| Author |
Comment |
| Leo
Jones
|
St John - the
Mother of all work parties!
We had an incredible party at St John. If you missed it -you really
missed out.
On Friday afternoon Greg and I gave a
presentation at Fouts Boys Camp. I got them to set up my glider, and
we talked flying and hang gliding for an hour and a half. The kids
ate it up and were great fun. By the time we got up to the top of
the mountain Vince had already tipped half of his 20 wheelbarrow
quota of fill (and he finished the rest the next morning before most
of us were awake, and still worked all day!)
The boys from
Fouts were great. They worked hard and were fun to be with. We've
never been so "Yes Sir'ed" in our lives!
We had a total of 41
workers - 20 boys from Fouts, 20 pilots, and Linda who brought a
mountain of food, snacks and beverages for everyone. People came
from the South Bay, from the North Bay, from the Berkeley club and
from Sonoma Wings, with wheelbarrows, rakes, shovels and chainsaws.
They cut down bushes and trees, moved tons of rocks for the base and
together we tipped an estimated 50 tons of fill.
The ramp
grew and grew, longer, wider, higher, until by 4 pm we had ONE
INCREDIBLE RAMP. Kurt, Charley, Ben and Eric took off, to the cheers
of everyone.
We were all dirty, tired, and very happy. It
turned out better than we had thought it could. Is it finished? No,
- we can add more rocks and fill yet, or rather you folks who didn't
show up can, when next you want to fly St John. We left a
wheelbarrow, rakes and shovel up there for you.
On Sunday
seven pilots flew under a sky filling with cu's, and got to explore
Snow Mountain before landing in front of an appreciative crowd at
Fouts Camp.
What a great weekend! What a lot of good will and
good vibes. Thank you all who worked so hard to make it
possible.
Those who took part please post your comments and
feelings.
Leo
|
| Jon
James
|
Ramped Up
This was an incredible event and Leo made it happen.
You
won't believe how good the ramp is. I can't wait to use
it.
But the good will that was done is greater than the
ramp.
The boys were great, fun to work with, and the whole
experience was very positive.
We owe Leo a lot, for making
this happen, for the presentation, the landings at Fouts. This is
hang gliding activism at its best.
|
|
Lori Allen
|
Kudos to Leo and
all who helped
Gosh, just reading about it got me all choked up. Way to go! You
just planted some pretty special seeds in the hearts of those
boys.
Lori
|
|
Albert Branson
|
Kudos to Leo and
all who helped
I have to say that it was an awesome experience to work with
everyone. The amount of work that was done is a mindblower and the
energy that the work party put out was amazing. There were no
instructions, everyone just knew what to do. There was a cloud of
dust from all of the activity that I'm sure could have been seen for
miles. When Kurt got in position to launch, all the shovels and
rakes immediately halted and 40 legs went running to see. I never
saw a group that size move so fast in my life. The presentation on
Friday must have been great because those guys seemed happy to be a
part of the project. Judging from their questions I believe there
will be a couple of pilots born from this, not to mention they all
got a feeling of something better in life. I for one was touched by
what seemed like a longing for role models and we provided exactly
that.
Thanks Leo for getting this
ball rolling and everyone that showed up. I feel privileged to have
witnessed such an event. As I have said before, this club is capable
of great things. My hat is off to you all.
Albert
|
|
Shawn Stiver
|
Thanks To
All!
I had a great time working with you all Saturday, a very special
weekend without a doubt! First ramp project, first flight off St.
John, and given the opportunity to work next to a great bunch of
kids! (And the boys from the camp were great too!) Boating around
Snow Mountain Sunday, then landing at Fouts was a great way to fly
St John for the first time. Looking forward to flying with you all
again soon! My $15. is in the mail.
Shawn
|
| ben
rogers
|
ben's st. john
report for those who stayed in the bay area
St. John Flight Report:
We headed north both Eric and I, to
see what we could see.
We took our wings, we took some beer, and
went to the work par-tee.
Sonoma Wings had organized an
event to improve the ramp,
So we knew that before we flew we 'd
both know blisters and cramps.
Saturday dawned clear and
crisp and forty souls showed up.
But because I'd been Wild
Turkified, with them I didn't get up.
Still, at ten, I found
the ramp and grabbed a shovel and rake.
and with two score
pilots and jail birds, a ramp I began to make.
The wind was
light and slightly cross as Cumies started to pop.
And so of
course round 1pm most wished that we could stop.
Nearly 60
yards and 90 tons of rock and dirt were slung,
A nd by 3 my
wings were spread and my wires unstrung.
Three of us flew
seven miles that day to the new LZ .
It was a sledder but was
far better than shoveling rocky debris.
Saturday night Eric
and I had a wonderful meal.
BS and beer flowed round the fire; we
knew that the ramp was real.
Sunday morn was windy and warm
and by 9 the cummies were poppin.
We all set up and waited a
while as clouds were hippin and hoppin.
Cloudbase reached 7
by 2 oclock and so we started fly.
One by one we ran from the
ramp and each of us reached the sky.
It was a tad bumpy but
really not bad as our gliders bounced up and down.
Sometimes at
5k, sometimes at 8, at least we were over the
ground.
Thermals-a-plenty carried us from St John to Snow and
back,
F rom Letts Lake to Potato Hill while Greg in the East did
trek.
It really was an XC day, but alas we'd made other
plans.
All the cars were parked at the prison camp and that's
where we had to land.
So one by one we circled down toward a
perfect end,
hoping that the little show would hearten our juvy
friends.
All the landings were perfect then, as each of us
touched down.
But our prison buddies were getting bored and some
of them wore frowns.
But thanks to Bob their smiles grew (we
all know it's a fact),
Because he out-did us all and gave them
the perfect whack.
|
| Greg
Sugg
|
A Great
Party
Twenty-one pilots from the greater Bay Area volunteered their time
and energy to improve the ramp, Sonoma Wings members and non-members
alike. These pilots were: Albert Branson, Todd Robinson, Matt
Jagelka, Ernie Camacho, Jon James, Kurt Bainum, Leo Jones, Bob
Stanley, Charley Warren, Rich Sauer, Vince Endter, Chris Gallagher,
Barry Levine, Brian Lee, Joe Kurtz, Justine Yang, Ryan Woloshyn,
Shawn Stiver, Eric Froehlich, Ben Rogers, and Greg Sugg. Kurt's
daughter, Kelsey, worked on the ramp along with the rest of us.
Linda Sauer, with help from Kurt's daughter, Kimberly, made a
luncheon feast of sandwiches, melon slices, chips and salsa, candy
bars, and soft drinks. Linda also provided candy bars and cases of
chilled soft drinks for the cadets.
We had the help of twenty
young men from the Fouts Springs Youth Facility. The facility is
county operated and comprised of two separate facilities. One part
is the Youth Authority, formerly part of the California Youth
Authority. The other is the Snow Mountain Academy, which is a
military style boot camp. The entire complex houses approximately
one hundred and ten young men. The young men to who worked on the
ramp were cadets from the Snow Mountain Academy. They were under the
command of drill sergeant Shannon Langford and drill instructor
Grant Carmon. The cadets were a joy to work with and gave it their
all.
Some people set out with a chain saw to clear the burned
scrub oak stumps below launch. Some of these stumps were greater
than twelve inches in diameter. All were charred and sooty. The
chain saw buzzed on for hours. Most of the pilots and cadets were
busy loading and dumping wheelbarrows. Twelve wheelbarrows were in
constant operation all day. As you might expect working on uneven
terrain, there were numerous spilled loads. Most of us spilled a
load at one time or another. Ryan had a spectacular header straight
over the top when the front of his wheelbarrow snagged on a
protruding rock. Others hauled large boulders in on hand trucks to
retain the sides of the growing ramp. Some used sledge hammers to
decapitate and otherwise beat various protruding rocks into
submission. Everyone worked hard and steadily at their own
pace.
Except for some cuts, scrapes, blisters and sore
muscles, there were no serious injuries. Everyone was happy. We
(all) accomplished a great deal (maybe more than we realize). I am
glad I was a part it. We all had a real good time! The first launch
off of the new ramp went to Kurt.
|
|
Hangfly
|
Bad Boys do
Good
This was definately one of those "you had to be there" to
understand it events. The good will may even spill over to the
sheriff's department, if they ever talk to the drill
instructors.
Those Berkley Club boys ROCK! They quarried some
massive stones and wheeled them to the party. The cadets helping
them were obviously having a great time.
Success isn't a big
enough word to describe the magnitude of what was accomplished. The
ramp is much safer than before. That was the original goal.
Please don't forget that the process to make this happen was
begun two years ago. Leo endured more frustration and lack of
support than I could have.
Thanks Leo!
As was mentioned we left a wheelbarrow and a shovel and rake.
They are stashed in the bushes to the right of launch. Please get up
there and use 'em. The wheelbarrow is mine and I will be retrieving
it early in December.
Thanks to everyone who helped.
Hangfly
the Airhead
|
| Greg
Sugg
|
Those Berkeley
Club Boys (AND Girl)
Charley said "those Berkeley Club boys ROCK". I believe Justine
Yang is from the Berkeley Club.
|
| Jon
James
|
Boys
well then Justine ROCKS too
when you're standing on
the ramp
ready to launch
we're all boys
|
|
Eric Froehlich
|
Online Picture
Gallery
Well, I got most of the pictures I took up for you to view. Hope
you enjoy them.
-Eric
http://www.thermaling.com/sites/st_johns/gallery_002/
|
|
Ernie Camacho
|
More
photos
Here are some more photos taken during the work party.
Eric, I
hope you don't mind that I used your format. Enjoy!
home.comcast.net/~erniecamacho/stjohnramp/frames.htm
|
| Leo
Jones
|
Great work
everyone.
I wrote a thank you letter to Superintendent Brian Cooley at Fouts,
and also one to the cadets. I pointed out our bulletin board to them
all as a source of responses to our weekend, and as a source of
photos.
Again. thank you all.
Leo
|
|
Ernie Camacho
|
Re: Great work
everyone.
I've also added links to our club website's home page:
- to this
topic
- directly to the photos Eric and I took
|
|
Hangfly
|
Photo
Credits
Ernie and Eric, Great job on the photos! You're making me want a
digital camera.
Meeting the Cadets and working alongside them
opened my eyes to how good these young guys really are. I will
refrain from calling Snow Mountain Acadamy the "Bad Boys Ranch". As
long as they don't escape during our Fly-In again.
Charley Warren aka Hangfly
|
|
Ernie Camacho
|
Re: Photo
Credits
Actually, my photos were taken with Greg Sugg's 35mm film camera -
the same one that several of us have for taking in-flight photos of
ourselves. It's a Minolta Freedom Zoom, described on the web site.
Greg gave me some Fuji print film. When I had it developed, I asked
for images to be placed on CD at the same time (normally I scan the
negatives myself but I wanted to see how well the lab-created CD
would be).
Eric use a high-end Nikon digital camera. At least
I think it's a high-end model.
I also took some photos with
Shawn's digital camera. I think it was an Olympus. They'll be added
here soon.
So, bottom line is that either film or digital
cameras work. Digital is indeed easier for web display - less work -
but we're not ready to throw away our film cameras just yet!
|
|
Ernie Camacho
|
Still more
photos
Here's the last batch of photos that I have from the work party. I
took these with Sean's digital camera:
home.comcast.net/~erniecama...frames.htm
I
also tried to take a panorama shot in the midst of the action. It's
not at all perfect since I didn't have a tripod and people were
moving around. But, it's still interesting. Be patient - the image
takes a while to load:
home.comcast.net/~erniecama...hnramp.jpg
Note:
If you're using Internet Explorer, and if the image is displayed in
its entirety (long and skinny), right-click on it. You'll see a
button on the image that you can click to make the image
full-size.
The software I used has the ability to display the
image as a 360 deg. scrolling scene, but I can't seem to get the
browser plug-in to work. You might try this link to see if it works
for you:
home.comcast.net/~erniecama...hnramp.htm
Enjoy!
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|
