Ken Howells Hang Gliding & Paragliding Flight Log

Good. Almost no wind, thin altostrat all morning, down to 40%. Scratched off the gap in the bluffs back up the spine to just above launch. Big sink area after that. Good SW landing well short of the HG cone.

Custom extra-long speed battens. No wind, no lift. Good right-hand approach to 30 feet past the PG Cone.

Good. Had to turn root battens out 8+ turns. Clear light onshore day between offshore days. Getting over the flu. Scratchable, could have gotten up if I was 100%. Good no-stepper short of HG cone.
Check root batten lengths.

Good. Little trim change. Stiffer than usual VGT but very nice VGL. Nice flyable day today! 1:26 airtime with a Sport 2 155, launched Crestline at 2:25. Had a very slow trip from below Marshall Peak back to Crestline. Got to about 5,020 MSL( 200 feet lower than Crestline) just north of Marshall and the thermal topped-out but I was able to stay with the remnants of it for many circles, my instrument telling me where the edges were and which way it was drifting. Stayed within +/- 50 feet or so (altitude) all the way back to the highway. Popped up a hundred feet and was able to dive for the Crestline ridge, where it was windy enough to climb above in a few passes and ridge soar some more. Not bad at all for late November! Lots of other pilots also shirked their shopping duties and flew.

Good. One quick VG cycle, at least as much TT as usual. High overcast and windy up high, expected post-frontal north after midnight. Not much for thermals, bumpy near the hill. Good landing 15 feet past the HG cone.

Good. More overcast, SW 5-15. Scratched just right of launch until Alfredo launched. Circled just below the 350 for a while. Right-hand approach into SSW 5, one-stepper stepper six feet past the PG cone.

Good. Similar to previous flight, more circling above the ranch. Another right-hand approach to S 5, landed four feet short of the cone, still lost to Mike.

VdVGT>65. Very nice roll. Vt=27VGT. Altostrat 80% with North winds expected to start overnight. Light upslope at launch, not quite ridge soarable. Scratched on the spine to the right and once above the ridge easily got several more hundred over. 6,300+ at BB, Pine not really working. Instrument said wind NW 6. Knowing wind direction(s) and having the graphic track really helped me stay with weak and wandering thermals. Never struggled to stay up. Thermals above Cloud Peak drifting from NW, over near the radio towers it said NE 5. Landed by choice after letting some lower traffic abate. Good trotting landing well past the HG cone in SSW 5.

Very nice. #1 bungies tighter (6.5 inches between knots instead of 7). Clear and quite warm, north in the morning. Rowdy bumps near launchand other slopes. Good thermal from below Cloud just kept going. Drift from W up to about 6k then NW. Lots of 600+ FPM. Airspeed on instrument seems to be deactivated. Increased threshold for sink alarm and that was better. W and NW in the LZ while I was setting up my approach. On short final low from the east it switched to SW but I just veered left and overshot the cone. Satisfying no-stepper. It was blowing N more than S when we went to Regionals for the next round (just before 1500) so they called the day.

Great. Copy from Facebook post and DigiFly Air. Elaborate, perhaps.

Good. Custom sleeves keel and extra zippers in P5 for floats, boat towing All-Mylar TS. Low clouds, almost no wind. Santa Anas tomorrow. Flags at LZ twitched from NW, approached from SE, good flare less than a wingspan short of the PG cone. Tied with Mike.

Good. Very light wind. Made some passes in front of launch then circling NE of the 750 very close to Steve who was flying an S2 135. No wind at LZ and the sprinklers were on near the NE corner so I did an abbreviated approach to an E-W final mid-field. Good one-stepper near my gopher mound target.

Good. No wind at launch. No lift to circle in. No wind at the LZ. Did a tight right-hand approach, low, and overshot the PG cone by 20 feet. Felt my wake trying to push me forward as I stood after flaring. Had 2 MPH N for a minute while breaking down. At 14:00 we had N 2-6 at the 750 so that was it for the day.

High overcast, t-shirt temps. Was increasing to 20 at Crestline so went to UM. Turns out it speed increasing and back ridge was soarable to the high school; oh well. I flew with my new DigiFly Air vario today. I knew NOTHING about how it worked before I turned it on with the glider ready to fly. Managed to set it to MPH/FPM and then launched. After five minutes I turned off the audio on my old vario (had it just in case) and I was able to get 53 minutes in weak conditions with unusual drift from the SE. Seeing my circles/corkscrews depicted while I flew was cool and helpful. I liked that it showed the wind direction when I was circling. It's capable of SO much, of course - competition waypoints and all that stuff, thermal alerts, more. I've really never flown with an instrument that did much more than beeped when I went up. Flight recorded automatically, easily exported to kml for Google Earth viewing. Annoying that the summary text in the kml was metric despite display set to imperial. Time on instrument was GMT. Glider handled great. I'm certain that I can feel through the basetube intermittent little waves of vibration that result from the #1 battens having bungies now. Thermals close to the faces and was close with a PG just above me at Cloud Peak for a long time; he came over in the LZ and we both had enjoyed the challenge. A PG was in the bushes near the 1,100 launch and I circles above him for a while then went and landed. No wind at the LZ, good hard flare to a one-stepper a few feet past the HG cone.

Twisted tips one and one for a right turn. Felt turn at launch. Steve had the right cup cone off the wand as he was releasing the lever so there is a slight possibility it wasn't seated, but I had no trouble mounting the top levers. Cool and very light winds after a Sunday/Monday rain system from the SW. Scratched by the 750 enough to confirm turn but no time to cycle VG etc. Would have preferred a longer flight for testing. Pure no-winder landing. Quarter VG and a good hard flare resulted in a smooth three-stepper. Whike setting up approach was fixated in the black skull flag, which was fluttering a little, then realized all other indicators were hanging slack.

Good. Little change in Vt. Pretty much the same conditions as the first flight. Had some wind to land into. Good flare 15 feet past the PG cone.

Good. Scratched the 350 for several turns, right above Dusty PG. Good no-stepper just past the PG cone.

Good. Friday was switch day, Sunday rain. Had planned to drive to UM and probably top land. Jeff Boehler had Dave Aldrich as a diver so Hoffbrow and I went up with them, to Crestline, where it was blowing 20 at 12:30. Wind increased as we set up and was soon over 30. Had helped Dan launch tandem and another. Forecast was gusts to 20. Pilots launching lower came up and showed it was smooth in the air, some parking. We had sent our bags down with Dave, had a newish H2 with us (Vision Mark IV). Waited for gusts to taper off. Put harness on at one point, took it off 25 minutes later. Lulls were thirty seconds at best. Hooked in after a long lull and stood on launch for ten minutes (Kenny Westfall on nose wires) while it gusted hard. Backed off and unhooked. Mark launched, well, after waiting too long between yelling clear and starting forward. After another lull I hooked back in and had a good launch at 5 PM. Got to 5,500 and just went over to billboard then out to Cloud Peak. No sense parking in the wind back there. Only lost 500 feet heading out. Clearly want going to climb in thermals much so I zoned around a bit, buzzed PG crowd at Marshall, buzzed Ignacio at Regionals. Nice no-stepper ten feet past the HG cone.
Clean tips and TE at shop; much dirt from being setup at Crestline for four hours. VERY dirty, especially left tip. Brown stitching all over and dust got up into batten pockets. Cleaned as best I could. Replaced batten strings and left #1 bungie.

Kenny Westfall glider, replacement (window) sail on older frame, installed by KW and Rob McKenzie. Right number 3 batten pocket front now sewn to P2. Post Santa Ana switch day but especially high climbs not forecast. Lightly ridge soarable at Crestline, got 6,200 at Billboard, went to Pine, keeping altitude, so went farther west. Hung out over the power line spine for a while, not high but not sinking. Got 6,800 back at pine, went west again to second spine. More hanging out. Spent about a half hour just west of Pine; the thermal off the low West face was reliable. Back to BB at 5,300 and immediate climb to 6,100. Decided to go easy of launch and flow the spine out to Marshall before landing. Halfway out found weak lift to 6k. The sun angle lit the ocean up and I could make-up details of Long Beach harbor! Flew out over the college, back to the hills when I saw no wind at the LZ. Five minutes later saw good breeze so spiralled down and landed well fifteen feet past the PG cone. Glider had a slight right turn - was pulling with my jet hand when thermalling right, nothing needed going left. Steep right banks did not require extra high-siding like last flight. Turned tip bolts 1/2 turn each for right turn. Keel strap still outside of the keel fairing; no half inch wrench to fix it with.

Kenny Westfall glider, replacement (window) sail on older frame, installed by KW and Rob McKenzie. Kenny flew it a few times and reported a right turn; he lost weight and is flying a 144. Owen Morse flew it last week and said it had a very slight left turn. I decided I wanted to fly the glider just to know what is going on with it. Kenny said he puts the battens in reversed from standard, that is, black on the left; Owen had flown it with standard black on the right. Should not make a difference. I set it up as Kenny does. Right #3 batten was quite loose and I turned it out 5 additional turns to get normal tension. Glider flew fine, no turn flying straight and at moderate bank angles. Thermalling at a steep angle I had to high-side more when turning right than left. After landing I wanted to compare the #3 battens and found the the right one was at minimal tension, as if the tip lever had slipped inward (it cannot). Looking inside the wing I saw the folded-over front end of the batten pocket looking different than usual and discovered that the batten pocket was not sewn to the inside of the Mylar pocket (panel 2). It was held in place with seamstick tape and was sewn to panel 3. The fold at the front end of the pocket was giving under tension as the sail flexed in flight; on the ground it would not give as it was pinched between the sail and the leading edge. Presumably this accounts for the steep-only right turn. Taking the glider to the shop to have it fixed. Clear, pre-pre-frontal day. Reportedly bumpy and blowing over 20 at Crestline. Line of small wispy clouds appearing near Pine Flat. Launched and got a little above Marshall, CCW went to Cloud Peak for solitude. Good thermal there to just 5,200 MSL, a little way back. Decided to try for low Billboard. Got there at 4,700 and found a tiny push up near the spine. Circled slow and close VGT and made my way to the top of the ridge. Fun. Once above the ridge it was easy to stay there. Left for Pine (and the wispy cloud line) at 5,600 and arrived at 5,450 with most of that loss at the very end. Some broad lift with right chores feeding the clouds as they blew past and dissipated. Got to 5,900 several times, 50-100 feet below cloudbase. Went west from in front in buoyant air toward another cloud line. Got over that plateau SW of Sugarpine but only at 5,500 and not finding the actual lift. Back to Pine slowly then over the Afterbay and a speed run to Regionals. Climbed here and there a bit then went to the LZ. Descended slowly to the east of the LZ and had a nice landing into SW 12, father past the HG cone than I expected. Fun and relaxing flight with much more leisurely climbing than anticipated. Ride up with Dave Aldrich, Dan Tuck drove my truck down (put his glider back together on Friday).
Sew front of RT #3 batten pocket to sail.

Nice handling. Little trim change. VdVGT=55. Late kick-off of the marine layer; second round of the day. Soarable in the murk, one nice 300+ FPM thermal. Nice landing into SW 8 about 12 feet short of the HG cone.

Good. Still quite hazy, little wind. Did a tight right-hand approach into SW 5 at the HG cone. Good landing fifteen feet past cone.

Good. Bungee #1 battens. Glass-off near sunset. Very smooth. Lots of circles over the LZ at 400 AGL. Great no-stepper three feet left of the PG cone.

Good. Twisted left tip 1 notch for a very slight right turn. Nice handling overall. Warm post-Santa-Ana day promising good altitudes. Bumpy at ridge level and lift was on and off. Got above Billboard to 6k+ and put my right glove on then sank. Ended up flying for about 1/2 hour with one glove; left hand/arm got a little tired from gripping harder. Got 5.5k from Regionals and went back to Crestline, arriving 5,100. Had to save it in the bowl in front of launch. Billboard still not great and thought about landing (40 minutes) but got a great thermal above the water tank to 6k. Put both gloves on. Went to Pine and climbed to 8k next to a racy PG. We went west toward Sugarpine; felt like a headwind. Still not beaming up and had sink alarm over the peak so I went back to Pine then Regionals. Did some speed runs to get low but didn't sink much. Wingovers near the 750 (Dusty, Gene, Nate waiting to launch) then it to the LZ. Saw zero wind and found lift SW of the Ranch so I was able to wait for wind. Good SSW 7 to land into. Got lifted near the cone, didn't go to basetube so I went s good way past. Nice one-stepper photographed by Dave Aldrich. Many had gone east with big hopes but came back relatively early; some saw 9k. Owen went to San Gorgonio and back.

Windy at Marshall, blown out at Crestline. Clear, warm. Good launch off the top into SW 15; flow had more S in it than optimal but I waited for a good cycle. Ridge soared Marshall, got some extra elevation in thermals blowing by. Cloud Peak area similar. Got a real thermal from Regionals that got me to 5,200 just north of Cloud Peak; very windy up high. Fun getting lower on the Cloud spine and ridge soaring back and forth to the top a couple of times. Good landing approach into WSW 12, got greedy and steered too much for the PG cone, dropped a wing tip. Met Michael Van Dorn (FB friend from Hawaii) in the LZ and he drove for me. I had considered top landing but decided against that shortly after launching.

Good. Rather stiff VGT (window BS, Dacron TS) VdVGT=56. From good over VG range. Hot, scattered clouds. Great lift with big sink in between. Sank to well above the 750 then one thermal to 5,700. Gained 200 flying day back to Crestline.wanted to buzz Regionals but couldn't get down. More easy climbs. Dove down to land in a steady cycle. 20 feet short of the HG cone. Thermal through the middle of the LZ when Mike landed.

Good. VdVGT=70. Climb from Last Chance to 8k 2/3 off the way back to Crestline. Left the core and gained 400 feet flying straight. Found 900 down going from Marshall to the radio towers. Strong NW as I neared the LZ. Waited it out till it turned west, hunting for air that wasn't going up. Landed smoothly into strong headwind. During my third wingover the front to rear cord on my harness broke at the rear knot. At the same time the aft VG pulley spreader slipped forward 4 inches (didn't know exact problem till after landing). Glider was VGL with 3/4 off the rope hanging out. Not a control or safety issue. A guy, Wilmer, landed a PG having flown from Elsinore.

Sweet handling. Vt=21-23 VdVGT=54. Cloudy with flow from the south, rain in San Diego heading NE. Smooth air. Good climb to 5k. Good speed runs. SSW instead of SE at the time I landed, good one 10 feet past the PG cone.

Clear and hot, North at Crestline all night until 3 pm. Not much lapse rate. Got out later than planned. Di McKenzie's birthday party at Jerzee's later so didn't want to start too early. Decided to try the 750 and hike back up for the exercise. Flew with the deployable wheel rig with a thought to top-landing the 750 if everything seemed just right. Two PG's preparing as I arrived; some gliders well overhead. Nacho launched and sank out. Alex launched and squeaked up off to the left. I launched into a developing cycle but was quickly down by the 350. A tiny burble off the pond yielded small gains for a few right circles, drifting NE. I changed direction and flew right through the core then got dumped on the other side. Scratched over the ranch then saw WNW at the LZ as I got to approach altitude. Landed from the East, just past the HG cone, inadvertently flipping it with my right foot as I passed. Foot-landing with the undeployed wheel rig wasn't a problem but I could sure feel the extra weight on the control bar. Many had only gotten 15-20 minutes from Marshall and Crestline; some got high and flew for a long time. Hike up to get the truck was good.

Fun flight with my UltraSport. Penn Jillette was out to fly tandem with Owen Morse. I gave Penn my XL WW 2015 Demo shirt which I had only worn once or twice before fattening up to XXL. Barely scratchable at Crestline with SW 15, the inversion was right there. I got a core that busted through at BB and got to 6k. Flew back over launch but sank before they launched. Got up again at BB. Had the GoPro on my helmet to maybe get some air to air footage for them. They got low off launch and heading to BB/water tank then Regionals. I flew fast out ahead, way above, intending to get head-on video but I wasn't willing to go that low back there. Couple of fly-bys near Regionals then I slowed in a weak bubble and got their whole landing from about 1k up. Then I worked that core and climbed slowly. Dave Aldrich got under me and I got some good footage, letting him climb up close. Went out to land and after a couple of weak wingovers I saw weak WNW at the LZ from a thermal. Ran to the bluffs for a second and then saw light SW so I dove it in for a good landing short of the PG cone. Fun day.

Clear and warm. Cruser Putnam was soaring in a PG but I wasn't able to find anything else enough to circle in. Went left from launch into the weak SSE. Very close to the PG cone, touched the right tip and wrestled the glider to keep the basetube off the grass.

Good. Sank to bluffs then a very strong little core got me to 4,500 drifting only to above the 750. First few circles felt like they were with the spin; reversing let me climb much better. SSE 7 at the LZ. Right-hand approach down the little road to a pop-up no-stepper next to the PG cone.
Index labels on battens.

Similar to previous flight. Nice landing near the HG cone, out of the turbulence from the shade structure and the West wind.

Good. Worked rowdy terrain lift back and forth to get a little above launch. Seemed like the wind was sweeping the thermals away too quickly. A little rotating core at 200 AGL over the Ranch house was fun for a few turns. Landed near the PG cone into straight west and the turbulence downwind of the structure(s) was weird. Landed running to the right to keep the wing level.

Saturday was great flying, Sunday it was stronger. Went to Marshall around 2 because it was over 20 MPH at Crestline. Launched tandem at about 3:30 with a 200 lb. student and the first thermal got us several hundred above Marshall. A bit later we got even with Crestline in strong narrow cores seeing 500+ FPM on the averager. Thermals tried to roll us out several times when we got the outside wing in the sink. Saw 1,500 FPM up on the instantaneous climb indicator, 800 on the 20-second averager a few times. After about 20 minutes we were down below the 750 after only finding some bumps below 3k MSL; didn't want to land yet. Found a core off the pond and climbed steadily with the fast-drifting snake to 4,100 and a thermal from Regionals got us to 5,100 again! Flew away from that to rest and blundered through a lot of lift just flying straight. Landed at the 45-minute mark by ignoring lift around the LZ and coring a little sink. Jerry had a good feel for steering the glider and by the second half of the flight I was going completely hands-off at times while thermalling. Nice to fly with someone strong. I had him controlling pitch somewhat during the landing and he eased the bar out a bit slowly so we thudded into the ground a bit and weren't lined up with either cone.

Good four-step launch into SW 18-20. Easy ridge soaring 100 over. Hopper very smooth on launch and getting into harness. Thermals at Billboard to above ridge. Good run to Regionals and then thermalling in 300-600 FPM. Hopper steering with help. Good practice drifting with thermals. No other gliders flying so no traffic to work with. Had a helicopter fly under us, low and right through the Cloud/750 vicinity. Did some mild wingovers at about the 40-minute point. A few minutes later we hit a thermal and Hopper asked if we could climb and do some more wingovers. Decided to land about the one-hour point. Light west dropping to zero at the LZ. I had Hopper fly through the approach and wheel landing, having him round out. Was helping on pitch and roll, of course. A bit of a bump touching down about halfway between the cones. Really fun flight, Hopper had Skyler along to cheer him on. Was going to take Jasa tandem after but she had a headache. Boys went to the pond while Jasa drove for me, testing a U2 160. Andy Jackson Fly-In.

Reflight with modified (additional) reflex in battens 8-10 to see if it reduces transient trim. Launched into ridge lift at Crestline and went VGT right away. TT to 30, pitch pressure normal. Did a couple of wingovers and popped the #6 and 7 on the left wing and #6 on the right; TT reduced to 24. Pretty much identical to when I flew it the other day with regular battens. Should have flown longer before doing wingovers. Popped battens did not back out of pockets, no change in glider feel. Got up at Billboard thermalling close with Mark Hoffman (on his U2 160 that I had put the leading edges back into that morning; nose bolt holes rebushed) and two others. Fast run to Pine then slow mosey out front. Another core at Regionals was hard to track through 5k and then easy to 5.7k. Flew straight at Crestline launch kinda fast. GoPro on keel ran out of juice at that point (used an hour for tandem earlier). Flew back out front and around a little then to the LZ for a nice landing into SSW 8 about ten feet short of the HG cone.

Good. TT to 35, would stay at 40. Vt=23. Did two wingovers and VtVGT=23-25. Popped #5 and 6 tip levers on left wing though. Battens only out an inch, couldn't feel any difference. Didn't cycle VG again. Good trotting landing into WWSW 10, about 15 degrees left of straight into the wind; didn't want to try turning out that last little bit on final. Clear and warm, punchy air with a low inversion.

Good. S turns in lift to the right and below launch; got high enough to circle and it was easy climbing with slow drift to the NE. Got to 3,500 then went toward Regionals and such. Got to 3,700 before flying out and forcing it down. Numerous spins - it really wants to stop spinning after about 180 degrees. SW at the LZ and I opted for a right-hand approach anyway. Knocked the PG cone over with my basetube as I shuffled to keep my feet under me.

Good. Similar to last flight except fell out of the lift doing the S turns. A bunch of circles at 200 AGL over the Ranch, concerns about getting dumped. Good approach in lift air on final, overshot the PG cone by thirty feet but a gentle no-stepper.

Carbon FLE's, carbon downtubes, purple window with bright lime border. Sprogs down 1, VG stop removed. For Santa Cruz Flats. Sweet, flew straight. TT to 40. Ridge soarable, almost chilly, wore gloves. Left Billboard at 5,500 and got to Pine about 5k. Washing machine there, felt like if I hung out a while something would get me well above but didn't hang out. Regionals and Cloud Peak thermals got me to the inversion at 4.7k a couple of times. About the 30-minute mark a strong narrow core at Marshall busted through and I got to 5.5k; got rolled level against my will at 5150 (no joke). Went VGT and milked it downwind back to Crestline. 5100 with 1/4 mile left and the buoyant air had me at 5250 by the time I got to the ridge. Celebratory wingover then BB again and back out front (and warmer lower). At Marshall again another boomer took me from 4k to 5,700 barely north of the peak. Went VGT and flew back to Crestline at 50 MPH airspeed, higher groundspeed. Very fun. Flew out front intending to land at the one-hour mark. 1,500 AGL near the LZ and I saw a long period of weak SSE on the flags and inflating PG's trying to kite. Hemmed and hawed and decided to come back later. Found the lift NW of the LZ and went back to Cloud Peak. FELT the temperature difference of a thermal there before my vario beeped. Too small, rowdy, and close to the hill to catch. Looking back out at the LZ I saw the shade tarps showing a strong breeze, got closer and saw it was WSW so I cored sink by the observatory and had a quick approach in sink near the LZ. Two-stepper a few feet right of the HG cone in 12-15 SW to round-out a really fun flight. Mostly positive reactions to the looks of the glider; few neutral.

Solid 20 at Crestline, twenty degrees cooler than normal top and bottom. Good launch, just a few steps. A number of ridge soaring passes then thermals at Billboard. Got to 5,700 without going north of the ridge. Dave steered across to Regionals, drifting left a lot but getting the hang of it. Thermals at Cloud with me just helping a little. Better directional control taking a line to Marshall. Bumpy air. Below 3k thermals very sparse and narrow. I'd hoped for a nice climb from low. Good SW in the LZ. Rolled to just a couple of feet past the HG cone, knocking it over with my left side wire. GoPro on Xbar was on stills mode, not even timer. Knew it at launch but chose not to unhook and fix it.
College kid, Harvey Mudd. Friend Rikki Hang 2 from Lookout.

Good. Hot and clear. Good scratching off the 350. Ie passed and I went to the LZ to find zero wind and lift off the East side. Approach to the south still in zero, left wing dropped, then nose, before I really started to flare. Left LE aloud along the grass. No scuffs. Should have had more of an eye on the LZ to pick a landing cycle.

Very nice. VdVGT=58, Vt=22,24,21. Blowing 15+ at launch, I stood with the nose way down for a minute or two then launched and elevatored up 100 feet. Low ground speed looking for a thermal, got a nice 500 FPM chore that I decided to ride up to 5k. Still strong and solid halfway back to Crestline I got to 6k in two minutes. Flew out over the valley looking for sink; lift everywhere. Great no-stepperinto steady SW 15. These all Dacron S2's and U2's have consistently gong a couple of MPH faster in Vd than the Mylar versions. Great handling.

Sunny and warmer. Ridge soarable but just even with launch. Several passes with Dave Aldrich and then Dusty Rhodes (flew right above him directly in front of launch, cameras doncha know). Worked some thermals out front, got really close under a PG at Marshall at 4,700. Couple of wingover and a really good spin near the LZ. Landed into fading S 5 and set it down hard on the basetube.
Tightened sailmount bolts to five threads on the right, three threads on the left. It took out about one half of the turn. Twisted tips one half each after landing.

Ten to fifteen degrees cooler than usual, morning clouds, murky marine air lingering. Ridge soared Crestline a few passes, Billboard wasn't working. Inversion layer was right there. Down to 3k and up to 4k+ a few times in sparse and weak thermals. Lotsa work.. Was going to land at the one hour point but worked a thermal up to beat Marshall from east of the 750. Flew from there out over a soccer game and then to the LZ for a nice landing into SSW 12. White Mylar TS, Dacron BS, all aluminum. No speed battens.
Flew for an hour. Planned to turn tips one and one for a right turn, half expecting that to be a little too much. While getting ready to turn the tip bolts I checked the sail mount webbing and found that the left side is just-snug and the right side is looser but not completely slack. Right screw has two threads exposed and the left has one. I'd swear I set therm both to two when I built it. I'm wondering if I should tighten the left sail mount bolt a couple of threads and then set the right to match the webbing tension instead of twisting the tips before I refly it tomorrow. MM said good idea, worth a try.

Good. Turned all lever batten tips out 5-7 turns (plus 3 turn presets). Strung battens needed tightening as well. Clear and warm. Good launch into SE cycle. Tiny core off to the left. Just scratching then right-hand approach to S final. Eighteen feet past PG cone.
New rubber band on speed battens.

Good. All lever tip na battens out 5-7 turns except #3 battens (4 turns). Mike was climbing in a thermal and I landed and got under him and climbed right up. He was on an Alpha 180 so he let me past. In another thermal I climbed even faster and bailed at 3k. Nice landing six feet past PG cone after left-hand approach.

Normal. A little sticky in till trying to turn left into a strong little core. East wind in LZ, did left-hand approach from the training hill. Switchy on final, landed trotting and trying to keep wings level. Mike on same model came in right behind me, got lifted near cone and similar finish. Winds changed 180 degrees while walking glider to break down area; stopped and parked it half way while dust devil gust went through.

Great. VdVGT=56, Vt=22-20. Launched into a narrow thermal, traversed in and out of it then went to Cloud spine. Quite bumpy then settled into a nice chore that I took to 5,500 seeing 500+ FPM along the way. Core wandered around a bit. Did some speed runs and wangs. Wind turned more SSE during left-hand approach, landed more than fifty feet from PG cone, short and left.

Good. MCA flying straight: 18, turning in thermal: 16. Good wind at launch. Ridge soared right there a bit, then a thermal from the top of Cloud Peak to 4,500, drifting toward the corner of the TFR. Similar at Marshall then moseyed down to the LZ and had a nice no-stepper 12 feet short of the PG cone.

Clear and warm. Student of Dan DeWeese and Scott Isbell. Has had several tandems with others, husband John is S.D. pilot. Plan was to have her do as much of the approach as possible. Good launch and worked a little lift but no net gains. Newbie HG traffic below us plus PG's as everyone sank out on the late-day air. I had her go farther east along the tree line to lose altitude. She recognized glide angles. We had one shot between landing HG and PG so little decision-making. Good altitude heading toward VASI but buoyant so I helped with hard dive on turn to final. Had her more or less land it on the wheels. Allison then went to training hill. She could probably manage approach solo with radio, another tandem approach without traffic, to observe her choices, would be good.

Sprogs 69.5, Mylar TS, Dacron BS. VtVGL=25. Very shallow pitch well; if I flew 28 the bar would stay there. Flew 21 fine, barely pushing the bar. VtVGT=21 but only got one change to check that. Move hang point back one and refly. Lots of aircraft for Blue Cut fire up in the pass. Corner of TFR just north of Regionals. Hot but not a hundred.

Fixed. VtVGL=22, VtVGT=20, VdVGT=55 with slightly elevated bar pressure. Did a couple of speed/trim runs and the glider was fine so I just went and landed. Plenty soarable. Sikorsky flew right over the ranch E to W while I was breaking down and Mike was back near Regionals. Fire in pass was putting out much more smoke, saw some flames from the LZ.

Good. Had tailwind puffs when I stood on launch, point flag showing NW, Mike plummeting. Zero in various directions. Flag showed west and I had 1/2 MPH in. Ran hard got over flag and screamed up. Saw lots of 800 up on the averager and even 1k briefly on my way to 5,200 MSL five minutes after launch. Best climb rates above 4k. Cored sink to get down as Mike had already landed. Also wanted to land before more helicopters came over the LZ.

Great handling. VtVGL=22, VtVGT=20, VdVGT=55. Pretty breezy at launch. Soaring Predictor had shown easy climbs to 7,600+ for mid-afternoon. I got up above Cloud Peak and went downwind to Marshall where JD was setting up. Had set altimeter before launch but at 100 over Marshall it said 3,900. I hung around for a minute or two without finding lift. When I left I was just below the top and my vario said 3,900. Got a boomer at Cloud showing 6-700 on the averager up to about 5k. Looked around at all the burn areas, saw flames in the Cajon Pass at the more NW fire. Mike was 1k below me and heading east so I tracked him in what felt like shear lift, looking for smooth air for trim/VG checks. Decided to round the radio towers at 5,500 (Mike had gone back W) and flew into very strong lift. Saw 1k and even 1,100 FPM up on my averager, 1,400+ instantaneous. Was above 7k in two minutes and went on up to 8,200 where it was a bit chilly. Had only drifted a few hundred yards N of the towers. Took in the view and wished I had my GoPro on. Decided to head west and descend and not 30 seconds later had a FedEx jet pass N to S right behind me, less than 200 yards, at my altitude (6,700)! He went right through where I had just been! They usually are above 9K. Closest I've seen a big jet. He went S to Loma Linda and turned for Ontario. Started flying with the bar stuffed because I'd been up a half hour already. Over the 750 I went to upright with feet on the basetube to give my arms a rest. Not desperately trying to get down but making it happen. Didn't want to go out over the flats to look for sink because the water copters had been going between Cajon and Redlands all day. At about 3k I heard a chopper and saw an orange sky crane coming from the NW, below me. He went under me by a few hundred feet and passed between the 350 and the 750. I got to look straight down at the faint circles the orange patches on his rotor made. Went back to prone and flew upwind of his line then dove on in to the LZ. Had to remind myself that landing conditions were going to just be normal windy afternoon. Had a good three-step landing just past the HG spot. More helos came through, one over the LZ, one above the 750. Mike and JD were still flying.
Only had 4 speed battens, needs 6 total. Bullet holes P4 near RT sprog, patch-shaped. Clear Mylar patches applied top and bottom by loft.

Clear and hot. Lightly ridge soarable. Went from Billboard to the Afterbay hills, arriving at 5,100. Floated around, went to Marshall a couple of times, buzzed Jerome as he walked to rahe lower launch. Went out over the girl scout camp planning top land but found lift and went back up to Cloud Peak. Terrain followed down to the 750 and straight to the LZ. Nice one-stepper near the PG cone. GoPro on keel, Dave Aldrich in LZ with good camera.

Clear and hot. Soaring Predictor showed high ceilings. Got to 5,100 a little after launch but was drifting over Waterman Canyon. Never got above 4,900 after that. Most thermals only a few hundred FPM. Got below launch for the third time near the one hour mark (third climb in the East bowl of Cloud) so when I got back up and saw the wind sock dropping I dove it in for a clean top landing. Flew with Jeremy Conrad who did pretty much the same thing with his PG.

Good. VdVGT=60. Clear and hot. Only a little fire plane activity (Pilot fire, Silverwood). Lift to stay up in but not much climbing. Topped our at launch height. Active around the LZ, dove in for a good SW cycle. Good Landong past PG spot.
Left #2 speed batten - TE pocket off center. Loft fix.

Good. All Dacron. Good thermal below Cloud Peak, got to 5,500 with a little work tracking. Saw the burn area on the back ridge, streaks of red on it. No plumes of smoke, just a brown pall with the top at my altitude. Zero wind when I was high over the LZ then the flags showed ESE steady so I dove in and did a right-hand approach. Hard bump turning to final, went a bit long and had a nice flare.

Good. Windy on launch, waited out some cycles. String lift, 600-1000 FPM, saw 1,400 on the instantaneous a few times on my way to 5,500. Saw an ESE cycle after zero wind so dove in for it. While heading NW for a right-hand approach I saw the flag and the windsock point away from each other. On base leg both showed WNW and I had to decide how far I could keep turning the glider to try and get pointed into the wind. Ended up heading WSW, about 30 degrees left of the wind and doing a slow running flare, stopping near the SE corner of the shade structure.
Needs stickers on the number one battens.

Good. New clear sail. La Aches into lift and it took a lot of passes to get more than 100 above launch. Couldn't tell if it was ridge lift or thermals. Finally consolidated and drifted close to the spine, heading to the NNW, eventually Regionals. Terrain followed from Cloud Peak straight into a SW approach. Good flare twenty feet past PG cone.

Good. Quite westerly at launch. Worked micro cores and gusts for a few minutes, finally got something to circle in close to the hill. Challenging and fun. Mike joined me out front in a better part of the same genereal thermal. Let him climb by as I passed the 750 then got under him and we climbed nicely. He pulled away and I still had to work the terrain a bit and hunt around to stay with that core. Generally lifty at 3k and eventually a big wide weak core came through and I enjoyed a relaxing steady climb to 4k+. Breezy in the LZ and buoyant as I came in on SW final. Flared gently with my feet 5 feet above the PG cone and settled down gently and smoothly - very fun!

Clear and hot. From the LZ watched a Falcon pilot climb out from above the 750 so I went for it even though it was a little past prime time. Set up very quickly and took the first cycle. Climbed as I launched but turned into the sink. Several other very narrow lifty areas that I couldn't get a net gain out of. At approach height east of the LZ I could see that there was something on the NW side but I was too low to get there. Good landing into SSW, dropped the left top a little. Dave Aldrich got some photos (downloaded). Mom and Mike arrived after 6 PM, after I had already hiked up to get my truck. Refly glider Sunday because three minutes isn't enough.

Good. A little hazy. Didn't find any lift until down by the 750. Many circles below the bluffs NE of the LZ in a tiny bit of drifting lift. Allowed me to wait until there was some wind in the LZ. Good landing into SW 3.

Good. Worked a bumpy area just west of launch and eventually got 500 over launch. Approach straight over the ranch into light S. Good no-stepper a little past the PG cone.

Sweet handling, light roll. Window sail. Vigorous little bullet cores gave 500 FPM for 1/4 circle, less for the rest. Got 4,300 several times. Found a good cycle to land in, past the PG cone.

Good. Actually a sold glider. Scratched from above the pond to a few hundred above launch. Sank to the tree line and was able to spin it (ha ha) in lift and got above launch again. Right hand approach to S final, good flare three feet east of PG cone.

Good. Worked down in the bowl in front of launch for a bit. Took a good cycle to land into. Fifteen feet short of PG cone.

Great! Got low over the green opening, circling in a tiny core. Mike found the better core just to my S. We climbed up smoothly with Steve a little farther above. Got to 5,200+ and pointed toward the Billboard spine. Saw Steve very low by the water tank and watched/followed him squeak out and around below Last Chance. Good landing into light SW.

Tip-mount eyebolts tightened 7 turns (to 9 threads exposed). Pedro reported his straps were loose and it took 7 turns to take it up. These straps were indeed loose; 7 more turns might be more than necessary. Glider is going to Kevin Carter to fly at Big Springs. Flew with raked tips and without carbon inserts.
Turn tips 1/2 turn each for a right turn. Forgot to do this after I installed the carbon inserts while breaking down. I would back the eyebolts out a couple of turns at least if I was going to fly it regularly.

All UVPXB top surface with blue LE and red stripe. Great looking glider. Good handling, couldn't push out very far. The Soaring Predictor showed ho-hum altitudes for today but my first climb, immediately after launch, took me up 3,500 feet to 5,900 MSL and I arrived at Crestline 12 minutes into the flight. Pretty windy back there so I took the F4T back out front. The next hour and thirty minutes pretty much matched the prediction with me topping out at 4,500 MSL over and over like a balloon bouncing along the ceiling. Fast drift west to east made keeping up with the weak thermals a challenge as well. Had a climb from below Last Chance to Cloud spine and then to 5,300 near the end. Good SW breeze to land into and the hike up to get my truck wasn't bad since it was relatively cool after 5 PM. Relatively. Most pilots seemed satisfied with their flights. Shaggy et al left LZ shortly after I did. Saw them standing at Crestline, then setting up at Marshall.
Gouge on basetube grip from sharp rock in setup area.

Good. Very little trim change over VG range. Hot and sunny. Got to 5,600 from Marshall pretty easily. Went to Crestline and Billboard, windy and shredded thermals. Regionals then Cloud and a thermal to 5,200 drifting NNW. Lost it and sank rapidly. Marshall to Regionals hunting for thermals. Lots of strong sink. Nearing the 750 I saw the LZ windsock pointing to the SW! Still in sink, tried to milk milk the terrain lift. No luck. Nearing the LZ I saw sock and flash showing puffs of SW. Regular approach with a bumpy final to a no-stepper ten feet right of HG cone.

Nice handling. VdVGT=62. Vt=21,21,22,22,28. 2.2 sec roll 30 to 30. Hot and breezy. Launched into lift but went to Cloud Peak. Thermal there took me to 5,700 in a steady climb that saw 800 FPM at times. Boosted around and did speed runs. Cored sink S of LZ and had a good one-stepper into SW 10 thirty feet short of the PG cone. Went to Larry Heidler's funeral in Riverside before flying.
Replace outboard Velcros with ring version.

Warm and sunny, very similar to the day before. Launched into lift coming up by the windsock and climbed steadily to 5,900 drifting over Waterman Canyon a bit before it turned more north. Easy glider to Crestline launch, again arriving 9 minutes after launching. Only a couple of R/C fliers standing at launch. Got up at Billboard and flew to Pine, encountering sink for the final third of the glide. Hung out at 6 above and north of the peak while watching tucks on the dirt road heading toward each other. Got to 6,300 a couple of times. Went Regionals and climbed to 5k+ from Cloud after scratching in the bowl on the west side in what felt like a dust devil. Back to Crestline again because I could and then flew straight from Billboard to Marshall since I had altitude. Circled over Marshall for ten minutes watching the windsock stand straight out most of the time. Too much for top landing. Descended in one promising lull but it was over by the time I got to approach height. Flew to the LZ and had a good no-stepper into SW 10. Flew with Joe Ardito and Mark Hoffman (U2 160 Demo, window BS).

Trimmed 20-21 VGL-1/4 and was in a mush-stall-dive mode. VtVG1/2-VGT 21-22 and flying nicely. [strike]Move hang point forward and refly[/strike]. Talked to Steve and he said to ship it as-is. Hot and clear. Got to Crestline 9 minutes after launching, had considered drifting to the 138 interchange. Windy and bumpy. Got 6,300 at Monument Peak and went a bit west but found no thermal and didn't like the bumping up and down. Back at Pine was banked in a thermal and suddenly rolled to 90 degrees and yawing to nose-down. Went to Regionals then Marshall at the 1-hour point. Had been thinking about going to LZ and landing. Got 5k off Marshall drifting north and was almost over the highway in a little bubble. Worked it to 5,400 so went to Crestline again for the heck of it, then out to the LZ and landed. Steady breeze dropped to no-wind while I was on downwind. Ran a couple of steps and plopped it onto the basetube. GoPro on keel. AJX Fly In, smaller turnout than some years and too windy for PG's until late. Good overall. The new BBQ serving area worked well.

Good. Warm and some haze. Much better lift than the previous few days and better than predicted. Above 5k wind was from S or SE. Got to 5,900 off Cloud Peak and arrived at Crestline at 5,200. Not much going on there at that time. Went from Billboard to Regionals slowly. Shot back up above 5k several times, some from way South of Marshall. Let a thermal cycle go through and dove in a bit too hard, found it pretty bumpy on final. Wasn't pretty but didn't have to hike again.

Good glider. Warm and a low inversion. Wind WSW 15+. Got 500 over right away, drifting toward Waterman Cyn. Over the next hour I had only three or four actual thermals and those were only for a few circles. Mostly below 4,100. Wanted to wait an hour before top landing to let the wind die down. Got over Marshall at the one-hour mark but was only a hundred feet up - to low for an approach. It got crowded and the ceiling lowered. Worked that trashy thermal on the backside of Regionals to 3,900 a couple of times. Slowly accepted that the thermals were fading fast. Scratched my way down to the 750, above Nate who hasn't launched because it was so west. Dusty and I worked that area for a while. Had a great no-stepper short of the PG cone. Photo by Tish. Got a ride from Dave Davenport up to Marshall (to the sale, actually) to get my truck. So I hiked after flying for the second day in a row. Sunday went out to fly around 4 and a rescue of a downed PG below the 750 was just getting underway. A helicopter was called. Shaggy landed in the flood control basin a mile east of the LZ so I went and got him. Didn't bother going up the hill for the extended sledder.

Hot with billowing thunderheads on the desert side. Got out later than I'd planned. Scratched back and forth by the flag below launch for a long time but never got above launch. More time by the 350. Good landing into light SW. Good hike back up for my truck.

Good. VdVGT=65. Sprogs 69.5, good PP. Hot and high pressure. Not really ridge soarable at Crestline. Garrett Speeter demoing Alpha 210. Got 5,400 at Billboard. Worked Cloud Peak and Marshall to the high 4k range in punchy thermals pushing into a thick but weak inversion layer. Sweet top landing on Marshall - the PG pilots standing there didn't even hear my arrival.

Walked to the lower launch, good launch. Just went out and thermals over the LZ for a while then dove in to land. Good approach in light SSW to the PG cone. Landed short with a nice no-stepper.

Hot and clear; record heat Sun/Mon. Forgot to zip both left sprogs. Felt it right after launch. Like a 3-hole turn that came and went. Not scary. Just flew out and landed.

Nice all around. VdVGT=68, light but solid PP. VtVGT=29. Thermals at Vt like a dream. Got 1k FPM lift just west of launch, hit the inversion around 4,800. Took a while to find another good thermal. Good speed runs. Dove in for a 5 MPH S cycle and landed 5 feet short of the PG cone, taking two steps to the cone itself.

Good. Floated around in orographic lift for a while, finally found a real thermal above the 750. Cruised with it up to 5k, stuffed the bar for ten minutes to land. Good SW breeze, actually overshot the PG cone by 25 feet but a no-stepper.

Good. Windy spots on the spines kept me up, never found a core. NW when I first got over the LZ but had SSW to land into. Overshot by thirty feet but no-stepper.
LOFT: Make pockets in TE for speed battens.

Launched and saw Mike getting up over the pond. Went that way and found a little core. Turned and found Owen had just launched and was right behind me. We went round and round for a while as Mike climbed out in his better core. I left it to Owen and ended up down even with the 350, going slow in little pops of lift. Smelled something very green, maybe alfalfa from the horse stable, and started turning. Worked that little core for all its skittish worth and gained a few hundred feet. Eventually rode it to 4k between Cloud Peak and Marshall. Went over and top landed just to celebrate the save. Slowed prematurely again and drifted east again. Landed in an angled trot, didn't touch the glider to the ground. Walked to the front and immediately re-launched.

Good launch off the top. Basically flew straight to the LZ, diving through much lift. Lifty all around the LZ. Ran into lift as I turned left to base leg and then as I turned to final my sink alarm went off! I had been high enough that a dive would have been required to

Good. Heavy June gloom burning off. Sank after launch but lift nearby. Low over the ranch I saw a perfect spiral of dust -very cool. Too low over the trees to try and get it. A few circles 250 AGL over the shade structure, sock and flags showing different directions. Quick right-hand approach to three feet past the PG cone, weight far to the right to counter the roll from the airflow. Taking turns driving with MM. Alan Arcos asking to get a flight on something.

Sweet handling - worked weak lift slow very well. Sprogs at 69.5, all Dacron sail. Clear and a little breezy, day before was low clouds all day. Good launch off the top. Kept topping-out the thermals between 4,600 and 4,700. Got well below Marshall twice. Weak lift down there but trackable 200 FPM. After the first save a was only 200 over Marshall in a nice wind lull. Second save was from 3',200 going up Cloud spine. Hit sink turning to final and slowed a little, which led to drifting left more than I like. Good no-stepper in the hollow by the setup area.

Good. Clear, warm, high pressure. Lots of bumps close to the hill but nothing big enough to circle in. Good SSW breeze to land in, bumpy, ended up sprinting a little.

Good. VdVGT=65, Vt=21,22,24,24,29. Decent thermals, got to 4,300. Very bumpy just cruising above 4k. Dead then straight West across the LZ. Dove it in and landed facing the parking lot some 30 feet past the PG cone. Nice no-stepper.

Good. Had all the batten strings very loose; it seemed less sticky in shallow bank turns. Ridge soared launch for a few passes at a very leisurely pace. Climbed in a thermal. Did a series of spin attempts - first couple managed to get 180s. Recovery gentle. Right-hand approach to SW final on the HG cone for the heck of it. Landed on one foot but the other was waving around.

Good. Easy climb from well above Last Chance to 4,500. Cored sink South of the LZ. Downwind leg in big sink. No-stepper at the HG cone with the cone between the basetube and my feet :)

Good. Easy late day boating. Good landing near HG cone.

Good launch at 14:03 PM. Soon got a little over, buzzed spectators standing by the RR ties. Reached down and slapped the streamer pole (batten) with my left hand; felt that for about 20 minutes. Strong drift to the NE in thermals. Was well NE of UM in a thermal that petered out at 5,200. Headed for cloud. Very rowdy thermals. 1,200 FPM up at times, banked on a wingtip and low-siding to stay in it. Pushed sideways a lot. Much stronger above 4,700 or so. Went to Crestline after thermalling up to 5,600 from Cloud Peak. Got 5,700 at BB and went past the water tank then over to Pine. kept my altitude most of the way but dropped at the end and arrived below 5k. Got back to 5,700 in more rowdy thermals and wind. Wanted to land at the 1-hour mark so did a slow glide to Regionals then played off that west spine, getting back up to 4,500. Found sink just S of the LZ and spiralled down. Good SW breeze in the LZ and came up short of the PG cone after a mildly bumpy final at 15:06. New wing for Ryan Voight - black with blue flames.

Clear and warm with some isolated high cumulus drifting from the north. North at Crestline until mid-day. Opted for the 750 to get the hike back up. Considered Marshall and top landing but with the low ceiling that was forecast I didn't want to spend the whole flight worrying about being high enough to top land; our having to beg a ride back up. Launched into a cycle, had seen pilots soaring, and dust devils below. Scratching in close I zoned around back and forth and climbed little by little to several hundred above launch. Left incoherent bumping in the bowl NE of launch and that was my undoing - 400+ FPM sink to the 350 and below. There was a thermal just east of the LZ and I circled in it three times at 200 AGL. Decided getting dumped low would suck and saw the flags showing S so I started my approach. Flags went slack and I went long, flaring a hair late and landing in knees and basetube. Forgot to start the GoPro before launch; moving a chair from launch before hooking in distracted me. At home I had fashioned an aluminum plate and attached it to the sprog paddle with the FSR on the plate. It showed higher forces when testing on the ground. Had the date setting app working on the Create but the GPS part didn't work; used my phone's time. Did a short log right after launching and then a shorter one with a VG cycle on the way to the LZ. Readings were similar to yesterday's but just a half pound or so higher. Graph of yesterday's extended VdVGT run shows the sprog force doubling and a wingover log shows increase on the dive then very light going over the top.

May Gray again, later burn than yesterday, not quite ridge soarable at Crestline. Narrow lift below 4k, some sharp edges. Had a fun long climb from above the 750 with gliders coming in below from every direction until we had quite a stack strung out vertically. Dave Hards was just below me with his new U2 160. There was a visiting T2C shadowing me at first and I bypassed some bumps due to his proximity. Had the FSR on the right sprog again, program on the Create modified to log force every 500 mSec (Record button on screen, not constant recording). Off-line date setter app not working so time started at midnight 1/1/70 at boot; can adjust based on video start time. Helmet can shows when I started and stopped recordings on Create. Recorded several short intervals. First was VGL to VGT then release over ten seconds. Readings very light force but consistent. Seconds was VGL to VGT in 1/4 steps. Both show lowest force at VG3/4. A couple more recordings I haven't looked at yet and then recorded landing. It seems to show a reduction in ground effect and a spike at or just after flare. Good one-stepper into light SSW. Had a date so only flew about 1/2-hour. Want to add a flat rigid plate between sprog paddle and FSR since it's a beveled tube with eighth inch wide edges. Also want to raise sprogs two turns to old stock setting of 70.5 inches. It would be nice to do one change, fly and top land, then do the other. Conditions on 5/30 may not be amenable to that as lower ceilings and weaker lift are forecast.

Typical May Gray morning, some puffy clouds on the perimeter late in the day. Light SW winds. Plenty soarable but no booming climbs. Did get low below Last Chance later in the flight and was patient with a bumpy spot that turned into a thermal that I rode slowly all the way to Regionals and above, topping out at 4,700. GoPro on helmet. Buzzed Jasa at Marshall early - she drive for me and Kelly Tesch. First flight with the Force Sensitive Resistor (FSR) on a sprog, the right one, with the Kinoma Create displaying pounds of force. It functioned for the whole flight. Readings were surprisingly low. 0.9-0.8 pounds VGL, 0.7-0.6 VGT. May have gone over a pound on a VdVGT run but I couldn't see the screen at that point. Only got the screen with the helmet GoPro a few times (angle down more?). Didn't have the program logging at all - wanted to see if there was anything to log. Expected that at some point approaching VGT the force on the sprog would go up markedly. This all-Mylar demo glider does have the sprogs down to 69.5 inches, one inch below what had been the stock setting until recently. May put a small plate between the FSR and the sprog paddle and want to add logging to the code before next flight. Another thing - when breaking down I found the crossbar end plugs in the wingtips. They are just pressed in, may have come out during wingovers. I recall a customer's glider similarly losing an endplug last year.

Good. Clear, warmer than the weekend but nicely cool. Switchy at launch between 90 left and 90 right. Good launch, found a thermal over the 350, went up to over 3k. Great no-stepper right of the PG cone - sprinklers in the NE corner were on.

Good. Big sink all the way to the LZ. Thermal just east of LZ, I was below 200 AGL. Could see the brush swirling, did one circle and decided to just land since the flags showed South. Good no-stepper. Drove previous two rounds for Mike Meier.

Sweet handling. Mylar sail. Breezy West. Ridge soared bullets on the faces West of launch. Quite fun working the terrain back and forth. Another no-stepper near the PG cone. Must be on today.

Cool, not as windy as Saturday, isolated clouds. Good launch from the top after waiting through switchy cycles. Would have been quicker to walk to the lower launch. Hovered over Marshall for a few minutes with a tandem PG. Just below Cloud Peak I caught a nice chore that I rode all the way to 7,100 North of Marshall; little domes of wispy cloud appearing. Headed upwind slowly and crossed the mouth of Devil Canyon at 4.3k. Decided to head for Pine, where I could see a couple of wings soaring and a PG down low heading SE. Easy climbing up the Pine spine then a cluster of forming clouds came from Devore. Got to cloudbase SW of Pine with Dan Tuckwiller. Decided to tag Sugarpine proper though there were no clouds near it. Sank a lot and found headwind coming back SE. Another PG was low and creeping SE in front. I was at 4.8k and still needed to jump the gap to Pine; not my favorite position. Transitioned to tailwind and the west Pine spine was easy to ride up. Got 6k again and pointed to Marshall Peak. Not quite as windy there as earlier; a PG landed and relaunched (turned out to be Nacho). I went and found sink to get down from 5k. Got below 300 AGL in a relative lull and the PG landed again, had to drop his wing behind a hang glider in the set up area. I dove on in and had a decent landing near them and we talked about the day before I parked and unhooked. Swoops by Mark Hoffman and Dan while I broke down. Very fun flight!

Windy and West, clouds at six or seven, chilly for late May. Worked the terrain just west of launch for a few minutes then started working my way up, back and forth over the SW faces. It took 16 minutes to get above Cloud Peak. Quite fun. I was considering using the tandem wheel system to land on the 750 and I had taken a wrap on my main hang loop to be just that little bit farther of the dirt. I could feel the difference in roll forces. Got dumped toward the hill in one of the few circles I did below Cloud Peak. Thermal to 4.5k and went over to Marshall Peak. Mostly parked there, climbed to 5k. Too chilly! Gloves but no jacket - I had it on before launch but changed my mind. Long, slow upwind glide to over the Afterbay. hung out there and over that spine for a few, above 4k. Went to Regionals and descended to warm up. Hundreds of feet above the 750 I rode a thermal to 4.7k over Marshall and then stuffed the bar (hands open) toward the 750. At the edge of that huge lift area the nose dive and the basetube hit my thighs! It came forward as I reached for it. No other bumps like that. Descended toward the 750 and deployed the tail wheel. Many passes near the 750 shows it was too unpredictable downwind of it to make a landing approach. Flew less than 100 feet over it a couple of times. Hard to stay low enough wherever I went. Dove to the LZ and rolled it on smoothly 30 feet short of the PG cone. Also had the old DigiFly airspeed indicator (broken mount) tapped to my nose wire; matched my Hall pretty well except when changing speeds abruptly. Hall slower to respond.

Good. Clear and hazy after morning low grey. Cycling SE and E at launch. Circled over the training hill a few times. Right-hand approach to S final, short of the HG cone. Drove next round.

Good. Returned due to to patch error. I test flew it last September. Became inventory then sold to WoW. Blowing in nicely, couldn't get the thermal right in the launch bowl. Down even with the 350 got a tiny core off the stable. Cranked and banked and climbed steadily. Above 3k it got wide and strong. On the way to 4k I saw 500-600 up on the averager. Blowing steady 10 SSW in the LZ, nice no pressure on the feet no-stepper abeam of the PG cone.

Nice handling. PP 10#/hand VGT, little TT. Good. in roll. Windier than earlier, hard to figure out the lift - what was thermal, what was wind. Easy to stay up, sustained climbs not so much. C model with clear sail, red batten pockets, carbon basetube. Sprogs 69.5 (new std. for Mylar 155s). Bumpy on approach, Good no-stepper. Drove next round.

Good. Ridge soared Regionals for a few passes then up the SW face of Cloud Peak in a thermal. Did a terrain-following speed run down to the LZ straight into final from just west of the training hill. Good no-stepper 4 feet left of the PG cone.

Good. Clouds below Regionals, almost no wind; light SW at Crestline. Had a little cross and down standing on launch. Good run into 2 MPH SE for a nice launch. Sank and sank. Flags showed N 2-3 when I was right over the LZ. came in from straight South and had a nice no-stepper halfway from S edge to PG cone.

Good. Thermal right near launch. Inversion at 3,100. The hill helped me get to 3,300 then the thermal really took off. Got to 3,950 at Cloud Peak then stores a vehicle at Regionals (close to the yuccas) then bee line for the pond, trailers and straight in to landing. Popped the flare hard and dropped to my feet with a thud. Seemed much longer than 13 minutes.

Sprogs 69.5. Good VdVGT=49, VGT 30 to 30 3.4 sec. PP good. Inversion was at 3,500. Air somewhat rough, Good thermals.

Good. More West at launch. scratched SW faces below Cloud Peak for a while. Went over to the last bump below Last Chance, not low, and worked buoyant air while reminiscing about the original airpark and that spot really was the last chance to get up. A thermal developed and I started climbing well. Alfredo got below me with a Sport 2 135 and after eight our ten circles I went wide to let him by. Came back in and it was still going. At 4,200 we were looking down into the hazy layer. It slowed at 4,700 and I decided to dive it in and land before Mike got to the LZ with the trailer. Good no-stepper into light SW four feet short of the HG cone. Milked the last ten feet and flare hard.

Full Mylar window sail, black edge, bright lime batten pockets and nosecone. Sprogs down two turns from 70.5 (appx. 69.5). Roll pressures lighter than they have been. 2.5-2.7 sec. 30 to 30 VGL; 3-3.2 VGT. VdVGT=57 (!). Sunny and warm, pre-pre-frontal. Good no-stepper into SSW 10. Drove for Mike previous two rounds.

Good. VtVGT=29 after wingovers. Very windy earlier but only 15 with gusts as I set glider up. Worked terrain bumps just West of launch and then the West face/spine below Cloud Peak. Not West enough for those places to work well but I had fun maintaining altitude and trying to make precise turns over the lifty spots. Good landing near the HG cone. Drove for Mike Meier the other 5 rounds.

Beautiful day with some clouds. Launched and did a few S turns in front of launch until a thermal came through. Caught it and climbed easily at over 200 FPM to above Marshall in ten minutes. Had to wait for a tandem PG to move of the surface before top landing. Rough coming in, ok landing.Demo Days group was still unloading gliders.

Launched off the top into SSW 10. Easy soaring, went out front high then came back. Low save to 3,500 from below the 750 for the beck of it. Lots of spin entries: auto-recovery after about 180 degrees every time. Good landing into steady WSW 12, short of the HG cone.

Overcast after morning drizzle. Worked terrain bumps for the first half hour. Sun spots started appearing. Had some nice cores that really wanted to spit me out but gave 600 up. Eventually got to cloudbase at 4,750. Good landing. Lots of happy demo pilots.

Good. A but stiffer than the 154C I flew the other day. VtVGT=30 Light right turn, twisted both tips 3/4 turn. 98% overcast with north flow in the morning. Surprisingly soarable; tight with soft edges. Got to 4.2k a couple of times; vertical above 4k. Light WNW in the LZ when I landed, trotting smoothly.

Good. Stable trim. VdVGT=51. 10-15 lbs/hand VGT; lowered sprogs one turn each. After a lull I launched directly into a thermal and climbed hundreds of feet right away. Left for Crestline at 5,350 and veered to Billboard, arriving at 4,650. Found lift right against the hill to 5.5k. One talky good spin entry South of Cloud Peak. Good landing into light SW. GoPro on keel.

Good. VdVGT=53. Trim stable. All Dacron. Nice handling, higher Vd than Mylar, which has been a trend. Got up again and dashed back to Crestline.

Nice. VtVGT=32 (after some speed runs). Good handling VGT and pushed-out. First T2C with carbon FLE's that I've flown. Expected it to be stiff VGT but it was normal. Full Mylar window sail. Very windy pre-frontal. Some good climbs to 5k. Parked at 500 AGL near the LZ. Bumpy coming in. Good landing near HG cone.

Good. Turned all batten tips out 5-10 turns from stock three turns out. Cloudy with system sweeping by to the north. Went to Marshall but soaring and top landing looked iffy. Four minutes of NNW as I stood on launch with the glider. Fun scratching in tiny bullets by the 350. Landed heading East with approach through the slot.

Good. Clear, some puffies at 5k or so. Light SSE. Scratched the bluffs for a long time, finally got up in a thermal of the ranch. Left it just above launch height then boosted over the LZ for five minutes waiting for a steady breeze to land into. Ended up lending in no wind near the PG cone.

Good. Didn't find any lift. A bump over the ranch house then big sink. Landed heading SW with slight tail wind. Almost touched the nose to the grass.

Good. Vt=21,20,22,22,29. Some PP VdVGT. Waited for wind on launch for a few minutes. Crossing left, no streamers. Good cycle to launch in. Found a right core right against the hill below Cloud Peak. Cranked and banked and climbed to within 50 feet of cloudbase, which was at 5,700. Cold up there. Over the LZ, I saw the flags standing straight out so I dove in for the good conditions. Massive sink ovewr the NE corner had me wondering if I'd be able to finish my turn. Landed running hard SW on the grass. Alfredo landed seconds later.

Good. Cool, occasional showers. Almost soarable from the 750. Right hand approach into light SE, landed ten feet past PG cone.

Trimmed 24 MPH right after launch. Did a VGT wingover (light PP) and trim was then 21 mph. TT to 30 VGT. Off and on, maybe because of the sheets of cirrus drifting over. I got to 7k a while after launching Crestline at 2:40 with a U2 160. Went east to the interchange and found only 100 FPM up at times, so I just maintained for a little while. Next turnout east was similar. I decided to fly out the spine along the east side of Waterman Canyon for a change of pace. Fine out to where I was above the last peak. Crossing west to the radio towers was pure sink with a headwind. One bump at the towers then more sink. I pointed at the LZ and tucked my elbows in and was pretty sure I had the LZ on a glide despite the sink. Sink abated a bit. Found weak lift over the easternmost bump SE of the 750 at about 2,400 MSL. Worked 20-100 FPM lift drifting toward Marshall for a long time, found lift on the face of Marshall the second time I jumped that direction. Another five minutes to actually get to Peak height and then found it very bouyant. A few minutes later I found a bucking bronco off Cloud Peak that took me to 7k halfway back to Crestline ridge. Go figure. Went back to the Interchange on principle, then Marshall then cored sink over the LZ and landed into WWNW 3 for a 1.5 hour flight.

Replace sail zip tie at nose.

Sweet handling, light PP. I launched Crestline at 2 PM with a Sport 2 155. Easy to ridge soar. Got 7k at Billboard, was below the top of Pine for a little while. Got 6.5k and headed to Sugarpine but turned tail in sink. Up again at Pine to 7k. Headed for Sugarpine again but saw a hang glider below it as I was about 2/3 the way there. Slowed and watched and found 200 FPM up. The other glider started climbing well from out front and our thermals merged. Saw that It was Kory on the Freedom and we climbed together to about 8k. I went further west to that big rock-chimney area, climbing in a small convergence as I flew straight. Turned left and found turbulence then sink. Was ready to go back to Pine anyway and I saw 600-900 FPM down at times; got there at 5,400 or so. Caught a core that gave 400 FPM up and rode it to 7.5k. The odd thing was that it drifted to the apex of Devils Canyon - I looked east to see Valley of Enchantment and Lake Gregory along the straight east line. Not a perspective I've had many times. Approached Crestline launch (high) from the NW, intending to go to Marshall. A weak thermal over the Hwy. conned me into going to the interchange. Got 6.6k there but turb/sink all around so I flew straight to Marshall then over Cajon H.S. then to AJX for a good landing into WSW 12 to finish a 1.5 hour flight.

Normal clear March day. Ridge soarable at Crestline. Good thermal at Billboard, got 1k above launch, momentary 1,200 FPM lift. Heather did well steering across to Regionals, very relaxed. Good landing, rolled to just past the HG cone.

Low inversion, moist marine air. SW 10-15. Not quite ridge soarable, narrow thermal below Billboard no net gain. Good glide to Regionals then crank and bank from below Cloud Peak. Joined by a bunch of winds, left. Jasa started steering and we went back to that thermal. Some good climbing, show. Jasa got queasy so we landed.

Good. Clear and warm, wind switched late the previous afternoon. Almost no breeze, waited for a launch cycle. Maintained for a few circles in bowl SE of launch. Good landing in no wind, ten feet short of PG cone.

Good. Roll reversals VGL <3 sec. Stiff VGT as expected. Plenty of bar pressure. Sprogs set at 70 inches. Mylar TS, Dacron BS.

Right turn, twisted L tip 2 holes. No time to check VG and pitch. When building it, several several turns up only got them to 70 inches, like window 155's.

Turn eliminated. VdVGT=52, plenty of pitch pressure.

Good. Vt stable. Clear and warm, pre-pre-frontal. Got up in a strong narrow thermal right off launch. Slowed at 3,800 but got to just over 4k. UM then out front, circled with a red tail hawk with a bright red tail. Good landing from the East into light West.

Good. Strong narrow cores drifting quickly and very clouds to the hill. Fun! Got over Marshall. Nice no-stepper SW landing 18 feet short of the HG cone.

High clouds moved in, lift sitting down.

Sweet! Vt=42 VGT, good PP. Sunny again, weak thermal just west of launch was working. Climbed slowly and went to Cloud Peak, sank and went to Last Chance for west wind and sunny slopes. Drifted back to West of launch and really milked the very weak lift. Got to 4,150 with Jerome PG just below me at the end. Headed out to the LZ. Did some way over wing overs and held a good spin extra long. Glider kinda wobbled on exit (was mentioned by Matt Barker in the LZ). Good landing with a few steps, short of the PG cone.

Dave Vincent glider, on rack at Wills Wing for two years. Check flight before he sells it. No nose cone, hang loop to basetube 51 inches - 3 inches below stock. Glider flew fine, good trim speed. Felt a little rumble through the basetube, probably due to lack of nose cone. He says he has it. Switch from offshore flow later than expected; mist went down to Regionals around 2 p.m. (and most sledded). A couple of strong north cycles after first clear in-cycle. Had to watch gliders while setting up. I had driven up and wanted to top land so I waited until a PG got above launch. He was only briefly. I scratched below the windsock for a while. After I left for the Cloud spine I never found anything big enough to circle in. Good landing. Some launched 20-30 minutes after I did and they managed 25 minutes or so.

Slight left turn, twisted both tips one notch. Mylar sail, sleeved downtubes. Clear and warm. First flyable day after a long stretch of Santa Anas.

Good. Scratched by the 350. Right-hand approach, overshot the PG cone by 25 feet.

Good. Soarable but I couldn't find jack shit. Left outboard BS batten pocket - problem at LE. Loft fix.

VT=20, 29 VG 3/4, 38 VGT. Nice to launch and just hook a thermal and climb. Thought I might go to Crestline but they were topping out just above 4,900. Nice SW at the LZ, good landing.

Good.

Had to turn root battens out 10 turns each to get proper tension. Loft review pocket layout procedures.

Good. Vt=19,20,22,22,19. VdVGT=56. Rather stiff VGT but great VGL. Never got very high but never had to fight to stay up. Had to fight to stay in some of the thermals. They were narrow, wandering, and had strong sink around them. Mild inversions at 4,400 and 4,800. Got to 4,900 for a second, once. A few others managed to track a couple of thermals up over 5k. Had a climb up the Cloud spine from above the 750 that was slow and relaxing after over an hour of difficult thermals. Overall drift light out of the S-SE. Photos, GPS track, and GoPro on keel. 155C with window BS, red batten pockets.

Great. No trim change over VG range. Clear and warm. Pre-frontal, rain expected after 4 p.m. Already steady SE at Crestline and Marshall, over 15 MPH. Almost ridge soarable SW of Regionals. Still steady east 400 AGL at the LZ. Calm S on the ground. Good landing 20 feet short of HG cone.

Good. VtVGT=30 (27,25,21,20). A little windier, steady ESE at the LZ. Right-hand approach to ESE final. Got to less than 30 feet from HG cone, thought I'd be shorter.

Good. Even windier. Able to ridge soar the SE faces in gust cycles. Got to 3,700 East of the 750. Good climb East of the LZ. Forced it down. Below 200 AGL it was South 10-15. Left-hand approach to S final, good landing 20 feet short of the PG cone.

Good. Steady SE, two step launch. Got above launch a little. Just bumps off the terrain. Still South at the LZ. Right-hand approach, good landing, one step. Twenty feet short of PG cone.

Great. Scratched right off launch and got just above. The others had already landed so I didn't pursue it. Nice right hand approach to SSW landing. First flyable day after a long stretch of north winds. Clear and hot; record heat last couple of days.

Good. Scratching from below the 750. Tight cores, 1/3 of a circle. Good landing.

Good. Very West and weak wind. Just scratched some bubbles. Great no-stepper right feet past the HG cone.

Nice handling High transient trim. Vt=21,21,28,35,40. Light pitch pressure. Raised all sprogs one turn. Pre-frontal with light winds and low clouds. Many thermals, some to cloudbase. GoPro on helmet.

Had a very brief line of rain cone through around one pm. Not quite ridge soarable at Crestline. Jim flew across the canyon. Scratched in very narrow cores. Good landing into light S. Then it got brighter and more pleasant at the LZ.

Good. Thin overcast, light SW at Crestline. Four PG were soaring nearby while I set up but they were below the 750 when I was ready to fly. Zero to three standing on launch for about five minutes. Got a better cycle and went. Scratched near the 750 for a few passes. Good S landing just past the HG cone.

Good. Cloudy with a very slight chance of rain, cloudbase bouncing between Crestline and Marshall. Little puffs of lift near the terrain. Nice landing into SW 5 near the PG cone.

Good. Some big dark clouds here and there. Sledded down in the shadows. Right-hand approach to SW final, no-stepper three feet from the PG cone.

Flight with Kelly Tesch , hasn't flown in months, thermalling tips. A little climb at Billboard, scratching at Cloud. Kelly did the landing, more or less.

Ridge soared a little, Got to 6,100 at Pine. Worked RGNLS and Cloud for a while. Up a bit at UM, went half-way to radio tower then LZ and landing. GoPro on keel. Log based on kml from MyTracks on phone.