A track from last spring: Ed Levin to Mission Peak and back
That moment...
Launching from Star Peak, NV
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
St John Fly-in
So after driving all to hell and gone this month going to the big comps (Chelan, the nats at King) only to find tough conditions and short flights, I had one of my most enjoyable flights this year at the Sonoma Wings Fly-in.
This is my third year going to the event. The road up to launch is longish, so I only go once a year for the meet. The Wings are a great crew and put on a really fun event, with a challenging, interesting site, a nice flat LZ/camping area (complete with irrigation ditch for that post-flight dip to rinse the dust and cool the soul), and Ernie and EC's incomparable BBQ. Its one of the most consistently enjoyable events I attend.
The task Saturday was an optional open distance/out and back, pilot's choice. Double points for the return leg made it look pretty attractive if the wind wasn't too bad.
I got up to 9300 or so over the peak in somewhat turbulent lift and headed north along the main ridge, a little bit out in front of it in respect of the long glide out. The lift over the spines was tricky-- some strong pockets that made you think you were getting somewhere, but I was consistently losing altitude crossing over the first 3 spines. Also the wind direction seemed to be shifting at different altitudes, so I was having a hard time get a fix on it. At one point I got lower(4K) than I liked deeper in the range than I liked, and found myself working hard in ratty lift just to stay up over the trees. My shoulder was starting to act up with all the manhandling the glider required, and then I could barely see through all the sweat and sunscreen running into my eyes, so I was pretty relieved to finally scratch up/out to a point where I clearly had a good LZ on glide.
I caught my breath and assessed my position, the terrain, the wind, and decided I had gotten as far north as I was going to, and if I was going to sink out, I would at least go for some of those double-point return miles on my final glide. There's a smaller N-S ridge in the middle of the valley which looked like the best potential trigger point, and getting over it would make the retrieve easier, so I headed that way. Then things started getting really nice. I found a fat, lazy thermal over the ridge. No rocketship, but so smooth, easy and consistent to circle in I didn't mind waiting a little while to get my altitude. Got up a little over 5k and kept cruising south, no serious sink and regularly spaced thermals took me back up whenever I got down near 3K. The wind had backed off or shifted, so I had no headwind, possibly a slight tailwind most of the time. Really relaxed flying, but low enough to have a nice view of the rural landscape. Still had to pay attention as the road meandered nearer and farther from the ridge, but after a while I got pretty comfortable with the idea I was going to make it back all the way to Stonyford, and just started enjoying the scenery. Couldn't pick out Mary's place in the valley (the LZ) right off, kept scanning around until I realized I was right over it! Still had lots of height, so I kept south toward the foothills near Gilmore Peak. Thought I could tag it and get back, but didn't want to spoil the day's relaxed ambiance, so I cruised back, did a few wangs on the way down and came in between dust-devils for an uneventful-if-slightly-clumsy landing in dead calm. 3:24 flight time, 16 miles out, 17 return, big grin.
Sunday was a race to goal, tag Gilmore and land at Mary's. Flying my first timed event was fun, definitely a different mindset than just going for miles, another layer of strategy. I spent a little time going for another 1000 feet over launch, but eventually got it, and went on a long smooth glide for the turnpoint. Tagged it, skipped a nice thermal over it, thinking I could just glide back, and immediately regretted the choice as I hit heavy sink. I got just about out of the foothills, but the glide to Mary's looked iffy, so I spent 8 minutes in weak broken lift there to gain 400 feet, which turned out to be just enough to get home. While I was scratching, Monty, my nearest competitor, who had launched just after me, passed me by 1000 feet higher, argh.
I raced to Mary's, getting there maybe 250 over, but now my low altitude was to my advantage as I swooped in to land just before Monty. Fun, though he still beat me by a couple of minutes on elapsed time.
The two days together were enough to get 3rd place overall and a nice new glider bag. I'll be back next year. ;-)
This is my third year going to the event. The road up to launch is longish, so I only go once a year for the meet. The Wings are a great crew and put on a really fun event, with a challenging, interesting site, a nice flat LZ/camping area (complete with irrigation ditch for that post-flight dip to rinse the dust and cool the soul), and Ernie and EC's incomparable BBQ. Its one of the most consistently enjoyable events I attend.
The task Saturday was an optional open distance/out and back, pilot's choice. Double points for the return leg made it look pretty attractive if the wind wasn't too bad.
I got up to 9300 or so over the peak in somewhat turbulent lift and headed north along the main ridge, a little bit out in front of it in respect of the long glide out. The lift over the spines was tricky-- some strong pockets that made you think you were getting somewhere, but I was consistently losing altitude crossing over the first 3 spines. Also the wind direction seemed to be shifting at different altitudes, so I was having a hard time get a fix on it. At one point I got lower(4K) than I liked deeper in the range than I liked, and found myself working hard in ratty lift just to stay up over the trees. My shoulder was starting to act up with all the manhandling the glider required, and then I could barely see through all the sweat and sunscreen running into my eyes, so I was pretty relieved to finally scratch up/out to a point where I clearly had a good LZ on glide.
I caught my breath and assessed my position, the terrain, the wind, and decided I had gotten as far north as I was going to, and if I was going to sink out, I would at least go for some of those double-point return miles on my final glide. There's a smaller N-S ridge in the middle of the valley which looked like the best potential trigger point, and getting over it would make the retrieve easier, so I headed that way. Then things started getting really nice. I found a fat, lazy thermal over the ridge. No rocketship, but so smooth, easy and consistent to circle in I didn't mind waiting a little while to get my altitude. Got up a little over 5k and kept cruising south, no serious sink and regularly spaced thermals took me back up whenever I got down near 3K. The wind had backed off or shifted, so I had no headwind, possibly a slight tailwind most of the time. Really relaxed flying, but low enough to have a nice view of the rural landscape. Still had to pay attention as the road meandered nearer and farther from the ridge, but after a while I got pretty comfortable with the idea I was going to make it back all the way to Stonyford, and just started enjoying the scenery. Couldn't pick out Mary's place in the valley (the LZ) right off, kept scanning around until I realized I was right over it! Still had lots of height, so I kept south toward the foothills near Gilmore Peak. Thought I could tag it and get back, but didn't want to spoil the day's relaxed ambiance, so I cruised back, did a few wangs on the way down and came in between dust-devils for an uneventful-if-slightly-clumsy landing in dead calm. 3:24 flight time, 16 miles out, 17 return, big grin.
Sunday was a race to goal, tag Gilmore and land at Mary's. Flying my first timed event was fun, definitely a different mindset than just going for miles, another layer of strategy. I spent a little time going for another 1000 feet over launch, but eventually got it, and went on a long smooth glide for the turnpoint. Tagged it, skipped a nice thermal over it, thinking I could just glide back, and immediately regretted the choice as I hit heavy sink. I got just about out of the foothills, but the glide to Mary's looked iffy, so I spent 8 minutes in weak broken lift there to gain 400 feet, which turned out to be just enough to get home. While I was scratching, Monty, my nearest competitor, who had launched just after me, passed me by 1000 feet higher, argh.
I raced to Mary's, getting there maybe 250 over, but now my low altitude was to my advantage as I swooped in to land just before Monty. Fun, though he still beat me by a couple of minutes on elapsed time.
The two days together were enough to get 3rd place overall and a nice new glider bag. I'll be back next year. ;-)
Sweet day in Monterey
So I'm going off topic here for a bit to revisit one of my (semi) past loves, freediving. Heard there were halibut in pretty close at Monterey, and just had to go look for'em. As it turned out, didn't see many, but still had a beautiful dive.
The sea was dead flat when Mario and I rolled up, sunny, with some patchy fog offshore and enough breeze to give a little ripple to the surface texture. We suited up and entered the water near Lover's Point. The shallows were quite clear, but once you went out a little way the top 10-15' took on a decidedly yellow-red tint (nacent algae bloom, I think) and the vis was only 5' or so. But on each dive, you would pierce that layer and suddenly it would open up to 30-40 and was just stunning. The top layer completely diffused the incoming sunlight so that everything was bathed in this perfectly even glow, and there was no surge at all, so it was crystal clear all the way to the bottom The overall effect was like sliding into a frozen crystal, everything still, everything perfect, and as I slowly came to rest near the bottom, I became part of that seascape. Felt like I could stay down forever.
Hadn't been diving much lately, so I was taking it pretty easy, but after a little while somehow that relaxed approach flowed into some really nice, long dives. The water was a relatively toasty 56, which also helped.
Anyway, after 3 magical hours we left, having spooked a couple of small flatties and played some with the harbor seals which were abundant that day. Reminded me of why I love diving.
The sea was dead flat when Mario and I rolled up, sunny, with some patchy fog offshore and enough breeze to give a little ripple to the surface texture. We suited up and entered the water near Lover's Point. The shallows were quite clear, but once you went out a little way the top 10-15' took on a decidedly yellow-red tint (nacent algae bloom, I think) and the vis was only 5' or so. But on each dive, you would pierce that layer and suddenly it would open up to 30-40 and was just stunning. The top layer completely diffused the incoming sunlight so that everything was bathed in this perfectly even glow, and there was no surge at all, so it was crystal clear all the way to the bottom The overall effect was like sliding into a frozen crystal, everything still, everything perfect, and as I slowly came to rest near the bottom, I became part of that seascape. Felt like I could stay down forever.
Hadn't been diving much lately, so I was taking it pretty easy, but after a little while somehow that relaxed approach flowed into some really nice, long dives. The water was a relatively toasty 56, which also helped.
Anyway, after 3 magical hours we left, having spooked a couple of small flatties and played some with the harbor seals which were abundant that day. Reminded me of why I love diving.
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