Seems Like New (Again?)

While flying at Makapuu we have always noticed that the best days to fly on the east side of the lighthouse are the hardest days to get there. We have always known that in the old days Reaper and the rest used to hike up and launch there. I can't remember anyone in modern history, except maybe for Mike Doyle, hiking up and launching from there. Sure it suffers from a few problems like: "What, no bombout!?" (there is a ledge if you unwisely decide to launch on a light day) or "No thanks, I have given up hiking." Strolling up the road is a lot easier than the "trail" to Tomato Patch.

So, I found myself with a bunch of hungry local pilots (and 1 visitor) making the hike this Sunday morning. Wind looked plenty strong at the Makapuu LZ so we loaded up for the hike towards the lighthouse. Funny thing about the lighthouse road is that you are never alone: hikers, boy scouts, runners, kids, babies in strollers, people who look like they never get out all trying to get a glimpse of the whales (not the walking kind) or to take in the views that we paragliders often take for granted.

When we all arrive at launch (by the binoculars) the wind sure seems light and appears to be getting lighter, a lot lighter. Odd because it was strong down below and all our sensors are reporting moderate wind. A couple attempts at kiting and the majority see it as a no go and head down. Ken Berry, Peter aka Suicide and myself head up to the top to see if there is anything there for us, we arrive at the top and there is no wind, still, dead, nada. So we sightsee for a moment and start the "Walk of Shame" down. As we near the launch area we notice the wind blowing and whitecaps on the water, I quickly lay out on launch only to find that the wind is already ripping through, with help from Ken and Peter I remove the wing to a safe place and figure I will take a chance with hiking down to a lower spot I have sighted. I pull up into strong wind in front of a crowd of Sunday hikers and up I go into some sweet lifty air. Somehow I fail to impress Ken and Peter and they decide to hike out.

I would be alone in the air, but Jetflap Jeff found a perfect launch cycle (before it got too strong) at Koko Crater and was already flying, even if it was a mile away. So I fly for a while then decide to go keep Jeff company at Koko since all the guys who hiked up to launch after him are treated to very strong conditions and they hike down, again, good excercise.

I leave the lighthouse ridge at 1500' and pull in to the Koko ridge under Jeff at 1100', it seemed like it took only two or three minutes to get there, I estimate ground speed at about 45 mph, feels good.

We fly for a while and then we head in to land at Sandy's with the air filled with kites. Leo launches into some unpredictable air and bounces around for a while trying to get up and finally sinks over to the beach. We see Eddie, the kite king, has bought himself a new paramotor, he starts it up to break in the motor, but he isn't flying, and as much as I try I can't get him to let me "break it in".

So when it is east, kind of a Koko Crater day, yet you don't want Koko's bumpy air, hike up the lighthouse trail by the big whale information sign and give it a try, it is worth it.

Alex, I did bring a camera but I gave it to Peter on launch to take a photo and forgot to take it back, the above photo is from my telephone, the rest were all pictures of my finger. Next time.

Kiting at Kualoa and Kahana

Kiting was about the best we could do on Saturday unless you had a Funky. Pete, Russel, Greg, Sandy, Bob, Don, and Alex showed up at Kualoa to kite. We then headed over to Kahana to see what the possibilities were, we all decided the direction was bad. Leo and scrappy showed up to kite there. Later Ray went up the hill and launched at about 5 Pm. It seemed that the wind mellowed by then. He had a short and uneventful flight. More pictures in my flicker album.

Funky Day at Kahana

Prior to hiking up, the air on the beach was straight in and steady. The sky was mixed clouds and sunshine with clouds blowing into the valley. The forecast and known weather systems and earlier sensor readings indicated trades, tending toward easterlies.

Up on low launch the wind was fairly cross from the NNE, with some gusts. Alex took Fireman tandem finding lift immediately. I chose what I thought was a nice lull to launch, then found myself elevatoring straight up on only the second flight of my new small Sport 3. There was plenty of lift. Bob and Ray soon followed into the air. I saw what I thought was Ray performing little wingovers just off launch. I thought "He must be bored with normal conservative flight." He later reported that it was some funky air just off launch that made him do it. Alex reported he found similar conditions in trying to topland there (a flightplan he abandoned because of it).

Alex, Bob, Ray, and Fireman all reported experiencing funky air on approach to the LZ just before me. The streamers on the beach were occasionally flying from the direction of the rhino horn near launch, other times going limp. Despite the suggestion being made that I might land at Punulu'u, I braced myself to instead explore the funky air.

I took an approach near to my normal pattern, heading toward the corner of the bay next to the boat ramp, but definitely staying over water. At one point while facing the trees but slightly toward the LZ, I starting elevatoring down fast. Alex offered that I could just ride the sink all the way down! No thank you sir!! After waiting to see if the sink might be short-lived, I let up on my brakes and turned a little more downwind to speed up and hopefully escape the sink that seemed might just take me all the way down to the water. Free from the sink and approaching the beach's edge, I initiated a gentle turn to the left to try to get faced back toward the wind. I am not sure how much brake I used for this, but my best guess is that I had very little right brake on. Perhaps that is what allowed the right side of the glider to collapse. Or I might have been weight-shifting left with right brake (for a flat turn). Either way, the right side was less loaded and collapsed when it found funky air. I felt it happen, but perhaps didn't respond quickly enough to prevent or dampen it. Quick assessment: am I falling? No. Am I spinning? No. Good! Let's go land! I felt what I believe was its attempt to reinflate (hey, it's a DHV1-2, no worries, right?), but when I could feel that it was still limp, I looked up to see a cravat (the wing tip mercilessly tied up by its own lines). I kept my light left weight-shift to keep the left turn going as I tried fruitlessly to get the 25% cravat out. Fortunately, I could feel that it was still flying reasonably well (thought I preferred to have the whole wing) and so in agreement with the insistence of my esteemed colleagues, I proceeded toward the gap in the trees. On the way, floop! the wingtip came out (just to make things more interesting). In retrospect, I think it finally reinflated because I weight-shifted right a bit to turn back toward the beach. From then on the air was smooth (the streamers were flaccid) and I was able to negotiate a U-turn in the keyhole to land safely, much to the relief of my generous (in their landing advice, as well as post-flight refreshments) and joyous (perhaps also attributable to the post-flight refreshments) colleagues.

Final analysis and questions:
The Sport 3 collapse on approach: I think the collapse was most allowed to occur because of very light loading on the right as I was turning to the left. It may be that the sink I had just run from caught up with me on that right side. I do believe I reacted with increased brake on the right side as I felt it going slack, but perhaps not quick enough. I'm not really sure. I certainly am looking forward to more time with this wing, and this day provided some interesting (albeit high risk :-0) experiences with it. Fortunately, as I had just done a few practice asymmetrics, I had an idea of what to expect flying it with the collapse/cravat. In my practice runs, the wing tip opening was delayed and seemed to require a bit of brake action to promote opening. This action did not, of course, work on my landing approach as the tip of the wing was caught pretty tightly in some lines 1/3 of the way in from the end. Weight-shift to the collapsed side (which is counterintuitive from our earlier training) seemed to be the answer - more research to come on this.

Wind direction and rotor:
If it was so east, then why were there so many indications of north? Cross from north on launch. Folks in the air talking about it being more north (or at least NE instead of E or ENE). I know for sure as I was trying to cross the bay, hanging under some clouds, using their suck to help me keep me afloat so I could make the other side, that those clouds were moving perpendicular across my path (NE or NNE) toward the valley. The streamers on the beach pointing from the N - wow, if that's from the E rotor, that really is scary.
Kahana gurus: can E really seem so N? How can newbies and old bags like me recognize the signals of extreme E? Do you think the weather simply switched on us? (The weatherflow sensors don't show this.) Did I misinterpret some of the signs that were there?

p.s. Sorry, my editor passed out in a drunken stupor last night, so you get the long version. She's such a lightweight!

Double Helping

Now that was a nice day at Kahana. Two visiting pilots came out to fly with me: Bob from Bellingham and Pete Reagan (Jon's buddy) from Portland. It was a gorgeous day out there, although still a bit more east than we like, and after an hour deliberating on the LZ over the direction, me and Bob broke down and hiked to low launch. I launched first, and then top-landed to help Bob off. Then Pete showed up, and realized he had forgotten to bring his boots. I think he would have hiked barefoot, but after finding a shoe and a slipper on the beach he was able to hike and fly in style. I top-landed to help him set up and get launched. The three of us flew all over the ridge and the bay, enjoying the sweet strong conditions and the afternoon lighting. Suicide Pete showed up as we landed and worked on his kiting. It's been quite a while since I've enjoyed two days in a row at Kahana.

East and Wet

Kahana was east, wet and cloudy today but we made the best of it. Don and I started the day by launching low into a squall. It seemed like the squall would pass and we'd have some clear weather afterwards. But instead the squall grew into a huge anvil shaped supercell over Kahana Valley and drenched us mercilessly whenever we strayed too close. Plus the atmosphere became really strange and unstable and there were clouds forming all around us constantly. Not only that, but the direction got super east on us and rotored poor Peter down to the LZ after he bravely volunteered to test out the conditions down there. We should have guessed from the glassy reflective surface of the bay marred by cats paws and bands of rotor turbulence. Of course me and Don said forget that, and went to Punaluu instead, where we landed on the beach near the beer store in very strong wind, descending right in front of the highway, speed bars engaged, yanking our C lines on touchdown and fighting to keep our wings out of traffic. Wayne had just showed up to fly but we convinced him that it would be better for his health to come pick us up instead and live to fly another day.

Greg's first time to Pounders

Last view back from Hauula

Greg was the only one who answered my plea for company out at Kahana today. I probably would have flown by myself anyway, but I don't think I would have gone XC. We launched low and boated around in strong smooth lift over the bay for a while, chatting on the radio with Don, who was flying at Makapuu. At one point I managed to cross the bay but couldn't stay up over Crouching Lion, so I scrambled back super low.

After I got back up, we decided to try the other way, and we found smooth strong ridge lift at both the Punaluu and Hauula ridges. We could have easily blasted downwind to PCC or BYU but I really prefer Pounders. And it was Greg's first time landing there. He set up a very nice landing in what turned out to be super strong wind down there. Great job, Greg - and thanks again for coming out today!

Greg at the Craters, Flagstaff

Greg at the Craters, Flagstaff
Originally uploaded by The Dangler.

On my trip to Arizona I was able to go to the craters (Marion and Sheba)near Flagstaff. There are two Volcanic cinder cones, the tops of which are about 800 to 900feet AGL. My sister was driving her 4 wheel drive Explorer up one of them, when she got stuck on the 45 dergree slope in loose cinders. She was scared Shi_less about backing down and trying giving it another go. I had switch places with her, then back down 50 yards and then drive to the top with my sister and niece walking up. The top was fairly strong, but was very doable. The problem was the direction. The wind was coming directly from the other crater and I was not sure what kind of rotors would be created by the other hill. I did not want to chance em, so I drove us down and over to the other crater. Driving down scared my sister and neice silly and they said under no circumstances would they drive to the top of the other crater. So I had to settle for the bunny hill and very weak thermals. I did get three sledders though. Yippeeeeee!!!!!!

Does anyone need a GPS!?!

Dakine Garmin 76S in new condition. Looks new, works new. I have the box and all the documentation and computer cable (everything).

I don't think you can buy this cheaper than $300 plus shipping.

asking $200.00

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Shooting up at Kahana

I don't know how many of you realize this, but we've got some folks on this island right now who really need to fly. I mean, they need - to - fly. Poor Don has suffered for nearly three weeks without a flight, after his long mainland holiday. Our pal Jayson is here visiting from Vancouver island, where it's been raining for weeks on end. And the rest of us are just our usual sad and desperate junkie selves after more than a week of strong winds, with nothing to salve our withdrawal but a few days of extreme kiting. But today, despite a forecast that boded ill for scoring any air, a few hard core junkies finally got a little fix.

The forecast today was for 15-20 mph winds. But many of us nursed secret hopes for better conditions in our hearts. This morning, Jayson (from Canada) hiked up Lanikai and then hiked down again. Somewhere in the middle of that time, he laid out his wing to launch and then thought better of the idea. Later on, Fireman Dave headed out to fly Kahana, and suckered me into coming out as well. I in turn suckered Don into joining us, and he did the same to Jayson. But the long shot paid off - our hopes were fulfilled with strong but nice flying conditions.

After shooting straight up from launch, we headed out and cruised around for an hour or so, trying to cross the bay, smacking in for a top-landing, relaunching and shooting up again to fly some more. After a little tree soaring at the beach, we landed and left to seek out lunch. But there was none to be found: Uncle Bobo's is closed til the 14th for renovations. Don bought us some consolation beverages, and while we surreptitiously sipped them, Jayson called and said he was finally at Kahana and ready to fly. I started to explain how to find the north launch, but we got cut off. Then me and Dave decided we couldn't bear to let Jayson fly alone, so we scrambled back over there for another little fix.

On the trail we met a local fishing spotter on his way down, who said he'd seen Jayson hiking all the way up. We weren't sure what he had meant by that until we got up there. He meant all - the - way - up. Jayson was a tiny speck looking down at us from way above the rhino horn. He had bushwhacked his way up from the road: losing the trail, but making his way along the streambed, climbing up steep ravines, crawling through the undergrowth, wading through brambly bushes, to find his own special path to the north ridge. But after all that, he must not have liked the look of our launches much, because he passed them all by in his zeal to get in the air. He was prepared to launch up there just to avoid another hike down for the day, but good sense prevailed and he joined me at the low launch.

It was much stronger for our second session of the day: in fact, there were kite surfers out on the bay at this point. Kite surfers! Now that's something you don't see every day at Kahana. I considered hiking down but Jayson would have none of that. He was bound for airtime. Fireman had top-landed, and he convinced me that flying down would be quicker than hiking down, and somehow that really made sense at the time. I launched but it was super strong as I suspected, and after shooting straight up like a rocket I headed out, but soon turned in to try some tree soaring. I didn't manage much, because the air had potholes in it, but Dave and Jayson followed me in and made the tree soaring look easy.

Then the kite surfers headed in to the beach. After Dave started talking to one of them, the guy said he was a paraglider pilot too. A local one, but we didn't know him. His name is Bill Fulton, and I remembered that I'd heard of him from Jon: he was the original local paraglider pilot here, a long-time hang glider pilot who took a day's paragliding lesson from some visiting European instructor in the 80s and figured the rest out himself. He was one of the guys running the hang gliding and paragliding operation at Kualoa Ranch before the fatality there forced them to close it down. And he said he wants to start paragliding again! He had some interesting stories of XC routes in the Kualoa area, and told us about flying up and down the ridges around Kahana in old gliders that managed a 4:1 glide at best. I'm curious to hear more, and I'm looking forward to flying with him when he gets back into the air.

Sky Surfing Over Hawaii

Knox Richardson, publisher of the free monthly Oahu Island News, called up a few weeks ago to see about doing an article on paragliding for his January edition. He talked to me, Pete and Bob, and got some pictures from Jimmy and from our web site. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to meet with him or get him into the air, but he managed to put a good story together anyway, and I think it's a refreshing positive perspective on our pastime. If you get a chance, grab a copy and read the story -- the paper is available in stores islandwide. Or click here to see the online edition.

BI LZ open for business

I also met the El Presidente of the BI flying club on Maui, Gene, and he invited me over to their flying site and new LZ near Kealakakua Bay - he was really grateful for Oahu's contribution. I'm really getting spoiled with these drive-up wide open launches. Had a low ceiling with not much wind but the sled rides were very scenic. Forward launches were necessary again. I can see why LZ's are few and far between - alot of trees and private land.

The new LZ is within easy reach of launch and one of the house thermals (bee hive) works like a champ. I walked the LZ prior to get a feel for the approach - there's a break in the trees (see pic) to get low with a generous carpet landing area amongst the rocks. Should you overshoot the carpet there's plenty of real estate with hale koa shrubs to stop any more forward progress and catch your wing - as you can see in the last pic. I would love to fly there again and try and get around the corner on the right and ridge fly the bay. Russel's been pushing for a group trip to Hawaii to fly - count me in. Gene, Charlie and others are great hosts.

Pu'u Pupule

While in Maui I met some pilots from the BI and they invited me over to huck off some pu'u's on Mauna Kea - why not. The drive up off saddle road was definitely 4 wheel material. Only other people up there were bird hunters with dogs shooting quail, chucker, and erkel. Their firing was unnerving while flying - hoping they were shooting at birds and not parapanties.

We could drive up to about 10 grand and had to hike the remaining 1K - that altitude provides a good workout as well as an incredible view and landscape, Mars-like. The crushed lava pu'u slopes are challenging to negotiate. Now I know where they get all that lava rock for BBQ gas grills. You could see Haleakala to the north and Hualalai and Mauna Loa to the south. You could also just barely peek into Waipo Valley but would need a 10-1 glide ratio to get there - someday. For three days we gathered up there at 0830 and waited for the wind to fill. It was Pu'u heaven - as you flew by you could work the windward side of each to play and/or get higher. Once down to pasture land it was a matter of working weak thermals and following the highway for quick recovery. The high pressure was still parked over the state and kept the thermal activity down but the extended sled rides were awesome. Desending down through the inversion layer was always interesting as the wind direction could change up to 180 degrees. People were so friendly after landing always offering a ride - lucky we live Hawaii.

Maui No Ka Oi

Flew for 10 days in Maui and the BI - 5 days each. You can really get spoiled on Bob's alma mater in Maui - generous wide open drive up launch with a humongous LZ. Dexter runs a great site. They meet every am at 0830 at the LZ. And if you don't have a driver, Dexter's mom will give you a ride up for $5. When's the last time you did a forward launch - ok, besides that time in Dillingham when we sawed and cut our own launch.

The weather was only good for sled rides since the hi pressure kept any thermic activity suppressed - at least it wasn't raining or hawking. Kihei is very tempting but I didn't want to push the capability/generosity of my driver/spousal unit. Even on low launch you can get good altitude and practice spot landings. Just watch the cows and cow sh*t - It's all over my wing and harness.

Lucky Window at Kahana

Sometimes I think that making ourselves available to help visitors get in the air here gives us good karma. Tom (visiting instructor from San Luis Obispo) called me and said he wondered if Makapuu was working today. I was like, the forecast is 15-25 dude, and it was blowing hard this morning for sure, but I'll check iWindsurf. Hmmm. Actually for the last half hour the Punaluu sensor was averaging 13-14. I suggested we meet at Kahana and check it out. And it was actually looking great when we got out there, so we hiked up and launched, and sure enough, we enjoyed a sweet couple of hours in the air.

It was a bit stronger than I normally like it, but not bad: we went into the back, tried to cross the bay a few times, and I top-landed once. Tom soared the trees like a pro before landing. Overall it was a very nice introduction for him. Wayne came out to join us but unfortunately the wind was filling back in just as we were landing and he was arriving. Check out the iWindsurf trend for the day: we flew between 12:30 and 2:30. How lucky is that? Now it's averaging 20! Hopefully it backs off again for the weekend. I forgot my camera card but Tom took some shots -- I'll post a picture here from today when I get a copy. See you all out there!

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Last Flights of 2005

Russell and the lighthouse

The year ended with a nice light north day out at Makapuu. Most of us launched at the new Lazy Boy launch, and we soared all day and shared the air with wings of many shapes and sizes. The clouds started low and slowly rose up over the course of the day to reveal a tempting downrange vista. But by the time it was looking good for a cross country expedition, we were already late for our various evening festivities.

As we look forward to many more great flights in the new year, let's all take a moment to consider how lucky we are to enjoy our unique perspective on our island paradise. And let's remember to make safe decisions and help our fellow pilots do the same.

As we enjoyed the flying and the festivities to mark the end of the year, it was hard to forget the unhappy events of the previous day. New pilot Jeff McCloud impacted the stone wall at the landing zone during an ill-advised final approach, breaking his foot and fracturing his L5 vertebra. But he toughed it out and drove himself off to pick up his mother-in-law and take her home before heading to the hospital for treatment. Let's all wish him a speedy recovery, and let's help him get back into the air safely when the time comes. In the meantime, Jeff, please let us know if there's anything we can do to help out.

Thanks to all my flying friends for making this such a memorable year. We've had some great adventures together and I look forward to many more. Happy New Year!

Garmin 76S for Sale!!

I have a Garmin 76S in new condition with computer cord, literature and box (everything). This is the one that everyone uses and is cosmetically and functionally perfect, still under warranty. I have had the GPS a couple of months and it has only seen a few flights. I still don't really know how to use it yet.

I am selling because I came across a 76CS while in Oregon.

The best internet price I have been able to find is $300 plus shipping. I am asking $250 OBO. If interested contact me.

541-301-6618
paddler@mind.net
Jetflap Jeff