Arizona Club needs help for PG launch

Aloha Hawaii Crew, AZ Chandler here. Wanted to post this on your club site and say Mahalo for whatever you may be able to help with. It's our best site and we're needing to raise some funds for the PG launch we're breaking ground on this weekend. You should come over and fly with us for our Labor Day Mingus Fly-in PG launch celebration! And I was thinking if you guys help us now I'm sure we'll be able to help you in the future make a new or fix up one or more of those awesome launches you guys got over there :-)! Thanks again gang and I'll see you all when I'm back on Oahu for most of September. See article below for motivating facts.

Donations can be made via PayPal on our club site @ ahga.org or mailed to:

AHGA
P.O. Box 39013
Phoenix, AZ 85069
(Please write "Mingus" on memo)

AZ Chandler
www.desertwindparagliding.com

Hello Free Flight Community!!!

The Arizona Hang Gliding Association needs your help. Mingus Mountain has been a historic and epic hang gliding site since the beginning of hang gliding and after years of persistence we have finally obtained permission from the Forest Service and powers that be to make it biwingual!!!!! This is a HUGE undertaking to say the least and we need all the help we can get not only in manpower but financial aid as well.

MOTIVATING FACTORS:

MINGUS MOUNTAIN: 7800 ASL YEAR ROUND BIG AIR THERMAL XC MOUNTAIN SITE WITH XC ROUTES FROM THE NW TO EAST AND MORE DEPENDING ON WINDS ALOFT WITH NO SPECIAL FLYING RESTRICTIONS.

To give you an idea of how incredible a flying site this is and what’s possible I will start by saying that HANG GLIDERS HAVE FLOWN TO GALLUP NEW MEXICO FROM HERE! This is Arizona’s prime cross country flying site, with no PG launch!!

Located in the cool Pine trees 10 min directly above the historic mining town of Jerome Arizona, there is enough room to set up 30 hang gliders and paragliders by launch, an incredible amount of free camping at our USHPA members-only campgrounds, an actual bathroom, and is one of those places you fly that is breathtaking to say the least.

Along with the fact that the historic town of Jerome, Once a thriving mining camp between the late-1880s and early 1950’s, is now a bustling artistic community with a population of about 450 and includes a modicum of artists, craft people, musicians, writers, hermits, bed and breakfast owners, museum caretakers, gift shop proprietors, is an enchanting town, a photographer's paradise, and well you know, an awesome place for the friends and family that don’t fly to go for the day after watching us launch.

Mingus Mountain is simply an awesome place to fly, and hopefully soon to be an awesome place for paragliders to fly, if we can raise the funds. So please help us with however much you can.

Thanks and in the mean time Fly Far and Land Soft.

Donations can be made via PayPal on our club site ahga.org or mailed to:

AHGA
P.O. Box 39013
Phoenix, AZ 85069
(Please write "Mingus" on memo)

Addicted to the Rat Race

The 2008 Rat Race has been over for almost a week now, but I'm already missing it and thinking ahead to next year. This was my third Rat Race in as many years, and I'm starting to think I might be suffering from a serious addiction. It seems strange to be addicted to failure, because I never do well there - but man, is it fun trying. Maybe one day I'll figure it all out, and graduate to real comps, but in the meantime I am happy to succumb to my annual craving for mentored low-key competition.

This year's event was scheduled later than in previous years, to space it out from other events held at the site. But unfortunately July delivered the high pressure conditions for which it is locally known, with clear cloudless blue skies, pronounced low inversions and strong wind. The weather made this race far more challenging for an inefficient thermaller and haphazard XC pilot like me. I do hope they can get it slotted earlier in the season next year.

But despite the challenging weather conditions, it was still worth every single penny, every desperate turn in the snotty turbulent lift, every angry curse hurled skyward after sinking out to the LZ. Even though I never made it to goal during this year's comp (did I really do that last year?), I learned a lot of great lessons and got reacquainted with some of my favorite people. And I flew every day for nine straight days, some days more than once, and landed at a vineyard to drink wine on more than half of those days. They should rename the vineyard "Silver Lining".

Some people did very well despite the tough conditions. Hawaii's own Nikki Johnson made goal twice, just like he did last year, but it was even more impressive in this year's more demanding conditions. And local pilot Paul Murdoch had his best comp results ever - fourth overall and number one regional - on a certified wing, and despite the fact that he was up all night between tasks in the ER doubled over and vomiting while passing a kidney stone! He always seems to need a handicap to slow him down. Last year he was temporarily blind in one eye. But I think the pain and sleep deprivation just made him go harder.

I did have a couple of days where I didn't feel like a complete loser - on my best day I made four turnpoints before sinking out. But this event is all about learning, and maybe failure is a better teacher in the long run. Aside from the education, what really keeps me coming back is the people. Not just the great comp pilots and mentors, but the volunteers, the organizers, and all the other pilots who are there to learn and share their experience.

The organizers made the event more fun for many of us this year by choosing a rastafarian theme - the reggae music and logo designs definitely added to the festive spirit. I was pleased to be asked to do the shirt designs for this event, as well as for the WCPC a month before, and I was very happy with how they turned out.

On a sadder note, early in the week I suffered a quarter-sized abrasion in the middle of my forehead during a hot tub incident - no, I wasn't diving in! Do you think I'm an idiot? I was showing off my acrobatic skill in Paul's new hot tub with what was supposed to be an underwater forward flip, but the floor somehow got in the way. Okay, maybe I am an idiot. So the rest of the week I wore a band-aid during the day to keep the sweat and sunscreen off the scab, and left the wound uncovered during the evenings to dry it out and help it heal.

One evening we were all partying at the Mexican restaurant, and at one point someone was talking about how there are pilots in their local club who are widely considered more likely to have an accident because they do not recognize their current deficiencies, and they won't listen when you try to help them. I chimed in that I also worried about some pilots who seemed to be destined for injury - and I said, without thinking: it's like some pilots are just walking around with a mark on their forehead, and they don't even know it! Silent stares greeted that remark, followed by barely suppressed guffaws all around the restaurant. I didn't realize what I had said at first, nor how loud I had said it. It was pretty funny, I guess. Talk about bad karma.

But aside from underwater depth judgment and watching my mouth, I learned innumerable lessons during this event, from my mentors, from fellow pilots, from my own difficult experiences in the air. Here are a few I can remember clearly:

• As my mentors all suggested, you need to "pimp" off of other pilots as much as you can. Always try to keep another pilot in front and below on transitions. I wasn't able to do this as much as I wished - need to work on this one.


• Pay attention to everyone who is in the air, even while you are working hard in thermals. Develop a background radar for where pilots are going up and where they're not, and also to which transition lines are working for other pilots. This is hard to do but it's definitely worth working on.


• Avoid the urge to "just go" when you're not very high, either to follow the crowd or because you're not having as much luck with the lift as you'd like - it's almost always better to be patient and work until you can get as high as others are getting, even if you are left behind by the first gaggle. I made this mistake more than once.


• Watch the clock on your GPS as the start time approaches, and about five minutes beforehand, work to position yourself high on the edge of the start cylinder when it opens. Once I figured this one out I found myself among the leaders a couple times as the start gate opened. What a great feeling that was! Not that it helped me get anywhere, but it's certainly a start.


• Sometimes you have to retreat or deviate from the course to find lift and stay in the game. I was never able to actually put this one into practice, but I heard about other people (including Nikki) making good use of it. Another one I need to work on.


• In the mornings they would hand out beef jerky (from Paul's store) to reward the most interesting stories from the previous day. But as Mike asked us to remember while we're flying: diving deep or scratching close to the terrain is not worth the beef jerky! We saw numerous tree landings, and even some creative sidehill landings.


• The vineyard is a nicer LZ than the official LZ at Hunter's field. And not just because there are delicious intoxicating beverages available to be consumed on their scenic little porch. The official LZ is super turbulent at times, because of its location at a smaller end of the valley, surrounded by trees and nestled between Burnt, Rabies and Woodrat. The air always seems cleaner at the vineyard, I guess because of its location in the flat confluence of three valleys.


• Check your score after your track is uploaded every day, and make sure it looks right before you clear your tracklog for the next day. One day after one of my best flights where I made two turnpoints, Nikki noticed that I had only received minimum distance on the score sheet. I went back and scorekeeper Greg was able to re-upload my track before I had to clear the log. I am still not sure the track was uploaded completely right, because it had been logged as several chunks, but it was a lot closer than before.


• Listening to music can help you stay calm and focused while in rough air. Paul was playing his iPod from a little speaker in his cockpit, and he says it really helped him. I've always thought people who were listening to music while flying were depriving themselves of part of the flying sensation, but I never thought about how it could help your performance. I'll have to try it myself sometime. When the philistines at goal heard what Paul was listening to as he landed, they called it "fairy music" - but those Vivaldi Lute Suites might have been his ticket to fourth place.


• Hot tubs are not deep enough to do flips in. This may seem obvious to some of you, but I just thought I'd share it since I learned it the hard way.


• And the most positive lesson I learned: I really like seeing people wearing my shirt designs!

Thanks to meet organizers Mike and Gail Haley. Thanks to all the hardworking volunteers, including Hawaii's own extreme retrieve commander, Pete Michelmore. Thanks to mentor program coordinator Len Szafaryn, and to my official mentors Rob Sporrer and Jack Brown, and my unofficial mentor Paul Murdoch (among many others). Thanks to mentor program presenters Rob Sporrer, Ken Hudonjorgenson, Bill Belcourt, Len Szafaryn, Dave Wheeler, Brad Gunnuscio, Brian Webb, and Chris Galli. Almost every night we were treated to great presentations from some of the best pilots anywhere. Thanks to hardworking scorekeepers Greg Babush and Brett Hardin, and to safety director Tom Chestnut.

Thanks to our sponsors:

• Fourth place regional champion Paul and his family provided room and board to three lucky Hawaii pilots at the paragliding dude ranch. You haven't slept with a dog til you've slept with a dog in heat.


• Dorothy's mom provided last-minute harness repairs before I set off for the comp.


• Brazilian Ray provided last-minute patch tape for holes in my wing I noticed just before the comp. Then I lost my radio while using the battery as a flat surface to perform the patches, after my last day flying Kahana. So Ray generously loaned me his radio. On my first flying day in Oregon I found my radio rolled up inside my wing! But Czech Pete needed one so I sponsored him with mine.


• Fireman Dave provided a fabulous snowboarding helmet with prominently placed corporate logos, including one for Paul's former employer.


• One-eye Jim provided GPS and serial-USB cables and configuration for our track uploads.


• Scot transfered the registration fee he had paid but couldn't use after a last minute cancellation to Czech Pete. And someone loaned Czech Pete a GPS.


• John Clifford provided a last-minute spare pair of socks on a day when I forgot to bring mine.


• And finally, Dorothy and the kids generously spared me from the household routine, so I could endure 10 days of intense exhilaration and humiliation on the mainland.

The Woodrat flying site is situated in the middle of medium sized mountains surrounded by numerous valleys. The airflow can be incredibly complex, but the site is not known for the big air you might find at other competition venues like the Owens Valley, Telluride, Sun Valley, or even Lakeview. You won't need oxygen to fly here, and the numerous fields in the valleys and timber roads in the mountains mean you will never be too far from a retrieve. But of course, even without big air, there are crucial decisions to be made to keep you out of trouble: strong winds, power lines, trees and fences.

If you are a P3, can handle turbulence, like to thermal, can pick a safe outlanding, and you are interested in taking your thermal and XC skills to a new level in an intensive and controlled environment - this event will take you there. Don't go there expecting to make goal. Comps are designed to put the top 30% of pilots into goal, and the overall quality of pilots is only going up because of events like this. But you will have some of your best and most challenging flights ever, and when you do finally make the day's goal in a comp like this you will be floating on air long after you land.

Most people will start going to comps to build their XC skills, without realizing how fun the actual competition aspects can be. But the comp itself is a strangely addicting event, even if you are not making goal! Anyway, the dirty secret of comps is that 70% of the competitors are intended to fall short to make a valid task. But even so, inevitably there will be lucky days when the task committee sets an easier task because conditions look poor, but then the conditions turn on, and more than 50% of the field will make it into goal, like the couple of days last year when I bumbled my way in. Those are magic days for bumbling pilots like me.

In the immortal words of Bob Marley,

You got the horse race
You got the dog race
You got the human race
But this is a rat race...

For a day by day account, click the image below to check out our Rat Race 2008 blog.

Makapuu Site Bulletin

Pilots have been asked to refrain from landing in the Heiau area at Makapuu, out of respect for the cultural and spiritual significance of the site. This is the area extending from the bathroom structure on the Waimanalo side to the parking lot on the lighthouse side, between the highway and the beach. If safety reasons require you to land anywhere in that area, please aim for the beach side of the concrete pylons. Thanks for your understanding. Please contact me if you have any questions.

SAT(is)Faction

Just want to say a big Mahalo to Jetflap Jeff and Fireman Dave for putting on a little acro show the other day. Unfortunately didn't get many pictures, but had a great time watching them throw some SAT, asymmetric spirals, & nose down spirals. It's always good to see such talented pilots winging it around - gives you an idea what the possibilities are if you're willing to push the envelope.

Good Bye Puka Wai

Puka Wai, my sailboat and home for the last 6 years will soon be going to a new owner. To give her a proper send-off, I would like to invite all my fellow pilots and friends to go for a sail and a barbeque on July 4th - this Friday.

I will be supplying the meat, but pupus and "liquid bread" are welcome! I do not have the room to accommodate ice chests, but no need - Puka Wai is a civilized boat and has refrigeration. My slip at the Ala Wai is a long ways to walk or carry stuff from the parking areas, So I can offer a short dinghy ride from the Fuel Dock. Parking may fill up at the harbor due to the Holiday, lots of surfers. There's also some parking at Ala Moana Park, or the Mall - also a short dinghy ride from the boat yard at the end of the bridge. The plan is to go for a sail around noon, be back around sunset for barbeque and the massive fireworks show for which we have a front row seat at the dock! The Harbor is at 1651 Ala Moana Bl. Link
If you would like to come, please RSVP asap.

Berndt
email: pukawai@cox.net
phone: 808.223.0537 (you can also use this if you need a dinghy ride)

Keep Your Enemies Closer

Over generations, countless pearls of wisdom have been handed down; guideposts through this labyrinth of trials & errors that we call our lives. Some of them, “Do unto others as you’d have done unto you,” and “What goes around, comes around,” seem pretty self-evident. Others, “A stitch in time saves nine,” might make you think, “What the heck does that mean?” (By the way, it means “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”) So . . . repack your parachute before you need to throw; and realize that cockroach larvae have eaten big freak’n holes in your silk!

The Mark Twain in me loves these little chestnuts; accepts them as gospel.

The scientist in me is driven to test these hypotheses; as I’ve tested the gospels.

I’ve recently spent two days testing one age old proverb: “Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer.”

Of course, as any good essentialist, I should define my terms.

Friend: One whom you know well and regard with affection; one who is not hostile toward you.
Enemy: One who feels hatred toward you, intends injury towards you, or opposes your interests; a foe.

DAY ONE:
Saturday was one of the best flying days in recent memory. The wind direction was great. The wind speed was great. Cactus was working well; if a bit strong. There was an entire gaggle of USHPA members boring hole in the sky; bags & bones. Cloud base was high and getting higher. X-C veterans and X-C wannabes were foaming at the chinstrap, waiting for someone to commit to “The Mission.”

That’s when it happened: Slicing through the HAM radio chatter was the announcement, “I am conducting a Cross Country Clinic, in five minutes.”

If this had been me proclaiming my intention to lead & teach the masses, at worst, I would have been met by scoffs, jeers, and laughter; at best, multiple polite offers to “take a rain check.” However, this was Doug Hoffman. (Yes. I said Doug was offering to lead everyone downrange on what was certain to be an exciting, challenging, and extremely educational experience.) Whether you’re a long time flying buddy of Doug’s, his former student, or you’ve simply admired his X-C exploits from afar, you knew this was an opportunity you did not want to miss.

“Count me in!” “Me, too!” “I’m coming!” “Wait for me! I'm launching right now!” “Don’t leave without me!” “Holy crap! I gotta get my wing out of truck!” “I’m coming, too!”

The goslings were lining-up.

I. A nationally recognized X-C comp pilot that offers to guide you downrange: FRIEND – keep him close.

The troops fell into formation behind our admiral: DHV 1-2’s carrying P-2’s; DHV 2’s carrying P-4’s; DHV 2-3’s carrying tandem instructors; even racing-pod-clad instructors, brandishing pristine Comp Wings, set off on the Waimanalo leg of the trip. It was a beautiful sight; lift everywhere.

II. Gentle updrafts that carry your wing smoothly downrange, above ridge height: FRIEND – keep it close.

Did I mention that there was lift EVERYWHERE? ‘Cause there was lift EVERYWHERE . . . until there wasn’t.

You see, all of a sudden, pilots were being flushed out of the sky like . . . well . . . like the brown & smelly-kine-stuffs that you might expect to see being flushed.

III. Rapidly descending column of air pushing you dangerously close to the tree shrouded boulders in the back of a valley: ENEMY – do not keep it close.

Fortunately, I’d snagged this big friendly thermal and was forging a corkscrew path to the center of this colossal cottony cumulus; heading towards Olomana. Doug, ever watchful of his charges, encouraged me to make the jump to Green Walls while he and the rest of the armada fought the malevolent sink at the back of the valley.

IV. Rapidly ascending column of air pushing you joyfully close to a soft, fluffy-white cloud: FRIEND – keep it close.

I arrived at Green Walls with nice, consistent lift and awaited the rest of the expedition; S-Turning my way along The Wall. Apparently, the aforementioned sink held greater malice than I’d suspected, because as we prepared to push out of the valley, in order to jump over the Pali Highway, only four ships remained: Me, out front; two visitors from Maui bringing up the rear, one of whom was making his first ever cross country flight (pulling-off super-low saves, without a vario!); and Doug, darting back and forth between us, making sure we were all safe and sound.

This section of the trip always constricts my sphincters. Between the ridiculous headwinds, booming thermals, and nauseating rotor boiling off of the peak of Olomana, it usually becomes an exercise in chasing your wing around the sky, pumping-out crumpled wingtips, and B-line stalls. Not this time though. On this trip, the only hazard was a big grey cloud that attempted to Hoover us into the stratosphere. Big ears & speed bar was sufficient to stay out of The White Room (or would that be “Grey Room?") and eek our way out front & around to the Pali Lookout.

V. Overpowering cloud suck that causes you to lose visual contact with the ridge & your flying buddies: ENEMY – Do not keep it close.

VI. Speed bar at the ready: FRIEND – Keep it close.

The rest of the trip was amazing and wonderful, but aside from making goal (ice cold beverages at the Hygienic Store in Kahaluu), it was uneventful.

Hillery, my lovely wife and walking incubator, was kind enough to be our para-driver. Everyone should have a Hillery.

VII. A wife that will drive from Honolulu to Hygienic’s just to retrieve a bunch of sweaty, smelly, paraglider pilots – hopped-up on adrenaline & Samuel Adams: FRIEND!!! – Keep her close!

DAY TWO:
Sunday was a virtual carbon copy. I’d skipped church, Congregation of the Cross, so that I could worship at The Congregation of the Cross Country. I’d made a couple of probes into Waimanalo, but it didn’t feel quite right. So, I did my best to entertain the tourists while I waited for the skies to clear. The gaggle was growing . . . lawn darts and para-panties abound.

Jorge made his way to the back of the valley and was making it look easy with his Ozone 6907. I figured, if an ACRO wing could do well, my Mantra M2 (built for cross county), should pull its own weight.

I know . . . I know . . . just because Jorge can do something, doesn’t mean a mere mortal can do it. But, I was inspired.

Thermals were big, friendly, and active. Making Green Walls was deceptively easy. I say “deceptively,” because when I arrived, I found the opposite of thermals. (see: III. above.) Jorge came to visit; climbing above the wall and playing in the breeze like a dolphin on the bow of a sailing ship. I spent the next thirty minutes trying to get to ridge height: More Like Jorge.

Prior commitments forced Jorge to head back to the Makapu’u LZ.

VIII. Anything that keeps you from flying cross country on perfect X-C day: ENEMY – Do not keep it close.

Alex promised to join me. But, at the last minute, he developed “issues” that put him on the Makapu’u LZ.

IX. Bowel & Bladder distress that forces you out of the air: ENEMY! – Do not keep it close.

Lonely and tired, I headed down The Wall and started planning my jump to the Pali.

Do you recall me say me saying something about “nauseating rotor” and “sphincters tightening?”

There are fifty-nine cells making-up the small Mantra M2; forty-four of which suddenly disappeared (the entire left side & ½ of the right side.) This is the point when you prepare yourself to find the red handle and rehearse your greeting to the helicopter pilot that you expect to be meeting, as soon as someone drags your sorry butt off of the ridge.

X. Turbulence that rips your wing out of the sky, just inches from the serrated edges of a lava rock wall: ENEMY – Do not keep it close.

S.I.V. clinic, step-by-step, instructions rushing though my head, I prepared to stall my way out of the imminent spin that was to follow. Except . . . the six square meters of fabric still projected overhead didn’t even rotate twenty degrees before a skull rattling “POP!” broke the sound barrier and I flew away from the impending crash site.

The Mantra M2 is INDISTRUCTABLE!

XI. An X-C wing that loves you as much as you love it: FRIEND! – Keep it close.

Aside from 20,000 S-Turns and a few very low saves, it was a relatively uneventful trip to Kahaluu. I was about to call Hillery and ask her if she would come out to Hygienic’s and pick me up, visions of Boston Lager dancing in my head, when I hear Joey’s voice asking me where I was headed. Without hesitation, even though he was pressed for time, he pointed the Hummer H-3 towards Kahaluu and carted me back to Makapu’u.

Mahalo Nui Loa!!

XII. Folks that will go out of their way to help you out: FRIEND!! – Keep them close.

On the way back, we noticed another group heading downrange. I didn’t like the conditions back at the Pu’u, so I decided to run retrieval for the second shift.

Fireman made it look easy (of course.)
Scrappy made his first Hygienic’s trip (well done!)
Alex scored a field goal on landing (Dave . . . please, post the pic.)

So . . . there you have it:
Seven FRIENDS – all to be kept as close as possible
Five ENEMIES – that I NEVER want to see again.

The empirical data is indisputable:
"Keep your friends close, and keep your enemies as far away as possible.”

Aloha,
Suicide