Chiefs Peak 8/23/09

[Robb]

Today was a day to seperate the men from the boys.

Art, Ron, Bob H., Randall, Andy D., and I loaded into OJ's truck with Fast Eddie and headed up to Chiefs. The cycles on launch were strong, stronger than normal and powerfull enough for all of us to agree that Chiefs can be more turbulent than Pine. Ron made up for last week and had a perfect launch, and the rest of us, very slowly, followed.

I found the lift above the turn in the road to be very dynamic, but nothing compared to the a$$-whopping to come. Ron took the high road west, flying along the back ridge, while Andy tried to the East. Art and Bob had already headed west when I followed, and soon Andy was following Ron along the back ridge.

My glide to Stooges was different - - air speed 16, indicating ~7mph headwind; but my glide was great and I arrived with 42. Bob was ahead of me and hit sink, so I took a slightly different course and arrived at Bruces point above him. We both worked the lift a bit but it felt like being an extra in "Enter the Dragon". Bob is clearly the smarter and more experienced pilot as he ran for the front ridge while I stuck around doing gymnastics.

On the front ridge Bob and I were again sharing a thermal, but only because I didn't want him to see me running away screaming like a little girl. It was one of those days when you know you're either going to catch a screamer to the moon, or be smashed down on the rocks below. At one point he pushed a bit further west, while I allowed the wind to push me a bit east. As Andy sailed overhead at 5,500, OJ was sinking off the east end and looking like he wouldn't make it over the outer ridge to get to the bowling alley. Bob's play had worked, and he announced he was heading for the highschool to join Ron and Art.

At this point I was back in the bowl between the front ridge and Bruces point, pointed towards the high school but moving towards Chiefs peak. And violently up. And violently down. And Pitching, yawing, and rolling. And at 3,300 I was sure I wasn't going to make it to Topa school where OJ had landed.

I pushed out and just cleared the outer ridges and bounced along to the field at Topa School. There was lift, sink, and wind, and that school yard was looking smaller and smaller as I bounced around. Two women came out of one of the buildings to watch and I remember thinking "don't mess this up with an audience..." just as a strong bubble popped me back up and into the wind.

I turned right, but didn't think I would have enough clearance above the trees to make an S-turn back so I continued full circle.

Boys are the ones who need big, green, grassy fields in order to land. Men, and I include Randall and myself in this catagory, arn't limited to these picture-perfect LZ's. Oh, no! We decide what's an LZ, not some guy with a garden hose and a bag of turff builder.

About the time I was 3/4's of the way through that circle, and looking at the power lines between me and the school (at about eye level), I decided the ranch house with the red asphalt roof would make a good LZ. The roof was pretty flat, and while not quite as big as the school field, it was much closer. I had a couple of seconds to plan my approach (that would be about 200 heart beats) and I decided the power lines on the east side of the road were just far enough away to let me land on the road instead. I took some time to consider the delay and risk associated with jumping off the red roof and made the call to land in the road instead.

I'm sure OJ was amazed to hear me on the radio saying I had landed safely, but not nearly as amazed as I was. Put a cone in a football field, and I'll miss the whole field; on a thermic and windy day in the middle of town I had a text book landing between power lines and even managed to accordian my wing on the sidewalk. Go figure.

About the time I was folding up back at the school yard, Randall announced he was leaving Chiefs with 6k feet. By the time he arrived at Bruces, he couldn't make the high school, in fact he couldn't even make the bowling alley. But Randall is a real man (even if there is a meadow named for him on the slopes of Pine) and made his own LZ as well. We drove around whistling and honking the car horn while he reported "closer" and "farther" on the radio until a farmer told us how to find him: right between the avacados and the lemons. Sure enough, there he was in a space big enough to spread out most of his wing. We helped him get packed up and were back to NHS just after Eddie returned.

Next time, I'm sticking with the boys.

[Marty DeVietti]

Thanks for the entertaining and 'contrite' account, Robb!

[pengoquin]

I'm usually envious of the flights that you report, but not crushed about missing this one. Thanks for a great post.

[Joel DJ]

Great write up-- I got all puckered up just reading along! You should think about submitting that one to USHPA, I think they'd love it.