tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20110414.post4608133718299594893..comments2023-09-28T09:00:44.681-10:00Comments on Wind Lines: Thermal clinic turns into epic cross countryUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20110414.post-18479325052789313572007-04-11T03:55:00.000-10:002007-04-11T03:55:00.000-10:00Wow! Awesome, and Well Done everyone! Wish I could...Wow! Awesome, and Well Done everyone! Wish I could have been there. Instead, I was in a classroom in San Diego learning how to make computers more secure. ***SIGH***.paliglydrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11646372511592972172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20110414.post-59642473464453534942007-04-05T22:32:00.000-10:002007-04-05T22:32:00.000-10:00I certainly wouldn't want to be caught in the air ...I certainly wouldn't want to be caught in the air at Nanakuli on a day when the prevailing winds came up strong because then we're subject to all of the rotor effects of the various neighboring hills, but I guess I was worrying less about what I perceived to be anabatic winds. I know the valley winds on strong thermal days in the Alps are bad, I thought it was as a result of their long valleys. I envision with our relatively short valleys that the air near the main ridge is going up, though it may be cross and strong on the spines where we launch. There may be strong winds in the valley, and even stronger on the launches, but lighter lateral movement higher up and lighter lateral movement further away (like the beach) where the draw is more distributed. If it were a lifty day, I envision being able to get high (if you launched before it came too strong), and then when you wanted to land, stay high in the lighter lateral flow while you move away far away from the ridge (say to the beach) to get to where the winds were mellower for landing. <BR/><BR/>This is probably all just a gross (and dangerous) miscalculation.sandyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03062704709975780035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20110414.post-6635182338199202262007-04-05T20:34:00.000-10:002007-04-05T20:34:00.000-10:00Just a couple more thoughts1. For those of you th...Just a couple more thoughts<BR/>1. For those of you that thought it was strong. IT WAS. Normally when I fly Nanakuli I wait until the afternoon. On a good day the lift mellow out and it can still be strong. If it made you a little uncomfortable think about launching a bit later next time. The great thing about Nanakuli is it is willing to wait intil the afternoon and still reward.<BR/><BR/>2. I have heard lots of you say it is good to get there early and launch before it blows out. My take on that is do you really want to be in the air when it blows out? I know I don't. I think the days it gets to stong to launch and is still worth flying are rare. If it is going to be a epic day it will not blow out.<BR/><BR/>3. This day was extra ordinary. Flying in the back of the valley is usually similar to the front of the valley and there are many times I am down at ridge height in the back. I always keep Nanakuli valley as my bomb out and there is a road you can always hit. I figure this is my primary bail out.<BR/><BR/>4. When flying behind Lualualei I try to keep several of the close farms in mind..just incase. Always fly LZ to LZ.<BR/><BR/>DougDoughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01177723804823444250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20110414.post-21156748923956442082007-04-05T20:01:00.000-10:002007-04-05T20:01:00.000-10:00I watch Waianae clouds from my living room, from t...I watch Waianae clouds from my living room, from the balcony at work, from traffic cams, from JeffMC's site photos and from Doug's descriptions. And too many of the times when I've gone out there to fly under them, it's blown out unlaunchable on the hill, while the sky looks epic and inviting and I know the morning started out calm and I leave wondering how it would have been if I had gotten there earlier. I *loathe* missing opportunities. <BR/><BR/>So for once, I wanted to be there to observe the transition from lifeless to nuking, and if possible, if the courage could be mustered to launch alone if necessary, catch the train before it left the station. <BR/><BR/>But make no mistake, this would *not* be an unsuccessful day no matter what; I couldn't bear that. I spend too many days in my office, knowing that it is very flyable, but despondantly unable to get away. For Saturday, I set my sights only as high as being on the hill to observe first-hand the site conditions from as early as I could stand to be there. It would just be a lovely day, sitting on a hill, reading a book, watching the weather change. Naturally, I would have my wing along as it would make a nice backrest, be good for keeping in shape while hiking, and it would be silly not to have my luggage ready if the train did stop long enough for me to alight. <BR/><BR/>I arrived at the curb at 8:50 am, and we all know a thermal clinic was called, so the lonely day I had planned became abundant with fellow thermal seekers. I launched after Alex, Peter, Greg, and Scrappy, and Jeff (from Middles). There were many pockets of lift, and it was like a little game to find the really good one that you could stay in and ride to the top. If I didn't like what I had, I'd try to go check out what Alex or Don had. Finally I must have hooked into the right one, because when someone asked my altitude (about 2900ft) and Alex said "That's good enough to go back", I went. But as I made my way across the gap, I could see Scrappy working hard, and Greg below the ridge line and Suicide meandering back. I've only been back as far as the gap before, and that didn't work out well (reference Alex's concerns about getting back behind the peak and not being able to get back -- that can be a valid concern). But Scrappy's movements showed some hope. I headed to where he was, a bit N of the spine spanning Haleakala to the main Waianae range about a third of the way to the range. There was lift there, but it was sharply defined. You knew when you were in it, out of it, and passing through it. But it worked. When I felt I had regained enough, I followed behind Scrappy to the main ridge. It wasn't as magical as I thought it would be. I always thought once you made it back there you'd be golden, soaring to great heights, but it was still alot of work finding the narrow columns of lift. As I'm working to get to find the magic, Doug comes along way above and starts heading north, with Scrappy in tow. Don and I keep working trying to get the altitude they had before leaving, but then finally I figure I might as well take my chances with finding more lift along the main ridge. <BR/><BR/>The Lualualei area is military kapu, but I decided the inland side had some potential LZs (still, I would like to have had a map to tell me that it was NOT another off-limits military area). Doug took the fast line (in his fast glider) across a curve in the ridge, but I opted to hug the ridge line to milk any lift I can. My gamble pays off with a nice thermal halfway through. From there I just keep working the ridge, making my way N slowly, while Doug disappears and Scrappy becomes a bright yellow sliver against the grey clouds. Pretty soon I'm all alone as I keep working my way north. It was not too scary as there was generalized and localized lift along most of the way. I tried to keep track of where the good stuff was in case I needed to come back to it. <BR/><BR/>One of my favorite places on this island is Mt. Kaala. It seems a magical place as the tallest point on the island, visible from my living room, and home to a cloud forrest. I've hiked to its summit, but it was truly a dream come true to finally hover above it. <BR/><BR/>My only disappointment was that there wasn't much lift on the ocean side where I reached it and I was uncomfortable venturing beyond it. There were clouds to the N and E, and I couldn't see past them to what lie beyond and where Scrappy and Doug might be and how well it might be working, or not. I traced my way back to known lift while I considered my options. There were plenty of good LZ's and some possible thermal sources in the Waianae valley immediately makai of me. If I were to head back to Nanakuli, there were the dicey LZ's inland and military kapu makai of the path back. I feared the lift might be waning along that path as the clouds of the day might be blotting out too much of the sun. I considered heading out over the pineapple fields, but I didn't want to make for a bad retrieve since I didn't know anyone else had gone out that way. I hung around for awhile waiting for Doug, because I thought I heard him say he was headed back my way. But when I didn't see him, I figured he must have gone some other way (along the beach!). Growing fatigued and hungry, I opted for Waianae, with the vague hope that I might catch a thermal on the way and be able to land on the beach. I didn't find much, certainly not enough to get me to the beach, so I settled for a nice grassy park near what I thought my be Jeff or Jim's homestead. <BR/><BR/>Like a good girl, I did an aircraft landing approach, and noted there definitely was an onshore wind, at least 10 mph, and it seemed to be getting stronger the lower I got. After patting myself on the back for this smart maneuver, I flippantly ignored it all and reverted to my standard S-turns downwind of the LZ. Bad girl! I made one of the S-turns big and wide as though I were landing in light winds and soon was forced to face reality: for my foolishness I was not going to make the nice big unobstructed park. My only choice now was a two-lane road. Fortunately, it was empty and I came down nicely about a half-block from the park. <BR/><BR/>So I caught the train after all. The fact that lots of other pilots came out rode with me was a wonderful bonus. That I got to tag Mt. Kaala was simply astounding. On my scale of 1-10, the day was about 1500!<BR/><BR/>Big thanks to Bob for the retrieve and Doug for sharing his knowledge. Aloha to all who share in the magic of free flight.sandyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03062704709975780035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20110414.post-23592812169554463052007-04-04T08:12:00.000-10:002007-04-04T08:12:00.000-10:00Doug, what a great write-up. Thanks for putting on...Doug, what a great write-up. Thanks for putting on the clinic and motivating ten pilots to join you for your best flight ever. I think nearly everyone had their best West Side day out there, but I think it's also interesting that we were all a bit wistful about missed opportunities. I know I voluntarily passed up several good chances to fly higher or further (or deeper), mostly because I just have these tiny little cojones, but I'm trying not to kick myself about it, especially because this day already took me higher and further than ever before. I feel very lucky to have pulled a great day out of the fire, after struggling for so long to break the 2500 ceiling over Haelakala. I generally watch other wings very closely, and I did see you and Don pulling away in the stronger stuff but for the life of me I couldn't find the elevator you seemed to be in. Also I think I was very reluctant to let myself turn in the thermal drift much behind the peak at what felt like too low an altitude to easily make it back out front. A bad ridge soaring habit that I should leave at Kahana. Anyway, I plan to keep going back out there until I can thermal as well as Sandy and Scrappy and everyone else did on that day.Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06249789335111913420noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20110414.post-4306346176118126132007-04-04T08:03:00.000-10:002007-04-04T08:03:00.000-10:00Doug you have had many many amazing flights. I fee...Doug you have had many many amazing flights. I feel lucky to be part of your best day ever. WOW Thank you DonAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com