Thursday is road sweep day.

[skyoutgirl]

Well, flying today was a new learning experience for me. Every time we fly, we learn something new, and many times that is something very unexpected. There is usually a way to apply these lessons to our daily lives, as well as to our winged avatars.

Met up with a medium sized crew today at 10:30 with the Eagle Van. The mood was slow going and peaceful with a calm camaraderie carrying throughout the van. On launch, there was a steady seeming cycle which got me and Aaron LaPlant crackin' about ridge soaring sky port. He launched first, and after doing some excellent starfish, got a nice ripper at the house thermal which he efficiently took to the RnR Saddle and onwards out of sight. Rob was watching over a couple of Eagle alumni on fresh wings, Ryan Martin from Alaska and VW Pete. Ryan had a nice launch and worked on learning the smoothness it takes to crank it up in tight strong lift. Next Marge launched tandem with Kev Howe as passenger, she immediately sky'd out over launch and headed to the thermal factory. While Pete and Rob got their radios synced, I squeezed off and launched in a great cycle (they were super consistent up there). The thermal off launch was tight and kinda ratty, but totally workable. There was a hangie climbing above the top of launch, who I was quickly gaining on. As I closed ranks, he peeled out to the RnR. I hung over launch several more turns working on more altitude. The lift was still strong and my flight plan was to hit RnR next, so I was watching the hangie work at the RnR and chose a time to go on glide after it looked like he was getting established in a new thermal. On my way, I noticed he wasn’t really gaining any altitude although he was turning a bunch. It was too late for me to tuck tail and run back to launch, so I kept on course. I thought he was maybe a little deeper on the rocks than I thought the lift would be, but as I got to him (we were at the same altitude) I hit some nice lift and Aaron had specked out here not long before. I merged and as we tried to work the lift together, I found it too hard to share. Lots of things making it tricky; me, him, conditions, low terrain clearance, etc, but it was too tight. I knew that he was there first, so I left him to work it. I peeled out to the more usual Saddle/Tit area to see what was coming up there. There was such strong lift over launch it seemed likely it would be great out there, but I didn't really get much. I think I started feeling the West wind a bit more there and didn't get a great glide over there. There were some bumps and pulls, but nothing I turned in seemed to stay together. The hangie eventually climbed up RnR and headed towards Thermal Factory. I tried a dive back to the low spot on the rocks we were working it, but just didn't get anything before my low altitude warning light went on. I cruised back to the Tit and across the ridge towards the holy hills. As I transitioned onto the Holy Hills I was flying super-efficient, just using leans to stay right on the high ground. As I left the Holy Hills, I chose to glide between the Round House and the Water Tank. I put a little speed on, and with the tail wind was there in no time. Worked a few bubbles, but nothing much was there. I got to watch Pete Shaw have a great cruise over the Round House area and a nice landing set up. I worked it there and then headed across the neighborhood. I was test flying the FlyPad today, so I spent a little time messing with it on that smooth glide over the hood. I felt a thermal materializing as I set up my landing approach (even saw some birds hooking up in it), and over compensated a bit for the lift it was creating, and came in right at the back of the LZ. It was a nice touch down, and I was able to kite it up to the breakdown tree.

Everyone was up there, cruising high and easy, and I knew my lessons for today immediately. I didn't apply a fact I learned immediately to my moves up there and sometimes I'm just too darned nice. I knew this hangie was a slower climber than me, so when I noticed him at my next turn point, I should have just changed my flight plan and gone somewhere less crowded. It's okay to be fluid with your plans, as long as the changes are well thought out. I committed and noticed my mistake too late to change my path. When I got there I was too nice, which isn't a bad thing, but it took me out of the game today. In a few turns I could have been out of his way and on mine, but instead I went wide and left the lift out of politeness. The lift was great at 3000 and above, if you got below that you groveled to the dirt and I got there quick today. I think these lessons can be pretty useful in a lot of our experiences out there, maybe you can take something from mine.

Marite and Dahveed were the last two pilots to launch. Marite was filming for a local show. She climbed out at launched then cruised over to the factory to hang out. She flew around for over an hour waiting for the camera crew to get set up at Parma for the landing shot. Nice flying Mari! Dahveed also had a good flight. He worked it at launch then headed to the factory where he didn’t quite connect. However, he caught a ripper at the Antenna Farm and got just about as high as all the folks coring above the factory. Chris Clontz continues to be a thermaling machine. He was all over the place today and stayed up as long as he could. He would have been up there all day if he did have to go to work.

See you up there soon, sorry if I snake you a time or two….
Happy turns,
Michi ( .

[sd]

nice write up. I enjoyed the flow and appreciate the insight into your reflections.