Ken Howells Hang Gliding & Paragliding Flight Log

Log from video & KMZ. Got up and worked over to RGNLS and back. Had mp3 on headphones. Top landing: "Didn't whack!"

Log from video and KMZ. Did the circuit to Pine, UM, etc.

Clear and crazy warm, first of several onshore days to finish the year. Drove in to Marshall with the windows down. Flew in shorts, short sleeves. Put my gloves on once I got above 5k. Perfectly comfortable. Mitch arrived just after I did, the Grim Jim. Flew with them and Don from MT and some others (all PGs). A little squirrely for the first 5 or 6 minutes after launch - strong bumps I couldn't do a more than a third of a circle in. Got above launch and it was easy and smooth. 600-900 FPM to 5,600+ and then off to Crestline. Drift was out of the S to SE, 10-15 MPH. Up again at Billboard, went to Pine and after some similar bumpiness down close to the top I got to 6,200+ N of the top. Easy glide back to RGNLS and Cloud, had to concentrate to work the thermal W of Cloud heading NW. Got to UM again with a few hundred feet and it was bumpy and switchy. Thermal then a mellow cycle and did a tight CCW approach and top landed very smoothly heading a tad more SE than usual. Great fun. GoPro on keel. Bluetooth headphones playing tunes from my phone. Don had decided not to top land then changed his mind after I did it :) Mitch landed too.

SW 15 after 12 days of N. Warm for December - shorts and tee shirt setting up. Flew with jacket and gloves, very comfortable. Not quite ridge soarable but rowdy little thermals to several hundred over launch. 5.6k or so at BB, only list 400 going to Pine. 6.1k there in what started as a strong core. Faro rain winds SW 10-17 but many thermals drifted N. Minor save from above the 750 in a shifty snaky core that dumped me a lot. Dumped low flow to RGNLS earlier. Did some wingovers, US felt heavy compared to S2. Landed when I wanted to. Good trotting flare near the HG cone into lift WSW. GoPro on keel. Fun!

Clear and warm, SW 5-15 at Marshall. Smaller thermals than the day before, wind more SSE. Climbs to 4,500 a few times. Lots of fun scratching over east side of Cloud Peak. Gaggling with the PGs at Marshall. Windows and good spin (started with steeper bank) before landing. Good landing just past the HG cone after diving for traffic. GoPro on keel.

Clear and warm with thin cirrostratus, SW 5-15 at Marshall. P2 with plastic-sheet raked tips. Back to regular clevis pin LE sail mounts. Straight sprogs.

Clear and warm. Tight little cores 300-600 FPM, not much drift. Topped out at 4,700 several times. GoPro on right washout tube. Made a video of thermalling with Rob McKenzie and of landing. Flew in t-shirt and shorts and was very sweaty; glad I didn't wear the vest I had brought.

Good. Clear, warm sun. Several cores I almost got hold of. No instrument. Good landing, SW approach, six feet short of PG cone. Recorded track with MyTracks.

Good. Almost no TT. Still no instrument but strong thermals made it easy to stay up. Climbed in a core right at Cloud Peak with Wolfi a little below and out front. His core was better and after he got higher I got under him and we climbed out steadily. I assumed he had pulled away but eventually I saw him off my wingtip, then below. He was maneuvering to get me in a photo but no luck. He went north and I went to the peak N of Marshall. H e scratched up from below Crestline as I was climbing in a great core before going back to Crestline myself. Came back out front and worked Cloud a little then headed over the LZ. Wished I had my helmet cam on for the great view of four colorful HGs just below me. Went of the college then came back and dove it in to land second. SW approach into a nice cycle and a no-stepper 10 feet short of the PG cone. Recorded track with MyTracks.

Good. Low overcast, almost no wind, SE puffs at launch. Zero wind at LZ, did a right-hand approach and overshot the PG cone about 12 feet. GoPro on keel.

Good. Waited 15 minutes on launch for any puff of wind. Crossing left and down 0-1 much of the time. Good launch in a light SW cycle. No lift but delayed sinking in places. Flew longer than Wolfi, who launched after me. Still air in the LZ. Good left approach and landing with 1/4 VG. GoPro on keel. Dave's GoPro on short basetube boom to get me saying Happy Birthday Tsune.

Drove to Marshall Peak today and wanted to top land the F3 Tandem in time to drive home to watch the game. Of my 54 minutes airborne 50 were well below the top. Haze and a low inversion meant weak thermals that petered out after a couple of hundred feet. Finally had one that strengthened above 3,500 and I flew straight from above Cloud Peak to top landing approach. Great feeling! Little thermals were working near the hill, never got below the 750 but a lot of time near it. Tight little cores low, pushing out to whip around. Drifting more than I expected. Thermalled with Wolfi in his new F4T. Stayed left on final to UM and landing was very smooth. GoPro on keel. Gave ride up to Chris from Canada (new T2C I test flew in July).

Good handling. VdVGT=45, VtVGT=19. Twisted left tip one for right turn. Light S, North coming Sat/Sun. Got 1k+ over by wrestling with the first thermal, going nearly straight up. Several more climbs in the area then to Pine. Got 7k between Pine and Sugarpine, N of ridge. Crept back to Pine then went out and landed in no wind. Good flare. GoPro on keel; spin clip and summary video made.
Trim left sprog bungee ends.

Good. Two hole right turn, twisted tips 1 & 1. VdVGT=48.

Good. Gold UVP2LX P1, P5, P4. Handling fine, PP, Vd, trim all normal F4 195. Windy, over 20 at Crestline, low ceiling forecast. Got to 7k in first thermal off launch. Very strong core. No thermals back at the interchange, slow glide to Crestline launch area, no thermals until Billboard. Went back out front. Sinking when not in thermals, which were sparse but strong. High thin cloud layer blocked sun at times. Was waiting for a lull to to land, dove in when the HG van arrived so gliders wouldn't be in my way. Ended up ten feet west of my ideal track (again) skimming up the slope and the glider yawed into the wind (again) so I had to put it down hard on the basetube (again). Otherwise fine. A few minutes before, I saw Wolfi do a very low overshoot and fly down the front with a 155. He top landed successfully after I did but I didn't see it. Owen flew his new purple 144C under me like a missile back at Crestline.

Late switch from North to strong WSW; NWS forecast had not shown such strength. Good launch to the right and ascended as I traversed the windward faces. Topped Clod Peak in a few minutes. Smooth parking up in the wind, some thermals. Went upwind of Regionals and worked some thermals, hanging near 4k enjoying the view. Over the pond starting to think about landing a thermal came through so I circled in it. Steady climb to 5k then higher. Reported wind slowly decreased to W 19 and I went to 6,100 just SE of Marshall Peak. A few hundred below a forming cloud but it was very chilly in short sleeves and no gloves so I dove SW. Still windy down low, bumpy at 1k AGL. Did a couple of figure-eights above the parking lot and then a smooth approach into steady WSW. Landed short of the HG cone on one foot but had to hop a couple of times, which looks weird on the video because my legs aren't visible. Really glad I decided to take the chance on going to the 750. Two PG's ground handling at the LZ while I flew, no one else out. Kathy Rhodesoffered to drive me up to get my truck, so no hike. Dusty was waiting for a possible glider purchaser. GoPro on keel.
Dave Aldrich had flown this glider twice. Pulled shims after first flight because it was stiff in roll. Decided it also had a turn during second flight. I found the glider normal with no turn. Clear Mylar sail, C package.

Hazy and cool with light onshore flow, inversion about Crestline height.SP had shimmed bridles 1 inch and raised sprogs 1 or 1.5 turns. Friday I replaced the too-short transverse battens with ones that actually passed under the aluminum battens. Handling still very nice. A couple of pounds more pitch pressure per hand with the bar at mid- to all-the-way stuffed. Vt=23 with the interesting feature that VtVGT was 21.5-22. Both sprog cables slack (drooping) at trim VGT; approaching VdVGT they would straighten out but didn't go tight. Vt 1-2 MPH faster in turns but not really different in feel than most other gliders. Pushing out to crank and bank in a couple of strong narrow cores close to the slope was very comfortable and the climb was great. Biggest thing I noticed this flight was that when VGT I could initiate and hold a spin much more easily than with a Sport 2 155. VGL it did not spin for me at all.

Cooler than the heat wave. Some cloud development to the east. Good thermals broke through a weak inversion. Got 5,800 or so 2/3 of the way back, hopped to CRS losing 800 along the way. Plenty of ridge lift and thermals back there. Watched SP _very_ low with the $3 155 proto. Stayed high out to Cloud Peak vicinity, then east of UM for a while. Scenic with the eastern clouds. Was in the crowd again at UM waiting for a lull and clear approach path. Good top landing, a tad low on the slope. Jimmy showed me the details of the UMWX weather station. Good crowd for the fly in. Left the GoPro at home on purpose.

Good.

Had trouble getting the right tip wand in (as I did at the shop). Looked inside and saw that the wand cup was at the back of the LE. From now on I will put the wands in when prepping Sport and U2 frames. Decided to fly it anyway since I'd flown a glider like that before. Glider had the equivalent of a 2-hole left turn, primarily when thermalling. Roll response was nice, like a sweet Dacron S2. VT=23-25 so maybe try the aft KP hole. PP good VdVGT (53 MPH). No TT, no BS rumble. The tip wand error probably accounts for the large wrinkle on the TS of the right tip. Right sprog cable went tight at VG3/4; Left sprog cable didn't go tight at all. Tip flutter VdVGT, mild on the left, a lot on the right.
Replace RT RLE or reinstall wand receptacle.

Good. No TT.
Needs basetube with VG cleat.

Good. Vt was 17, moved hang loop forward 1/2 inch.

Very warm. Cycles WSW 5-10. Had a SE cycle and hesitated, was WSW again by the time I decided to go. A little bump up right after launch then sink. Three circles in a tiny core at the green gap but it disappeared. Briefer bumps over the tree line and the ranch. Good no-stepper into light SW short of the PG cone. GoPro on right washout tube but didn't secure tube from turning. Amusing video. Surprised I didn't find workable lift. Hike up not too bad.

Good. Warm and inverted. Thermals mostly away from the hill. Got below launch, then one thermal to 5 k+. Got below again then one thermal to 5,700 by milking the bubble. Smooth top landing.

Good. Handling a bit heavy as expected with heavy Mylar sail. Similar to earlier, not as high north of the peak. Milked one of Cloud Peak to 5,450 by really focusing as it drifted. Alfredo came in below me. Went to Crestline but it was barely ridge soarable. 5,500 at Billboard and glided to UM with a pass by Cloud Peak. Top landing approach a little right of desired path. Ok.

Good. Alan ensured proper reflex. Somewhat hot, steady 18+ at Crestline launch. Elevatored up. Good crossing to Pine. Got 7,188 MSL (by GPS. Baro read 6,900 but I hadn't adjusted it before launch).above Monument Peak working hard to stay in a bubble of lift. Sank a lot when I left it. Got 6,700 a little bit later but the high wind made me decide against going farther west. At 50 minutes I was between Last Chance and the 750, sinking quickly and not ready to land. Worked a gust/thermal up the face to Cloud Peak, back and forth terrain scratching. Great fun! Good landing into light SW.

Very sweet handling. Virtually no TT. VdVGT=48. Hot and inverted. Good thermals, plentiful. Most fun was climbing from Last Chance to 5k+ and then going back to Billboard via finessing a weak thermal of the water tank. Landed with the PG cone between my feet but one wingtip was very low.

Good. Hot day, late-day boating. Top launch into a good cycle. Got a few hundred above launch after a while. Cloud and Regionals not on when I was there; also left when PG gaggles arrived. Scratched down by the 750, one last near-save. dove to land in a no-traffic period. Tight left-hand approach, milked the skim and hit a little puff at the end. Had a vertical wing no-stepper 6 feet short of the HG cone.

Good. Hot and muggy, last day of a monsoon pattern. Thermals near the hill, coming from SE. Hard to really settle in and circle in the thermals. Had the GoPro on the keel, flew low over Steve at launch. Donde in to get a good SW cycle at the LZ, did a right-hand approach for the heck of it. Overshot the PG cone by fifty feet. Found a stolen purse with keys and a USB stick, other stuff but no ID, on Devil Canyon Road where the dirt road meets it. Looked like it had been tossed from a moving car. Turned it in at CSUSB campus security after we were done flying.

Good. Lots of cloud development, moving west to east from Baldy to Arrowhead. Cycles on launch, cross from right as I stood on launch. Waited a couple of minutes then angled the nose to the right and ran down the hill. Ran a long way and was flying close to the ground, pulled-in for airspeed. Climbed right in front of launch for half a circle then sank as I went toward the hill. Tried to get up right west of launch but it was all broken up. Worked puffs on the Cloud spine and saw Steve getting up well above the 750. Got under him and a small vigorous core slowly got better and I cruised up to 5k MSL just West of Marshall. Saw a rain cell dumping to the east, filling the valley S of Heaps Peak. Dove and buzzed Marshall to tell pilots (HG & PG) that there was rain 2 miles to the east. Meanwhile Dave had had a nice low save with a Mylar F4 145 and was climbing SSW of Marshall. Did a close fly-by since I had the GoPro on the keel. Went out and dove to the LZ ignoring lift and landed smoothly into WSW between the cones. Had planned on the PG cone, sink made me aim for the HG cone briefly, then I just wanted to be straight into the wind. A NE cycle right after Dave landed had my parked glider skidding S a few feet.

Good. TT to 34 VGT, good PP.

Good. VdVGT=49. Low inversion, thermals not topping CRS ridge. Easy to stay up out front, climbs to 4,300, sometimes 4,900. Thermalled with a lone visiting PG over Last Chance. Nice light SSW wind landing, popped flare hard. GoPro on keel.
RT #3 speed batten pocket upside down. Loft fix.

Hot and low inversion. Light 10-12 SSW at launch. F4 195 with 3-inch longer legs, fixed trike gear. My first flight with it. Rolled down the ramp very easily, lifted off about 3/5 of the way down. Harness comfortable. downtubes in easy reach. Punchy cores right off launch. I steered with hands on downtubes and feet on "basetube". Trim speed was about 19 in this position. Turning in the first thermal I was porposing for the first few circles because I'd push out with my feet a bit while shifting my butt to the side. Pitch pressure feedback diluted by legs while focused on arms. Was able to climb effectively but not as efficiently as I would have prone. After flying for about 20 minutes I tried letting my legs hang when entering a thermal (very comfortable, BTW) and found that I could map-out the thermal better by steering with just my hands for a couple of turns then putting the feet up and steering with both, which was less tiring. Comfortable fairly close to the hill and circling with PGs. Tried various foot positions - out on the steering pegs was OK but the pivoting made steering with legs much harder; on the bars out front worked. Feet on the basetube was effective and easy but I wouldn't want to have to have my legs that bent for an entire long flight. Trimmed 1 MPH faster with my feet out front. Could just reach the rear wheel struts with both hands and that seemed like an interesting steering option. Was just barely into a mush while holding the struts so roll was difficult. I did find that usually when drifting wide in a thermal and getting gently rolled out I would have to speed up and then roll and push out fractionally to make a crisp correction. Response to weight shift alone was too slow. Did a few roll reversals and it was consistently slower than a 195 prone but not too much. I did a set of very shallow wingover-type turns and had no surprises. Late in the flight I was down above the pond after flying from Last Chance with just my legs. Found a gentle thermal and worked it up to the 750 with just my legs - not difficult. Changed themalling direction mid-climb for the heck of it. At the 750 I was getting close tot he hill so I added the hands back in and climbed up the spine to below Cloud in that same thermal. Had the GoPro on the rear keel and got the whole flight. The angle isn't good for seeing what my feet are doing. I thought I had had my hands off the downtubes a lot up high in the rowdy air but the video shows it was always brief and tentative. In one sequence near Regionals I try to find a place to put my hands - the overhead spreader bar, the rear wires, my shoulder straps - kind of amusing. There was traffic, PG and HG, near the LZ so I did an extended fast dive to get down ahead of them, feet on the basetube and butt near my heels. Little effort, easy and predictable turning. Landing was smooth; experience with the McKenzie tandem wheel rig helped. I eased the bar out slowly during the short ground skim and still bounced the rear wheels a tiny bit - they're soft and the struts have some flex. Very short rollout in typical 5-10 SW on the grass. 30 feet short of the HG cone vicinity IIRC.

Good. Hot and inverted. Ridge soared a while getting several hundred over. Went for spine from Afterbay but stumbled into no thermals. Worked Regionals etc. Got above 5k but by enough to go for the back ridge. Landed when I'd had enough into light SW.

Good. Launched into a little cycle but sank to above the pond. One circle near the 420 drop. Flags in LZ showing ESE. Lift over training hill but so low. Was setting up to come in left-hand to west of the candy cane. Wind switched to SW and I hit another micro core. Wind went more S and I overshot the PG cone 20 feet or so, good flare and steps with right wing dropping.

Adjusted left tip 2 holes for a right turn. Glider flew nice and straight. Had more difficulty than usual getting it to start a spin. Good PP throughout VG range. VdVGT=49. Pretty windy, thermals not really going up at UM so much as racing NE. Went to the west end and did a couple of climbs with fast drift. Good landing at the PG cone vicinity. Landed so I could go fly a Falcon. No GoPro this flight, by choice.

Good. Still pretty windy and west - launched toward the bump with the wind indicator. Climbed to the top of Cloud Peak in six minutes without doing any circles - just back and forth climbing the windward faces. Easy big thermals, slow going upwind. Went to the Afterbay briefly. From high dove down to get behind Janica Schmanika, close. Buzzed UM. Over the 750 again Dustin Martin circled me with his new comp T2C 144C. Considered trying a landing on the 750 but too bumpy, did a straight in approach from there to short of the PG cone and a nice no-stepper. GoPro on keel, Aldrich pix of landing.

Mild right turn, will adjust two holes and refly. Hoping that's too much. Heat wave, 90's at Crestline, 15 mph south. Monsoon flow creeping from the east. Many narrow cores of 700-900 FPM but hard to be within them and track them. Wasn't getting much above the ridge, dove to Marshall then worked back to the interchange in one go. Didn't get up, virga San Gorgonio way, went west. High at Pine, headwind coming back from Sugarpine but surfed the spine up to Pine again. Got 7,600 or 7,900 MSL today; quite a discrepancy between the baro and the GPS. Inclined to go with the GPS :) lots of virga to the east of Redlands, then to the south and the north in the desert. Nice and cool (and dark) up there, but far below the cloud sheets. Got lots of rain drops on my forearms and decided to land. Don't think any gust fronts came through but it looked like one might come over the back. The graph does show quite a drop in the wind at Crestline for a while. 109 degrees F at the LZ!
Adjust left tip two holes for a right turn.

Clearer than previous day, hot. Launched into a little cycle, sank to the green gap. Tight little core had me pushing out and muscling the first few turns then it got wider and easier. Nice steady climb up to 5,400 MSL above Cloud Peak. Went to UM and the spine, sank all the way back to east of the 750 without a beep. Moderate climb in another thermal. Several thermals to the low 5k range, became clear a trip to Crestline wasn't in the cards. The bowl on the east side of Cloud was unusually consistent for ridge lift. Good one off Regionals then I headed for the flats since it was an hour. High over the paved part of 2N40 I found wide lift and started circling for the heck of it. It merged with one Mark Hoffman had found with his T2 and we climbed together in big counterclockwise circles to over 4k. I managed to position myself to have him in frame for a bit. I put a video of it up on Vimeo and also one of my landing. After we topped out I went south then east over the flats; did some lame spin attempts on the way. One good wingover near UM earlier. Worked a weak core off Badger Hill then did approach and landing when I was low enough. Fun and relaxing flight.

Good. Light winds and a low inversion layer, not as hot as it's been. It all added up to small thermals bumping against the inversion layer 500 feet above the peak. Had to bank hard and push out to stay in the little rodeo cores. Got 500 feet below launch once, briefly. Test flying a Wills Wing Falcon 4 170. Nobody else was flying so I didn't want to land in the valley and try to cadge a ride up to get my truck. Thus I didn't venture very far from the peak. Good to landing, trotted out out - small wing, little wind. GoPro at left xbar junction. Made a 3-minute video of my flight.

Nice handling. Good PP VGT. Hot and clear, windy at Regionals. Left my instrument at home accidentally. Several good thernals. Got to near 4k at least. Light SE to land into. Good no-stepper after right-hand approach.

Good. Sweet handling. Bit of flutter between L tip and #2 batten. Tightened #2 batten string. Got down above the 750 before finding lift. Easy soaring. Flew low over Wisconsin Paul on Marshall and found a real boomer at the windsock; several hundred feet in a few turns. Dove to LZ. Good right-hand approach and landing 20 feet past the PG cone.

Good. Heat wave, high pressure, stable. Wanted to top land but was only above launch for the first few minutes. Scratched in wind bumps from terrain. Fun but frustrating. Got dumped from a tight core over the 350, dropped close to the bushes. Great landing, harness boot brushed the PG cone. GoPro on the keel. Fire at base of Pine earlier.

Good. TT to 35. VdVGT=57. Low lapse rate and low inversion. Got 5,575 at billboard. Mostly weak climbs. Saw 2 deer on Pine. Thermals to 4,500 Marshall/Regionals. Two wingovers before landing. On the second I let the bar out too abruptly fora engineer to the left. Glider had the left wing very low and kind of spun as I finished. Four mid-span battens on left popped and backed out 2 inches; 3 on right but not backed out. Strong left turn, couldn't fly straight until I let the VG off. Had right hand on side wire or downtube in armpit while flying west to the LZ. Went to LZ and landed carefully. Glider was fine. GoPro on keel.

Sail and frame repair on four year old glider (that I originally test flew). Right LE assembly, left BS root tear; pilot had ended up in some trees. Sail repair looked great. Glider flew well, normal all Dacron. Heat wave coming, hot at Crestline. Best 5,800 at Billboard. Couple of good climbs, one at Marshall. Landed to be at mom's by 5. Nice no-stepper into light SW. GoPro on but forgot to start it. Serial number and test date kinda match.

Windy at Crestline, too windy at UM for top landing. Drove down to the 750. Flew with cocoon and spare helmet. Launched right into lift and was at 4,300 MSL in like 5 minutes. Not quite parking in the wind. Saw the Big O Vehicle in motion so dove down to land, hoping for a ride. Got a ride to the 400 and hiked up to the 750 to fly the other glider. Unusually cool day. Both being picked up on Monday.

Wind less cycley. Had to scratch the slopes for all I was worth. Great fun! Flew with regular Z5 and helmet. Got up to below Cloud Peak. Was thinking about what to do next when I realized I'd been hearing sirens getting closer for a couple of minutes. Scanned the LZ - no mishap visible. Finally spotted a plum of smoke coming from the mouth of Devil Canyon. Too low to fly over and investigate, wary of possible helicopter arrival. Decided to dive down and land and then hurry back up to get my truck. Others remained in the air. Smoke didn't become visible from the LZ. Mylar balloon(s) had hit power lines and arced; spot fire between paved roads. Got a ride to the pond and hiked the rest of the way. GoPro on keel both flights.

Good TT to 31. Mostly mild scratching near the 750. Fun though, not frustrating. Good one-stepper into light WSW.

Good. Cranked and banked in a tiny core close to the hill below Cloud Peak. Pushing out and whipping around, felt like a dust devil above the primary inversion. Got wider a few hundred feet above. Lift everywhere after that. Slack flags in the LZ, climbed almost to launch height with little effort while waiting to see some wind. Dove hard to get in the SSE flow; Mike had come in a bit below me. Good landing from right hand approach, overshot more than I expected.Mike won that one so even for the day.

Very nice. BS Root a bit noisy. VdVGT=60.

Good. Warm, clear. Possible high altitudes mid-day but want really happening. Scratched Billboard the first 20 minutes. Hit 5,700 and went to Pine. Not much there but esa to stay up. Regionals, Marshall, etc. Easier thermalling than the day before. Got sucked down to the LZ where it was zero wind. Worked lift at the corner of the Ranch for numerous turns 400-500 AGL, joined by a rigid wing. Saw steady breeze in the LZ and spice down to land in it. Good no-stepper.

Inverted and a little murky. Flew the glider just to check that trim and handling wee right. Narrow weak thermals, had to steer actively all the time to stay in the cores. Had to scratch my way back up the face of Marshall. Had a nice core off Last Chance late in the flight and got to 5,300. Went to the tank below BB but it was all sink. Good landing into light S.

Clear and warm. Gusting 25+ at Crestline. Dropped Mark Hoffman there with U2 160 demo and checked as station weather vane - reading 180 degrees all the time. Drive down to Marshall and decided I didn't feel like _having_ to top land, especial if the wind picked up like the day before. Said hello at the peak and then drove down to the 750 and set up. Z5 harness zipper failed the day before so I was flying my original cocoon harness. Started to put it on backwards, then properly, then had to get my helmet out of my truck. Back strap wouldn't reach so had to pull my leg loops up numerous times. About 70 degrees cross from right. Good launch, took two tries to get my foot in the boot and lost some altitude. A number of passes back and forth and teasers above the pond but it was too late in the day and too cross. Good landing with a little hand-raise during the flare because upright hang position was lower than Z5. Basically a no-stepper 12 feet short of the HG cone. All on video. With firmware update the longest vid chunk was 17 minutes, which kinda sucks as there will be more files to deal with on longer flights. Mark had a multi hour demo flight.

I launched Crestline about 2:40 with a Sport 2 155. Got kinda low at Billboard and then a thermal took me straight up to 6k+ with the drift turning to a little from the NW. Got 7k back above Crestline launch and then went east to the interchange area. Got 7k and headed east to the next point but was in 500+ FPM sink all the way there so turned back. Up at the interchange again, this time to 8k and went for the Cliffhanger. Again, sink all the way there and back, sometimes 900 FPM.

Good. Got just below the 350 and saw the trees at the top of the training hill swinging around. Got that thermal by working very hard and rode it all the way to Marshall. Windy up high, over 20 MPH at 5k, so didn't go back to Crestline. Fun north of the Afterbay. Good no-stepper in 15+. GoPro on keel.

Good. VdVGT=53. Easy soaring and chillier than I expected. Never gut above 6.3k. Sink when not in lift. GoPro on keel.

Good. Clear and warm, very warm. Almost no wind. Right-hand approach to just past the PG cone.

Good. Good cycle to launch in. Nothing but tiny puffs close to the hill. Got dumped while banked toward the hill near the 420 launch so I bailed for the LZ. Had a S cycle while setting up but zero one final. Went far past the HG spot but flared hard and a little early so had a nice two-stepper. Had planned on going to VG 1/4 for landing but forgot.

Good. New higher sprog settings, 66.5 out, 66 in. TT to 26 MPH, light PP, good PP VdVGT (55 MPH). Scratched close below cloud Peak for many circles. Finally got above Anna thermal turned on around 4,100 MSL. Saw 900 FPM briefly. Got to 4,800. Good speed runs. String spin near Last Chance, let the bar in abruptly and it dropped the nose petty sharply. Should be interesting on the GoPro. Did a wingover and the and pushed out firmly. Heard a pop/rip sound - after landing I found the right 5,6,7 battens had popped loose. Didn't feel a turn. Landed near the HG cone after a straight west final. It had been NW for a few seconds while setting up for approach.Won spot.

Good. Wind was cross right then switched ninety degrees. Good launch and many passes in front of launch, just maintaining. Thermal low to the left was turning on with me sandwiched between Alfredo and Dave. Got tired of that, went and found one at the pond. Banked steep, close to the terrain, it tracked all the way you the spines, slowly. Left below Cloud Peak and terrain followed all the way down to straight in approach and no-stepper just past the PG cone. Won spot.

Good. North at Crestline and Marshall, high thin overcast, little wind. Terrain-followed on launch a little. Good Left approach into zero, one-stepper near the PG cone. Blu/Grn w/Wht seagull.

Good. Looked still at Marshall, some SE puffs coming through so went to the east end bowl and was able to do numerous circles just above the bump. Might have gained 100 feet. Also scratchable over by the 350 launch. Light S in the LZ so did a right-hand approach and landed with another one-stepper just past the PG cone.

Was uninspired over at Pine Flat when a boomer came through and took me to 7.2k MSL. Went and tagged Sugarpine and got to 7k again. Decided to fly back past Pine high for once. Later I was thinking about going and landing when a great core took me to 5.9k MSL from between Marshall and the radio towers so I went for Crestline (never gone directly from there to there before) before I dove back out front and landed at the 1:34 mark. Sport 2 175 from 2009 - test flight after replacing the right front leading edge frame tube.
Mild right turn, most evident when VGT. Did a lot of VGT cruising so my left hand and forearm were pretty tired from compensating by the end of the flight. Twisted right tip one hole for right turn, still deciding whether to turn left tip one also. KP was in rear hole and I left it there. Trimmed just barely above mush, slower than I like. Might have made the turn feel worse. Oh further reflection I twisted the other tip one turn and lowered the right sprog one turn.

Very nice. Strong north overnight. Good strong thermals, 900 FPM cores, narrow but good surrounding lift. Got to 5,700 of Cloud Peak and went to Crestline, arriving 5,250. Good climbs at Regionals, cored sink to land and fly another glider Nice no-stepper drop near PG cone. GoPro on keel. Spike's new albino falcon.

Good. Got 6.1k and went right Pine. Polina followed in her Falcon and we got up again and went a little west past the powerline spine. I flew out to west of the Screen at and found lift to 5.2k. Buzzed Marshall and then Gene at the 750. My GoPro ran out sometime before landing. Had another no-stepper near the PG cone.

Good. Twisted left tip 1 hole for slight right turn. TT to 33 VGT. Windy today, 20+ at Crestline, but great flying and nice thermals despite the wind. U2 160 at 3:07. Flew for 1:24, got to 6,400 MSL. Tagged Sugarpine and then back to Crestline. Went Crestline -> Cloud Peak -> Crestline in 8.5 minutes! Went out to the freeway south of AJX before landing. Some in the LZ complained of it being bumpy but I liked it. GoPro on keel. Video posted.

Good. Clear and warm. Onshore day between bouts of north wind. 90 degrees cross from left a launch for a couple of minutes. South at LZ. Did right-hand approach to PG cone right in front of Stephen on a PG; lad I'd seen him he was a couple of hundred feet above me. Good landing right over Dave's GoPro.

Sweet. Vt=21,21,22,23,23 VdVGT=55. Little core just east of launch then a nice one below Cloud Peak that I took NW to 4,500 before leaving it. Mike was just below me with a T2C - would have been great to have my helmet cam on. Lift everywhere and getting windy. Good landing, a few steps to 15th feet past the PG cone. Win spot.

Nice handling. VdVGT=58. Trim nominal. 20+ S at launch. Bumpy in the air. 72 MPH groundspeed flying NE over the LZ. Good landing over fifty feet short of the PG cone.

No place like cloudbase! 6,100' MSL today, 2,100' above launch. The band of distant clouds at eye-level was pretty cool. Flying my UltraSport 166. Launched Marshall Peak at 3:35. Landed 42 minutes later to get a promised 4:30 ride back up the mountain to get my truck. Onboard video.

(Based on video + GPS) Fun flight from the 750, got to Crestline after a couple of tries. Gene buzzed me at launch. I buzzed Marshall. Terrain-followed from the 750 to the LZ and good landing.

(From video & GPS) Flew around UM for 40 minutes, never got very far away. Top landed.

Good. Clear and warm. Almost soarable. Soaring Predictor calls foe 5k max or so. Composing LZ. Zero wings, tight right-hand approach. Pop of lift on ground skim, good one-stepper 24 feet past the PG cone.

Good. Flight with regular battens. TT normal, to 33 and firm pressure. Refly with extra reflex 8-9-10; MM flew with them one similar U2 this round. All Mylar, window BS, spanwise rainbow TE frame. Struggled near the 750 for a long time. Got over the LZ with a good SW cycle but worked lift until the wind died. Flared hard and ran, plopped basetube hard.
Hot knife haulback string.

Sweet handling. VdVGT=55 no TT. Felt very nimble after the Mylar U2. Fun save from east of the 750 with three other gliders. Dave and Alfredo with Alphas at eye level. Alfredo and I made it up to Marshall. Good one-stepper into another westerly cycle.

Flew with alternate reflex 8-9-10. TT to 34, lighter PP than regular reflex. VdVGT=57. Still good overall. Plummeted to 500 AGL at LZ then nice core to 4,500 MSL south of Marshall Peak. LZ still going off, dove and found sink to land in a sustained west cycle. Far right of PG cone but still closest. Dave Aldrich did his first test flight, F4 170.

Good. Clear and hot. Soarable. Got under Alfredo but never caught him; he got to 4k or so. Good SW landing to just past the PG cone and over Dave. A little lift during ground skim.

Good. ESE cycle at launch and LZ. Right-hand approach to a spot between the cones.

Good. Could only find bums off the slopes, wind direction all over the place. Got under Mike over the LZ in a weak thermal with two vultures. They all got up, I couldn't quite snag the core. Wind S dropping to zero. I or VG 1/4 and popped a nice flare short of the PG cone. Won the spot by not overshooting.

Good. Slow descent with big S turns down the slopes. 12 feet past the PG cone.

Good. Took the Sandy Van to Marshall at 12:30 with 9 others. North at Crestline 8-15 for a few hours. We finally drove back down at 15:40, leaving a couple of PGs who then had launched by the time we were on Northpark Blvd. Road from UM to Regionals was questionable. Went to the 750 with Dusty, who had switched to PG and promised me a ride back up. SW at the LZ, the PGs were still up over the top. As I set up Dusty decided he didn't want to pack his wing after a short flight, so he drove my truck down. I walked to launch and it was 90 degrees cross from the right but after a minute I had an in-cycle so I ran hard and got off cleanly. scratched just west of launch for several passes then lazy esses down to the pond. SW zero at the LZ when I landed a little short of the PG cone. It went katabatic while I was folding up. PGs finally landed.

Vt=22, moved hang loop back one half inch. Clear and very warm, pre-frontal. Sink alarm going most of the flight. Some lift S of the 750 and over the LZ. Regular SW approach to PG cone, milked it but still ten feet short.

Good. Felt a lot of bumps through the basetube - maybe pitch related (due to the shorter slots in the Mylar inserts?). Previous glider waa similar. Left-hand approach to S final. Nice no-stepper a little short like last time.

Good. Still some bumps in the basetube. Vt=20. Finally got a real thermal down by the 750. As feeling like I'd forgotten how to fly. Climbed up the spine at 200 FPM. Reached Steve and the others, thermal got stronger at 3,500. Drift more SE up there. Right-hand approach to a little past the PG cone. Second winner of the day.

Good, no bumps through the basetube. High cloud layer, greatly reduced thermals. Relaxing scratching close to the terrain. Good landing 15 feet short

Buzzed hikers below Cloud Peak - they hadn't seen me until I said "Hey dudes!" six feet above them. Low sun shined while setting up but went behind the cloud bank on the horizon. Zero wind for launch. Katabatic soon after I landed. Mike Meier was fourth on the hill and he decided not to launch.
Re-tie #1 battens with bungies through tips. Put regular sticker on basetube.

Good. Clear and warm, wind trucking from south. A couple of circles had lift for 3/4 the way around out by the bluffs. Regular left-hand approach, good landing, overshot the PG cone a little.

SW 5-10. Put GoPro on keel with very low battery and started video. Put harness on and buckled it. Saw GoPro was already dead, commented to Steve. Picked glider up and walked to launch, waited for cycle. Started running and glider lifted away. I had forgotten to hook-in. One somersault on the ground. Glider banked left and crashed air 40 feet away. I watched the left outboard leading edge fold. Tip wand snapped. LE tube break was at the front of the #4 batten, P2 torn a little (pinched). Tip of #4 batten bent. Small tear in TS near same batten BS/TS junction. DigiFly Air recorded flight - 1 second duration. Slight scrape on right knee and shin. My other unhooked launch was also related to being distracted by my GoPro after putting on my harness.

Flight w/alternate battens to compare TT. Switched out battens in my garage and accidentally left right #6 out. Flew with left #6 removed. TT to 32. Pure sledder in overcast with light SE winds. Right-hand approach to ESE final. Good three-stepper landing.

Good. Clear, light S-SE, rain due tonight. Good launch, couple of bumps, good landing.

Good. A little more bumpiness. Mike and Steve got up. I scratched the bluffs. Right-hand approach to the PG cone. One-stepper just a few feet past the cone.

Good. TT to over 30. Fly unchanged w/alternate battens if able. Soarable but I was close to the terrain and had a hard time making my vario beep for a full circle most of the time. Right-hand approach to SE going fast and way across the LZ. Good running landing. Got flight track via Bluetooth and looked at it in Google Earth on my phone while going back up the hill. Get track with GPSDump, export kml, share to Google Drive, 'open'from Drive with GE.

Nice in roll.Vt=21, 23 VGT. High overcast and chillier, 15 S at launch. No good thermals where I was looking but managed to circle without sinking in several spots. Felt like a whole different day than the morning. SW 8 in the LZ. Regular approach to a three-stepper just barely past the HG cone, which I went directly over.

Onshore day between North days. Crestline in the clouds, people getting up somewhat from Marshall. at 1 PM in the LZ felt north gust the swirl and switch and watched a PG climb out very slowly from about 200 AGL just NW of the LZ. Dan Tuck had offered to drive for me so we went to the 750. SE light there. Launched into a little lift but tiny, then a bump at the east end of the bluffs. SE at the LZ. Tight right-hand approach and I knocked the PG cone over with my right foot as I flared. Went home and watched the DVR'd Packers/Cowboys game then

Warm sunny day after a week of cold and rainy with five days of rain coming. Blowing over 20 at Crestline early, it got over 30 later. A number of pilots launched at Crestline. I went to Marshall with Dusty and Tom Swanson; Kathy drove my truck down. 12-15 S at Marshall, 20 a little higher. Thermals were zipping downwind and I never got above 4,400. Fun standing waves above some of the draws. Got close behind a hawk at Cloud Peak, buzzed Jeremy and Dusty pretty close on the Marshall PG area. Good fun working terrain lift up the east side of the Cloud spine from a thousand below. Landed when I was ready. Good left-hand to SSE final, a little short because there was more wind gradient than I expected. Lots of fun jabber in the LZ with lots of locals. My neck was a bit tight later that night and I could feel my clavicles. Not enough flying. Felt great to have a good longer flight! GoPro on keel, GPS on vario.

ESE 5-8 at Marshall in the afternoon. I stood at the top SE launch for a while but it was a little too cross from the left and not quite strong enough for comfort looking at the shallow slope. Down at the ramp it was 30 degrees cross left or so. I waited for a lull and ran straight down the ramp with the glider pointed a little left. Was off smoothly with the F3T in four or five steps. No climbs but some slow sinking for a 10 minute flight to the LZ. Landed into ESE 5. Alex Cheng drove for me and several PG pilots. Accident on Hwy. 18 in the hairpin vicinity.