Coastal Flying

Last Saturday was a classic day at Mt Tam. Hooked up my new camera and made myself a little video. Ground shots are courtesy of Aerochris

Rainy Day Fun

Bird vs Fish

Bird Strikes Fish In Water - Watch more Funny Videos


Fish vs Bird (and don't try to tell me a whale is not a fish...)

Penguin Pro Evades Killer Whales - Watch more Funny Videos

Jealousy

Aerochris has been tearing it up. See his blog for an awesome video "Vertigo at Ed Levin"
blog here

He's got some great shots lately

Photo Courteous of Aerochris

Mexican Plants

Flower


Forest


Ball-Of-Fun

La Salina

The weather didn't cooperate for flying, but I had some fun getting to check out the site at La Salina anyway. We stayed at Bajamar, just a few miles from the ridge.

The ridge from the parking area for the bailout LZ

Nice carpeted launch


Looking North from launch


Looking South


Looking East, behind the ridge. Nothing for miles.

It has been raining a lot in this area. The soil and infrastructure alike are not able to handle this much water. There is a lot of flooding, sink holes, and erosion.

Puddles like this one are much deeper than they appear

The road to launch is beautiful, and was a lot of fun to drive. It is not always clear which way to go, but we were able to find our way up without too much back-tracking.

Here's the token cactus-in-the-foreground shot...

Mexico

I just got back from a week in Mexico with the family. We stayed in a community called Bajamar about 15 miles north of Ensenada. The house we stayed in was about 2 miles away from the flying site La Salina. I brought my glider, but got skunked with the weather.

The house is on a bluff overlooking the ocean and a golf course. I don't really play golf, but it was fun to hack it up here... and cheap.

The whole place is sparsely populated and offers some nice scenery

The ridge at La Salina as seen from our front door. It looks spectacular. This day it was blowing 20mph parallel to the ridge..

One of the interesting things about this area is the lack of a decent lending infrastructure. Projects are financed mostly with cash. When the cash runs out, construction simply stops. There are a number of houses at Bajamar that appear under construction from a distance, but walking through them you can see they have clearly been left to rust and crumble.

Last time I was here, 2 years ago, these houses looks just like they do now. The beams are rusting, and the concrete is crumbling.

It was a relaxing week. Very good to see all the family together, and a nice break.

Blinking Jesus. He's got an aircraft warning light on his head...

hangin

I'm thinking about all the friends I've made in the 5 years I've been hang gliding. Every one of them a unique soul with a common passion. They've made my life brighter.

T2C Glide

Video courtesy of Aerochris.

Zoom

Ben's in Australia for 3 months, flying a series of comps, and living out the 3-summer flying dream (Ben's blog). Just when I was starting to feel sorry for myself I got a call that made my day. My Rotor Vulto-S had arrived and it is oh-so-sweet.

I think the harness is about 2 inches too long. First try on it had a few wrinkles and a droop in the boot. After adjusting the shoulder straps I was able to smooth it out. I think I will add an inch or so of foam to the boot as well.

More Of The Same

Sometimes a familiar place looks completely new. Funston was like that last weekend. The beach was wet, and steam was forming at the base of the cliffs and flowing up the gullies like a waterfall.

Octoberfest 2008: Get-U-Sum

Lake McClure is one of my favorite sites. Located in the Sierra foothills about 50 miles east of Modesto, it offers great flying, great scenery, and perhaps the most wonderful and eclectic group of pilots around.

This weekend was the annual Octoberfest fly-in. Chris picked me up on Friday night and we rolled into the campground around 11pm. First order of business each morning is the speed gliding competition. Only a handful of pilots compete, but it's a blast for pilots and onlookers alike. Chris and I managed to take second and first place respectively. Our combined times over 2 days were 0.1 seconds apart.

The daytime flying was good. Saturday a convergence moved through the area allowing a few to get to nearly 10k. I was set up late, and conditions on launch became increasingly gust and cross. After waiting all afternoon I reluctantly broke down my glider and drove down the hill. Sunday was much calmer. Decent lift, lighter winds, and nice smooth thermals. A few went cross country, but I just played around the local hills.

Dan and Glen did a great job putting it on. All-in-all, another great fly-in by the Mother Lode Sky Riders!

I'm Back

Sitting still has been driving me crazy. Last Sunday I decided my ribs were healed enough, my glider was reassembled enough, and I was ready enough to get back in the air.

It was a sled run day at Ed Levin. I was missing a pin when I opened up my glider bag. So Chris took a flight and then lent me his pin so I could finally get back in the air. I was nervous since I had completely disassembled my glider and this would be it's first flight since reassembly. But there was no need for concern. She flew straight and sweet. It took about 2 seconds of being in the air before I felt that wonderful sense of elation. It's been over 2 months since I flew; I almost forgot what it felt like.

No Post

Why do I post with nothing to say?

I'm not at the Nationals, Christina is in Norway, and some nagging rib pain is keeping me out of the air. I've been working long hours and living vicariously thru the stories of my friends flying in the Nationals this week.

Oh well, here are a couple old pictures
Funston

Alastair

barbs

At the end of July, over the course of 2 days, I managed to get a number of barbs, both man-made and natural, embedded in myself. I have spent the last few weeks observing how efficient these simple items are in doing what they do. And what they do is not come out of you.

The fishhook was too deep to remove through regression or progression of the hook and required a scalpel.

The big cactus needles came right out with a little force.

The small cactus needles broke off and 10 or so have been gradually extricating themselves from my hands. Only 2 more to go!

Among Barbed Wire and Prickly Pear

My baby was in need of a full tear down inspection, and some repair work. It was the first time pulling the sail off my glider and I was looking forward to it.

Chris offered up his garage and beer and we had ourselves a tear down party. It was pretty straight forward. A few little hitches with the rear leading edges, but nothing too tricky.

Out of the bag and ready to take apart

I was most concerned with removing the sail attachment to the rear leading edge. The nut on this bolt is adjustable and is used to set the tension of the leading edge. I payed close attention to how many threads were engaged before removing it so I could get it set back to where it was. I think a few tuning flights will be required to get it back to the sweet spot.Leading edge tension adjuster

The inner leading edge has an adjustable crescent fitting to orient the outer leading edge. It was easy enough to take off, but getting it back in was the most difficult task.Front/Rear Leading Edge Junction


Shiny... Rear Leading Edges Out, Sail Ready to Come Off

The Bare Bones. It sure doesn't look like much when you see the frame alone. It's amazing what such a small amount of aluminum and carbon fiber can do.

A thorough inspection showed the leading edges, cross bar and keel where all fine. There was control frame damage that will warrant a complete control frame replacement. I could have kept many of the fittings, and one of the downtubes, but given the type of stress damage I was seeing in a few spots, I decided to replace the whole control frame for my own peace of mind. Also, I will be getting a new wire set just to be safe.

Significant twisting damage at the apex elbow brackets

The saddest part is my broken control bar. It has a split along the front seam. I can't bear to post a picture of it...

We put the sail back on the next day and ordered the new parts. They should be hear soon. I'm looking forward to getting the glider back together and heading to the US Nationals in Lakeview, Oregon in August.

King Summary

Lack of internet access and time made blogging during the King Meet difficult. The theme for this years comp was wind. Overall I was disappointed with my performance. King is a humbling place to fly and I was probably due to have my ego put back in place. Here's a summary of the meet

7/14/2008 Day 1
Route 3

Route 3 is called and I feel I am in a good position above King. I reach my highest altitude ever at 15,500'. I decide it is time to head over the back. I see Ben D taking a line north along the ridge to get a head start on the NW wind that will push us off our East course. I decide to follow him and quickly lose 1000'. I don't want to get any lower so I cut my loses and head over the back across the Howe Valley. It is about 16 miles to the next mountain range, the Lemhi's.

I get drilled the whole way across (even with finding a lee-side thermal that gave me an extra 1,500'). I just barely make it to the foothills of the Lemhis, but I am so low I can only make one pass before setting up my landing. I was upset about only making it 15 miles the first day. I broke down my glider and watched my friends climb out over my head.
Lonely Landing 15 miles out. King Mountain in the background.

7/15/2008 Day 2
Route 1

There was a strong southwest wind today and a forecast for overdevelopment. I decided not to fly due to the high surface winds.
We listen to Ben D and Wayne fly north and I start to regret my decision. They are making great progress and the air sounds smooth. Soon though we start to hear the reports from them of virga ahead, clouds above, uncontrollable lift, and a urgent desire to get on the ground. All ends well and the boys get down before the gust fronts reach them.Lower launch setup area

A few of us head to a hotspring located on the edge of the Craters of the Moon National Park.


7/16/2007 Day 3
Route 3

Winds aloft were strong today. At 12,000' I was seeing a steady 25mph flow. I couldn't seem to get much above 12,500' and was not feeling good about heading over the back of King so low in these winds. The SW component meant in addition to the King rotor we would get hit by the rotor off a smaller range to the SE of King. I was waiting for the others to climb up and join me. I got impatient and decided to fly South along the Arco Range, then turn at Arco and jump the range from there. This would keep me out of the rotor. It was a gamble, but I thought if no one could get over the back at King, I could end up with a long flight and a lot of points if I could just make it from Arco back to the Lemhi's.

It was an interesting flight, but was the wrong call. I landed 10 miles out. The other guys went over the back while Ben D went on to have a 110 mile flight to Henry's Lake. I should have waited and made a decision with my team on which path to fly. Lesson learned.


7/17/2008 Day 4
Route 2

A lot of excitment abounded when Route 2 was called for the first time in years. We get preped. Route 2 takes you straight over 3 or 4 mountain ranges. It offers big miles, remote landings, and long retrieves. I fill up my harness with some extra water and supplies to be prepared for a long hike and possible night in the wild. I won't need any of it...
Moore ID, from 12,000'

The winds are strong again and I ridge soar up the face of king and top out around 12,000. The SW winds have brought in the California smoke and it is very difficult to see the weather to the North. What I can see looks solid and possibly overdeveloped. I decide to not fly the route today. Instead I take some photos, enjoy the air, and fly out to a nice big field near the campground and land next to Chris.

Pilots who went far today had stories of flying through snow!


7/18/2008 Day 5
CANCELED due to high wind forecasts

A few of us head up to Mackay for some fishing in the lost river (we found it). I catch a nice sized rainbow trout. The trout then proceeds to catch me and we struggle in the river, each firmly connected to the lure. A trip to the local medical clinic followed to have the hook cut out of my palm. I did however fair much better than the trout who ended up in my belly a few hours later.

Joe Fishing the Big Lost River. We caught 4 (not including my hand) and had a nice meal.

7/19/2008 Day 6
Route 3

Today I finally had a good flight. I flew a lot with Bruce and Joe and others. I crossed 3 mountain ranges and covered 55 miles before it was over. That was enough to give me the longest Rec Class flight for the day.
It was an immensely rewarding flight. It was late in the day and I was saved repeatedly by leeside thermals. Tactics were necessary to cross the valleys. I would let a leeside thermal top out, and then continue to circle in the bouyant air. Others were reporting massive sink in the valleys. I would drift with the wind at about 15 miles per hour until I was close enough to the next range to make a run for it. This approach was slow, but allowed my to avoid the worst of the sink.

Unfortunately I did not have a good landing which put a damper on the flight. Barbed wire and cacti are not my friends...

Standings
Ben Dunn took second place with some stellar flights. The Bobbleheads win the team competition.

Total Flights: 5
Airtime: 7:15

King 2008 - Day 1

Not much time for blogging out here, so this will be short. Scroll down, 2 posts today. No pictures yet

7/14/2008

First day of the comp looked promising. Lift forecast to 17,000' or higher. We have a special window that can be opened here to allow freeflight above the normal 18,000' FAA limit up to 23,000'. The meet organizers opened the window and we were all hopeful.

I climbed up after launch into some strong thermals. I had a problem with my oxygen system and wasn't getting any O2. It took a while to troubleshoot it since I had to reach into a low pocket i could not see. Eventually got it fixed and headed back into the thermals.

I had a strongest thermal I've ever been in with a sustained climb over 1000' per minute for 4 minutes. I topped out at 15,500' and headed over the back of the mountain. Route 3 had been called for the day and it looked good.

I got drilled crossing the next valley. The rotor off of King mountain pounded me with 2000' per minute down air. I just made it to the foothills of the next range, but could not find anything to get me back up and was forced to land after 15 miles. I watched others fly over my head on their way to 40, 50, 75 and 100 mile flights.

I was disapointed with my flight. I picked a bad line crossing the valley. We get 2 throw-away days here, but it's tough to have to use one on such a good day.

King Mountain 2008 - Practice Day

7/13/2008

Arrived in Moore, ID Saturday night and set up camp in the local park. Sunday was a practice day for us and a chance for me to get my mountain wings back. It was good have the day because I have been spoiled by the flatlands flying lately and the smooth air that comes with it.

The practice flight was fairly turbulent. I flew about 18 miles to a local airport. I had a bad landing and broke a downtube. My first one in 4 years. I was frustrated, but got it repaired that night.

Leasons Learned from Chelan

A few key lessons come to my mind from last weeks competition. These aren't new ideas, but things I was reminded of and concepts that were refined in my mind.

1 – If you want to go far you have to go fast.

I learned this the first time at Santa Cruz Flats. After completing 50 miles of the first days triangle, I realized I had taken too long. The Sun was low and the thermals were stopping.
The 3rd day at Chelan, Ben Dunn and I were pushing for an 85 mile triangle. We had completed the second turnpoint at about 65 miles when we started to get boxed in by rapid overdevelopment. We could have made it back if we had been to that turnpoint 30 minutes earlier.

2 – Persistence Pays

Day 4 at Chelan I had my best flight. A 65 mile triangle using Withrow and Sims as turnpoints. The flight started with a flush cycle that almost put me on the deck in the bailout. I had to maintain in turbulent conditions, low over the LZ. I was tempted to bail and start setting up my approach. Eventually something came thru that let me crawl back up. One low saved turned what would have been my worst day at the comp to my best.

3 – Thermals may split up, or shift laterally at an inversion and regroup above it. Don’t assume it is gone just because the lift is stopping.

Most days at Chelan there were one or more inversion between the ground and the top of lift. A thermal would seem to top out, but if you searched, you could usually find the thermal continuing some distance away. Usually this would be a constant direction (upwind or downwind) for an inversion on a given day. If you found the thermal 200’ downwind previously, that was a good place to look on the next one. Pay attention to what altitude you hit inversions. Pay attention to what direction the thermal shifts. Flying with another pilot helps immensely.

The lift will often be broken up at the inversion. Do everything you can to get above it. The lift will often be strong and coherent once it passes the inversion. Getting 50’ higher could be your ticket to much more. Push out in the broken pockets of lift. Try to throw yourself up through it.

Chelan '08, Day 6

7/4/2008

It's all over. Ben Dunn hangs on to his 5 point lead and wins. This is his first victory at a sanctioned comp. Congratulations Ben!


Conditions at launch were very windy today. The pilots who had gotten off the ground were getting mostly ridge lift in turbulent conditions. No one seemed to be getting high and I did not think it looked fun so I opted not to fly. I really would have liked to fly one more day. Since the comp is your best 4 out of 6 days, not flying today and yesterday means I don't get to drop any of my low scoring days.

I finished 14th out of about 30. I think I could have done a bit better. That said, I am very happy with how I flew on the 3rd and 4th days. I've also learned a lot of leasons to improve my skill.

I can't wait to come back next year!