Telling Stories

The wintertime on Oahu brings us a cornucopia of flying conditions. We are treated to every wind direction and wind speed on the scale, at some point in the winter. Because of the wide variety of conditions, the weather is often in transition between one condition and the next - the trick is to catch the best window for a fun and safe flight at the most interesting spot, something we manage to do with varying degrees of success.

When we do catch a good one, it's nice to write up a few words to entertain our absent comrades. Not to rub it in, of course, but just for the fun of sharing the story. And we don't just want to hear the epic success stories - sometimes the stories of suffering and humiliation can be even more interesting.

For my part, I would like to share my fleeting impression of the flying stories from three very different consecutive days of flying. I missed the fourth day's flying, at some pretty interesting spots, so that story will have to be written by someone who was there - I look forward to reading it!

Thursday at Makapuu

The conditions looked promising - light and northerly as an approaching front pushed a ridge over our heads. I only had an hour before I had to pick up Logan, so I scrambled out there and followed Jorge off of Manix to fly for an hour in a perfect window of light northerly flow. Jorge made the run out and back to Puu O Kona, and I flew out to the far side of Rabbit Island. The wind strength only started to pick up as I landed, and I heard it got so strong later on that there was widespread carnage on the LZ. That might be a story worth telling - anyone who was there feel like sharing?

Friday at Kahana

This day brought us a brief glimpse of our familiar tradewinds, moderate and easterly, so a bunch of us headed out to fly at Kahana. It started out perfect, but another approaching front gradually cut off the wind as the day progressed, so the last handful of stalwart pilots to hike up were rewarded with sled rides for their trouble. The Canadians got their best day of flying yet. I know there are some stories from that bunch - ask Norm about his experience with one of our lesser known venturi areas out there.

Russell has been telling me he's ready to go XC, after years of protesting his unreadiness, so I was excited to have a likely looking day to lead him away from the hill. He gamely followed me, but the conditions were so light that we could barely stay up on the next ridge, so we finally gave up and flew halfway back to land near the beer store. Thanks to Jayson for the retrieve! Russell proved he is definitely ready for some cross country adventures - he kept a cool head as he traversed some new territory and scratched for a long time in difficult conditions before picking out his LZ. That might be a story worth telling!

Saturday at Nanakuli

On Saturday we got light pre-frontal southerly conditions - a huge gaggle of pilots went out to fly Nanakuli. What an amazing scene! When I showed up, Frank was in the air working to stay up at ridge height, and he reported that Flapper had already flown over the back towards Mililani. Wow! I wouldn't mind the chance to do that myself! Let's go!

Sandy, Jorge, McStalker, One-Eye, Ray, Scrappy, Sky Bunny (thanks for sharing the pix, Jiah!) and I all ran up the hill as Ken was launching low, and we watched him fight a losing battle with gravity. Jorge still thought it would work at low launch, and hucked off with great enthusiasm, only to follow Ken down to the dirt. In my excitement I was already half laid out - so even though I know it would be smarter to hike higher, I launched anyway, and I struggled to stay in the game just long enough to hook one small but strong column of rising air to ridge height. From there I watched Frank land, and then I watched Ray launch and also struggle in vain, along with Jorge who had rushed back up for another dose of punishment.

After a few trips up and down over the ridge, I finally got tired of waiting for my posse to come and help me combat the bullets over the ridge, so I headed across the valley to see if the thermals on the other side were any more pleasant. There wasn't even a hint of rising air all the way across and I returned low and resigned myself to a landing in the schoolyard.

My phone rang as I was gliding down, and I tried to answer it but accidentally fumbled the speakerphone on by accident - I heard a loud deep voice intoning my name: "Alex?" I had no idea who it was, but after hesitating a moment, I answered "Yeah?", and then the voice boomed out "How's the air?" On the off chance it was the voice of a heavenly presence calling to mock my final glide, I considered making a humble plea for nicer air. But first I had to know: "Who IS this?" to which he answered with surprise, "It's Doug!", and I'm thinking, well Doug's sort of like God out here I guess, so maybe that's why he sounded like that.

As I landed in the baseball field, the cycles were blowing through there strong enough to kite. Scrappy hucked off of middles. He worked it valiantly but still found himself inexorably sucked to the surface on the dump side, where Ray and I picked him up soon after.

Meanwhile Fireman reported on the radio that he had picked up Jeff at Lualualei Homestead and they were now hiking up the Waianae ridge to check out a new launch. Wow! Could Jeff have flown over the back to Mililani and then BACK to Lualualei? Now that's a story I would love to hear! But apparently Dave struggled to stay up and eventually raised the white flag.

Ray and I had to leave just as Scrappy started his hike back up at Nanakuli for a shot at redemption, along with the Canadian crew who had just arrived for the late shift, and Doug, and I think Christine and Bill were there too. There must have been like 10 more flights after Ray and I left, including a few that made it to cloudbase - I wonder if any might be worth describing in a few choice words?

Sunday at Mariner's and Koko Head

On Sunday I heard that a bunch of folks enjoyed some fun flights at Mariner's Ridge and Koko Head. I heard Jeff flew to Sandys and Frank flew to Hawaii Loa and back, and then Reaper followed Jeff up to Koko head where they threw off some tender fledglings to soar the cliffs over Portlock before landing and fleeing the scene of the crime in the nick of time. Now don't tell me there aren't some good stories to be told from that day. Don't be shy - somebody spin a yarn for us!

BI Jealousy and Over the Back Again

As some of you know I planned on making the Big Island hop with Dave and Jeff Saturday morning. Due to unexpected complications and the airline's inability to deal with complications in any kind of timely manner, I lost out, but I will return. The weekend does get better though.

I took a look towards Nanakuli as I was leaving the airport and wrote a post looking for any takers when I got home, and called Doug 3 times. "Anyone? Anyone?" Frank calls and just wants a report . . . oh well . . . I head up North for some bodysurfing. On my way, Doug calls me as I am almost up north. Sigh . . . no glider in my car anymore so I'm SOL. I go bodysurfing @ pinballs with my roommate instead (break on the outside rocky point on the right side of Waimea Bay . . . really stupid idea). Doug has an epic flight, lands in Pearl City and I smack my head against the wall in frustration.

I wake up Sunday with that great cold air, that means the second I look out that door I am going see a spotless sky with no wisps of any clouds and no wind. Nick called the night before anxious to give it a shot if it was working as he had a rare full day off on the weekend and has not ever had a proper thermal flight. Of course he is mad jealous of my thermal adventure from before . . . JK Nick. It looks great from my porch as I stroll out the door and I give Doug a call. It's on for 12:30. Then I put the call out on Wind Lines and I get a message from a pilot I have never met before. Eric moved here from Colorado 2 months ago and lives in Mililani Mauka but hasn't had a chance to fly yet on the island. He was a thermal rookie as well. I offer to pick him up as that is not too far out of my way to the usual KFC meeting spot.

I zoom over to his place pretty quick then head over to K-mart to see if there are any boots worth buying as I am still hiking in my Vans . . . I was better off in my Vans that what they had there, so I have a bite with my friend Kari who met us and Eric. We head to KFC as Nick arrives. Doug is fueling up a block away so Eric and I take off for the valley while Doug leaves his car @ Waikele and hops in with Nick.

We arrive @ the spot a little before 1:00 and begin the hike of doom in the hot sun. It sucks as usual. Hot and brutal. Check the video post coming soon. We arrive at low launch and it's too weak so we keep hiking.

Middle launch is looking OK with some light and strong cycles setting up. I agree to go first so Doug can explain to the fresh meat what I am doing wrong so they don't make the same mistakes as me and sink out, smack any rocks, etc. :P

After an extended setup session, getting all my camera gear plugged in and recording, I am ready to go. I get a tangle out of those clingy rocks and launch into a nice cycle. I shoot pretty much straight up 30 feet from launch. I'm sure it prompted a "That looks easy enough! I can do that!" from the watching pilots.

The air was much rougher today than my last 2 flights and I hang around Haleakala for awhile to await the fate of Nick and Eric. Nick sets up launches into a weaker cycle than I did. He's making low passes around launch height for awhile, reminiscent of my first flight. He loses some, he gains some, then loses a lot. I see him scratching around really low with a couple of wing tip collapses as he hits the edges of the thermals he's trying desperately to get into. He makes some bold moves really close to the mountain in his bright orange Atis.

He eventually gets a great bump after a real long battle and gets back to launch height. He begins to figure out what he's looking for. After a great fight with a nice learning progression, he is up above launch and working up the front of Haleakala.

Eric takes off into a better cycle and starts to figure it out, slowly climbing up the mountain, and is doing well after watching Nick's battle.

Meanwhile, while trying to watch all the fun, I am getting rocked around and I need to switch tapes. I climb to cloud base a second time behind the peak and head out towards the ocean to get some calmer air. I need to be able to let go of my toggles safely and there is no way I'm letting go where I have been cruising around.

I swap out tapes and go back to mess around some and wait for Doug. I climb up again and go on a glide as I am getting really rocked. Before I know it Doug is past me and headed on his glide to back of the valley. Nick and Eric look fine and I scramble for cloud base one more time with a "Wait for me!" on the radio. After my first glide I make it to the rocky peak halfway back the ridge for my second climb on the journey.

I was hoping to go towards Makaha, however the clouds have dropped down really low all along the range so we opt for the Kunia crossing. As I start my glide, I am in lift still and am climbing into the clouds quickly. I pull big ears. I keep going up anyways until all I can see are my feet. Luckily, due to the generous loaner from Reaper, I am saved by the GPS compass which allows me to pick a heading back towards the ocean. I was watching that needle spin way faster than I thought it should with so little brake input, with the feeling of sensory deprivation. I pop out of the cloud and regain my vector towards the back of the valley.

I clear the back of the valley @ 3400ft and begin my glide across the flatlands spotting Doug way off in the distance. Back @ Haleakala, the rookies (it's all relative :) ) have figured out how to hit cloud base and have built up some serious bump tolerance they didn't know they had in them. They consider following us but we are long gone, and they are not about to soar off into the cloudy unknown mountains without a little more guidance. They explore the valley, finding the 2nd house thermal at the pyramid at the back of the valley, and check out Aircrafts on the far side of the valley, testing out their new skills.

I make 2 more climb and glides, with Doug watching me climb up and coming back below me as we head towards Kunia road. I fly way over the landing spot from my first XC and am doing great @ my second attempt, hitting 4300 before my glide over Kunia Rd.



Doug reappears above and ahead of me again by about 1000ft a little while later. He is the master. We follow the path of the huge power transfer lines until we hit Kam Hwy and are following it looking for anything to climb up. 3500, 3000, 2800, 2500, 2000, 1800 . . . 1200 . . . 1000 . . .

"Uh, Doug, anything?" "Nope."

I am at the edge of a series of big soccer and baseball fields. To the right of that is Waikele golf course and on the other side of these 2 fairways is this nice grassy field right next to Waikele Shopping Center. (Remember in the beginning of my long drawn out ramble, Doug left his car there. Smart huh.)

"I don't think I can make that on glide, will someone get pissed if I don't make it and land on the golf course?"

"I'm not sure. I've never done that."

"I'm landing here @ this huge field instead."

I set up my approach and get low at the end and set up my landing on the really long field. With so little wind and a HUGE LZ I wasn't as concerned as I should have been about my approach direction. As I come in to land I get this big thermal bump @ 60 feet and begin a really fast approach DOWNWIND. I had this happen to me @ Diamond Head landing on the beach, but I'm stoked as there are no cliffs, oceans, rocks, surfers running and yelling "He's gonna crash! RUN!". Anyway, I flare nice and slow after my dive skimming the ground by inches for a really long way till I get a fun slide landing in front of a family that had been tracking our progress for quite some time. They were pretty stoked. I asked where I was, and they were happy to tell me I had just landed @ Central Oahu Regional Park. SWEET! (See the video coming soon.)

I see Doug disappear below the trees as I am packing up. He couldn't make the field either and did land on the golf course. I call Nick and Eric who are hiking back to the cars after their own adventure. Fortunately for me, I had stashed my keys @ the truck and Eric lives 5 minutes from where I just landed. It was almost too perfect.

Nick and Eric show up with beers and stories to share. Great flights for all. I'll really try and avoid those downwinders from now on though. No GPS log as the auto record feature was off but I ordered my own and it's on its way.

I just checked Wind Lines and saw that Doug had another epic flight to Makaha which is the one I am dying for . . . I need to get off work earlier . . .

Anyway . . . another run-on story by Scrappy. :)

The Great Gig in the Sky

Sunday, the third day of the Big Island Beer Festival, I mean, Thermal Research Junket, turned out to be the best day of the lot. More people managed to stay up for longer than on any previous day, including several first timers. I had to land because I was worn out and hungry. Then when we heard Russell's excited voice over the radio exclaiming that he had finally caught one, and was coring it to cloudbase, we knew it was a momentous day. Apparently he even passed cloudbase a few times during that session. Congratulations to Russell on his thermal enlightenment!

Cliff did great job on his first flight there as well, and Sandy, who is of course a thermal veteran, finally scored a sweet day flying leisurely laps at cloudbase. Jim had a great flight (or two?) and continued to work on improving his bump tolerance, and Bob and Ray both sharpened their thermalling skills over the course of several flights.

Raygan got a nice tandem from Ray, and Jiah joyfully strapped herself to Peter for what must be a record four tandem flights in a single day. Our host at the B&B, Miles, decided Jiah might actually be a Sky Bunny, after he passed her several times during the day as she was waiting by the side of the road for a retrieve, clad in a stylish flight suit and surrounded by fancy gear. That might be a great nickname for one of our newest aspiring pilots.

What a great weekend! This impromptu junket brought twelve flying monkeys over from Oahu, around half of them for the first time, and we were greeted with gracious hospitality by at least ten local Big Island pilots who came from all corners of the isle to meet us and make us feel welcome. Our sincere thanks to all of you: Charlie, Gene, Moku, Scotty, Neil, Eric, Yeti, Sean, Matt, Joseph, and anyone else I'm forgetting.

And thanks to Bob, Jim, Russ, Sandy, Ray, Dave, McStalker, Peter, Jiah, Raygan, and Cliff for blowing off your weekend plans to help make the most of three great days of flying and partying at Kealakekua. I had a really great time, at least the parts I can remember. Thanks to Bob for arranging the 4WD from Hilo, to Jim for the 4WD from Kona, and to Russ for the Minivan. Thanks to Raygan and "Sky Bunny" Jiah for all the retrieve driving. We had twice as many flights because of you guys.

And finally, our many thanks to Greg, Miles and Elena for providing us with such fabulous accomodations at the Ah Paradise B&B - I have no doubt that each one your nine happy guests will be saving up for another visit as soon as possible.

Shine On, You Crazy Diamond

Friday's flying at Kealakekua was both challenging and fun for the first wave of Oahu pilots here - I had an hour-long thermal flight followed by some extended buoyant sled rides later on, and several of us had a chance to practice our rusty forward launch skills. Big Island pilots Charlie, Gene, Scotty, and Moku flew with us and helped us make the most of our flying as well as our parawaiting between flights. Thanks to Moku (Captain Cooler) for the sandwiches!

Day two of our Big Island misadventures saw the arrival of more Oahu pilots and more Big Island pilots as well. I think we had at least twenty people flying and parawaiting throughout the day, including Eric from Pepeekeo flying his paramotor. The morning conditions were great, and people managed some nice long thermal flights, with one lucky visitor making it all the way to the beach for the first time. The sky conditions were the clearest I've ever seen and the summits of the three volcanoes were visible once you got away from the hill.

Jon's first account of Kealakekua six years ago described the site as a delightful treasure, carefully nurtured and generously shared by the local pilots - that description rings even more true to me today - it is a gem of a flying site.

Wish You Were Here

Day one Kealakekua. Yo, we had some fun today. Alas, I must admit that there was some parawaiting but we made the best of it by picking the brains of the locals while we waited. Alex and I came over early into Hilo and did the drive over the Saddle road. We did our best to get to the launch as quickly as possible. Zoom. Jim came into Kona and met us at the LZ where we had a nice tour of the new LZ.

Let's just call the LZ a work in progress. Just ask Alex and Jim about their attempt at hitting the carpet area at the LZ. The LZ is sloped at enough of an angle such that if you came in 20 feet over you could go all the way to the end of the LZ and still be 20 over. Alex was lucky to have his wing slightly snagged by a tree which kept his wing out of the live fire pit at the LZ and Jim came in a little high and threaded the needle all the way to the bitter end of the LZ. You'd have to see it to believe it. Alex had three flights and Jim and Bob got two each.

Gene has a small comp scheduled for tomorrow and the rules are going to be very favorable to visiting pilots. It looks like there will be over 10 O'ahu pilots and perhaps up to ten Big Island pilots as well. This could be good. Wish you were here. Thanks to the Big Island pilots for their excellent hospitality.

Big Island Getaway

Some of the Oahu pilots have been hatching a plan to fly thermals at Kealakekua this weekend. I just found out I'm free to go, so I am joining up with the gang: so far it's Bob, Ray, Sandy, Russell, me, Fireman Dave, McStalker Jeff, One-Eye Jim, Cliff, Scrappy, Jiah, and possibly Doug and Suicide.

Bob told me I have to be a ringleader, so to do my part and get things started I have booked the Hibiscus Suite at the Ah Paradise B&B at the LZ for Friday and Saturday nights, which should hold about five of us comfortably (the nightly rate will be $160, to be split between Bob, Sandy, Russell, Ray and myself.) One-Eye Jim has booked another room for those nights as well.

If you'd like to join us at the B&B, please contact proprietors Greg or Miles (click here) - they have other rooms in the main house, but I don't know if they'll be available, so you'll need to check on that. And there's a separate cottage that holds 5 people but it's available Saturday night only. Local pilot Charlie says it's also possible to camp out if anyone is interested.

The weather is supposed to be trade wind weather, which is usually good for Kealakekua. Jayson just got done flying there for the last three days and said it was perfect. The thermals start cooking up around 10 am and keep pumping into the early afternoon. The newer guys will probably want to get launched before 10 am to dial in some calm air flights before they step up to tackle the rowdy thermic air.

Charlie says we do need 4WD vehicles to get up the road to launch. Me and Bob will have a 4WD that he's borrowing from a friend in Hilo. We're arriving by car around 10 am Friday morning. Russell is renting a mini-van from the Kona airport on Friday evening after work and Sandy will be on that plan too. One-Eye Jim is renting an SUV and will join us Friday morning. Fireman Dave, McStalker and Scrappy are planning on doing a day trip to fly with us on just Saturday. Cliff is doing a day trip on Sunday. If anyone wants to do that I would recommend the first flight of the day (5:30 am?) and one of the gang can pick you up and drop you off. Jeff McStalker asked for a map of the site:

Map of the launch area
I think this map is centered on the B&B

I also researched our online archives and found some great reading for those interested in the history of Oahu pilots flying at Kealakekua. (Three generations of websites - the username and password for the page containing our oldest archive are the same as those for our current directory page - also the page is large and takes a while to load up - let me know if you have trouble accessing it).

Sep 2006: Huge new unofficial LZ available for low profile use
Jan 2006: Frank's trip to the Big Island
Oct 2005: HPA donation to help pay for new official LZ
Sep 2005: Bob and Ray checked out the new official LZ
Apr 2004: My last trip there was with RVC
Apr 2002: Reaper takes his recent students
Dec 2001: Josh Cohn Thermal Clinic
Oct 2001: Superfly clinic
Aug 2001: HHA pilots help clear first official LZ
May 2001: HHA Memorial Day Fly-in on the Big Island
Mar 2001: Jon's first account of flying Kealakekua

A paragliding library?

Paragliding library: should we call it “Windlines Library” (Alex??)?
I’d like to create a library with books, videos and magazines about paragliding and related topics, like weather, travel, comps etc…

I’ll dedicate 10% of the gross of services rendered (tandem flights, site intro guidance, clinics and instruction) and 5% of the gross of SOL equipment sold.

Because this is dedicated to the paragliding pilot community and I am whiling to share some money, I’d like to ask you for suggestions and input. Do you like the idea or should I spend it (money, effort) somewhere else?

I know 10 and 5% are not big numbers but it is my commitment and you should expect that minimum when you purchase equipment or refer anybody for paying services. Of course I’ll put more, but this is something to get started with. Please understand I am still “paying” for my tandem gear (and by the time I am done paying it will be time to get a new, safer and updated one), and I’d like to purchase gear for new pilots to kite and even fly (it means good, reliable stuff with a reserve parachute and not just any old glider and falling apart harness).

First I’ll focus on videos, preferably in DVD format. Originals only (sorry, I don’t support piracy). The collection will be available to any pilot or aspiring pilot. If we can develop a good catalog and control system, pilots may pitch in and let others “borrow” their private collection (so they can have it back later) or just donate old ones to the library as well. I am sure there’s “software” to control a small personal collection to let friends borrow your DVDs…

So far this is just a thought and your opinion is important to me. Should we make it happen??

Aloha
Raimar “Brazilian Ray” Bylaardt II
808 779-9013

Lost and Found

After a modest but well-attended warm-up day of kiting and flying on the first day of the year, the second day delivered a super low cloudbase and an unlikely cross country adventure. It also delivered some undue anxiety to my flying buddies, when I disappeared into the mist over Sacred Falls just as my radio battery died. I hate it when that happens!

I could have been the first paragliding news story of the year: Hang Glider Rescued after Crash in the Clouds Above Sacred Falls. But thankfully I wasn't actually lost, just temporarily misplaced -- I found myself surfing a tube through the clouds to begin my last downwind glide. I was pleasantly surprised to arrive above my customary landing spot at Pounders with some bonus altitude, and I managed to eke out my glide over the town of Laie to land at Malaekahana, for my personal best distance from Kahana.

What an auspicious start to the new year - I hope this year will see more personal bests for all of us! Thanks to Don for being such a good flying buddy today and worrying about me getting lost in the clouds. Thanks to One Eye Jim, McStalker Jeff and Hilo Ken for hiking down to come look for me (and also for the retrieve), and thanks to Ray for heading over to join the search party.

Happy New Year!