Makapu'u Flight Report Day 2 - Jan 14, 2010

Thursday morning Dave called and said it was looking like we might get a launch window again. I was hesitant as T had a bit of a stomach bug and I felt guilty at the prospect of taking up another day for flying. But T was supportive, as always, and practically insisted that we go flying again. Who am I to argue? So we loaded up and off we went.

We met at Dave’s house and loaded up the gliders. His prediction was for 25mph on launch. “Oh great…” I thought. It’s no secret that windy conditions stress me out, and this launch seemed particularly intimidating in strong winds. But I figured I would go up there and check it out. I could always chicken out and just watch Dave and another pilot, Dale, fly.

On launch we found the SE flow was being partially blocked by the peak to the South, and was wrapping around slightly. So what we saw coming up the face was ~15mph, ranging from 10 to 20+. It looked fine to me and I was eager to launch. I watched Dave again and this time Dale assisted me at launch. Same routine as before, but this time with more wind. One step to get an aggressive launch and I was off again.

Soaring with Dave

The air was big and phat. P-H-A-T! I quickly climbed high up over launch as Dave chased me around the sky trying to get some good video shots. After a short while I flew a ways out over the ocean to get some shots of my own. Wow!

Looking SE From High Over the Water

Rabbit Island. I liked watching the waves wrap around the island.

NorthWest From Out Over the Bay

Dale launched on a crispy new T2 and he and Dave flew South to play around the lighthouse and low in the bowl over SeaLife Park. I stayed high cruising several miles of ridge from the lighthouse back to North of launch. I wanted to buzz some parts of the ridge, but the lift was intense near the hill and the bar pressure on the Horizon was enormous. So I contented myself with flying around high, cruising out over the ocean, and generally drifting lazily through the sky. The strong SE wind did put us downwind of Rabbit Island which did through off the occasional (and surprising) bit of nasty turbulence. I got hit by it 2 or 3 times and it always caught me off guard because the air was otherwise so smooth and nice. It reminded me a bit of Waddell actually, except I was having fun…

Over The Back

Military Heli Over Rabbit Island

I Really Liked the Two Pointy Peaks by Kailua

I spent more of this flight at the SE end of the island. Dave and Dale were playing around low in a bowl below me (want to try that next time). I cruised out around the lighthouse and over the shallow bay next to it. There is a ton of helicopter traffic on the island. Lot’s of sight seeing tours, and a good number of military copters as well. I assume they know the area is frequented by hang gliders and paragliders, but I kept a constant eye out and always tried to show a sunny undersurface to any that I saw.

Another View of the LZ

Dave and Dale Playing Low in a Cove, SE of the LZ


Lighthouse at the SE Tip of the Island

Looking Back to the North From the SE end of the Island

A little more than an hour after I launched I decided it was time to head in and show off for my family who were watching in the LZ. I burned off some altitude circling over the water and set up a similar approach as the day before. Low over the parking lot and touching down smoothly about midway in the LZ. Smiles, cheers, and beers were soon to follow and I instantly started sorting out how I could get back there again.

Flight Time: 1:12

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….

More Makapu'u Photos

Internet is slow out here and I just can't get the videos to upload. Also no time still for a flight report. Oh well, here's a couple more photos.

I might be heading up the mountain again tomorrow...

Makapu'u Teaser

I arrived on Oahu Monday afternoon for my cousins graduation. Tuesday, 1pm I was heading up the road to fly Makapu'u. I have not yet had time to write a flight report or gather all the pictures and videos. But here are a couple teaser photos. Stay tuned for a full report soon!

Speed Gliding Practice Days

The event is drawing ever nearer. I think that Chris, JB and I have put together a pretty good course. It's fast and aggressive and I've been struggling to get my glider down at a steep enough angle. I'm improving each time, but need lots more practice (and maybe some ballast...).

The course we've set up is shown here. Red line is the open course and the kingposted course. Light blue line is the rookie course (which we decided today needs to be changed). The Start Gate, TP 4, TP 5 and the Finish Gate are "Altitude Control Gates". That means you have to have your wing and/or body within 20' of the ground as you go through. The rule is optional for the kingposted class (they can fly above the altitude gate with no penalty), and prohibited for the rookies (flying below the altitude gate is an automatic DQ).
This weekend has been the first realy good weather for speed gliding that we have seen. I got in a few practice runs and put together a course tour video. Enjoy.

Flying In the New Year

I decided to celebrate the end of the decade by joining the crowd at Big Sur for a New Years Day flight at one of the most scenic sites I know. Hit the road at 5:30am and picked up Ryan on the way. Got down in plenty of time and headed up to Wild Cattle launch.

It was blowing light over the back when we arrived but we set up anyway and waited. Soon it lulled and I took a no-winder into nice buoyant air. Got to race the ridge some and generally had a nice smooth and fun flight the bring in the new year.

We had a good turnout from the Mother Lode Sky Riders and the Wings of Rogallo crews.

A video of the day here, and some more photos below.

link


Launch looking South towards Sand Dollar beach

Launch looking North

Ryan's high-tech vario mount

North from the air

South from the air

Some self portrait action

Diev showing off for the crowd

Glen is happy...

I can't think of a more beautiful place to break down a glider and hang with friends

Happy 2010!