Hygienics Weekend

I can't remember the last time I flew from Makapuu to Kahaluu - I know it's been years though. This weekend, pilots flew to Hygienic Store on both days: on Saturday, Doug led Suicide Pete and Maui visitors Jon and Rich down there, and on Sunday, Pete flew there by himself, got a ride back from Joey, and then drove the chase truck for Dave, Scrappy and me as we went down there for the second shift. It was Scrappy's first time past Greenwalls. Mahalo to Pete for leading the way today and also for the retrieve.

I uploaded the flight to the Leonardo server on PG Forum here. Thanks to Jim for loaning me the cable and adapter to make that work! Also thanks to Jim for sharing his last magical cold beverage with me to calm my nerves before starting the mission. Hate to make a habit of that, but it sure seemed to help.

Reminder about Kualoa Ground Handling

Over the past few months, our club directors have taken the time to conduct multiple phone calls and meetings with park personnel, in order to arrange for our members to resume ground handling practice at Kualoa Regional Park. As you know from our last meeting, the park has kindly agreed to our request. This agreement is an informal and unwritten arrangement that is subject to goodwill and understanding on both sides.

Please remember that the park staff have asked us to practice in the large area of the park downwind of the street and power lines, and not in the beachfront area upwind of the power lines. The park manager, Rod, promised to let the enforcement personnel out there know that we are allowed to practice in that area, and he said he'd stop by to say hello if he happens to see us practicing. Thanks for your cooperation.

Sam's Waimanalo Weather Guesser 1.0

Sam, one of our cleverer local hang glider pilots, has created a handy tool to help pilots figure out if and when it might be worthwhile to head out to the east end. It provides the forecast for the Makapu’u LZ for the next week.

The forecast includes surface wind direction, surface wind speed, surface wind gust, surface temperature, cloudbase altitude, and a reasonable guess at the thermal conditions for the current day. Also provided are the last reported and historical wind observations from Bellows AFB.

Though primarily created for hang glider pilots, other types of avigators may also find it useful.

There are two download options:

(1) Download the exe file only. If you already have Microsoft .NET Framework installed on your computer (very likely if you're running Windows) you can go to Sam's downloads page.

(2) Or, download the full setup package (recommended, or if the above doesn’t work). This will automatically check for prerequisites, install Weather Guesser, and put a shortcut on your Start Menu. This option will periodically check for updates. It can be uninstalled through Add/Remove Programs. Get it here.

Weather Guesser is free. Cold beverages (preferably in green bottles) and accolades can be presented to the author every time he is found in the LZ. Suggestions will also be accepted (not in lieu of the above).

Virus alert

I just found out that our web host has been infected by a computer virus - so far I have found two pages on Wind Lines that were infected, and I'm looking for any others. Let me know if you get any warning messages from your anti-virus software while browsing the site. You are using anti-virus software and keeping it up-to-date, right?

Yet Another Helmet for sale!

I really want one of these awesome helmets. Initially, for some crazy reason, I ordered the medium. It was too small - thanks to Reaper for buying it from me. I received the large a couple days ago, and guess what? My head is still too big for it! So now I've just ordered the XL for myself, but if anyone wants to try on the large, please let me know, since I will have it with me. $135 OBO. I'm camping with the family at Bellows this weekend, and I hope to get out to fly on Sunday since it's Father's day. See you out there.

Update: Helmet has been sold, to Maui pilot Rick - thanks to everyone for their kind comments about the size and shape of my head.

Bliss

Hillery and Pete exchanged vows on the beach at Kahana, surrounded by family and friends, many of whom had landed there just moments before, following the tuxedoed groom down from the heavens. Young maidens sprinkled the sand with flower petals as the bride, her cheeks damp with tears of happiness, glided out from the shady tree line onto the beach, swathed in a gown that reflected the full glory of the midday sun. A more beautiful bride has never graced our humble shoreline.

The weekend of blissful celebration had begun the day before, and would continue until long into the day after, with a full complement of wondrous miracles that will live on in local legend:

Cold refreshing springs bubbling right out of the sand! Dark springs and light springs! Two days in a row of great flying weather for an event scheduled long in advance! Pete landed on his feet in front of the entire assembly of wedding guests! Rich flew twice in one day and soared for the first time! Bob and Sandy showed us they can both still fly! Friends and family took to the air under scores of tandem wings. We filled our three campsites to the brim: 10 tents holding 30 happy campers for untold hours of nighttime revelry! And the final miracle: all my pre-wedding jitters about unwanted attention from the authorities proved to be unnecessary. I guess the highest authority was watching out for Hill and Pete on this special occasion.

A few more random high points and low points I can recall from the big day:

Dave was part of the pre-ceremony aerial regatta, and he trailed a long streamer from his harness to paint flowing figures in the sky while the first wave came in to land. He had also armed himself with a large sack full of flower blossoms to sprinkle down onto the bride as she appeared on the beach for the ceremony. But just as she appeared, and he was pulling into the perfect upwind position over the bay, he suffered some kind of sack malfunction: the distractable few who were able to take their eyes from Hillery's grand entrance saw Dave's entire bag of blossoms drop into the ocean directly below him. It wasn't a big deal, since few of the wedding guests knew what to expect anyway. A very minor flaw in an otherwise blissfully perfect plan.

Reaper ended 19 years of perfect accident-free flying by whacking the back of the hill behind mid launch after he launched Jared's buddy on a tandem with a major compression knot. His passenger was unhurt, but Pete is now suffering from a very sore knee which the groom diagnosed as a possible ligament injury. Take it easy on that knee, Pete, and get it checked out if it's not better soon!

Visitor Chip from Colorado got lost in a cloud and found himself over the back in Punaluu. He landed somewhere near the shrimp ponds, and walked back to join the party. Chip flies the front range with our recent Kauai pioneer from Colorado, Andy, and also knows Big John from Breckenridge really well. He'll also be at Jackson Hole in time to meet up with Czech Pete for the fly-in there.

I took visitor Wes from San Diego downrange on his first Oahu XC, to land at Hauula Beach Park. We tried to coax other folks to join us but I guess the lure of the bubbling cold springs at the beach proved too hard for most folks to resist. Wes had missed the chance to follow us downrange the other day, and he was overcome with glee to have made the trip on this occasion. Thanks to Berndt (driving Reaper's truck) for the retrieve. I took a few pictures along the way.

Finally, at the end of a very long and full day, we found Reaper dozing blissfully by the bonfire in a chair, with his boombox in his lap. As we tended to the cold bubbling springs one last time, we heard Dave sound the alarm: "Man Down!" Reaper's chair had toppled sideways, sending him crashing to the sand and waking him up. He asked Wayne and me to give him a hand, only to pull us down on top of him, repeatedly, until we figured out he was just having fun with us, as Dave fought back tears of laughter and rolled the camera for YouTube.



I know you all have other great stories, as well as pictures and video from the weekend. Please share them with us! Feel free to write your own article to showcase them, or send me a link to them and I'll update this article to include them here. The headline photo is an early unretouched preview of one that Bob took and sent to me as a placeholder.

N'Update . . . from Crazy Lady . . .

Help!!! I have just realized that, while we have secured a photographer, we have not spoken with anyone about video. Is anyone willing/able to videotape the wedding and events to follow? Pleeeeaaassse . . .

OK . . . I am heading to my Bachelor party!! Crazy Lady wants to give an update . . . so . . . Hillery . . . take it away!

As of right now, Thom and Donna are bringing one 6' and one 4' table as well as two beautiful flower girls. Ginny and Rich are camping; along with others, I'm sure. Reaper, as far as I know, is coming in the morning to help set up; bringing a grill.

If you are planning on bringing more than yourself and family/guest, please either give us a call or leave a post. Thank you all for your help and support.

Suicide and Crazy Lady

Sui's Bachelor Party!

Flying Monkeys: come join us to celebrate the end of single life for the logophilic Dr. Peter Arroyo! Event will kick off at the Yardhouse, 226 Lewers St, Waikiki, at 6:30pm Monday, 2 June, 2008. With fantastic food and over 100 beers on tap, it’s sure to satisfy the snobbiest of beer drinkers, a.k.a. Paragliders. You can park at the Hale Koa lot at the corner of Saratogo Rd and Kalia Rd. Please RSVP here, or call/text me at 707-718-1038. Also indicate if you're a potential designated driver.

Jackpot

Downrange again? Dorothy says it seems like we're hitting the jackpot every day, and I guess that's not far from the truth: our winter weather losing streak has finally ended, and we've been reaping the rewards of easy cross country flying almost every day for the last week, including some personal bests and first time winners. The conditions were a bit brisk this weekend, but that didn't stop over a dozen pilots from enjoying the largesse of our consistent summer tradewind conditions at Kahana.

Yesterday the wind was blowing a bit hard for good XC flying, so we stayed local, but we still had enough excitement for a whole year: Nick's nice collapse in the Crouching Lion rotor, Ginny's downwind derriere descent, Maui Bryan's dramatic launch attempts and then his low spin on approach before barely making the beach, Stalker's wing disappearing on him at Puu Piei (but thankfully coming right back). I'm sure I'm forgetting half the list of mishaps by now. Scrappy, Reaper, Jared, Suicide, Jim, Steve, and Bill also came out and flew.

Today we got Captain Wes from San Diego up at Kahana for his first flight there, chilling out with us above Puu Piei at a cool 2,500 feet, and then Bill got his first taste of cross country flying as he followed Jim and me to Hauula Beach Park. Great job, Hillbilly! Conditions were stronger than we would have liked on the ridges downrange, so we cut the trip short and punched out to Hauula for safe landings. Ginny stayed local and perfected her beach landing approach, and Wes kindly came to pick us up. Thanks, Wes!

Happy Birthday, Scrappy!

An unforgettable flight to Pounders with Scrappy on the day before his 30th birthday party. He declared it his nicest ever XC flight. We launched around 4 and the light show was just starting. Thanks to Jim for the retrieve.