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Blackhawk

From: Southside
Activity_Date: 9/29/01
Remote Name: 63.17.88.19

Comments

I reserved a permit to fly the Topas on Saturday but at the last minute chose to head out to Blackhawk instead. One of the pilots I was flying with had been out there on Friday and had a nice flight and was ready to do it again because he thought the day would be much better. As it turned out it wasn't, but speaking for myself, it was a very satisfying flight...sorta. Despite all of my years of flying I still have a problem with airsickness. I have to take Dramamine, which of course, makes me drowsy. The drowsiness lasts for about two days, which is one of the main reasons my wife doesn't like it when I go flying. Well, on Saturday morning she was grumbling a little louder than usual so I made a deal with her that I wouldn't take the pills. Let's just say that that will be the last time that I will make such a deal. The winds were somewhat breezy out of the NE when we arrived at launch. There was a nice cloud street way out to the east of us, but it was clear that it was going to be a blue day along our route. Palmdale was our intended goal. Herb in his bastardized Exxtacy launched first. Unable to get up at launch, he fell off to the flats where he connected with something that took him back up to our altitude, but that was about it. We watched as he tried to fudge back into the mountains with his next thermal only to fall off again back to the flats. When we were setting up ours gliders I noticed some crows getting up in the middle of the canyon rather than over the main spine, so when I launched next, I decided to give the spot a try. Sure enough, I connected with something that got me above launch...all of about 50ft above. Soon, I was falling off to the flats too. Which is why this flight was so satisfying. I consider myself a pretty good pilot -- I think I can scratch with the best of them and I'm not afraid to give up a LZ to head on course, so in the mountains I usually end up flying farther than the average pilot -- but out in the flats I need work. My usual strategy is if I'm not going up then I'm going forward; I don't fly with a lot of patience. However, on Saturday I finally put it together. I was able to stay with the scraps down low until they finally turned into something substantial. In one case I even back-tracked a bit and flew off my course line a 1/2 mile or so when I saw a flock of crows working something off the deck; any other time and I would have kept on going straight downwind. In the end my flight was only 26 miles, but it was accomplished in open country, so in its own way it was of the most rewarding flights that I have ever had. Now if I can just do something about my airsickness.

John

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