Flight Reports 2001, May-Aug

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Flight Reports - May-Aug. 2001

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Hangfly
Registered User
(5/7/01 2:09:40 pm)

St Helena Cinco de Mayo Flight Report

Saturday, Cinco de Mayo, was the better of the two days. Pilots reported getting over 6800' and staying up for over two hours. Anthony and Justin made it out to Jane's field in paragliders. I was quite distraught at one point in my flight, while hanging out around 6K', a short distance away I see Anthony climbing right through my altitude!
All 18 pilots who showed up to fly launched and soared! A great improvement over last year. We had to land the worst possible direction, across the field, and all landings were good.
Jane Campbell and one of her friends drank beer and ate Mexican food with us. There were also some balloon pilots there. Prizes were awarded and it was a good time.
Sunday nine pilots returned to soar and attempt to finish the beer. People were getting to around 5800' and staying up for an hour and a half or so. The wind in the LZ was light and decieving. The best approach was to ignore the wind direction and land the length of the field. There were several whacks.
Jane came over and had a beer with us again. A couple bicyclists also stopped in to help with the daunting task of drinking a keg of beer. When I left there was beer left so someone else will have to finish the report.
Maybe someone could fill in more details of what happened on the ground while I was in the air, also?
Charley

Jon James
(5/7/01 4:49:23 pm)

5-o de May-o

I told Nancy, incorrectly, that the food would be there by about 2. When she got there around 2:30, things were pretty quiet in the LZ with 2 Nancys, 4 kids, 2 dogs, and 3 balloonists. Vince landed soon.

The keg wasn't tapped yet by 2:45 and Nancy was there for beer so she got one of the balloonists, who had been there for a _long_ time, to tap it. Their comment was "WHAT? There's been a keg here the whole time?" The pace picked up considerably.

Jane and Janet arrived about 3. Nancy greeted them and got them some refreshments. Ernie landed soon and attended to the food. Pretty soon more gliders were landing, and paragliders, and everything.

Thanks to Ernie and Leo and everyone else for staging a really nice event.

Vince
(5/7/01 5:41:12 am)

St. John flight report for Sun. 5/6/2001

Five of us flew St. John on Sunday, Vince, Todd, Scot, Rich and Bill. The lift was not very good for St. John. There was an inversion layer at 6,500’ that was very difficult to get above. I don’t think anyone got much above 7,000’. Todd was the first to leave the mountain heading south. Rich was next, followed by Bill, Vince and Todd. Todd, Rich and myself all headed across the valley over the flying S ranch. The air was buoyant until passing over the ranch. Half of the time my glide was above 20 to 1. Todd got to the dome house first and started scratching. He worked it for a long time. Rich got up over Gilmore to 5,000’. I flew over Todd at about 100’ and went a little more south and found a weak thermal. Todd finally succumbed to gravity and landed across the street from the dome house. Rich headed toward Bear valley. My radio battery went dead so I headed straight down the road to Bear valley south of Lodoga. I wanted to make sure Nancy did not pass me. I played around in several small thermals, never getting more than a couple of hundred out of any of them. I landed (down wind again) along the road a couple of miles south of Lodoga for 16 miles. Rich made it to Bear valley for 24 miles. Bill landed by the Sheriff station and Scot flew over the rodeo and landed in the field in Stonyford. I had a great time. I finally got my vario mounting figured out. I also found that my hang point had moved forward an inch. I moved it back and was much more comfortable Sunday.

Vince

highhuber
Registered User
(5/7/01 8:19:39 pm)

St. John

I got to 7600 ft. by hanging out and waiting for conditions to improve, which they did. It never looked good enough to go north so I finally glided over to town and buzzed the rodeo and landed next to the road by town. My Aircotec gave me the wind direction and speed and I had a beautiful landing.
hh

Vince
(5/13/01 9:55:07 am)

Flight reports 5/12/01-5/13/01

Matt and I flew St. John on Saturday. Bob Blazer drove for us (thanks Bob). The conditions were similar to last weekend. I thought the air was rough with very poor thermals. I got to 6700' over the switchbacks. The wind was out of the southwest. We were planning on heading north if we could get high enough to leave. After reaching 6,700' I headed straight to the "mother lode" to see if I could get up and head north. I had constant sink all the way there, and by the time I came back past the ramp launch I was less than 6,000'. I went back to working the switchbacks. Matt managed to get up above the peak and tried the same thing. He slowly sank and gave up and headed back to the switchbacks.

After another 10 minutes or so over the switchbacks, I'd had enough and decided to head toward town. Matt was several hundred under me and left at the same time. We were fighting a head wind. Matt was finding nothing but sink and had to land at the visitors' center. I was now heading toward the bee field and did not know if I would make it. About half way across the canyon I started to hit little bits of lift that I worked for all they were worth. Once I passed the ridge, there was lift everywhere. I could now see the wind coming off the lake from the east. The wind over the flying S ranch was still southwest. I was in a convergence. I got up to 5400' and stayed there all the way to town. I had a head wind of about 15 to 20 miles per hour.

Once over town I was staying above 5,000'. I started to head down the road toward Bear Valley. I got a mile past the dump, above 5,000', but with the head wind, I knew as soon as I left the convergence I would be on the ground in a hurry. I headed over to the Dolphin, but when I got there it was blowing over 20 and it looked turbulent over those little hills. On the way to the dolphin my ground speed was down to 16 mph. I decided to head to town to make things easier. When I turned and headed in that direction, my ground speed went to 62 mph! I definitely landed into the wind, the first time in about 4 landings. There was a bit of a gradient the last 15' or so, but I had a great landing!

Vince

PS Greg called from Bishop looking for a weather report. They were getting rained on at the time.

Leo Jones
(5/13/01 10:41:29 am)

Hull 5.12.01

A very pronounced marine layer in Santa Rosa cleared north of Hopland. Jon, Ernie and I joined Mike Kunitani and five other pilots in the Hull LZ, which is now clear of water, and even logs - it seemed that someone with nothing better to do pulled all the big logs from around the end of the lake, put them into several huge piles and burned them! They even took the sitting log in the LZ.

On launch the wind was a bit off to the left but there were fairly good cycles. Jon and I swapped gliders. I had never flown a Laminar before, and enjoyed flying it - it went up really easily though it felt a little big. We got over the mountain and up to over 8000ft - Mike got to 8500ft at one point. There was a wind from the SE, and very little lift away from the mountain. Lots of snow on the back of the mountain still. The wind in the LZ was quite strong in mid-afternoon - 15-20, with every opportunity for getting one's feet wet by undershooting, but though there were several close calls no-one did. We had great views of an immature bald eagle and ospreys hunting close by along the lake shore.

On the way home we called in at Justin's house - he was having a party to celebrate his 25th (!!) birthday, and we dined excellently on fresh-caught barbecued salmon, wonderful wine of course, and great chocolate cake.

Hangfly
(5/14/01 9:12:03 am)

Sunday at Hull

I shoulda been there yesterday!
Sunday six pilots flew Hull. Conditions got better as the day progressed but never got as good as Saturday.
There were whitecaps on the lake by 11:00am. Wind on launch was about 10 to 20 and a little right cross.
Launchers were, in order; Sabrina(170 Falcon), Alan(Sensor 160F), Todd(MRX 2001), Me(Fusion 150), Robin(XC?), Mike(Laminar), Ernie(CSX).
Mike and Ernie got to around 7K' and had flights around an hour. Before they launched convergence was struggling to set up and thermals were pretty blown apart and hard to follow.
Like Saturday, no wet equipment but a couple close calls.
CW

highhuber
Registered User
(5/14/01 12:07:43 pm)

Owens Flight Report - 5/11-13

We went to Flynns Friday at around 12 and started to set up but the wind soon picked up to over 30 so we headed down to camp. We sat around camp and then decided to drive down to the south end of the valley to see what Walts point was doing. We had called the weather service and they reported winds aloft to be in the 10 mph range. Arrived to find 5 to 10 mph wind coming straight in at launch so hurridly set up. Greg opted to retrieve and Kurt and I got in the air about 4:25. I launched first and hit a boomer over the saddle and climbed out to 14g in a few minutes. I headed north. The east slopes were in shadow so I stayed as deep into the range as I could to try to find lift. It wasn't happening so I was soon over the eastern crest with not much success there either.Kurt was below low on the knees headng north sinking fast. There were some clouds forming over Wanoga so I headed back and climbed to around 13g. The clouds to the north which had been there on the ride down the valley were gone so I figured it wasn't working any more over the range so I headed to the Alabama hills. Kurt was on the ground just south of Tuttle Creek campground. I found a good core and circled up from about 7g to 9500 and headed north. Winds were about 20mph from the south. Clouds started forming to my west as the cold air pouring down the shady eastern slopes met the warm valley floor and the southern winds. A convergence was happening big time. I wanted to stay on the eastern side of the hills toward the highway if I went down but seeing the clouds changed my strategy and I headed to the western edges of the hills and was soon climbing in 1200fpm lift which I rode to 15125ft. Yahoo! I topped out over Manzanar relocation camp and headed down the hwy. The clouds were forming slowly and I had to slow down and backtrack a few times to not outfly the lift. Halfway between Independence and Big Pine the clouds quit forming and I pressed on in hopes of making Black Mt. and it's sunny western slopes. Caught my last lift over the lava fields to about 12g and headed straight for it. Came in low on the southern flanks and figured I could ridge soar up it with the 20mph southern winds I had been flying in but after a couple turns my Aircotec confirmed what I already knew, the winds were 5 to 7mph from the west. Did a few more passes in search of some lift and then set up and landed beside Westgard Pass road at 6:22 51.3 miles of pure fun. Greg and Kurt were on the scene before I was broken down and we went back to camp and showered before heading into Bishop for dinner. Ran into Kari Castle in the restaurant and spoke with her about flying Walts and she said there was no problem with it as far as she knew and I asked her to join us the next day which she accepted but it rained and Sunday was over developed after a beautiful morning so no more flying. It was great to be back in the Owens and I hope to return on Memorial day. hh

Leo Jones
(5/20/01 4:49:50 pm)

Flying Reports 5/19 - 20th May

Well, St. John was a bust! Me, Ernie, John Blacet, Jon James, Matt, Bob Stanley and Charlie Nelson went up to launch but the wind was blowing pretty good out of the NE, over the back. We went up to the East launch, where the wind was a gusty 10 - 20+mph. It was so gusty and crappy that Matt couldn't even fly his Zagi. We groaned when we began hearing Rich and Bill on the radio, going XC from Elk, "I'm at 10,500ft over Long Valley", varios beeping.....

We all walked/scrambled out to the Mother Lode for something to do, it was still windy out of the NE. Later we were so glad to hear Greg, Albert and others on the radio, announcing huge height gains over Hull and telling us they were flying out to Potter valley, as we sat on the ramp with the wind blowing on our backs. Jon and Matt went home, we camped but it got even windier in the night, and in the morning it was still strong out of the North, so we headed home too.

Leo

Albert
(5/21/01 9:12:02 am)

Hull on Saturday 5/19

Went to Hull to get some "easy airtime". Got to the top where the cycles were almost straight but the wind was 90 degrees cross. Dirk was the first off, finding nothing till the house but worked hard the whole time. Next was Justin. Had a great launch, back and forth in front of us but soon headed out to the LZ. Clifton went next with the same results. They were all talking on the radio about a convergence setting up over the LZ. Mike and I were discussing the conditions and agreed that the North wind was just going to get stronger, so we decided to go. There was almost nothing all the way to the house. Mike got 9000 there but I found nothing and set out to land. The people talking about the convergence were all landing too. It was difficult to break down with Greg and Sean talking on the radio about their positions. Wish I would have waited. Can't wait to hear the story, Greg.

Derk
(5/21/01 12:01:45 pm)

Hull on Saturday

I was the first off but didn't find any lift. Nothing in front of launch, nothing at Red Spot, Boardman Ridge, the house, the knob - where I arrived already very low. I got a very low save right above the airport windsock and worked hard the broken and weak lift just to get flushed again eventually. Could save myself again very low over the windsock but never got above 5500 ft. After about 50 min - low again - I decided to land and test-deploy my new drogue chute, what went okay. It was hard work to stay in the air under the given conditions but I enjoyed my first Hull flight this year.

Derk

Greg
(5/21/01 2:28:55 pm)

Hull to Blue Lakes

Saturday, May 19, 2001

There were about twelve gliders set up at the Timberline launch at Hull when we arrived around 2:15 p.m. The winds were fairly strong, 10 to 15 m.p.h. from Windy Ridge. A few got up over launch for a while but then gradually worked their way down to the camp ground and the airport. Sean and I were last to launch at some time around 3:00 to 3:30 p.m. I had noticed that the best lift had been right in front of launch in the bowl, so I worked it there for some time between 5,500’ and 5,900’.

Finally I caught something workable between launch and the red spot and well out from the ridge at 5,500'. As I climbed, Sean came in underneath. It was slow going up to 7,100’, and then the lift got more organized. The higher I climbed the more the lift increased until around 9,000’ where I had sustained periods of 800 to 1,000 f.p.m. climb in very smooth air with very little drift. I climbed to 11,300’ there and then moved over the top of the mountain where I got to 11,800’ just below cloud base.

Heading for Sanhedrin I got drilled in 600 to 1,000 f.p.m. sink most of the way. After looking around unsuccessfully for lift, I was down to 7,100’ and headed for the airport in 700 f.p.m. sink. Finally I found weak lift behind Far Away Ranch and massaged the area in search of something better. Eventually I found a good one which took me back up to 11,400’ between Far Away Ranch and Sanhedrin. While this was going on, Rick Canham offered to retrieve me, and Leo assured me that he was quite content to be drinking beer at St. John but encouraged me to use my altitude to some benefit.

I headed out for the east side of Potter Valley but found nothing on those hills but more strong sink. As I moved out toward the valley more the strong sink abated, but there were no thermals. It was a depressingly smooth ride to the end of Potter Valley. I headed up the range that separates Bachelor Valley from the Blue Lakes on Hwy. 20 and found nothing except some mild bumps. When I reached the Blue Lakes, I didn’t have enough altitude to get to Bachelor Valley, so worked the most promising looking terrain in search of a ride out, but it was not to be. After "thermaling" from 3,900’ to 3,400’ I headed across the canyon to check out my first choice LZ. That’s when I noticed a six foot fence across it and significant wind in the tall trees around it. I bailed back across the canyon to my second choice which was a rolling hillside with only eight foot bushes at the upwind side. I popped the drogue chute and sailed in for a sweet landing.

Shortly after I touched down the local resident came driving up on a Honda quad runner with rifle. I greeted him, anxiously hoping to win him over. He walked up and said, "Damn, that looks like fun"! No problem. Soon Rick arrived, and then Linda Sauer arrived to check up on me and make sure I had retrieval. How nice! Thanks Linda. It was 22.61 miles from Timberline launch. Thanks, Rick, for making it possible.

highhuber
(5/20/01 9:33:58 pm)

Elk on Sunday, 5/20

John D, Rich, Larry Smith and I flew Elk today. Bill and Linda drove. I went first and had big sink till I caught something on the last spine before the LZ, I worked it up from 2800 ft. to 5200 in rowdy conditions and headed for Pitney. Rich was struggling below me and gained some altitude but was headed to the LZ before I made Pitney. Larry and John were there also. The wind was NE at about 10. Came in on Pitney around 4500 ft. and found a boomer which took me to 7925 and drifted me toward Middle Mt. so I just kept going that way. Glided all the way to White Rock before I caught my next thermal from 4500 to 5500 and continued southwest across Scotts Valley. Hit a NW wind midway across so figured there might be a convergence somewhere so turned and flew southeast in hopes of finding it but no luck. Caught a few more bumps before Lakeport by hwy #29 then headed over to the lake and landed at the school soccer field where the wind was 7 mph from the east. 1 Hr 10mn. 15 miles. hh

Vince
(5/28/01 9:57:18 am)

Friday in the Owens - 5/25/01

Friday looked like it would be a great day. CU's were forming early. The previous day, the Sierras, Inyos and the Whites streeted and the weather service was expecting the same today. Scot and I wanted to launch early to get to the Whites before they OD'd like they did on Thursday. I launched first at 10:45. I went straight to the saddle where I hit my worst "over the falls" ever. I went negative. My feet were pinned to the sail for almost 3 seconds. The trees were coming up fast. I turned northeast and found a little something further down the ridge. When I got above the ridge, there was only ridge lift. The winds were out of the south at 15 mph. I got to 9,500'. Every time I tried to go back across the saddle the rotor was waiting for me. I finally cut across the canyon toward the switchbacks. Scot, who launched after me, was working the face of the switchbacks at 7,500'. I came in 300 over him and was still sinking. I'd had enough and headed for the airport. I made it without any lift along the way.

Scot held on until it started to turn on. After an hour he was less than 2.5 miles from launch. Things started to pick up and he worked his way down the Sierras. At one point he got to 16,000'. He landed next to highway 6 and the Owens River, for 65 miles. I wish I had his patience.

Vince

Vince
(5/28/01 10:03:30 am)

Saturday in the Owens - 5/26/01

Saturday we (Scot and myself) figured we would launch a little later than we did on Friday. We headed up to Walt's Point launch at 9:30. When we arrived at 10:00, we found 40 to 50 gliders already set up, 20 more on trucks waiting to set up and one already in the air. It took me an hour to get a place to set up. By 11:00 a lot of pilots were launching and getting up. It looked good over the saddle. Scot launched at 11:35 and I followed 10 minutes later. About 20 pilots had launched by then. Things worked well at the saddle and I left at 11,500'. Scot was 2 to 3 ridges up the Sierras by then. For the next hour it was the standard connect the dots (or ridges). The lift was good without much turbulence, but every time I passed 13,000', the air was rough from the westerlys over the Sierras. As long as I stayed below 13,000' everything was fine. Little CU's had formed over the Sierras, extended into the valley and connected to the Whites toward the end of the valley. I was flying fast and had passed 10 or more pilots. I caught and passed Scot. I wanted to get to the end of the Whites before it OD'd.

I was even with Tinemaha reservoir at 13,500' and had one more ridge before the cloud street headed across the valley. There was a short blue hole I had to get through. I lost more than 3000' in the next 5 minutes and was not going to make it to the next ridge, hell I was not going to make it out to land. I headed for Big Pine and the closest road I could see. It looked like I was going to be 2 miles short of any roads. I called Nancy and told her I might be going down in the foothills behind Big Pine. Scot's radio had failed at this point and I found out later he found the same problem. Just a few minutes earlier I was fat, dumb and happy, now I was hoping to find a place to land where I could be found in a few days. As dumb luck would have it, I hit some zero sink. I worked it as best I could. I was drifting toward town at 5 mph. If I could only keep it up for another hour I would make it. The zero sink turned into 600 up. I was back up to 12,000 and could make town. I was down below 9,000' just before Big Pine when I hit a big one. Between 800 and 1400 fpm all the way to 15,800' northwest of Big Pine.

I was under the street that was over the valley. It crossed north of Big Pine and just east of Bishop. For the next 50 minutes I never turned. I would slow down in lift and speed up in sink. I knocked off 49 miles in one hour (I had a cross wind, no help). My true airspeed at altitude was 54 mph. There was a street over the Whites to my right, in addition to the street I was in. The two streets came together north of the town of Chalfant. There was another blue hole before Chalfant. I made it across the hole at 9,000'. I started to work the foothills east of Chalfant. I found a little lift and made it past 10,000' and was able to go deeper into the whites. Then I started to get the lift the Whites are famous for. I made 13,000' on the next ridge, then 14,000'. The air was now really rough. It made the King meet last year seem like Funston. My second to last thermal was the biggest of the day. My 5 second average was 2264 fpm! I climbed 3000' in only 3 turns. The cloud base was 16,500'. I left at 16,000'. By now I was very cold. The temperature was 26 degrees and I was flying at 40 mph to keep control of the glider. My hands were numb from my death grip on the bar. My mind started to freeze up. All my thoughts were of surviving the Whites and getting on the ground in the 95° heat and thawing out.

I passed the 100-mile mark at 14,000'. I headed for my goal at Basalt. I arrived over Basalt above 10,000'. The cloud street headed straight up highway 360 towards Gabbs, to the north. I could easily add another 30 miles, but I was really hurting. All I wanted to do was get on the ground. I felt like I had done 500 push-ups and 1000 sit-ups. My brain was still frozen. My radio battery went dead at 3000' agl. There was a blue hole just east of Basalt and I cored some smooth sink to the ground. When I flared, I pulled a muscle in my ribcage. The heat never felt so good. My mind was still racing, still in the survival mode. I just stood there taking it all in. Nancy was so excited she cut across the desert in the truck and got it high-centered. I didn't even care. As my brain thawed out, so many things were racing through my mind I almost had to lay down just to think. I have a hell of a lot more respect for anyone who makes 100 miles in the Owens.

As I was going up at 2000+ fpm over the Whites, freezing, (even with 4 layers of clothes), I was thinking how nice it would be at one of those Florida country clubs in a big fat WARM smooth thermal. But then, looking at the view from 16,000', with 100 cc's of adrenaline pumping in my system, I was glad I was here. I'll be back.

Vince

PS: This flight almost doubled my personal best for both distance and time in the air. I have been flying hang gliders for a little over 2 years. As we passed Janies, there were at least another 8 pilots on the ground there. It looked like a lot of pilots had a good day. Scot made 72 miles; he can tell his story.
PPS: You can now add Vince to the 100 mile club. Basalt 106.3 miles. (big grin!)
PPPS: Here's the Track Log of my flight.

Vince
(5/30/01 4:26:37 pm)

100 miles

There I was with the world's biggest smile,
As I passed the mark of 100 mile.
Although I was cold and certainly sore,
This flight was far from a terrible bore.
As I sit here now, re-living it all,
I realize I had a wonderful ball.
I hope that you too can share in the pleasure,
Of 100 miles flying at your leasure.
Now if I could only rhyme like our very own Matt,
I would hit a home run, when I came up to bat.

Vince

Leo Jones
(5/30/01 10:02:22 pm)

Vince's 100+ miler

One day a fine fellow named Vince.
A pilot he was then, and since,
Flew a 100 plus mile,
On his Atos, in style,
Quoth, "I'd rather do this than be Prince!"

highhuber
(5/29/01 6:44:15 pm)

Flight Reports - 5/25-28

Friday 5/25 Walts Point: Launched at 11.02. Searched the ridge to the right of launch for 20 minutes before heading over to the switch backs and working the hump where the road turns into the canyon. Winds were south with an east component and the air was turbulent. I finally went around the corner in hopes of finding smoother air, which I did, but I had to work it for another half hour before I caught my ride out of there. Then it was down the knees with consistent lift, staying below 13g till Tinnemaha where I took it to 16058. Headed for Black Mt. Found a bug fart just before it which told me the winds still had an easterly component. I should of immediately gone to the south face but since I had some altitude and was even with Big Ears I came in on the west face and got trashed. I had no choice but to fly away from the Mt. to the Northwest and find some more lift over the valley. I did and climbed back to 9000g then came over Flynns launch and got trashed again so back to the valley where I landed shortly thereafter near Laws beside the Owens river for 65.5 mi. 3:36 mn. Scott from the Berkely club made Janies, having launched an hour later and working the south face of Black to get up on the Whites. Maybe I'll get my 100 tomorrow???

Saturday 5/26 Walts Point: Arrived at 10 to find wall to wall gliders set up and a pilot in the air staying up. Found a little room next to the rock and was ready to launch at 11:31. Found a good one right over the saddle which took me to 12g in ten min. and I was off to the races. Other pilots were over the range at 14500 but I wasn't looking for the scenic tour; I was out for miles. Having worked the knees with great success the previous day, I immediately went to them and they were as consistent as I have ever experienced. Strong thermals off of every one, 600 to 800 ft/mn. Staying between 11 and 13g, I blasted down the range passing numerous pilots on the way. Some took my cue and joined me in the race but I was relentless and most were left behind. I told Vince to push it since I was out in front and conditions were so good. He caught and passed me at Gooddale mt. as I was working to get up for the jump to Tinnemaha. My radio went dead at this point for some unknown reason so I was on my own. I saw Vince for the last time, low and heading out to Big Pine, as I climbed to 13500. Thinking I could make Tinnemaha, I headed that way but was soon low, wondering if I could, like Vince said, even make Big Pine. The clouds formed a street across the valley toward Bishop and I soon found out why as I climbed out to 12500 from no-man's land back behind the crater. Yes! Things were looking up. It couldn't have been any better laid out. I could just blow right past Black and come into the Whites under the street near Chalfant. It was looking even better at Bishop as I topped out at 14850. Then trouble came into view as a blue hole appeared to the north before the street continued to White Mt. I had to make a choice between crossing it and using my altitude to take me to the Whites, which is what I did. I came in at Gunther launch and found some lift and thought I had my 100 miles in the record books. The wind was showing Southwest at 16 and The faces of the knees looked ridge soarable till I reconected with the street. But it wasn't to be. I found little else on my way to the ground at Paiute where I landed for 72.5 mi. 3:33 mn.

5/27 McClellan, Carson City Nv.: I drove up to Carson City Sunday morning with thoughts of chasing my fellow wingmen as the wind at Tuttle Creek was from the north all morning and it didn't look too good for flying in the Owens Valley. Arrived to find it blown out and nobody in the air. Took a late evening flight in Todd's 2001 mrx and found it be a bit stiff for my liking. Todd flew my 14 ST and barely made it to a landing field.

Monday looked more promising with light winds and clear skies, but by the time we got to launch it was picking up and it looked questionable for awhile until, in the spirit of the Go For It, most of us set up. I was first in the air at 11:56 and found it smooth and ridge soarable but couldn't find anything which took me to XC altitude. I decided to bide my time and conserve my strength till it turned on. As some heavy wind lines formed on the lake just before 1:00 I went into search mode to get me out of there before the wind got to the mt. Finally climbed to 9100 and went through the gap to the north over the back. Todd was chasing some local pilots in their truck and said he could chase me too. I was pretty low and didn't think I could make it over the ridge before Dayton but found some strong lift on the ridge and was soon to 11000. Todd advised me to go to the southern side of the valley as the winds on the ground were from the north. I glided across and found some lift which I could now make Stagecoach with but the northern component kept me to the south near the river where I caught some more lift which I topped out at 12400. I could easily make Silver Springs on a glide from there but chose to stay south and not fight the wind. I didn't find much more and glided to the ground near the south end of Lahontan resevoir for 30.6 mi. 2:26 mn. Had to take a swim and a nap before I was retrieved as Todd chased the local pilot, Jim, for another 30 miles and picked me up on the way back. Thanks Todd! I also want to thank Nancy Ferguson for driving for Vince and me in the Owens. She did a great job. I had a great Memorial vacation. hh

Leo Jones
(5/29/01 10:40:41 pm)

Memorial Weekend at McClellan

Well, nothing that we did compares with Scot and Vince's adventures, but everyone flew at last once!

Todd, Ernie, Greg, John B, Bob Stanley, Derk, Matt and myself drove up to Carson on Friday in traffic that varied from bad to worse, and Steve Acton flew up in his Cessna 172 to hang out and drive for us (thanks Steve).

Saturday we declared a goal of Lovelock but hoped for Winnemucca. It was already blowing by the time we got to launch at 10.30 and we set up quickly. Greg was first off at about 11.15 and he went straight up (to 8900ft) but though we quickly followed conditions didn't really improve - the thermals seemed to break up at about 8500ft. Some locals arrived when we were all airborne but by then it was so windy on launch that most of them didn't launch or even set up.

There were cumies miles to the East out in the desert. Around noon conditions in front of launch got very smooth and most everyone got to 9K before it fizzled, then a few minutes later it did it agin, almost like wave was getting in phase for a few minutes then dissipating. This time we got to over 10K and Todd went, followed by me when I realized that I was too far over to have a choice anymore, and Matt and then Greg. None of us got very far - between 9 and 13 miles. Conditions didn't get better on the mountain, though Steve Wertheimer from the Bay Area got to Silver Springs on his Atos. Everyone else landed in the LZ, though Bob had a flight of well over 3 hrs.

Sunday was windy from the start, though cumies with a high base and then streets then lennies formed, there was no way anyone was thinking of setting up. We bummed around, went to the museum in Carson (Todd opined that the $3 entry fee was better spent on beer, but he came too and enjoyed it, I think), and then drank beer. Scot, Todd, Steve Acton (on Matt's glider) and John decided to attempt an evening "glass off' but only John made it to the LZ! Steve got sunk out behind the hills in front of launch, giving us some excitement, but landed safely, and Todd had a nice turbulent flight in sink all the way to a bailout by the road.

Monday was also windy on launch early, but not too windy. Thermals were drifting rapidly over the back though, and as it was blue downwind most of us decided not to bother going XC. Scot went of course, and proved that it was better than it looked, but we still had a good time anyway.

Hangfly
(6/4/01 9:39:56 pm)

Aero tow at Crazy Creek 6/2-3/01

The weekend turned out to be better than forecast at Crazy Creek. Soaring both days. Best on Sunday. Pilots were staying up well in excess of two hours. 8200' is the highest altitude I heard reported. A couple people may have gotten higher though.
I released at 1200' agl and climbed to 7400'. Mark Grubbs flew his Ghostbuster to the south end of Pope Valley.
Charley

Leo Jones
(6/4/01 7:07:44 pm)

Crazy Creek - Sunday 6/3

Conditions were much better on Sunday than Saturday. I towed up at 12 noon for practice, but the thermals were still very small and broken, and I couldn't stay up, however by 2 pm they were really going, though in areas of general bitty lift with small sharp cores. There were long gaps between cycles. I climbed to 8,200ft in a thermal with a Ghostbuster, an Ultrasport, a small Fusion and two sailplanes (they didn't get that high!) and later to 7400ft and got fairly close - a couple of hundred feet - to a flock of about 30+ white pelicans - what a great sight! They weren't about to tolerate my getting any closer though, and even though I was flying my Fusion as fast as I could to catch up to them they merely pulled in their wings a couple of inches and left me with ease. I guess if you get to fly with birds it has to be on their terms!
Leo

Vince
(6/4/01 8:46:26 pm)

Crazy Creek 6/3

Mark Grubbs flew 15.6 miles to the end of Pope Valley for a Crazy Creek site record. He said once he left, the thermals were much weaker. There are plenty of LZ along Butts canyon rd, Pope valley rd, Chiles valley rd, 128 and 121 although there are a couple of spots that are 3 miles between LZ's and all of the LZ's have wires either along the road or across the fields.

Vince

Hangfly
(6/6/01 12:13:15 am)

Aero tow at Crazy Creek 6/4

Monday was not as good as Sunday at Crazy Creek. About six pilots all sunk out after working hard to stay up.
Late in the day a fire started over the ridge to the southwest. This brought the buzzards out of the woodwork. They soared what looked like micro-lift.
Sounds like several pilots will be there Thursday. I'll be there.

CW

Hangfly
(6/7/01 8:05:15 pm)

Aero tow at Crazy Creek 6/7

Thursday was good. Five pilots flew. We had flights well over two hours and got over 7000'. Joe said it was good Wednesday too but nobody came out to fly.
We flew all around the area. We found lift all over.
CW

John Blacet
(6/11/01 9:09:31 pm)

Aero tow at Crazy Creek 6/9,10

Saturday was good early; from 10 to 11:30, with a lot of students hanging out above the field. They all came down in short order about 11:30, just about when I got ready to go.

I broke a weak link 50' up and had a thrilling but fine recovery and landing. After that and the conditions, there was not too much going on until about 3, when I and a few folks took another tow and floated quickly back down.

Sunday, I got there early along with Bob, Albert and Donna, Charlie (the other one...), Dirk, John A. and a bunch of students and bay area pilots. The morning flights were nothing special, but we went anyway about 11:30. Albert and I managed about an hour and got to 5500 (or 6500?) with a lot of lift drifting slowly south toward Middletown. We ended up nearly to the ridge that runs into MT from the south.

Fun stuff, but not XC. Paved roads and short turn around though. Hungary Joe seemed pleased about the turnout but unhappy about the price of gas, especially the $500 worth to drive up from LA.

If we had a tug up here, I suspect he would be more willing to fly for us.

John DeAguiar
(6/11/01 10:56:45 pm)

Towing and Sailplane Lesson Sunday at Crazy Creek

I was looking for a way to fill time at Crazy Creek while waiting for the westerlies to die down enough for Hungary Joe to resume towing. I wandered over to the glider port office and signed myself up for a glider flying lesson. Ninety one dollars later, I had a 30 minute lesson in the front seat of an ASK 21. Jim E. was the instructor, and I got plenty of stick time on tow, in some lift, on approach etc. It's fun and I highly recommend it! (Beware -- it's also addictive!)

BTW, the westerlies did die down around 5pm. I towed up to about 2800ft where my weak link broke. I found mostly sink and found myself back on the ground after 33 minutes, just in time to be the last glider towed back into the air. That second flight lasted 1:14 in light lift. I landed after 7:30pm!

Scot Huber
(6/10/01 12:25:39 pm)

Flight Reports June 8th 9th & 10th

Friday we met with the forest service reps and discussed environmental and other issues concerning flying at St. John Mt. Leo was most involved so I'll let him inform the membership on that. Greg and I set up at the ramp launch and everyone else went to the west launch. It was a windy blustery day with only Greg and I flying and not getting high enough to go over the back. Greg made it to town after a low save from the canyon and I landed along the road to Elk Creek a few miles north of Stonyford. Saturday 8 pilots flew including Matt, Leo, Jon, Greg, Kurt, Todd, Charley, and me. We broke in a new driver, Jim Fomin, who was referred to me by Dick Thompson. He did a great job. The flying was good with some pilots getting to almost 10g before heading north. I only got to 8965 before leaving. Didn't find more lift until Bowman canyon where I hooked a good one to about 6400ft. Then another long glide to Bald Hill just before Red Mt. which took me to 5400. Came in over Red but found minimal lift so headed north. Was heading out toward Newville Rd. hoping I was going to make it when I got a good one off of Digger Ridge. Todd came in under me at this point after I had written him off seeing him real low over Chrome. I had a couple grand on him and glided off after topping out around 5500. I found another good thermal at Owens Butte just north of Paskenta which Todd and I worked together. He glided off first as I worked it a little longer. I wanted to use him as a thermal marker so hung back a little. He headed straight north and I could see he wasn't finding anything so I took a different line and found some moderate lift which kept me above him. Approaching Lowrey, Todd was getting low and had to stay along the road which was turning to the northeast toward Red Bluff. I had enough height to stay to the north and found a good thermal as Todd landed. Kurt was still ahead of me but was down. I asked him how far he got and he said 43.6 I think. I was at the 41.5 mark but was climbing so figured I could best him. The thermal took me to about 5500. The wind was showing 6 to 9 from the South Southeast so I decided to go with it and headed due north. I could see some ranches off in the distance so knew there had to be roads. I was hoping to beat Rich's mark of 56.5 from last year but didn't find anything more as I glided to the ground beside Cannon Road just beyond Table Mt. 52.8 mi. 3:43mn. A fun flight at St. John!!!!
hh

Vince
(6/17/01 7:07:17 pm)

Flight reports 6/16-6/17

Saturday
Todd, Scot, Greg and Vince launched from St. John a little before 1:45, with Nancy driving for us. Scot's harness support that enables him to go prone broke right away and he was forced to fly the rest of the flight at a 45 degree angle. Everyone got up between 9,500' and 10,000'. Scot headed out first followed by Greg, me and Todd. I have never flown past Elk Creek or along the mountains so I tried to follow along and see how things went (pimp). After leaving St. John, I managed to stay between 5 and 6 thousand until the prison. By that point, Todd was about 5 miles ahead. I had passed Scot and Greg. I saw Todd low to the southwest of Paskenta. I went on a long glide and found nothing until Williams Butte, just southwest of Paskenta. Todd had a lot of wind noise on his mike and I could not understand him at this point. He was saying the lift was better further west.

I was about even with the butte and saw about 20 birds circling. I tried for several minutes to get up but was slowly sinking. I finally had to give up and headed for a field about a mile south of Paskenta to land. I was unzipped and was about 2 seconds from dropping my streamer (about 250 agl) when I hit a little lift. I circled and gained about 50 feet. I went around again and got another 50 feet. The short story is 14 minutes later I was zipped up and at 6,500', my first truly low save. At this point I was looking for the road out of Paskenta and was directed by Todd and Greg to Lowery road. Little did I know they were trying to get rid of me ;-) I somehow ended up in front of everybody.

From Paskenta I followed Lowery road until it hits Red Bank road, and then up to Ridge road. I was trying to make it easier for Nancy to find me. Everyone else, I found out later, had visions of a site record and the coffee can. I had a couple more low saves along Lowery road (from about 800 agl) that took me over to Red Bank road. I then hit perfectly smooth air, and figured I was on final glide. I landed after 3 hours and 6 minutes for 49.7 miles.

Here is the flight track from St. John to Ridge Rd. (Ridge Rd. is also called Hanks Dr. or Eby Rd. on some maps)

Todd, Scot and Greg had continued to stay along the mountains and fly straight north. They all managed to land along roads, but all the roads run east/west not north/south. Even though Greg was only 3 miles from Todd, it was 20 road miles to get them picked up. Nancy and I wasted about 30 miles tracking down the wrong GPS co-ordinates that she had copied down incorrectly. We eventually got everybody picked up. It was almost 9:00. We had to get gas so we headed to Red Bluff for food and gas. We arrived back in Stonyford at 12:15 AM. Total mileage from St. John and back was 230 miles. Nancy and I were camping on top and got to bed at 1:30 AM. Scot, Todd and Greg each flew more than 50 miles, with Todd .6 miles short of the site record.

Sunday
Since Todd now had the coffee can, he decided to give Nancy a break and drive. I started to think about last night's late arrival and the fact that I had to be at work at 4:30 AM Monday morning. I decided not to fly. We left after Scot, Todd and Greg arrived at launch. We could still hear Scot and Greg when we were in Williams getting gas. They reported they were at 10,200' adjacent to Elk Creek. They should have a good story to tell.

Vince

Greg
(6/18/01 3:17:45 pm)

Amazing Weekend at St. John

Great flying at St. John June 16 and 17. ALL flights were 50 (49 and change) miles or better. Scott set a new site record on Sunday. I had back to back 50 milers: 52.9 miles Saturday, and 54.5 miles on Sunday. Sunday we were getting well above 11,000 feet north of Paskenta!

Scot Huber
(6/18/01 3:34:19 pm)

St John 6/16 6/17

Sat. happened pretty much like Vince reported. My foot stirrup malfunctioned and I flew head-high the whole day. My glides were greatly reduced and my feet kept going to sleep from so much pressure on them. I managed 49.2 miles and watched my coffee can record fly away in the form of Todd who got 55. His gps batteries died toward the end of the flight so he didn't know he was .6 miles short of Rich's record distance . If he'd of known, he said he could of squeaked out another mile or two. Greg also was real close to it.

Sunday I fixed my harness. Todd decided he'd drive; Vince decided to head home. Greg and I launched at 1:35 to 1:40. I worked it in front of launch for about 10 mn. Until I caught a rocket which launched me at 1400fpm. to 11200. Greg worked the switch backs and also found strong lift to over 11000. We headed north with winds showing 17mph from the west. At launch they were from the south around 14.

We found more good lift after the crossing which took us back to over 10g. The winds lightened up a bit but still were WNW around 8. Just before Alder Springs Rd. I stopped to work some light lift . Greg made a few turns in it, decided it wasn't strong enough and headed NE across Grindstone. I stuck with it and gained enough to keep me deeper in the mts.

At Doe Peak I found good lift which took me to 11200. I was just west of Red Mt. and I worked the convergence line between the strong westerly winds at this altitude and the rising valley flow which was from the south as I glided north. Greg was over near Red around 7g and fell behind me.

The convergence was very narrow, I'd say 100 yards wide or so, and I dolphin flew it till the Gorge west of Paskenta where I caught another thermal to 10200. This gave me the altitude I needed to go deeper in and I was rewarded with another boomer off the east flank of Ball Mt. which took me to 11700. Needless to say things were pretty cold at this altitude and I shivered as I was only wearing a T shirt, my wind breaker, and a speed sleeve. I also only had on my batting gloves and my hands were quite numb, but I was smiling as I figured the record was going to be broken on this day. The winds at this point were showing some south component and my ground speed increased from this point on.

I was deep in the mountains and knew the roads were scarce to non-existent to my NW, since this is the Yolla Bolly Middle Eel Wilderness. I therefore kept enough altitude to glide to the east should the lift disappear. I was able to fly due north, finding lift which kept me around 8 to 9400 g. I was pretty much following the 122.45 longitude line until I saw Hwy 36. I could also see the town of Beegum to my west and the Trinity Mt.s dead ahead.

I wanted to get to the Trinitys and fly their southern sun-baked flanks to the NE. But as I crossed 36 the westerly winds changed my mind as I knew I'd never make it across the Bald Hills, which looked very desolate. I could see a river to my North and some nice pastures and buildings beside it . I flew there with a crossing tail wind and landed in an upper pasture as the winds were quite strong and I didn't want to be down in the river gorge. The owners had just arrived when I'd hiked the mile to the house and they were very hospitable, allowing me to use their phone and giving me a ride to a cross road where they thought it would be easier to be found. Todd and Greg were soon on the scene and they congratulated me heartily on my flight. I love this Sport! hh
3:32mn. 65.6mi. Foster Road, Shasta County N40d22m /W122d35m

Derk
(6/20/01 2:31:10 pm)

Hull Mtn.

Great flights at St John! Hull that weekend doesn't compare against that.

Anyway, for the completeness, here's a quick report from Hull Mtn. Only Saturday was flyable, Sunday was blown out, from the North.
Three pilots flew Sat morning, between 11:00 and 12:00, and had nice flights. Some 5 pilots showed up at Timberline launch around noon (Roger, Rick, Roy ...). I was the 1st pilot who took off in the afternoon at 2:00 and found something just below the house, that felt like a beginning convergence. This got more pronounced during the next hour or so but was quite bumpy at its edges. It was easy to hang out in there and wait for the occasional thermals kicking through. It took only a few 360s in a 1200ft/min thermal that finally took me up to 7800 ft where it spit me out. I didn't even bother entering it again since the air above Boardman ridge was quite bouyant and it was easy to glide back to lower launch. It also was possible to fly way out along the lake in the bouyant air. After about 1h45min I landed at the regular LZ. I think everyone else had similar flights - good launches and landings.

Derk

Mike K
(6/27/01 5:25:08 pm)

Yosemite flying, 6/16

The real hassle with flying Yosemite is finding a place to stay within 1.5 hrs drive of launch. The valley camp grounds are filled months in advance. I was able to get the last spot in Wawona campground via the National Park Service website a few days before. When we got to the park on June 15 we found out that Crane Flat Camp Ground had just opened that day. I had already known that Bridalveil Fall CG, the nearest to launch, was not yet opened and may be mid July till opening! Wawona was a fine, it took about 50 min to Glacier Point from there. One needs to arrive in the GP parking lot by 7 am, set up and ready to launch before 8 when your glider is inspected by the monitor. Makes for a very early day. Sleeping in the GP parking lot is not recommended as it will be a mark against HG in the park if found out.
There were about 8 pilots flying Glacier Point on June 16. Although we didn't start launching until 8:30, we ended up pressing the 9AM launch limit. I flew the Falcon 225 with my digital camera. After turning left for a shot of Half Dome,I realized that there was something not right with the camera setup and I couldn't get the camera to respond. Then my IR remote fell off the glider to land somewhere on the cliff! Well, trying to enjoy the rest of the flight, I went over to Yosemite Falls and noted how little water there was in it

Wild West Regionals, 6/22-24

The regionals generated enough reports that they're on a page of their own.
Click Here to see them

Linda
(6/26/01 2:52:33 am)

Spain

Hi everyone
there is a internet site here. Only got to fly five days so far. The air is too stable and Africa is sending us dust. Will send more later. By the way, there are no clouds!
Linda

Linda
(7/3/01 7:54:00 am)

Home!

Well, we made it home. The flying was better before the meet. They only got 7 tasks out of 15 days. Our U.S. team met with a lot of obstacles to overcome while there. The last one for Rich is the airline has lost his glider! I am sure glad to be home. We are developing the film we took today. Hope to see some of you this week-end, maybe someone has an extra glider that Rich could use to fly. Who was in the regionals, who won, etc. I've missed all the news and need to catch up.
Linda.

Hangfly
(7/3/01 7:52:18 am)

Hull Mt Report 6-29~7-1

Hull was soarable Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Friday was the weakest day. I was up for over two hours mostly below launch, eventually getting to 6900' by the house late in the flight.
Saturday was best. I was up over three hours getting to 8900'. Twelve pilots flew. There were some small clouds behind Windy Ridge, nobody was able to get to them.
Sunday was about like Saturday, 12 pilots flew. I was up 3hours twenty minutes. I saw an immature Bald Eagle up by the peak. One or two moltings and his head will be white.
There's still two small patches of snow on the backside of the mountain.
Charley

King Mt., 7/6-8

The King Mt. meet generated enough reports that they're on a page of their own.
Click Here to see them

Vince
(7/15/01 10:10:17 am)

Flight reports 7/14-7/15

Scot, Todd, Rich and I flew St. John on Saturday. I launched first at 1:08. I got right up over the switchbacks. Rich was next and found one right in front of launch. Scot then Todd launched. We all were over the "mother lode" at 9600' (Todd took a little longer to get there) and I left early. A little while later, everybody else left closer to 10,200'. I made the next ridge at 7200'. I hit some really rough air. In 10 seconds my feet hit the sail 4 times. Scot pointed out this was probably due to the fact that I hang almost a foot closer to the sail than a flex wing. I decided to turn in the lift anyway and got up to 8100'.

From there I found very little lift in the hills. Every time I thought I found something I would turn and not be able to locate it again. I was down to 2500' in front of Red mountain and found a little lift to 3300'. Not enough to get up on Red but enough to get me out to Chrome. Over Chrome, I found a small thermal and worked it for 100' before I fell out and was forced to land, 23.0 miles from St. John. Both Rich and Todd got up on Red and were able to make it further up the valley. It sounded like Todd flew the next 11 miles less than 1000' agl. I believe Rich made it 5 miles north of Paskenta and Todd 4.5 miles north. Scott tried to get to a cloud street that was deep in the mountains. He landed along Alder Springs road.

Vince

John Blacet
(7/15/01 5:10:40 pm)

Re: Flight reports 7/14-7/15

Saturday at Hull was quite nice. The day started out with development over the mountain even as we pulled into the LZ

Andy Long made a rare appearance along with Mike, Roger, Roy, Bernard and some bay area pilots.

Lift was abundant over the mountain and pretty smooth, giving me ample opportunity to get tuned into my new Laminar MRX2001. This is one nice glider, with super handling, huge speed range. It takes off and lands with ease. The real learning curve has been assembly (dang curved tips) but I'm getting much better at that.

I went up and down a couple times, eventually getting to 10,600 cloudbase as the development got massive, with rain visible north of the mountain and the multi layer clouds getting darker and spreading out toward the LZ. I left to go land but a couple other pilots hung out until thunder was heard.

Despite all the theatrics, the cloud dissipated toward 5PM, having failed to dump anything wet on us.

The logging road is open. Nice but watch for speeders!

Mike K
(7/17/01 3:11:52 pm)

Hull on Sunday, July 15 and Monday July 16

It was not as over developed as on Sat. but with several nice clouds. The pilots from St. John (Sat.) showed up with Bill Vogel, Leo, Mat, Franz as well as the Bay area pilots from Sat. Todd launched at Timberline first, went right and worked it in front of lower launch right up to cloudbase, setting the tone of the day. Kurt flew tandem as did I (took Franz' girlfriend, Claudia). Unfortunately my passenger got airsick after 10-15 min and I went out to land for 40 min. while Kurt got an hour. Rich Sauer and Todd quickly made it to the southern end of the San Hedron ridge but elected not to go into Potter Valley. Generally good, smooth lift was available to cloudbase, about 10.5K and everyone had a great day. Unfortunately Rich's truck got a flat which was changed at Timberline, then a second one in the LZ. A quick repair on the spare and he made it home to ponder new tire purchases.

Monday Franz and I flew in rather rowdy air. It was quite a bit cooler and cloudbase was at 8.5K and moving from the North. Several times I took the rough air (drifting from the South) to about 8K but left before hitting the wind direction shear.

Hangfly
(7/21/01 10:42:36 am)

Chelan Report

Day 1 13.8 miles Chelan Butte to Bump in the Road.
Day 2 42.5 miles Chelan Butte to north of Hartline.
Please record these flights on the Go-for-It record. Thanks
Lots of cool cloudy days. Lots of OD. Only two flying days, had hoped for four. At least I made it over the Columbia both days.
CW

Scot Huber
(7/23/01 12:21:18 am)

Flight Reports 7/21 7/22

Winnemucca Mt. Nv. 7/21 Launched at 2:47 landed 8 mi. short of Tuscarora at 6:58 for 76.6 mi. OD. Max altitude 12314. Mostly blue sky flying over the flats between ranges which weren,t working. Broke site record of 58 mi. set by Kevin Frost last year on his rigid. Many thanks to Lori Allen for chasing me into no-mans land with a minimal fuel supply, we got back to Winnemucca with 3 gals to spare!! Nice site, hope to return soon!!! hh

levineb
(7/30/01 11:08:03 am)

St. John's 7/29

I was surprised to find no one else on St. John's when we got there Sunday. Were there omens of a bad day that I missed? Certainly the lapse rate was disappointing as we drove up...Kent launched first 1:40, didn't sink, so I followed. Spent half an hour scaring squirrels over the switchbacks before I got through the inversion and finally gained twenty feet over launch. From there, quick ride up to 8k, eventually 9.6k. We now know that this is high enough to get an aging Mark-IV out to Stonyford, with a couple thousand feet of altitude to burn. Ryan waited on launch for what felt like an hour, until a cycle to his taste came in, turned in it right off launch and made it up to 9k in a couple of minutes.Overall, four of us flew, one got stuck under the inversion, went to the bailout, three landed in Stonyford.
Was it better somewhere else?
Barry

MattsFlyin
(8/2/01 12:11:41 pm)

7/29

"Was it better somewhere else?" Better? No. Further? Yes. The Owen's Valley was cloudless for 3 days in a row and although a few good flights were had, you really needed luck and local knowledge, neither of which most of us had.
On another note, hopefully you are aware of the new restrictions regarding landing in Stonyford? The "Green Dolphin" LZ by the lake is currently closed pending a rules change.

Owens Valley, 7/20-30

The Owens Valley adventure generated enough reports that they're on a page of their own.
Click Here to see them

Greg
(8/6/01 2:19:09 pm)

St. John Flights, August 4th and 5th

Saturday, August 4, 2001

Scot, Matt, Leo, Vince, Bernhard, Kurt, and I met up in Stonyford at 10:30 a.m. with clouds already forming from Snow Mt. north to well beyond Red Mt. We loaded all the gear and pilots along with local driver Jim and his daughter onto Scot's truck and headed up. Unfortunately, the automatic transmission in the "Big White Machine" gave up the ghost two thirds of the way up to launch. We rolled a ways down the road until the brakes started to get hot. At that point we unloaded all the gliders, harnesses, and Leo, Matt, Vince and myself and sent the truck on its way coasting down. Some hours later Kurt arrived with everybody, we reloaded everything and headed on up. Arriving at launch at about 3:50 p.m., we set up quickly.

At about 4:30 p.m. Kurt launched first with me close behind climbing out in front of the ramp in big fat converging air at between 400 and 1,200 f.p.m. to about 9,700 MSL (400 feet above cloud base). Leo and Matt were also set up, but were unable to launch due to light and switchy launch conditions. Kurt and I immediately went north having to fly way around a big fat cloud just north of the Mother Lode. On the first ridge north we hit good lift, but I didn't bother circling in it because I was only couple of hundred feet below cloud base. Flying west to avoid cloud suck we were soon above cloud base on the west side of the clouds deep into the mountains. We flew in spectacular conditions in, around, below and through the clouds without circling until we were past Alder Springs Rd. (Hwy. 162) still way deep in the mountains.

By that time the clouds were beginning to deteriorate, and we had to start hunting for lift. At Red Mt. Kurt got ahead of me and stayed quite deep. I flew down behind Red and caught a thermal which took me from 4,200' to 6,500', and drifted me to the bad boys' ranch. Kurt caught one low in the gorge and twirled up onto Bald Mt. He stayed on the hills and went for it. I headed out from the bad boys' ranch toward my declared goal of Flournoy’s pond two miles north of Paskenta (34 miles).

I caught another one which got me to goal with a few thousand feet to spare, so I continued on up Lowrey Rd. There were some powerful "bumps", but I was unable to effectively work them. Eventually I picked a do-able field and set it down at about 7:00 p.m. for 42 miles. Kurt landed at about the same time close into the hills on Colyear Springs Rd. for 43 miles. Bernhard arrived some time later and retrieved us just before dark. It was a thoroughly delightful afternoon.

Sunday, August 5, 2001

Kurt, Bernhard and I arrived at launch to find several other Bay area pilots already set up. They were planning to land at Fouts Springs because they didn’t know where they could legally land near town. We briefed them on the LZ’s and the general situation. They flew, and then we flew. Conditions were unpleasant. There was a temperature inversion and wind shear. I climbed out to 8,800’. After a half an hour I headed for town with 8,000’. On the way out I had a tail wind of 12 m.p.h. At town I noticed the winds were light from the NE There was a good amount of lift in town. I landed in mowed field behind the hay stacks because I saw horses in the field at the store. Later, the horses had ambled on into another field, and Kurt landed at the store with a couple of the pilots from the other group. Bernhard landed at the visitors center with a couple of the other pilots. They gave him a ride to town.

Basically, Saturday was great, and Sunday sucked.

Vince
(8/13/01 3:20:48 pm)

Flight Reports 8-11,8-12

Robert, Bob S, Matt, Greg and I met at the Washoe Lake campground Saturday morning. The forecast was for winds out of the west at 15, with thermals at 1500 fpm (remember to subtract your sink rate from the thermal strength). Friday had looked really good at McClellan, and with the west winds, I thought McClellan would be good. We arrived at launch to find very light winds blowing in all directions. Greg started saying that there is no way we were going to get up, which he repeated about ever 10 minutes for the next 3 hours. Since I thought McClellan was going to work this day, I chose to be the wind dummy. I took a nice cycle and got 30 yards in the air when the wind died and I sunk down. I had two choices, push out and chance a stall or start running again. I chose to run and after 3 more steps, I was back in the air. Out front and to the left I was hitting some 500 fpm up. I tried a 360 and found sink all the way around. This pattern continued all the way to the bailout. I came in low, only enough altitude for one 360. The wind on the ground was 0 mph. I had my best no wind, high altitude, hot day landing. I had to run extremely fast for 5 steps. Good thing I had the room.

Nancy came down and picked me up for another attempt. When we got back to launch, Greg had just taken off. He was low, over the house in the valley toward the bailout when it looked like he caught something. He circled up in this thermal all the way to 13,000+. His radio could transmit but not receive. He radioed he was heading over the back (so much for not getting up). Everyone else quickly launched. We all found broken lift that was hard to core and easy to fall out of. It did not take long for the rest of us to join each other in the bailout. Nancy headed out to find Greg. She found him near Fernley, a 32+ mile flight. We talked to several pilots in the bailout who had flown over from Slide. They were reporting heights to 13,000+ over slide, but very little lift as they headed across the valley. The forecast had totally missed the winds. They were much lighter than predicted.

Sunday the forecast was for much the same wind, but greater thermal strength. We all figured Slide was the place since it had worked so well the previous day. We loaded up and headed out. We arrived at Slide to find the wind blowing down at 10+ mph. There were about 8 pilots who had set up and were now breaking down. We missed it two days in a row! The winds over at McClellan looked like they were out of the south. We decided to head home early. I left Washoe Lake at 1:30 and never saw anyone on McClellan set up or launch, so like to think we had made the right choice in heading home.

Vince

Greg
(8/13/01 4:51:50 pm)

McClellen to South of Fernley (Sat. Aug. 11)

As Vince posted, conditions at McClellen were poor. I got lucky and hooked a low save over the ranch down in front of launch. It took me from 6,300' to 13,000' with very little drift. Over the white mine I got another good climb from 7,000' to 13,700'. Up even with Stagecoach I headed NE cutting diagonally across the mountains since I was so deep in the mountains that Hwy. 95 was as close as Hwy. 50. There was little workable lift in the mountains; all my thermals had been over the low hills at the edge of the valley. At 13,000' I was getting a 210 degree 10 m.p.h. push. I decended through an "active" boundry layer at about 9,000' and was greeted with a 10 m.p.h. north wind which ended the flight. I landed near an auto racing track and airport along Hwy. 95. Nancy Ferguson arrived as I was zipping up the bag! Nancy retrieved me in record time even though my radio was not working properly and she had to baby sit several launch potatoes and her esteemed husband, Vince Endter, to boot. Thanks Nancy

MattsWhinin
(8/14/01 12:15:42 pm)

Re:NO!

Wah! Wah! Wah! (So much for taking my sled ride like a man)

levineb
(8/14/01 2:33:42 pm)

Re: Flight Reports 8-11,8-12

I launched Slide on Saturday 8/11/01 at 11:00, fearing that the predicted West wind would shut down launch if I waited. I got to 12,6k over the antenna with absolutely no evidence of wind, headed south to find West wind howling through the gap between Slide and the next peak to the south. Lost 1.6k crabbing across that, climbed back to 13k on the other side, then bombed out trying to head downrange along the peaks, landing in strong West wind at the south end of the Washoe basin at 1:00, about when Vince was sinking out on McClellan. Kent Moriarty made Minden by crabbing down I-395. I'm at a loss to explain the spotty winds. It is reported that Slide remained launchable throughout my 2hr flight.
Barry

Mike K
(8/15/01 12:55:21 pm)

Pillsbury Aug 11-12

The report from Paul S. was that Thur-Fri were rather stable with shorter flights. Saturday was inconsistent but most pilots had good/OK flights to about 8K+ ft. For example Kurt flew tandem with his daughter and almost landed at the airstrip, but caught a thermal at the knob, took it to 7K and hung out at the house for 1 hr. until his passenger got airsick! I hung out between timberline, the top, and windy ridge and got to 9K near the end of the afternoon.
Sunday was more SE and most flights were rather short with very little lift. See this link for pictures:
www.fototime.com/inv/424637EB733CD75
The last two photos are of Rick Canham taking a few passes at ridge soaring the Rattlesnake Canyon bowl.
Due to the lack of lift I scrubbed my tandem flight and flew solo late in the afternoon, ridge soaring the Rattlesnake Canyon bowl for a 1 hr flight.
Hopefully the fire will be out and the weather will improve by next weekend.

National Championships, Hearne Texas, 8/11-17

The Nationals has a page of its own.
Click Here to see it

John Blacet
(8/19/01 11:07:07 am)

Airshow, 8/18-19

We had a display at the Pacific Coast Airshow for the first time this year. Set up day was Friday the 17th and the show was the 18th and 19th. I hung out saturday at the booth with Leo, Charley and Matt. Thank Linda much for the tent; it was a lifesaver.

We gave away a lot of magazines and the flyer was well done. A lot of interesting folks stopped by. The most FAQ was "Where can I learn around HERE?" It is obvious that we would have a few more pilots if any local instruction was available.

We had Charley's old standard and Leo's new Fusion on display with signs: "1975" and "2001".

The airshow is a great place to have a booth; plenty of entertainment and the most logical venue for prospective pilots.

The WWI bomber replica was amazing, especially when contrasted with the F16 that put on a very loud, amazing show.

Albert
(8/20/01 11:19:40 am)

Pacific Coast Airshow

Just wanted to thanks to Leo, Matt, Charley, and Larry for helping out at the airshow and setting up their gliders. My thanks to Linda and Rich for loaning the equipment. A very special thanks to Leo and Karen for the flyers. Lots of work went into them. Karen even hand delivered them to me here at work. Great job Karen! I feel that the show was a big success. Good questions were asked by the public and I feel that some of the bad myths about hang gliding were dispelled. I would like to see if we can do this again next year.
Albert

Hangfly
(8/18/01 8:19:04 am)

Hull Report

Some people are flying Hull before and after the airshow. Kurt and I flew there Friday. It was pretty good. Kurt was up more than an hour and said he got his butt kicked. I had a harness problem(again!) so I went down after 35 minutes. There were nice thermals though. There are a few long-time Funston pilots at Hull for the weekend.
We could see flames on the west side of Snow Mt from the Pillsbury LZ! Crocket Peak is also burning now. Spectacular plumes of smoke were rising in huge columns 3 to 5K feet into the air. This fire looks like it could burn for a while. The Pillsbury basin is still clearing out in the afternoons.
Charley

Vince
(8/27/01 5:09:41 pm)

St. John Fly-in at Hull - 8/25 & 8/26

I never thought I would have such a good time, but Hull was great.
Saturday: I launched about 8th. There about 5 pilots were getting up to the right of launch so I headed that way. After working light ridge lift, I sunk out. I flew all the way back to the house before I found lift. I worked a thermal to 6000'. I used the altitude to make it back to launch and then to windy ridge. I took me almost 30 minutes. Several pilots were getting up at windy ridge. I made it to 8200' and headed for Sanhedrin. Again there were a couple of pilots up there as well (Greg and Rich). The lift was good and I was back to 8200'. I headed for the dam. I had a tailwind for much of the way. I hit various amounts of sink and lift along the way, but not enough lift to try to turn in. I made the dam at 6600' and headed for the house. Again I found small amounts of lift and sink, but I did not turn until the house. I arrived there at 4600' and got back to 6000', which I again took to just in front of launch. This completed my triangle, 5.1 miles from in front of launch to Tule lake, 6.7 miles from Tule lake to the dam, and 6.3 miles from the dam to back in front of launch for a total of 18.1 miles, a little shorter than I first thought. Total time was 1 hour and 30 minutes. I flew back to the LZ with lots of altitude. I dropped my first flower bomb from 4600' and never saw it after I let it go. I was bored so I flew out over the lake to a point about even with the point and the dam. I was at 3300'. I turned around and stuffed the bar. My ground speed was 75 mph for about 20 seconds. I was back over the LZ at 3000'! I dropped my second bomb and did much better, about 35'. I had a great landing, although about 80' short of the spot. Everyone was having great landings, with Jon James landing right in the spot circle.

Sunday: It was pretty much a repeat of Saturday, except I launched third and made it strait to windy ridge without sinking out. At windy ridge I joined Todd. He was above me and about ½ mile closer to Hull. When he saw me get up to 8700' he came over. I headed out first to Tule Lake. I lost about 1000' along the way. He saw that and took a better line and arrived higher than me. I got back up and headed for the dam and he headed back toward Hull. It was the same as yesterday; I did not turn in lift until I got to the knob in from of the house. I got up there and made it back in front of launch to complete the triangle again. It only took 53 minutes. I had a long drive home so I left before all the awards. Hull is farther for me than Reno, and the Owens if only an hour longer drive so I don't make it up there very much. Maybe next year. I will upload my track log to the files area of the Sonoma Wings Yahoo group site.

Vince

Hangfly
(8/27/01 10:05:15 pm)

Hull Fly-in Results

Here are the official results as closely as I can make out. I apologize to anyone whose data is missing. Gunter was run ragged and sometimes people dropped their bombs when he was in the bushes. Due to discrepant watches, add five minutes per flight to these times for actual flight time.
As a group we were horrible at the bomb drop. Kurt, however, had no trouble with three bombs landing in the money zone. (I thought he couldn’t see very well?) I think the rescue helicopter landing next to the bomb tarp distracted many people during the bomb drop. I thought one of mine was going to hit it.
Flying conditions were pretty good both days. Highest altitudes both days were attained over Windy Ridge. Saturday people were getting up to 9500’; Sunday it was over 10,000’. Several pilots completed respectable triangles with decent Go-For-It points. No one reported results so hopefully each and every one of them will post their stories.
Prizes awarded were as follows:

Total duration: 1st Charley, Book Birdflight by Lilienthal, 2nd Ben Rogers, Hall Airspeed indicator, 3rd Leo, Video “To Fly”

Spot Landing:
Day1, 1st Jon James $25, 2nd Rich “To Fly” video
Day 2, 1st Charley $25, 2nd Todd Sonoma Wings cap

Bomb Drop:
Day 1, 1st Vince $20, 2nd & 3rd Kurt $12
Day 2, 1st Kurt $10, 2nd Leo $3

Max Altitude: Leo both days, D1 book Harry and the Hang Glider, D2 windsock

I had a big fun weekend. The last hour and a half of my flight Sunday was after my instrument battery died. It was eerily quiet and hard to stay cored. I gotta say too, it was really fun nailing the spot at the end of the day with everyone watching. To get that close takes a certain amount of luck. But hey, I’ll take it!
The club made a couple bucks from entry donations too.
I have a green camelback someone left in the LZ. Let me know if somebody knows who’s it is. I will see that they get it. Also contact me for unclaimed prizes.
Staurday we launched 35 gliders in an hour. Sunday it took an hour and a half for around 30 gliders.
Charley

Name	Total Duration	Spot Distance	Bomb Distance	Max Altitude
Vince Endter	2:46	85ft.	32ft.
Charley Warren	7:06	4ft.4in.	150ft.	10,023ft.
Greg Sugg	5:14	15ft.	100ft
Kurt Bainum	5:07	60ft.	51.3,143,19.5
Bernard Sterling
Leo Jones	5:37	25ft.Whack!	110ft.	9528ft/10,152ft.
Everett	2:12	81ft.	168ft.
Todd Robinson	2:07	14ft.9in.
Doug Carmichael	2:18	29ft.Bonk!
Clifton
Roy Wormington
Chris McKeon	1:08	110ft.3in.
Larry Smith	2:39
Jon James	2:36	8ft.
Steve Acton	1:30
Mike Kunitani	4:54	52ft.6in.
Bob Stanley	4:11			9,927ft.
Matt Jagelka	4:18
Tom Wormington
Bob Bruns	1:59
Rajiv Z.
Ben Rogers	6:58
Joe W.	2:51
Grant K.	2:31
Joel
Rich Sauer	2:10	35ft.
Sridhar	1:10