Monday, August 16, 2010

That Bowl is Awesome!

Man you gotta love that bowl behind Ka'a'awa!  Had a quick afternoon session after a long day of work. I was not sure about heading out (due to aforesaid work) but I am glad that I went! I arrived at my favorite flying site to find Mad Dog and Reaper heading across the bay (2nd crossing for Mad Dog), Yoshio in the air, Thom had just launched and Don was up right behind him.

I hiked to regular high launch and benched up fairly quickly to Pu'u Piei; all the while listening to commentary from Mad Dog, Reaper, Thom, and Don who had already crossed the bay. Alex and Bonnie showed up while I was getting up and Bonnie hiked up for an afternoon flight while Alex hung on the beach with the kids.

I made my first attempt but was stifled quickly by a lack of penetration (sounds like a bad name for a XXX flick). So, I made a quick turn and benched back up. I mentioned that it might not be my day to cross. To which Alex replied, "How many times have you tried?!" I made my second pass at cloudbase (Mad Dog had already come back, benched up and left for another crossing) and had good lift as I left the Kahana ridge. I left the hill with around 2,500' and figured that I had it as long as I didn't mess it up. I made it across, but had to go on full bar. I was sinking at 480 ft/min in the venturi, and penetrating at 13 mph or so on about half-bar, so I mashed it the rest of the way across and was able to reach 15 mph to push through.

I think I turned in a little early because I got stuck in the 1st bowl above Crouching Lion. I was ready to turn back, but a little coaching from Pete and Alex helped me through. Thanks, guys! After I made it around the corner, it was all good. I worked my way over to the bowl behind Ka'a'awa and happily benched up (as Mad Dog was heading BACK to Kahana) to a nice cloudbase crossing to Kualoa. MAN THAT BOWL IS AWESOME!!! Once at Kualoa, I had a chat with Thom, who had gotten too far back and sunk out to land -- wish you could have been there with me, Thom.

I had a nice crossing from Kualoa back to the awesome bowl and benched up to 2,500' to lazily glide back for some sweet sunset spiral action over the bay. All in all it was a great flight on a great day! JeffMc had mentioned earlier today that someone should take advantage of these conditions. Well, Jeff, there is usually no issue there with this barrel of monkeys. Someone will always be there to take it for the team!

GPS:
Flight 73 (awesome)

Duck

P.S. Safe travels, Alex. See you in Chamonix!

3 comments:

Thom said...

Duck another crossing for you, Good job, I tried to sneak over to Pyramid and got slapped. Oh well gotta try.

See you in the air

Alex said...

Great flights you guys! No one believed me when I said I was happy to watch from the beach, but I really was sated from the weekend's bay crossing adventures, and it was fun just hanging with the kids and watching you guys send it. Duck, I'm not sure what your headline picture is meant to portray, other than a fiercely smoking bowl perhaps(!), but if you want an actual picture of the Kaaawa bowl, I have plenty. Here is my favorite pic of the awesome bowl from Saturday's flight with Berndt.

Gravity said...

Wasn't that fun? Alex was telling me that you really have to pay attention to the crossing as it's very tricky sometimes, and I told Alex "Dude, I was texting Bonnie when Maddog went flying by on full bar".

Maddog and I then went on full bar together crossed the bay low, and kept on going. Hehe I did beat him on glide, but he matched me in speed.

We benched up just past the the 1st hill that sticks out and then really got high at the massive bowl behind Kaaawa school.

I crossed the Kaawa valley at 2300' and flew over the ranch when Bonnie called just getting off work and couldn't find my stashed keys in the truck. So, I landed next to my truck in the Kualoa ranch parking lot and left Maddog to fly back alone for his 2nd trip.

Good flying...