Makapu'u Flight Report - Day 1 (Jan 12, 2010)

Oahu. Where stop signs are blue, fire trucks tow motor boats, and where hang glider pilots can fly a small little ridge called Makapu’u…

My cousin was graduating from Pacific University in Honolulu. T and I took the opportunity to be good, supportive, selfless relatives and fly out to Oahu for a week to attend his graduation. It just turns out that Makapu’u, a site I’ve always wanted to fly just happens to be on that island also.

I was in touch with Dave G from the Hawaii Hang Gliding Association and the morning after we arrived T and I were heading down the windward coast to meet up with him and check out launch. Conditions looked light and switchy and not very favorable for flying. Dave suggested we load up anyway, and off we went. Along the way we picked up Tim, a local photographer and launch assist expert.

After checking out the LZ we drove up the ridge. A short hike brings you to the launch point with a small platform perched on the edge of a 1,100’ vertical cliff. No nice roundoff like Funston. Vertical, with a sharp edge. 5 feet back from the lip, the air was still. But when we leaned out from the box, we found a nice breeze of ~5mph blowing up the face. It was light but straight in and soon we were rushing to setup before the wind clocked around to the south as predicted.

Checking out Launch...

Launch is like no other I have experienced. Over 1000' straight down!

The View Down From the Box

Dave leant me a Northwing Horizon to fly. I had been worried about borrowing a wing and not knowing what kind of condition it would be in, but my concerns were quickly relieved. Dave’s gliders are in great shape and this one was no different. I had never flown a Northwing before, but it was easy to set up and looked like a nice glider.

I watched Dave launch and climb out. I took a deep breadth, grabbed my glider and headed to the box. The purely vertical moving air makes for a unique and exciting launch technique. It’s intense and I found it to be a lot of fun. There is no wind 10’ back from the cliff so you walk your glider to the box easily. Tim, doing launch assists, is off the front end of the box, on a ledge about 4’ down (harnessed to the box). When you reach the back of the box, about 5’ from the edge, you drop your nose to the ground. I shimmied the glider forward and Tim grabbed the nose wires. I moved the glider forward until the nose was past the front of the box and the control bar was about 2’ from the edge. At this point I hooked in and had to do some aerobics to get my head past my hang strap and through the control frame. It’s an awkward position with the nose straight down. I had to hunch over and use a bottle grip on the downtubes. Eager to go, I gave the command “Up, Up” and Tim raised the nose wires enough to bring the control bar about 1’ off the ground. “Go!” and Tim released the wires and ducked below the box. You’ve got one step to get forward momentum and get off the box. I dove as aggressively as I could into the rising air and got off smooth and clean.

The lift band was enormous. Even with only 5mph winds the climbs are strong due to the 5pmh being straight up. The views were like nothing I’ve flown over before. The range is long, green, and full of deep chutes and towering points. The water was clear. The range of my flight this day was from a peak and turn in the range to the North of launch, to a lighthouse on the South Eastern tip of the island. I spent a little time feeling out the characteristics of the Horizon since I had never flown one before. It was quickly apparent that the glider was easy and predictable to fly. Satisfied with that I was able to enjoy the smooth lift and scenery.

From North of Launch Looking South-East

Looking Down on Launch

I’ll let the photos speak to the flight. To the North, Kailua and Kaneoho Bay. To the South, a rocky point and lighthouse. To the West, over the back Hawaii Kai and Honolulu further to the North West.

North, Showing Kailua and Kailua Bay

North, Showing Kailua and the Main Mountain Range

The Water is So Clear

The Southeast Tip of the Island has Lighthouse and Nice Rocky Face

The wind continued to clock around to the South and soon I was slowly sinking out. I wanted to give myself some altitude to sort out my approach so once I got below cliff height I headed out to the LZ.

The LZ is not big, but it has an unobstructed area over the ocean to make your approach, and a nice uphill section in the middle of the grass strip we land on. Not a lot of good overshoot options so I set up to land as far back as possible on my first flight and put it down nicely about halfway up the strip.

The LZ is the Grass Strip Where You Can See a Paraglider and Hang Glider

5 Days later I’ve still got a smile on my face thinking about it. I can’t thank Dave enough for his time, gear, and eagerness to get me in the air.

Flight Time: 40min

Stay tuned for day 2….