Oat Mountain, Filmore, gracecab 7/19/2015

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Oat Mountain, Filmore, gracecab 7/19/2015

Postby gracecab » Tue Jul 21, 2015 2:56 pm

From a different flight topic started: Preview: Re: Sunday 7/19 / 9 am at the Vons in Fillmore for Oat

I rewrote this to be more contemplative, than log-ish. Though I don't have much detail on the brief flight, I add some of my own personal reflection on the experience I had Sunday flying.

Tom Truax and I launched Oat Mountain, Fillmore 11:00am, 7/19/15. (Tom first, then me about 5 min later) With the very light SE flow with a Hurricane Dolores, there were light cycles flowing up the top launch, about 500 ft. higher than the lower "Silverliner" launch. (I caught a great thermal at launch, but quickly fell out the back of it- so headed down...) We headed downwind behind the spike toward San Cayetano 'ridge'. I scratched over the ridge after cutting a bit to far left (going on glide) and never recovered (landing at the end of Grand Ave. in the fortunately dry river bed (flash floods?) while Tom worked his way up and over to Santa Paula peak and then on to Santa Ynez, apparently a new distance record (67 miles). Much thanks to Mark at Oat Mountain for letting us fly this morning, I can't wait to fly with him again though this time he merely let us in through the gates...

It was a tremendous experience for me to:
1- try a new launch
2- 'hike' a bit to that launch (it was about 15 minutes? so, yeah that counts )
3- fly to a different spot
4- try a new LZ (pilots choice ;-)

Reflections:
I appreciated the comradrary of Tom, and his insights all up the hill, and this to me is worth the cost of entry... er, well... if there was one. Though Tom is at a slightly higher level than I (he's been flying these thar hills for over 30 years... i've been flying them for over 30 weeks :roll: ), he 'puts the cookies where the kids can get to them' and helps me make more informed decisions... calling out "hey, you are headed way too far inside... you can't slope soar this...there's no wind... head to the spine" as he's already half way from the bottom to the top... Others have done the same for me as well, for which I owe a debt of gratitude. We need to say something to eachother, talk, shout, whatever... as I heard Aaron Price shout to another sprint pilot at a recent Marshall comp: "Hey turn RIGHT (he was the only one going left IN the gaggle!), get with the program." We can't be shy about getting eachother dialed in, informationed up, and making the best decisions FOR OUR LEVEL of skill and intentions. It makes me think how important it is to have our radios ON all the time flying, as you never know what you will need to hear, weather, wind, anything that may make the flight better...

Let me quote something Tom has said in the public log (http://www.paraglide.net/comment/02/balance.htm) Worth reading if you haven't already:
Fortunately, we get to define our own goals, and I often change mine several times during a typical flight. I can remember racing home after work to get a 10 minute sleder, and loving it. I've been fortunate to survive 30 years of aggressive bold flying. Due to my experience, I'm playing a different game than most weekend warriors. Pilots have been hurt trying to do as I do rather than as I say. I am no longer commercially active, and accept only limited responsibility for the actions of others. I don't ever tell anyone to "fly safe". There is an obvious commercial benefit to promote the idea that our activity is "safe", but in my opinion it's not. An objective numerical analysis indicates our activity is hazardous (there have been countless twisted ankles and knees from pilots stepping in squirrel holes on landing). I do stress that pilots fly with focus control. Be patient and enjoy the acquisition of basic skills before moving on to more challenging scenarios. Be open to new ideas. Eddie Rickenbacker said that anyone can learn from his own mistakes, a survivor learns form the mistakes of others. I guess I can be a slow learner. Adjust, throttle, and manage your focus to fit the task at hand. There are some hard gray lines lurking out there that can spank us sharply when we get caught on the wrong side.

Though everyone in this sport is at a more or less different level, we all benefit from communicating what we know, and that has been my gain.

Again quoting from the same article:
Paragliding is a recreational activity. If you're not having fun, back up a couple of notches. If the craving doesn't return, then maybe it's better to move on to something else. There are different levels of intensity. Competitions are an excellent growth experience, but try not to measure yourself against the accomplishments of others. There will always be participants that have more or less of something, but we are unique and special unto ourselves. Our new experiences will always be more valuable to us than someone else's noteworthy accomplishment.

I couldn't have been happier to have my 5 minute glide, and 15 minute scratch session to the river bed experience this Sunday. Though I didn't get ANYWHERE near the distance Tom did, I did exactly what I was supposed to do: Have a measured, progressively appropriate, informed, fun flight. I learned things because of that short flight that I will be able to apply next time. I felt privildeged to be there for a new record distance "from Oat Mtn." flight in fact...and I got to get some firsts in to boot, they just wont go into any public record books, only my own.

I compare the flight to me getting to be in the starting blocks with Usain Bolt at the Olympics. That's a pretty cool deal don't you think... sure I would have liked to follow, but that's not where I'm at right now.

And I'd go back and do it all over again... this time I would get even higher up that spine... I know it can be done!
Chris Ballmer aka gracecab
Ventura, CA
UP Kantega XC2 / Gin Verso
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