Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Bristol (Stid Hill)
I really needed a flight. The whole week I was reading about all these great long flights on my friend's blogs, and itching for some more air. I passed on Harris on Monday to attend a party. I got too busy at work to think much about it on Tuesday, and then Wednesday, it looked okay for Bristol. So I called the mountain, she said sure, she'd be there whenever I could get there, and to bring a friend, or come alone, whatever. She said she'd be open late, and maybe provide a wonderwind near sundown. She also said that if me or my friends didn't get a soaring flight on the first attempt, she'd wait right there and let us launch again. Which was a good thing because when I got there, my two friends, Bob and Doug F were in the LZ packing up. My daughter drove us up top, helped me with my gear to launch, and both PGers launched again while I set up. Attempt #2 was a sledder for Bob, and a short soaring flight for Doug. I called Mark, who was on his way from work, to make sure he checked the LZ in case the Sled Brothers wanted to come back up. I waited for a little while on launch, then seeing nothing really great except my boyfriend down in the LZ, launched. I maintained about 20 ft below launch for a pass to the north, just like last week's sledder, then headed south. Now 150 ft below and near the old launch, I got beepings. Just when I was about to give up, I cracked a tight 360 and got scared when I see how close to the trees the backside was. But I gained a little, so I tried again. I pushed into the valley and got a bigger bite and now I was going up GOOD! I got 800' and then 900' and then just over 1000' over launch and cruised around. It was very bouyant and I lost almost nothing just heading north and back. Once in a while I would get down to 700' over but get right back up by the tower. The lake was beautiful, a tiny cu out in the valley made me wish I had been here at noon. Soon Bob and Mark and Doug were at the launch again, but my flight was almost over when Bob launched. I was losing altitude pretty fast and I moved away from the ridge to give him every chance of staying up. Doug launched and I went to land. It was nice and stress free setting up a landing. I did drop the nose, but gently, and I was right at the break-down area. A guy stops in his convertable and asks a million questions. Doug landed and Bob top landed (!) I called Mark to see if he was going to fly. Bob had re-launched and was getting up in the wonderwind. But Mark was walking out and he came to get me. Bob was doing big ears to get down and had a sweet landing right next to this guy's car, and he was saying how he used to play for Marshall Tucker Band- can't you see?
Fun night! 45 minutes, 1013' over.

Saturday, May 26 2007
Mark’s daughter is wrapping up her 2nd year at Vassar, so a trip to the Catskills to pick her up means stopping by Ellenville a day earlier to fly. The forecast was pretty great so we headed out early, and with my back aching the whole trip down, we got there around noon. A couple of Motrins later, we set up on top. There is always a huge cast of characters around there and the regulars were in full bloom. Al Ahl’s wife, Micki, gave Emily a ride down bottom (WITH Meesha!) so I didn’t have to worry much about her finding someone to keep her occupied (Emily, that is).
It was solid overcast, with some cu’s below the scuzz. But the lift looked pretty good while we were setting up- then of course it deteriorated when we were ready to launch. A few pilots that had been high were now just a few hundred over, and the ones who just launched were scratching a bit. When it started to improve, I watched Dean launch his Millennium and got up next. My run was wimpy, I popped the nose some, and wound up skimming the launch wondering if I should start running again. I had to straddle a rock near the middle of the slot! The glider was flying, however, so I flew it on out to the sound of a collective gasp on launch. In this case, I do think it looked a bit worse than it was, but I really need to be more aggressive when conditions look easy.
Anyhow, I shoved my feet into my harness- the CG-1000- and immediately got my foot wedged past the stirrup. I’m trying to fly the glider and extract my one foot so I can try again to get the stirrup. It’s wedged tight since I have all the bags stuffed and I am so unused to this harness. I finally free it and get them both in right, and get back to the business of scratching to get up. I try over the road, and just maintain, then Mark calls me on the radio to say some birds are by launch. I head back and wind up climbing up nice to the west of launch. Some other pilots join me and I am up 2K over pretty quick. I tried a few times to zip up, but now my two pull cords (‘open’ and ‘close’) are completely tied into a knot. On the Matrix, they are on opposite sides so even if a return bungie breaks, and the cords dangle, they can’t get entangled. It’s a two-hand job to untie these now, and I am trying to climb, so it takes some time. And I have an Atos or two thermalling with me, so I need to pick my timing. Finally I free it and go to zip up. No go. I’ve been flying for 15 minutes or so, and I can already tell that if I don’t get into my harness properly, my back will split in two pretty soon. Now I see that the stopper knot that I have tied into the pull is through the grommet – on the wrong side of it- and I am pretty exasperated at this point. I really just want to fly. Another two-hand job to yank it through and finally- FINALLY- I am zipped in and concentrating on flying. I did actually pre-flight this harness, and I was aware only of the return bungie being broken, but the things that confounded me in flight were all because of that broken bungie and my ham fisted attempts to zip in at first. Oh well!
Okay, so now around 3K over and that seems like the top of the lift, but I see an Atos higher and I go further behind the mountain to catch up. Okay so 3700’ is the top. I’m a little cold up there but it’s great to be at Ellenville and high instead of at Ellenville and at the vet and sledding. Mark has launched and I can see him near launch, and there are gliders all over. I get a good look around and pick some rigids that look like they are going somewhere and I follow. I catch up with Marcelo in the valley and he climbs through me like I’m in sink! The three gliders I’m with are going west, to some airport (Wurtsboro), and I’m game. It’s easy to get there, over a forest, and a sailplane joins me. Then I see the Millenium come back, and Marcello, and Dave, and we’re all together, but I am getting battered by a thermal. Mark calls and asks what I am getting for windspeed then, and I look and it is 16mph. Much higher than it had been and now I know why it’s a little rough and broken. But that doesn’t last long- it goes back to 6 and 7mph (mine reads a little low) and I decide to head back while I can. It’s a harder go than I thought and I express my concern on the radio. Dave calls back and encourages me to relax, and it works. I inch my way back to Ellenville, and the others decide to hit a point on Rte 17 so I am alone. There are a lot of TREES in the Catskills! And not too many places to land. Compared to Arizona…. But it really wasn’t all that difficult, I was just being a weenie, but I really didn’t want to land out since we had a UHAUL to pick up later. Back near launch and it is better here. I watch Dave come back pretty low, but he is on a rigid, and probably higher than he looks. Now the two of us head to the north, and we get up really high first and glide over the big plateau and thermal right over the lake up there. It is so cool to go this far- I have never explored much of Ellenville- it’s usually just sink rate wars in wonderwinds, so this is neat. I am getting the tour, and my guide Dave is over the prison but I don’t dare to go that far, so I settle for the other airport near Ellenville, and I see Marcelo again skimming under me, headed to the prison. Mark is on the ground now and my back is breaking so I head back to the LZ valley and boat around. I take one more climb up to 4100’ over the launch, and work on getting down. Mark wants to fly again so I will get the UHAUL, but it takes a big effort to find sink. 15 minutes later I’m on the ground and my back hurts so much I can barely land, much less carry the glider. Mark takes it from me, I get my ibuprofen, and we get him back on top. Different cast of characters up there now- hang gliding is not dead- they are all just at Ellenville, NY! The sky is littered with gliders, the launch is littered with gliders, and the LZ is littered with gliders. Never mind that everywhere you drive in town, there are gliders on cars. Mark sets up and has a sweet launch. I watch him fly a while and head down to break down. Andi flew her sweet little Sport2 and there were even a few other women flying later. Very cool. What a great weekend to go pick Laura up from school!
Airtime: 2:45
Max A2: 4085’
Plus a little bit of XC in there.

we drove, we carried in, we launched, we sledded, we landed...(plagiarism at it's best...)
but i can't say it wasn't fun!

Arizona Task 7
Writing this from NY - it is so hard to get my head back to the last task while I have mountains of work piled up before me. But I will try to put myself back there.
It was a bit cooler- like 103 instead of 105- and the forecast looked identical to what yesterday actually was (unworkable lift). I got my stuff together and headed to the tow paddock and as I was carrying my harness from the truck to my glider, it felt clunky. Or it sounded clunky. Or both. Kraig had told me the day before not to carry the Matrix like a baby- it would stress the hinge. Well, I guess I stressed the hinges. I took a lookl inside and I had blown not one, but both the joints completely. Uh oh, not flying with THAT harness. Good thing my sister Laura is my size and she just happens to have a harness. It's a High Energy thing with lots of cords and cables and I could fit a family of five in the storage compartments. Very comfy. Kraig quickly changed out my hang strap to a shorter one he had, and looked at my harness shaking his head like he is about to give a terminal prognosis to a very sick patient. I was all out of whack now- worried about my harness, worried about towing with Laura's harness, worried about landing wit Laura's harness.... so I tow up behind Jim and besides getting hung up on the cart for a second longer than I like, the tow went okay. He brought me downwind to where Mark was thermalling with Jim, but I couldn't figure the lift out very well or else they brought up the ladder on me, and I wound up landing back for another tow. First time this meet that I had to relight. Well, I am setting up on final and I see a dust devil on the runway and I figure I have time to land as it is moving slow. So I check the streamers and line up and next thing I know I am screaming fast along the ground and the wind has switched. Ah well, a fair downwind landing in my comfy new harness.... I have to take a tow behind the trike (another first this meet) and Corey blasts me up on a high tow to get me back in the game. Now Mark has landed and Jim is going back for another and Mark says to hell with it and heads for the pool. I am doing my head's up thing like I do in my CG 1000 and feeling the pull of the pool at the resort while I work my shitty lift for half an hour getting just 300' above tow altitude. Finally I just give up. I try to get streamlined enough to make it back to the resort, and it is an easy glide. On the ground I am kicking myself as soon as I get into the pool for not going for it. I realize that Mark and I are the only uninjured competitors that are still present that threw in the towel. I won't make that mistake again. I came to fly, and to compete, and even though it didn't hurt my standings, it did something to my psyche. Hearing the stories later of the so-so flight just made me feel like an outsider. Didn't like it a bit.
The awards ceremony/dinner was put on by the local club, and it was AWESOME. Great food and a nice place to eat it. I won another pair of speedsleeves (YAY!) for taking top female honors (yeah yeah, I know...)and Jonny of course took first place. Dustin and Jamie did a great job with this whole meet. I am surely going back next year. I keep looking at the weather there now- hard to beat 900fpm with b/s ratio of 9! It's like that today (Tuesday) and we had a couple of task days like that. Great flying there- big flying. The only downside is all that dust. I will reunite with my glider soon, try to un-short-pack it, and hopefully my harness with recover in Australia soon enough. I doubt I'll have it by ECC time but maybe the CG1000 will do.

Task 6 (aka “shoulda gone tubing”)
Hotter than hell out, we are lining up. Armand pops a weaklink and breaks a down tube. Davis gets in line and appears to wave off a Trike tow… hmmmm… maybe he should have a cigar, there’s a “real man” line in here somewhere…
Anyhow, it’s hotter than hell out- did I mention that? And I don’t want to put on my shiny new white speed sleeves (the reason I went far yesterday) but I do and I get in line. Everyone is breaking weaklinks and the gliders in the air aren’t that high, but I need to get in the air. Its hot out.
Jim puts me near a nice climb and when it peters out I find another closer to the SW where we will head out. All the big boys come in over me and when it tops out, they go start the race. I can’t stay and waffle and lose altitude, and even though I am below, I go too. I follow Dustin from below, since I think he may know where to get a climb and I am praying that he will crack a turn but he doesn’t. I am down to 900’, 700’, 600’ ugh! Then I grab a dusty and I am at 380’ and it almost spits me out but I start turning. I get to 1100’, now I feel high- until I see Kraig Coomber (not competing) and Mark Dowsett way high over me. Then I see the rest of the gaggle and they just look high. I try to keep climbing but I am losing it and they all leave. Damn! I get stuck in this area for an hour, getting to 2500’ and back down to 1000’. Over and over. Finally I leave, after some confusion about which way to go ( I wasn’t paying attention but I had gone way east of the TP) and that’s when I hit the mother of all thermals. I got the shit kicked out of me and I kept thinking at my altitude I may not have time to get out the ‘chute if I needed to. I tried to get my whole glider into it and climb some and mostly I did, except for the partly that I didn’t- 1600fpm up next to 2000fpm down- too small to get all the way in and it was kicking my ass. I hung onto the corner of my basetube and tried to tuck it there- stay banked so I don’t go over- and wrestled with this thing for a while. Now I was afraid to leave it, but when it seemed to run out of steam, I finally did. Mark D was on the ground now, Mark F was back at the pool with many others, and I decided that being on the ground after this short flight was just fine by me. I did try to find a climb to get back to the hotel, but that didn’t happen. I had a decent landing and the Mark picked me up- again before I broke down- and we headed for the pool. I got like 80something points for the flight- and my best placing for the meet. Guess it was a super low points day.
Shoulda gone tubing.

Task 5
The climbs started out slow again, but I was certain they would get better. I got to the edge of the start and tried to get higher but couldn’t. A few of us waffled at the edge of the town of Casa Grande, and I stayed there for what seemed like forever, then I finally left to find something better. I was only getting to 3 or 4 K and it felt really low. Bobbling over town, taking what I could – a preview of the entire flight. I stayed south along the scrub like section, and it was reliable, although 4K was about it before I would lose it. Just before the first TP, I got a decent climb from a very low 1000’ and Jeff and Conrad joined me. I was so far south of the courseline but hadn’t tagged the TP so when we topped out, they went south and I went north to get it. Then Mark Dowsett and I got together again and had a decent climb- now I am getting to 4700’ and then he ditches me while I get more conservative. Then my Mark hooks up with me and we tag the 2nd TP pretty much together. A slow climb after that for him and he went on glide and landed just past a town. I had a lot more altitude but my glide was fruitless and I went down at a golf course next to the highway. The whole flight was so frustrating- the slow low climbs, the long glides to next to no altitude, dust devil diving… Well, my ride was there so fast and Denise (the driver) had ice cold water and the Canadians got the rest of my stuff packed up (gotta love it when the ride is there before a total glider breakdown!). And then we got Mark and now I think my Honorary Canadianship is official. Mark Dowsett was blowing straw papers in the restaurant and Jim Scoles was trailing his tampon string and it was just general mayhem in the Mexican place. So it turned into a good day if not a great flight. Lots of people went down earlier so I guess my tenacity paid off. I am beat. I want a rest day to go tubing down the Salt River… please! It is HOT out here (Laura said it is a hundred-and-fuck ).

Arizona Task 4

Made goal today- with 11 or 12 others- but hey! It is great to not have to break down and wait for a retrieve! Oh and I wasn’t dead last into goal either!
The flight started slow. I watched as most of the pilots towed up and scratched around. The few that were on the ground didn’t look anxious to go seeing what was NOT up. When I finally launched, things got better. I was in an easy climb and near the gate when I took the second start. I think I actually glided through the gate at two seconds past the second start- way good! Today that would matter. I got low at first, on the edge of town, but heading towards the lead gaggle I found something really good. I was in it alone for a while, and outclimbing the lead gaggle and one behind me, then others joined and everything melded together. At 8K Mark and I went on glide together- a long really sweet glide. We matched glides pretty well (neither of us is gliding very well) and the next few climbs were reliable. I tagged the TP first and hit the second leg, caught up with Mark Dowsett and then dicked around looking for a climb below him and Dustin, then the 2nd TP I was alone for a bit and then my Mark showed back up. We flew together in some really light lift for too long- we’d go to leave, hit what seemed better and start turning again, then waffle in light lift only to repeat it several times. We wasted so much time there but I was not going to bomb out again today so I was staying too conservative. A huge climb on the way to goal got my numbers positive and Mark missed the meat of it, so I flew off and took a few turns with Armand over the mountain. He ditched me and I got a couple hundred more feet of insurance and went on a LONG glide. My numbers were good the whole way and I stayed just over and behind Armand- he didn’t know I was there. When we came into goal I pulled in harder and tagged it just before he did. Pretty funny. Now I know how the big boys feel on final. Mark came in just after and the whole place was just relaxed and smiling. A hop in the pool, dinner, Grey’s Anatomy… slept like a baby for the first time since I have been here. No giant iced teas for me before bed anymore.

Task 3 rewrite-
I wrote up a detailed account of Task 3 but lost connectivity before posting – so I lost it. I am sure it was worthy of a Pulitzer Prize but I will have to do a digest version.
In Microsoft Word….
I got off to a bad start – me the bowling ball, other gliders the pins. Thermalling in a gaggle is just really hard for me anymore. I am sure I was a nuisance so I went off little on my own. At the start, I wound up gliding below everyone else and almost missed the first climb. While I dug myself out from below, I watched a couple gliders speck out near the first TP. I found that climb at took it pretty high myself, but I was way behind and alone. I saw Rob Clarkson way low and felt a little better, and when me and my wheels caught up with Dustin, I figured I was okay. Then next TP was easy; the third, a bit challenging. There is a big dry lake that looks like a swamp and I saw so many gliders very low there so I got conservative. Jim Scoles and I hooked up and had each other on the radio and we tagged TP3 together. The glide after that was dismal, but I found a corker at 1000’ and he came over to me in it. That got me to 8k and I had positive numbers for goal so I started to go. But the 16 miles I had to go proved too sinky and I soon had negative numbers. Needed a climb. Mark Dowsett glides great and I tried to keep up with him but I was dropping below pretty fast. I was over the town of Casa Grande, with 6 miles left and I was desperate at 1100’. Not gonna make it- searched for a place to land and did so. Bummer. 5 miles short. Mark made it in, as did a bunch of others. I am maintaining my spot but it’s LOW on the totem pole…. Maybe tomorrow…

Arizona Task 2
Supposed to be the same forecast as yesterday, but I surely never saw it. I got to 5k after tow, then never more than 4k after that and most of my flight was between 700' and 2000'. I bobbled along for what seemed like so long, diving for dust devils, intersections, then just flying from tractor to tractor over the cultivated fields. I kept thinking I was going to land- I would pick a field, and lo and behold, lift! Scrappy, shitty lift, but lift nonetheless. I yoyo'ed for what seemed like hours, so low, getting frustrated, and then I flew over a feed lot- a HUGE feed lot, and once I smelled the manure, I thought maybe I could get high again. I was so overdressed for this flight, sweating so low, but this 'shit thermal' was going to get me to around 4K and I cooled off a little. No clouds, no more dusties to follow, so I stayed on courseline after hearing that Mark went down near a test track that was just north of me. I began to think that I might save this flight (mistake) when I was consistantly from 2K to 3K and the air seemed more cohesive. Then I saw several gliders in a field, just before the ridges that were my destination. I caught a little climb nearby, but lost it- I think I had "glider suck" - I headed to the big field to land, and almost climbed out there. From 500' I turned and turned and turned, but it finally sucked me in- the lure of the retrieve vehicle, presumably with cold water aboard, and I just gave up. I HATE when I do that. The sky totally turned on with clouds as I was breaking down with my new best friends- the Canadians.... Some really awesome sushi was my consolation when I got back and found out what an easy time the pilots who made goal had. This morning I rescued a nest of mourning doves.... maybe there will be a payback (other than the fact that one of the babies shit on me as I climbed down the ladder). Jeff OB's blog may have details on the heroic rescue....

I don't have too much to say about the flight- It was really nerve-wracking before launching, knowing how high we may get and how rough it might be. Jamie mirrored my biggest fear: if you are that high, and you want the flight to be over, it takes a very long time to have it BE over. But the air was not very rough, and diving at dust devils was pretty benign.... (from 3K- a "low save").
I flew with the lead gaggle for two thermals, then they ditched me while I got to a climb late. Then I flew alone and floundered a bit in a big flat area. I saw Rob Clarkson low when I was at 3 or 4K. Then I started hunting dusties. And it worked. I hooked up with Mark Dowsett at the first TP and tried to get him to leave at 13,000' since my hands were so numb. We did go on glide, mine was awesomely better(!) but in the end it mattered not. After a 20 mile glide, we waffled around with Arman and hit the deck. I saw a few others nearer the TP and higher.
3 hours and 15 minutes, I don't know how far I went. Just shy of the 2nd TP. VERY fun flight. The landscape is awesome, had good landing with full VG while I popped my zipper, great retrieve, shrimp for dinner, a hot shower, and bed. Too bad I keep waking up at 4am here.

14,609ft msl
13,192ft agl
fuckin cold....

the view from our room-

Arizona- Santa Cruz Flats- pre-comp

The meet starts today (well at least I got the day right!) and I did fly yesterday, although very briefly. The digs are pretty sweet here. The place was used as a training camp for the San Francisco Giants so it has a decidedly "baseballish" theme.

So I will try to update, remember to take pictures, and get myself into "comp mode". It's hard to do when we're not dealing with mosquitoes, deflating camp beds, howling pea fowl, shared showers, toilets in timbuktu, clothes on the wet floor of the tent....

Also, my sister, Laura, and her man, Corey, are here. Corey towed me up yesterday- thought I was at 3200', pinned off, realized I was at 1400', landed shortly thereafter.....Ah yes, here the A2 is NOT the same as A1.... this ain't Florida!

The dust devils we have been seeing are pretty scary. They are stories high and crop up anywhere. Cloud base is incredibly high... this is gonna be interesting.

I haven't written about my Mossy Banks flight on Thursday, May 3. Mainly because I don't want to re-live it. But thank God I get to! My launch was horrific. I am lucky to be in one piece. Jamie has a photo, but he hasn't sent it to me yet. I was flying (ie; holding on for dear life) the Freedom- wind NE at 15mph. Stupid stupid me. Cross, strong, too big of a glider for the conditions. 20 minutes after I launched, I landed. Kissed the ground. Jamie thought the air was shitty, Bob thought it was okay, Jack made it to Indian Cliffs, Scott top landed. 'Nuff said....

Training Hill Flights - May 2, 2007
Dana, my lovely daughter, is taking lessons, and I had to work all day, so Mark and I headed to the training hill with PG and the Freedom. My fist flight however, was on a 145 Dream, supplied by another pilot's daughter- Mandi Brown. Rick was concerned about the CG point and at his weight, he may not get a good sense of trim speed. I launched it in very light wind, let the nose out after getting airborne, and it is trimmed a little slow, but not so much that changing the hang point is needed. The strap itself is as far forward as it can go- without doing some fancy split around the kingpost and crossbar block. But the Dream flew well, no turns, except I wondered when the right wing dropped on landing if there may be a very slight one.
Back to the top of the hill I go to try the Freedom. It is much bigger (the Dream is such a toy!), and it felt more substantial on my shoulders. A good hard run- no wind now- and it launched really sweet. I was trying to go as far as I could for Mark's sake (carrying to the car), and screwed myself by not trying some hard turns (to see how much authority I have at my weight) but I am certain that in lighter wind I won't have any problem. I do need to hang a little lower that Mark's hang strap allowed by like 4 inches. Funny thing about my landing- I flared a little early and... .dropped the right wing some.... So must be me and not the glider(s)! I need to remember that the weight of this glider on landing is NOTHING like having a Litespeed fall on you when you flare too early.
Anyhow, the students were doing really well, some are getting way off the ground and even flaring some. Good class, lots of girls! In fact, last night at Padgem there were FIVE, I said FIVE female pilots!!!! it is truly a new millenium....
Going flying today with the Freedom.... just don't know where yet. It's the NORTH harriet/h-port/mossy/cliffs shuffle.