Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Downrange Dreams

Pilots came out of the woodwork to fly a rare three days in a row at Makapuu, with high hopes for epic downrange action on the first two days. We haven't enjoyed good solid XC conditions there since Doug's going away party earlier this year, and I really thought these last few days might see pilots making it to Kahuku.

Nick flew back almost to Greenwalls on the first day, and reported finding some nice little thermals back there. I gamely followed, but soon retreated after getting tossed around by some pushy disorganized air in the big bowl before Puu O Kona. Not only that, but the clouds were not quite as high as they'd seemed on the drive out. So I stuck around and got reacquainted with the site.

The next day's cloudbase was a mile high, and Jorge flew to Hygienics, in wind that felt way too strong for me to consider following. He later confirmed that he had fought and survived a tough battle against air he described as exceptionally hard core, and he didn't radio back to me or even take a picture the whole flight.

One of these days I know we'll get some decent downrange conditions for a timid little thermal monkey like me; in the meantime I'll just keep dreaming about it. Anyway, it was nice flying Makapuu for a change - I'd almost forgotten where to find the place.

2 comments:

Thom said...

It was fun at MPU but looks like trades are coming back and we will back at the King's Site. Kahana this weekend ???!.

firedave said...

I was thinking about downrange yesterday. Benson and Leo flew to Lanikai and Waihole and back. But they reported some big turbulence, Mike said he went negative a few times. It was far to strong for a PG anyway.