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
Saturday, January 29, 2011
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
