Pulpit - Feb 15

It was pretty much perfect when we got to the Pulpit. STFI @ 15 mph. We set up and the usual "how are we going to get everyone off?" conversation ensued. With six pilots and no extras, that meant four would go and two would stay and wait. So Shawn and I let the others go since they have topless gliders/ATOS and it was midday. We were happy to get a radio report that it was not too strong, cross or punchy. By the time I launched at about 3:00, it had backed off a lot but with decent, straight in cycles still coming through. I stepped onto the ramp as a good cycle was blowing right in my face at 8-10. I cleared Shawn from my nose and had a nice smooth launch. And then my vario said Boooooooo! I launched right into the backside of the thermal that was coming through. That was dumb! I know better than that and should have been a little more patient. Ah well, still had a nice tight approach into the secondary, landed on my feet. Nice to get another flight at the Pulpit. Forgot my camera, no video.

January 28, 2009 - Hang 3!!!

Yahoooooooo! I passed my test today and I am officially a Hang-3 pilot! My training began July 1, 2007. I got my Hang-1 on October 11, 2007. I got my Hang-2 March 8, 2008. And now, finally, as of January 28, 2009, I have my Hang-3. No more trying to find an Observer to watch me when I fly and now I can fly a lot more sites. Huge thanks to Shawn Ray for helping me get there safely. Hells yeah!

Hangin' 2 2008

So here is my video of my first season of flying. I had fun making it and I have fun watching it! Oh and USHPA has it on their website in the learning to fly section. They have 8 HG videos to encourage people to take up hang gliding and mine is one of them. Pretty cool!
http://www.vimeo.com/2645931

January 3 - Winter Soaring at the Pulpit

One of the bad things about having our main 3 sites all face NW is that it makes it difficult for everyone to agree on which site will be best. Will it be Woodstock? High Rock? Pulpit? For Saturday, most pilots wanted to go to High Rock but the forecast at the Pulpit was 10-15 WNW which is perfect for that site. HR was showing 8-10 NW which is okay but not as good. So Shawn and I talked and decided that soon enough everyone would change their minds and come up to the Pulpit. We met there at 11:00 and set up. Steady 13-14 coming straight in! It doesn't get much better than that. Not too much later the phone rang and we were told that HR was pretty dead and they were headed our way. We waited. And waited. We called to see where they were at. Voicemail. WTF. Gregory showed up with his Exxtacy so we came up with a plan so we could all fly. Gregory and Shawn wired me off first, I had a great launch and up I went. Soon after Gregory and his friend wired Shawn off and we played on the ridge for nearly an hour. The idea was to land after not too long and go back and help Gregory off. Gains were in the 1,000' range in textured air. I practiced some light wingovers and high speed stuff. I think I even got a little taste of some wave action. When I got around 900 over, I started really gaining altitude fast and the wind speed picked up noticeably. I got back down and headed out to the valley to land in the secondary. I set up my approach and due to the orientation of the field, when I turned onto base, I had a quartering tailwind, then I hit the gradient from the tree line. Wow did I lose airspeed fast! I always shoot very fast approaches so I was prepared to handle it. Turned onto final and couldn't quite get level so I had to run out the landing. Ah, well, they can't all be no-steppers. All in all, a great day, even though the temp never crested 30F. It was my first soaring flight at the Pulpit and also my first time with the Canon Vixia in flight. Turned out okay - http://www.vimeo.com/2719908