Wilcox Convergence

[andy]

Friday looked windy out of the NW, but the airport was saying 220 at 14 so I went over to the cox to check it out. I found some west at 15 or so and kited for a few mins then it went SW and I flew for a while and landed while Benson grabbed his wing. I felt something that was just not right, but I chalked it up to over-cautious thinking because the tide was so high. Anyway it was getting more straight all the time so I relaunched and had a few good passes about 150 over when Kev and Magic show up I fly over and do some wingovers to come down but I'm still going up. I head a little farther west and I gain 500 feet pretty quickly, I'm thinking it is a ripper thermal, or a convergence. With a little flying around and a gain of another 500 feet I'm pretty sure its a big convergence. I see whitecaps to the East and none to the West. Every time I try to go West I go up and it gets pretty spanky, so I finally decide to go East. I leave with 1500 or so and figure I have shoreline park easy. Well after I pass Mesa Drive it mellows out and I start descending, a couple of birds are next to me checking out the sitch so I just keep cruising with them untill I get to Ledbetter, I was still about 7-800 over but it is pretty mellow so I thow down some wingovers for a quick descent and end up on the beach, where it is blowing SSE at about 10-12. Shortly Kevin and Magic show up for retreive, and relief that they didn't have to call the coast gaurd....Kev thought I was going to get blown out to sea.

Later I guess it turned SSE and Bensen flew to Shoreline or Ledbetter before it turned calm.

I learned that the leading edge of the convergence is where the most turbulence and the strongest lift is. The air in that zone is very dense and fluid with mass movements that I just had to ride even though it didn't feel good. I did load the wing with Big Ears and Speed but I was still going up, but it felt more stable. Once I turned it felt like I was going with the wind although everything on the ground was showing the opposite...the flag at the harbor was SSE, I think maybe it was like coming down the face of a wave, thats why I felt the descent and the speed. Also learned to follow the birds for a smoother ride.

Andy

[wblamb]

The wind was se, maybe 150 at 8, but I got up nicely at Wilcox. After a couple of top landings I felt I was high enough for a run to Shoreline or Ledbetter.
My previous trips on this route had always been with a tail wind, and when I top landed Mark and Parma Chris were on the ground talking about the unusual conditions. The slow trip heading into the wind was spectacular. The air was crisp and clear. The coast, mountains, islands and foamy water below were amazing. The lack of beach made the view even more interesting.
At Shoreline Park I had enough altitude to top land, but decided to head to Ledbetter, even though there were signs that the wind was backing down a bit.
Previously, when I came around the corner at Ledbetter I would turn north and then hook a turn into the wind for a nice beach landing. Today there was no beach. I knew the tide was high, but it had been going out since Andy flew over an hour ago. The only option at this point was to fly downwind and get as close to shore as possible. I did a downwind landing in waist high surf.
It takes some time to get out of my harness so I disconnected the canopy and tried to drag it to shore. This is when things got ugly. It was all I could do to keep to wing from being dragged into deep water, and within a few minutes my air bag became a water bag, making it hard to move in any direction.
It seemed like hours later, but it was probably ten minutes later when I got help from a surfer and a guy on the beach. It took the three of us at least 20 minutes to wrestle the canopy from the waves and rocks. By the time I got the wing in the bag it had at least twenty broken lines and several large tears.
I tried to carry the glider up to the road at the east end of shoreline, but it weighed well over 100 lbs with the water, kelp and sand. I left the glider on a wood platform and walked home with the rest of my gear.
Taking a shower with my harness and jacket I thought to myself, I almost hope someone steals the glider so I won't have to deal with cleaning, repair and sale of a questionable canopy.
Ninety minutes later when I went to retrieve the wreckage it was gone.


Yes, I had a hook knife.

Thanks to Parma Chris and Kevin for looking for me, the salt water killed my phone.

[Robb]

WOW! Glad you're alright - seems like a lot of work just to get a new wing...

[diablo]

A pilot in Europe drowned in similar circumstances recently.

[wblamb]

Neither of us will do it again..........