Ken Howells Hang Gliding & Paragliding Flight Log

Pre-frontal, ESE 7 so used the 750 east launch.
Good.

More wind, SE. Tied with Matt at 8 feet.
Good.

More South. Got well above launch in a thermal out front that Matt showed me while I was scratching near the 750. Right-hand approach to S final and way overshot cone; very light wind at ground level. Flew 12 minutes on 12/12/12.
Good.

Wind switch 25 degrees left as I turned to SE final. Not fun but landed fine.

Straight east approach through slot. Flared to my feet, straddling the PG cone. Winner.
Good.

Clear and warm. Almost no wind. Right-hand approach to S final. No-stepper 7 feet from PG cone; winner.
Good.

Thermals a little harder to track this time. Left approach into SW 3. No-stepper 9 feet past cone. Mike won by a foot.
Good.

Weak and drifty cores. Hard to climb two circles in a row. Came up ten feet short and ran to the cone. Winner.

Slowed down nicely.

Thin cloud sheet blocked the sun. Scratched the whole way down. SW to 30 feet short of cone.
Good.

Pre-pre-frontal. Thin high overcast, inversion below the 750. Absolutely no wind in the LZ. Kept airspeed low on approach. Good three-stepper. Shed coat after the first flight.

Nice. TT to 29 VGT. Perhaps a hint of a right turn. No adjustment made.

Scratching close with Mike and Matt, below Cloud Peak. Still no wind in the LZ. Went long past the HG cone, trotting.
Good. TT to 33 VGT.

Great lift, 800 FPM. Tagged Crestline. Got close to Matt in the smooth air. No wind again.

Nice. TT to 34 VGT. VdVGT>72. Slight left tendency VdVGT. Raised right sprogs 1 turn each.

Ridge soared Regionals, got up at Cloud, went to Marshall. Sun went behind clouds and got chilled. Right-hand approach to three feet abeam of the PG cone. Won spot.
Good.

Marshall was upslope with occasional lulls. I launched the US 166 at 14:12 and crept upwind to above Last Chance & Regionals. Eventually a thermal came through and I rode it up until it merged with the convergence. Got to 7,800 just east of Marshall and about 400 below cloudbase - a line of clouds parallel to the main ridge. Bailed as the lift kept getting better and better. GorPro video, spectacualr screenshot looking east at 7,800.

Very cold up there. Windy, either from the north up high or west and southwest down below Marshall. I flew about 45 minutes and landed into SW. It turned NW as I was leaving the LZ just before 16:00.

Lots of pilots flew, both HG and PG.

One blown launch at Marshall - Falcon. Pilot OK, downtube R.I.P.

Got up right away. Thermaled at 18. Dve right hand approach and overshot due to energy retention.
Sweet handling.

Mostly a sledder. Overshot cone.
Good.

Nice little climb well above the 750 with Matt Barker. Wide and short of cone.
Pretty good.

Black/Orange with black stitching. Flew well. Got above Marshall fairly easily. Terrain-followed from the 750 straight to final, 15 feet short and left of target. Not a spot lander today.

Scratched the bluffs - fun. Easy no-stepper in good breeze. Won spot, finally.
Good.

I did my first flight ever at Santa Barbara on Sunday, Nov. 4 2012. Went to the Parma LZ on Saturday after a late breakfast and saw some paragliders hovering a few hundred feet up - I wasn't missing anything. Sunday was ON. With guidance from local instructor Willie of Fly Away and a ride and info from John Greynald I had a great flight! Got above the ridge easily and made it out to the beach LZ with my big F3 Tandem wing (solo). My first new site in a long time and it really got the brain cells firing. Both of them ;)

I saw lift in the 400 FPM range mostly, some 600. A little tight below launch but big and well-defined up higher. Lots of spines to work and lift was usually where I expected it to be. They said the lift is often quite narrow. You definitely need to walk the LZs and have local guidance. 20-30 minutes from Parma LZ to the launches. Upper Parma is sloped about like the AJX parking lot and has some bushes; land uphill. Trees and a steep drop-off on the approach side. PG's used Upper Parma, no big deal, except for the guy who came up short. One PG tried to land downhill and (sort of) into the breeze and went close to the drop-off. Saw a double surface HG land there, upslope and crosswind, and he almost ran out of room; did a stand-up 180 after flaring early near the breakdown tree. Landing HG in Lower Parma looks a lot like top landing Marshall, i.e. up the back, except it's dished and not a hilltop. Saw a tandem HG diving an approach into Lower Parma. You come in hot and glide up the slope and flare, ignoring wind direction. Landing at the beach is a piece of cake, or at least it was on Sunday. Just a longish glide out.

Good group out there. A fully-loaded PG van said I could have ridden up with them if I'd gotten there before all the bags were piled on the roof. I wanted to get the beta from the HG pilots who were due anyway.

Facebook Album (public):
http://tinyurl.com/co9xl65
More info in some of the captions.

Clear and warm, very low inversion layer, essentially zero wind.

Good.

Missed cones. Almost soarable.

Soarable, but I did not soar. Won spot with 10 feet or so.
Good.

Soarable but the murk had arrived. Some good cores to about 4k or a little more. Won spot.
Light PP VGT, TT to 38 mph. 2-hole right turn. Twisted tips one each. raised all sprogs one turn each. Tightened Inboard shear ribs 1/4 inch.

Solidly soarable, murkier. Good SW in the LZ for landing.

No turn, more PP VGT. TT still high to 33 and would zoom to 38 then slow. Tightened mid-span velcros 1/4 inch.

Surprisingly scratchable given the thin cloud layer casting shadows. Pretty west in the LZ. Won spot with 7 feet
Nice one. Slows down to 18.

Clouds and soarable. L.A. Times videographer Bethany with us. We all had GoPros. Good landing 25 feet short. Key sections 7:10, 10:10, 28:05

Good.

Easy soaring to.4,200 and more. Got very close to a Red Tail Hawk. Had GoPro on helmet. Nice landing 15 feet short of cone. Key sections 6:00, 9:30
Good.

Glassy soaring. GoPro again. Key sections 10:00, 14:30
Light roll. Nice. .

Worked below Cloud a little, got up from Last Chance to 4,700 . Had GoPro on keel but failed to start it. Right-hand approach in bumpy air to a no-stepper 30 feet past cone.

Nice. VdVGT=52, good PP.

Alto Strat filling in. Plenty soarable. GoPro running. Flags at LZ showed east just before dropping to.zero. I was just above approach altitude and decided straight south final was best. Did a right-hand approach and had a straight in cycle after all. Almost touched the basetube to the ground nine feet from the PG cone; 2nd winner.

Good. VdVGT=52, good PP. Bullet holes, left P4 near batten.

Good cycles at Regionals. High cloud layer had filled-in and then mostly evaporated to dots. Sunny with stronger thermals. Got up easily, went and buzzed Marshall straight into a wingover out front, found 600+ FPM lift while slowing and climbing after the wingover, so I worked it for a few hundred feet VGT. Better core north of the peak and I left for Crestline at 5,500 - lost no altitude going back. Saw the work truck at the Airsites site, towers removed. Stuffed the bar for Regionals and the LZ, about a 4-minute sustained dive. Landed right after Mike into SW steady 10. GoPro on keel.
Good. On the stiff side, a hint of a right turn. Twisted right tip one hole.

Morning clouds had cleared, high-altitude coverage 80-90%, murky looking down from Crestline. Wind 15 or so, almost chilly. Wore light gloves for the first time since last spring. bunpy ridge soaring rght by launch, a couple of hundred over. Got back up at Billboard. Inclined to head down to Marshall and warmer air, but wanted to be sure to stay up until my driver, Kat, arrived in the LZ. Went to Pine after getting to 5,800 at BB. OK there. Headed for Regionals at 14:00, saw two PG's way up in front of Cloud. Still a lot of shading but unstable air meant plenty of workable thermals anyway. Landed cleanly into SW 10 at 14:20.

Good. All nominal.

Almost soarable. Overshot PG cone by 20 feet.
Good. Vt=20-21.

Soarable.
OK. Moderate RT turn. Twisted tips 1/2 turn each. PP good VdVGT.
Tiny wrinkle in LE material six inches from noseplate, RT wing.

Fully soarable, wind from SE. Had a 1k FPM core to above 4,600. Tiny thermal causing east flow at the LZ. Couldn't find out to stay up, landed heading SSE with a slight tailwind at the SE corner. Ran a few steps and put the basetube down. Happy with that, considering.

12mm battens, full Mylar. Vs=24 Vt=25. Some stall hysteresis from 22. VdVGT>70 TT appx. 27. Mike reflew after spending 5 minutes on each wing rubbing down the loft crease in the LE material. He declared it fine (with a hair of a right turn).

Fun to thermal at 18-19. Could initiate a spin with hard push but always got less than 180 degrees. Climbed to 7,200 in ten minutes in one thermal, getting above Hwy. 18 near Crestline. Won spot with 8 feet.
Great. Vs=18 , Vt=19. Fun to thermal at 18-19. Could initiate a spin with hard push but always got less than 180 degrees.

Hot with high altitudes predicted. I just wanted to get some fun soaring in. Nobody was going to be going up for a while when I arrived at AJX around 14:30. I launched from the 750 at 15:15 thinking it was waaay too late in the day for that. Worked a number of bubbles at launch level before hooking one that drifted right to the east side of Marshall Peak. It reached the higher westerly flow and left me in the dust at about 4,700 just a little way over Waterman Canyon. Worked Marshall and Cloud a bit, then a big wide high cloud sheet drifted over and shut the thermals down. I slowly milked the bumps off the slopes all the way down to the bluffs and the Big O launches. The sun reappeared finally but I was only about 300 higher than the LZ, so I landed at the 50-minute mark. A little less than I wanted, but still fun and satisfying.

When I was on downwind (heading N) for a SSW final the flags suddenly showed west with a touch of north, right before I turned to 'base'. Got ready to do some too-low 90° turns to align with it, but it went back to SSW and I trotted it out. Others had nastier surprises while landing a bit later. Comfortable for the hike back up to get my truck.

Great hanging out with everyone before the meeting and meeting a couple of new folks afterwards. I got to my driveway and realized my harness was still at the LZ, so I went back and got it. I've done that trick several times when self-retrieving from the 750. Never forgotten the glider ;)

Very still, muggy. Under 15 feet from cone.
Good.

Almost soarable. Overshot cone by 20 feet.

Good.

Still not soarable. Flew down quick to get in sync. Extended ground skim and still steerable, came up short anyway.

Good. Needs placard on keel. Steve noticed the bridles were too tight on his F4. It turned out Bill had made the batch to an old spec. Bill made new ones and I changed them out on 6 F4's on Friday.

Soarable, just. Got to 3,100 before bailing. Landed with my right foot on the PG cone.
Good.

Save from over the Ranch to 3,100 before diving to the LZ. Right approach, overshot cone.
Good.

Soarable in front of launch. Got a boomer in front of Cloud that I rode to 7,200 MSL in six to eight minutes, drifting fairly quickly at first. Did a fly-over of Maria and Pedro at Regionals with the GoPro. Landed a bit short in a steady headwind.

Nice all around. TT to 28 VGT, VdVGT>70, good PP.

Soarable but not as strong or bumpy as previous flight. Launch time approximate due to file saving problem.
Good. All speeds nominal.

Fun scratching in the late-day glass-off especially over by the bottom of 2N40.
Good.

Fun scratching at the gap in the bluffs. RT approach to SW final, five feet past PG cone.

Good.

Hard scratching in the bowl just west of launch. Finally climbed 100 feet above launch and then it was easy. Got to 3,100. Good breeze to land into, steered and had my right foot on the base of the PG cone, tied with Mike.

Great.

Sheriff's helicopter flew over Cloud Peak and Regionals, said something about a hang glider on his P.A. then did a big circle, so I landed. Others stayed airborne. Pilots in the LZ heard "downed hang glider". Chopper left the area. Greg Cary arrived and said J. Dietch had broken his ankle landing in a wash in Yucaipa. Taken to hospital, his glider was still there needing to be broken down.

Good.

Got to 6,500 MSL in 10 minutes of steady climbing, seeing solid 800 FPM at times. Weak inversion at 6k. Box approach from east of LZ into good SW, won spot with 10 feet, 3-stepper. Fire breaking out in Devore as we finished breaking down.
Sweet handling. VdVGT=54.

Fire in Devore diminshed and under control. Still easy soaring, especially up above Marshall Peak. Steady 12 SW in LZ, won spot with 2.5 feet, no-stepper.

Good. VdVGT=66 Vmush=20 TT to 29 VGT.

French-Canadian reality show, Double Double with McKenzie. Easterly mid-level flow with isolated showers and 50-70% cloud cover. Rain at home around 13:00, 97F and 48% humidity earlier. Took our time at Crestline and conditions got less variable, good S flow 15-18. Elaine doesn't speak much English and that was a little daunting but translators and hand motions got the important points of which straps to hold, when to go prone, etc., across. We had a good launch into ridge-soarable conditions. She exclaimed "Oh my god!" at launch (in English), later said "It is like a bird". Smooth enough to give her a lot of control ridge-soaring. She seemed vary comfortable in the air. Mostly gentle going out to Regionals and Marshall, caught up with Rob and the guy over the LZ; they were mostly flying straight and level. Swooped it a little and than landed shortly after Rob. The SW wind had looked great from 1,000 feet AGL but it diminished to almost nothing by the time we were landing. Rob said he ran a long way. I ran about 10 steps with Elaine trying hard to keep on her feet. I had to put the glider on the basetube and the nose came over some, slowly. 23-minute flight. Had a GoPro on a boom, one on the basetube, and one on her helmet. Rob's SD cards, so I have none of the video. Recorded a GPS track with my DroidX. Pre-launch photos I took with the Droid got glitched, damnit.

Clear and just warm, good cycles. Went right from launch and got up south of Last Chance after thinking I'd made a mistake. SE approach to a two-stepper, slightly long.

Good. VdVGT=58.

SE approach, won spot.

VdVGT=66, VdVGL=51.

Plenty of strong lift chased Mike over the flats to get a shot of the 'raven' S2, then back to the bluffs low to get back up and test the glider. No sweat in 600+ FPM to 4,300 MSL. Landed heading S again. Tried to absorb speed with my legs and force a no-stepper and put the basetube on the grass.

Had the GoPro running for launch, then back on for chasing Mike (just a glimpse of the glider's BS) then turned it off. Later turned it back on for diving to the LZ and landing but accidentally hit the front panel button and switched it to still-camera mode. Got a snap of my fingers and the LZ way below, then a snap of my fingers and the LZ after I landed. Doh!
Good. VdVGT=58. Slowed down especially well .

Windy, 25 at Crestline early, sunny and 90+ in the valley. Arrived at Marshall to find 15 S gusting to 20, lots of SSE cycles. Took my time setting up and evaluating conditions. Dave Davenport on nosewires. Good launch at 15:50, skimmed low over south streamer pole. Climbed a bit and went to Cloud. Smooth 600-800 FPM lift got us to 6,700 MSL in a few minutes. Great view! Flew with less turning for a while and took it all in. Between the 750 and the bluffs tried to get one thermal but it passed us by quickly. Owen and Matt came in fast and low from the NW and then there was huge sink so we had to get ready to land very quickly. We did one circle of the field while Owen was on approach and then I dove it in. Didn't know where Matt was but figured he'd have to avoid US - he had landed first it turns out. A little trouble for Robin getting upright, had her hanging low so she could steer easily. Landed into SSW 5 with a couple of steps, Robin dragging to her knees. Good GoPro video.

Big development SE all around to BE. 600-800 FPM at Cloud Peak, went to Crestline quickly. Grabbed a SW cycle to land in. GoPro headband popped off while I was standing on launch; stuffed it into a pocket.
Good, no turn. VdVGT=67 TT to 27.
Left outboard BS rib pocket and Velcro shear rib need to be sewn down.

Clouds had grown and merged, especially dark looking east. Good speed runs through big bumps. Had the GoPro on headband, snuck up on a Redtail. Kept it short because Mike and Steve were already on the ground. Had SSE 5 dropping to zero on final. Went a bit long but had a two-step flare. Owen arrived and said he'd decked it in north Fontana. Only one glider left on the trailer, so they called it a day. I went down to the shop for a few hours.

Good. VdVGT>72, good PP. Vt=23. Light pitch well until last 8 inches of push.

Vt=23-24 TT to 42+ VGT, though it would stabilize at 40 if held. Raised inboard sprogs 1.5 ea, outboards 1 ea. Rough air. Was wings level near Cloud Peak and initiated a left turn but got rolled right and had no choice but to go that way. Dove to get below Mike at 500 AGL over AJX, saw weak NW on the flags, then still, then NW again. Came in from the SE, thought I was too high and should veer to get the upslope as a runout but stayed pointed into the wind. Landed trotting just past the PG cone. They called the day - too rough to evaluate new gliders.

Gusty to 20+, very clear. Picked up after two steps and had to pull hard on the bar, as if I'd jumped into the air. Got a few hundred over easily. Went to Pine and fount it quite bumpy. Got to 5,800 and went back the north spine. Headed for the next bump west and found nothing, some sink. Back south and then to Pine, speed run toward Regionals. Worked something from west of Regionals going NE, but it weakened in the fast drift. Buzzed Marshall 6 feet above a kiting PG then just kept getting even with the peak. From NW of the 750 I got up high enough to go behind Marshall and buzz launch again, then dove for the LZ area. Dropped a small parachute with a 1 lb. rock at 1k directly over the LZ, expecting it to drift east. It did. Nice descent rate, landed hear trail 1k feet east of LZ; later retrieved. Good test. Decent SSW for landing, came up 5 feet short of the HG cone. GoPro upside down on rear keel - nice footage.

Talked with Walter, new tandem pilot from Bay Area. Got good info on Santa Barbara flying from Willie.
Tightened inboard shear ribs 3/8 inch. Vt 21-22, TT to 38. After some wingovers, Vt 20-21, TT to 35. Bar would stay at 30 if plcaed there, until turbulent air bumped glider and it sped up. Light PP at VdVGT of 63, flat PP 30-40. Raised all sprogs one more turn.

Wanted Amanda to get a soaring flight this time. Clear and warm, wind gusting to 20, slightly cross from left. Great launch and then climbs at 600 FPM, one 800 FPM in the house thermal and at Billboard. Amanda steered wel for her sizel, had fun. Some tight thermals and no complaints of discomfort. Video shows Amanda reaching for the basetube a number of times and then stopping herself - great sign of awareness and self-control, though she could have had her hands on the bar most of those timmes. Landed only because another tandem was waiting. Had Amanda (try to) hold my shoulder straps for landing, but her short arms meant she was twisted sideways so when I flared weakly and a couple of steps were needed she couldn't even get her weight on her feet. Reviewing the video revealed the problem; I had thought it was the sideways-pull on my shoulder straps (still my fault) that was the problem.

Wind a bit stronger than earlier, straighter and less gusty. Nice launch and Ali was cool as a cucumber in the air. Didn't want to steer much. Didn't climb as high as earlier, but more passes over launch along the ridge. Good thermalling out by Marshall. Forgot to get GPS track and forgot to pull out the hand-held camera. We were boating well above the bluffs and Ali didn't want to land, so did some short smooth climbs for a while. Great 10+ SW wind at the LZ. Had Ali hold the back and side handles (same as takeoff) for approach and landing and video shows she was in a great natural and relaxed position. Had a great flare to wing perpendicular and niether one of us took a step. Gotta like that.

Light wind cycles, low inversion murk. Scratched the bluffs for a while. Saw two deer we had chased on the road earlier. Zero to two at the LZ, ran dropping right wing, but no touch to the grass.
Nice one. Vs=19 Vt=21 TT to 28.

Weakly soarable, got above launch a couple of times. Crosswind at the LZ, climbed out. Ended up with SE 5 and nailed the HG cone from the NW (rt-hand).
Good.Vs=19 Vt=21-23 TT to 29 VdVGT=66. Settled to 23 Vt but would hold 21 if set there.

Cloudy and soarable. Got to 4,500 at UM. Vulture flew six feet over my nose head-on. Good landing into SW 10, 10 feet from cone.

Good. Vs=20, VdVGT=66, good PP.

Rough air. Was wings level near Cloud Peak and initiated a left turn but got rolled right and had no choice but to go that way. Dove to get below Mike at 500 AGL over AJX, saw weak NW on the flags, then still, then NW again. Came in from the SE, thought I was too high and should veer to get the upslope as a runout but stayed pointed into the wind. Landed trotting just past the PG cone. They called the day - too rough to evaluate new gliders.

Vt=23-24 TT to 42+ VGT, though it would stabilize at 40 if held. Raised inboard sprogs 1.5 ea, outboards 1 ea.

Saw a column of rain falling on Loma Linda with the top fading and the cloud dissolving. At launch could see a tendril of dust heading west from it. Decided to launch and keep an eye on it. Easy climbing at Cloud Peak as the low wall of dust spread slowly across San Bernardino. The glider checked out and I decided to land when I saw the front reach Highland and Waterman. Breezy SW at the LZ, landed into it at the east edge, getting sucked toward the edge a bit; landed trotting and yawing. When the gust front arrived 20 minutes later it was just a shift to strong SE flow for a while. Got video with the helmet cam, posted to YouTube.

Good. No turns. VdVGT>68, Vs=20.

First flight with my new GoPro. Nailed the spot but ended up on my knees.
Good.

Nailed PG cone, on feet, right-hand approach.
Good. Vs=17.

Nailed spot again.
Good.
Replace #2 strings.

Overshot the cone a bit. Made a video of the launches and landings, put it on YouTube.
Good.
Replace #2 strings.

Save from 200 AGL to above launch (2,500) - best ever. Stomped on PG cone too.
Great. Bridles might be just a hair loose. 0.1 or 0.2 inches.
New batten bag (longer).

Got to 3,500 under Steve on an F4 195. Landed long in 90 degree cross and tail.

Good.

Got to 3,500 quickly. Right-hand approach and stood on (after knocking it over) the PG cone again.
Good. Lighter roll PP than others I've flown. Possibly the lighter breakdown XBar.
New batten bag (longer).

Nice and soarable, very bumpy. Did a VdVGT run to above Marshall and went to do a wingover right as I hit major bumps. S at 8 cycle at the LZ as I was setting up, Matt stopped walking his wing over from the HG cone approach. It turned SE and I did a 110 degree turn from a west base to aim at the PG cone. Went a little long and took three steps.

Sweet. No ASI, all felt normal. Good PP VdVGT.

Worked Last Chance area which had very little lift despite being very bumpy - the wind had picked up. Got just north of the pond at 2,400 and rode a very solid core to 5,400 in 4.5 minutes. Good no-stepper about 15 feet past the PG cone.

Good. VdVGT=54.

Not quite soarable at Crestline, averaging 15 SSW. Good launch into a decent cycle, three steps. Veronica (GF of Roy Haggard's son Quinton) was very comfortable in the air. Passed in front of launch, way out then veered for Regionals. Veronica steered well. Found good lift at Regionals and went round and round while Rob and Quinton came over low from Billboard. She said it was more fun than skydiving, giggled a lot. Did some dives and hard banked turns and then thermalled some more. Had to land for the 5 PM run, so we wandered out over the LZ with 2 grand AGL. Steady SW 10 at the LZ so had a good stand-up landing with the HG cone under the right wing.

Great fun casually scratching the orographic lift close-in above the 750 for a while. Did a wingover. No-stepper landing about 10 feet short of the HG cone.
Good, turn gone.

Dave Hards bought Dave Childs' US 166 and has flown it three times. Pilots who saw Dave H. launch today thought he was trimmed too slow, he said the tufts were streming straight back hands-off. They asked me if I'd fly it some time, and I figured we'd just do it right now. Nice light-wind susnset launch from the 750. Actually somewhat boatable at the bluffs; the vario beeped occasionally. The glider was trimmed at 20.5, both VGL and VGT. Fun to fly and in great shape. I really enjoyed looking around in the twilight and boating in the glassy air. Had a nice landing into WSW 5 just short of the HG cone. After talking to Kenny Westfall it sounded more like Dave H. launched nose-high and then just had a slow pith oscillation for a while. Dave H. is a returning experienced pilot.

My first flight on a Falcon 4. Definitely a better glide, more bar pressure in pitch than I expected. More affected by bumps than a Falcon 3.

Top-landed Marshall in smooth flow to adjust glider and refly it. Left Cloud Peak at 4,200 MSL and ended up going straight into a top-landing approach at Marshall - wouldn't have been enough altitude with a Falcon 3. While I was tuning a paraglider had a problem with his wing and slammed in to the hill below the lower HG launch; reportedly didn't throw his parachute in time. I didn't see any of it, found out when I walked to launch and parked behind Di McKenzie and student Jeremy, ready for his first solo.

They had already called for a helicopter. I parked and got out of my harness, trucked Jeremy's glider up to the top. Waited by my wing, hoping to fly down after the extraction. Sheriff's helicopter circled and eventually asked me to break down the glider, so I took it up and did; good thing I had all the bags in my harness. Leo Bynum was supposed to drive me up to Crestline to retrieve my truck. Diane ended up taking me straight to Crestline from Marshall - thanks Di!

The PG pilot's friends (New Mexico group) reported that he could move all of his extremities, but that his lower back really hurt. Presumably a helicopter took hiim to the hospital.
Mild left turn. Top landed Marshall and twisted tips one notch each.

Lower back tightened up during setup.
Good.

Six feet from PG spot, right-hand approach into SSSW 5.
Fine.

Lower back too tight to effectively control glider in sharp-edged thermals. Done for the day.
OK.

High pressure with overdevelopment to the north and east. Not quite ridge soarable at the time I took off, though there were a couple of gliders a few hundred over at Billboard. Headed for Regionals, with a speed run along the way. Easy to stay up in 100-200 FPM lift. Had a few 600+ cores that went tot he 4,800-4,900 MSL range. Went over by the Afterbay and then east, planning to land at the one-hour mark. Got a good core over the LZ and took it toward Marshall, getting 3,900 after jumping to the low spine out front. It petered out and I went in for a two-step landing into bumpy SW 10.
Sprogs set to 65.5 inches, 1/2 inch higher than spec. PP approx 5 lbs/hand VdVGT. Otherwiase good. TT to 28, Vs 20

I landed heading north, Mike landed heading SW at the same time. No problem.

Good.

Launched into a thermal, scratched close in the draws. Got above Cloud Peak and dove for the LZ. Landed short of PG come, heading east.
Nice one.

Stopped circling at 4k and ended up at 4,170. Straight approach from the 750 to a decent landing in the PG circle.
Good.

Got above launch on the second pass, buzzed a hiker. Bumpy and strong thermals. Got to 5k easily. Nice landing photo by George. Carm's custom sail.

Very nice handling. Vt=20.5, VdVGT=60. TT to 23 VGT, could slow to 21 and stay there.

Got above launch on the first pass. Rough air. Landed way long in a gust after expecting a no-winder.
Good. TT to 29 VGT with light pitch pressure until 5 inches from full stuff. Raised all sprogs one turn.

Ridge soared Regionals from launch. Climbed easily to 5,150. Got to Billboard at 4,750 and rode the ridge up. Had to go 30 to make visible headway against the wind. Did a VdVGT run all the way to the bluffs. Good landing in the PG circle, finally won a spot.

Nice / normal. TT to 27 VGT, good PP all the way.

Still ridge soarable at Regionals and broad orographic lift with thermals mixed in over all the bumps.
Great. TT to 26, settles back to 21 if you want. VdVGT=65

Very soarable day! I launched my F3T solo from the 750 at 3:30 and saved it above the treeline with a thermal that went all the way to the top of Marshall. A little windy but the thermals were mostly oblivious as they drifted NE. Got to 4,900 in the afternoon thermal that wraps around the back side of Regionals. Probably better that I didn't get enough to hop back to windy Crestline lightly loaded on the tandem wing. Breezy enough in the LZ that my glider pulled me backwards a few inches after my keel planted. What a pleasant hour in the air!

The chow was pretty good - scored some medium-rare BBQ and the cole slaw and potato salad were perfect.

Participating in figuring out what had happened at Crestline filled in the time between after dinner and sunset. Short version as of 7 PM last night: one glider was turning and was 'hit by another from above' in ridge lift near launch. Turning pilot threw chute and was unhurt; other pilot spun into trees resulting in broken arm and disintegrated glider. Who screwed up is unclear at this point.

Conditions very much like the day before.
Good. A little on the stiff side.

Good. VdVGT=63, TT to 30.

Very bumpy just above the inversion, which was at about 4,200.
Good. No turns.

Normal

What with hazy air and high clouds drifting in from the desert and blocking the sun at times the flying wasn't that great. Smallish thermals and a mild inversion around 4k MSL (at 4-5 PM) meant it was hard to do much more than simply stay up after launching Marshall at 4:15 with a U2 160. Occasionally a thermal would have enough oomph to get a few hundred above 4k, and I did get to 5,200 in once but that thermal ran into another inversion and burbled out. Steady 10+ SW in the LZ made for easy landing at 5:15.

Test flew Dave Childs' new U2 160; Dave took it home.

The BBQ was very good and there were 30+ in attendance, so it was just right as a warm-up to the Fly-In on Saturday. Kathy and Dusty had the burgers and links going and Sheri brought potato salad, Shelby brought apple pie and cherry pie, so it was as American as you could get. There were some other goodies too. I was craving a mushroom burger, so I brought mushrooms in garlic butter to class the joint up a bit ;)
Flew great. VdVGT=62. Delivered to Dave Childs with McKenzie's OK.

Crestline was on the verge of blowing-out, so we went to Marshall with hopes of flying back to Crestline. Nice launch at 14:55. Plenty of strong thermals to work, drifting quickly as we got higher. Some had sharp edges. Had Blake doing most of the thermalling and flying point-to-point. Got above 5k a few times, 5,300 and change once - not enough to hop to the back ridge tandem. Not much traffic, but we did thermal with another glider (Joel, S2 175) for a good number of circles.

Blake was ready to land at about the 50 minute point so we flew out over the LZ area a couple of grand AGL. Casually looked around for sink to descend in, then climbed after seeing the flags at the LZ showing a weird wind direction due to a thermal (the one we climbed in) and then watched another glider to figure out whether he was wanting to stay up or head in to land. He kept climbing so we flew back to the LZ and started our approach. Strong sink right at the LZ so I did a small left-hand pattern, diving for airspeed. Good stand-up two-step landing 10 feet from the HG cone.

Good booming summer conditions. Rush comp gliders for Club Cadiz; Mike flew two, I flew one. Got up right away in front of Regionals and higher in front of Cloud. Mike was delayed launching so I climbed from Regionals to 5150 and went to the Billboard/watertank area. Got above the ridge from 4750 and sped back out to Regionals. Too bumpy for much VdVGT, but still fast. Worked my way down and took the first good SW cycle I saw. Quite bumpy coming in, plus I got my right arm around the right rear wire when I transitioned. Had enough time to let go and reposition, flared in the exact middle of the LZ, so Mike won the buck.
Moderate left turn, twisted ips 1 1/4 each. VdVGT=72, TT to 30.

Good. VdVGT=51

Went to Crestline around 9 AM so Mike could get on-board certification video of the T2C 136. North wind was stronger than forecast and held on later than forecast. Erik Fair was with us to get another Falcon flight before their Yosemite trip. Mike launched cleanly. I stood on launch with 5 MPH cycles crossing 45 degrees from the left, wanting a straight-in cycle. Finally got a 3 MPH cycle and ran hard a long way down the launch, almost to the rocks. Flew straight out to Cloud Peak, crabbing to the SE, and over to Marshall spine thinking the morning sun and ESE flow would make it work over there. Bubbles and turbulence, maybe from the high east spine, so back to the Cloud spine, where Erik was circling. Found stuff to work there, weak and shifty, but got to 4,100 at one point. Good landing into S 5.
Good.

Steady flow at Regionals, SW 10, warming up. Got up below Cloud again and saw 4,100 or so. Thermals were turning on and it was very active at the LZ. Won spot by default.
Sweet handling.

Still good flow at Regionals. Rowdy thermals. Got rolled 45 degrees and then pitched down in one spot, just after I had gone VG loose after an upwind speed run to Last Chance. Could have gone to Crestline with a little effort. Good landing into S 8.

This glider was a repaired customer glider that I flew previously after putting it back together. The mylar inserts had been wrinkly and Steve took them and tried the 2 hours at 200 degrees F in the oven process after my previous flight. The mylar was very smooth, if tightly curled, and wasn't too hard to reinsert. Made a huge difference in handling. Before, the glider was skatey, going off in the direction of whichever wing happened to drop and the pitch feel while thermalling was tricky, what with the airflow separating unpredictably.
Much more predictable with smoother (cooked) mylar. Still a touch of a left turn. Twisted tips 1/4 more each.

Tandem with Mark Selner's son Randy. 17 years old, 6 feet, 140 lbs.
Really bumpy air today, and windy. Easy to ridge soar Crestline so we did lots of passes between Crestline and Billboard, stopping frequently for thermals. Had Randy do the steering a lot, flew alongside his Dad several times. Randy had a good understanding of flying the glider. Flew for 52 minutes; could easily have flown longer. Lots of gliders in the air.
Wind was WSW 20-22 MPH when we were launching at about 15:05, waited-out several strong gust cycles. Thermals were mostly broken up by the strong wind, sharp bumps and drifting fast. Smoother near Marshall but we had several sharp bumps at the edges of thermals. Good SW wind about 12 at the LZ. Was a little left of straight into the wind with the left wing dropping slightly. Flared gently, trotted three steps to a standing stop.

Good launch from Crestline, not ridge soarable. Got up to 5k from Cloud Peak, then was thermalling with Dustin Martin (on his new T2C 144) between Cloud and Marshall and busted through the inversion. Thermal went straight up and then we were in the East flow to 5,400+ MSL. Headed back to Crestline cautiously and found it bouyant all the way back. Passed launch and then Billboard, then back out front. Landed into steady SW after waiting-out a thermal at the LZ.

Had Matt Barker's GoPro Hero2 video camera on the crossbar - my first time with video. Got a few hand-held snaps with the Kodak, plus Shelby Clark got our landing on video and Ryan Voight was filming for his landing clinic too.

Kat had line on her coccoon mixed-up with her right leg loop. I didn't see it on the hang check. Megret came over and saw rope against skin and tried to move it. Dustin untied and re-routed the cord. Thanks to all! Would have been uncomfortable for Kat and no way we'd have flown an hour-five.

Great. VdVGT=55 Vs=20. Struggled in strong bumps NW of the 750 for 5-8 minutes. Finally got coherent and busted through the minor inversion. Got to 4,300 N of Regionals and it hot tbe main inversion. Good SSW in the LZ, clocking to W as I came in. Decent trotting flare.

Good. VdVGT=55. No BS flutter but the occasional slap. Took a bit to get up again that was easy. Got to 5,000 and had visions of Crestline, but it wasn't to be. Did some wingovers, good landing,won spot when Mike went long to the sprinkler.

Clear and gusty SSW, not hot. Good launch into weak cycle, joined Matt at the house thermal - a bit rowdy.Drifted north from east and west of Cloud Peak, getting stuck at 4,800 in fast drift. Broke through from Cloud to 5,500 and went to Crestline - not that great given the wind speed. Went to Pine, got 6k+. Cold. Went to second spine west and found little, didn't like the probable headwind coming back. Easy trip back to Regionals and Marshall. Did some wingovers and a solid spin onthe way to the LZ. All lift, all the time. Decided to wander toward the south rather than fight my way down. Lift over CalState and Kendall hill. Lift east of the LZ, went back to Kendall for some pix. Found sink near the LZ, cored it for a fast descent. Landed into S 12 pointing about 20 deg off, so had to trot it out while steering.
Minor sail changes to clean-up tips and BS root. SP flew on 6/1, said to twist tips 1 each for RT turn, use 1/8 inch shorter wands. Mylar LE. Good, maybe a super slight left turn - a little high-siding thermalling left, bumping low side thermalling right. Untwisting one hole would probably just reverse that. Felt like usual mylar LE stiffness.

Weak and low at first, then it turned on with 300-400 FPM to 4k+. Thermals popping off all around the LZ, dove hard to grab a light S cycle. Good 3-stepper.

Nice. TT to 26. VdVGT=70.

No coherent thermals to work, but it felt good. Normal landing in S 5 and switchy.
Good.

Normal onshore warm day. A bit westerly at Marshall, 10-15 MPH. Good launch into slightly crowded air, HG and PG. Got up a little out front, then over to Cloud spine. Thermals were tight and 100-150 FPM for the most part. Worked a few, one a save from 2,700 at the bluffs, then we were back down to 2,600 and went over the LZ. Only a PG landing as we got upright at 700 AGL. Sinky over the LZ, so I dove it in from 400 feet to a good no-stepper at 17:15. Kat was comfortable and coordinated in the air, very relaxed.

Took a late-day ride up the hill after having Dusty Rhodes weld up the attachments for the front rack on the new Tacoma. Rode up with High Adventure and assisted with launching their two waiting students, Ignacio and Mori, while Di did paperwork with their tandem student and Rob set up our gliders. It was blowing in the LZ and pretty west up at Marshall. I launched last and was able to ridge soar the peak for a few passes. Went over to a small group working Regionals and points east. Thermalled in really close with Kim Floyd on a PG. Got up to 3,900 and 4k a couple of times. Enjoyed the peaceful glass-off. Got east of the LZ high and did a good spin and a series of wingovers. Body weight 196 today and I could feel the slower acceleration in the dives. Had a nice no-stepper short of the HG cone at 18:32.

Canadian flag wing. Got to 4,100, good narrow thermals.
Nice. Slight left, twisted tips 1/2 each. TT to 27. Vd VGT>70, good PP.

'J.R.' glider. Didn't find good lift until I got down by 750, then it was good. Many wind directions in LZ, waited for good south.
Left turn and skaty - if a tip dropped it went that way. Twisted tips 3/4 turn each. Vd VGT=68. Older glider 'J.R.', had dented keel and leading edge. Put bumerous tape patches on LE's.

Got up right away in front of Regionals, yelled down to Matt. Buzzed Marshall then hit 600+ up and went to 5,600 and dove to Crestline then dove to Regionals.

Sweet wing. Slowed down great, went fast smoothly. Vd VGT>70.

Overcast with cloudbase lifted off Crestline. Windy up there, and cold, but only 2-7 MPH S-SSW at Marshall, very few sunny spots, all far out in the valley. Waited for a nicely launchable cycle and got 100-200 FPM at the house thermal. Took it to 4,900 north of the peak, but too broken to drift farther with. More 100 up at Regionals but a sunny spot came along and actually brought sink. I went to Cloud Peak for a minute then returned and found a general sink cycle. Scratched at the bluffs for a few minutes but it was futile. Was ready for a big left-hand approach to a SSE final and found sink at the south end of the LZ. Had to really tighten it up and turn base to final near the north edge of the lawn. Landed smoothly in the very middle of th LZ. Later it was east and even north east for brief periods.
It cleared up a lot a few hours later.
Great. Vd VGT=55

Good. Vd VGT=52

Good. A hair stiff.

Good

Very hot in San Bernardino - at least 96 degrees F. Ridge soarable at Crestline in the morning. We waited on launch for a lull that wasn't too cross fom the west for several minutes. Two-step launch into smooth lift, but only just at launch height for a couple of passes, so off to Billboard. At Billboard there were good thermals and we soon found 800 up that we took to 6,200 MSL. Pointed out the sights and did a couple of dives and turns. Air was rowdy. Kate wanted som smooth flying so we headed for Regionals, still high, with Kate doing her first steering. Just kind of flew here and there out at Marshall and decided to go land. Good WSW 10-15 at the LZ with lift and sink in places. I did a big left-hand from about 300 AGL and we had a no-stepper in the HG circle. Kate went to her knees and was unsteady for a minute, but fine after that. Wants to go again.
Kate did well, was nauseated after about 20 minutes. Flying smooth and mellow didn't relieve it, so we landed.

Low clouds and damp in the morning, cloudbase above Regionals by 10 AM. Lots of dew on the vegetation. My legs, shorts, and basetube were covered with drops of water after launch. Was able to wipe the basetube with my light gloves. A few beeps from the vario over a sunny spot by the 750 launch.

Mike won the spot; I went very long in absolute zero wind. Good flare though.

Left sprog zipper replace. Give to final assembly.

Rode up in the Smokin Joe shuttle. Mike's truck had an electrical problem during the first and only test round in the morning. The breeze was SW 12-15 steady and the sky had cleared. The thermals were narrow and pretty rowdy, slowing at 4,800-5,000 MSL. Chilly above 4,600 or so. I had stashed my gloves just before walking down to launch. Doh! Got to 5,200 a couple of times, then 5,700 in 700+ FPM at Regionals. Pointed at Billboard but going back was slow-going and my fingers were bloodless. Turned at the water tank at 5,200 and went toward the Afterbay, then over to the LZ vicinity and worked my way down.
Was getting ready for a big left-hand aircraft approach when I found huge sink over the NE corner of the LZ. Whipped the glider around in a tight left circle and landed near the HG cone, sink alarm screaming the whole time.
Good. Right turn. Twisted tips one and one.

Normal sunny onshore day, a little warm for May. The inversion was low and slow to rise but good S/SSW 10-15 wind at Crestline. The crowd at launch was waiting around after seeing a couple of gliders sled down to Marshall. A PG, Shaggy, reappeared above Billboard. Tom Swanson got low with his T2 heading that way, but soon got up.
I launched into a cycle and went left and found bumpiness that was consistent with being at the inversion. Was 400 below launch pretty quickly so I headed for the mouth of Devil's Canyon, thinking that only moderate sink on the way would put me in the bailout LZ. About halfway there it got more bouyant and I gradually veered toward Regionals, which I cleared with a fe hundred feet to spare.
The thermals were small but there were good strong cores west of Regionals and by Cloud. Climbs to 4,500 were easy; more work to get to 4,800. I was soon joined by a crowd of refugees from Crestline.
Worked all the usual places above the Marshall complex, close in with others at times. One multi-core thermal off Last Chance had Hoffbrow just above me in one core and Big Al below me in another, all with intersecting circles and separated by 100 feet or so vertically. Very watchful of Al, who just started actually thermalling, but it was no problem.
Got to 47-48 a few times and tried to follow the cores along the ceiling toward Crestline but they dissipated about 1/3 to 1/2 way there. Pretty fun, actually.
Tried to wait-out three blade wings who were at 1k+ over the LZ for a long time. Finally dove below them with spins and wingovers and had a nice no-stepper heading south in the HG circle at 15:45.
Still had to do a truck retrieve at Crestline and I was tired. Rode from the LZ to the water tank below Billboard with Dexa in the morning. She had a 45 minute flight and a great landing, so she was stoked.

Standard marine layer morning and onshore day. Stev, Matt, and I test flying, so just Matt and I in the spot contest. Landed 12 feet short of cone, won spot.
Good.

Overshot on a fast diving right-hand approach. Matt won the spot.

Won spot with 15 feet past PG cone.
Good.

Won spot, Matt landed way short.
Good.

Spot tied, 12 feet.
Good.

Won spot with 15 feet.
Good.

Knocked HG cone over with right wingtip. Won spot.
Nice light handling. TT to 30 VGT. Vd VGT=66
Bill crimp batten tip threads.

North winds with a late switch - Crestline showed some south (and other) cycles while it was still strong northwest in the LZ at 2 PM when we arrived. We took our time and checked the graph and did paperwork while others went up. Finally a few southwest cycles at the LZ so we headed up. We arrived at Marshall and a bunch of reandy and waiting pilots said it had just switched to SW there. The place cleared out in minutes and the wind was steady 10-15 while we set up and got Shelby's hang height set (a little higher than last time).

Gene Embry was our wireman and after the hang check we had a nice cycle and a good launch. Got a sharp bump as we did the first left turn. Worked a thermal just out front but it was drifting ENE to fast for comfort given the low climb rate. Over at the Cloud spine there were lots of small bumps and the thermals were drifiting so fast we couldn't get two circles in a row in the lift. Others were sinking also, though some much farther west were good and high.

Got over the LZ at 500 AGL and the sock was standing straight out so I dove it in with one big left-hand circle. Bumpy on final but the wind was steady and I managed a no-stepper right next to the HG cone. A couple of others who had been ready to launch after us had similar flights. A little later the wind died down and there were PGs and an HG soaring the Cloud spine. Maintaining, anyway.

Rob McKenzie radioed a couple of students in and they had great landings in the breeze, one within 15 feet of the cone. She must have been listening to him.

Slight right lean VGT, raised left sprogs one turn each. Good PP VdVGT at 64.

Great. TT to 29 VGT. VdVGT=64 w/good PP.

(found KML in Google Drive) Usual trip to Pine then a few thermals at Marshall.

Good.

South approach. Nailed spot.

Rushed approach for traffic and overshot by 50 feet.
Good.

Another right-hand approach and nailed the spot again.

Weak lift in textured air. Buoyant down by the LZ. Landed in the middle of the field in zero to three South.
Good.

Lots of energy on final. Flared and held it to settle right feet past spot (won).
Swell.

Puffing down at launch. Landed heading NNE, but could have come in SW. No-stepper past the cone.

Clear and neither cold nor warm. A few high wispies. Already SW and steady up at Crestline, normal SE clocking to SW down below.

Landed 4 feet from the PG cone.
Tips on transverse battens.

Final approach from the SSE to a good landing 4 feet from the HG cone.
Good.

Landed 18 feet short of PG cone. Won spot.

After having wind on my back at launch I got a good cycle and found a core after a couple of passes. Climbed easily in the narrow thermal, seeing 400-500 FPM on my averager. Rode it to 4,700 MSL. SSE approach again to a good flare and landing well past the HG spot. Only a few steps to the breakdown area.

Good. Colorful.

Sinky right off launch and over the the Cloud spine, but the first core was workable and I went to 5,500 with it, just N of Cloud Peak. Did a quick dash back to Crestline launch, climbing while pulled-in for the first half of the trip. Quick dive back out toe Regionals and then down to the LZ vicinity. Switchy and light South in the LZ. Good landing short of the HG cone.

Sweet handling. Vd VGT=58.

Easy climbs, big sink.
Good. Vd VGT=56

Took a little effort to climb. Good landing 18 feet short of HG cone.
Good. Very slight right tendencies VGT. Raised left sprog one turn.

Sun at a low angle through thin clouds above Baldy made it like a sunset flight. Very boatable pushed-out VGT. Good west breeze in the LZ and came up a little short, landing in the NE corner - lots of upwind turbulators on the ground meant I really didn't want to go long.
Good

Was chased by a hawk while scratching above the Big O. Saw it up close and eye-to-eye as I got over the 420 and she kept after me while I cranked and banked in the tiny lift at the drop-off. I could see her shadow behind mine, wheeling around and diving over and over. Pretty cool.
Great.

Soarable, got to 2,600, never below launch.
Good.

Windy. Climbed to 3,750 very easily. 500 FPM+
Good.

Launched into a thermal after a weak East cycle. Climbed to over 4k in one thermal at 600 FPM on my averager. Landed in strong wind a bit short but on one foot.
Good.

Another first-thermal climb to 4,500+. Wingovers and spins. Very windy in the LZ, still overshot slightly.
--------------------------------------------
Storms due tomorrow night and into the weekend. Wallaby ended yesterday. Got my new Tacoma dusty for the first time.

Great lift from the get-go today, as in soarable from the 750 at 11 AM. Got pretty windy later. The thing was, even with that wind the strong thermals still held together and were easy to track. I had four flights from the 750 and one from Regionals, all with Falcons, and every time the first thermal I found took me as high as I wanted to go. Up around 4,500 I was seeing zero groundspeed when I'd stop thermalling and point into the wind, so that was about as high as I wanted to go. I was seeing 500, 600, even 800 FPM up on my vario's 20-second averager. Great shorts & short sleeves weather.

Other pilots on hotter wings out flying for fun got 7k+ and raced up and down the ridges.

Breezy in the LZ, so landings were easy once you got through the bumpy layer.

Owen was learning how to use the wireless sprinkler controller and he only got a couple of wings wet. Owen later gave some tours of the pond and we even hiked up to the spring that's part of the pond's feed-system. Neat stuff.
Good.

Clear and cool with a thin layer of high clouds, 65% cover. Steady onshore. Arrived at Crestline and found it blowing 15 or so, and building. Good easy launch and climbed a little as I went east. Flow seemed more SE and the east point gave an extra boost. Did several passes over launch then over to Billboard, which wasn't working so well. Dustin had launched a Sport 2 145 and went a bit far out from the ridge, but was maintaining near launch. I left BB for Regionals as he arrived. Good VGT run revealed a minor right turn. Looked back to see Dustin still scratching at BB. Found weak, fast drifting (NW) lift at Cloud and did some turns, confirming right turn also present VG loose. When I got down to 3k or so in front of Regionals I found steady sink to above the LZ. Had headed out over the LZ early because there were still trenches and dirt lines from the new sprinkler project and the backhoe and Ditch Witch were moving around down there.

I had walked the LZ earlier and picked a SSE line up the middle between the HG and PG cones as the clearest path for landing, with only filled-in trenches and lines of dirt piles less than 1 foot high criss-crossing it. Still an open trench around the perimeter. From above I saw the flags and sock slack, showing the last cycle as from the east. Though about landing east on the north apron but decided SSE with a little uphill as planned was best. Saw an east puf as I did a big left-hand approach. Turning to base I saw the sock indicate I'd have a very weak tailwind. Kept my airspeed low and aimed to just clear the trench on the north side in case I had to run. Dragged toes through the piled dirt and flared hard. As I set the basetube down firmly and went to me knees I saw the dust I'd kicked up pass me. Good result, considering.

Great getting a 20-minute soaring flight in the morning. Had to get the glider to the shop so it could be shipped to Florida in time for a customer who would be leaving FLA on Monday.
Good. Mild RT turn. Twisted left tip 2 holes.

Got to the LZ and saw the clouds were above the 750. A bit earlier I'd seen the tops just reaching Regionals via the webcam. Joe took a van-load of us to Marshall Peak at Noon and we found it socked-in with clouds. The McKenziemobile left and no one had been out of the vehicle. After a few minutes of looking toward the lower launch and just barely making it out, we loaded back up and went down to Regionals, ~700' lower - still in the clouds. The wind was streaming straight up the launch, but it was tough to see the yuccas just below launch; forget thinking about terrain-following down to cloudbase. Kicked dirt and told stories as the van slowly filled back up.

Went down to the 750, ~850' lower, emerging from the clouds just before we got there. A PG and a speed wing that were already there then launched. I flew a Falcon 3 195 for about six minutes. Hoffman had started hiking down and I buzzed him pretty close right after launch, then discovered that it was fairly bouyant. The vario beeped a few times and I did a lot of pushed-out stiff-arm flattish turns. Nice SW breeze to land in at the LZ.

A bit later Dustin managed to get up a little and stay up for a while, then Matt Barker did the same, then another HG. Looking south, it seemed like it was going to open up at any time. As far as I could tell by the webcams, from home, it never did. Rain, then North winds coming...
Good. Turned most battens out 7-10

Very late start, brief north winds in the morning and delays at the shop. Air was thick/marine with some low cumulus. Windy, 10-15 WSW, at the LZ while I was waiting for the crew to arrive. Cool and breezy at Regionals, cross from the right. The gliders in the air earlier had all landed. Leo Bynum was visiting and followed us up to Regionals. Cloud(s) shaded the sun as we set up and Leo wanted to bag it; I suggested waiting to see how we did. I launched and climbed to the right, several passes along the little ridge 100+ over. Peaceful and fun. The others were floating in various spots. Flew away then back over launch and Leo was continuing to setup. Got up again out in front of Cloud Peak having a good time. Flew over launch again and Leo was folding up; turned out his tip wands weren't in the glider. I flew out and did a series of steep wingovers and then tried some aggressive spins - got a couple of 180's, anyway.
Dove from high to land in the headwind then thought I was going to be too short, then ended up kicking the PG cone and landing 30 feet past it.
Great fun.
Good. Turned most battens out several turns. Left #4 12 turns, right 7.

The low isolated cumies were all gone and it was much brighter. 30-45 degrees cross from the west at launch. Followed the two spines west of launch down very slowly with lots of flat turns. Pops here and there, but nothing to circle in. Still SW and 5-10 MPH, but I did a tight right-hand approach for the heck of it and floated to 9 feet from the PG cone. Mike won it by landing right next to the cone with a Condor 225.
Good. Turned most battens out several turns. Left wing more than right.

Landed in the middle of the field, trotting.
Good. TT to only 25.

Went long past the HG spot smoothly.
Good.

Good and bumpy, soared easily. Ran over PG spot in a nice landing.

Good. VdVGT=65. Very slight left turn. Twisted 1/2 turn each.

Zero or less wind for landing. Slid on knees and and basetube skids.
Good. Loosen keel strap 3/8" when installing keel fairing.

Nice S approach to a no-stepper 6 feet from the HG cone.
Great.

Good light-wind runout w/basetube touch.
Good. TT to 28 VGT.

Foggy, cross at launch. Long base to S approach. Overshot PG cone by 30 feet.
Good.

Regionals was just above the rapidly disappearing clouds. Kicked the cone and won the spot.

Good.

Lift was on, easy to stay up. Active at the LZ.
Good.

Good active air, fully soarable. Got to 4,400 off Cloud. Good ninety-degree wingover ar Marshall. Waited for a cycle over the LZ. Won spot with 20 feet (!)
Nice handling. Vd VGT=62 TT to 29.

Still great soaring. Landed pretty short.
Good. VGT=61 TT to 27.

Went SW off launch and it wasn't working over there. Those who went to Cloud Peak got up good and high. Had decided to try landing with 1/4 VG because they were talking about it regarding Matt landing the S2 135. Came in to very light SSW and flared at the proper time. The response was so sudden that I stopped flaring 1/2-2/3 way through and ended up trotting and putting the glider down on the basetube. That's why I land full-loose. I forget and try the VG 1/4 thing about once every 6 months.
Good.

Great spring flight! Clear and sunny, marine layer clouds burned off by 9 AM, first day of Daylight Savings Time. South wind 20+ at Crestline, so we went to Marshall Peak, along with everyone else. The first pilots off the hill climbed out easily.

We launched at about 14:35 after waiting 5-10 minutes for a steady straight-in cycle at the lower launch. Good launch run, off in a few steps. Blake spun in his harness (blue cocoon) a little before he got his foot in the boot and went prone. Found lift right away at the house thermal and climbed up a little. Had Blake do his first steering across to S of Cloud Peak. Got up higher than launch quickly and Started giving him the controls while thermalling. The air was pretty bumpy, but the lift was strong - 400-600 FPM for the most part. Like Saturday, big sink between thermals; overall better soaring conditions. Lots of good climbs with some traffic above and below to keep an eye on. Climb above one peak, glide to the other, repeat. Blake did a lot of the flying on his own, with my coaching and the occasional power-assist. After a half-hour he was doing very well tracking the drift and knowing which way to turn. We got to 5,100 MSL one time, 4,800 several times.

After an hour-five we decided we should probably go land. There were an HG, an PG, and a rigid wing below us, plus Matt Barker doing very close fly-bys with his T2C 144 from above. There was a big sink cycle and we all went to the deck very quickly. We had to avoid the traffic that had landed seconds before us. Ended up skimming over the rigid wing and going east of a Sport 2 near the HG spot, with the east edge of the LZ looming on our left. Veered away from the edge and ran out of airspeed still banked. Skidded to a stop on the right wheel and the back of the kee at 15:37l. No damage to glider or pilots. VERY unusual landing traffic problem.

GPS logged with My Tracks on Android.
Total distance: 55.50 km (34.5 mi)
Moving time: 1:12:42
Average moving speed: 45.80 km/h (28.5 mi/h)
Max speed: 74.45 km/h (46.3 mi/h)
Min elevation: 586 m (1923 ft) (LZ was actually 1,700' MSL)
Max elevation: 1505 m (4938 ft) (saw 5,100 and change on the vario)
Elevation gain: 1371 m (4499 ft)
Recorded: 3/11/2012 14:35

Warm down below and chilly at Crestline, blowing S in the 19-21+ MPH range, some thin high sheetes of clouds here and there. Dave Beardsley had a tandem also and we all decided we'd rather be at Marshall, in case the wind picked up any more, so the six of us hopped back in the truck after hanging around to half an hour.

Much lighter wind at Marshall, SW to S. Some PG pilots parked 1k over and others scratching below the peak. Dusty was flying low and slow over the peak with his Falcon. Linda Dunn wanted to go tandem to take photos of other gliders and get some airtime without the work of flying. I've been wanting to do some tandems now that the weather is better, so it was a good fit. Very fun to take another pilot - short briefing, no paperwork.

I almost blew the launch (14:50). We started at the Hook-In sign instead of in front of or next to it as I almost always do; I even declined when Linda asked if I wanted to shift right. So there was that little extra drop on the first step past the black plastic tube set into the ground. I also think I was just a little left of straight-in to the wind. On the second step the right wing dropped hard. Wind shift or turbulence, I think. Linda kept running and we did a very low ground skim as I brought it back left.

It was soarable with lots of sink after the thermals passed, worse in the shady periods. Got a few hundred over Marshall a couple of times, but we weren't up there for long. Heard the sink alarm a lot. Once, we got rolled hard right from a shallow left bank below the windsock. I really had to haul on the left downtube to get level again. Had a nice ride from near the 750 to the top of Marshall and above in a solid thermal that was drifting quickly to the NE. The next time at the 750 it was more west and the three PG's launching below us didn't find anything either. Made for a number of fresh pylons in the LZ when we went to land shortly after that. I started my approach nice and high, pulling in steadily, and landed past the HG cone (and the pilots) at 15:28 with a couple of steps and a stumble.

It was pretty fun and relaxing, overall. Linda got a lot of photos, especially of Jeff, who we thermalled with. There were some HG's on Marshall who took a long time to launch, and a number of PG's in the air. There should be some good photos. There were a lot of cars in the LZ parking lot and a lot of happy pilots who'd gotten their fill of airtime - it was pretty strong a bit earlier in the day.

12 feet from spot; won.
Good.

Decent. Scratched in close on the SE faces of the west side of Sweetwater canyon; haven't worked that area for long in a while. Very switchy at the LZ, mostly SE. Did a left-hand approach intending to go long west on base to a SE final, but had big big sink turning to base. Turned to final early and did a long ground skim to get away from the east edge and nudge it to face SE into the breeze. Ran out of time and airspeed still pointed SSW. Let go of the right downtube but took it out with my shoulder. Should have ignored the light breeze and gone for sprinting out the landing.
Good. VGT TT to 28..
Tighten keel strap 1/4 inch. Replace RT DT

Wind still very light on launch, but the thermals were on despite the cloud deck above having filled in to out of the campus. Mild cloud suck up to 5,300 MSL, with the wispies at eye-level or below. Stuffed the bar to get 300 FPM down. Flew fast over Marshall and back, then stuffed for a long time VGL to get down to the other guys over the LZ. Very lifty over the LZ, so I was able to wait-out a long dead and slight north cycle. When the SW 5 returned, I had to straight-arm it down from 3k. Had a good long ground skim to SW, making roll adjustments all the way and ran it out.
Great. Vd VGT only 64. Landed long running in almost no wind.

Better wind. Totally flushed to LZ. Trotted out landing.
Good.

Lift smaller and more elusive, but scratchable. At the LZ, Mike and a PG were just below me at the same height. Mike landed in the middle, past the PG spot and as I was on downwind the PG extended his base all the way over the the HG approach, then headed up the east side of the LZ. I slowed on base and had a narrow slalom course to thread, up the middle, on a line from corner to corner. The PG turned west about 2/3 of the way out the LZ and I could have easily slammed into him and his lines. Really scared me. I pushed out a little to reduce groundspeed and stumbled/slid in, putting the basetube on the skids hard. Later found the left downtube tweaked outward enough to require replacement.
Good.
Replace left DT.

Launched Crestline after waiting a bit for an in-cycle >3 MPH and longer than 5 sec. Sank to the left house thermal and then got above the ridge. Did a couple of passes, then Billboard, realizing I could struggle to stay above the ridge for a while or go out front and spend my time circling in thermals. Headed toward the hills behind the Afterbay losing only 170 FPM and found nothing. Headed for Regionals and found 100-200 FPM up over Last Chance. Worked that with a PG for a while. Hunted around in other likely spots. Narrow cores with hard edges and sink - got rolled out a number of times when I drifted too far outside of the core. As they topped-out above 4k it really felt like being on top of a bubble.

Once I accepted that there would be no bitchin' climbs, after about 1/2-hour, I had some good fun for the next 50 minutes. Got to 4,700 MSL a few times. It was a lot of work to stay solidly in the cores, as they were wandering around quite a bit. The required concentration was enjoyable.

I was struggling to hang onto a core at 4,500 MSL as it went north of Marshall Peak, all the time worried about the PG that had earlier come in just above me when I was at 4k. I had gotten back over the spine to Crestline, where the thermal track can be really confusing, ekeing out about 20' per circle. Finally headed back to Marshall Peak and saw the PG about 500' higher, in front of the Peak. I guess I had followed a cast-off eddy or something.

Flew out over the flats high and flew over Cajon High School before going to the LZ. There was some traffic, one HG circling above the LZ for a long time. At 500 AGL I was ready to dive in and land in an almost-nothing cycle, since no other gliders were entering the pattern. Then a Falcon took off from the 420, so I worked the burp SE of the LZ that was making the wind weak at the LZ. He landed and a second glider took off from the 420, so I milked it some more. As he landed the flags showed a moderate SW cycle developing, so I dove on down and had a nice headwind to land into at 3:45. The traffic helped me, in other words.

In the LZ most of the pilots sounded like they had been able to at least scratch long enough that their airtime itch was satisfied. Typical February flying, really.
Nice overall. Very slight left tendency VGT. Twisted left tip 1/2 turn.

Crisp and clear pre-prefrontal. Santa Anas yesterday and more due Monday through the week. Owen wangled a flight on the T2C 136 proto; he, Matt, and I went up in my truck. I tried to setup slowly. It got crowded in the setup area. I launched just before Owen and Matt. Got up a bit right away, then on the second big climb, from Cloud, we went to Crestline. They went for the Interchange a bit low. I went for Crestline proper, then Billboard.Got up well over 6k and went to OPine. Not much there. Back to Regionals, slowly, then Marshall for a low fly-by. Got 5,200 off Cloud againand went part-way back, then toward the radio tower east of Marshall. Not much there, made my way back celow Marshall then low on the Cloud spine. Got a steady 100+ FPM core and patiently drifted NE with it. Hopped to the house face from the middle of the bowl and the thermal caught me and really turned on. Fun climb to 6k+ again. Seemed pretty windy at Crestline, went toward the Afterbay from BB, just cruisin'. Headed back to Regionals I saw Matt and Owen buzzing Marshall - unmistakable, even from a distance. They had flown on a straight glide from Keller Peak. Got near Matt as Owen commenced a speed run headed for the LZ. I cored sink casually and landed a minute or two after them. Matt was jazzed and Owen was amazed at the easy handling of the 136 (he's on the heavy end for it). Many smiling pilots, most of whom had gotten their fill. Owen drove me up to the deep saddle on the road to Marshall and I walked the rest of the way to get my truck - nice little bit of leg exercise to finish the day.
Great. TT to 29 VGT. Good roll and pitch well VGT. Batten tip levers spin too easily.

Landed south with one foot on the base of the PG cone. Dropped right wing tip.

Good. Some buzzing near the washout holes.

Right-hand to SSE final. Five feet from PG cone, right wing down. Won spot.
Good.

Got to 5,700 - almost cloudbase. Nice snappy flare to a no-stepper. Farther from the cone than Mike.

Good.

SW approach to PG cone in wind. Nice, flare 20 feet short; won by default.
Good.

Terrain-followed from 750 to Bluffs, fast. Normal left-hand approach. Kicked PG cone over and landed 30 feet past.
Good

Clear and cool, forecast for light SE changing to SW all day before another string of offshore days. Wore a light coat for the first flight.
ESE approach to PG spot; 5 feet.
Good.

Launched from east ramp into 10+ ESE. Won spot with right hand approach to PG cone; 6 feet.

Good. Heavy, extra sleeving.

Scratchable at the bluffs. Another RT approach to PG spot. Won with 8 feet; popped up a bit.
Nice.

Overshot PG cone from NE by 30 feet. Nudged downtubes out just a hair to bleed off some speed as I started the groundskim and hit a gust or bubble at the same time - sailed up and over the entire PG circle.
Normal.

Good scratching in close above the 750. 12 feet from HG spot.

The first onshore day after a week of offshore and no flying (here). It started out sunny and barely soarable in thermals, but the high and mid-level clouds filled in to block the sun and mostly shut down the thermals. Still, flying in short sleeves in January :)

Almost soarable. Scratched the tree line for a bit.
Good.

Wing with Silver/MedBlu and White star. Won spot.
Good.
Trim #6 battens - 1 inch too long.

Good.

Good

Won spot, 5 feet short of PG cone. Knocked cone over with my basetube.
Nice.

Great flying today, between rain yesterday and more due tomorrow. Clouds were forming just below and in front of the Crestline launch - very fun to fly around and through them. It stayed sunny out front. Ready to land, I worked a thermal from 400 feet above the landing zone back up 1,400', then bumped into another and climbed with it 1,100' until it turned into a cloud at 4,700 feet MSL. Jole Rempfer's new wing - I buzzed him at Marshall and later we flew together at Cloud Peak just before I landed.
Sweet handling. All 4 BS rib pockets sewn under 2nd layout, so battens did not go all the way in. Helped High Adventure fix it in the LZ - Rob snipped the trapped corners of the pockets.

Light onshore, a little chilly. Scratchable with low inversion. Nice landing about 12 feet from the PG cone.
A little stiff, but OK.

The lift had turned on! But the inversion was still low. Good glider and I barely won the spot with 9 feet past HG cone.

Wind dropping to zero. Worked a light one below Cloud with Mike and Steve close. Got to 3,400 or so. Went for the bowl by Last Chance and the Wedding Chapel and scored a large core that I milked to 3,700. Very fun working the light lift. Found nothing back above the 750. Did a speed run and a wingover, circled down slowly to land. Popped nose a little on ground skim and lost airspeed. Falred and ran and fell to knees past the HG cone.
Good.

Good

Soarable. Had to work a little to get above Cloud. Rowdy. Easy. Sock went limp so I thermalled back up to wait for a cycle. Good landing.
RT turn (2 holes), light PP VGT.
Raise all sprogs one turn. Twist tips on hole each. Change bag - too short.

Good and soarable. Decent landing.
Good. Slightly low PP VdVGT. Raised outboard sprogs one turn each.

Good.

Dan DeWeese was working out his method for toting his Condor up the training hill in the tailgate of his Toyota and asked if I wanted to do a couple of flights. I waited out some ESE cycles and then had a good launch and a long slow flight to about 30 feet short of the grass. Used his training harness (hooked in pretty high).

Glider was trimmed too fast this time. On landing, I looked at the keel and the main has slipped forward about two inches, completely off the sure-grip near the kingpost. The glider was tethered to the truck by the backup loop for the trip up, and that's what had pulled the main forward. I failed to pre-flight the glider.