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Hangola February 11 - 17, 2005

Flight Reports

Marc F. made it down late yesterday and he and Mitch Shipley, Lauren, a couple of other new friends and I terrorized the local Buzzards and vultures for about an hour and a half this afternoon over Quest. Maximum climb was taken by the Sky Goddess with about 3,500 and I may have gotten the duration FOD of 1:36 cause I launched first and we all got flushed at about the same time when some high cirrus shut us down. Lots of fun but with a blue sky and most of the lift stopping around 3K, we were all happy to stay near the field.

Tomorrow looks a bit better for XC. Maybe I can pimp off of Mitch and learn something.

Paul

Ah, what a classic Woodstock day was Saturday!!!!

Ya shoulda been there! We hang-waited like it had never been hung before! Smile

I met up with Wesley, Joe S and Gary in the LZ around 11:30.

On the drive out, I saw a triple-layer stacked lenticular. You see that kinda thing out west... but over the ridge upwind of Wstock? Uh-oh.... Then there were the dust devils spinning all around me down Route 11. Double uh-oh! But undeterred, I continued to the LZ where we put up a few wind indicators, then headed up top in two vehicles.

Did I mention it was windy?

On the mtn the wind was just roaring, not even remotely flyable. After hauling gliders in, Hank and Pete joined the four of us on an ignominious retreat down to Wstock, where we hit a coffee shop for hot chocolate, lattes, and snacks. Many TIWTIWGD stories began to flow. An hour or so later Joe has this ridiculous idea that we could be productive, by doing some work in the slot. HUH? Oh.... well....okay. (Guilt does that Smile

We return, with cheebugga and fries for Bacil, who had very kindly offered to stay, keeping an eye on all the gear. We attack the lower left corner of the slot, clearing out the trail at the bottom. I gotta say that the launch is in the best shape I've *ever* seen, it's been cut back to the large-growth trees that mark the original slot boundaries. Really nice! We should think about dumping lots of grass seed, or planting mountain laurel.

(Randy, Nelson, and Brian VH arrived at some point during all this, so there was a pretty good crowd-o-crazies.)

We call it quits at maybe 3:30. I headed up to the tower, where I saw 10-15/15-20/20-25. But it was encouraging because the 25's were brief, and we hadn't seen 10-15 previously. So I look at the sun... look at the time.... decide that I better set up if I think I'm going to take advantage of any lessening at the end of the day. Randy joins me. Everyone else looks at us like we're nuts.

And conditions *were* definitely strong. But there was some gradual lightening, and I started seeing some 10-15mph cycles that were lasting for a couple of minutes... so what the hell?! I launched about 30 minutes before sunset, with a 3-person crew. Zoomed out of the slot into left-cross strong conditions, some bumps and a pretty good elevator outside the slot, but not awful or anything.

It was _just_ on the edge of my fun-meter : any stronger would have been too much work and worry. But I could punch out away from the mtn and spin in the setting sun, so I was happy!

I headed out along the south finger towards the old mill and waterfall. On strong left-cross days I often find lift out there, with somewhat lighter winds. But not this time! I start hitting sink. Then more sink! Then yikes! 1200 down. Must have been in some nasty rotor or downwash from wave... I turn around and I'm a bit below launch, thinking "no way can I backtrack through that sink!!". So I try to zip across to the north finger, where the west cross should give me some good lift, right? Nope! It's sink-city between the two fingers and I'm toast even before I get there. Drat!!

I tried working things a bit, but it really wasn't the type of day to be doing anything if you were below. So I give in, head for the LZ, run a somewhat abbreviated pattern, and put down in a very W/SW cross cycle. Not a bad landing given the conditions; didn't beak it!

(Have I mentioned that I love my U2?)

Randy didn't make the mistakes that I did so he was up another 15 minutes or so, enjoying sunset in the best way possible. Ah well, live and learn....

All in all, I'm glad I went! Thanks Joe, Gary, and Wesley for the launch assistance!

--mark c.

I'll just add some weather observations to Mark's post about Woodstock yesterday. I hit the road at 7AM w/ the forecast still somewhat OK. On the way out heard on the NOAA weather radio station out of Manassas the bulletin about the higher winds predicted, the bulletin also stating that those who partake in "wind-sensitive" activities should take note. Yes, I took note but was already halfway to Woodstock (Manassas on I-66). I gambled that the winds would back down a couple of hours before sunset. On the way out wave clouds galore to the NW. Upon arrival at 9:30A the conditions were dead. A light thermal would cycle through the trees here and there, but no wind up the slot. Wave clouds stacked over the WV border to the NW. Small cumies popping in the valley and drifting over the mountain. Around 10:30A the wind started coming up the slot lightly, about 5 to 8 MPH. Spent time in the slot picking up streamers and retying them to their original hosts. Around 11A Hank arrived and the lid blew off. A huge cycle roared through, making the sound in the trees the loudest I had ever heard at Woodstock. The conditions continued in that fashion until after 3:30P, as Mark stated in his observations at the fire tower. Another "good" sign at that time was that the ever-present wave clouds over the WV border disappeared and were replaced by cumies. Mark and Randy had good launches in nice cycles. It's just a shame that sunset was fast approaching. Timing is everything.

Bacil

On my second flight of the day, which was also my second flight at High Rock, and after thoroughly buying-in to the light-wind HR procedure--start launch run like normal, trade strides for altitude when off the rock--and after being properly briefed by my observer, I tried to cram a full launch run into two strides and popped the nose, dropped a wing, waffled out, etc. Ralph took pictures and won't be bribed into not posting them. I got away cleanly for my second extendo and performed my best ever approach-setup-landing, which Ralph did not photograph.

--Wesley

Well.....couldn't have asked for a better birthday present for today( yeah..its my b-day ). We had an awesome day at Cow Pie Hill. Winds were straight in about 90% of the time and started off at about 10-12 mph and slowly diminished to dead and slight right cross by days' end.

Glen Hardy transitioned to the Falcon 195 beautifully ( his areotow lessons really helped ) and his foot launch is really coming along. Two new students on their first day did fantastic and were flying from atop the hill by days' end. Jim Hodges showed up late but got 3+ flights in, and showed strong skills on his Sonic.

Bacils' co-worker buddy ( Joel ) did fantastic. Can't say he's a Kevin Carter but....damn close. He really shined and shows natual talent for the sport. God I wish I was 21 again...

The pies were abundent and the hill somewhat slick from the top layer defrosting, but aside from that the hill is really proving itself as a winner. Beginners' can lauch from the top and glide 100+ yards at a very controlled altitude of about 6-10'. Wonderful beginner site so far. ( private site on trail basis. Very sensitive and access only with me in attendence per agreement.. 4wd access only. )

Congrats to all today. :)

Rich Hays

Arrived about 11:00 am to find Kelvin and Mark C in their usual places, perched on the rock waiting for conditions to improve, contemplating either this life, or their next life as birds. Mark was the human sacrifice that launched first - breeze was coming in mostly straight and mostly about 5-8ish? (please correct me if I'm wrong), streamers pretty light but only drooping occaisionally.

Mark headed to the LZ pretty quick, Wesley launched nicely, I think Bunkhouse Bob went off, then came the "newly two-ly" and too many questions: "last time they said I CAN'T run off, now this time you WANT me to run off?!?!" and such like "no, I'm gonna park my glider right here safely back in the rear of the rock and have a nervous breakdown because I'm afraid of heights..." Coulda sworn I ran off like they said to, but apparently I walked off... the pictures will tell. Ralph was out with his new camera. As if his pictures could get even better!

A zillion kudos to Danny, Kelvin, Pete, Mark, who all helped get me off the rock - twice! They have the patience of saints. I think I saw Pete snoozing on my nose wires while I quietly panicked...Ralph kindly retreived me in time to get me back up for a second launch. (Second time's the charm, apparently I ran off my second launch). Wesley did great, and I believe he said this was his first time launching at High Rock (he's on his Eagle). Go Wesley! I suspect he'll be back for more. Danny soared but said he didn't get very high over launch. Think he had the longest FOTD.

John S. checked in with Miss Emma Jane and signed the waiver, and also introduced Heather. They came out for the entertainment today, and to get the lay of the land for future flights at High Rock. Good to see another FiFi! (John too!)

DAVE PROCTOR -WHERE WERE YOU ON THIS FLYABLE DAY?!?! HMMM. WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE GOOSE IS GOOD FOR THE GANDER! LOL! (dang uppitty 2's!)

Bob - I had socks on when I flew....

-Linda B.

I can remember the brochure to this day. I was in the office at Kitty Hawk Kites standing at the counter trying to figure out what to do. I knew what I really wanted to do, but appearently when the wind is blowing thirty miles an hour you have to think of something else. Kyaking? Kitesurfing? Surfing? All fun I guess. But there it was, spanning the entire page of the oversized booklet, the most beautiful hang glider I'd ever seen. Granted, I'd never really "seen" a hang glider. That's what I was doing at Kitty Hawk, or more to the point, that's what I was trying to do. The image I had in my mind was one of those things they had in National Geographic. This one was way skinnier and sleeker than that. This was something I was told that they call a "Rigid Wing".

Eventually, the wind died down and I got to fly something that did indeed look like what I imagined a Hang Glider to look like. Something called an "Eaglet". Since then I've flown all kinds of different hang gliders, all flex wings. I've seen thier strange cousin from time to time. Mostly it would be one that skies out and goes XC, only to return at dusk. Mostly I've heard things about rigids. Oppinions abound. Some good, some bad. Those that seemed to like them spoke of thier amazing glide ratios and sublimely easy handling. The ones on the other side of the fence seemed a little less specific. The big complaint seemed to be "you can't feel the air". It would also crop up as "you feel disconnected". Other dislikes were that landing was tricky because of that monster glide ratio, you really really really didn't want to spin them, they were downright expensive, extremely heavy and hard to setup. To me, they seemed like someone that speaks an other language. So much like us, yet somehow just a little different.

The more I heard, the more I wanted to fly one. So when Awesume Bob setup the Extacy, I couldn't grab my harness fast enough.

So, last minute actual flying advice...
Pitch will be extremely sensitive. Diving puts lots of slack in the rope fast. Experienced rigid pilots do pitch with flaps and feet, not moving the bar. They don't have bar preassure at high speeds, so they can tow whatever speed the tug goes and do minor adjustments. Being my first tow, I resigned myself to doing the ruberband pogo-dance and hoped to keep my pitch occillations to a minimum.

The other weird thing would be roll. Simply put, it's automatic. The wing is self leveling. Let me tell ya... that is kinda FA-REEKY! When your wing gets lifted, the spoileron is already up and correcting for it. You put roll in when you want to turn, and you have to hold the turn. It's not tiring since there is next to no bar preassure.

So the whole tow consisted of trying not to overdo the pitch. It was fairly smooth air, so I didn't expect it to be that challenging anyway.
Off tow I had a couple burbles to play with. It was fun scooting all over the sky looking. Even with big tandem gear and a draggy harness, it got a topless glide. The real fun though was playing with the flaps. I am so insainly jealous! HA. To slow down for a thermal you just pull them on. To go on glide you dump them. It's a short easy pull and kicks the crap out of VG! Flaps on it's a falcon, Flaps off it's a topless. Damn that's nice!!!

Ok, the whole "can't feel the air thing". I can kinda see what they're getting at. You can't feel the wing lift. You can tell it does, but you don't feel it. You also don't struggle with bringing it back down and banking into the thermal. Color me a snob, but I still enjoy that struggle. I like fighting with the air. Some day I might not like it so much and I'll fly something with aerodynamic surfaces. You still feel pitch.

Banking is a mixed bag. It's super easy. Even in turbulance, it takes only as much effort as it takes to activate the spoilerons. There is also no adverse yaw. When you roll the wing, the nose goes with it not against it. This is so nice. The other hand, it's a fixed roll rate. You can bank it up, but you can't bank it up quickly. That's a bit wierd.

Overshooting the LZ.
Um... YEAH RIGHT! Flaps = glideslope control. The strange thing is waiting around to land. You have so much glide that you feel "low" when you've got plenty of time left. When you're ready to land, pull on some flaps and land. The thing came down like a falcon. Now if you setup really high and don't pull on flaps (and it feels really wierd setting up so low) you can easily overshoot the feild. The trick seems to be to trust those flaps. Pull 'em on and point the nose at the ground.

I'd heard that the setup and breakdown were hard too. Yet an other myth I'm afraid. The ribs fold for god's sake... and the trailing edge is velcro! Fold the ribs, flop the sail over the leading edge, pop the nose and fold the wings. About as hard as a Falcon.

All in all I was happily impressed.
They're big, heavy and expensive. But they're very friendly in the air and quite a lot of fun to fly.

I'll be sticking with flexies for now, I still love fighting the air, but don't be shocked if you see me hop on a rigid from time to time ;)

Jim

Hello folks......

Flew Wallaby today. Towed up @ 1:30 and flew in cloudless skies for 45 minutes. Thermals were abundant but not very strong. Most lofting up 150-250 fpm. Made for a relaxing flight. The view was spectacular and the temps in the mid 70's. Not much colder at 3500'. Was great to get out again after not flying for 2.5 months while I bought a house and started school again.

Bbeck... good luck on your thing. Don't worry about that getting old stuff... the rest of us are right behind you. *ha*

Dave

With the strong forecast on Saturday, I gave up on my dream of a soaring flight measured in hours at Woodstock and headed to Smithsburg for some practice ground handling in strong wind. I thought here's that blowin' like stink, winter's day, 'burg experience that Bacil talks about.

When I arrived, Karen was already set up. She got in her planned two flights on her hot new Sport 2, Kevin Carter edition Smile

Joe Brauch came out of his winter hibernation and flew 4 times on his Ultra Sport.

Shawn tried to work the turn out of his Dream, but I don't think he had much success.

The wind abated a bit, fantasies of a late afternoon High Rock excursion were formed and the bi-wingual guys -- Sparky, Hugh, Steve and Matthew -- broke out their gear. Man, I wish I could rig my wing in 3 minutes! Everything looked great until Richard took the student gliders off his truck: we were doomed. The wind picked up again and got even stronger than before. Matthew got muddy, Steve and Joe stymied. One of the nice Zagi warriors was showing steady 20 with gusts over 30 on his Hall meter. Not exactly a PG day.

The launch and landing practice was good for me, but I think I enjoyed working on crabbing flight the most. I made a game of trying to fly along a straight line near the top of the hill. Got really high on one.

8 flights for me. In the last 6 or so weeks I've gone to the training hill 4 times (around 25 flights). Now that I've got Lauren's job, I'm picking up her damn habits!

Eddie Miller soared and Zaggied itermittently.

I really do think flying training hills is fun, but I'd LOVE to get in some more high flight time this week. I'm going out of town this weekend, so I'm up for mid-week Wednesday or Thursday. Please let me know if anybody heads out!

Happy Valentine's Day!
~Daniel

Now how did you figure that out already? They only just went up a few hours ago! The full address is:

http://photos.sickinger.net/20050213_highrock

>> (compare the angle the keel makes with the block in 10599 vs 10601)

Remember what "angle-of-attack" is and is not... it is NOT the angle of the wing relative to the horizon, to the ground, or even to your motion vector; it is the angle of the wing relative to the *airflow*. This is rather nicely depicted in 10601 and 10602 by the orange tell-tale on the front flying wires; the angle between the tell-tale and the keel is actually very large. Also, if you look at the stream in the background, you can see that it lies at a shallower angle than the tell-tale; a result of the glider's movement off of launch and some deflected airflow coming up the face of the cliff.

This brings up a personal request: would you more experienced pilots who don't use tell-tales on your gliders consider putting them on? I know you don't need them, but they would be helpful to other pilots when I take pictures of launch sequences by showing the direction of the airflow to the wing.

~Ralph

Mon, 14 Feb 2005 17:47:52 -0500:

>> Pete and Danny also looked like they popped their noses. But that could've been camera angle.

And Bob too. No, I don't think it's the camera angle, but that's where tell-tales on the nose wires would help. By comparison, look at Kelvin's launch, where the keel remains parallel to the ground all the way through his launch. Ok, it pops up a little in img10652, but that's in the middle of transitioning to the basetube, and in the next frame the nose is right back down again. Bear in mind that each frame represents only 1/3 of a second.

~Ralph

Flew Little Gap Sunday in the am. Launched around 11:00 into what seemed to be ridge soarable conditions that took me right up to 250' over launch. But before I had a chance to get comfy and start snoopin for bigger lift the bottom fell out and I found myself lookin up instead of down at the windsock. Tried to tuck it in tight but it just wasn't happenin so I started headed towards the L/Z. Bout half way out I hit a solid core which took me right up to 1000'. Then I worked upwind a little further and hit a solid 5 to 600 fpm core to gain another 900'. Once high you were able to boat around in the now bouyant air and ride the good one's up to 1900'. Some of the lift was rather strong and surprisingly smooth. In one thermal west of the power lines I shared it briefly with a mature bald eagle with a big old white head and tail feathers. After an hour I headed over to the ski area where I got down to launch level again but caught a nice one up and over the entrance road to the upper lodge to 1800'. Ended up landing in the fairgrounds L/Z which is the bigger of the 2 and gives you more options in case of turbulent conditions. Hiked back up to launch to watch the second wave take flight. Bill Waters made it stick after several sleds before him and got high then dissappeared to the east and later returned as Jim Maze, Jack E, Dan and at least 5 paraglider pilots stepped off and went right up. Hiked back down to truck and headed home. As I drove down thru Palmerton I looked back and saw at least 6 gliders still 500 to 1000' over launch. Wish you all could have been there.

Doug.

yeah, i think i still have a tuning problem with that damm buzzard . my pulse flies so much better!i think it's high time to break it out again, get ready for spring flying! in higher winds it seems the problem is amplified- left turn clyde!but as sparky pointed out as well more aggressive weight shift may have been in order. i don't know, it's just been one of those projects i've been working on, but as richard hays said it's not worth getting hurt over, before you figure it out.i want to thank hugh m. for hangin with me,and helping my sorry ass out,- looking my glider over, and giving insight.i think i heard a collective sigh up in the air when i finally got that buzzard to turn. hey richard i hope i didn't freak your class out to much! i am really getting some good info from bacil, and spark about high rock. keep it coming -i'm suckin it up! peace, shawn. been out of the game for a spell, lookin to get back in.

Joe and I hit the ground running when we saw North wind in the willows at 8 AM. We looked at some weather info the night before and thought it to be an early day. Well, it was. By the time we were set up to launch,the wind velocity was very light~9ish. Joe and I did sled rides. As I got back up top I saw Kieth Olena. The wind got lighter and lighter... by the time Kieth launched it was practically SW 11ish. It stayed light south the rest of the day. It is amazing how Little Gap worked .. Happy for you. The sleds here weren't bad though, good to pay dues for the wind gods too. Oh yea, I love your stories guys, thanks for the input... keep 'em coming. Karen.

Great idea! We need to move before spring gets sprung.

I'm game.

It was fun flying at the Pulpit on Sunday.

'Spark

Been watching the the soaring forecasts for the last couple of days as the prospects for Tuesday looked better and better. Lauren and I studied maps and charged radios in preparation for long flights and new personal bests. This morning, numerous pilots discussed possible destinations and routes to be flown and we started launching into a cumulous filled sky around 12:00.

As all this preparation ensued, an ominous feeling started to work it's way into my thoughts. Every time I get this enthusiastic and plan this much for a flight......I bomb out. Well THIS TIME... I bombed out.

Actually, the conditions proved to be much more challenging than as advertised and few pilots had good flights. Mark Fink and I, however, landed together 8.5 miles NW of Quest for a couple of the shorter flights of the day. Steve Wendt was nice enough to make the retrieve. Oh Well....at least I had a good landing!

Lauren was smart enough to stay around the field and got a couple of hours and spared herself sitting around in a baren field waiting for a ride home.

But guess what? Tomorrow looks REALLY good and we're getting the maps out and charging our radios and.........

Paul

Um... maybe the pilots that went XC had challenging flights. Sorry you got decked. It was great to see the big XC contingent today. Hopefully tomorrow will bring better XC conditions.

Back at the local watering hole the flying was pretty sweet, especially later in the day. Shared the cloaking device with many other pilots. Below 2k was a struggle. Over 2k was boomtown. Last wednessday was better, but today wasn't bad. Took the Extacy up for a tandem flight after 4pm and went straight back up to cloudbase. (I feel I'm in danger of actually liking them rigid things.) 4.5k, fat dumb and happy. Mostly dumb ;)

Jim

Tuesday. At peace and learning. I glide along at 3500 feet, and try to find the line with the least sink in between clouds like Mike Barber says to do. I concentrate, brow furrowed. 4 seconds at a 45 degree angle into sink, turn and count seconds back to my original track...
Suddenly, I am distracted by a strange sound, a whistling sound, like the sound a diving glider makes. My heart stops beating when a millisecond later a hang glider plummets downward directly in front of me, perhaps 10 feet off my nosewires.

Adrenalin blocks out any politeness I might possess. After I have gained enough control of my glider -- after being rocked by the other's wake -- I use my hands to flip off the pilot, and scream at him, using every foul word that has been invented. He turns towards me for a second, and I know he is saying something, but I can't make it out. I imagine he is yelling back.

My heart slows to a more normal rythm and I worry about being kicked out of Quest after I land, for my vulgarity. (I find out later the other pilot is immensely pleased by his trick and overjoyed that I flipped him off and had a melt down).

Shortly after, I see another pilot circling in a thermal, a good friend. I venture too close and he screams to warn me. My face flushes with embarassment underneath my helmet. Yeesh. I better find my own lift.

I land after 2 exhilarating hours, but am dissapointed in my ability to fly where I want to go, to use the clouds as stepping stones. The big boys -- Ron, Greg, Mitch -- include me in their plans for tasks, but what flying with them has done most is make me realize their incredible skill flying and ability to multitask, and my lack in these areas.

That evening, I am instructed to talk much slower on the radio, and in a lower voice. This is all absolutly correct and meant in the most constructive of ways, but for the first time in a long time, my positive thinking wavers.

I dissolve into self pity and disgust, and tell Paul (who is flying brilliantly, BTW) that I should quit. Instead of slapping me, he hugs me and makes me dinner; tells me I am just low after having such big plans that morning. Wow.

Wednesday: I wake with renewed hope. After riding, I drive to Quest for a late launch, because of earlier solid cloud cover. The tow and flying are rowdy, and the wind is marginally strong. Pete L. has joined us for the day, as well as the crowd from Blue Sky and Mark Fink (who has joined us for several days, as well).

Smoke from a nearby fire mixes with the air, and the air bucks when I fly close to its boundaries. My only goal is to stay over the field, since the wind is West, which will quickly push me to the East and restricted airspace. (The Sky Gods have decided on an upwind task). My GPS reports that in one direction thermalling my ground speed is 48, and the other anywhere from 12-18.

I am congratulated on my radio voice. However, when I fly over to join Paul in a thermal, just as I reach him, lift unexpectedly raises me to his altitude. Uh, hi honey. I try to turn Griffin, but her VG is full on and she ignores my requests to turn. Paul saves the day with an abrupt turn. This time HIS voice is high on the radio.

Gawd, honey, he says, I thought you had me.

Sorry, I say. I guess I need to allow more clearance in the future, or at least yank off my VG as I get close to another pilot.

I land after 45 minutes, when I bail out of a thermal into an uninviting sky. Ron explains that I could have checked to see if my glide to goal (Quest) was increasing or decreasing in the thermal, to see if I needed to leave my thermal when I did. Never occured to me.

Pete abandoned the marginal lift I stayed in originally for more promising prospects upwind. He explains in great detail why this was a good bet. He is totally right on. I need to think about these things on the ground to speed up my learning in the air.

The level of talent here is amazing, as is their generosity to help an aspiring pilot. Thanks guys. I will try not to run into you or swear at you or hug you too much when I have too much gin.

Lauren

Whited out a couple of times at 5100 over. 7k msl where it was a balmy 17 degrees.

Unfortunately, it picked up right after I launched so the rest of the crew, Tom Nelson, John Simon and Wesley had to wait around until almost sunset until it backed off. Nelson bagged it but the rest had short soaring flights. I had to land in rowdy, strong air which wasn't fun. But I survived and thought (pick one) A. Damn I'm good. B. What the hell you flyin around in that crap for you stupid old geezer?

Three of us headed south from Quest towards Wallaby yesterday and one of us made it. Unfortunately it wasn't me. Almost sledded but got a 700 ft save and headed south with less than stellar altitude. Base was around 3800 so I kept thinking all I needed was one good climb to CB then I would be golden. Instead I scraped along for 9 miles before decking it in the middle of a locked field requiring about a mile of humping my glider out through deep sandy footing. Lucky for me that Lauren, Greg Dinauer and another new friend helped me or I'd probably still be there.

Think I launched a bit early. The pilot that made it to Wallaby was flying an ATOS V and had to get a re-light before heading south about 30 minutes later when the sky improved.

Two land out's in three days! I think I'm loosing it. (Not that I ever really HAD it.

Paul

Just wanted to thank Steve and Tom M. as well as Nelson for inviting me to fly and helping me (and Wesley) out on Thur. It took most of the day, be eventually the wind backed off late in the day and were able to fly. It was maybe 8 to 10+ and a little cross but cycling straight in at times and Wesley and I had good launches. Flew for about 20 minutes in some punchy air. I had the same ol' problem with my harness (stuffed full of glider bags, the cocoon was tough to get my toe into) and finally got into it after 10 minutes or so. Much better after that, still a little thermal and ridge lift left. Beautiful afternoon, but getting dark as we landed. Wesley had a much nicer approach and landing than me. A bit cold at launch but bearable and worth the 4 hour wait to finally getting in another Mountain launch. Maybe tomorrow if I can get some time, it looks much lighter and a bit colder! I'm sure I can get much more than 20 minutes if I don't freeze.

Hoping....

John

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This page last updated February 18, 2005