I were cheering him on, but definitely jealous!

Eddie, as always, put on an amazing show and I was able to soar a little early before conditions eased off later. I flew 8 times, Eddie and Wesley I think gave it 5 tries a piece. Sparky's student Andy kited his PG in his new harness, but decided the conditions were too strong to fly.

The construction folks have driven elevation stakes all over the lz. None of us had trouble avoiding them, but wheel/belly landings are out. I spoke with a nice gent who was running an excavator, he said the crew was happy to have us there and to enjoy it while we can. Not sure how much longer that will be.

<snip>

~Daniel

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This page last updated February 12, 2005