Ken Howells Hang Gliding & Paragliding Flight Log

Nice SE day with scattered cumulus (5k) after several days of rain/snow. Snow line was about 2900 MSL at 10:00 and there was a little snow in the shaded areas on 2N40 on the way to the 750; even a snowball's worth here and there on the 750 on the north sides of the brush. Good ESE breeze at the 750. I had been expecting a sledder, earlier.

Launched at 12:57 into a cycle and didn't actually get below launch. Soared a couple of hundred over for a while, then got one to 4000 MSL. The snow covered hills were a beatuiful sight; should have taken my camera. It was very cold on my bare face. I'm sure I could have gone to cloudbase or at least soared until I was numb.

There was a news photographer from the Press-Enterprise out to get some shots to go with a story on the University Hills development, so I only flew for 20 minutes. Worked a thermal from 600 AGL (2350') east of the LZ back up to 3000 MSL just because "when the ground is repelling you, don't land". Had a SSE cycle for landing, so I was able to do a left-hand approach to demonstrate the issue with homes under the approach.

Cloudy morning with extensive virga. Blowing in, barely, on arrival, then blowing down slightly by the time we were all hooked in. Ran hard for good launch. Right-hand approach to SE landing.
Good

Another hard run in no wind. RT approach.
Good

Rain splatters while setting up. I was first on launch and it was blowing down slightly, so waited a few minutes. Finally did a long hard run, all the way to the rock, in 0 to 0.5 down. No lift to be found. RT approach to SE landing. Wolfie launched shortly after I did (and landed before me!) then we were nearly finished packing up before the others launched.
Good

Cloud bands had gone SE, suddenly a blue and sunny day. Easy launch into SE wind, finally. East wind away from the hill, stuck in sink west of Cloud Spine until I got around it at the 750. Went to left end of bluffs, but no lift along bluffs. RT approach again into SSE.
Very slight left. RT tip uo 1. Otherwise good.

Another easy launch. Scratched near 750 for a few passes and then along the bluffs below it for quite a few turns. RT approach into SSE.
Great

Nearly a no-winder, but not bad. No lift at bluffs. RT approach to S final, good flare to feet-together no-stepper. Did not win any spots all day. Never less than 20 feet from cone, though passed right over it three times.
OK

Thin overcast and light S wind, 2-8 MPH at Marshall at 10:45. Mike launched HG ahead of me and got a few hundred over. I got the next cycle at 11:05 and was working puffs off the faces with the Sport 2 175, but not really above 4k. Same at Cloud Peak for a few minutes - just above the top of it. Could have stayed there for a while, I think. The sun went behind a thicker band and it was cooler. It was time to land and I was chilled w/o gloves and jacket. 3-6 MPH SW for landing at 11:20.

Good

A bit more solid SW at 12:15 at Marshall. Launched a Falcon 3 170 at 12:35 and climbed a couple of hundred right away. Buzzed Wayne and crew, who'd just arrived. Climbed again to 4700. Forgot to get my jacket from my truck in the LZ but my heavy gloves made it comfortable. Nothing over at Cloud, then a slow descent to the bluffs via the water tunnel area. Thermal right over the LZ when I was 300 AGL, so an extra circle or two, then into the SW 4-8 to land.

Wind turned north a little while later. It had last blown in at Crestline at 12:10. North winds weren't supposed to start until Friday evening.
Good

Mild Santa Anas were forecast, N 10-15 with gusts to 20 (they'd been backing off the strengths for a couple of dayss. This was good for EHGA's Turkey Meet. In reality it was blowing in lightly ESE, clear and warm for November.

Some wings got above the ridge to the left of Edwards for a few minutes. Most had extended sledders. I launched a Sport 2 155 just after 13:00 into lift and climbed, immediately left of launch, enough to do two passes over launch. Heading north at ridgetop height I hit sink, then mild turbulence a few times on the way out to the road-cut/point. A PG was working the N bowl around the corner and I got a bump way below him, but it wasn't big enough to circle in. A couple of bumps on the way out to the Marina, but I didn't circle in them. Got to the marina with good altitude and threw my bomb heading NW (about 20' from target in the middle of the LZ) and did a right-hand diving approach over the water to head in from the ESE, over a fisherman and a truck. The headwind was just a little more than I thought, so I landed on the outer circle (50'?) with my shoes in the edge of the big puddle.

It didn't blow down until late, a bit before local sunset. A rigid wing did really well late in the day. About half of the paragliders made it to the LZ. A number of pilots, both HG and PG, didn't fly at all. Nobody landed in the water. Wolfie (Wolfgang Seiss, Austrian comp pilot) wowed them with his first landing, swooping in low for his bomb toss then screaming out over the water and dragging a toe in it on the way to a nice flare at the cone. His second landing was more spectacular, with a big long water spray, but he popped up approaching the cone and had to flare high, landing hard on his butt and snapping a tip wand. The crowd loved it. Wolfie got 3rd in the HG division. NMERider Jonathon was 2nd and Doggone Bill Soderquist took 1st. Gene Embry got 1st in the PG div and also got the overall trophy. Mickey ran a great meet and the burgers were good. I don't think there was any tubage. Fun to fly at Elsinore again, fun to land at the marina.

We checked out Everyday Mike's LZ before heading up and while not ideal for HG it certainly looks doable. Only a couple of choices for landing direction and there's only about 30° difference between them. The area is sheltered, so landing crosswind and slightly uphill should work in most situations.
Good. Clean mud from tips.

Bar tack unravelling, left TS at #1 batten. Trim and glue or ?

Good.

Steady 10-15 MPH SE flow at regionals. Warm, not noticeably cooler than at the 750. Lots of mechanical turbulence near the slopes, not much lift.
Good

Left outboard transverse batten collapsed in the middle while setting sprog.

Wind more S and cycling from zero to 18 MPH. Slow sled all the way down to the far east edge of the bluffs before finding an expanding core that I rode all the way up to 4600, south of Cloud peak.
Sweet!

Windier at Regionals, but smooth. Some broad lift but still turbulent near the hill.
Wind straight east in the LZ, 5-10 MPH. Right-hand approach between parked gliders and wind sock. Six feet from PG cone.
Good

Normal

Sledder. Barely better than launching from the 750.
Good

Nice core at the draw above the water project tunnel opening. Got to just above 4k, seeing 900 FPM once on my averager; mostly 4-500 FPM in that thermal. Lift all around the LZ. I waited at 2600 for a lot of circles until the flags showed SW. Landed with the spot under right wingtip.
Good. VdVGT=62

Got to 5400 from Cloud and dashed back to Crestline. At the LZ the flags were pointing to the SW, listlessly. I approached from above the overshoot and would have been near the PG spot except I forgot the VG was still at full tight. Landed cleanly just beyond the north edge of the grass.
Good.

OK

Still some workable lift in places. On final heading for the cone I pushed out a couple of inches and held, hoping to climb and slow a little. I really wanted the spot since I hadn't won one all day. When I went to flare I pushed hard but the wing didn't resond. Ended up on my knees 10 feet past the cone.
Good

Good


Haulback bolt needs washer - Bill

Good. Top rear wire installation problem, caught on set-up. Forgot to attach nosecone.

Good

Good. VdVGT=65

Sweet glider. VdVGT=68 Good PP VGT.

Launched Marshall late, 15:00, from the top SW into steady 12-15, and found weak but persistent lift. Needed to top land by 16:00 and was concerned about getting high enough to top land from the very beginning of the flight. After a brief trip to Cloud and then getting a little below Marshall after the trip back I decided to land as soon as I got up. Got to 4350 NE of the lower spine and went in and landed nicely, stepping to my left as I eased the bar out in the still -steady SW flow at 15:30. Buoyant enough that lots of PGs and some HGs were hanging around at various levels, some PGs getting radioed in for top landings. One ended up on his butt at the right wingtip of Randy's glider, which was parked by the railroad ties. His PG was at the left tip of the glider. Gliders were still landing at the LZ in the dusk at 17:00. Many satisfied pilots, as it had been pretty good early in the afternoon.

Warm, clear, still.
Right-hand approach.
Good

Still still. Right-hand approach.

Switchy at LZ. Tight Right-hand approach after planning left-hand.

Just getting soarable.

Sink on downwind that I had planned for. Strong gradient on final had me pulling in hard for airspeed and abandoning thought of spot landing. Landed exactly half-way between HG and PG spots.
Good. Slight right turn VGT. Left sprog up 1.5 turns.

Wind was cross-right at launch for a few minutes before a clear cycle came straight in. Circled and climbed right in front of launch. Flew west across Devil Canyon to the hills by the Afterbay, then back over the power plant, where a nice core got me above 4k again (500+ foot climb) at 100-200 FPM. Good south landing 6 feet from cone.
Sweet!

Launched into lift and got above Steve south of Cloud Peak. Slow circling and steady climb with little drift to 5350. Steve, on a T2 154, managed to climb through me at around 4500. I decided to dash back and tag Crestline. Arrived below Billboard at 4750 about 16:15. Circled in lift right against the hill and climbed steadily to 6750 by 16:21. The thermal was quite vertical and was drifting SSE above 5500. Nice to get that high so late in the day. Stuffed the bar and flew out over CalState before going back to land into light SW flow.
Nice.

Clear warm high pressure day, wind at 750 SW 8.
A tandem and another glider worked up a bit from below the 750 as I was setting up. Launched into a light cycle at 14:25 and tried the bluffs, then the tree line, finding bumps but nothing really workable. Got lucky at 350 AGL over the north apron of the LZ and caught one drifting toward the VASI and then above launch altitude over the bluffs; great relief. It continued up slowly to about 3800 MSL, staying really well-defined the whole time. Worked the east side of Cloud Peak and above 4500 or so the thermal drifted to the south a little, weakening and getting quite wide. Later thermals had the same behavior, eventually taking me to just over 5100, for a 3100 foot overall gain. There were a number of PsG and HGs in clusters over points along Marshall. I guess it never really blew in at Crestline. I sank to 2400 or so above the bluffs later and another slow climber got me high enough to go work Marshall some more. Tight cores and pushing out with high-siding were the order of the day. Landed into about 10 MPH south at 16:00
Good. Mild RT, esp. VGT. Left tip up 1, RT sprog down 1 turn.

Clear and on the warm side, wind SW 12-16 in cycles. Launched my US 166 at 14:05 and climbed several hundred feet quickly. Knew there would be lift everywhere. The next thermal took me to 6800 with lift from 300-900 FPM. Went straight to the interchange, losing little altitude. Lift was on and off in the moderate wind and the point where the east spine of Waterman Cyn. meets the back ridge had a kind of standing thermal. Had that 'balanced on a beach ball' feeling in many of the thermals. Big sink at the Cliffhanger so I turned back west and went out the spine. Above 5k out front for an easy crossing to the radio towers. Elevator at Marshall and back to Crestline. Buzzed Rebar Dan and Shiloh, but not real low due to the wind. Popped up at Billboard, again at Pine to 6900 or more. Easy slow glide to Sugarpine, where it was on and off. Flew out straight south a way, then back to Pine. Grid of puffy clouds was getting denser to the west, so I decided to begin returning to Marshall to land. It was really bouyant, with large areas of 30-50 FPM down when it wasn't zero or slightly up. South from Pine slow out over the Afterbay and quick downwind to Regionals. Screamed up and did a lap to Crestline. Did an extra circle over Marshall and came around too low to top land. Went out front and popped up, then wasn't descending as I started another approach - bailed out front and sank to 3500 in the weakning lift. Couldn't find the core that went with the bumps I was feeling and then spotted a hawk above me and closer to the hill. Got under it and climbed 300 FPM to 4350. Shot my approach and landed in a slow trot, setting the glider on the wheels at 16:35. Mark Mallet had landed his Lightspeed and Hoffman was hanging out like he might dive his Talon in, but he had no need to. Great flight, especially for October (and in T-shrt and shorts)!

Clear, warmish. Wind SE 10-15 with occasional lulls. Post Santa Ana.

Launched from the top SE after waiting out two long lulls and a SW gust. Scratchable. S-SSE 5 in the LZ.
Good. Mild right especially VGT. Left tip up 1.
Super glue loose stitch, #6 RT TS 3 inches from TE.

Switching to more SW in thermal cycles at launch. Launched from lower SW. Solid cores drifting NW quickly. Got above 4400. Strong sink around big thermal at Cloud Peak. Left hand approach to straight S final in switchy conditions.
Slight right, L tip up 1. Somewhat stiff overall.

Trim both tip wands 1/8 inch.

Steady SW at launch. Cores were going straight up, 300-800 FPM. Was able to thermal VGT easily. Another left approach to straight S approach, with fluctuating airspeed on final; ran it out pretty hard. Flags had been pointing E while deciding on approach but they turned more SW on downwind.
Very Nice.

Bouyant late-day conditions with sun ducking behind small clusters of clouds that had drifted in from the west. After a speed run, caught a gentle core above the 750 and drifted with it lazily all the way to 4600 near Marshall Peak. Good SW landing.
Excellent.

Clear and promising to be hot; weird wx day before - showers heading from SE to NW in coastal areas, reports of light north wind all day in Berdoo. Effectively no wind at first today. All three landings were right-hand approaches to the PG spot. Won one.
Good.

OK

Got a little core off the gap and got to 3000 MSL. Dove in hard to land.
Real good.

Good, clear, warm day. 12-16 WSW at Marshall.
Marshall, 27 September, 2008 - F3 195 #28660 , Ken Howells
Good, clear, warm day. 12-16 WSW at Marshall. Launched at 15:05 and climbed immediately. The strong westerly wind was distorting the thermals and sending them more across the slopes than up them. Note the drift of the thermal I caught from above the 750 and took to out in front of Marshall. Easy to stay up, but had to be mindful of where I was headed. The 500-800 FPM thermal I caught at Regionals drifted ENE despite my desire to go NNE - I fell out the side and had to re-center before taking it to 5700; lost 600 feet heading for the spine west of Crestline launch. Billboard was happening, but the rest of the face was only so-so in the crosswind. Fun 1 hour flight.
Great Left basetube bolt too short for safety ring - replace.

Clear, warm morning. Slight high pressure held the marine layer back to O.C. Light SE puffs of wind at the 750. Landed with cone <2 feet in front of me.
Good

Good


Replace LT #1 (bent on landing)

Becoming SW with cycles. Launched from new cleared area heading SW - skimmed brush for quite a way as I headed for the bump out front. Might be dicey in higher winds, might be OK because you'd sink less. Worked left at the gap in the bluffs and drifted with one to the ENE finally; got to 300 above launch.
Good.

Short RT basetube bolt.

Sorable but had ultra-sledder. Solid SW flow had arrived.
OK.

Sledded but soarable.
Good.

Scratched in very close to the bluffs, but still sledded despite Mike and Steve soaring. Won first three spots, each less than 10 feet, and this one because Mike got lifted and overshot.
OK

Climbed to 4500 quickly from launch. Nicely-formed thermals. Got to 5000 MSL a little later. Cored sink near 750 to get down and land. Lift on final during right-hand approach, still landed well at far edge of PG spot.
Good. Black streak, RT TS near keel - Peter tried to clean

Strong SW winds had arrived, tearing smaller thermals apart. Easy to stay up, but hard to climb much. Landed in NE sink hole area despite coming in extra high to avoid it.
Good.

Arrived at Marshall around 14:15 and saw two PGs launch and sled. The top of the murk was eye-level, SW wind gusting to 5 MPH A third one launched a got a few hundred over, so I set up the Falcon 3 170. The final PG had launched and I lost sight of him. While prepping my harness I heard my glider rustling and turned to see a very small dust devil leaving the left (north) wingtip. Got a little excited. Launched at 15:20 and worked a rowdy little core just high enough to go back and buzz the couple of carloads of hikers who'd watched me launch. Then I was scratching between 3600 and 3950 for a while. Found 600 FPM down while heading for the area above the 750. Scratched the bluffs valiantly for a while, but the weak cores were drifting fast to the east - following them would have meant being way downwind of the LZ and low in the very likely event of losing them before getting up. Dove in to the LZ to catch the McBus and retrieve my truck when I realized it was nearly 1600. Got about 20 minutes of airtime with only that one initial gain to speak of.
Good Replace RT #1 - bent on landing

Missing Man formation for Rob Kells at the Fly-In. Steve Pearson in the lead, I was behind to his left, Mike Meier opposite me, Jeff Shapiro behind and right of Mike. Formation stabilized by the time we flew over the old test fly launch near Regionals and we veered left to fly over the east corner of the LZ, adding VG and speeding up. Over the LZ Mike pulled up and flew off to the west while the rest of us continued on over CalState as far as seemed prudent before turning back to land. We were higher over the LZ than I had expected, so we were able to go well over the campus. Steve and I started turning at about the same time, I was a bit lower but still 1200 feet higher than the LZ. As I flew straight to the LZ Mike came in low from the west to land with a normal final. I flew to the NW corner and did my usual box, ending up flaring nicely to a two-small-steps landing a little left and past the HG spot. Steve and then Jeff had good landings also.

The air was glassy with a nice breeze for launching from Crestline. Getting into formation and maintaining it was an interesting task; we hadn't planned on being very close to each other and I think we could have been a little tighter, but it was fine. It felt good to be a part of it and to think about Rob while gliding along. The LZ full of people and gliders was an amazing sight. The crowd clapped for each landing - I was glad mine was smooth; there was about 5 MPH SSW in the LZ. We were shaking hands after landing and Cara and Maddie came over and hugged all of us. It was pretty emotional and fitting.

Later there were five HGs trailing smoke and doing loops and spins to the delight of the crowd. The first loop was done by all five at once - Dino Dinaso, John Heiney, Bill Soderquist, Dave Biddle, and Erik Delf. Overall the day was a great send-off for Rob Kells.

Pretty windy - 15-20 WSW at Marshall with very few lulls.Thunderstorm cells to the northeast. There was some flash flooding in Forest Falls (heard later) but the strom cells and the few debris clouds over the valley all dissipated by 15:30 or so. Launched at 14:25 and hung on the ridge until a thermal came through. They only came through once in a while, but they were good 500+ FPM when they did; screaming downwind and hard to keep up with. Got to 5800 for a bit. Was very wary of going much east or north of Marshall. Went upwind and then drifted back up with thermals several times. Went east of the Afterbay hoping to get up the spine to Pine, but it was just a little less than zero sink over there. Had planned (before arriving) on top landing but didn't even consider it once in the air. Good landing in the LZ, with about a 1:1 final, at 15:55 or so.

Hot summer morning. Inversion below Marshal, wind E-ENE 5. Waited on lower SW launch for about 10 minutes, hoping for a lull. Occasionally smelled the marine layer ozone wafting past. Good launch in no wind. Worked a couple of tiny cores at the west side of the 750 for a while. South in the LZ.
Good. Very slight left tendency. RT tip up 1

No wing tufts. Glider bag too short.

Wind more south, but cycling all over. Saw the windsock do a 360 then go slack, puff coming up SW launch. Nose lifted and then dipped hard at the second step. Rand hard and got off no problem. Got with Steve and Mike in a barely rising core o the SE, then bailed to Cloud spine. They finally went up, I drifted down tot he 750 and worked weak lift there and at the bluffs. Stil mostly S in the LZ.
Very nice.

Got to 4700 quickly off launch, but no higher. Short flight because the others had already landed. Wind intially SW in the LZ, flag at house SE. Aimed for PG spot from the north, ended up in the HG circle.
Good.

Trim sprog bungees.

More lift but slower to get up than previous flight. Still maxed at 4700. Decent landing into SW at the LZ.
Good

Worked hard off launch in tiny cores. Eventually got to Crestline, where the Launched the UltraSport 166 at 14:45 (just like yesterday) and the thermals down low were small and twitchy, but got up to Cloud with lots of steep banks and shoving the bar out going through the cores, then another thermal shortly got me to Crestline. A band of high thin clouds drifted from the NE and shadowed the ridge and it really turned on (coincidence?). Climbed to 7600 going at least 1200 FPM at times. Went to the low bump east of Pine but decided to scurry back to Pine, where I got up above 6k at the back ridge and went to Sugarpine. Just as I was turning back to Pine I hit a boomer and went to 7600 again. Went west of Sugarpine a way, then made a ling glide past Crestline to Marshall and down to the LZ, landing at 16:35 into strong SW flow, in the HG circle.

The thermals were much wider and stronger than Saturday. McKenzie reported getting to 8k tandem and the flex wings and rigid in the XC League meet were easily able to make the '330 Fwy.' turnpoint in Highland and back.

I heard several PGs didn't make it back, and late in my flight I saw one PG down just behind the ridgetop about 1/4 mile east of Marshall Peak.

I saw rain or virga over Lucerne valley and later read there had been rain in Big Bear.

Launched from the 750 at 14:45 and found lift immediately. I don't think I got more than 100 feet below launch. The climbs weren't spectacular, but steady, with the narrow cores up to 500 FPM drifting quicly to the ENE. Made a foray toward the below-Billboard area from Regionals, but started out low and found nothing over the 'water tank'. Back at Marshall they were going up to nearly 5k but starting to fizzle about 4500. Finally got to 5200+ (vario) from Cloud and floated back to Crestline, making a few passes to climb up the face. As I passed over launch my vario read 5000 (200 feet low) - I think there must have been lower pressure above the inversion, because later at Marshall and the 750 the altitudes were correct. At Pine the cores were still narrow and drifting just a little wide made the glider start to roll out forcefully. I was getting in the vicinity of 6k and kept avoiding thinking 'but I'm really 200 fet higher'. Bumpy north of Pine and I kept the bar in a little extra. Two runs to the next spine west were unproductive. I was nearing 2 hours and my sweat-soaked shirt and shorts were getting uncomfortable so I went back towards Regionals. Worked some lift I stumbled into and ended up over by Marshall Peak, then went in to land at 16:50. Good hike back up to get the truck. Lots of pilots in the LZ due to the first SoCal XC League meet being held at Marshall.

Morning sledder, right-hand approach, far edge of PG circle.
Good

Trim 1/2 inch from rear of nose batten. Install warning placard on sail.

Barely scratchable enough to climb a little above launch, slowly. Right-hand approach to just beyond PG circle.
Good. Climbs well.

Bullet holes on rt TE, 24 inches from keel.

Tight workable core or two. got below bluffs and drifted back quickly with a little developing core. Got to 750 level near the 750, scraping up the spine. Thermal coalesced and I took it 4,000 MSL just for the heck of it. Could have kept going. Another right-hand approach and just at the far edge of the PG circle again.

Great! Looks cool. Silver w/bright green #3 and black tips.

Clear, sunny, and hot. No wind. Inversion layer at least 1000 feet below launch.

Your basic sledder. Light SE at LZ, right-hand approach.
OK

Still mostly no wind at launch. Scratchable small weak thermals at the bluffs near the LZ.

Right-hand approach again. An impressive dust devil came up the parking lot while packing the gliders up.

Some wind from occasional thermal cycles. Soarable to 4300-4500 in 300-500 FPM in isolated thermals at Marshall, Cloud, Regionals, the bluffs, over the LZ.

Left-hand approach into a nice SW cycle.
Sweet handling. VdVGT=71

Crestline, 10 August 2008 - T2C 154 #37985, Mission
Normal sunny day, on the clear side and pretty breezy at Crestline. Launched at 14:05 and ridged soared near launch for a while. Followed Hoffman to BB and Hoffman kept on going to Pine, so I followed. Got to 6500 there but niether of us (or Stan) found anything immediately west of Pine. Bumpy. I ended up cruising out over the flats, relaxing and enjoying being far from the ground. Headed for Cloud and got up right away, so back to Crestline. Too bumpy to buzz launch. Did a VGT speed run from BB to Regionals and got up again from the Cloud spine. Back to Crestline briefly, where I got rolled left hard once east of launch, then a speed run out to Regionals and down to the LZ (meeting Leo Bynum). Cored some sink, then at 350 AGL found strong lift on the north apron, so I rode it to 3000, cored sink again and went in to land. Intentionally didn't go back near the training hill because I thought it might be bumpy. Landed about 100 feet from the SW corner - seeing that edge of the LZ approaching was distracting and intimidating, but ignored it and had a very nice flare and landing at 15:45.

Everybody who came in to land was commenting on how bumpy the air was up high, and how much fun it was. Several complimented the looks of the blue, bright red and black bottom surface of the glider. I thought about Rob Kells a lot during the flight, of course. I think he would have really liked the conditions.
Very nice handling - Hydranet leading edge?
Several pilots commented on how nice the glider looked in the air.

Sunny and warm, humid with clouds forming ove the desert slopes. Basically no wind at Marshall, gusts from several directions.

Bouyant but the inversion was well below Marshall. Some soared, I didn't, but sledded down slowly.
Good.

Definitely soarable, inversion barely above Marshall. Was descending to the LZ when I found strong lift over the north end. Climbed back above 3100 because the wind had turned to SE. Dove in to land when it went SSW again.

Very nice. VdVGT=72

Replace old-looking 1 inch velcros.

Good and soarable, one thermal 600-800, possibly hit 1000 up. Climbed to 5700 at Cloud and dove for Marshall; got there at 5400 despint flying 40+ the whole way. Quite active around the LZ. Had the bar in hard on base and final to keep the glider down.
A little stiff. Slight left plus VGT sprog turn. Twisted 1/2 and 1/2 for L turn. Raised RT sprogs 1 each.

Easy floating, but did a short flight to land with the others. Spent too long deciding if I could hit the spot and flew through the flare window. Dropped a wing and ran, got away with it.
Good.

Normal summer day. Blowing S-SW at the 750 at 9:00 AM - usually it is more east that early.
Xbar haulback not routed properly. OK now.

Needs hang loops.

Good.

South wind, gusting to 10 in cycles. Good and soarable; 500+ FPM at times. Brush pretty tall at the Regionals launch, but good cycles had me off within 3-4 steps.
Very nice. Very slight left turn. RT tip up 1.

Good. Minor left and left sprog turn. RT tip up 1, RT sprogs up 1 each.

Very clear and the inversion was low. Gusting from the east at Marshall but many periods of no wind. Smelled the inversion at 3500 MSL.
Good. Tried tufts more outboard for better visibility but they were 90 out or reversed at trim.

Wind mostly south at this point. Lightly soarable to 4000 or so. Switchy in the LZ.
Nice

Solid south wind, 10-12, allowed launch from the top. Soared 500 FPM easily to 5000, then was bumping up slowly as the thermal tried to get through the inversion. Probably would have if I'd had the time to drift back with it.

Very lifty around the LZ, with flags hanging slack and then pointing SE due to thermals breaking off. Dove in when they were pointing NE and had to turn fairly S on final as I sailed well past the spot.
Good. Left turn VGT; raised RT sprog 1.5 turns.

Solid SW for another top launch. Strangely turbulent around Marshall. Climbed to 5700 shortly after launch in a thermal off Cloud Peak, going up 800 FPM at times. Headed north and tagged Crestline, turned and dove for the LZ. Lift still pumping down there, but got a good SW cycle to land in.
Very nice. Quiet.

High clouds from the east were shadowing Crestline and all the way out to Marshall Peak. Steady wind at Crestline, 15-18 MPH.

Launched the Falcon just after 17:00 with Mark on my UltraSport 166 and Dave on his Sport2. The laminar flow meant we could buzz launch for our drivers (Greg and Wendy from Oz; he's an HG pilot) and some spectators who showed up. I saw the whites of their eyes ;) No thermals to speak of, but fun boating for a while. Marshall was scratchable but we all just let ourselves wander down to the LZ. I landed after 45 minutes in the air. My GPS batteries ran out near the 750, which is a strange coincidence, since I was giving serious thought to landing there (would be a first for me) and circled the area several times doing practice approach patterns a hundred or so feet up. I'd originally planned on driving up to Marshall and top landing, but the volunteer drivers eliminated the need for that. Fun, relaxing flight.

Clear, a bit smoggy, not too hot - normal summer day. Inversion rather low and pronounced.

Six of us launched from Crestline within a short period (me 15:03) and soon we were all at Billboard working the one thermal. That was pretty fun. I got to 5700 so I headed for Pine and several followed. We looked all over for lift but there wasn't much, so everyone left. I kept topping out at barely over 5000 so I finally left too. Marshall complex was soarable but it was hard to get good climbs in. Best thermal was 500 FPM in the bowl way out front of Marshall, a tiny core drifting to the NE. I worked in the east bowl for a few minutes and finally flew over the top of Marshall, where I saw the PG pilots waving and pointing to the LZ. I saw the big white "X" out, indicating we had to clear the air for emergency operations. I saw no smoke anywhere. Flew low over a rigid wing at Cloud and yelled that we had to land, then dove for the LZ and spotted the fire truck and glider in the approach area. I did a big left-hand approach around the fire truck and landed between the HG and PG spots with 1:08 airtime. Then they rolled up the X because they were going to take him to the hospital in an ambulance instead of a helicopter. Ugh.

A hang glider pilot doing his usual high-speed ground-skimming approach (which I'd talked to him about several times) hit some down air and his basetube hit the ground. He had a cut-up face and some pain in his back between his shoulders; glider virtually undamaged.

Clear and not too warm. Low, thin inversion in the distance and barely any wind.

Good no-winder off the lower SW. Pretty much a sledder. Mike and Steve were staying up in a coer at the east end of the bluffs, and I came in above but couldn't find it. I left and they climbed another couple of hundred feet.

SE at LZ, so right-hand approach. Thought my flare would stop me near the PG cone, but not quite. Ended up sitting in a kind of figure-4 slide and just touching the basetube. Thankful for the grass.
Noisy BS - tightened inboard battens 2 turns each. Clunk releasing VG from full tight. XBar string catching on zipper pull.

Some SW puffs, so lower SW launch was easier. Soarable at Marshall and Cloud, but weak. SE in the LZ again, so another right-hand approach (to a good 2-stepper this time).
Set inboard battens a bit tight and BS was very quiet.

Just enough S breeze to launch from the top S with a hard run and many long strides. All the way out the main spine I got a good core off the front bowl and climbed to 4600. Marshall and Cloud were working OK.

Wind turned SE at the LZ again, just as I was heading east for a left-hander. Did an abbreviated right-hander and got about 12 feet from the PG cone. Mike came in later and nailed it.

Minor RT turn. Left tip up 1.

Clear and humid, high 90s, high clouds drifting over from the east in the monsoon flow. Strong thermals with a good base wind pushing them along quickly. had to fight back in to several thermals.

Launched from the 750 at 15:15. Went right immediately because I'd seen a glider thermalling just north of the house while I was putting my harness on. There was lift there and I climbed right out, climbing to 7400 MSL in that one thermal over 11 minutes, 1/3 of the way back to Creatline from Cloud Peak. Headed for the 138 interchange and saw two gliders below the ridge struggling. I didn't find anything all the way to the next point, so headed out the east side of Waterman Canyon. Got to the last peak and found lift, but may vario died.

Headed west to the radio towers and the bowl south of Marshall to get the LZ in glide range before working any thermals. The lift was abundant and soon I was well above Marshall Peak and heading for Crestline. Did some passes in the gaggle then BB and Pine, which wasn't happening as much, but I hung out above the peak for a while. It was really cool to just have the music playing and not worrying about the vario at all; I still glanced at it a lot.

Went back to Marshall slowly and wanted to buzz launch but the wind had picked up and I'd stuff the bar but wouldn't descend to an altitude that could at all be considered 'buzzing launch'. South of Cloud Peak I started feeling raindrops hitting my arms so I went out to land and beat the mad rush if it really started raining and to have a goos shot at the bomb drop and spot landing.

Was in a stack of gliders with my bomb in my hand, three wings below me, when an HG whacked short and took out a downtube. The next two had to land around him and I noticed two guys who had just descended to my altitude. There were a bunch of PGs too. I went back to the bluffs and easily climbed back to 750 level to wait out the crowd for a few minutes. Got a good pause over the target and released my bomb before turning left to start my approach. I was pretty high and decided the headwind wasn't that much, so I dove a bit on final and then 50 feet up or so I found out the wind WAS that much. I landed about 35 feet short of the target. I got second place in the HG bomb drop.

More cars than I've ever seen in the parking lot and pilots and families were milling about all over the place. Bought three shirts - an older CSS logo'd polo, a "Most sports only require ONE ball" tee from Marshall Poole, and a 14th Anniversary Fly-In Tee (polo to be ordered). Also got a "Mr. Death" plaque for $25 to support the Elsinore LZ effort.

Another great CSS event.

Mild RT turn. L tip up 1. Otherwise good.

Great

Good. Very mild RT - L tip up 1.


Replace tip and insert on RT #5.

Breezy SSW at Crestline, 10-18 MPH.

Launched and got a couple of hundred over right away; tried to buzz launch, couldn't get down. Got to 5800 and did the "east spine hoping for a drifter to the interchange" thing, but didn't get one and Hoffbrow came back from there pretty damn quickly anyway. Got to Pine and Hoff and a PG were well over, but I was flopping around at 5k; others reported Pine as being real iffy also.
Got up to Crestline from Marshall on the second try and was at BB when I saw a hang glider heading to Cloud real low from below Crestline, so I headed for Regionals to watch how it went. He made it OK and I found a moderate thermal that I rode up and back enough to head for BB. Got a nice core as I arrived and left for Pine at 5700. Others were sinking from there as I arrived, so we all went to Marshall. Headed out kinda high to land and played over Badger Hill for a sec before landing.

Rebar Dan had a tandem, meeting him at Crestline, so we took my truck up and the tandem's driver drove my truck to the LZ - sweet!

Hot and clear. Two brown smoke layers in the distance a little above the marine layer; smoke from the fires in Big Sur and west of Santa Barbara.
Wind 0-5 ENE. Mitch launched from the south brushy face, McKenzie from the SW in a lull. I waited a few more minutes and sprinted off the SW in a lull, right wing dropping just a little. Almost soarable at the LZ.
Good. Vs=19 VdVGT=72

Trimmed VG cord to length.

Wind still mostly ENE but with longer lulls. Kinda soarable.
Good. Very slight left in smooth air. Twisted tips 1/2 turn ea.

Solid SW 5-10 most of the time. Able to launch from the top SSW. Got into a thermal near the windsock (good look at windsock!) and climbed to 4600 then 5300 as it drifted NNE. Got to Creatline at 5000 and floated across the face to below Billboard. Snagged a developing core and got to 6000 after a few minutes. A fire had broken out near the mill Creek ranger station vicinity north of Yucaipa.

Dove for the LZ to land with the others. Turning to final my left wing dropped and the nose pointed down. I had to really wrench the glider right, keeping the bar in, to level out. Hardest control input on landing I've had to do in quite a while.

Very nice.

Hand stitch skipped stitches at top of RT LE ant end of LE (Mitch).
Had to trim VG cords by about a foot on all three gliders today.

Similar to two days before with double inversion except marine layer more opaque and thicker, upper 'smoke' layer more defined as well. Thinner gap of blue between them. Top of marine layer 3300 MSL on first flight. Not much wind and mostly S all day, LZ too. Much cooler! Actually would like to see on long string of days like this in the Summer.

Still plenty soarable by flight #3, got to 5600 on flight #5 and went to Crestline, where I found big sink right next to the ridge, so right back out to Cloud Peak. Won 3 out of 7 spots, but only one was within 10 feet of the cone.


Good.

Nice.

Ho-Hum

Sweet. Very slight RT. L tip up 1.

Good. VdVGT=68.

Good.

Great.

Warm post-heat-wave day. Two inversion layers evident - the marine/smog layer squashed down low, as usual, and a second layer at just above 5000 MSL, evident from the Cajon Pass brush fire smoke spread horizontally towrd the south. Clear air in between. Quite east at Marshall and too strong for the upper SE launch, so we went to Crestline, where it was less cross and actually ridge soarable.

The strong SE-SSW flow dominated conditions, with fast drift of the small thermals, but it was easy to stay up all day. The smog rose and the smoke mixed down and the air was pretty opaque late in the day.

Flew real nicely. Vd VGT=53 Vs=19 Vt=21

Mike loosened Xbab hold-down cord. Bungee around haulback wires and keel too tight, but OK.

Great

Good.


Needs hang loop spreader. Replace lever tip on batten outside of bag (snaps poorly).

VdVGT=59

Sweet handling.

Supposedly the last day of a record early-summer heat wave. Only 105 or so in Berdoo today. It was blowing pretty good up at Crestline at 14:00. The Simba graph says it gusted to 30 a few times, but it seemed like it was mostly 15-22 or so. I launched the US 166 in a lull at 14:45 and climbed a few hundred right away. Got to 6200 near launch but lost it quickly heading east. Others launched, climbed up and stuck there, then headed east. I was trying to drift toward Top Town for the jump to the 18/138 interchange but kept peaking at about 5700; I don't like to head east without 6k to start.
I headed out the spine toward Marshall hoping to catch one that was drifting NE, and I did, hopping to the interchange and popping above the ridge. Meanwhile the others had come back from the east already - must not have been too good down that way.

I boated a bit then headed out the spine on the east side of Waterman Canyon since I haven't been over there in a while. Found some lift out near the '09', then very bouyant air south of the radio towers - just hanging out at 5k plus. At Marshall Peak it was rowdy and I caught a solid core that held together as it drifted back very quickly - I was just reaching 5200 when I got to the highway!

The back ridge was still working and I did the Billboard and Pine thing, then started thinking about landing. I was at 6036 over Devil Canyon Road and flew south for about a mile at absolute zero sink. Ended up over the north edge of the golf course before turning back to the LZ. I didn't want to force my way down and I hovered around 3400 MSL for a good stretch of minutes, going from the LZ to the paint ball area and back and etc. before deciding to core a little sink and land at 17:00.

It was actually bumpy all the way to the deck and I had to steer right up to the flare. The next few landings looked very similar. A green PG landed 1/2 mile east of the LZ and a black UP hang glider landed just east of the LZ. Altitude, people.

I had a lot of fun on this flight, even though the heights and distances were modest. I was primed for a fun flight and I got one, nosecone issue or not.

I'm pretty sure I put the nosecone on my UltraSport before I launched, but it wasn't there later in the flight. I did a couple of sets of wingovers after launch, so it's possible that it came off after/during those, but the velcro was by no means worn out. There were a number of other pilots at launch, and I was the first to launch. None of the pilots I later asked said they had seen it. If I left it on the ground it was windy enough that it might have blown into the parking lot. Maybe some spectator kid found a funky new hat.

With square-tip gliders (plastic tip fairings) the common wisdom is that if you don't have your nosecone that you should leave the tip fairings off to keep the sail from inflating and causing the bottom surface to bulge down, which moves the center of lift backward. I can now attest that this does indeed happen, but it wasn't a constant thing. It flew fine most of the time during my 2.25 hour flight, but sometimes, it seemed to be when I was exiting a moderately strong thermal, the nose would start to drop and the basetube would come back about 5 inches. Letting it trim there for a few seconds would allow things (pressure?) to normalize and the bar would come back out. I never fought the pitch change much, so don't know if it would have stayed that way.

I've purposely flown square-tip gliders in the past with the nosecone on and the tip fairings off and also without either, and they exhibit no such effects; no adverse control effects of any kind, actually. Some loss of performance and some tip flutter, sure.

Stan K. reported getting to 9k+ out by the Cajon Pass when he and Gene were out there in 'mid-afternoon glass-off' conditions. Ferenç skied out and just stayed there.

====================

A very cool thing was running into Colby, our Site Monitor from the first years of AJ Airpark, at Crestline, with his wife and 3 and 4 year old sons(!). Colby was a buddy of Paul Garnet, a local kid who learned to fly back then, when he was 16 or so - Colby was a couple of years younger. Mark and I had been talking about Paul's exploits on the drive up, coincidentally. Paul's an EMT in Alaska now and he and his wife have been on mountaineering adventures in South America and the Himalayas.

Removed 1/8 inch shim from each LE; now has 1/4 inch shim per side. Twisted left tip up 2 (for right turn); tips now 2 and 2. I put my GPS in the boot of my harness in case the MP3 player or camera had been interfering with it. Got a good track, finally.

Wind SSW at 10 or so. Hot, not especially smoggy.

Nobody flying but a couple of PGs when I arrived, and no one on Marshall. By the time I was readying my harness a truckload of Sylmar pilots arrived. They had been to Garlock and Ord already, chasing conditions; a second truckload of them arrived just after I launched. A couple of minutes after launch I climbed to 5400+ NE of Marshall, so I boated over to Crestline and did a couple of passes by launch with Dave Aldrich, then went to BB, got up again after a few minutes and went to Pine. Not much happening there for some reason. At 4300 I did the big curving glide to Last Chance, none too high. Worked up in a weak one to over Regionals, then Cloud, then looked at Marshall, but didn't feel like landing yet. Some kind of big sink cycle put me down by the 750 in a few minutes. I really didn't want to land below. I unizipped and trolled the bluffs. My GPS says I got down to 1947 MSL, but I don't think I got under 2100. Hooked a squirrelly little core that drifted towards Marshall and I worked it hard for 12 minutes, gaining 2500 feet.
Dave Aldrich was under me working it also, and as we climbed HGs and PGs streamed in from several directions to try and get back up. A few of them did.

I circled a couple of times over Marshall to relax and check conditions, then dove in when the thermal cycle ended. The McKenzies had arrived, and with their load and Joe Greblo shepherding some of his pilots off, it was rather crowded for a while.

Had a mishap putting the glider away. The 'triangle' fiber rope broke as I pulled the main through the pulleys, lifting the gliders to the rafters. The US came down hard. I think the nose bounced on an ice chest before the middle hit the edge of a sheet of plywood. No marks on the bag. I'll have to pull it down and sight/feel the LEs before I fly it. Replaced the rope with the chains that once supported the massive window A/C unit.

Hot and stable day. Not much wind.


Tightened KP bolt. Needs proper cbar bag.

Tiohtened KP bolt. Needs proper cbar bag.

Good. Creaky corners.


Needs 2 in. velcro strap.

Pretty bumpy up there today, what with 15-25 MPH winds and a decent lapse rate. I launched the UltraSport 166 from Marshall at 14:30, worked north of Cloud Peak slowly to 5400 in a start-and-stop thermal, then a bouyant glide to Crestline. Windy there, but once in a while a solid core would make it up past Billboard. Easy glide from 6200 over to Pine, which wasn't working that well given the mostly south flow over there. Got to 6200 again after not quite catching a few little cores that came through. Drifted west of Pine at trim with impressive groundspeed; turned back before Sugarpine and basically stopped. Back to Marshall and another lap in the circuit.

I had to really throw my weight sideways a couple of times to stay in ornery cores, but there were several 800-1000 FPM ones where I banked up steep and just shoved the bar out. I waited until 16:30 before even looking at top landing, hoping the wind might have abated a bit. Got to 5k above Marshall waiting out a lift cluster and within 2 minutes found myself at 3k on the Cloud spine. Eerie. The next thermal through took me back high enough to go check out Marshall again. I went round and round waiting for no lift and at least a little slack in the sock. Finally it happened and I did a quick approach at 16:50. It turned out the wind was very benign on top. I came in my usual way, from the NNW, so the filled-in pit made no difference, but I flared over the soft cleared dirt and that was real nice. Softer on the feet and no distracting bits of brush. A little flatter too.

There were a couple of other pilots at Crestline, and one of them (green/black BS - Mike Z.?) joined me for the second lap. That was fun.


This is the third time in a row my little Garmin Geko 201 hiking GPS has had a real choppy track, showing me making out-and-backs to far flung points at Einstein-defying speeds. The thing might be 'going out' on me, but I don't have any idea what's in there that would wear out.

Smoggy and not particularly unstable. Launched into a cycle, turned in left at the gap in the bluffs but it disappeared. Circled over the LZ at 200 AGL, but it wasn't enough. Nice landing.
Good hike get truck from the 750.

Sunny, not too hot. Cumies banked at the top of Baldy, then a puffball formed over Marshall, and another over by Pine. Wind SE <5 at the 750. Worked a core by the gap in the bluffs, out front a little, from 300 AGL and got above the 750. Could have kept going but the others were already half folded up in the LZ.
Switchy in the LZ. Was going upwind when it switched from SW to ESE so did a quick turn and dive to right hand approach.
Good. Sail a little loose at nose.

Found a thermal in the same place as before - just S of the gap in the bluffs below the 750. Climbed to about 3k before diving to the LZ.
Light and switchy at the LZ, with thermals popping off.

A visiting PG pilot (been here for a week at least) was wandering back and forth just south of the Ranch House, getting lifted and just flopping around. I was 150 feet above him or so and had no idea what he was going to do. I finally decided to just do a left hand approach and keep an eye on him. As I was on base leg he flew east across the LZ, just north of the HG spot. I landed 6 feet from cone in the HG spot. When he was folding his wing I went to talk to him about why we have defined patterns, how he'd done everything wrong, etc. Not contentious, but I had to press home that his 'reasons' for what he did were irrelevant.
Great. Bridles were inside the rear wire; moved them to outside.

Steve and Mike got up, looked like 4k or so at least. I went straight to the LZ. Did a SE approach, got popped passing over the PG spot, landed in the HG spot.
Good. Bridles inside the rear wire again. No hang loops; used mine.

Air much murkier than earlier. Waited out a weak Northeast cycle, probably caused by a thermal out front. Ran off hard and found the thermal over that gap in the bluffs. Solid and well-formed. I climbed through 3k steadily, hung on till 4500 and flew toward Marshall, but found more lift and ascended to 5000 NW of the peak, where it was rather chilly. It really slowed at 5300 but I hung with it and at 5500 or so it reorganized and I got to 5950 before heading for Crestline. Quick fly-over there, then out to Cloud Peak. Did some spin entries and then dove the 750 and went and landed SW into the HG spot.
Great. Sail looks great. Moved bridles outside of rear wire.

Cool, 100% overcast, light SW wind <10 MPH at Marshall. Cloudbase just off Crestline. My first flight on my UltraSport, puchased from Rod Clark 21 May. Glider in great condition. Lift weak but large enough to circle in. Got low at Last Chance and climbed to 3500 for a swoop over Regionals. Scratched at the 750 area. Good landing into SW 5.

Blowing lightly from E to SSE, some high wispy clouds getting denser as the sun got higher. I took the regular SW launch in a lull at 10:10, having waited out 10 minutes of 90 degrees cross or more. Dropped two feet onto grass near cone just as I was about to flare.
Trimmed a hair fast VGL. Slight RT, twisted 1/2 and 1/2. Nick on RT LE 5 feet from nose.

Replace RT dtube. Needs shortest BS ribs each side (Mike took). Change batten bag to read T2 instead of T2C.

I took the S launch and pushed my basetube through the very tops of the bushes. The clouds were casting light shadows but it was mildly soarable. Some PGs had flown down too. Got popped up about 15 feet as I rounded out. Luckily had extra speed. Landed OK.
VdVGT>72. Good PP, a bit stiff VGT.

Blowing solidly from the SW and the air was very bumpy. The high clouds had thinned back to just decoration. I kept thinking that I had the U2's VG on tight, but no, I was just getting pushed around. Mitch reported seeing 1400 FPM up at times.
Good. Mild RT turn. L tip up 2.

Still breezy and only 600-800 FPM over broad areas.
Sweet! VdVGT>72

Glassing off.
Good.

Rather windy WSW after a week of offshore. Launched Crestline just before 14:00. Boated around for almost 15 minutes before finding a coherent thermal at Billboard. Rowdy at Pine and rowdier just west of there. My GPS shutdown after 45 minutes of the two hour flight. 6600 MSL was the highest I got; others got a bit higher. I made to forays farther west, out front because of the wind, but found no thermals.
Very hot in the valley and I was soaked inside my harness. Drained the Camelbak by the 90 minute mark. Flew with my new MuVo mp3 player for the first time. That was great! Like the old days with my Walkman cassette player, when I used to fly to music all the time. My cheap CD/mp3 player wasn't loud enough and was awkward in the air overall, so I only ever flew with it a couple of times.
Good landing into strong SW at the LZ.

Clouds on cloud peak. Regionals was later clear, then in the clouds again by late afternoon.
Good.

Switching to onshore after a couple of days of light offshore winds. I launched the Falcon from the 750 at 13:10 and sank to the bluffs. Saw the flags at the LZ pointing to the SE and I found the thermal east of the LZ at 300 AGL. At 13:25 I was at about 8000 MSL. Flew out toward Little Mountain but found large areas of >700 FPM sink, so back to the hill. I chased a weak one up to Cloud Peak, and once it got above there it turned on like a rocket. I was seeing 1000 FPM on my vario's averager with 1400 FPM peaks. It was cold at 8800! Flew to Pine and climbed some more, to 9000 before I just got too damn cold (short-sleeves, no gloves). I dove down to Marshall to get warm; flew all the way to the radio towers and found big sink again. Got to 8000 off Marshall and flew out across the freeway and RR tracks, well into Muscoy, then towards Devore and back to the LZ to land after 2 hours of flight. The flags went limp as I was setting up my approach and I got dumped during round-out; flared but the glider still sank, and I slid in on the basetube wheels and my right calf. Still, best flight of the year!

Sank from 750 then got up to 2500 MSL in a thermal drifting to the NW along the bluffs. Could have kept climbing or at least stayed up.
Solid blue wing. Stitching looked 'wiggly', esp. along TE. One large stitching jog on patch around kingpost hole. Might have just been more visible due to dark material.

Launched from the 750 at 11:45 and sank to bluffs. A light core came off the LZ and drifted NW along the bluffs and into Devil Canyon. Got to 4200 MSL or so, then dove through the headwind back to the east. Got a nice core and went to 5400 north of Regionals, then back to Billboard and Crestline. Pretty windy back there, especially near launch. Got up again from Cloud, then found a boomer off Marshall that I hung with until 6500. Headed out over the college and then back to the LZ, where the flags showed a decent east wind. I found the thermal and circled lazily to 3200 MSL, then when the flags started showing SW I found the sink and cored it hard to land at 12:52. Fun.
Great Glider built by Mitch. Cbar bracket bolts need to be 'nuts in front'. Needs serial # on nose and placard. Tufts on TS. Proper haulback bungee.

Lightly soarable. LZ flags were pointing to the east and I found the thermal at 300 AGL. Went to 800 AGL in a few minutes.
Good

Real nice. VdVGT=55
Needs basetube bag.

In a thermal bumping aginst the inversion layer, got up to 5100 or so north of Cloud Peak, with SP above and a little farther north. Pointed at Crestline and found it easily ridge soarable there, but didn't stay long.
Good. VdVGT=55 Needs basetube bag

Cloud-free at 7 AM, by 9:30 Marshall was in clouds that appeared out of the blue.
ESE 3-6 at Marshall, Cloudbase 3800. Launched into a 'hole' and dove. Soarable, especially out over the flats. Clouds lifted off Marshall by 10:30. SSE in the LZ.
Good.

Left Sprog zipper needs foot and stops installed

Still mostly SE at Marshall. Plenty soarable, and chilly at 4500. Lots of puffies to climb right up to. Didn't want to dive in for a landing and had too look around a bit to find sink to core down; all going up N, E, and S of the LZ. Light wind SE at the LZ, I landed long in a no-wind cycle.
Great! VdVGT=70

Good and soarable, 600 FPM and more. Most of the clouds were gone. Saw Mike land heading west to east along the north edge of the LZ, figured it was a dust devil. Got over the LZ ad it was still blowing out of the east. Heading south over the LZ, I was kinda high for a right hand approach so dove hard west of the phone lines and skimmed the 'dog area' to a good landing by the previously flown gliders. Steve came in after me and had to land west to east as well.
No Anomalies.

Needs Basetube bag. Super-glue RT TE stitching near bridle attachment.

Lift everywhere, but not as strong. Was at Crestline 8 minutes after launching Marshall. Buzzed Marshall and went down and landed in SW flow.
Slight left turn. L tip 1 hole.

Needs Basetube bag.

Quite east down at launch, but got a not-too-cross cycle and floated off easily. Air was actually fairly bouyant. Scratched just below Cloud Peak for a number of passes before drifting down the front to the bluffs. Found lift a few hundred over the LZ and climbed back to 750 height before bailing. Flew right over a circling Redtail hawk right over the LZ; they said they got it on film from below. Wind SSE at 5 in the LZ, went a little long.
Good. TT to 28-30 VGT.

Still cross from the left down at launch, but not as cross as earlier. The lift was starting to pump everywhere and it was fun climbing and then diving and then climbing, etc. We ended up stacked about 100' vertically apart over the LZ - Mike, then me, then Steve below. I'd planned on doing a left-hand approach with a long base leg turning about 120 degrees to be into the SE wind. We were off the south end of the LZ and I was watching Steve to see whether he'd do a left or right approach. He went right and I looked at the windsock again. It was now showing the wind was dead east with puffs of ENE! I peeled right and flew north along the phone lines, pulled in, planning to land heading E along the north edge of the LZ. Despite being pulled in, my vario beeped as I hit the thermal that was pulling the windsock. I went farther north, thinking I'd do a quick diving right and left to land along the planned line. I didn't lose much altitude, and I was nearing the LZ proper. I had that "What do I do?!?" feeling that I haven't had for a long time. Steve was in groundskim heading SE, so I decided to do the same, to his right, heading straight for the SE corner of the LZ. The T2 kept going and going and going. Not wanting to take a cuatomer glider down into the brush beyond the LZ, I decided to flare before going over the edge, with my feet about 5 feet from the ground. I'd been holding the bar out a bit to bleed-off speed. I came down vertically and ended up on my knees, putting the glider down hard, but not too hard. Mike had done a few circles in some lift and came in straight up the LZ, ignoring the crosswind and trotting the landing out. I told him he'd won the spot on the round and he declared the round void, since we'd both been so far from the spot. My knees bled a little, but none got on the glider, nor on my white socks, even.
Real nice. Vd VGT>72 VtVGT=22.

Luanched from lower launch next to McKenzie, who was getting his tandem ready. climbed nicely. Got to 5500 behind Cloud Peak and shot back to Creatline, vario beeping from halfway there. Flew past launch then went VGT and dove hard for Regionals. Building headwind meant I had low groundspeed (>60 MPH airspeed) and lost a lot of altitude getting there. Climbed a litlte before diving down to the LZ to land within the HG spot.
Sweet. Vd VGT=72 VtVGT=22.

Launched from the top of Marshall with just a couple of steps into the wind. Quite breezy, going up everywhere and cooling off. Did some speed runs and wingovers. Flew out to Northpark, came back VGT full stuff into a wingover then a left hand approach to land past the HG spot in a nice headwind.
Good.

Nice breeze for launching, scratchable. Might have been able to stay up if truly dedicated.
Good

Thermals more defined, but still tight cores. Got up from front bluff gap to above spine east of launch. Lost several hundered feet as soon as I left it. Others had landed, so I joined them.
OK despite torn BS.

FT #28196 had a tear in the bottom rear of P5 near the nose (see attached).
Peter and Mark were setting up this glider and they spotted the tear after the
crossbar was tensioned. The seam joining Panel 5 to the TS was not
completed, and we think the tension caused the tear, which was at the end of
the stitching that WAS there. Another possibility that just occurred to me
is that the seamstick may have pulled loose after Peter installed the frame
and that loose section of fabric might have caught on the XBar center as it
went forward when the glider was rolled up and bagged at the shop. I don't
know if the XBar center goes that far forward, offhand.

Got above the 750 quickly, then cored a slow drifter up the east side of Cloud Peak over many minutes and many many circles. Got over Marshall and caught one to about 5000 MSL NE of the peak, a little over Waterman Canyon. Didn't think my further prospects in that direction were good, so headed to west of spine north of the peak, then Cloud. Dirfted back a bit, to 5088 again, then dove 1/4 mile S to get under Kim Floyd, who had a boomer with his PG. I said I'd wait until 5400 at least until considering Crestline; soon I was aover 5700, so dove for the back ridge. No lift along the way, and as I neared the ridge I worried it might still be blowing N there. There was zero zilch nada wind, but some thermals, so I got above the ridge, then headed out to land, as the others in my group had already landed.

There was a large group of PG pilots from Seattle and they all seemed to have great flights from Marshall in the very bouyant late-day air.
All good.

WWNW 5-10 MPH at the LZ late in the day; norther higher. Wind was steady 90 degrees cross from the right at the 750, 5-10 MPH with occasional lulls that hinted at SW. Launched the Sport 2 155 at 15:50 in a lull, running diagonally from the upper-left corner of launch. Got under Peter, who was climbing a little at the far west end of the bluffs. Climbed a little but the turbulence of the lift and the wind across the fingers of the bluffs meant I lost 100% directional control for a few moments here and there.
Slowly managed a net climb and got above launch after about 8 minutes. Worked the faces and draws west of the 750 for a bit, but the same kind of turbulence was there.
Hard to figure out where the good spots would be with the wind coming straight down the San Andreas fault.

Got to 3100 MSL or so and decided to try the far west reaches of the Marshall complex. Got over the farthest west triangular portion, by the power plant, the one that has a little north face to it, and found a thermal or something breaking off just as I arrived. Drifted NE with that for a few minutes, getting to over 3200 and not sure whether I was working a thermal or ridge lift from the Devil Canyon side. Hadn't spotted Peter in a while. Went back across to the Cloud spine, still at about 3200. Faiz the PG pilot, who's been here several times this winter but not gotten to fly, finally managed to get his wing up without getting blown across launch, so he launched. Good job Faiz!

I got to 3400 or so working the western faces below Cloud, but if I ventured too far west I'd hit the sink downwind of the spine below Regionals, so it was a matter of working the faces, but not getting too close. Headed west for the area where the road crosses the spine below Regionals. No sign of Peter for some time. Watched Faiz land in the LZ.

Caught a thermal in the bowl above the wedding chapel and worked it as it drifted along the north side of Regionals toward Cloud. I wasn't sure if I was working a thermal or ridge lift off the north side of Regionals. Was leery of going to the 'normal' south side of Cloud Peak, in case it was actually blowing from the north at that altitude, but cautiously flew right over the top of it, ready to pull in and run. Got to just above 4000 MSL and saw Peter landing his Sport 2 in the LZ.

Didn't really want to land yet, but realized that since it was nearing 17:00 and the plan was to hike up and get my truck from the 750 that I ought to land before too long. So I did a big arc to the SW and then to the LZ. It was solidly SW there, 5-10 MPH it looked like, and I actually had to dive a bit to keep the descent from simply being dawdling down. Landed at 16:46 into a nice 8 MPH SW headwind.

Peter had climbed to 8000 MSL, gotten cold, and descended. Rebar and Hoffbrow showed up. There was much blabbing and slow glider breakdowns and ball-tossing for Shiloh.

Several hiked up to the 750, but only I needed to.
Good. A bit stiffer VGT than usual. Some BS/TS rumble at all speeds.

Cloudy day no-wind sledder. Forecast was for higher winds, and it was blowing at Crestline (in clouds) but not much wind below there. Nearly 100% cloud cover. Winds mostly 2-3MPH NW in the LZ.
Good

High thick layer of clouds drifting out of the north, puffing north at Crestline. Virtually no air movement below Marshall at all. This was about the purest no-winde launch I've had in a while. Lifted the Falcon to get the straps tight, set the nose angle and plowed off the hill no sweat. These F3 170s carry weight well. No lift, no wind in the LZ. Managed to stop before the far edge of the target circle.
Good.

Light puffs in at Marshall, good hard run for launch. Three of us were circling in front of the windsock with little vertical separation. Lift was just starting to turn on. T2 was nice. Did a wingover and my vario bracket rotated around the downtube - I didn't have it as tight as usual because one of the elastic velcro strips just started to tear.

Did a VG run over the LZ and forgot to take the VG off before landing. Went pretty far past the HG spot and into an area where McK had the sprinklers running (again)!
Great. VdVGT>70 w/good PP.

The meat of the soarable window. There were some HGs and PGs soaring when we got there. I got my first flight on a T2C and first with the new carbon basetube. The glider was pretty much the same as a regular T2, except it trimmed at 19 instead of 20.5 and was fully controllable at 19. Trim sped up to 23-25 with the VG full on. At full VG, full dive (>70 MPH) the bar pressure was light but solid and the glide seemed a little flatter, the frame a hair less distorted. The new carbon basetube is really really great - the angled grip areas are really comfortable, and the edges that protrude aft are great for parking the heel of a hand on while thermalling with a steep bank. The little 'v' shaped tubrbulators along the top leading edge feel neat and just look really cool. At full dive the bar would flex the tiniest bit just after the nose would hit a bump in the air. This glider had the 2mm competition sidewires, so I didn't do any wingovers.

Got to 4500 or so above Cloud Peak, briefly. Had a little 600 FPM lift at Marshall just after launch.

Great.VT=19 VD VGT>70

Actually still scratchable, but only just. Very peaceful late-day flight. Still no wind in the LZ. This T2 was pretty much exactly like the first one of the day.
Good. VT=21 VD VGT>70

Sunny. Thick fog layer clearly defined and edge was a mile or so south of Interstate 10. Sled city.
Very slight RT VGT. Yanked down hard on RT sprogs. Otherwise great.

The edge of the marine haze had spread inland to the base of the hill. I first smelled it at 3250 MSL. Thick fog layer was still some miles away. Still sleds.
Very very slight RT VGT. Yanked down hard on RT sprogs. Otherwise great.

Inversion was at launch level, not much thermal activity. I spent 10 minutes scratching between 2500 adn 2600 MSL. It was fun, actually. VERY close to the hil in the vicinity of the windsock above the 750 launch.

Sprinklers were on in the LZ as I landed - WTF?!?!?! That distraction plus the no-wind landing meant it was a near thing for me running out the landing. Video, courtesy John Wright, on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFUuBIAT7dY
Great!

While walking down to launch, Dusty Rhodes came running down and in front of me, saying Wayne had noticed that my nosecone was not in place. Dusty put the nose batten onto the keel stud and velcroed the nosecone into place. BIG thanks to Wayne and Dusty! Falcons fly fine without the nosecone attached (now how do I know THAT?). After launching I realized how this came to be.

My normal glider setup procedure is to put all the sticks and things in, and lastly attach the nose wires and put on the nose cone, then start my preflight by checking the crossbar, control bar apex, control bar corners, then right Xbar/LE junction, then continuing clockwise around the glider checking battens and such, but not bothering with the nose again, because I just dealt with it, dammit.

During setup for that flight I stuffed a few battens and then, noticing that my trailing edge was very close to the TE of another glider being setup (facing the wrong way?!? it WAS crowded up there) I ran around and attached my nose wires so I could rotate the glider a little to give more clearance between trailing edges. Finished installing battens and tip wands and so forth. Checked control bar apex, lower bolts, wires, batten tension etc. then jumped into harness, eager to get my sledder.

So I think the answer is to completely separate ASSEMBLY from PREFLIGHT. Maybe an enforced trip to the latrine or something would be in order. At least walking away for a minute and messing with the harness. Must find a solution.

LAUNCH: Almost no wind. Launched in a weird cycle and skimmed the bushes below launch quite a ways down.
LANDING: As I turned downwind to base Peter ran out to upright the cone on the spot. He prudently decided to remain motionless as I came in on final, so I was coming in fast pointing about 3 feet right of him. My lower left wire missed him as I flared.
Good.

Classic late-day sledder with scratching near the 750. As I turned to final I thought I was too high, but ended up coming about 8 feet short of the cone. Won the spot, finally.
Good.

Soarable. Had been scratching faces below Regionals and the western spine. Got over the bluffs near the LZ and hit good 300+ FPM lift. Circled a few times then left it to go land - kept climbing until I passed the south end of the LZ! While I was breaking down the glider I looked up and there was a big white puffball directly over where the thermal had been.
Good. Some BS flutter at tips VGT.

Had been sunny, but clouds filled in from the west very quickly by the time we got to the 750. Extended sleds for the rest of the day.
Good

Short bag - lengthen.

Small

Swap basetube w/U2 demo.

Batt pockets upside down.

Good.

Quite ESE and even ENE at launch, with clouds forming just below and streaming by. I waited for at least five minutes for a cycle with enough S in it for long enough to feel comfortable. The glider just floated off after a couple of steps. Pretty much a no-beep sledder to the LZ.
RT turn, esp. VGT. Twisted tips 1 and 1, lowered RT sprog 1 turn.

Got to 5200 easily in house thermal. Cloudbase 5100.
Still some RT. Twisted L 1 more hole.

Got to 5450 in house thermal drifting back in very wide lift with a strong, tight core. Cloudbase 5350.
Great!

Gorgeous onshore day between rain storms with a few mares tails up high and clouds building in from the south.
I drove a few people up to Marshall and planned to top land. I launched a Sport 2 155 at 13:00 and was soon 500-1000 feet below launch. The lift was weak and I had to really concentrate to stay in the cores, which were drifting in a variety of directions. Lots of 50-150 FPM lift, better higher. After 40 minutes I got back above Marshall (400 over) and as soon as I started to sink I dove in for a landing. I approached the hill extra low but still skimmed up to the top before slamming the bar out and letting my shins and the basetube take the impact. No damage. I think I had a little tailwind, actually.

Glider has large "Sport 2" on BS - picture on WW website
Gouged basetube a bit on top-landing. Might want to replace since this glider (with big "Sport 2" BS logo) is going to Fly and Glide for mag review.

A two-stepper at 14:45 with my Falcon from the top of Marshall into a 1:1 climb to several hundred over, a trip to Crestline, a save from above the 750 to 5300 in one thermal, back to Crestline again (on the second try), 5900 at Billboard, over to the west side of Devil Canyon and back to the top of Marshall. A fun 1:15 of airtime. Not really all THAT cold - I forgot to wear my hood and my face didn't freeze!

My first flight in a month, which is my longest break in quite a while. Good to see everybody. There were three of us blue LE / red BS Falcons at Crestline for a while. That was kinda' cool.