Sunday, July 21, 2013

The Grass is Always Greener From High Above

Alex started to play the 'Pied Piper' song early this morning, with pipe dreams of that long sought mission I so deeply desire, the trip from Kahana to Makapuu. If you're going to whip up a pipe dream then why not really make it gross by throwing in a trip back from Makapuu to Kahana.

Well, he knows I am an easy target, so I blew off putting together a desk to go get some air time.  On the way I even cajoled, Ike, to go.  We were driving just past Hygenics and it started to rain, hard rain too.  No one would fly in this, except for maybe Dave & Jorge, but as we rounded 7-11 we could see One-Eye in the air.  Alex did not lift off till just before Ike, Stalker and I started to hike up, his wing got Velcroed to the hillside.

Flystrong was launching and off he went.   I was quick to prep and took the next slot with Ike and Stalker quickly following.  East launch had some weird air as Alex and Flystrong had already reported.  I was getting up but it was punchy but manageable.  Woody was hiking up North with a student and Chris.  Ah, I thought, that's why its weird its gone North.  I zipped over to North leaving the meager lift of East to Ike and Stalker.  It wasn't North,  I scratched till I could not scratch any more.  A quick look at a top land, nope to low, I hit the beach and so did several others shortly there after.

Alex had made a left to Pounders.  Joey sledded a tandem, packed up and headed to Makapuu. I think  a few others followed as it got lighter at Kahana.  The skies were empty, but finally, a little later on Skyler and Kevin made it all look good.  Stalker and I hiked again.

Getting up was a little easier but still a scratch session.  I surfed near the clouds with Skyler and occasionally we entered the white room.  I made an attempt to cross the bay, made it to Hidden Valley and got nothing.  It took a while to scratch up again and I was at the point of beer suck, I almost headed in when I slipped over the North side of the Rhino.  Crap that's lift, good lift.  I turned to see if Gaza was getting this same floaty punch, yup he was just above me.

Back to the top and another attempt at a cross.  Made it and it was buoyant.  I called out to all to join me.  No one came so I headed across to Kualoa.  The clouds were pleasantly sipping me higher and higher, when Ike came on my phone to say he was below me and would pick me up where ever I went.

I pointed to Maui Doug's Kite Spot and sped across China Man's Hat Bay.  I was arriving with plenty and was gearing up for landing when Ike said keep going.  So, I did.   I thought the little berm just south of MDKS would give me that final shot to make to Hygenics Field.  Wrong, I ended up in what I thought was a nice green pasture, but found it to be very tall California grass.

It was fun to land somewhere different and a little further down the road.  But the place I landed might be a no no as the sign says. 

Lets do it again.

It's Time to Fly Get Your Gear and Go!!!!



3 comments:

sandy said...

Geez Thom, if you don't want us flying with you, just say so! You don't have to take a sledder to make us slog to other laucch sites! For the record, Flystrong was still up high over Puu Piei when we bailed, so I should've known it was still working. :^)

Down Makapu'u way there was plenty of good flying to be had,, though many of the launches were not so pretty. We watched Joey's tandem loaded with 400 lbs get yanked off their feet at Manics in weird bubbly air, with alot of strong flow from the north. Most other launches were similar. But once in the air the lift was plentiful and widespread, even way out over the water, especially later in the day. Ray opted to take his lighter passenger from Crazies. Scrappy's student had a rough time with the weird air at Manics, but later accomplished a nice launch at Crazies. JK pulled off a wacky launch from Juice, and took off downrange to Olomana, but was not rewarded with any airlift, but scored a car-lift from Sean of the Naish shop (where long ago paraglider pilot Des used to work). Maui Doug got a low save from Goto's house and made it back triumphantly to MPU while we were all emptying the coolers. All in a beautiful day for fun flights.
MPU Roll call: 5-0, Frank, Harvey, Allison, Scrappy (and student, sorry, didn't get name), Divot Steve, Brent, Johnimo, Joey and nephews (with Robyn and family), BRay and ?niece?, Big John, KevinSF?, JK, MauiDoug, ??, sorry if I missed anybody.

Thom, we could hear your chatter from Kualoa and were happy to hear you were getting such a great flight there, even if you banished us to Makapu'u. :^)

Seriously, the advice to go to MPU was good, as it was quite nice down there. Kahana could have been nice, too, but clearly took some great skill and fortitude.

Thom said...

Sandy I only stayed at first cause ike was still In the air. He made it and I did not. It got weirder after you left but I went for lunch and it got kinda better. I was the only one to make it across bay after a few tries. Then I was only going one way. Ike picked me out of this 10' grass and we went home. Sorry for the poor read but I did not have enough alcohol to whirl anything. MPU was most likely a better bet and no HIKE.

Alex said...

Thom, thanks for the writeup. I love the camera angle Don got standing on his truck as you trudged out of the tall grass!

I counted 18 pilots out there, and at least 15 flew throughout the day. Roll call: Woody, Drew, Jonathan, Sebastian, Reaper, Tyler, Thom, Don, Joey, Alex, Kevin, Jim, Duck, McStalker, Ginny, and Flystrong. And a brief visit from Sandy and Johnimo.

The big story of the day was not the super scratchy and thermic air, or my x-bay plus Pounders flight, or Thom's x-bay plus Waiahole flight: it was Jonathan's awesome first flight out there, followed by another, and then another. He has as much energy as Woody!

Thanks to Jim for picking me up and buying lunch!