Flying Sunday or whaaaaaaatttt???

[Tony de Groot]

Well, I missed Saturday and I'm not seeing a ton of bragging or boasting so I guess I didn't miss THAT much! I heard reports of smooth lift and not much wind, except higher up and tomorrow looks even mellower for winds so WHY DONT WE GO FLY. I got Greg fired up, Ben H. is all frothed up. (insert Dr. Evil voice) Bo thinking xc....perhaps?? Zender potentially coming out? Thinking it's going to be SWEET. Thinking of going a bit early. Give the pro xc pgrs something to go catch...if they can. Big out and returns, going through the pass, landing out....do something!!!...or make up a great lie.

[JimmyZ]

Im in... packing the family up and will be at Parma around 10 - 10:30! Looks like it could be a great day from up here in the "Poc"! Lets Fly!

[Tony de Groot]

Sweet Zender. Yeah, winds at zero at the peak. Vandenburg shows very light winds through our flying range. Looks like my kinda day. Light winds, light lift. Looking for the buttermilk and hopefully can slowly explore the range.

[tom mayer]

Glider on truck, beers in the cooler, harness...check, helmet...check, instruments...check, I,m ready Tigerrr!
Parma at 10:30?
Aerohead

[andy dainsberg]

early launching was less punishing today. team flew w/ kevy from the r and r out to the powerlines. past castle we got crunched a bit but always got lifted. brendan charged up and overtook us on a spirited drive. i maxd at 43 over the lines and hovered @, trying to decide on the jump. the ceiling was just over 4 and i couldnt see downrange. bailed for the hot dog stand on an easy glide. 4 other pg pilots made padaro.

[Tony de Groot]

Killer day. Got low as well at castle but got scraped my way back up. Scotty flew by me as I was trying to catch every bit of altitude before moving on. Got to around 42 at the power lines and just didn't want to turn around again. I just wanted to keep going. Just kept going in deeper and at one point I just couldn't get any higher in the clouds and didn't want to keep diving in deep on the way to white ledge and then it was over pretty quick. The peak with the long glide to wideledge was where I got slushed off. I was eyeballing the dirt road when I saw a nice building pad type landing area and set it down nice and easy. A bit bummed at not making it and knowing I had a big hike but just as I took my helmet off Susy and Jason walk up and say, "Hi Tony, want a cold beer!!!!!" SWEET!!! They were friends from a mamatota baby class and we're always having our kids play togethor. They told me about their pad in the pass but I didn't know where it was. And that beer went down well and they showed me their property and we hung out and then they gave me a ride back. Unreal day!!!

[Tony Deleo]

Tony are you serious when you say "you weren't able to get any higher in the clouds?" It's illegal and dangerous for you and any one else who is flying in your area!

[Tony de Groot]

No, I wasn't up IN the clouds, just up near the base. Always had visibility. I couldn't go any higher or I would lose visibility. Sorry about the semantics. I'm not a cloud flyer, I don't want to run into anyone.

[tom mayer]

Tigers in the clouds are scary! And I thought that circling in the white was scary enough knowing that there might be trash bags floating around in them! What a flight you had today. The rest of us just floated and boated while you adventurous HG'S and PG's made a dash for glory.

[zippy]

Ben brought out his instrument flight instructor for a tandem. We got up to launch and as others were taking off (good thing because there we so many HGs there wouldn't have been room to set up). We had a chill flight cruising around at cloud base and Mike dialed in quickly. Airplane pilots are often hindered by their experience (usually think they know it all), but Mike was clearly an exception. Hopefully we'll have a new addition to our flying community soon.

If you know of anyone who wants a hang gliding lesson or tandem, I'll be around for at least the next 3 months trying to save up for the next competition season.

6996-FLY

Zippy

[NMERider]

removed by author

[Tony de Groot]

NMERider I got flushed off the same point you did in the pass on your video. I was well aware of that spot since I watched that video a few times. Watching the video I thought you missed the lift but I hit weird stuff too on that same point. It felt like lift but it was just a small spot of channeled wind and as soon as you started turning you were sinking. Of course, watching the video I was thinking, "but I wouldn't have been able to glide out from that spot on my Falcon" and that's the way it ended as well, landing out. We were both very close to making it. Anyway, hope we get a better day with a higher base and eventually see the rest of the range.