Subject Oahu

From: Author: Dan Keyser
Activity_Date: 12/23-1/6
Remote Name: 24.8.188.224

Comments

Comments: Sharon and I went to Oahu on Dec 23rd and returned 1/7 on the proverbial red-eye. Hawaiian Airlines I am sure was the originator of the term red-eye as it was impossible to sleep on the way home, so if this posting appears a bit disjointed it is due to sleep deprivation. However, the 87 degree daytime temps and 71 degree nite time temps made for wonderful weather. It only rained once! A high pressure system was centered north and south of the islands most of the time we were there which blocked the normal trade (NE direction) winds. The wind with exception of a couple of days blew from the south to southwest. This was not as favorable for paragliding but time was not wasted according to Sharon's newest definition of waiting.... "paralaxing."

The 26th we went to the northwest end of the island with the folks from Gravity Sports along this rugged road to a spot named Makua. After a short hike (10/20 min) we came to the launch site. It consisted of tall grass and very grabby thorn-like bushes on a near vertical launch site. You literally stood on the side of this very steep hill hoping the grass would hold long enough to allow you to pull your wing up from an almost overhead starting position, praying the cycle would be strong enough to keep you from rolling down this 600 foot 65-70 degree hillside. You were told not to land out in the field below as it still contained live unexploded bombs/ammunition. Are we having fun? It took sometime to get Sharon launched after her wing mated with the thorn bush and by the time I was ready the conditions had changed sufficiently that I decided to pack up. So I watched as one of the tourists from Japan with his new Epsilon 3 wing blew launch after launch in progressively weaker and weaker conditions. The last hurrah was to have him do a forward launch that ended up with him bouncing 200' down the vertical face of the launch. Fortunately, he stopped at a ledge that kept him from falling an additional 300' straight down the mountain. It was this stringy grass that loved to wrap itself around your lines which also kept the man from serious injury I'm sure! Sharon had a great sledder to the sandy beach about a mile from launch. Me, I drove the car back down the mountain, hoping I was going back the right way as there were about 6 "Y's" that still could have had me wandering somewhere in the middle of the island.

Because the conditions were so poor we beached it for a couple of days watching the locals surf in very big surf. The white water from the waves is bigger than the surf here in So. California. The current along the beaches almost qualifies as grade 3 rapids. But we were not to be disappointed for long. On the 28th we were told the winds were just right for Makapuu! Look at your December paragliding magazine as it is the featured site. We met at the LZ and while I was waiting to meet the site guide, Pete from Gravity sports, Sharon and I started talking to a pilot from Alaska. In the course of our discussion he told us he had trained in Santa Barbara with Chad and since October he had over 150 flights. Not realizing he was counting training hill flights until later. When Pete showed up he almost was not going to let Sharon and I fly because of our limited flying experience. When we mentioned the fact that the Alaskan who was a P2 flew the prior day it was then that we determined they counted take offs and landings of any sort as a "flight"! So after I added a 100+ training hill "flights" to my existing 50 mountain flights we were allowed to fly.

The hike up to launch was about 10 minutes to this flat rocky spot. Boy was I glad to see what looked like a normal launch after the last one at Makua. The launch is in a venturi so the winds which are about 5-6 at the LZ are about 15-18 at launch with stronger cycles. So it is normal to have someone hang onto you while you are doing your reverse launch. After being pushed over the hill at launch one just heads up the ridge to soar over the amazing views of the offshore islands and the whales below you in the azure blue water. The flying is really simple as it is just smooth ridge soaring along a 2 mile ridge that we used that day to climb to the top of the ridge nearing 1500' straight up above the beach.

But the winds for the next several days only allowed us to play at Sandy Beach, practicing kiting at times in the strong winds when we were not playing tourist stuff elsewhere. I thought for the longest time that was going to be the only flight I would be getting only to have the winds blow out of the NE on our last day making it another Makapuu day. We arrived at Sandy Beach on our way to launch to drop off a bicycle that was used by Sharon's daughter while attending HSU this last semester. There Sharon was asked if she would like to take a tandem with the #1 women's paraglider in Switzerland, and #3 in the world whose name is Caroline. She flys for Edel. How could she say no! I acted as the anchor and after one aborted launch due to this grabby weed that lives about 1/2" off the rocky terrain that ripped two lines off her wing at the tip. Nasty stuff. As for myself I had another tourist from Switzerland who happened by after they finally launched to act as my anchor. I had a perfect launch and flew for about an hour and had the perfect landing at the tiny LZ down at the beach. Then it was off to finish packing and head home. Quite fun!

I took about 25 pictures while flying and I will ask Tom if I can post a couple to the web site once I get them developed.