Monday, May 30, 2011

Bring it on Home

Got an unexpected flight in today at Kahana Bay. And was fortunate to share a few minutes of airtime with our returning compatriot, Joey. When I arrived it seemed a bit brisk, but word was Joey and Harvey had already hiked up. Once they launched and made it look doable, Jeff Mc and I followed suit and headed up to launch, followed by Brad. It was great to see Joey in the air and welcome him back in the best way I could muster, by being up there with him.

Jeff Mc was the man of the day, helping both Brad off low launch after I went, and Mike off high launch (after top landing high launch). He also displayed some awesome SAT maneuvers. Good fun to watch.

As I was preparing to leave it looked like Sandy, John and Rich were getting in a late afternoon / early evening flight.

It was great to see Ginny out there on the beach too, along with Reaper, Alex, Logan, Amelia, Dean, and others I'm sure I left out.

Let's do it again soon.

6 comments:

Joey said...

IM STILL SMILING!!! It was really good to get back under my wing and enjoy some super smooth conditions today with everyone that was there..Great friends, great flying, good times!!
ALOHA.

JeffMc said...

Yeah, welcome back Joey!! Couldn't have asked for a better day, and they've been hard to come by lately! Good times! Let the summer begin!

Thom said...

Wow, you can tell I over slept 2 comments before I was able to read chirp.

First Thanks Jim for my coffee read I didn't even call you on the carpet to get it done. I actually had to work until 4:30. I had almost forgotten about a 3pm inspection in Honolulu which threw me out of the loop. Even I have to work when it's flyable. I was not happy and charged everyone double for this day.

Well its nice to hear that some normal, safer, soarable conditions were available for those lucky few. I am guessing that Alex is too good for us slow soarers now. The lighter conditions must be too boring to get his Peak2 out. (I know that will instigate some response) Why did he stay on the beach?

Joey, you deserved a flight today. Over 6 months of having your wings clipped. Another Monkey has returned to the family.

JeffMc, I know you had flown, it was a dig to get a story out of you, I hope someone got vid of the SATs. Save some for this weekend it is looking promising weather wise. Ginny that will be your department!!!

Again, Thanks for the read and the early comments to length it for full cup.

June 3,4 & 5 It will be Time to Fly Get Your Gear and Cancel all W**K!!!

Alex said...

Jim, thanks for the story and picture! I was stoked to see everyone get some much needed airtime. And I was relieved to see all the excellent keyhole landings on the most crowded beach day of the year. It's great to have Joey back, and Ginny too for that matter.

I was enjoying my kids and the party on the beach too much to run up the hill, and it was a little easier because I knew it was a brisk day. Thanks to Ginny for playing in the surf break with Amelia for so long! And thanks to Reaper for the Obsidians. Yum! And also thanks to Pete for loaning Logan a glider to work on his kiting, and to Sharky for helping him get started. Also I have to thank Pete for satisfying Logan's urge to wrestle - lord knows I'm not healed up enough to give it the 110% it takes to wrestle that kid. I wish I had video of that epic wrestling match. But somehow I think there will be more opportunities for that kind of footage!

Alex said...

One more comment: yesterday was not just Memorial Day - it was also the day USHPA designated as our annual National Hang Gliding and Paragliding Day. So it was extra cool that we actually had nice conditions at Kahana for so many pilots to fly and celebrate at the beach. And I heard that Dave and Frank represented us out at Makapuu with some flying there, as well as some celebrating at the LZ.

bfalk said...

Ya, agreed on all counts. It was great to get up in the air finally after a couple weeks of bad wind. (Maybe need to invest in a speed wing...?!) Nice to meet you Joey. Looking forward to many more high flying hours. Lastly much thanks to Jeff for the help up there. It's always welcomed.