Yesterday turned out to be a nice afternoon of flying at Kahana with lots of friends to keep me company, unlike the day before. Ginny and Mad Dog were the early arrivals, Alex, Thom, myself, Reaper, Jeff, Maui Doug, and Berndt rounded out the crew.
Alex and Mad Dog got up high pretty quickly, Mad Dog having launched from high launch, and barely beating Alex off the hill from low launch. Ginny, myself and Thom were next out of low. Reaper did some excellent instructional coaching to help Thom make a pretty amazing low save and get up for his first dose of Skyalis since his family's Alaska cruise. Reaper then opted to launch out of mid launch.
Alex & Mad dog patiently waited for me and Reaper for a while before heading off to Punalu'u ridge. Once we arrived over there, we all got to cruise back up over Sacred Falls, and started making some attempts to cross back to Kahana. Mad Dog planted the seed by pushing pretty far out across the valley before heading back.
Reaper was the man, and slowly worked his way back across in his Magic 3, using no speed bar none the less. Once he arrived back at Kahana, he made a challenge of sorts that involved some tasty beverages - who could pass that up? Since a couple years ago when me and Jeff saw Steve Stackable from SD make that journey, it's been near the top of my "gotta do that someday" list, and so off I went following a friendly cloud street, using some speedbar, unlike Reaper.
I passed Jeff on the way across, as he was headed over to join Alex on the Punalu'u ridge. Sorry for cutting out on the trip to Pounders that Alex, Jeff and Berndt made, but I had to take the chance of pushing back across the valley. My new toy served me well, and I made it back to Kahana! Not many words can quantify my feelings of accomplishment, excitement and elation for having made the trip. I didn't take any pictures, as seems to be the norm for me theses days.
Now it'll be interesting to try and get Reaper to pony up on that wager.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
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3 comments:
Hehe, that was a good little upwind XC adventure. The beer store was sure doing it's best to sucker me into a Punaluu beach landing thats for sure. But hell, making it back to kahana from Sacred Falls seemed the thing to do...
And Ya Jim, frosty's are on the way...
Reaper
Jim,
I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw your wing. Congratulations. Better, faster wing...
ginny
Liking the Aspen 3 hey! Looking to sell some more at great prices!! Nice article Jim, raining cats and dogs here in sun valley. Wish I was still with you guys, RT
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