The trades have veered well south of east, and the fat old Big Island is blocking the synoptic flow. That means soupy sea breezes for everyone. Four of us scrambled out west to enjoy a hazy voggy late afternoon at the smoldering cauldron of Nakakuli, thanks to Jeff's condition reports and encouragement.Jeff was at Ko Olina with his family and couldn't join us, but he was certainly with us in spirit. JK followed me out there, and a bit later on we were joined by Kauai Joe and Courtney.
I got up over Haleakala in some sweet soupy thermals, and then flew over to Aircrafts, where I got up again and considered crashing Jeff's party at Ko Olina. Except I know it's covered in airspace. So I made my way back to Haleakala, where JK was skying out at three grand.
I clawed my way back up and then headed out to Maili Point, before hitting the beach, after an hour and a half of very sweet thermaling. A great day of turning circles and stirring the soup! JK joined me there, and we watched Joe send Courtney off in the last cycle of the day, before he hiked down. Thanks again to JK for coming out on such short notice!
2 comments:
No, thank YOU, Alex. The arm twist was what I needed. You flew twice the distance that I did. Killed it with what we had to work with. Well worth the 20-minute hike.
That reminds me: I wanted to let everyone know we have another very good hiking option. Maybe Allan or some other folks already know about it, but it turns out there is a nice trail that is accessible directly from McDonalds, down the dump road, across the big dump side field and up the nose of the ridge. I made it to low launch in exactly 30 minutes. High launch in another 15. A good option for days when the shuttle logistics are tricky. Or if you just want to avoid parking in the neighborhood. There may even be a slightly more direct diagonal path than what I took, I'll have to check next time.
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