Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Compulsion

I have been enjoying a record streak of flying, writing stories and taking pictures during the last few weeks of unremittingly perfect late summer flying weather. But a comment from Dave yesterday reminds me to point out that this website is not actually my personal flight log! I know I tend to generate the lion's share of stories, due to my special compulsion to write, but I appreciate that we have a regular group of pilots who are comfortable posting up the occasional quick story about their flights. And I hope more of you will consider taking part. Even you, Dave! The only reason we're not reading about your awesome flights is because you're not telling us about them!

So please consider making a quick post for the entertainment of your flying buddies. A picture or video is nice too, but not necessary. You don't have to wait for your best flying story ever. Or your worst. It's nice to hear about the flying from all perspectives. I know my perspective must be getting a bit tiresome at this point! If you haven't already signed up to post, just ask me and I'll send the official blogger invite to get you signed up.

Thanks to all of you who've contributed so many great posts over the past few weeks:

JD: Paragliding Pemberton
Joey: Magical Mystery Tour
Duck: Ua ka ua, kahe ka wai
Thom: Sol Train, Manic Monday, Kahana Krip, Makapuu Gold
Matt: First Timers in Para-dise
Mad Dog: Chamonix Nostalgia and an XC to Saint Jean de Sixt
Jim: Take the Bait and Run

It only takes five minutes to jot down a short paragraph about the day's flying. It doesn't have to be funny or clever -- or even grammatically correct! I am happy (okay, compulsively so) to make basic spelling and grammar corrections for you.

As an example, here's a quick paragraph about yesterday's adventures at Kahana: some hearty souls braved the late summer heat for a day we knew would be light and thermic out there. Sometimes the most challenging days are the most fun, if you're in the mood for hard work. And it was hard, all right. A few determined pilots put in many long hours trying to climb out in the rare thermic conditions. I made it across the bay early under a lucky cloud, and Mad Dog labored mightily to join me, finally making it over on his third try, only to land at Swanzys out of sheer exhaustion and thirst. Maui Doug, Scooter and Bonnie gave it a try too, but at the weakest period of the day, when the sensor was showing only five mph average, so they ended up landing after quick flights and heading over to Makapuu. Maui Marty and JK enjoyed the last session out there, as the conditions filled in and smoothed out a bit. Meanwhile, I heard Allan had a nice XC flight under very low clouds starting at Makapuu -- hopefully he'll take five minutes to share that with us!

See? One paragraph is all it takes! Maybe I'll work to rein in my logorrheic compulsion, and trim my stories down to a single paragraph more often.

Please think about taking a few minutes to share a quick story with your flying buddies. Your stories are a big part of what makes ours the best little flying community in the world. Thanks again!

8 comments:

Ka'a'awa Larry said...

Nice pics but..............do you ever sleep?

Thom said...

No Larry he sleeps while he is flying.

Is this what its coming too! Just a picture, nice one but I did not get to fly Monday, Tuesday and today not looking so good and I was hoping for some stories.

Not your fault AllanC had a flight that needs logging.

Alex said...

By the time I finished going through the pictures I was beat. I figured I'd post the pics as a placeholder and fill in the story later. Hopefully today when I get a sec!

Hawkins biggins said...

I too wonder if Alex ever sleeps!?

I enjoy reading Alex's stories and would love to read other people's stories too if they posted. Almost feels like I can be up there with you guys when your flying!

Alex is also a great editor, he really helped my article. I hope its in this issue, I will let you know when I see it, Then you will have something else to read ;-)

JK said...

Keep in mind that the USHPA mag is supposed to be for the US and we have no control over what gets published. Windlines is supposed to be about HI and anyone can publish with a log-in (just ask). Although notably Oahu-centric, I think that Windlines is on track. Even for mainlanders, it fuels the stoke, it's totally ad-free and worth far more than any magazine subscription out there. To me, the stories are all about the ones who take to flight, and it just happens that Alex flies the most often (the most addicted) and for the longest (one of the most accomplished/practiced). Don't stop (or even slow down) on the writing.

How about a "post of confidence" for the way things are? Let's see how many thumbs up we can get here...

firedave2 said...

I hope no one felt that my comment was negative toward Alex, just observational, and it has been a running joke for years nothing new. Actually, Alex's posts make the website, he is out flying and reporting, what more can you ask for.

I am going to write a report about the OD Nationals in Utah last week, but it would take me forever on this iPhone. I work on Saturday and plan to do it then.

In the mean time, keep flying, and keep reporting.

FireDave

MauiDoug said...

Alex you are a flying, writing, and picture taking machine! Thanks for always hanging out the carrot for us monkeys to always keep chasing! Especially when we come around Kaaawa and get to see you skied out over the Crouching Lion on yet another successful bay crossing flight, awesome! :)

sandy said...

BIG thumbs up to ALL of the folks who write for this blog!!

I was never as good about it as I should be, in fact maybe I should write something about my mini-SIV last week ... uh, yeah, I'll get a round tuit soon. Really, I'll try...

ps. @FireDave: sorry I didn't come down to cheer you on and fly with you last week, lots of life stuff going on. I'm not a big fan of Inspo anyway. Looking forward to reading about your experience there.