Ken Howells Hang Gliding & Paragliding Flight Log

(based on GoPro video) Light overcast, cool. Extended sledder. Fun group.

Warm, clear, still, 50% anti-virus cover, from the SW. Extended sledder, zero wind landing; trotted swiftly. Good. VtVGL=19, VtVGT=18.

Clouds a little thicker and 85% coverage. More thermals, still barely maintainable. Got the closest I've ever been to a red tail hawk! Thermalling, I came up behind him and he was a few feet ahead on my left front wire. I was starting at the detail in his feathers and ducked my head involuntarily. The claws looked sharp. He flapped a couple of times and got above my LE. Good landing into very light south, cone under my right wingtip.

Clouds thicker, darker, less wind. Line of lenticulars forming NE to SW across L.A., below alto stat. A couple of very weak and wishy-washy thermals here and there. Zero wind landing. 1/4 VG helped flare response in no- to light-wind this landing and the previous one.

Not a beep. Right-hand approach to SW final.

Grey and still after three days of rain. Stood on launch for 1/2 hour hooked-in while the wind puffed from WNW. Unhooked and put off the harness for a while, finally got some super light in, might have been rotor. It was steady SSW at Crestline the whole time. Good launch, sledded to straight west approach and landed with right wing near the HG cone.

Nicely ridge soarable at Crestline. Dropped into east air layer at 4,600. No lift all the way to the LZ. Wind light east to north. I did a NE approach from over the parking lot. Good landing vicinity of PG cone.

Clear and warmish. Getting too windy at Crestline. A few bumps of lift. Great launch run, good in the air, good SSE landing.

Good launch wind, not quite ridge soarable. Clear and cold. Good scratching below Cloud Peak.

Had right hand above and behind her until final. Transition to basetube was difficult, veered left. Brought it back and landed level and smooth.

Still almost ridge soarable. More thermals, Devin did some turning. Good landing.

Good. Clear with thin clouds on the east half of the sky. SE to S at launch, 0-5. A couple of pops of lift but no time to work them with the others already landed and folded. OK SSE landing past the HG cone.

Some weakly snapping batten tip levers.

Good. Just soarable for Mike on the Alpha 210. Right-hand approach to PG cone, landed okay just past.

Good. VdVGT=49 Vt=19-20 all VG. Breezy at Regionals. Climbed easily to 4,900, seeing 500 up on the averager. Had to work and hunt a little to stay with it until 5,400. Fun to climb easily for a change. Did some wingovers, good SW landing.

Good. Has T2/U2 style tip lever mounts. VdVGT=51, Vt=20-21. Easy soaring, 400 FPM plus. Got to 5,700 off Cloud Peak and went to Crestline, briefly. Chilly. Good landing past spot.

Good. Lift much weaker, Sun behind a band of clouds.

Chilly and still. Low overcast just off Regionals. String battens, tails a bit short. SE at launch, ESE at the LZ. Right-hand approach to six feet short of the HG cone. Matt won with 1 foot from PG cone.

Good. Light down and crossing zero. Good launch in an easterly puff. Eat at LZ, Right-hand approach to EESE final south of the candy cane. Good landing 10 feet short of PG cone. Matt got five feet closer with Mark Stucky's Mylar F4 195.

Flip xbar center bolt.

Still very little wind, clouds on Crestline. Launched in a gust 3-5. Pure sledder, no wind in LZ. Flared running, put it down hard with noise up. Vt=18, almost no change over VG range. VtVGT=21. Considered moving hang pillar forward, talked to Steve and decided not to. Litestream downtubes and round basetube.

Compression dimple outside middle of left downtube.

Wind 3-6. Slow scratch down to land, almost straight east over apron, landed running with right wing low. Matt same. Glider good. Vt=19, stable. Low TT.

Good.

Fun flight solo with my tandem wing. Jake Jacobs visiting. Went to Pine. Scratched Cloud for a while. Good landing.

Again just barely too windy at Crestline. Good launch, worked thermal at Cloud Peak several times. Victor had a good feel for thermalling. He wanted to land after 15 minutes or so. Could have stayed up easily. Good landing. Kept my harness zipped a bit more and string didn't tangle with rear wheel.

Weather system going by to the north. Too windy at Crestline. Good launch, climbed right away from the house thermal. A bit too bumpy at Cloud. Left there and ended up drifting right to that same spot in a thermal. Got to 5k just flying back and forth. The other two gliders had landed so she wanted to land. Lift on downwind so I had to stuff the bar hard, then quick turn and short final. My harness zipper string got wrapped up in the tail wheel.

Good. Vt=20,21,22,23,30. Clear and warm, blowing in all night. Nice thermal just east of launch. Good for testing. Had a WSW cycle to land in, saw a hawk circling in the thermal causing it, when I was on downwind/base. Got hands high and popped a good flare to trot a couple of steps. Ignored spot.

Good. Vt=21,23,25,27,31. Good and soarable, some 500 up. Went to buzz a pilot on Marshall and hit really nasty air, didn't get low at all. WSW flags died as I was setting up to land, long decelerating trot was fine with me.

Good. Low over the pond, scratching up the spine. It turned into 1k up at a around 3,300. Left the lift at 5k and dove for the LZ. Good landing W.

Good. Another low scratch to 6k. Lift turned on above 3,300' Good landing, 15 feet. Won no spots today.

Good. TT to 30 VGT. Puffing down at Crestline, most murky air. Scratched to 5,200 N of Marshall. Got to 4,500 N of the Afterbay. Good landing.

Good. A hair stiff VG 1/2 thermalling, as expected (UVPXB 10 LE). VdVGT>70. Vt=19,20,20,22,24. Clouds just below Crestline, breaking up, little wind. Stuck at 3k above the 750 for a long time. Soared the sunny spots. Got a core to 3,400 eventually. Nil wind in LZ turned crossing down on WSW final. Ran hard, light whack.

Replace left downtube. Bowed out very very slightly, usable as spare.

Good. Clouds gone. Bumps very close to the hill but no workable thermals nearby. Landed heading west with sock showing SW and flags showing NE. Lifted 12 feet on final. Nice landing, actually.

Good. Flushed of launch then rodeo scratching up from the pond, drifting fast. None of them turned into anything but others got up. Right-hand approach over the garbage truck to S final. OK landing past cone.

Good. Scratched the west draw then saw Steve getting up over the 350. Got under him and it was a great core, drifted back to where I had been, then on toward the middle the canyon in front of Regionals. Saw 200-600 FPM on my way to 5k. Got close to Kory then dove to the LZ. Won spot with right-hand approach to 10 feet past PG cone.

Good. Trimmed 22, moved hang point back 1/2 inch. Another sink and then one-thermal climb to 4,300; not as quick. Good SW landing.

Replace haulback keeper string.

Sweet. Slow climb from the bluffs, tracking a tiny core close in along the terrain with north drift to above 3.3k. Dove straight to a SW final finishing with a no-stepper 2 feet past the PG cone.

Custom basetube, cleat 1 inch inboard. Sweet. Vt stable all VG settings. Mike wanted smooth air and a long time to explore the PP of a T2CC. Glass-off with the sun low, only Crestline lit up. Barely ridge soarable. quiet and dreamlike being alone for 20 minutes in the air. Reminded me of my early days of flying. Chilly, about 60 degrees. Did several slow passes, west bowl was working. Wnet to Billboard and sank about 10 feet per pass until a tiny thermal came up the spine and I worked up to 5,400. Back to launch vicinity and was seeing 5,250 over a couple of spectators. Mike and Steve launched and I went to Regionals and LZ VGT, everything in shadow. Did a set of wingovers and landed smoothly into a nice WSW breeze.

Good. Switched to SW around 11. Clear and warm. Little rockets going up, better away from the hill.

Good. Crossing with slight down at launch for many minutes. Took off and crabbed, stayed up at the west point by the pond. SW zero to land in, came in close to the cone with a no-stepper.

Good. Blowing in, thermals broken. Sledder. Right-hand approach to S final, went a bit long.

Sweet. Vt=21,26,29,38,41. Climbed right off launch to over 5k, seeing 1k up at times. Back to Crestline then out front then back to 6k in the same thermal. Out over Kendall then in to land into SW 8 with a long no-stepper.

Great. Fun scratching west of launch.

Good. Clear, cooler. Scratched by the 350 for a while. Nice no-stepper 30 feet past PG cone.

Replace wire loop on nose batten. Nico was pressed sideways.

Good. Soarable but I didn't get up. Got lifted 10-15 feet while on final. No problem.

Redo nico on nose batten wire.

Good. Little rocket right in front for a few turns before I bailed from it. Bouncy air. Got a weaker core off to the east and climbed to 3,200. Tight right-hand approach and came up about 30 feet short of PG cone.

Replace #5 battens - too short. 3 of 4 170s were the same today.

Good. Ridge soared launch for a few passes. Took that east core up slowly to about 3,200. Went a little west and found a solid core to 4,300. Tried to spin it from the basetube while thermalling but it wouldn't even initiate. Easy to spin from the downtubes with an aggressive initiation. Usually self-recovered after 1/2 to 7/8 of a rotation. Nice no-stepper a bit long after a right-hand approach. Mike tried bungies on other Alphas today, #1s or 1s and 2s; he reported no change in spin tendency, which is slight to begin with.

Great. VdVGT=51 No BS rumble. No trim change. Easily soarable. Extended SE cycle at the LZ; hung out in the thermal causing it until solid SW returned. Nice landing 25 feet past PG cone. This was the mostly red one that I didn't finish in time for the 10k weekend.

Sweet. VdVGT=52. BrRed nosecone, white LE.Windy with cumies forming up high. Sweet no-stepper no-weight on feet.

Forecast was for high altitude. Good launch and got up a couple of k-feet at Billboard, then Pine, but nothing spectacular. From Marshall vicinity we found a great core and a gaggle formed below us as we climbed steadily to 10,500 MSL! Had to hunt around at times to follow the thermal as it drifted NE to the bowl at Hwy. 18. Spectacular views. GoPro on xbar. Gloves on and off. Could easily have stayed up much longer. Flew out over Muscoy and up the 215 to the ball fields too. Landed heading NW, rolling up the sandy apron in what turned out to be light flow. I had steayed well above the SE edge of the LZ fearing big sink, so we landed pretty long. Wheels rolled fine in the sand (after rolling off the grass).

(based on GoPro video) Hot in the valley, 103F. Gloves on at 8k. Went past Pine. Decent top landing

45 minute flight from Marshall Peak, CA. Launched at 15:55. Climbed to about 6,200 in the first thermal off launch. Worked several more thermals in the easy soaring conditions. Air was bumpy in places but gentle overall. Some pilots were climbing to 9,000' MSL. Tiana didn't mind the bumps and we had fun doing some mild wingovers. Good landing on the wheels into a cycle that was slightly WNW instead of the steady SW we had been seeing while setting up the approach. Andy Jackson Memorial Fly-In was going strong.

Some right yaw on launch. Almost soarable at Crestline. Some thermals out front. Switchy in the LZ. Ethan was great in the air, could barely reach the basetube. He rotated a little on final so his legs were under the right wheel strut on landing.

Almost too strong to launch. Great lift, prospective student, has gone tandem PG. He did great at the controls, from Billboard to landing approach.

Launched Marshall because it was too windy at Crestline. Good launch into 12-15, plenty soarable. Got to 4,600 off Cloud Peak.

Good overall. Vt=20, little change w/VG. Some BS rumble VGT. Stronger than usual stall break :-) @19 VGT. Back pressure on bar was like hitting something or flipping a switch. Possibly due to inlaid WW on TS root. Stall recovery good at 21-22. Soarable but some scratching required.

Seam stick N inside BS.

Good. VGT stall break softer than on the WW inlay 155 #39618. Two midspan battens released and backed out (3 in. & 1.5 in.) during a hard wingover, resulting in a 2-3 hole right turn. Good and soarable, climbed to 4,600 again from the 750. Good landing 12 feet short of cone.

Good wind to launch into, three steps. She spazzed a little at first, wanted to hang upright. Got her prone in the harness and she relaxed. Pretty much a sledder, ignored some lift, worked some. Her 23rd birthday. She had fun.

Still nice breeze to launch. Kristi was very calm. Got a good thermal at Cloud Peak, up to 1k FPM, went to 5k. Sinky down low. No wind for landing, settled from six to two feet abruptly but managed a smooth landing.

Waited for a lull to launch into. Ridge soared and thermaled at Billboard. Rowdy thermals at Cloud Peak, 1k up. Dianne was the instigator of her group of four so it was fun to give her a good flight. Got rolled hard and dumped several times. Lift on final, landed past the cone.

Hot and clear. Headwind from Billboard to Regionals. Tiny lift, big sink. Short tight approach to a SE final.

Gusting to 30 at Crestline. Windy at Marshall. Nice launch into lift. Jenna's 24th birthday, surprise flight. She had a great time, really liked flying. Had to core sink to land. Came to a stop right next to the PG cone.

Much mellower than earlier. Surprise birthday flight for her boyfriend. Several good slow climbs, flew over Marshall a couple of times.

Good. Light wind at Crestline but good thermals out front. Student had a cast on her right wrist but it wasn't a problem.

Very bumpy. Andrea flew last year, comfortable in the air. Several good climbs but most chores hard to stay with. Started approach high, went pretty long.

Ridge soarable at Crestline. Good at Cloud. Comfortable copilot. Had to dive through lift to land on schedule. Rolled to a stop right next to the PG come.

Good. Hot and high pressure, light SW. Actually soarable so we got to entertain the two girls who had hiked up the road. Fun scratching. Overshot the PG cone.

Great. Got above launch to the west. Could have scratched and eventually climbed out. Had the GoPro on my helmet, got a good overhead view of the lush LZ grass. Tried to extend my final, mushed and dropped the left tip.

Good. A bit stiff, Mylar LE. VdVGT=51. Stable trim all VG settings. Very soarable. Weak inversion at 3,300. Thermal from Cloud turned on after that, saw 1k up, sustained. Went to Crestline and back real quickly. Lift all around the LZ, landed in a good cycle.

Good. VdVGT=61. Vt=20-21 all VG. Climbed to 5,700 quickly, seeing 1k up. Went to Crestline, arriving above 5,800. Billboard to Pine (trashy) then Regionals and the LZ. Landed pretty short in a headwind.

Clear and warm, light SW cycles. Had to leave Crestline right away. Found good lift at Cloud Peak, climbed to 4,700. Garret, H.S. Junior, steered fairly well. We worked a number of thermals down low, then got over the LZ and worked a dust devil to over 3k. Good landing past HG cone.

Good three-step launch into easy ridge lift. Flew at Billboard with a compact 5-glider gaggle. Rigid wings above and below us. Went to Regionals after half an hour, lots of mellow thermals to work. Jasa chewed gum but still got nauseated after a while. Still enjoyed the flight. She got her elbow hooked over my right arm on final so I had a weak half-flare. We ended up landing on the ground gently, but right by the HG cone.
Sleeves on leading edges 8 inches shorter than before. Handling much less stiff, still improved glide and roll handling.

Marine layer just burnt off. Cool, in the nineties later. No list to turn in.

Not quite soarable. Undershot by about 30 feet.

Wind still very light, switchy as tiny thermals passed. Hooked one above the pond that I thought was going to take me high but I only got one turn out of it. Landed a few steps short of the cone, trotting. Mike overshot ten feet so I won.

Good. Got a core off the east bowl, had to turn away from the LZ to try and grab it. Steep banked easy circling to 3k, drifting ENE into the canyon; left it. More lift over the pond, dove to land as Mike was folded. Fun right hand approach to a little past the PG cone, winner.

Had one promising core near the pond and that was it. Landed about 30 feet past PG cone, tired with Mike. When I turned to final I thought I was going to be short

Needs proper length number ones, strings adjusted.

Good. Hot and clear, forecast to be 101° F. Tiny dust devils at launch. A number of thermals down by the 750, topping out around 3,200. Good landing into S 7, won with 27 feet.

Sweet. VdVGT=55. Vt=20-21 all VG settings. Overdevelopment to the east. Went right from launch and went to 4,600 easily. Got to 5,400 from Marshall seeing 600-800 briefly. Good WSW cycle to land into. Won spot with 6 feet past PG cone.

Good. Tight cores close to the hill. Worked up to 3,100 then dove to land because the others were folding up. Nice no stepper 15 feet away not good enough.

#1 battens too short.

Good. VdVGT=52, steady trim. Went right off launch and caught the thermal off the point. Climbed to 5,400 drifting ENE. Dashed back to Crestline; not windy but lifty. Cells over desert were far away. Dove to LZ. Second wingover was way over with a hard pop to start. Left #5 & 6 battens unsnapped and backed out a couple off inches. This gave the glider a significant left turn. I've had battens come loose before but not back out and that has no effect. Ignored spot on landing as I was hanging off the left downtube. Decent three-stepper.

Good.

Good. Launched into lift and climbed steadily to 4,450 in a snaky one. Dove to LZ and landed last. Very pretty no-stepper three feet past the PG cone. Winner by two feet.

I got a ride to Marshall to fly my tandem wing solo. There were thin cloud sheets high overhead filling in a little bit and the wind was 10-14 SW with lulls and gust cycles. What with socializing and vanloads of pilots arriving I didn't launch until 5:05 PM. There was lift to be had, slightly wider and less vigorous than earlier. In the air it felt generally windier than I expected, moreso over near Devil Canyon, though it was WSW and definitely not a venturi up the canyon or anything. The late-day thermal from the wedding chapel that tracks behind Regionals toward Cloud Peak was working. Had to adjust a lot and guess the drift correctly to keep from falling out of it. I rode it three times to over 4,500 MSL and got to 5,100 one of those times. Pointed the wing at Billboard and then the water tank and then the west side low spine of Devil Canyon, all while descending steadily. From 3,800 near the Afterbay east to Last Chance was easy and then climbed in a couple of cores and overflew the crowd on Marshall. Threw the wing around a little and then landed right at 6 PM, satisfied.

Hot and clear with some nice clouds piling up to the east as a decorative backdrop. With SW 15 at Crestline at 2 PM it was almost but not quite ridge soarable. A couple of hangs were maintaining nearby via thermals. There was a PG down by Hwy. 18 and a couple of more low below Billboard. We launched three hang tandems and all went pretty much directly to Regionals. The thermals were narrow and chaotic at Regionals and by the 750. Kept turning into lift thinking _Ah, here's the one_ and then two or three turns later wondering where it went. We had one good climb of several hundred feet but mostly we just managed to maintain, seeing 3k MSL +/- 200 feet. My copilot was strong and had been tandem before so I was able to have hm do a lot of the work. We did see 400 up here and there and even had 1k FPM for 1/4 of a turn a couple of times. Still, we got a half an hour and the copilots were all pretty stoked. Landing gear deployment string broke when I pulled it but the gear was released. Dealing with the remaining handle was interesting. Lost all airspeed as we rounded out so we thudded onto the wheels; extra weight probably a factor.

Good. Overcast, Regionals just clear, little wind. Just Steve Pearson and I flying.

Good. Clouds went from 90% to 40% while setting up and flying.

Sweet. VdVGT=48. No trim change VGL to VGT. Quiet BS. Clouds burned off. Goy a dust devil below Cloud Peak and held on to it. Brooke through and it turned into 600 up and I went to 4,500. Dove to land in good wind and got alternate wing pops on final. Good landing.

Good. VdVGT=52. Stable.trim. Beamed up from in front of Cloud Peak again. Climbed from Marshall to 5173 seeing 200 to 800 up. Good landing into a WSW cycle.

Good. VdVGT=51. Easy to get up and stay up. Good landing in bumpy SW.

Reflight to check for turn. Joe Ardito flew it on the day before and experienced a bad right turn. Most likely cause was TE of Mylar inset being tucked under when inserting batten(s). I want there when he setup the glider; the left Mylar curled under when we were setting it up for this flight. Glider flew fine for me. Caught a tight core and climbed easily. Landed so Joe could fly out from Marshall. He reported that the turn was gone.

Hot at Marshall, high pressure with monsoon clouds leading over from desert. Plan was to top land and drive my truck down. Plummeted from launch to the 750 area. Goy up after a while. Found a good thermal about every ten minutes, hunting in between. Hard to get above 3,900 for long. Marshall house thermal not working the three times I went back. Goy Steve great one near Regionals, 1k up and 5,700. Went to Crestline for a bit. Sank to the 750 when I came back out. Took three tries and 35 minutes to get above Marshall and top land.

Great. Got to 4k from just west of launch. Terrain-followed down from Cloud Peak to final approach.

Good. Was climbing up the spine but the others had landed so I bailed from 3k. Right-hand to PG spot. Won spot despite getting lifted past cone.

Good. Launched the 750, climbed to Crestline height and came back down, all in 12 minutes. Rode a dust devil up almost flat spinning it.

Good. Easy to get up.

Test flight of Big Al's glider for Jeff Behner. Sport 2 175. It flew well, no turns. Got to 5,600 at Billboard then 5,900 and 6,100 at Pine. Landed to be in time for a tandem.

Good launch into 20+ south west. Soared the ridge a little. Got up to 5k and more a couple of times. Make-up for sledder in April.

Old glider belonging to Jason friend of Steve Corbin; Joe Ardito is thinking about buying it. Windy with thunderheads forming over San Gorgonio and to the west over Mount Baldy. Launched from the top and climbed a little. Soared the terrain for a while over near Cloud Peak. Finally a good thermal came along and I went back Marshall. Worked west again and the thermals got better. Good tactical climb from 750 to Marshall. Eventually got to 5k above Cloud at 6 PM. Lift was everywhere after that. Cord sink upwind of the LZ to go land. Glider is in great shape. Stored for years, little airtime prior. Slight bend in folding basetube, one wear hole in bottom surface. Some nicks in the leading edge. Luff lines are quite slack. BS writes should be replaced.

Hot, light breeze. Ridge soared Crestline and Billboard for a while. Got to 5k at Cloud Peak. Kevin took a while to get smooth with the controls but ended up thermalling well. He and his buds did the training hill afterwards; one has had a couple of lessons before.

Good. VdVGT>72. Vt=21,21,24,27,32. Carbon downtubes, speed battens, and raked tips. Ripping lift but the edges were not especially sharp. Slowing just before 4k but some went higher. Dove to get a strong SW cycle at the LZ and found it very bumpy on approach with a lot of airspeed. Rode it out and kept the basetube off the ground.

Sweet handling. VdVGT=72. Vt=21,21,22,27,30. Some 1k up, thermals more organized. Got above 5k and felt a marked temperature change. Found sink to lose altitude in and came in mellower. Still bumpy on final but I ended up landing very lightly. Far from cone but won.

Good. Got to 4,500.

Somehow failed to record launch time. Afternoon, I suppose. Airtime guessed.

Good. Clear with light onshore wind, Morning north up high. Climbed a few hundred in a thermal just east of the LZ. Dove in hard for a right-hand approach into SW at the PG cone. Transitioned while diving and let the bar out a little so I overshot.

Put proper rear tips on #2 battens. Left #1 batten is 1 inch too short. Replace batten and strong (partial setup).

Nice roll handling. Vt=21, no change over VG range. Saw two deer on the road on the way up. Nice low save from the 350. Mike got in below me and saved it too. Climbed up to Steve and our wingtips got very close. Lift on final, landed between the cones.

Thermals sparse but easy to climb in. Saw some 1k up near Regionals later in the flight. Thermals slowed from 3,800 to 4k. Very lifty around the LZ. Overshot PG come slightly.

Good. Launched and went to Last Chance, found a thermal and rode it to 5,200. Got 5,500 and found huge sink going to Crestline. Won spot landing despite drifting after flare.

Nice. VdVGT=60. Vt=20 all VG settings.

Alex Chengs new wing. Blew down until just before we got to Crestline. Thermals got trashy a couple of hundred over. Very turbulent at Billboard. Thermals out front, tight and whizzing past. Got up behind Marshall and went for Crestline. Got there a couple of hundred below and the lift was weird so I went back to Regionals. Up again at Cloud but not quite high enough. Good fun working for it like that though. Dove to land and meet the McKenzies. Went over the glider with Alex.

Her 13th birthday. Very comfortable in the air. Got a great thermal at Cloud, up to 4k again.

Good launch at Crestline. Headed to Cloud Peak pretty quickly. Narrow rowdy thermals. She liked the bumps. Maintained near the 750 for a while.

Not ridge soarable at Crestline. She was great in the air and laughed a lot.

Good. Trimmed a hair slow. Moved hang loop forward 1/4 inch. Hot and clear. Worked a coffee over the training hill at 200 AGL for several turns. Bailed from it to avoid getting dumped in an awkward spot.

Good. Sweet handling. Vt=20,20,22,24,30. VdVGT=71. Mike and Dave filming launches with RC helicopter. Easy to get up, 200-600 FPM mostly,; stronger above Marshall height. Got up from bowl in front of Regionals. Dove for SW cycle at LZ. Lifty and landed long, trotting several steps.

Good. Definite adverse yaw when circling steadily. Had the GoPro on the crossbar. Easy to climb. Found some 1k up after leaving 400 up. Dove to LZ with my feet on the basetube.

Good. Launched right into lift. Climbed easily to above Marshall. Had the GoPro on the helmet. Helicopter filming at the end.

Took Helene up for a tandem on the spur of the moment. Asked her if she wanted to go just moments after she'd landed solo. We left her wing partially broken down on the LZ because the shuttle was waiting. Windy but no thermals at Marshall, too windy at Crestline. Sank to the 750 and saw others getting up out front.Joined them but the cores were tight and drifting. Managed to stay up with a lot of work but never got far above the 750. Good approach to a foot landing short of the cone in 7 to 10 SW. Flared and popped up more than I expected, just like yesterday. Not far. Dropped right tip and ended up on my knees with the basetube off the ground.

Rather stiff in roll, especially in the tight thermals. Wrapped in a little bit when banked steeply. Pronounced dive and recovery when pushed too far out in thermals. Good climb when established in a thermal. Good energy retention on flare.

Chris Wills' grandson, almost 8. Great flight. He couldn't reach the basetube. Borrowed HighAdv's small pod harness.

First tandem with the F4T Proto. A road accident delayed Kelly getting down the mountain, so we only went to the 750. Good cycle to launch in, somewhat cross. We soared the bluffs at launch height for several minutes with Kelly steering. Dove in ahead of another glider and had a good no-stepper foot landing, slightly dropping the right wing.

Great flight.

High pressure, tight thermals. Big lift over the LZ so we boated for a while. She just turned 16; her dad went with Dusty.

More breeze at Crestline but not enough. Thermals had not improved.

Post-frontal (no rain) with clearing clouds, north wind at Crestline. Others soared. Good landing in light switchy. Otto Lillienthal's birthday.

Good. Crossing right 5-8. for a long time. Launched in a lull and had to hold the glider up while I ran. Got away with it. Climbed to 4k then balled to the LZ. Landed 12 feet from PG cone after right-hand approach.

Good. Lift going off but very confusing close to the hill. Sharp bumps and sink. Big lift over the LZ. Landed hopping left on one foot, 10 feet from cone. Won spot.

Nice. VdVGT=57. Vt=20,21,23,21,19. Booming lift topped by clouds. My Vario went on the fritz early but it was easy to climb. Bumpy coming in to land. Glider for Gary Anderson.

Was to be an intro tandem but student was unable to run in practice launch runs. Light WSW wind and late day glass-off. Got above Marshall through a dozen face-soaring passes. Cloud Peak maintainable. Got a 200 FPM core west of Regionals and slowly went to 5k, drifting toward back of Cloud. Very relaxing boating around. Did a terrain following dive from Cloud Peak to the LZ and landed into light SW on feet with the landing gear undeployed. Will flare a little harder next time I do that.

Hot and sunny, switch day the day before. All Mylar demo. VdVGT=57. Vt=21,22,22,29,36. PP 2 lbs/hand. Raised all sprogs one turn each. Rowdy thermals, easy to get up and stay up. Dashed back to Billboard. Ward out zero wind at the LZ for a while with the boys and a couple of hawks; got very close to one. Knocked over the PG cone with my sidewire bud had to set the basetube on the grass.

Spare white nosecone in bag. Custom BS, black with woven tribal blue inlay, UVPTGRAY top surface. VdVGT=62. Vt=21,22,22,25,33. PP 4-5 lbs/hand. Slight left turn, set right tip up one hole. Thick smog with smoke from San Diego fires. Climbed quickly to 7,300 despite the smog. Plenty of lift elsewhere. Had to fight my way down to the LZ, especially from 1k AGL down to a couple of hundred. Good landing, trotting into weak south.

VdVGT,>=72. Vt=21,22,22,25,27. Great PP VGT. Sweet handling. Clearer, stay SW breeze. Easy climb to 7k. Good landing, won spot.

Good. Vt=20,20,22,27,30. Good PP VGT. VdVGT=62. Windier. Sharp bumps from terrain here and there. Did some wingovers. Good landing.

Good strong thermals, too windy at Crestline. Kelly was very comfortable. Got above launch easily, several times. Kelly was steering with assistance on the second climb, she had a knack for it. The next thermal I was letting my hands dangle most of the time. Good landing. Forgot to start the GoPro, dammit.

Less windy but still surprisingly buoyant. Got above launch several times. Laura was keyed-up before launch but turned out to be great in the air. She said it was way better than skydiving. Had some PG traffic while preparing to land but it turned out OK. Knocked the HG cone over.

Clear post-north (major). Good 5-800 up. Great SE landing 5 feet from HG cone to win.

VdVGT=52. Vt=19,19,20,21,21.

Got to 6,800 halfway back to Crestline in basically one continuous climb. 700 up on averager, saw 900 and 1k a lot. Switchy at the LZ. Decent landing.

Good. VdVGT=51. Vt=18,19,18,18,18.

Went to 6,800, could have climbed more. Pretty landing between the cones.
Good. VsVGT=53. Vt=20 all VG settings.

Pretty windy west. Elevatored up from launch in a strong cycle. PG crew waiting at Regionals liked it. Parked into the wind and climbed some. Got a thermal to 7k. Dove to the LZ and won the spot with 15 feet abeam of the cone. Breezy and rough on approach.
Vt=20-21. VdVGT=53.

Cloudbase between the 750 and Cloud Peak. Almost no wind. Won spot with four feet. Ended with cone between my legs.

Good.

Mike got up a little at the bluffs, I couldn't quite catch it. Won spot by a foot, with 5 feet.

Need a #1 batten (right)

Some sun. Good scratching by the Big O launches. Landed heading S, 6 feet past cone. Won when Mike overshot.

Good.

Turbulent. Core off ranch house. Landed with cone under wingtip. Mike won.

Good.

Got to cloudbase, 6,000 MSL, in four minutes, seeing 1k up at times. Lift everywhere. Light north at the LZ so I spent 15 minutes working lift, waiting for it to go back to SW. Finally decided to approach from the south and land up the slope to the ranch. Set that up well but had little airspeed as I started going up the slope. Whacked the nose lightly, enough to ruin the nosecone. Landing on the grass would have been better.

Sweet. Vt=19,20,21,21,23. VdVGT>72 with 4 PPH. Replace nosecone.

Sunny with strong bullet thermals. Climb at will.

Good.

(based on GoPro video) Got up and went over to Pine fairly quickly, wandered back. Abbreviated top landing approach.

Clear, warm, some high clouds. Overshot PG cone from NNW, almost landed on Linda Dunn, who was filming.

Good.

Landed 12 feet abeam of PG cone.

Good.

Flared a hair early to be close to the cone. Popped up and came down, put corner of basetube on grass.

Good.

High clouds 90% and murky lower. Scratched at the 350 for a long time. Good landing, right-hand to PG cone. Linda got it on video.

Good.

Scratching below the 750. Wind dropped to zero on final. Flared late and settled to ground, took out left downtube.

Good.

More sun peeking through. Launched and found lift right of launch. Climbed 1k so fast my ears popped. Nice and cool up there. Good SW landing.

Good.

Little sun but buoyant. Fun. Landed four feet from PG cone but Mike nailed it.

Was soarable but clouds filed in while setting up. Wind over 25 at Crestline. Cool and cloudy. Good launch and landing but a pure sledder. One tiny thermal that popped the nose then dumped us over the falls. There had been a flush cycle before we launched that emptied the sky of gliders and had people landing north and east. Dusty's 50th birthday celebrated in the LZ.

Her 50th birthday.

Almost no wind. Low save from below the 350. Won spot with 15 feet short of PG cone.

Good. Speed battens.

East and sleddy. Landed way past spot in zero wind.

Good.

Wind straight right then straight left as I got to launch -thermal right there. Not quite a pure sledder; others got up a bit. Right-hand approach to well past the PG cone because of lift on final.

Good.

Steady wind, lotta west in it. Thermals hard to get a hold of but 600-1000 when in them. Got up and went to Crestline. Lift everywhere out front. Good SW landing.

Good. VdVGT=68. Vt=20,21,21,24,26.

Frustrating below Cloud Peak, couldn't find an actual thermal for 15 minutes and even then I was lucky when I'd get 150 FPM out of it. Above Marshall I had 400-800 FPM easy. Did some wingovers and the high bar pressure surprised me, so they were more like sloppy loops. The GoPro battery had run out by then, so damnit! Landed skidding on the grass on my knees - the approach dead zone got me.

Good. VdVGT=68. Vt=20-21 all VG settings. Too much bar pressure VGT, 8-10# per hand. Lowered all sprogs one turn. Replace RT outboard sprog bolt and nut.

Barely blowing in after post-frontal North. Switchy at LZ. Good landing cross wind past HG cone.

Got lifted on final and overshot the PG cone by quite a bit. GoPro on keel.
Sweet handling, great at low speed. No TT. Mostly medium blue sail. Glider responded perfectly to small corrections.

Thermals small, weak. Short of cone

Good. VdVGT=52. No TT. Replace long pip pin with proper length pin (should be in left downtube).

Thermals a few hundred above Regionals were big and easy. Landed heading just a little north of west. GoPro on keel. Haven't won a spot yet today.
Good. VdVGT=51 Vt=19,19,20,21,19.

Got to 5,500, went to Crestline, 5,850. GoPro on keel.

VdVGT>72, Vt=18,19,21,20,20.

Headwind >20 at Crestline. Penetrated at 30 MPH indicated, no problem.

Good.

Scratching by the 750. Good landing.

Good.

Climbed in one thermal at 500 up to 5,300 before leaving it. Good landing.

Sweet. Almost no trim change over the VG range. VdVGT=53.

Vs=40 (48 balled-up) Vt=19. Less damped in pitch and roll than F3T. Numerous small yaw excursions. Basetube 1 inch back from usual but trim the same. Flared just a hair late and it didn't rotate. Smooth landing.
Vs=40 (48 balled-up) Vt=19. Less damped in pitch and roll than F3T. Numerous small yaw excursions. Basetube 1 inch back from usual but trim the same. Flared just a hair late and it didn't rotate. Smooth landing.

Windier and more west. Last Chance to Regionals drifting fast, not really fun. North cycle at the LZ, but I found the thermal and climbed back to 2,700 so I was able to wait for SW. Bumpy coming in. Haven't won a spot yet today.

Good. Trim steady.

Breezy west. Worked the bowl behind Cloud. Landed at east edge of LZ to avoid turbulence downwind of box and gliders.

Good. Vt=20,20,19,19,19.

Ground handling with a wing and harness lent to me by Jeff Boehler. Wing suitable for ground handling and flying from training hill only. A bit breezy. It took a couple of tries to get the wing overhead. Lots of handling techniques came back to me quickly. Easy to maintain it overhead. It got stronger and Jeff reminded me of the A's in one hand and D's in the other. After about 1/2 hour of inflating and kiting I flew off the end of the LZ. Landed and kept the wing overhead smoothly for a minute. Fun!
Late-day switch from Santa Anas. Replaced Crestline anemo earlier, climbed tower 3 times. Thought I'd do PG because it was less effort than HG off the mountain. Still got a leg workout :)

Did some more inflations and kiting, practiced moving left and right and back 30-50 feet under control. Ran off the end, not quite at the point. Skimmed down the hill crabbing left and eased it into flying away from the hill. Another good landing and kiting smoothly before dropping it on purpose. Wind got stronger and more West, so I folded it up.

Between Santa Anas day. Closest to cone but sat on my butt. Basetube didn't touch the ground.

Good. Climbed non-stop all pushed out to 1k above launch. No stepper landing.

Ratty thermals in the bowl east of Cloud Peak finally left that area and got good thermals to climb and test in. Good landing ten feet past.

Good. Very slight right turn. Twisted tips 1/2 each. VdVGT=72. Vt=21,21,23,26,27. Vt VGT was 4 MPH lower after a speed run.

Landed heading north in a thermal cycle, almost won spot.

Good.

Good.

Landed heading S in 5, 11 feet short of HG cone.
Great. Vt=19-21 throughout VG range.

Climbed 1,500 feet in one thermal from 750 area with Steve. Buzzed the Canadian crew on Marshall (their glider). Had the GoPro on my helmet. Two-stepper 12 feet short of PG cone, SSW 5. Bumpy ride coming in.
Good. Vt=20,20,19,19,19. VsVGT=18, VdVGT=50.

Thermals harder to track and weakening. Still some good. More high cirrus. Landed just 2 feet past cone but barely touched corner of basetube.

Good. Abrupt trim change VG 1/2 to 3/4. Vt=20,20,22,30,32. PP approximately 5 lb/hand. VdVGT=63.

Good. Vt 19-20 throughout VG range. Overcast thicker but surprisingly soarable. Launched and went right into lift just west of launch. It tracked steadily up the spine to Cloud Peak, north side of spine. Flat glide to Marshall, got up a few hundred there. GoPro on the keel, shut off in flight at some point. Did some aggressive wingovers. Landed 20 feet short, same as Mike.

Based on complete flight GoPro video. Went out to Pine and got fairly high.

Clear, warm, and soarable. Got 800 above launch after a hawk showed me a thermal. Could have kept going.

Good cores at the Big O and over the LZ.

Nice in roll. Check bag length - seems short.

Lift was really on. Climbed 3k feet from below Cloud Peak, mostly 600 FPM, saw 8-900 a few times. Could have climbed away from the LZ. Landed heading S in almost zero wind.

Good. Vt=19,20,21,21,20.

We sank to 750 vicinity after launch. I found a weak core by the road that got better and better. Saw 1k FPM a couple of times, rode it to 5,800. Dashed back to Crestline then Pitt front to land. No wind at the LZ so I milked 20-50 FPM for 300 feet until the thermal drifted to the east and gave me some wind to land into. Won spot even though I was pretty far.

Good. Vt=20,21,22,21,21. VdVGT>72, good PP. Wrapped in a little when turning right. Twisted tips 1/2 turn each.

Wolfis reassembled shoulder dislocation glider. First one I've flown with the new Raked Tips. They make a difference thermalling VGT 1/2 or more, for sure. More stable when pushing out. A little bit of extra yaw activity now and then when not thermalling. Easier to intentionally spin the glider. 100-600 FPM lift, mostly narrow. Got to 6k a couple of times. Warm day.

Light north at Crestline. Low puffies. Switchy at the 750. Matt got up in a thermal right in front of launch, I had to wait out the tailwind. Got a few turns in one at the bluffs. Tight right-hand approach and flared a little early.

Climbed right up to 3k, some 400 FPM. Very switchy in the LZ. Good landing far short of cones.

Good.

Launched in zero to try and get the thermal causing the zero. Skimmed down launch very close to the ground. Didn't get the thermal. Approached from the SE, landed 6 feet from the PG come, won.

Windy at Regionals and the lift had turned on. Tight copies that tried to spit me out had some 400 sustained. GoPro on keel, got some close fly-bys with Matt. Normal SW landing, 30 feet from cone.

Nice. No TT.

Steve hiked to the 750 and setup all the gliders! Got under two guys circling out front and climbed steadily. Wingovers and a spiralling RLF approach, came up rather short in the headwind. No-stepper.

Good.

Got back up from the bluffs in a fast-drifting core. Speed run from 750 straight to final. Discovered I had a NW cycle and had to run hard to save it.

Good.

Pre-frontal, windy S at Crestline, E at Regionals, Light SW in LZ. No soaring. Won spot, barely.

Good. Almost no TT.

Clouds forming at eye level, murky, some thermals.

Nice. No TT.

High clouds and murk, only a few beeps.
Sweet. Vt=19, little TT.

A bit lighter, but still overcast murk. Sledder. Nailed PG cone but Matt nailed it better, landing right after.

Great. Vt=21, 1/2=22, 3/4=23, VGT=21. VdVGT>63.

Finally chilly and lowering clouds. Long slalom down from Cloud Peak. Won spot with 5 feet from PG cone. Narrow right-hand approach to SW final.

Good. Replace placard, wrong place on keel.

Lots of high cloud, chllier than yesterday. Almost had some lift.

Good. A couple of thermals.

Nice handling. VdVGT=63. A lot of scratching below Cloud Peak. Dove to land ahead of a paraglider. Landed and ran it out smoothly.

Nice. VdVGT=56. Perfect no-stepper, rather short.

VtVGT=22. Zero wind top and bottom. Ran it out.

Steve patch top surface left tip.

Good. Extended sledder in clear with a high cloud sheet. North yesterday and tomorrow.

Great. Fun scratch fest below Cloud Peak.

Clear and warm. Forecast to blow down late-afternoon. Light SE-SW at Marshall, plenty of pilots soaring when I arrived at Marshall. Got up a bit right away, kept slowing down around 4,700+. Got to 5k north of UM, and later got 5k north of Cloud Peak. Later 5.1k almost to the highway. Easy climbs, never got below launch except the one time I buzzed the top. Decided 5.1k was the max and I wouldn't be going to Crestline, so I landed at 14:30. Sink on downwind and landed smoothly fairly far down - clearer due to bush removal by Smoken Joe. By the time I was done folding up there were only a handful of wings above launch. Great fun flight. T-shirt and gloves.

Unexpectedly strong north at Crestline. S-SE 0-3 at the 750 and LZ. Right-hand approach to a SSE final. No-stepper with one foot on the PG cone.
Good.

No beeps. Right-hand approach again, five feet past PG cone.

Good.

Had a SW breeze to land in. Thought I was going to be long and came up pretty short.
Good. Both this and the last one had moments of being in a slight bank and 'sticking', requiring a solid nudge to roll back level. Seemed to be when the top was in sink.

Good. Left #1 strings as built; no 'sticking' at shallow bank.

Light SE to SW, very thin high clouds from weather system passing far north. Was blowing in in the AM as forecast but slight N at Crestline when we headed up the hill. Pure sledder, let her fly it to Cloud spine. Two circles with some beeping. SSW at the LZ, Rolled it right to the HG cone (onto it w/left wheel).

Light SW at Crestline. Ran a couple of extra steps and didn't bother turning left after launch. Good glide to Regionals with Anne-Marie steering. Worked a few circles here and there, threw it around a little between Last Chance and the 750. Good landing on the wheels into SW 5.