On to the top!

Short version: 4 flights. All on feet. Done with spots.

Long version: Am finally done with my spots! And am pretty happy about it. The family and I went down to Ed Levin this morning, a little later than usual as we needed to see if the forecast looked good for Tam. The sky gods were in my favor and upon arrival we headed straight for the 300'. Due to the recent rain, the road to the top was closed, and the road to the 600' looked hazardous, but that was all fine as the 300' most assuredly met my needs. Conditions were dead and when the wind did blow, ever so gently, it was mildly W, SW at 1-2. We set up the glider and I headed to launch in-between 3-5 paraglider pilots, all of whom were very friendly (I was the only hang glider in the park today).

Flight 1: Launched dead wind, ran a long way, short 45 to the left, 45 to the right, 90 to the left, came in on final headed S, SW towards the 40', landed just shy of the spot with a nice flare.

Flight 2: Dan carried the glider up to the 300' (a little payback for my driving penance over the years) and quickly asserted, as the sweat poured down his face, that was the last time he was going to do that. I quickly hooked in, did a hang check, got the camera turned on, and off I went. Another dead wind launch with the same approach as flight #1. Landed in the spot with a nice flare.

Flight 3: Mark carried the glider up to the 300' stating he needed some exercise. Far be it for me to deny him his need. ;-) I drove the truck up with the kiddies safely ensconced and playing games on various apple devices, and waited patiently for Mark to finish schlepping the glider up. When it arrived I hooked in and off I went. Dead wind launch again with the standard approach from the 300'.

Flight 4: Mark carried the glider up yet again. He said it was fun! Go Mark. Have some fun. Slightly cross on launch ~45 degrees, but so light (2 mph) it was fine. Same approach, but on final I lifted my legs up to decrease my drag and increase my glide so I would make it into the middle of the SPOT. Done.

http://www.vimeo.com/17716745

Flight Log:

4 off the 300'.

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'.

Tam Sled Run 11/28/2010

I made a quick video of the flight I took last week, sorry for taking so long to post, but I didn't want to obscure Aircurl's first update when I made it. Nothing exciting, but it's my first tam video:

600' continues...

Out at Ed Levin today with Barry, Ali, and Andrea to work on flaring and spots. Barry dropped me at the 600' and proceeded to head down and work with the A-team while I had a lovely time putting the glider together, walking it out to launch, and self-launching the West facing launch in dead wind. I have discovered that I am perfectly at peace with solitude (read: okay with being alone and self-launching), as people can sometimes be distracting. Well, actually, not the people, the 'incessant chattering' that sometimes accompanies people. :)

Launch itself was uneventful and fine - ran hard, kept looking at my target et voila, flying. 70 degree turn to the left, 90 degree turn to the right to head over the 300 while continually looking back at the windsock in the LZ. I have been kicking out of my harness on my downwind leg, going 1 hand up (right), one hand down on my base and final as I have much more authority and come in faster. I like. The roundout is lovely and smooth (way smoother than the Falcon 1). I got my hands up, mini-flared and landed on my feet.

I had lovely photographic opportunities but to my dismay discovered that the battery in my little point and shoot was dead. Heh...funny...had to laugh as I'm usually pretty good about THAT.

2nd flight was sweet. Took off from the South facing launch for the first time as all to date had been from the West launch. Light breeze, 1-3 mph. Landed in the spot, took a few steps. Interestingly enough, it was the only video out of my 4 flights I didn't get. Hmmm....but trust me, there were plenty of people who witnessed. Including Barry himself.

3rd & 4th flight - both cross wind launches. One from the North (3mph, 50 cross), one from the South (3 mph, 45 cross). Flying part great. Landing part close, but not quite. Definitely have the timing, just don't have the 'going ape-sh*^ on crack' as Mark likes to call it, or the 'pretend you're a gymnast' as Eric likes to call it, or the 'just punch the mother - fu*%@r!' as Chie liked to say. Or was that Ryan?

Great day. Alas, no pictures. :)

Flight Log:

4 off the 600'.

Ed Levin Training Madness

Alternate title: Musings on returning to Hang Gliding after a decade long break

Who is Ed Levin anyway?
Short answer – county supervisor

Long answer -- After a short bit of research, I discovered that Ed Levin Park is named after a former county supervisor who led a campaign to purchase what we now know as Ed Levin Park from the state of California in 1965. The poor guy died in 1966 and what was formerly known as ‘Airport Park’ was officially renamed Ed Levin Park in his honor, opening up in September of 1969.

But enough of the cultural landscape of the park, what about the flying???

Back in the Saddle
After taking 12 years off from hang gliding which began in 1995 and stopped in 1998 when a momentary lapse of reason suggested I paraglide for a few years, AND with the encouragement of Gergana and Anthony whilst on a trip to Dunlap in the Spring, I am officially back – a little older and a little wiser. ;-)

Many flights since 6/14
Wow. Super fun to be back flying again. Feels more natural than it ever did before and I am anxious to have flights longer than 3 minutes. I've got my training complete off the 300' and the 600' and am working on my spots in order to progress to the top which I am very much looking forward to. An 8 minute flight? Sweet!

Private Lesson on 11/30 - oh yah!
Barry and I went out for a lovely day at EL with conditions at 0-5, mostly W, NW which of course were exactly opposite of the forecast (supposed to be 7 S, SW). Cranked through 4 flights off the 600', 3 of which were on my feet, and 1 not. What I am personally working on is getting the flare timing and actually, well, flaring. This is the wonderful thing about our sport - there is always something to work on, no matter what your level. :-)

Flight Log - 11/30
4 flights - 600'

Makes 12 flights off the 600'. Still working on spots but ever so close!
http://www.vimeo.com/17352767

fogged out

An ocean of fog between us and the LZ ... dashed hopes, yet probably (I believe others believe that) most beautiful place to not fly on the planet? Don't know how to fit coherently in one story the thick fog, the wispy fog, the rain, the fog drip, the rave, the ravers, the law enforcement, driving at 3 mph, the thunder, the combat zone, the tank, and .... hmm, ask me later. Strange things happen when you don't fly.

 When the fog sits between you and the LZ, you sit and admire that 2000 ft higher ocean.

The shadow of a contrail on the clouds below.

 A beautiful place to be fogged-out nevertheless.

New Chick. New Glider.

Picked up my new Falcon 3 170 last Saturday. Sweet.

Slide Trip report - October 10

Here's another, this time of Slide:

Hull Trip Report - October 3

Here's a video trip report: