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Friday, August 26, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
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...
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...
Monday, July 11, 2011
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
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
Friday, May 27, 2011
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.
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.
Monday, April 11, 2011
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
Flights: 3
Flight Time: 0:50
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
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".
Team ACP. Putting the "I" back in "team".
Sunday, March 20, 2011
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!
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!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
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 today
Photo 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.
Even this awesome pose wouldn't save me from Windy's wrath today
Photo Courtesy Of The Westcoast BritThe 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.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
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
Sunday, February 13, 2011
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
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 hairSunday:
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
Saturday, February 5, 2011
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.
.
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.
.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Huge Gust Front
Last week I was flying from San Francisco to Charlotte. Heading East, we passed just North of Mono Lake and the Owen's Valley. The view was spectacular, as always. One or two ranges East of the Owens, I saw this massive gust front.
Click on the photo above to get a bigger, zoomed in view.
At the top end of the photo you can just make out the white capped peaks of the Sierra's.
At first I thought it couldn't be a gust front. The clouds above it showed no sings of wind. There were no cumulonimbus clouds in site. But it was too large to be anything else. These photos are looking back towards the South West. The front is moving North.
I travel on airliners a lot, and I enjoy it much more ever since I started hang gliding. I love seeing places I have flown from 30,000'. I enjoy the perspective and get a kick out of seeing all the great looking ranges waiting to be flown.
Click on the photo above to get a bigger, zoomed in view.At the top end of the photo you can just make out the white capped peaks of the Sierra's.
At first I thought it couldn't be a gust front. The clouds above it showed no sings of wind. There were no cumulonimbus clouds in site. But it was too large to be anything else. These photos are looking back towards the South West. The front is moving North.
I travel on airliners a lot, and I enjoy it much more ever since I started hang gliding. I love seeing places I have flown from 30,000'. I enjoy the perspective and get a kick out of seeing all the great looking ranges waiting to be flown.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
2011 Speed Gliding Tutorial
Hit Ed Levin today with the hopes of getting a video of this years course to post online. The weather cooperated and I was able to put together a tutorial of the course. CRV aerochris.blogspot.com flew the course, and I flew a bit above him, filming the run. Turned out pretty good.
link
link
Monday, January 10, 2011
Ed Levin 1/9/2011
After setting up the course, Chris, Wayne and I headed up the hill on Sunday morning to take a practice run.
We setup in the high fog which was just barely covering launch, and waited. Winds were light and things looked perfect. The fog began to clear and then it started blowing NE, over the back. We went over to the backside launch, but decided it was too cross and too difficult to see if the front side of the hill was clear or not.
After about 20 minutes, the wind died again and the front side was launchable, but now the fog came back. This cycle continued and we decided to wait on the West side and go for a no wind launch. What I thought was a no wind launch felt more like a slight downwind. Despite using the steepest launch available, I ran and ran and ran. I was amazed at how fast I was going before the glider finally started lifting off my shoulders.
Once in the air it was easily soarable, despite not having a vario. I knew right away that it was not a good day to be flying close to the terrain, so scratched to speed gliding. I soared for a short while and was freezing. I hadn't planned on spending more than 5 minutes in the air, and I wasn't dressed properly.
When I decided to come down, I had to search for sink, which was hard to do without a vario.
After flying, Chris and I made a final tweak to the course and called it a day.
We setup in the high fog which was just barely covering launch, and waited. Winds were light and things looked perfect. The fog began to clear and then it started blowing NE, over the back. We went over to the backside launch, but decided it was too cross and too difficult to see if the front side of the hill was clear or not.
After about 20 minutes, the wind died again and the front side was launchable, but now the fog came back. This cycle continued and we decided to wait on the West side and go for a no wind launch. What I thought was a no wind launch felt more like a slight downwind. Despite using the steepest launch available, I ran and ran and ran. I was amazed at how fast I was going before the glider finally started lifting off my shoulders.
Once in the air it was easily soarable, despite not having a vario. I knew right away that it was not a good day to be flying close to the terrain, so scratched to speed gliding. I soared for a short while and was freezing. I hadn't planned on spending more than 5 minutes in the air, and I wasn't dressed properly.
When I decided to come down, I had to search for sink, which was hard to do without a vario.
After flying, Chris and I made a final tweak to the course and called it a day.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Ed Levin Speed Gliding, 2011
It's that time of year again and Chris Valley and I have been busy getting this years speed gliding event ready. We've made some modifications to the course to make it easier for the volunteers, and hopefully more fun for the pilots.
Today Chris and I, along with Wayne Michelson and Doug Doerfler spent the morning setting up the turn point polls, stacking in tarps, and checking out our new course. We hoped for a test run or two, but heavy fog in the Bay Area kept us grounded. Tomorrow we will go back to the hill and try to get some runs in. After that we may make some small tweaks to the course and then open it up for practice runs from now until the event.
Ed Levin Speed Gliding 2011
Feb 5 & 6
http://www.wingsofrogallo.org/board/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=899
