Back to Main Page Back to Archive 2005

Index to weather maps

Hangola June 4 - 13, 2005

Flight Reports

This was most definitely worth it, partly because of the material, and partly because Lauren Tjaden sat in on it two. First time I've seen her and Paul for, god, at least half a year ago. I think we actually benefited from the rain: with no pressure to fly, we just dug into everything in great detail, I mean *everything*. Restricted LZ landings through the best way to get out of sink given wind and route direction, to setting the gps...etc...etc...3 hours, and all wonderfully presented. I think the essence of good teaching is you end up wondering why you didn't think of it yourself, it seems so obvious. Paris is a great guy, if you get a chance to sit in with him, go for it.

Brian Vant-Hull

Things at the Rock didn't work out yesterday... Arrived around 4:30, with an improving sky and a few light thermals blowing through. So I set up in the hopes that conditions would continue to improve. But they didn't... Oh well! Think I'll head to Highland today, see if I can help out with the comp in some way.

--mark c.

Humid....very humid. But....great conditions, if you like dead air launches in high humidity. Light cross from the North ( 1-2 mph ) at the base. Glen, Yanni and Karl did very well and are moving towards their H-2 ratings. Dave Knight stopped by to watch the flights for awhile. Dave was one of my students' last year who bought a glider and then moved to California. But...he's now back in town and has relocated to Canton. So...he should be joining us soon, and picking up where he left off.

No sign of the dreaded fence yet, but it will probably make its' ugly appearence very soon.

Rich Hays

I had 4 first timers, a second timer and a hang 1 3/4 (Bob) at Taylors. Grass in the landing area is high in most areas so spent quite a bit of time using the club's walk behind tractor/bush hog mowing a run way at the bottom of the hill for some ground running practice. With Bobs help we got a fair size area mowed for some low hill flight attempts. Students seemed to have a fun time in the exteme heat and calm to cross conditions (forecaster's wrong again about the south winds). The Taylors are starting to do some mowing but who knows when they will get to the area we use. The area we mowed is only a very small portion and it took couple of hours. Dont you just love hot conditions, calm or crossing wind, and high grass?

john middleton

Yeah, Paul once again outflew Davis to be the only rigid wing to make the task. Paris was the only flex wing to make it. None of the sport class made goal. It was a hard day: though not competing, Mark C. and I went up after all the contestants got out, and I was feeling pretty darned pleased with myself for having managed to eke out an extra 15 minutes before sinking out, doing better than Cav on his U2 (he launched after me, and the day was deteriorating fast).

Then those two guys came back from a 40 mile out and back, scratching their way in AFTER we had both sunk out. Really cut me down to size.

Brian Vant-Hull

I headed to Fisher road with Shawn on Sunday. winds were light, but Shawn was able to make a flight. He had a great launch and approach, nailing the spot we set in the LZ. I elected to watch and drive. Photos of Shawn's flight are at the following links:

http://community.webshots.com/photo/63716327/362649055UkGCXr
http://community.webshots.com/photo/63716327/362649125RDsBUJ
http://community.webshots.com/photo/63716327/362648882VMRocR

There is now a locked cable across the road to the LZ, located not far from the entrance. I suspect it is to keep vandals away, now that Anna is not there.

Some people showed up to ride 4-wheelers and left the cable unlocked for us. Had they not done so, we would have had a very long carry-out from the LZ.

The cattle are gone, so the jaggerbushes in the LZ are growing at full speed. The slot needs some work also. I'd hate to lose the site. Anyone want to form a work party?

'Spark

Thanks Spark for taking me to that site. I like that one very much! There was no wind, maybe a puff when I launched. Out of all the sites i've launched this one had me anxious! The lz seems so far away,and it's tight!When Spark,and I walked the lz it didn't seem any worse than the secondary at the pulpit. We talked about approaches,and I chose a dbf with right turns. I don't seem to have a problem with right turns or left turns on approach, I like to do them from both sides.I launched in light wind. I then headed out to the far end to stage an approach. I hit sink, had to do a short downwind - half lz, and then base, final and no stepper near the marker. Really nice site! Hey spark i'm up for a work party. It's a site worth keeping up on! Shawn.

Paul won again today, for the second time. Wow!! He's really taking to the good ship "Viagra". Down in the Sport class there are 6 of us. Danny B won day one, and JD from Providence (Lives in FLA) won today. A short downwind task of 15 miles and pretty weak lift out there. Mostly around 50-150 fpm... Got low a few times, including a 750' save. Got a chance to pimp Danny B. today as he made the mistake of launching right in front of me... He shook me off like a bug and we basically flew on alone. Fun day and my first time making it to goal. Much better than my 3.6 miles yesterday!!! Yikes.

Also flew the U2 160 Demo for about 1/2 hour. Really nice, lighter handling and no yaw compared to my Discus. The VG pulls easier and it lands a touch easier maybe... So what's good about my ride?? Not sure but I think my Discus is faster, and it handles very well in it's own right.

Off to bed and more flying tomorrow... Cya

John

(John) Also flew the U2 160 Demo for about 1/2 hour. Really nice, lighter handling and no yaw compared to my Discus. The VG pulls easier and it lands a touch easier maybe... So what's good about my ride??

(Daniel, proud U2 owner) The Discus seems to have a tighter sail (thump your trailing edge and then one of the U2's) and a lower price-tag.

Congrats on making goal! I flew around 13 miles but only made 10 miles on the course line in my 2nd ever flatlands XC. I'm at work today, but hope to fly again tomorrow.

I assume the Wills Wing demos are there all week, check with the park to make sure. Come on out and free-fly.

~Daniel

> Way to go Daniel, making goal and your longest XC flight.

Thanks! How does the saying go, 'Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once and a while?'

The task for the Sport class pilots was a 23 mile straight downwind course to a glider port near the town of Massey. The comp pilots had the same goal but had to follow a 46 mile zig-zag route.

After an initial weak link break, I made it on four climbs, but only needed three. My favorite moment was watching the pro's race in to goal, coming in low over a field of trees... such accuracy, such faith in their judgment and instruments. I had a bird's eye view on the drama a 4,000 feet, because that's how high I was when I got to goal... such imprecision, such lack of judgment and utilization of my instruments!!! J

------------------------------------------------------
Here's a summary:

Climb 1, at the park:
I climbed to cloudbase (a personal first) at 4800' within the start circle and in a small gaggle that included John Simon. The first part of the climb was punchy and then it smoothed out nicely. It was fun thermaling so effortlessly ... wide circles, low-bank turns.

Climb 2, not too far north:
The comp class pilots flew away on their course and John and I ran for the next cloud. We got high AGAIN, I think around 5200' this time. John had climbed faster and he left first toward a street to the east of the course line. After watching him fly under a few clouds without turning and I hoped for better luck jumping to some clouds to the west. It turns out he never found any lift after leaving that thermal. If I had been at cloudbase at the same time as John, I would have gone with him. In other words, I made goal by being a slower climber!

Climb 3, 7 miles from goal:
I flew fast (52 mph ground speed) through the major sink surrounding the last climb. After getting down to around 1800', cursing one dirty, lazy, unemployed cloud after another, I hooked a phat thermal that took me to 5500'! It was really a crap shoot as to which clouds were working. I have no insight on that for future reference.

If I had any clue what I was doing, I would just gone on glide to goal, but I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know how far was 7 miles? I didn't even know what goal was other than a set of coordinates as I had missed the pilot's meeting (I am working mornings and evenings in Greenbelt). I also thought that I was straight south of goal, when in reality I was west, too.

I was navigating with the course pointer on the compass screen of my Garmin eTrex Vista. I wasn't watching it carefully and never toggled to the map page because flying takes up most of my attention and I hadn't yet added the necessary data fields to the map. It all seems pretty straight forward in theory, go where the arrow points. But that only works when I hold the unit straight in front of me. I have it mounted at a readable angle on my downtown, of course, and was not doing the interpolation very well. I'm a total amateur at this.

Climb 4, 2 miles from goal:
So I went on glide not with goal in mind but still thinking "look for lift." I saw the distance to goal get smaller but my altitude was also down to around 2k. I saw some clouds further to the west and headed that way. I was watching the clouds and not my GPS. It turns out I had flown past and to the side of goal. The cloud I found was working and I took it to 5,000 feet at which time I looked at my GPS and saw that my course arrow was pointing nearly backwards with 1.8 miles to goal. DUHH!! I pulled full vg and zipped over to the glider port, actually watching my little screen this time.

With so much altitude at goal, I wish I had gone on for more distance or tried to head upwind back to Ridgely. But I knew there were going to be drivers at the glider port and had fun using up my silly surplus altitude with high bank reversing turns. Ended with a nice no-stepper, a HUGE relief with the eyes of so many awesome pilots on me.

Rode back to Ridgely with Dennis Pagen, Pete Lehmann and Bubba Goodman! Lot's of talk about convergence... I understand more when Alek and his fiancé are speaking Russian!.

--------------------------------

Day 5 Summary:

If you don't have skill you better have luck. Yesterday I was LUCKY that my weak link broke on my first launch (the next two pilots after me broke theirs at the same place, a thermal breaking off at the end of the field). By the time of my second launch, a working cloud had drifted over the field. Other folks who flew earlier had to cross a big blue hole and didn't fare so well.

No luck today! I got to the park late. I think I was the last person to launch, including re-lights. I got dropped off in sink at 2000 feet and left the field at 1800' chasing Dennis Pagen, who was on his 3rd attempt, and JD who like me was also hoping to pimp off the master. I keep getting waived off at 2000 feet, I know this is a comp but do I look like Paris Williams?!?!

With each thermal, Dennis gained about 200 feet on me. After the 4th one, I was too low to go on and decked it at 4.7 miles. JD landed in the same field a few minutes later and Dennis made goal, never getting over 2200 feet. He told me later I should have tightened my turns in the broken lift we encountered. Also, that I needed to leave my current location more quickly when I see someone ahead climbing faster and they're close.

Danny Brotto was the only sport class pilot to make goal. Great flying, Danny!!! John Simon made it 18 miles which was very impressive, and his 2nd longest XC flight. Alek "Bulldog" Beynenson scratched out 10 miles at very low altitude. "That makes me sick to my stomach just looking at it," proclaimed one of the rigid pilots when he saw Alek's spiral track log on Glover's computer!

Well,
day 5 is done. JD is still in the lead followed by Danny Brotto and then me... Daniel Broxterman and then Alek followed by Dan T (I think).

But first Day 3/4.
Day 3 (Tue). Very, very weak lift... cirrus overhead. Danny Brotto takes first with 11 hard earned miles .. nice. I Never got above 2200' off my 2000' tow. Drifted down wind in zero and barely cleared the 5 mile start circle. Spent plenty of time circling and just drifting at 500-1000'. I made 2nd place edging out JD by a whopping 1/4 mile.

Day 4. Somewhat of a boomer. I climbed to 4700 right off tow and took off under a beautiful street feeling pretty confident. I flew right under 3-4 big, dark, flat bottomed clouds all lined up in a pretty row. I got nothing, zippo, nada. Every cloud I went to was deader than Lizzy Borden's Mutha. Landed 12.3 miles out. Ick. Incredibly hot out there on the ground, I don't recommend it (the ground). Both JD and Daniel B. make goal, with JD taking first again... nice job. I squeak out 3rd place.

Day 5 Forecast to be zero lift and maybe 2000' cloud base getting worse very quickly. They set a short task and we all head north 23 miles to Massey. Winds are 8-10 south, the clouds look decent but are low. It's supposed to not last and what we are supposed to find is very weak stuff. We all go early, they have moved the start up a bit for the lousy afternoon forecast. Most found much better than we'd hoped for and I climbed to cloudbase (2700') at 200-250fpm. Went out and worked very light stuff scratching and sniffing and doing a bit of climbing and gliding here and there. Made it 18 miles and again I'm second, this time it's Danny Brotto again. He's the only one at goal for the sporties, and he's very happy when we get there. The rest of us less so... JD and Dan B. make 5 miles, and Alek 8-9 miles. I don't think Dan T. flew.

The crew at Ridgely is great and things are going smoothly. There's plenty of help and good food and plenty of water and free kegs at night! Sweet. Special thanks to the drivers, especially Paul Adamez, Drew, Heather, Linda B., Erica and anyone who has pitched in. We all went out last night to Dave's for some blues and beers and food, very good local joint.

John Simon

I love Highland. I have so many close friends here, it is like coming home to a long lost family -- a big, dysfunctional family that knows how to have fun! Flying, drinking, blowing up pumpkins, or deep-frying marshmallows, are all possible activities for the terminally immature. As to flying, even driving in the area gives you confidence, since almost everywhere you look has a big, flat field where a pilot could land. I have become used to challenging tows in the Florida conditions (though I am told they are nothing, if I want to know what a clenched butt feels like, just wait for Texas) but at Highland they seem easy. I guess that comes with the soft lift we have experienced so far!

My goal for the meet was to place in the top two thirds of the regular class, but I am just shy of that in 13th. Maybe a couple of other pilots will have car wrecks or decide not to fly and I will get to move up more. One can only hope. Actually I made a few "short-bus" moves, like hitting the wrong button on my GPS one day, which sent me back the wrong way after I had made the first turn point. I laughed later thinking of David Glover downloading my flight. He never asked why I was flying the wrong way. I guess people expect that if you are left-handed.

I have been totally relaxed the entire meet, and I am meeting my other goal of learning all I can. I have been fighting a nasty virus throughout the competition, which has been the only bad note for me. I party hardy until 7 PM, when I slink off to bed.

Of course I wanted to be the big star but Paul took that role for the meet. With one more day of flying, it will be extremely difficult for him to lose the lead for the rigids. He is doing almost everything right, and I am very proud of him. Paris has won all the days for the flex-wings, with the exception of the one where Pete L beat him. Danny Brotto is in the lead in the Sport class, while John Simon complains of being second every day in the same division.

Daniel Broxterman and Alek and John Simon have all become cross country pilots, like real go-get-em, play-the-game pilots. Every day everyone is out there flying, trying their best. I am impressed with everyone.

Yesterday was called due to gusty, 90 degree crossing winds. I think almost all the pilots were happy about the decision. I was disappointed to miss another chance to try and improve, but have to applaud the decision. One accident could easily overshadow the joy of the rest of the meet -- the personal accomplishments so many of the pilots have achieved, the camaraderie, the sheer fun.

I wanted to take the day to visit my horse and get our rental into order, but eventually decided to sleep for 16 hours instead. My body is worn out.

Best memories: the giggly feeling I got inside when I passed high over a grounded glider. I can see ya, but I wouldn't want to be ya!

Towing in formation with Jim Prahl around the field on the day we didn't make it away from Highland, late in the evening. We decided to fly for fun, and so we wouldn't have to hump our gliders over to the setup area. The air flowed over our wings without a ripple, and the airport became tiny underneath us. The Dragonflies spiraled down together after we released from tow. Very beautiful, very Highland.

Hearing Daniel B made goal.

Seeing Laurie and Russell Brown's truck in the distance, when I landed on a road that only had deer tracks on it. Two miles from goal and I might as well have been in the North Pole. They have a laptop with a map and GPS or I might still be there.

Hopefully we will have another chance for fun today. This has been such a positive, fun experience.

Lauren

Photos that I took at Highland on Saturday are now available:

http://photos.sickinger.net/ecc05/index.html

~Ralph

The comp is over and what a week it was. If anyone ever has an inkling to join one, or wants to just check it out they should do so. The organizers (Dave Glover and others?) and the Highland guys made it very easy and pleasant for a new guy to come out and fly with some top pilots. Everyone is very friendly and willing to help out someone new and they make you feel welcome and included right away. Dave Glover is really a good guy and his light hearted wise cracks and all around easy nature make participating a pleasure. Of course, the staff at Highland was as always very, very helpful with problems and issues with equipment and gave everyone a very good deal on tows for the comp. They and their core of volunteers really made the show go off without a hitch, really smooth. Rob Kells was there and offered to let me fly the U2, Sport2 and T2... I took him up on the U2 and will fly the Sport2 at a later date, the T2 at a much later date.

I can't tell you how much I learned as a new XC guy. Even as a weekend thermal-around-the-house type guy there is amazing opportunity to advance. We flew on a couple days I'd never even bother to setup, and low and behold I was able to find stuff to climb in (a little) even on those days. I made a ton of rookie mistakes and hopefully have learned from them as well. Just coming back to Ridgely after landing out and hearing all the other stories of the day is incredibly worthwhile from a learning standpoint. I met a slew of new people and hope to see them when I travel about the country or when they return to the Mid-Atlantic. What a pleasure it is to hang out with 30 folks who enjoy flying as much as I do for a week. Plus there were free kegs available... nutritious!

What is really cool is how much fun it is to "compete" even just a little with your buddies. A comp is just plain fun. Sure, it's more fun when you complete a task or win the day which only happened once for me, but you look forward to each day of flying even more in a comp and once in the air you can't help but enjoy the challenge. Rudimentary strategies and tactics, weather, glider considerations and hawking other pilots.... all give you plenty to ponder. I sure wish there were more informal "sport" type mini comps each year during a long weekend or something so more people could have an opportunity to try one and so I could fly in more than one per year. The whole thing is just a good deal and so much fun... If you ever get a chance to enter, even for a few days I highly recommend it especially the sport class because the more the merrier down there.

Take Care,
John Simon

I'd like to add my complete agreement to John's post. I was going to write something similar but I'm certain his literary skill far surpasses mine.
Conditions were safe but only approached really GOOD on just one day, yet we all had a blast making the best of what the day gave us. It was worth the whole entry fee just to be at Massey air field when Daniel B. landed at goal and to see that s--t eating grin plastered on his face.

To those of you who couldn't make it this time, be ready to free up some time next year and see why we're so excited.

Paul

p.s. Special thanks to Paul Adamez who generously drove my truck for retrievals all week and who steadfastly refused to accept a dime for his time and trouble.

This was a treat that I wouldn't have wanted to miss. In spite of less than ideal conditions we flew 6 out of 7 competition days. In addition I got a chance to fly a U2 on the preceeding Saturday. What a sweet glider, I never should have touched it, now I know my Ultra Sport is an antique. This small meet was attended by some of the best pilots in the country including but not limited to a four time national champion, a world record holder, the person who literally wrote the book on hang gliding, and numerous other outstanding pilots. They would all freely share their experiences at the price of asking.

If you were a baseball fan this would be akin to being invited to sit in the dugout during the Allstar game. Even better, actually, because you'd actually get a couple at bats.

Other people have already talked about the hospitality and accommodations, I won't add to that other than to say that they have understated both. One thing I didn't see mentioned was the fact that Rob Kells not only offered up several demo gliders, he helped troubleshoot and tune any Wills Wing glider there. Several pilots took advantage of this opportunity and left with more efficient giliders than they brought, all at no charge.

In summary the comp provided for all the flying you could possibly ask for, assured retrieves, terrific comradarie, and an opportunity to learn from some of the best. I could hardly ask for a better vacation. If you get an opportunity to go next year I strongly encourage you to do so. I certainly will.

Dan T.

Hey, at least you got to compete Dan! I was just a cart dragger!

I was there only on the weekends , under the guise of helping out, to learn all that I could. There is nothing to compare to being there for getting your hands on a good understanding of a competition: the scoring (at least I have some idea of what the complicated system is composed of now], the strategies, the issues, the task committee, the overlap between tasking and competing, the frantic GPS waypoints uploading requests, the downloading of the daily GPS tracks, and simply having your own flying and safety questions addressed at your whim. There was so much sage advice there, it caused me to drink heavily to assuage my burden of information (no wait, that was Daniel B. on the last night!)

> From simply getting to ask Paris Williams about the Altair Saturn design he created (there is one for sale and I am considering purchasing it) to having multiple secondary releases addressed by Danny Brotto (25+ good flying years) and Pete Lehmann (20+ good flying years) over idle breakfast conversation and morning coffee - you couldn't beat it for the information value and laid back attitude.

I was surprised by the friendliness of the competitors. They were not out to cut each other's throats but to do their very best on a given day. They freely discussed their successes as well as their mistakes and what they thought they should have done instead, if it didn't go their way.

The competition was completed safely, and with good spirits, and with reduced aching muscles [there was a superb masseuse onsite ( a hang 4 pilot from the Tennessee Treetoppers)] Kudo's to Highland!

The competition director David Glover must double as a stand up comic in his free time. He didn't spare Davis Straub, Dennis Pagin, Paris, Pete, nor any of the long time competitors in his friendly hazing at the daily pilot's meetings which I witnessed. If you thought these top of the heap competitiors were picture perfect in their flying, you just had to be there to see how they each had to struggle with the daily factors of strong versus weak lift, someone else's success the day before, the luck of the day, and their own comp standings.

What a treat to have the comp in our own backyard, so that we don't have to travel very far for the experience. Next year, count me in on the Sport class! Danny B., Daniel B., John Simon, Dan T. from our local area all flew their hearts out in the grueling heat of the noon-day sun, and represented our local pilots overwhelmingly in the class.

Paul Tjaden held the lead in the Rigid wing class and whomped those big name pilots he was competing against. Turned out they were competing against Paul! Guess who might make the World Team? (2 guesses...and they both start with a T.)

Erica and I retrieved carts together with Arielle, the 12 year old Hang 1 currently training at Highland [read your last issue of USHGA], and the first weekend Bob. Drew held down that hot chore during the week with the help of Bruce who played captain hook from the golf cart. Barb kept everybody stoked with supplies of breakfast and lunch goods, and a discount was available at Sams (now serving wine and beer ; [and oil and vinegar for the purists among the greek salad eaters],...

There is one photo in Ralph's sequence shots which I thought really captured the hustle and the spirit of eveyone: one tug landing in the background as another tug lifted off with a pilot in the foreground. It took quite a bit of work to get those 30 pilots in the air within an hour or so of one another.

Yahoo! Can't wait till the next ECHGC at Highland!

p.s. Alek! I left Alek B. out of the lineup! What an oversight! He was one of the pilots that inspired me to think I might be able do enter the comp next year. Even if he has bailed and gone to New York, he's still one of our "local pilots" and gave the Sport class an additional angle and run for the money. Way to go Alek! - Linda B.

We had quite good wind conditions (3 - 10 mph) on both days though it was a bit warm but because of the breeze quite tolerable. Two students (1 first timer) on Saturday and four students (3 first timers) on Sunday. They all had their fill of flights and enjoyed the classes. Couple of PG's came on Sunday and did some kiting and flying.

Also using the club's walk behind tractor/bush hog, I cut grass 2 hours on Saturday and 1.3 hours on Sunday giving a fairly good size landing area allowing flights from the top. Each time I go there, I try to expand the area but it is very strenuous so I break up the mowing into 10 to 30 minute segments. What a work-out!

john middleton

Ohmigosh! Getting back in the air is AWESOME after such a long layoff and doing it via boat tow is indeed "unique". Imagine heat index numbers in the 100's -- then imagine landing (intentionally) in the lake. That's the way it went on two more flights this weekend. First tow to about 1410' followed by extendo. Second tow to 2050' followed by long extendo (caught some lift over McDonalds!!). Extra bonus was landing in my back yard -- more acurately, landed in the cove and swam home. Had to land downwind, but with pontoons mounted all that's required is to keep plenty of airspeed and come skidding in for a floatplane style landing. Given that I had to dodge a couple of boats in the marina area and compensate for winds circulating in the cove, Tow Operator/instructor, Gregg Ludwig, signed me off for Restricted Landing Field rating!

	previous page	back to top	next page

This page last updated June 13, 2005