memories of summer

Copy of my report for best Hull flights this summer

Anthony, Karen, Leon, Caely, Myself, Angela, and Gleb (yes, 4 pilots, 3 drivers,which sounds crazy) took two cars to Hull saturday morning. We met an older pilot, Joel, on timberline (and offered to drive down his car, given our smorgasbord of drivers on this trip). The winds were rather southy with even some total shit cycles over the back, and none of us were particularly enthused, but some goo cycle started up the hill around 2. Leon launched first and got thrashed by some dirty air around launch before heading to the house; after seeing this we nearly decided to tear down, but upon seeing him then thermal up above the peak while telling us how nice the air had gotten, we decided to launch as well. I launched followed by Gleb, then Anthony and Joel in some order. Gleb and I got flushed but we made the lake LZ easily as everything near the airstrip was very bouyant. Anthony and Joel thermalled for some time (anthony on his new U2, joel on his sport 2) before landing at the Lake. Leon landed last after getting a personal record flight for Hull (something above 9k.) Great job for the wind dummy! ;) 

The next day we found ourselves at timberline around 12 with most winds blowing south with even some east component, and decided to head for the top. I radio'd on the sonoma wings frequency and found mike kunitani and John in the lake LZ, and told them we had an extra driver if they drove up, but also of our plans for upper. We went to the south launch at upper (which goes straight into rattlesnake canyon) and the cycles were pretty constant, blowing up the launch at about 15 mph. Mike and John soon joined us and agreed that this was the correct launch to use (the large one at the turn in the road, not the one next to the SW launch at the very very top, which had dirty air). John launched and got over the peak immediately. I launched next, followed by the rest in some order. We proceeded to all have record flights, with Gleb getting the award for highest out of our group at making 11.7k; Leon and I found ourselves around 11.5k, under a cloud base of about 12k. I likely would have stayed longer but, upon realizing that my fingers were saying something between "ouch", "cold", and "I cant feel anything" (wearing no gloves, yay me), I decided to stuff the bar and head for the lake LZ, regaining feeling at about the red spot. Anthony also made 5 digits, easily breaking 10 and playing with VG some. None of us tried to tag sanhedrin; Mike kunitani did a couple times but said nothing was really happening there so this was probably wise. Again, all cars were driven down, although one had to go back for some camp equipment (we were going to have a group staying for monday but we decided that we had all gotten the flights we had wanted; I had no choice to stay as I had to be back here today). We stopped for mexican at super taco in ukiah before heading home. An excellent Hull trip, if I do say so myself.....hopefully Owens is treating everyone nicely.

France vs Cali 1:0

After successfully fulfilling Grandma-duty in Germany, i headed directly to France to join a bunch of Swedish pilots, mostly newbies. We spent a couple of days at Chindrieux, a beginner-friendly site where they could get as many sledders as they wanted (and some of us some nice thermal ridge soaring flights). As the rain approached, we decided to pack up camp and move southwards to Saint-André-les-Alpes - a great site! I had to do some fighting and convincing in order to be "allowed" to launch mid-day. 'Cause girls can't fly (of course, how could I have missed that?), and three years of flying is nothing (well, at least in Sweden). But then I had great flights together with the other more experienced pilots under a beautifully cloudy sky. I flew a rented Atlas, an old single surface glider with pretty poor performance, so unfortunately I wasn't really able to fly anywhere far from launch and LZ, but at least it handled nicely and didn't try to kill me...

Another rainy day came and we went on to the next site. Too late for my taste, we missed a day of flying because the guys weren't able to make up their minds in time and get out of bed in time to be at the flying sites when the winds were good. So we drove around trying to hit a bunch of different flying sites just to see the wind being either down or too strong and found a small, small ridge soaring site at night. I didn't really get any lift and decided I was nervous enough about the landing (a rocky, uneven, small ridge with trees all over it) to go land immediately while the others got a nice sunset flight.We then camped at Laragne, a real hang gliding mecka. At least 50% of the people at the camp site were HG pilots and the LZ was also directly there. Pretty nice... :) But Mistral was blowing, a strong northwind which made the site unlaunchable. We drove to Saint Vincent, a little town on top of a mountain with a castle and a small ridge. The main LZ is above launch and the place is crowded with PGs, so only a few of us got to launch into weak lift. Three pilots made the climb away from the ridge and over to the main mountain, while I and another pilot scrambled around at the ridge, trying to avoid the PGs and still staying up in hopes of eventually making it to the LZ. I tried for two hours without a single second of relaxation until I couldn't master the strength for turning and dodging PGs anymore and had to land in an angry farmer's field below. The prettiest place I've flown, I just wish I could have enjoyed it more.The next day, it was still pretty Mistral-windy, making our attempt to fly midday a bumpy, windy, turbulent, extended sled ride into a turbulent LZ. At night the wind had died down a little and turned to be perpendicular to the rim and I got the most beautiful flight so far in my flying career. Really smooth lift, both ridge and thermals. I took the last thermal up to cloud base at 8:30 pm and then just enjoyed the amazing view of the sunset over the Alps all around me as I glided over to the LZ and slowly circled away my altitude to land 10m from my tent after three hours in the air. :)The next, and our last, day, most local and visiting pilots launched mid-day for windy sledders as we had done the day before. Almost nobody seemed to be getting up so we decided to wait. After 4pm the day suddenly turned on, I launched and had no problem whatsoever to get up. Went straight to cloud base and had to make sure not to get too close and high to be sucked in as I flew around for about an hour. I eventually landed as the sky turned darker and darker and went back in the evening for a calmer ridge soaring flight. It wasn't quite as nice as the night before and my arms finally failed me, telling me that enough is enough and now we need a couple of weeks break before flying again. ;)I got 18h of flying in only 12 days, I got to fly with clouds as I've never really done before and managed to show some people that you don't need testicles to fly a hang glider. Well, I also got a mild concussion from jumping into the car door frame just as we were about to leave the place for a 27h-drive back home to Sweden. :p Here's a nice video summary which one of the pilots made:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71HYjy4MNg4&feature=youtu.be


I'm in the blue and white glider with my light blue/yellow harness.Maybe we should meet in France to fly next spring?? :) Until then I'll hopefully have managed to buy myself a decent glider of my own...

Low Cloudbase at Hull

Cleanpants here. Went to Hull on July 16 with Karen, Ryan, Justine, and papirtiger, hoping to get a good day trip in. Just before we leave the night before, Kurtis, Jeremy, Bill (an east coast pilot now in the bay area), Andrew, Katie, and Azul (Katie's friend) decide to come as well. Anyway, in the morning, Karen, Jeremy, and Bill take a sled run and all of them do very well. They all came over the LZ very high, especially Karen (though she is very light on her glider).

At noontime, as I'm setting up, Barry, Mike L, and Angela show up, with a glider falling off the back of the truck. Fortunately, only the mylar inserts were damaged, which were going to be replaced anyway.

With conditions looking good, I decide to launch first. I realized that it had been a while since I'd played wind dummy. I used to do it all the time. Anyway, I launched and immediately made my way down the ridge. A combination of light lift and me hanging about 5"-6" higher than usual (and thus changing the feel of the glider) left me sinking out pretty quickly. Anyway, Jeremy was waiting on my report on the conditions so he could launch. I told Ryan that the conditions were mellow enough as I made my way to the house. Once I reached the house, I found choppy lift, but it was enough to get me back up the ridge. I made it back to the hairpin before Jeremy actually launched. Unfortunately, Jeremy didn't soar for very long- it takes time to learn how to thermal. After I landed, he told me that Justine offered him an apple on launch so he would have something to eat while waiting in the LZ.

As for the rest of the day, I did laps up and down the ridge. I made it to launch somewhere between 3-5 times. I reached cloudbase a couple times, and I saw whispies forming beneath me. Mike L tells me that he touched a cloud for the first time- a major goal he had been working towards! Congrats!! I eventually made up over Lower Launch, but I couldn't get any higher because the cloudbase was soooo low (~6500'). I had been hoping to fly over the peak....but that will have to wait until later in the summer.

After about 2.5 hours, I was getting pretty tired, especially since I was hanging higher. I changed my hang height in the hope it would help with my flare authority. Apparently, all year I had been flying so low that my parachute could rest on my base tube if I were to go fully prone. I hadn't even realized it! But I did notice my bad landings. I was actually considering going back to the Pulse, which I landed perfectly. Anyway, hanging higher meant it was harder to control the glider, and it got me tired quicker, so I went to land. I eventually got 2 hrs 50 min out of the flight. Not a bad flight for me- I look forward to the next one!

A different safety margin (probably good to not do what I did either)

So having been asked to contribute.....(this is mike L btw)

I had a pretty epic scratchfest at hull on saturday a week ago (and it looks like ill be going back there tomorrow). So here's how it went. Judge for yourself how bad my judgement was then (I am pretty much totally wasted now so whatever).

I launch. Not much lift at launch. Leave launch to red spot. Not much lift at red spot. Leave red spot toward switchbacks. Not much left at switchbacks. (Leon has already landed--didn't find anything and I am seeing why). Leave switchbacks toward house.

I finally find a thermal at a couple dead trees adjacent to a mild valley near the house (above and northeast of it actually). So I need to decide, will I stay up in this? I either go toward the rest of the house ridge or straight for the knob/LZ (airstrip) and I don't have a lot of time to make my choice as it is obvious to me that, if this lift is like the rest of the day so far, it sucks ass. So I decide I'll try to thermal in it instead of heading out.

One of the things that pushed me in that direction was my knowledge of the glider. The Sonic I fly now has a lot in common with the MarkIV I used to fly and pulses generally but, in addition to an improved max glide ratio has something far more important: It will turn smoothly and well-coordinated in almost any condition, including a stall. So when my nose enters a thermal and the 'correct' technique on some gliders may be to pull in to max glide or greater and then turn, I can just push out and left or right and begin thermalling immediately as the handling on my glider up to stall is perfectly acceptable.

So there I am, somewhat low but still with acceptable turning height, near the house and entering a thermal (weakly but its there). Do i leave? No, fuck that, I turn. And then I turn again. And again. And then I realize a fascinating reality: I am gaining elevation but getting CLOSER to the hill since the thermal is both weak and slanted. Well, I think to myself, that kinda sucks. But at the end I return to my original longitudinal/latitudinal location and see I am indeed higher despite and height lost in the return to the horizontal location I had been at previously. So I thermal again. And again. Always coming back to the same thermal ( a weak one but one that was there) and always turning back toward the LZ when falling out of it. In the end, after 1.5 hours, "it got easier"; I got high enough on the ridge behind the house that I decided to make a 4-hop or so trip from the house to the red spot.

I got to the red spot and was thermalling comfortably but when I tried crossing the fingers to the launch bowl could not find lift. I eventually got back up over the red spot but could not get above launch so I said fuck it and headed toward the knob/LZ. I crossed the knob with over 1000' of clearance (my scratching paid off in the end!) and landed comfortably in the airstrip a bit later, followed by some tasty beer.

I fucked up my landing the next day but thankfully Leon was there to grad by glider and turn it around..........lift in the LZ for the lolz.

-ML

Hat Creek and the Bionic Badass

It's been a thoughtful few days since our annual Hat Creek adventure as I recover from my fractured humerus in my left arm. 10 screws and a metal plate and I have now joined the elite and exclusive "club of broken arms the name of which I forget". I was not exactly angling to join any time soon.

Positives:

*Wonderful support from friends and the hang gliding community
*Shorter recovery period as I didn't break any joints
*Wicked, cool scar
*Bionic woman
*Random people tell me how awesome it is that I broke my arm hang gliding and not something lame like slipping on a curb
*Get to slow down
*Cute PT named Max
*Prescription to drink a lot of hot chocolate, and consume other milk products e.g. ice cream!

Negatives:
*Need not dwell on.

So, what the bleep happened? I had been enjoying a glorious glassoff flight, completely magical with the launch and traffic not worrisome, as I patiently waited for a few pilots to go land in the main LZ so I could observe their approaches. After about an hour, I was deciding between the two LZs, thinking the small LZ would be a good choice (less traffic), but I hadn't yet landed in the main LZ and I wanted to try that if I could. My height was above launch before I started heading out to the main LZ so I knew I had the glide, but as I was cruising along, I noticed 2 other gliders coming in at roughly the same time. This unnerved me a bit, but I held it together, did a tiny box (just shy of being too low), to get my glider into the wind (the wind sock was showing a slight breeze, but I now know it was relatively insignificant), and came in on approach. Initially, I was pulled in, but for some reason (read - mistake), I didn't keep the pressure on and as I came towards the ground I tried to run it out with out much of a flare, and the wheel caught on a lava rock, and I didn't let go. My nose didn't hit so observers thought it was a belly landing and relatively benign. I assure you it was not. It was bad luck and simply a mistake for not going fast, rounding out, and flaring as hard as I could. Some of us end up learning the hard way.

Another item of note: radios:

Honestly, if Dan had had his radio (he had loaned it to a H2 pilot) and I had mine turned on (was on my person), he would have gotten on and told me to speed up on final. Would I have hurt my arm then? Maybe, maybe not. Lesson learned: it behooves us to have our radios on just in case we need that extra bit of coaching now and again.

I need not go into the sordid details of getting to the hospital and all that, but I do want to send a big THANK YOU to all of those who helped, in particular Dan (sorry I couldn't enjoy the post flight beer you were bringing me), Henrik, Eric, Justine, Gergana, Anthony, Karen, Zach, and I'm sure others who helped. Thank you from the bottom of my heart - you guys are awesome.

Flight Log:

Aircurls - 3 flights, 1 hour, 58 minutes

Lovely Weekend at Dunlap

Punchline:
- First mountain flights for Henrik, Andrea, and Lise
- More mountain flights for Aircurls, Jeremy
- Other pilots flew - Clay, Cleanpants, Dan, Barry, Leon, Victoria
- No incidents other than coming in too high on final, radio malfunctions, and whacks.
- Taught the boys how to tear down my glider. $1 a pop.
- Seed planted for 'Men of BHGC' calendar.
- Meat was consumed.

Flight Log:

Aircurls - 4 flights
Everybody else got some too...just don't have the stats. :)

Dunlap....Encore

A few of us headed out to the Sierra foothills for some fun mellow soaring flights. Cookie Girl, Leon, Eric, and the Hardys were out in force to take full advantage of the conditions.

Flight log:
Aircurls 3 flights, 500 over launch
Cookie Girl - 2 flights, highest at Dunlap so far (6500')
Leon (needs a nickname) - 2 flights, longest flight to-date (7000'?)
Erik - 2 flights (8000'?)
Dan - 2 flights

Flying Solo....

Headed down to EL solo to get some training in on my flares only to find slightly soarable conditions (W, NW 7-15) which necessitated at least 1 flight off the top prior to heading to the 50' or 40'. If I'm going to set up my glider anyway....

I quickly gathered a motley crew - Ella, H3 and my blue sticker pilot (I still need a buddy until I get my H3), Sergei, paraglider pilot, Armand, H3 who was willing to be our driver as this was his first day back of the season and wasn't sure it was a good 'first' day back for him. His loss was our gain and we quickly headed up the hill.

There were two other hangies on top, who were miraculously just setting up their control frames, which I thought odd given they had driven up the hill 30 minutes prior. Their names were Tom and Terry, which conjured up images of a cat and mouse cartoon. :)

It looked good so I quickly set up, minimalized things (no vario, radio) and had Armand and Ella join me walk out to the N, W launch. Slightly gusty so I waited for a gust to come through and begin to lull prior to launching. One item of note, I had just done a hang check followed by my other checks (shoes tied, leg straps, backup buckle on harness, chute pins, helmet secure, gloves, brain, hooked in) and a nice cycle came in so I picked up the glider, stated 'target', and 'wings balanced' during which Ella asked me 'Do you have a flight plan? Do you know where you're going?' I ignored these questions and launched as I was already in the zone...note to self and lesson learned - be sure to tell your buddy what your flight plan is prior to heading out to launch so they don't possibly distract you as you are about to launch.

Launched and turned left, found lift close the ridge, did a few 180 passes and was above launch. Headed out to the 1200' as a paraglider was doing nicely far above it so I thought I'd explore. Lost a bit on the way out, found scattered, tiny, punches hear and there but nothing I could really work (read- knew how to work! :). Went over to the 600', did a 360 and only maintained. Headed over the 300 found some lift, and did a couple of passes between the 300' and the 600'. At this point I felt it more important to think about my landing approach (which I had been doing since the 1200') then maximizing the bird farts as there were cows! in the lz scattered mostly in the north/north west zone, yet encroaching on the H3 spot. I focused on the H4 spot as it was clear of cows and as I came around onto final, I tried to transition my hands during the turn, in a bump and ended up grabbing my left side back wire which put me in a rather exciting steep turn - whoosh! I quickly recovered, came in fast with wings level, landed on my feet just past the H4 spot.

Flight Log: 1 flight off 1750'
Zero flights off 40' and 50' due to too many cows

Dunlap May 7-8 - Mother's Day Weekend

Dunlap May 7-8 - Mother's Day Weekend, a set by kristymaja.

Happy Mother's Day aircurls, and thanks for shooting!

Saturday offered most pilots two flights, except for cleanpants who kindly watched Owen and Liam in the LZ. The air was calm in the morning, made my arms sore at 3 pm, and boaty at 5! Aircurls and another new H-2 (whose nickname shall not be named here) checked off 20 min flights with several passes at launch! I finally found some stubbornness to get up in the launch thermal, and got above launch both flights, high over ... though I found the best thermal over the switch backs. Took me to 5400' the second time, and to 5000' as many times as I wanted to play in it. The panorama of snowy Sierras in the back... Dunlap has finally been good to me. 

Rain drops on my sleeping bag woke me up Sunday in the early am. Slightly wet and sleepy, we packed camp, enjoyed Mother's day breakfast, and set sail back to the bay.

Flight log: aircurls (2 flights, 30 min total? soaring launch), cleanpants (1 flight, 30 mins?), cookie girl (2 flights, 1 hr 25 total) 

First Soaring Flight

A posse headed to Ed Levin today to train (Lise, Jeremy, Karen, Keenan, Josh, Andrea, and Max) with Barry and Kurtis instructing. Today was a particularly spectacular day as I had 3 firsts - launching the East launch, flying in really unstable air, and getting to soar for a short bit (only an extended sledder, but hey, I'll take it!). My camera battery was charged and I got a few fun pics: my sweet looking falcon, Fall, and the gang.

1st flight: East launch, 8-10mph E/SE. Took 2 steps and was in the air, but upon video review it looks like I was at trim on takeoff. I was told to pull it in a bit and take those 2 extra steps off the hill which is sage advice as you don't want to be anywhere near a stall on launch. The flight itself was exciting as the air was very active and I was bumped around a lot, but I kept saying "wee!" which I thought was a good thing. I headed out straight, then a short 45 right turn to get away from the hill and as I came around in front of the 600' was pleased to see that I was slightly above launch and headed for the dead tree hill just past the 300'. I wanted to make sure that on approach I was well clear of the Eucalyptus as there would most likely be some rotor due to South conditions and I wanted to be in the cleanest air possible. I did a couple figure eight turns to lose some altitude and came onto final in a left turn on both uprights. To me it didn't feel like enough speed, but in looking at the video the speed was fine. What was not fine was rounding out too low and not being upright to land on my feet. Brought the glider over to the breakdown area and quickly put it away as it began to sprinkle and rain.

2nd flight: What a difference a few hours can make. South launch, 5-7mph S/SW. 45 cross wind launch and up I went. Turned to the right above the 600' and headed over to the dead little tree to see what was happening there. Lifty! Ooh-yay! Did a few passes back and forth and came in from the South, 1 up 1 down to have more speed, leveled out, and landed on my feet just to the right of the spot. Big grin on my face. :)

Flight Log:
2 flights off the 600'.

Dunlap - Pushing my limits, a little...

Went to Dunlap August 28-29 expecting good conditions, and we weren't disappointed (some of us anyway). Being his first time at Dunlap, *C* needed to do a sled run and Barry wanted someone to show him the way. I volunteered. We got to launch late morning, so I set up quickly and launched. I went up like a rocket! (I was the first one to launch in the video below) I really, really wanted to circle in the lift I found myself, but I steadfastly followed my flight path. I even found myself higher than launch above the LZ! Being a good example for *C*, I set up my approach using S-turns over the back end of launch. But after 10 minutes, I had lost maybe 500ft-1000ft! I was doing S-turns in lift and I was only losing altitude when I pulled in hard. Needless to say, I got pretty tired doing this, but I eventually managed to get the glider on the ground. I had my best landing of the weekend- and of course no one was down in the LZ to see it! After I landed, *C* launched, and I talked him into the LZ. Fortunately for me, he discovered the valley of sink between the house ridge and the ridge behind last chance, so I didn't have to wait long for him to land :) After he landed, I performed the quickest tear-down of my life and got into my car for round 2!

When *C* and I got back to launch, everyone else (besides Victoria) was just barely starting to think about launching- why did they wait?? It was fantastic already! I set up as quickly (and safely) as I could and proceeded to launch. After I was in the air, it didn't seem as lifty as it was before, but it was still plenty strong. I found some good thermals and cored it up to about 6800'. I made a couple attempts at tagging Sampson, and I finally succeeded! I went down the ridge and tagged Santog. It was no problem staying up, but eventually things started dying down. Everyone else landed, so I started making my way to the LZ. I had never had much luck finding lift on the north side of the ridge behind last chance, and because I had some altitude (4800' I think) I went along the south side of the ridge. As luck would have it, I found a nice thermal that took me back up to 6400'! I decided that a nice way to squander that altitude would be to tag the Daltons, on the opposite side of the valley. I made it, got back to the LZ and made an excellent approach, but didn't flare strong enough and landed on my knees. That was a great day...little did I know that the next day would be better!

The next day, I get on launch after *C*, and I'm almost ready to go....and my left wing gets lifted as I'm about to take my first step. I stumbled a couple of feet down the ramp, but manage to get control of my glider again. Barry got on the nose of the glider as I calmed down from the scare. When I was calm again, I waited for a little bit of a lull (the conditions were rocking!) and had a good launch. Very strong lift this day! It was a little strong on launch. Cookie girl sagely decided to wait for more of a lull- an especially good decision considering what almost happened to me! By the time she launched, it was a flush cycle...there was lift to be had, but you needed to be above the ridge to really use it. Clayble and Barry waited a bit longer before launching because they were hard at work replacing clayble's downtube. Anyway, while they were on the ground, I found a strong thermal that took me to cloudbase! I was at 7600' and only a hundred feet shy of cloudbase. I was sure that this would be enough to get me over Delilah! So, I made my way to Sampson first, which I made easily. And as luck would have it, I found a thermal there that took me back to 6500'. I really wanted to tag Delilah, so I started making my way there. About half way between Sampson and Delilah, I decided that I didn't feel comfortable being that far from launch, and I since I couldn't radio (some kind of malfunction), I didn't want to risk bailing out at the ranger station. So, I turned back despite having an easy glide to the top of Delilah...oh well, I'll tag her next time! By the time I got back, clayble was in the air and Barry was about to launch. Wow! Their day was about to start, and I felt like I was nearing the end of mine. I flew with them for a while, I tended to like getting up over the switchbacks while they got up behind launch.

I saw the whole ridge go under cloud shadow, so I decided to call it a day. I went to the ridge behind last chance, found a thermal that took me up again and below I see clayble. It was hard for me to tell how high he was, but it looked like he was scratching and doing a good job of staying up despite being low. I made a run for the Daltons, and when I got back, I was actually a little lower than clayble! We both had to come in and land at the same time; I landed short and he had a great approach and landed just past me. On approach, I realized that one foot was really sore from being in a bad position the whole flight. It was sore enough that I knew I couldn't put much pressure on it. Anyway, I came in to ground effect, had a medium-flare and was all set to run when my foot gave out from under me and I slid in on my knees. Thankfully, Victoria carried my glider to the tear-down area while I limped along. 5 minutes later I was all better. Such was the end of my 2.5 hour flight (longest to date!).

Video from Sunday:

Soaring Hull

I found an email from Barry, insisting that Hull was the place to be on Friday. I hadn't had any luck with Hull up to this point, so I was interested in catching Hull on a good day. Originally, there were to be four pilots and two cars making the journey...but in the end, there was just me and Barry, two cars, and Hull mountain. I launched about 1:30pm or so, and Barry launched soon after. I spent most of the first half hour getting tossed around lower launch; I didn't get very high, but I didn't go down. Barry worked the same lift and somehow managed to go up. After half an hour or so, I found my thermal and took it up. Pretty soon, I was over the mountain peak- and there's still snow up there! I eventually got up to 9700', which was the highest I'd ever been above launch and I think it's about 8000' over the LZ. It was fun flying the mountain with just 2 pilots, talking about where the lift is good and just flying. I landed by the lake after a couple of hours :)

That night Barry left, and I was joined by Justine, Jesse, and Doughboy. The following morning, we met up with cookie girl, Scott, Lionel, Victoria, Robert, his brother William, Greg, Eric, and a bunch of Sonoma wings pilots. I launched first and put a valiant effort into getting up by lower launch. I stayed up for an hour, but I never did get high. As I was flying to the LZ, I noticed Doughboy flying in formation beside me. It was very cool flying in formation with another glider. He eventually decided to race ahead and leave me in the dust. Apparently cookie girl tried to fly with us too (though much higher), but she couldn't fly fast enough with her little Falcon (though that should be remedied soon enough).

The last day was amazing for me. I launch second, not at all confident I would get up. In fact, after I launched, I went down, so I decided to make my way to the LZ. Flying down the ridge, I caught a strong thermal just past the hairpin. Circling in that, I easily got a few hundred feet above launch. I then went to lower launch and found another strong thermal that took me even higher...all the way to 9200'. And I stayed there. After I got up, everyone lined up to launch after me. I must have worked the lift pretty well, because I was at the top of the stack for most of the first hour. I tried to use my altitude to go places. I crossed the valley from lower launch to windy ridge and then came back via the peak. Also, at the end of my flight, I tried making my way towards the dam, but I turned around half way across the lake. It was a very fun flight...and I can't wait to go back!

---

Having cookies while writing this .... mmm. Whoa, what a weekend. What cleanpants modestly did not point out is that he had his longest and highest flight in one go on Friday. And he stacked 5 hours in one weekend. Saturday packed 20 gliders on launch, which some of the more seasoned pilots said they'd never seen. That day I had my longest flight, but ended with a turbulent landing (she did not behave like the glider I knew ...) on the strip, which made me nervous about launching on Sunday. I was sure I could make the lake the whole way as I was higher for a long time, above cleanpants and doughboy, on the way out. Then I hit massive sink and then massive turbulence and then gradient. The three of us who landed on the strip this weekend had stories to tell. Jesse broke a downtube and a leading edge but heroically came out without a scratch.

Off to get more cookies ...

So there I am on Sunday talking about not launching. Cleanpants gets out second after an advanced pilot who worked really hard to get up. He shot up above the hairpin and I thought, fine, I'll fly, I'll get out third. By the time I made it to launch (I was ready), I was fifth in line !!!! It was a conveyor belt straight up. Lionel was very encouraging on launch, which was just what I needed. I took a strong cycle, and went straight up, but kept going left. Apparently at that point Eric mentioned that I fly without a vario, so they decided to give me input. "Gergana, you're flying through great air. Turn. Gergana, you're above launch, turn." Ok, ok ... circle. "Gergana, you're doing great." That's the last I heard, I was now concentrating on my turns. Up and up and up. Mostly left, then right. The ridge features started to get smaller. I like trees from afar. I was so concentrated on my turns that I barely saw launch get lower and lower. A few minutes later I finally looked around. Whoa. The peak was at my line of sight with bunch of pilots about 100 ft above it. Whoa, there's another valley on the other side. The world just got bigger. Cloud base in the far distance was within 10 degrees of line of sight. While these clouds were probably still really high, I had never contemplated that view. Top that with a pretty landing by the lake. Tete dans les nuages ...

Log: cookie girl (1.5 hours); cleanpants (~ 5 hrs); won after multiple failures to stand on log in the water and dive from it; saw cubs, again; and an elk herd; and an honest downwind approach!

Hull is back

Last weekend a car of 4 headed to Hull. We were joined by a few of our own and a few Sonoma pilots. I had two great flights. Launch was cycling nicely and I headed towards Lower Launch. Making a few passes between the two launches, I found consistent, mellow up. Barry launched after cookiegirl and I migrated to where he was finding lift. I was able to follow him up a few thousand, getting above the peak - I topped out at 8400! He kept going, maxing out at 8993. I played around up there for a while, then started slowly drifting down the ridge. After an hour and 15 minutes or so, I happily touched down at the lakeside.

Due to logistical issues on Sunday, only three pilots flew. Most of the sky seemed to be going up. I found my first thermal around the hairpin, and spent the next two hours (!!) going back and forth between launch and the house. I hit 1100 fpm a few times but only got to 6780 - still about level with the peak. I was the only one in the air for a good while, and I was feeling like the king of the sky. Eventually my arms grew tired and so did the lift, so I attempted to head for the lake. With a report of whitecaps on the lake, I decided not to try the glide and instead went for the airstrip. After turning off the vario in preparation for landing, I realized the strip was thermally and tried a few last turns, hoping to get up enough to make the lake. No such luck, and I set down by the sock. Great fun.

Hang-4 spot!

Log: 7 pilots, 10 flights. Two each for cookiegirl (hour total?) and clayble (over three hours).

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)