Sunday, November 27, 2011

Picturesque

After more than a week of strong wind, and a Thanksgiving day that did not live up to the expected optimal conditions, Friday's conditions turned out to be truly deserving of our gratitude: at least 40 very thankful pilots flew at Makapuu on a magically bright and sunny November day, in easy strong lift, and after that, a desperate half dozen pilots topped off their day by adding a second session at Kahana, with a lucky few scoring a late bay crossing mission there.

We knew the next few days would be blown out, so we snapped as many pictures and videos as we could, to capture the essence of this brief sparkling window of sweet flying conditions. I took 450 photos myself, over the course of 5 hours in the air, but I thankfully winnowed them down to a modest 24 shots! I will include the others I know about here, starting with Bill's at the top of the story, and Jim's and Thom's at the end, but if there are any more, please post a comment below and I'll try to include them as I hear about them!

There were so many interesting moments worth mentioning that we could write a novel about the day. Instead, I'll just briefly list the highlights I can remember. Feel free to add your own to the comments!
  • Jeff flew his new baby, an XC machine decked out in truly sinister custom colors, for the first time. It's a challenge to shoot decent photos or videos of a black hole. It just tends to swallow up the light!
  • Scrappy got to fly his miniwing demo for the first time.
  • Bill got a chance to try out Thom's new wing.
  • Thom returned to the skies after a few weeks of serious back problems.
  • Visitor Jeremy from BC enjoyed a lucky second day of flying in two days trying. Pulling that off this time of year requires some serious good karma!
  • An acro show by visiting pilot Matt Combs and Carson and others.
  • Tons of hang gliders and speed flyers. I only flew with Leo, but apparently after I left the skies filled up with albatrosses and hummingbirds.
I look forward to more days like that one in this winter season. Hopefully we won't have to wait weeks in between each great flying day!

2 comments:

Duck said...

Alex,
Thanks for the rehash! I wish I could have joined you lucky monkeys for a double dipper, but maybe next time!
Great shots! Can't wait for more...and Jeff's video!

Thom said...

Thanks for the Log,
Wish we could remember everyone's name that was there but man there were a lot.

Felt great to be back in the air. I am on an exercise program now that will make me lighter in my wings. Might have to buy a smaller one again this year.......yaaa! catch up with Maui Doug.

Double Dipping is always good. Bay Cross was a gimme once you were up.

Great Day but I need more.

We will ALL try to keep the stories coming during your absence.

my photos from Friday

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sidehillthom/sets/72157628168654037/show/