2011 in Review

Spent a good bit of the past year working on my painting skills, doing various exercises, but without a lot of new work to show. I've been working with an accomplished artist in New York, Richard Murdock, and have been learning a lot from him. One of the main things I've learned is how much more there is to know ;-)
But I did produce a couple of pieces I'm pleased with. The first is a monochrome value study, a simple set up, but executed with more accuracy and nuance than I'd accomplished before. The second is a portrait of Jen. Again somewhat simplified in that I kept the palette pretty limited, but I'm happy with the result. Not perfect, but a clear step forward for me in terms of accuracy and finish.

Ringing in the New Year, KW style.

Spent Christmas in Colorado with my parents and sister, a nice visit despite a week-long stuffy nose(dry air). Returned to KW Dec 30 in time for a last day of 2011 dive on Ashley's Alternative Medicine. Low wind and decent vis, rare this time of year, and being with good friends made it a nice day, and a good catch was even better. We landed a nice cobia on line, and speared a grouper and a few hogs. Good eating!

More miles

Racked up some big miles this week, though all were in cars or commercial jets. Flew to TX to help Mom & Dad pack up the house and move to their new digs in Colorado Springs.

Its ok, Dad, she really is just going for the cake...


After a rather impressive string of send-off soirees in Corpus Christi, Dad and I drove one car out there, Mary and Mom took the other one to Virginia, where it will stay. Margaret, Dad and I got the house pretty well set up before Mom got out to CO, everyone seemed pretty pleased with the result. Nice to see all the family, though sleeping in a different place every night was starting to wear on me a little.
Massive T-storm south of Denver was astounding, though I was driving and didn't get any pics.
I flew back to Ca Saturday of Labor Day weekend, just in time to do load up the van and hit the road for Indian Valley the next day.

Conditions on launch were pretty strong when I got there around 3, and the gaggle of low gliders struggling in turbulent air overhead wasn't particularly enticing. I finally decided to set up anyway, and when I launched at 5 I was glad I did. The glass-off was really nice, smooth as could be with light but pervasive lift. Made it almost to Lake Almanor at 10,200, back down the ridge to Dave C's place, and finally back up to Manny's to land. Still finding lift all over, even as the shadows began to flow across the valley. What a difference from St John--the glider practically flew itself.
Stacey, Carm and crew put on a great dinner that night, lots of excited pilots talking big air over margaritas, nachos and super burritos.
Next day was driver appreciation, Ben, Wayne, Tracy, Mele, Ryan and I hiked to Homer Lake(after considerable, shall I say,"discussion" over best routing ;-). We got there, it was nice, now on to the flying bit. Got to launch quite late, but R and B set up and went anyway, for a short but pleasant glass off. It did provide some nice photo ops.

Ben, hamming it up over the moon.

Type or Fly?

The Man in Flames hot-foots it for the horizon. (Ask him about pioneering a new LZ ;-)


Well, apparently the choice has been flying...pretty far behind on the posts. I did get out to the St John fly-in, had a great time as usual. I had good launches, and though starting to focus on landing earlier in the game cost me a few miles, it kept the stress factor manageable, and I enjoyed the flying. The air was pretty ratty both days, the thermals tight, squirrely, and sharp-edged. It quickly became clear than I was not in shape physically for this air, shoulders tired pretty quickly from manhandling the glider so much. Still, flew an hour and a half or two each day and liked it. Great to be in some mountain air, great to catch up with the tribe, Julia did a super job driving, and the BBQ was terrific.

RG basks in glory and anticipation of a new XC bag for his new T2C.

California Dreamin

Well after nearly a year in Key West, I decided it was time to revisit the Golden State. Arrived a couple of weeks ago, and after spending some time reviving my ancient Vanagon and sorting a few other issues, have been flying and seeing friends and generally having a pretty good time.
Not having flown for a year, I was somewhat concerned with being a bit rusty, to the point of considering trying to borrow a more docile wing for re-entry. In end I took my trusty Litespeed out of mothballs last Thursday for a test run off the Ed Levin 300'.
Setting up was easy, the familiar motions bubbling up in muscle memory, and that made me optimistic about the rest. The glider felt comfortable and ready to fly as it settled lightly on my shoulders in the breeze on launch. A last minute mental triple-check, and I made my run.
Got off the hill fine, but immediately got both feet stuck in my harness. Used to wearing boots, today my smaller nikes slid paste the trapeze bar(toe control of harness angle) and got caught. Managed to keep flying the glider while I extracted them, but it was pretty busy for a few moments, and I was glad to get them both out(nearly losing one shoe) prior to landing. *That* could have been awkward. But hey, that's why we do test flights, right?
Got in a half dozen launch/landings at Funston the next day, and felt reasonably ready for St John on Saturday. More on that later....

Of f to the Races

Well painting is rolling along, but this was another water weekend.
Went out to the Vandenberg and strapped on a tank to help out my friend Kelly do an underwater scooter race.

video clip probably explains it best:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDlHIRyJM58&feature=feedf
It was around the Vandenberg, a big ship sunk in ~150' . The race course was ~halfway down.
The whole thing seemed a little silly to me, but it was fun, and well organized. Its a new "sport", so rules,equipment etc just starting to evolve. Lotta room for drag reduction, whether by body position or constructed body fairings, etc. I'm sorta drawn to the innovation potential. my idea this race was a 45 ahead degree mirror so she could tuck her head but still see forward. only kind of worked--she used a convex mirror, which mounted nicely on the rounded nose and looked great, but the view was too shrunken--hard to use, esp w marginal vis. Kelly won her class anyway.

interesting water changes--out there(~6 miles offshore) the clarity is not about local wind, etc, its all about where the Gulf Stream is. If it come in close enough, the water is clear blue, otherwise, greenish. Sunday the border was right at the wreck-- you could see clearly the demarcation on the surface. We started w green, 20' vis, but then the blue moved in, had maybe 60'? got pretty nice for the race finish and second dive was quite beautiful.




Some spent dive 2 working on lion fish eradication. Seriously.

Summer comes early

Wow.
Zack was like an aquarium today. Its been getting warmer, with more calm days mixed in lately.
I spent most of the day working, didn't get down to the water til almost 6, but it was still plenty of daylight. The water was perfect, refreshing after the bike ride, but not even remotely cold. Clearest I've yet seen there. Fewer barracuda, no tarpon, but some really big snook, and more grouper about than I usually see. Also saw a couple of hogfish, which I don't usually see there, but it could also be the time of day--they get more active toward evening. Also say a small skate. Probably always there, but easier to pick out with the water so clear.
The moray that I'd seen a couple of times seems to have found a new home. Last time I checked his hole in the rocks there was a lobster there, and today nobody home at all. Too bad, he added some spice to the neighborhood.

There was a bit of current outside, and I spent a leisurely 20 minutes working my way against it up the shore, and then drifted back down, watching how the fish react to human flotsam-- no scurrying away like when you're flapping arms & legs, but they still know you're there. Some don't care, but the snook and barracuda start drifting also, pacing you, keeping just a little space, then slowly drift sideways & away. Nobody much likes being followed.

Anyway, what a great way to relax at the end of the day. A workout if you want it, and so much more entertaining than watching pool tiles go by ;-)