Who Doesn't Like a Drought?

What can I say? It's been dry. There's no snow. And flying has been great this winter.

Flew over 5 hours last weekend. Started on Saturday with a fun day at Mission Peak. Loaded up with Chris Valley and crossed the bay for a noon arrival at the site. It looked foggy and windy as we drove, but by the time we arrived at launch conditions had cleared and the wind was moderate.

Dropped my glider in the mud while setting it up, but the sweet conditions made me not care. Launched smoothly into some cold air. Lift was turbulent at time, but abundant. Aside from one small flush cycle it was easy to stay up, coring wide thermals which could be found both over the peaks and out away from the hills.

Ventured half way to Ed Levin, but mostly stayed around Mission, just enjoying the day and the glider.

After a little more than an hour I got cold and came in for a nice smooth top landing by the car, broke down my glider and had a beer. Chris and others flew for another hour or so and we ended the day with food and drinks at a local watering hole.

Sunday I was thinking Ed Levin was the call. But a fortunate conversation with Tom Low keyed me in to the improving conditions at Fort Funston. I changed my plans and headed to the coast, arriving at the site surprised to see only one glider set up.
Got my glider together quickly and launched into very North conditions. It was nice to fly conditions like this without stress. My new glider gives me a lot of confidence.

Getting Sideways Over Westlake
I played around at the fort for a while, flying fast, doing some energy climbs and mild wingovers, then I headed down to Westlake to play with the paragliders. Had a nice flight, and felt content after an hour+ so I landed back at the fort. I was going to break down, but then my friends Tom and Chris showed up and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to chase them around the sky.

CRV

We all met up at Westlake, flying close, getting video and photos, doing some mellow aerobatics and just boating around in the super smooth lift. I didn't want the flight to end, and flew till the sun was setting. As the day got later, the cliffs lit up with red light and long shadows. Amazing.

Westlake

Horsies!

Sunset

Chris put together some video of the day, chasing me around the sky



What a weekend!

Flights: 3
Airtime: 5:07

Big Fat McClure

A spectacular weekend at McClure. 3.5 hours of flying, topped out at 4,500', and many tours of the valley were had.

Met up with CRV Saturday morning for a day trip, with camping gear along just in case. Picked up Ryan Goebel and Chad in Dublin and continued on. There was a big turn out unexpectedly with around 16 glider on launch.

Saturday was sweet. The winds were light, sky was clear, thermals were smooth, and lift was everywhere. It was easy to get up and stay up. We cruised around in the sky until we got tired. I made an attempt or two at Horseshoe, getting about half way there, but mostly hung around the main hill.
Finally started to sink out and headed to the LZ before the 3 other gliders at my hight. Tried to dive it down, but found lift over the LZ at about 500'. Decided not to fight it and took a slow, pleasant clim back up to almost launch height. After letting the other two gliders land I brought er in for a no stepper.

Sunday was more of a challenge and a lot of fun. KM and CRV launched first and got up. CRV made a fateful launch buzz and continued the buzz right to the deck. It was hard down low with tight, weak thermals. Once you got up, things got a little easier. The lift was scattered and seemed to move away from the hill, upwind, as we got higher. It was definitely a day where it paid to be curious. Leaving the crowd and exploring the valley repeatedly rewarded me. I would find a thermal, scattered and weak like the others, but without crowds could core it easily. Top of lift was about 3,300'.

Flights: 2
Airtime: 3:30

Bang!

Our morning view from camp

Just 3 guys in the back of a truck...

This is his tough look...

CRV calls it

Brian Horgan's downtube. Starting the smack talk for Ed Levin Speed Gliding 2012!

ACP, ready to dominate

CRV Slayin' It

KM. 70 years old. Gets higher, and flies longer than all of us, every time

Becoming a Mountain Man

1 fallen tree + 1 Husqvarna 18 inch, 50cc chain saw (thanks Mom & Dad!) = 1 cut up tree


1 cut up tree + 1 Fiskars 36 inch super splitting axe (thanks Bert & Sharon!) = 1 big pile of fire wood


4 hours straight of chainsawing, hauling, and splitting wood + 3 Aleve = Brian barely able to walk today

2012

It's a new year and I for one am happy to see it. I didn't want to say anything while 2011 was still within earshot, but I never really liked 2011. We just didn't click. 2011 was a bit too pretentious for me. It was always complaining about this or that, and always wanted to borrow my tools. I can already tell that 2012 has a better sense of humor and isn't nearly so needy.

I did not get to fly much in 2011. Work kept me away from family, away from friends, and away from hang gliding. I don't know if 2012 will be different, but it at least got off to a great start.
CRV, Wayne and I headed down to Big Sur for the new years bash early on Saturday. We arrived to find the biggest turn out of pilots I have ever seen there. The McClure crowd was in full force, as well as the Funston boys and WOR as well as a number of other pilots. Saturday we got skunked with over the back winds all day, but made up for it with a campground full of happy partying pilots new years eve. Sunday we were able to find lulls in the SE winds and get off the hill. Beautiful flying as always at big sur.

Saturday, CRV, Wayne, JT and I hit Ed Levin. No spectacular conditions, but fun flights regardless. Chris and I hit a top landing on the 1200' hill and got fly-bys from JT and Wayne. Beer and food followed the flying.

Made a simple video of the flights. Hello 2012!

Edit: Now on Vimeo!

First Flights of 2012 from Brian Foster on Vimeo.

New Glider

Finally, finally I get a day off from work to finally fly my new glider.

Me like!

King Mountain - Day 2

Day 2 and route #1 was called again. Team ACP got up the hill quick so we could set up together and satisfy the requests of all the fans by taking the long awaited team photo. It was a candid shot, catching us all in natural poses. We didn't even realize the camera was there

Photo Curtesy of John Taylor (See John Fly)


Shortly after this photo was taken, the day was cancelled. The said it was due to high winds, and unfavorable direction, but we suspect it was really because everyone wanted to have time to look at our color coordinated gliders, and get our autographs.

A few pilots did some free flying later in the day and had turbulent, short flights. Tomorrow looks to be dryer, but the winds remain a question mark.

Regardless, the week has been a blast so far...

King Mountain - Day 1

Arrived in Arco, ID late saturday night after a 13 hour drive with John Taylor. Spent Sunday getting our gear organized and generally getting ourselves ready for 6 days of big air. There is a big crowd of friends at this years comp. The Bubbleheads are here in force and we total 10-12 strong from the Bay Area alone.

Team ACP (me, CRV, JT, Ryan and Trey) are ready to dominate. "Putting the 'I' back in team"

I've been pretty anxious about this meet, due to a lack of airtime recently. I was unsure if I would fly. But I went up the hill, setup my glider, and when my team started lining up to launch I suited up and joined them. There was strong lift and strong sink. I worked what I could, keeping myself far from the terrain and generally trying to re-acclimate myself to my glider.

Before long I found myself drifting towards the bail out LZ. I brought it in for a nice landing and was joined by Chris. Not a big flight, but I got what I wanted out of the day. Ready for the next 5 days!

Slayin' The Bailout LZ

A Bitter Sweet Birthday

Myself and others have been devastated by the loss of our dear friend Crystel Stanford. She was taken from us suddenly a week ago in a bicycle accident. She was the kind of person you feel instantly close too. Adventurous, happy, outgoing, kind, and constantly inviting friends into her life. My words feel so inadequate to describe her. Christina and I, and many many others have been profoundly affected by her death.

And so with a sad heart I headed to Funston on my birthday to fly the blues away.

It was friday, and only a few people were there. I met Tim (aka, CapTim America) and Urs. We were all friends with Crystel, and Tim has had some other painful losses this month. We shared some hugs (manly ones), appreciating our friendships a little more than usual. Looking to the South we brightened up and decided we should all head down to that nice looking shear cloud forming over WestLake.

We launched in nice smooth air and soon I was heading South. Urs was already above the shear cloud as I arrived at the WestLake cliffs. I was below the shear cloud and it occurred to me suddenly that I had never actually flown a shear cloud before, and I was not entirely sure how exactly you get from below the cloud to above it, without going through it.

I drifted along on the underside of the cloud for a few passes, and then found a spot on the North end of the cloud where I could slowly climb out in front of it. Climbing at 20 feet a minute I made pass after pass, and soon found myself above the cloud in butter smooth air.

Can you find Urs in this photo? Way above me, as usual


It was amazing. Like surfing a giant, white wave in the sky we cruzed up and down the coast. I was on my slow glider, but fortunately winds were fairly light for a shear, only 20mph or so, making it no problem for the Pulse, and allowing paragliders to join us as well.


Looking North Towards The Fort


Getting above the shear cloud was a first for me, and I am still living the flight. It was so smooth, and the contrast of cloud and trees and city and ocean was spectacular. I couldn't help but feel like our friend was telling us that we need to cheer up.

Playing in the sky, with Mr Tim West. CapTim America himself





It had been hot in the setup area and I foolishly took off my jacket before I launched. It was cold in the shear and I flew for an hour and a half before I finally started shivering and had to head back to the Fort to warm up. The LZ was smooth, the landing easy. I did a second launch and landing just because it was so fun. A perfect end to a perfect flight.

We miss you Crystel.

Flight 1 - 1:25
Flight 2 - 0:08

After heading home, my long time friends Wes and Natalie joined Christina, my parents and I at Cafe Gibraltar in Half Moon Bay for dinner. It was a wonderful evening, spent with people I love. A nice way to turn 33.

Back

My previous bad landing, rain, speed gliding, and some really great skiing conditions have all added up to keep me on the ground the last 6 weeks. Sunday I got back on the horse, fighting a bit of anxiety, and had some nice flights at Funston. Nothing much to say about it. The conditions were perfect and I took 3 flights to blow of the cobwebs.

Flights: 3
Flight Time: 0:50

ACPs - Bound For King

Team ACP is descending on the annual King Mountain Hang Gliding Competition this year. Look out!



Team ACP. Putting the "I" back in "team".

Powder Day With Christina

Christina and I headed up to Tahoe this weekend to catch some of the major snow storm blowing through. We had to resort to a super long way around getting up here and totaled 10 hours on the road after leaving Friday afternoon.

Skiing was great on Saturday. Deep, soft powder and very few people on the hill. Definitely worth the trip.
Christina is an amazing skier and way out of my league. It is lots of fun to try and keep up with her!

I dorked it up with a GoPro on my helmet, and got some decent footage of the day. (select 480p for best quality)
Link

Sunday we hung out in the cabin waiting for I-80 to open. After about 10 hours of closure it opened at 4pm and we zipped home in record time.


A great weekend!

Lessons At Windy

Windy Hill can be a challenging site. Strong winds. Small LZ. I love it, but today it reminded me who the boss is.

Even this awesome pose wouldn't save me from Windy's wrath todayPhoto Courtesy Of The Westcoast Brit

The day looked great. Cloud streets as far as we could see, and snow on launch to give it even more of an unusual flare.

Ben and I were the only takers and we set up quick, planning our epic flight. Surely with such a great sky we would be flying over the back to Pescadaro. Surely it would all be great. Surely...

Snow At The Peak

Great Sky In Front Of Launch

Great Sky Behind Launch. Looking Towards The Coast

Ben was in the air first, climbing as he headed towards the tree line. I followed quickly. Launch was smooth and I hit lift right away. Things looked good.

Once over the tree line, the air was buoyant but not producing much in the way of climbs. I hit a few pockets that I thought might get me up towards cloud base, but none of them panned out. I kept looking at Ben and saw he was at the same height as me. So at least I knew it wasn't just me. The sky continued to look epic, but we couldn't find a way to get into it.

After 15 minutes or so I found myself heading to the LZ to land. A quick look at the streamers in the LZ and I knew it was going to be an interesting landing. The wind was strong from the North, switching between NE and NW. The combination of velocity, direction and variability was less than ideal. In our small LZ you only have two landing direction options. Either one was going to put me with a strong cross wind at best, and a quartering tail wind at worst. The active conditions above the LZ only compounded the situation.

I got my head together, planned out my approach and dove in. As soon as I entered my pattern, I hit lift. Not good. Planning for a short downwind leg and rapid turn to a crosswind final, I found myself too high. I made a quick turn to lengthen my approach and then I hit the sink. Quickly I found myself low and not in an ideal spot. Plan A & B gone, I moved on to a quickly devised plan C. In the end I came in crooked and mostly downwind. Whacked the glider good and ended up on my belly in the mud.

The conditions were tough, but they are not an excuse. There was a safe landing approach to be had, but I didn't execute it.

Lesson learned.

Snow and Funston

With snow levels dropping below 2000' in the Bay Area, we headed to Tam hoping to fly above snowy peaks. We got to the mountain and found plenty of snow, and a closed road about 1/2 mile from launch. A few hearty pilots hiked out to launch and had great flights. Myself, CRV, JT, Urs, Enzo, Wayne, and George headed back down the coast to Funston.

And Funston was kickin!


After braving the crowds at the fort, I cruised down to Westlake. Got there low, and scratched up. Once above 800', the air was active, and there was a lot of thermal activity on top of the ridge lift. It was easy to climb up to 1200' and kiss the cloud streets.

Looking North Towards The Golden Gate
I played around for an hour. Playing tag with Wayne, dodging the paragliders, and taking in the day. I have had only a minimal amount of airtime so far in 2011 and it felt great to be in the air.

Coming back to the Fort, I saw the ridge was packed with gliders. I opted to avoid the main ridge and go straight in for a landing. Squeezing into the narrow west side of the LZ, avoiding the large rotored area present during North-West winds.

Over The Fort. Many Gliders Below

Hugging The Cliff To Avoid The Rotor

Posing For The Camera's. Goes With Being An ACP

A great day. I need more!

Flights: 1
Airtime: 1:12

Flying 2/12 & 2/13

Some decent looking flying weather came over the bay area this weekend. And while it didn't turn out to be as good as hoped, it was a nice weekend with 3 flights and wonderful green winter hills.

Saturday:
Made the call to go to Tam, and headed up there with Dirk. Met Chris, John Taylor, Ryan, Ben, Gerry and some others on launch. It was a solid south wind, and looked good. Launches were easy, with a bit of rotor hitting us as we cleared the hill. The air was nice and smooth, which of course meant no going up.

Another cold winter day in California...

The beach was huge, so I decided to have some fun landing and do a fast approach over the surf. Chris, of course, had to show me up with a solid beat up approach.

After flying we hung around on the beach, enjoying the warm weather. Beer at the Mountain Home Inn overlooking Sausalito topped off the evening.
Dirk Morris. The man; The myth.


When you get bored waiting for your retrieve, putting flowers in your hair usually helps


John Taylor, sad to have a flower in his hair


John Taylor, proud to have a flower in his hair


Sunday:
Again, solid south winds, and this time we headed to Ed Levin. It was almost ridge soarable, but not quite. A few people were able to linger around launch, but we all ended up in the LZ sooner or later. Took two flights, with similar results.

Tried out my new wrist mount gopro housing and decided it mostly sucks.


Flights: 3
Airtime: 0:32

Don't Stroke The Exhibition

I've been traveling out to the Tampa area a fair amount lately and staying in Saint Petersburg. Mostly I think Florida is kind of tacky. But I like Saint Pete. It's a clean, nice looking small city. There are harbors everywhere and a small but active airport I can watch out of my hotel window.


Last week the weather was just about perfect and I had some time on Friday to walk around and enjoy the sites.


You can't see them in this photo, but this badboy had 8' tentacles.


I took the opportunity to go the the Salvador Dali Museum. I didn't know anything about Dali, but the building itself is extremely interesting and I had heard good things.


The building was probably my favorite part.


Upon entering the building, a museum attendant greeted me and informed me that she likes elephants.

I couldn't take photos in the galleries, but the car being driven by an old-timey scuba diver on the main floor was fair game.


I started to get an idea what the place was going to be like...


Overall, I was left with the following impressions:
1 - I don't get it.
2 - Why is there a little kid in a sailor suit in the corner of that painting? That really creeps me out.

.