Adventures and Misadventures

Now that was a memorable weekend of flying adventures at Kahana. Over the last three days we saw great conditions for newer pilots to hone their skills, and great cross country opportunities for others. Eighteen pilots enjoyed some thermic flying and some ridge soaring, with lift topping out around 2,700 feet each day, and a few of us made trips up and down the ridges between Punaluu and Kaneohe Bay.

We also witnessed a serious but very inexpensive learning experience for one pilot which turned into a kind of fun team building exercise, as we worked to extract first the pilot and later the wing from the ravine deep behind east launch.

The last few days have reminded me what a great group of folks we have flying here. I was also reminded that Woody can be an excellent cross country wing man. He made it back from Punaluu on his freestyle wing on a normal easterly day! These late afternoon flights are also reminding me how breathtaking the scenery can be at the end of the day as the sun filters through the clouds. It's a surreal effect we just don't see earlier in the day.

Roll call: Woody, Bryce, Sebastian, Drew, Jonathan, George, Steve, Tom P, Sandy, Johnimo, Allegra, JJ, Larry Mac, me, Duck, Thom, Joey, McStalker. And maybe others I'm forgetting! Thanks to John and June for lunch and assorted liquid refreshments!

Click to see my tracks from Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.