Near Sunset

No two ways about it - Alex and I got lucky today. First I got lucky when my boss let me off early. The sensors still looked promising enough to venture out toward Kahana to join Alex in his quest to fly over the "Sunset on the Beach" festival out in La'ie.

We both launched within minutes of each other from high launch, and slowly made our way up to ridge height. There was plenty of lift and no fear of bombing out. I pretty much stayed out front, once again getting used to my P44 after flying my Lambada much more these days.

Alex wasted no time heading toward the back lower than I can remember seeing him go anytime recently. I eventually made my way back there, but didn't seem to like it as much as he did, so headed out front again for a lame attempt at crossing the bay since the wind was light. As I made my way back from that failed attempt, the wind picked up ever so slightly, as a huge mass of clouds started moving in. I could tell that Alex would be making his move soon.

Sure enough, after some chatter about whether the clouds were bringing rain with them, Alex made the jump toward Punalu'u. I followed not too long after, from my lowest departure altitude yet (1800 ft). But somehow the stars all lined up - what seemed to be a surreal dream was becoming reality, as we worked our way downrange, eventually landing at Pounders after scoring an overflight of the aforementioned "Sunset on the Beach" event. Finally, a big "Mahalo" to Joe from NY for giving Alex and me a ride back to Kahana from there - now that's a lot of luck.