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....
