The jobbers pulled a quick one out at Kahana today. Just before Sidehill landed and declared the hex off, but before El Presidente realized what was happening, McStalker Jeff, Harvey, and I were on the hunt for a shot of skyalis. Jeff had been kiting his Axis Vega for an hour when I made my appearance. Shortly after Harvey awoke from his dream state to join us for a look at conditions. Jeff cleared the sand from the Axis as we hesitated for a bit, and Harvey made a quick run to 7-11. Woody arrived on scene, as well as Allegra, Jonathan, Tom and another student. The kiting was still looking good, so I jumped the gun and ran up the hill (more like slogged). I was surprised to find the wind quite nicely manageable on east low launch, so I set up and launched shortly after Jeff and Harvey made it there.
Jeff was next off, then Harvey took to the skies. The air was relatively smooth, as long as we stayed down low. We all flew around getting a good dose of airtime. My highest venture was to about 1,400 feet MSL or so. We all had decent flights, and landed without any issues. As I left, Maui Doug and Roland were getting ready to charge it. Scrappy was there with a student too. Word from Ginny via phone later was that Scrappy was launching his student, and that Roland and Doug were up. I give thanks for another fun day flying with some friends, and the heck with hexes.
Jeff was next off, then Harvey took to the skies. The air was relatively smooth, as long as we stayed down low. We all flew around getting a good dose of airtime. My highest venture was to about 1,400 feet MSL or so. We all had decent flights, and landed without any issues. As I left, Maui Doug and Roland were getting ready to charge it. Scrappy was there with a student too. Word from Ginny via phone later was that Scrappy was launching his student, and that Roland and Doug were up. I give thanks for another fun day flying with some friends, and the heck with hexes.
3 comments:
Thanks for the report, Jim! I'm very happy to hear you guys are finally getting some flyable weather now that Thom is back and his hex is broken. I am officially not throwing any kind of hex on your weather while I'm gone. I hope it's epic as can be, all the thermaling and XC you can eat, so the other Rat Racers get to practice as much as possible. Then I'll be the only one with the valid excuse that I'm just not current! :-)
I like the title! But I think your last line would also have been a great one: The Heck with Hexes. Thanks again for the story. See you in July.
FYI, the two pictures are PERFECT for orientation of visiting pilots. Our primary Kahana LZ, the bad swamps behind it, the rugged mountains, the launches, and the alternate LZ in the other photo. Geronimo
Thanks for the write Jim,
Sure is a pleasure to be back. I dropped back on island around noon yesterday. Ike picked up me and the family and the first thing I said was, "Is it flyable?,"
Well prayers were answered and no I did not put a Hex on anything. Quite the contrary, I and JJ were both hoping for some stories while we drank our Coffee Americanos with croissants. We were gravely disappointed at the lack of ink but more but more distraught at just the thought of all the monkeys being grounded.
After unloading luggage and a couple of errands. I threw my bag in the truck, picked up B-Ray and Ike and off to KNA we trekked.
Finding no one in the air but hearing there had been some flights was good enough for us.
Hiking the trail, I thought should I be doing this? I just came off of 2 days of traveling from 1/2 way around the world and admittedly a bit tired.
We launched and soared to heights of 1900' with frugal attempts to cross the bay we stayed local. But very happy monkeys none the less.
A perfect way to end my family-euro trip, to fly with my monkey brethren till the sun dropped behind the Koolaus.
Glad to be Back!!
It's Time To Fly, Get Your Gear and Go!!!! Only 9 more days till I leave for the Rat.
Thanks again Jim
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