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.

.

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.

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

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.

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

Flying Out 2010

It's the last day of 2010, and Windy Hill was the call. Seeing the forecast for East winds diminishing rapidly as the day went on, I opted for an early foray to the hill. I could not convince anyone else to join me in the LZ at 8:30am, so after setting up streamers I hiked my gear up the long trail to launch solo.

I was rewarded by winds light, but straight in, and an abundance of fog cloud forming and dissipating around the hill making for some beautiful scenery.





I set up quickly both to be ready to launch before the easterlies quit, and to stay warm. After chatting with a few interested hikers, I was ready to go by 9:45 am. I launched into a light breeze and enjoyed a wonderfully smooth sled run at my favorite local site. The hills were green, the mist was rolling, and I can not think of any better way to spend the last hours of 2010.

Does It Get Any Better Than This?
The LZ was wet, but the sun was warm and the quiet meadow brought a smile to my face.

I made a short movie of the flight to capture the mood of the day:

Link

I opted to do a self retrieve today and hike back up to the top, taking the opportunity to see from the ground that which I so often view from the air. It's a 1 hour hike at a brisk pace, and I need to do it more often. It's almost as nice as the flight down.


We have had some high winds lately, and the Eucalyptus and other trees show it.
The sky continued to produce spectacular views throughout the day

It has been another great year. I flew 5 new sites, including 3 sites in Florida (http://pilotneedsride.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html) and Makapu'u on Oahu (http://pilotneedsride.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html)
I've had some setbacks with an injury and, of course, work always interferes. But I feel blessed to have spent another year in air and to have shared it with good friends and my wonderful family.

I'm looking forward to another great year, and many more to come.

2010 Flight Statistics:

Airtime: 54:10
Flights: 127
Flying Days: 67

Mission, It's The New Funston

Four and a half weeks. That's how long it has been since my last flight. It is not often I go so many days without flying and I was in need of some air.

Fortunately there was plenty of good stuff to be had. I joined up with Urs and Enzo and crossed the bay to Mission Peak, meeting Tom Lo and Charlie there. Conditions looked a little light, but promising. I launched, scratched, and climbed in solid, smooth lift up above launch and behind. Once above 2,500' it was easy to stay up, with abundant lift by the peak and over the foothills.
Launching Into A Green Valley

Climbing Above The Peak. Charlie In The Distance

Clear Air & Good Views

I soared with Charlie and Urs, enjoying the view. Near 3,000' the air became turbulent and rather than try to break through the inversion, I opted to just stay below it where it was smooth.

Saying Hi To The Hikers

Over Launch. Diablo In The Distance

Unzipping? Or Dropping A Finger-Bang? You Decide

It felt great to get the dust off the glider. After only 30 minutes I opted to top land to end this short, but thoroughly enjoyable flight.

Banking It In For An Easy Top Landing

Enzo Landing Shortly After Me

Flight Time: 0:30
Max Altitude: 3,000'

Mexico

Every other year for the past 6 years, my family has gone down to Mexico for Christmas. We stay in a community called Bajamar, 10 miles north of Ensenada, and within a few miles of the La Salina flying site.

I opted not to bring my glider this year and save some time and hassle by flying down instead of driving.

It was a relaxing five days, and a good time to spend with family members I don't see often.

View from the deck

La Casa Johnson

Mountain Lions

Mountain lions are known to frequent the hills and woods of the Bay Area. Windy Hill is no exception. Fortunately, there are signs warning hikers about the dangers, and providing pictorial directions on what to do in the event of a lion encounter.

These techniques are controversial, but they have saved me on multiple occasions.

Marina! finally...

When I was a H2 and new H3, I took many trips down to Marina wanting to goon the dunes. I set up lots of times, but never caught the conditions right for getting a flight.

Years later I finally got it right and came down to Marina on a good day to fly with Ryan, JT, and Ben.

John was happy to see me

It's fun flying to low dunes in a low performing glider. Skimming the sand and landing without moving forward. Here's a couple videos courtesy of the one and only John Taylor.

Vertical landing practice...

link

Walking into the air...

link

After a couple hours of gooning and about 6 flights, I packed it up and headed home with a smile on my face.

A heartfelt goodbye from John to end the day

New Things

I had two new experiences today.

1. Scaring the crap out of a bobcat while on final (look by my boot in the photo below).

2. Beer with breakfast after flying. Who knew, beer goes great with hashbrowns on a fall afternoon.



Borrowed Dirk's glider today for a little Windy Hill action. Not much working but had some fun in light lift with Chris, low over the LZ. Think I'll try again tomorrow.