Another Scary Lesson

Scary, no doubt, and also humiliating, and I'm guessing it will be expensive as well. In front of about twenty onlookers, I blew a launch at Manics yesterday in near-perfect conditions, ending up with my wing wrapped around the utility pole behind launch. I snapped four lines and ripped the canopy along a seam in my frantic efforts to get it down quickly. I would not be surprised to find that one of those onlookers shot a video clip - keep your eyes on Youtube and let me know if you see a red-white-and-blue streamer snagged behind a familiar unrecommended launch area.

Don and Bob were already in the air (they launched from Cactus) but apparently they weren't watching as I started to pull up with As and Cs at Manics. I didn't pull the A risers with quite enough commitment, so the wing wasn't coming all the way overhead - it was in that powered zone just above the ground. But I was confident I could fix it without having to put it down - I'd just walk up the slope a bit, and the wing would come overhead nicely as I continued to pull up the A risers. As I walked up, one side started to dip, so I let go of the Cs and plucked an individual A line on the dipping side. That helped, but then the other side started to dip, so as I continued walking up, I plucked the A line on that side.

By this time, I think the wing might have been almost overhead and flying, but I had lost too much ground - I found myself right at the wall and the utility pole, and the wind was really pumping at that height. Whether the wing was ready or not, my only remaining option was to turn around and hope to fly it away from the pole and tension lines behind me. But just as I turned, my back hit the wall and the wing draped completely around the pole behind me, just below where the tension lines attach. I continued to flail on the brakes in hopes of unwrapping and re-inflating the wing right off of the pole, to magically fly away from this nightmarish debacle.

I finally admitted to myself that I was stuck for good, and I unclipped and started to yank the wing down. It was not easy to bring it down in the strong airflow, and some lines seemed to be snagged hard on various sharp bolts and metal parts. I don't think there was any damage up until this point. But it was in such a visible spot that I wasn't willing to take the time to engineer a more delicate unsnagging solution, so I intensified my efforts, finally hearing lines snapping and fabric tearing as the wing started to give way. I bundled it up quickly and drove it down to the LZ to take stock of the damage. Don and Bob had landed to help me, but by that time the damage was done.

I was inclined to drive home and sulk in self-recrimination, maybe slap a new wing order on the old credit card. Perhaps I'd order a nice DHV1, to protect me from my obvious lack of judgment or skills. But instead, Bob and Don encouraged me to resurrect my previous wing (which I always have in the car for kiting practice), and launch again at the same spot, to repair my wounded confidence and patch up my bruised ego.

After some agonized deliberation, that's exactly what I did - I laid out the old faded beater, hooked in, and inflated with a solid tug on the A risers, and no steps up the slope. I flew away and enjoyed a nice flight with the guys before the clouds overdeveloped and shut us down with sprinkles about an hour later. Thanks to Bob and Don for convincing me to try again - repairing my wing will be time consuming and expensive, but a good flight turned out to be the perfect quick band-aid for my psyche.

As I pack up my wing to be shipped off to Idaho for repairs, the primary lesson I can draw from this incident is to firmly acknowledge that a spot like Manics offers no margin for an imperfect launch, even for an experienced pilot in good wind conditions. If the wing doesn't come up perfectly on the first try, I recommend using the C lines for their intended purpose to kill the wing right away, then lay the wing out again and start over.

I welcome your comments - I look forward to hearing any advice you may have for me, or for anyone in similar circumstances.

A scary lesson for me....

Well, while Jim was packing his wing on the Mauka side of the park, I had my own scary adventure. Jai Pal was watching from above. But let’s start at the beginning...

I was not going to fly today, but there is something addictive about checking Windlines.net frequently when on the computer – and so I did. Then Jeff’s messages were popping up, mentioning One-eye went out to check out Kahana (nah – will be too windy!!!). Checking back at Windlines: “One-Eye reports good conditions. Shucks!!! Can’t let that go. I abandon my chores, throw my wing into the car and call One-Eye. He is at the LZ, reports 50% clouds, more easterly conditions than the previous day, nice winds. Off I go. So are all the commuters heading up north from Kaneohe. Takes me forever to get to Kahana. 5:15pm at the LZ. Quick wind check – a bit stronger than perfect (for me) but still good. No wings flying yet, but a white helmet popping up at low launch. Hiking up. Once I got to low launch, two wings were flying, attached are Jai Pal and One-Eye. I called on the radio and Jim suggests not to hike up because they had to wait half hour for a lower cycle and rainsqualls were out there. But I am already here! Well, maybe hang out there for a while. So I did. Rain showers didn’t make it to Kahana and hit the shoreline north of us. Beautiful rainbows. Jai Pal reports he is on full speed bar at 1800ft. Jim replies that is why he is staying low and is using only half speed bar. That should have been my call to HIKE back down. I can activate my speed bar only partially. I had learned that with a somewhat unnerving experience on a previous launch a few weeks prior. Let’s not give up yet. It is getting late... I was up at launch at 5:30pm, finally unpacked my wing after 6pm... Ok, maybe a sled ride?

Jim wants to land. Jai Pal thinks so too – but says if I will take off soon, he would wait. I am not going to fly with nobody there so I start hustling (my lines were tangled again). Stronger cycles now, finally I clear the lines and pull up the wing and manage a pretty good take off. Off the brakes, onto the speed bar. Up, up but not forward. Slowly inch by inch I am going forward. I push as hard as I can onto my speed bar. Finally I get away from the launch making my way towards the ocean. My headset had unplugged from the radio. Over the ocean I relax and reconnect my headset to the radio, tell Jai Pal (in the air) and Jim (on the ground) that I am just going to head for the LZ because I am not penetrating against the wind enough to be comfortable with my partial speed bar.

I stay over the water while losing altitude; I am remaining over the water as I start my approach to landing. Then I thought I should get over the beach now (about one third down the half-circle beach approach). Oh no, though I am pointed almost exactly toward the ocean in landing direction I get sucked backwards over the trees. Speed bar, quick!! Still over the trees, not penetrating. I push as hard as I can onto the speed bar. Inch by inch I ease forward away from the trees. The trees are creating enough lift, so I don’t loose any altitude. I have my arms in torpedo position, completely off the brakes. I had taken my wrap out, pushed onto the speed bar as hard as I could. Inch by inch I move away from the trees. All of a sudden I reach the ‘downward elevator’, got over the edge of the water, felt safe, let go of my speed bar... What a mistake! I got sucked right backwards and upwards faster than I could think, back over the trees but with not much clearance now. Sh***!!!! What shall I do if I get sucked more backwards? Another mistake follows: I look into the direction I get sucked to and inadvertently must have weight shifted so that I took another leap towards the clearly threatening power lines. Double sh***!!! I’d rather choose those trees!!! Ok, just do whatever you can now. I got out of my seat and stepped onto that speed bar, my arms way up behind my back. Sometimes I had to give some brake input because it felt a bit wobbly there close over the trees but I was inching slowly forward again and sideways. Now I am almost at the wide spot, still over the trees. There is the tall dead tree. I am not going to clear it. Please lines, don’t get stuck on that dead tree... It doesn’t look soft as the others, but it sticks out and calls out. I feel one line catching on the dead tree branch and then un-catching. Sigh!!! Now sucking action gets stronger towards the bridge. I am standing on my speed bar, pushing, pushing hard against the bar. No flare needed, I come down smoothly, flip around, grabbing my B lines and pulling down the wing. Must have looked really cool for anyone watching. I was so scared though!!! It didn’t feel cool. I should not have been in this situation, but I got away with it. I escaped a tree landing by inches (or maybe worse was awaiting me behind the trees). I definitely learned a lesson from this.

As I was pulling one wingtip towards me and balling up my wing with great relief about the outcome, Jai Pal came in to land, on his speed bar, getting sucked backwards upon landing. It definitely got much stronger than it had begun this afternoon...

In retrospect, if I had not been successful inching forward, if I was going to be pushed beyond the trees, I probably would have been better off stalling the wing into the trees. Any comments are appreciated (other than to update my speed bar, which I will definitely do).

Three Out of Four Ain't Bad

Day One: Aloha Friday March 16 A few people made appearances at Makapu'u to fly (some to wish our President a good journey). Based on rumor and hearsay Navy Don was first off of Cactus, followed by Jorge in a tandem with the new student Doug launching from Manics, then the intrepid Alex and Don showed for a last fix of airtime & also flew out of Manics.

By the time I showed up there were a couple of hang gliders putting on a show for the tourists at the lookout, and occasionally buzzing in to pay Alex a little visit. The launch conditions were a little too strong at Manics and too cross at Crazy Man's for my taste so I decided to wait for the late shift to show up. Jetflap Jeff didn't disappoint, by time he showed conditions on Crazy Man's had improved. He got off easily, followed by visitor Jai Pal from Malibu, and then Me. Flew around for a while in some rather ratty air and had a less than desirable landing, but wasn't hurt. Late in the afternoon as I was leaving Nick launched from Crazy Man's t00 and Scrappy joined him to get their taste of the high life.

Day 2: Sunday March 18 Kahana. Much to my amazement I got a call from Christine saying conditions at KNA were perfect. Since I'm always looking fr an excuse to get out of household chores I jumped right in the car and headed out. Thanks Christine, another day of drudgery avoided. The wind was super North so everyone was going for the fun trek up the muddy beginning of the trail. Upon arrival Submarine Steve was up in the air cruising and Billy had just launched. Visitor Jai Pal and I hiked up in time to help Christine get off. Jai Pal was gracious enough to let me go ahead, since I'd let him go off first at Crazy Man's on Friday. Later on Stalker and Hillbilly showed up too, as well as Reaper with students Rich and Doug. Submarine Steve wins the prize for long flight of the day with 3+ hours, Myself and Jai Pal secondat 2 hrs. The late arrivals Hillbilly and Stalker got much shorter times due to approaching rain squalls. Rich had several valiant tries at launch in some strong conditions that kept getting worse. Reaper and student Doug had a short adventurous tandem ride down to the beach, while Rich eventually opted to hike it down.

Day 3: Monday March 19 Kahana. Conditions on the beach were a little strong but back to normal trade direction when visitor Jai Pal and I hiked up to normal launch. Iopted for low while Jai Pal set up on mid down the hill a bit from the lone pine tree. The wind picked up and we waited for a good 30 minutes or so for a lull to get off the hill, both launching within a few minutes of each other, and having no problems finding abundant lift out in front. We soared around for a while but the wind remained strong enough that we both had to use speed bar to get where we wanted at times. Christine made a late arrival and we encouraged her to wait out the wind for a while. Jai Paul stayed up while I went in to land as Christine was getting ready to go off low launch. The wind was quite strong in the LZ and could have soared the trees for a while, but my time to land was nigh. After I landed Christine got off low launch o.k. but immediately reported she had to use full speed bar for penetration. She did a great job of using speed bar to make a quick flight down to the LZ and landed safely killing her glider well. Jai Pal followed in and closes this flight.

The real adventurers: Kudos to Scrappy, Stalker, Sub Steve and Hillbilly for flying in some super strong North conditions on Saturday 17 March. the luck of the Irish must have been with you guys.

I'm sorry I didn't take too many pictures, if anyone has some feel free to add them to the story.

A Tale of Two Craters

  
I was hoping someone would post an account of the two recent busy days of Kona wind flying. A lot of pilots made it out to Makapuu, Koko Crater and Diamond Head, but many of our gentle readers weren't able to be there, and I'm sure they'd like to hear about our adventures. By now you must all know how this works: if you don't post a flight report yourself then there's a good chance someone else will just fabricate a story from whole cloth. I was only around for brief sessions on both days, but I guess I'm just a compulsive fabricator, so here goes. (And I must admit I had a lot of help from Russell, my fearless field correspondent, who was kind enough to e-mail me some juicy details.)

Day One, Crater One: Swarming like Flies

On Sunday, as the wind clocked from very E to SE, some wishful pilots tried to find flyable air at Nanakuli and Kahana, but the action turned out to be at Makapuu and Koko Crater. Five locals and three visitors launched and flew Makapuu, and six of them ended up crossing over to soar Koko Crater (all the visitors crossed, god bless 'em). It was the first time Jon (from Maui by way of Oregon) had flown on Oahu. A bunch of us arrived as the last Makapuvian (Dave) was in the air and getting ready to cross. Rather than struggle with the worsening conditions at Makapuu, those of us in the late shift all decided to just hike and fly at Koko - kind of like launching right at the goal line in a competition. (Look, mom - I made it!)

So Dave made his crossing, and then watched a dozen pilots hike up and launch to join him in the air above Koko Crater. At first there were a couple of nice thermal cycles pumping through, but eventually it smoothed out into pure peaceful ridge lift - one of those rare perfect easy Koko days. Navy Don flew there for the first time - now he's going to have warped expectations of baby smooth air. My camera card was full after only three mediocre shots, which was a real shame because the sight of up to a dozen gliders arrayed below me would have made an incredible shot. Guess I'll just have to try to hold that image in my leaky brain somewhere. Also my trusty little vario droid experienced a power malfunction, so as I tried to milk the lightest bubbles of warm air to get higher, I found myself sorely missing those little beeps and squawks. (Use the force, Luke!)

I landed fairly early and had to scramble out of there to make it to dinner, just as people were finally succumbing to the magnetic force of the cooler. I imagine there was quite a nice festive buzz going at the LZ for a while after I left.

Day Two, Crater Two: Mishaps and Milestones

On Monday, sixteen pilots flocked to Diamond Head over the course of the day, and many of them got airborne to savor the world-class view of Waikiki from above our favorite national historic landmark! Jorge flew by himself all morning, and around lunchtime people started to trickle over there to join him. Mad Dog came out of his hiding place to fly, and Don and I rushed out to join him, even though we only had very brief windows of free time. Peter launched for a quick ride to the beach - as if that weren't painful enough, he was snared by a treacherous kite-eating tree before landing. Dangler kindly hiked down to lend a hand. Russ came out and soared there for the first time ever (having practiced with a sledder the other day).

Don and I had to leave early, but I heard lots of folks showed up later on, some for sledders and others for longer flights. I heard Sandy had no trouble getting up - it could have been her first time soaring too, I'm not sure. But I'm sure it was the first time launching the garden for many pilots. I heard that several unfortunate souls had trouble avoiding the water at the beach (Bob, Scrappy, Russ, anyone else?) - it must have been high tide or something. And I'm told Bob launched with a horrible knot around his brake pulley, which I'm guessing might have impaired his steering just a bit.

But what a great couple of days! Sorry I couldn't stay longer each day, but I'm happy and fortunate to have enjoyed a couple of nice little flights with a few friends. Over two consecutive days I counted thirty pilots taking advantage of the Kona winds to try their luck flying our two southside craters - that's got to be some kind of record.

Please add (or correct) any details if you can remember them - I'd love to hear them (or to stand corrected). And let's see your pictures too! I know I wasn't the only one snapping away.

Hawaii Thermal Research Lab Report; vol 1 no. 1

Abstract: Light prevailing post-frontal N winds allowed challenging but soarable conditions for thermal flying in the midafternoon at Nanakuli if you started early enough.

Intro: When McStalker first posted a chat about it being a good day for Nanakuli, I almost retorted back that it would probably be too blown out by the N winds. I would have been wrong. While I was contemplating Makapu'u hearing that Cactus might be doable, JeffMc was checking out Nanakuli from down below. His reports were good enough to get Doug heading out, followed soon by Eric, Chandler, Greg, Dave and finally me.

Methods: Doug launched first from low at about 3 pm. From what I heard, conditions that were initially quite promising were just starting to wane and he was concerned that he may have waited too long, but in Doug-style, he worked the bowl of Haleakala until he found the thermal elevator to the top and beyond. The others opted to hike a bit higher for better odds. Chandler launched from mid-launch and hugged the bowl tightly finding nary an uptick.

After landing near the dump road he reported there was lift over the open field. Dave hucked off from high? launch and found moderate lift. Jeff made many attempts from mid, but the cycles were just too light to get a good inflation. Eric *patiently* waited on the dump side high launch until finally a cycle came through that was good enough to get off even though by this time all of the air I could feel was coming up from the school side.

Meanwhile, Greg set up on the school side at middles and finally I ventured school side at high launch.

Results: Doug was able to track with his elevator thermal to all the way over the saddle behind the Haleakala peak. You can see the GoogleEarth of his flight here, but from what I saw he flew along the main ridge for awhile, came back to see what the mortals below were up to, disappeared again for awhile, then came back and danced around at about 2 grand or so with Dave for awhile over the launch area. Eric made the best of what was left in the late day after scooting around to the school side and finding some lift there. Greg and I were simply happy not to have to hike down.

Discussion: Clearly Doug's flight was the most successful, but it's hard to gauge how much of that was due to his high skill level and familiarity with Nanakuli versus his earlier timing. By his own observation he thought he might have been just barely catching the last of the desirable conditions. I think from that point on, all pilots were at a disadvantage. What we don't know is what was it like *before* Doug and Jeff got to launch. The inland Waianae NOAA wind sensor switched to a S reading at 11 am and stayed until it switched to N at 3 pm. Dave, who also possesses considerable skill, had to hike higher (which not only takes more effort but more time) and still he did not sky out like Doug did, all presumably because he started just a bit later.

Conclusion: Hard as it may be, sometimes you have to commit to a trip to Nanakuli before you know for sure that it's good. With two pilots living out on that side of the island, we have a better chance than ever of being able to make a good bet on a good day out there -- but I think we increase our odds of having a good day if we are able to commit fast and get out there early.

Diamond Head Daredevils

Yesterday afternoon brought us perfect conditions at Diamond Head. Light enough that we had to work the lift to get up from the roadside cliff, but once we were up we could fly anywhere on the ridge we wanted. On the other hand, today was the strongest day I've ever flown there - Pete was kind enough to loan me an extra small wing for the purpose. And the clouds were very striking today.

Lots of folks came out to enjoy flying or spectating, both the usual Diamond Head denizens and some newer faces: over the course of the last two days there I saw Dave, Jetflap, Frank, Jorge, McStalker, Navy Don, Scot, Bob, Chandler from Arizona, Reaper and his roofing boys, Scrappy, Quentin, Sandy, and of course Kui. Also, Russell launched for his first flight there ever!

Diamond Head has really changed as a flying site over the last few years. The old walkway launch at Kuilei Cliffs Beach Park was once a world-class place to launch and top-land, but ever since the city tried to landscape it we have watched it turn into an overgrown jungle. The garden launch is adequate to get into the air but it's a lot more challenging, and landing there is more of a stunt than a practical option. I guess we're all becoming a lot more familiar with the beach down there, as well as the variety of trails leading back up.

Curse of the Missing Pine

I tried to extend my lucky streak yesterday, but I should have stayed home. With a couple hours of free time, I found myself alone at Mariners, on what I knew was a perfect thermic day, but unable to shake a growing feeling of dread.

Somehow, all the confidence that I had mustered over the past few days of thermalling at Makapuu was deserting me now, and I was consumed by fear and doubt, my usual nemeses. Perhaps I was being punished for the smug tone of my last article.

I've never actually had a great flight at Mariners, and in fact I've had some terrible ones. My most recent memory there was from around a year ago, where I top-landed after a brief flight to avoid the little squall that turned out to be a torrential all-day downpour. But I knew that Jetflap and Frank and others have had some stellar flights there recently, and the conditions really seemed right for a good day there yesterday. My time was limited though, and my deadline was creeping closer as I stood up there feeling the thermal cycles and nursing my anxiety.

I decided I was just feeling too uneasy to launch by myself, so I waited a while until Doug and Jeff showed up. Doug volunteered to be wind technician, and Jeff and I helped him lay out. After an effortless launch, he caught a very strong cycle right away, and cranked hard into it, riding it up over three grand in a heartbeat. Before we knew it, he was specked out at cloudbase and heading towards Hawaii Loa ridge. He reported strong stuff with sharp edges, and added in his customary understated way, "I wouldn't call it a relaxing ride!"

So of course I let Jetflap go next! I helped him lay out and launch while I watched Doug racing around at cloudbase, and asked myself what I was doing up there, if I was too chicken to fly. Just after Jeff launched, Jorge, Reaper and Quentin showed up, and Jorge offered to help me lay out and launch. I admitted to him that I had been too scared to go earlier, and he said something nice like "Don't worry about that, just remember you're up here to have fun." I guess I really did need that reminder. And by then I noticed that Jeff wasn't getting any horrible monster air, and in fact he was meandering around at ridge height quite peacefully. And Doug had returned from Hawaii Loa and was boating around high in the sky.

By this time my time was almost up, and I knew I wouldn't have long to fly. But I had finally steeled myself to launch, and I figured that even a quick flight would help restore my flagging confidence. So with Jorge's help I set up and took the plunge. It turned out to be one of my worst launches in recent memory, with the wing coming up sideways and out of control. I think Pete might have caught it on video - that's surely one for the blooper reel.

Somehow I got into the air anyway, but then I noticed I had a full twist in one riser. That just figured! But after checking it out for a minute, testing my brake and speed bar, I concluded that it wasn't a huge problem, and I headed down the ridge to see if I could catch some thermals before I got too low. I felt plenty of bubbly lift there, but I just couldn't hook one properly, and I soon found myself sinking out to the park below. At least I would be on time to pick Logan up from school. I answered a call from Dorothy during my ignominious descent, as she was picking up Amelia, and she said she'd head Logan's way later as a backup measure. But I figured I could make it in time, especially since I knew Quentin had very graciously agreed to shuttle my car down to the park so I could scramble out of there.

But as I approached the park, I had another sinking feeling: where was my car? After I landed I realized they must have changed the plan for some reason - Quentin had left his truck down there instead. Doh! I threw my gear into his truck, and raced back up the hill to get my car, watching Doug and Jeff and now Jorge soaring above the ridge as I drove up the back. I stuffed my gear into my car, and raced back down the hill, fighting the traffic to Logan's school. But by the time I got close, Dorothy called to say she was already there picking him up herself. Ouch.

Really, this was just not my best day. Maybe one day I'll beat the Curse of the Missing Pine. Or maybe I just had to sacrifice myself in order for everyone else to have good flying there. I heard there was a lot more great flying after I left. And Dave had an interesting flight somewhere nearby. I'd love to see some pictures or at least hear the stories.

Leaving the Ridge

As the trades died down to light winds and sea breezes over the past few days, we've started to enjoy some great thermal flying and even some modest cross country flights. I was lucky to get out and fly four of the last five days, and along with others, I managed to leave the ridge for a mini-XC trip on each flight!

At Kahana on Thursday I made it to Kualoa and back, while McStalker guarded the ridge and nursed his secret cross country ambitions. It was a little stronger than usual for a bay crossing trip, since the brisk trades of the preceding week hadn't quite deserted us yet, but I squeaked over on my second try.

On Friday I launched the lighthouse ridge at Makapuu for the first time ever, with Don and Jon, and from there I flew Jetflap's little triangle to Three Poles and Koko Crater. I'd been hearing about that launch and that triangle and I was very happy to finally try them myself.

Saturday and today I launched at Cactus and followed Jetflap and others over the back to Koko. I think I've only been over the back twice before these flights, so I'm still kind of new to it. But today I started with only 1400 above Three Poles, and I would say that's a nice minimum. All three Koko crossings involved some pretty strong turbulent air on the way over, with a frontal the other day and a fifty percent collapse today - I'm still not used to that. Also when I arrived at Koko on two of the days the wind was offshore, which makes for some yucky air over there. The one day the wind was onshore was sweet and the thermals at the Crater were working nicely.

Sunday was the day I didn't make it out: on that day the guys did some nice thermal flying at Mariners Ridge and a couple of lunatics pioneered a new launch at Makakilo. I hope to see some pictorial evidence soon.

Anyone up for flying tomorrow? Let's leave the ridge and go somewhere! Maybe the west side will finally give us a break.