AMS-SFO-DalyCity-Funston

Subtitle: She who thinks hard does not fly.
Subsubtitle: Karen went to Westlake again.

Ok, birdbones may hold the record for the shortest time between a hang gliding flight and high altitude cross-country, think trans-Atlantic flight, but I have a new one for you. I thought that after an 11 hour flight from Europe, I'm going to take the Bart, stop at Trader Joe's, grab food and then go take a nap. I did all that. I took the Bart to Daly city, went to the local Trader Joe's in the Westlake mall, and took a nap on a bench at Fort Funston, my head promptly on my harness. All thanks to cleanpants and Karen, who left a message on my phone, that Funston is in the cards today. Ah it was. But we didn't play the cards right.

Early on, it was north-cross, with a shear setting up, white caps here and there, gusty. No good, even if you didn't wake up on a another continent this morning. Karen scored a tandem (twice!), which involved a wet landing (ask her!) and going to Westlake for a nice long voyage ... And she was the only one who took to the air today. About 4 pm the wind straightened and softened up, and cleanpants and I walked back and forth, wondering. Should I, or should I not? I thought too hard ... I didn't fly. Another ground school day ... met some folks, got everyone's 2 cents on rotor, angles, approaches, beaching it and rolling paper. 

Flight time: 10 hrs 30 mins but it doesn't count.

Always fly before flying

There's unspoken tradition among BHGC students to be in the air without an engine within 12 hours of being in the air with an engine. That usually happens when we're leaving or coming into the country or the state - which induces the behavior of flying local sites either 12 hours prior to take-off or right after arriving.

In the true spirit of tradition birdbones checked in for her Funston flight at 9 am today (after partying till the wee hours of the morning), picked up gear and promptly launched about 11:30 am. She touched down the planet back at 12:15 and was immediately on her way to the airport. We all like her sooooo much, and we're sooooo sad to see her go, and can't wait to have her back!

P.S. Alternative title for this post is "Eat, Party, Sleep, Hang Glide, Repeat."

Log: birdbones (1 flight ~ 45 minutes); cleanpants (1 flight), Jason (1 flight)