Dirty Half Dozen

Our cruel overlords at NOAA threw us an unexpected bone today. After a week of gale force gustiness, fourteen air-starved pilots staggered out to Kahana to feast for hours on the spicy north conditions. Maui Doug led the charge across the bay in his alien probe, with six pilots beaming to Kualoa and back by the end of the day. Thank you for your benevolent gift, most merciful rulers!

Maui Doug, Joey, Chandler, Scot, Jim and I were super stoked to make the crossing. It took a lot of tries for many of us, and others made many valiant efforts in vain. It was a bit strong and not quite north enough to call it an easy day for the crossing. Actually, it was pretty challenging. It was also great to see Reaper, Bonnie, Alan, Kamloops Ed, Duck, Sidehill Thom, Jeff, and Big Island John out there, as well as the usual assortment of family, friends and canine companions.

I included Chandler's pictures in my set since he doesn't have a good way to post them at the moment. Jim also took some nice ones, which I've linked to the right of this paragraph. If anyone else got any decent shots, send them over or post a link and I'll include them.

Tomorrow might be even better. I canceled my piano lesson in anticipation. See you there!

Update: lots of pictures from Bonnie and Pete here.

February Double Eagle

When you think of February and the northwest, you likely have an image of scraping ice off windows, braving 20 degree temperatures, and blowing snow, but if you are in eastern Washington, that couldn't be further from the truth. The last two weeks we have had some GREAT flying weather, and the spring thermals have arrived early.



Week before last, the family was invited to attend and fly in a wild eagle release. The eagle was an immature Bald that had been rescued after it had fed on the carcass of an animal that had been put to sleep. The result was the eagle lost consciousness and fell asleep while flying, and crashed through some power lines, before ending up in a heap in a farmers field. He was rescued, and nursed back to health. To do this, the rescuers had to detox the bird and cure him from the lead poisoning he was suffering from. It is common for birds of prey to have high lead in their blood, due to eating things that have been shot with a shotgun. They don't chew much, and just swallow the lead shot. The video was shot by Noah, and the chanting is from a Native American son of the eagle. Keep your eyes out for the paragliders in the video. The eagle went straight for the hill, hit the ridge lift, then soared for a few minutes with the boys before coring off into the sky, hopefully with a new lease on life. The Golden Eagle in the photo above is also a rescue bird, but cannot be released because it is blind in one eye, and can't see well (for an eagle) out of the other. They use it as an education bird, and it was beautiful!

This past weekend, the weather was again beautiful. The day started with a thick fog floating off the river and giving the yard an eerie quiet feeling, but at about 10am the sun cut through the fog, and you could tell the day was going to be on. I have gotten to know the usual suspects, and it only took one text to find out where it was going to be on. I planned to meet up with some of the area's most prolific fliers, and the call was Eagle Butte. The butte is only about 30 minutes from the house (to the top) and faces southwest. I arrived at 2pm to find Rick (Doc) waiting for stronger cycles with Dave (Preacher) having just landed out. Yes, they have nicknames here too. Shortly after arriving, the cycles picked up and it was go time. We kited on launch for a few minutes till "the one" blew through. After a short search, I hit the core, and what started out as 100 slowly built to 2, then to 3, 4, 5 and 600 fpm. The core was smooth, and I climbed from launch at 800 feet to almost 6,000 and cloudbase. The day was clear, and the views were spectacular.

My first cross country in this direction, and boy, does it have potential. This is the direction of Spokane, 150 miles away, and the direction of the prevailing wind. I have high hopes for a big flight from this little hill. I took the photo of the big river (my river) as I flew over Badger "Mountain", away from the cloud that was building around me, and if you look close, you can see our house, about even with the far tip of the first island ;)

Hope you are all doing well, and I hope to see some of you at the Nationals in Chelan. By the way, Chelan is one of the COOLEST places to fly ever. Strong thermals. Big open country and no mountains, so every place is a good LZ!

I think I left my newer Vertex radio in someone's rig - if you find one and don't know where it came from, give me a call.

Lucky Dogs

Four pilots flew Kahana today, and against all odds, in the lightest of conditions, we made it work out there. Three of us went downrange, one to Pounders and two to Hauula.

The day started out nuking and very east, but it gradually got lighter, while remaining pretty east. Larry called me from the Kahana boat ramp and said he saw swirly dark patches on the water - that's a good sign that it's too east. I told him the wind was supposed to clock around and ease off, and it would end up light SE by Saturday, so there was no point in waiting around. I wish Larry had a cell phone so I could have called him! It began to look flyable not long after that, and I met Scot, Thom and NJ Alex out there to take a look. It was a bit east, but it seemed worth the hike.

We hiked up only to find that the wind was seriously dying off. It was incredibly light on launch. I took one quick flight trying to lasso some thermals with my new wing, but I couldn't quite wrassle them down, so I toplanded. I took another try and landed at mid launch, launched again and landed at upper launch. Scot waited for a funny little squall, took off in the tiny gust front, and then sank back down to launch right afterwards. It wasn't looking good. There just wasn't much wind at all. Jim called Thom, and he said it wasn't worth coming out.

Finally some texture started to appear on the water, and it was just enough for us all to launch and get up. Scot and I worked our way up into the back and got to about 2,100, before heading out to the front and veering off to Punaluu. NJ Alex was really struggling to get high in the light conditions, being a bit overloaded on his acro wing. Thom was taking his sweet time to work his way up and follow us.

When Scot and I got to the next ridge, there was nothing happening there, and we found ourselves digging in to work the lightest of lift. We finally made 1,500 there, and sped off to the next ridge, where we found some decent ridge lift that made it easier to stay up. At that point I knew we were going to be okay. I remembered Jorge saying you could make it to Pounders with 1,200 from this peak - and I had 1,400. So off I went, hoping he was right. Scot made the conservative decision to head for Hauula Beach Park, always a good call. Thom followed him down there a bit later.

Dorothy called just after I landed at Pounders (having arrived with a couple hundred extra feet - thanks Jorge!). I had to admit where I was, and that I'd probably be late for our dinner date. She said she was happy for me, and not to worry about dinner, as long as I could get there in time for Logan's school musical. NJ Alex came out to pick us up, and we headed back to Kahana to enjoy some of Scot's nice cold beverages, before I had to run off. Thanks, guys!

I heard Joey flew at Lanikai, while Jim opted to take a pass because it was pretty strong over there. Amazing that it could be nuking at Lanikai but barely blowing at Kahana. And later I heard that Scrappy enjoyed some very dimly lit conditions at Makapuu in a speed wing. If anyone has any good stories or pictures, please post them here.

Early Birds

Fifteen pilots showed up to fly over the course of the day at Kahana today. It turned out to be one of those days that rewards an early start. The forecast had augured increasing trades, but the day started out beautiful and sunny with a light north breeze, so I ran out early to see about some bay crossing. And I have to say I was pretty excited to try out my new wing.

Ken was already in the air when I showed up around 11, but he landed as I was getting ready to hike, because of some riser twists. Thom arrived and we ran up the hill, followed by Ken for his second go, and NJ Alex joined us shortly after that.

The direction was sort of north, but not so much that it seemed like a good bay crossing day. It was also pretty strong up there - you could go into the back but it was pretty slow coming out, and it was too strong to consider a downrange mission. It wasn't hard to get high above the front of the hill though, so we tried for some of those bay crossings I'd been dreaming about.

It took me quite a few tries, but finally my new wing showed how well it could slice through a headwind, and it delivered me a few feet in front and above the Crouching Lion. From there I slowly worked my way up, but not more than a few hundred feet, and I found myself parked, facing into a strong and swirly easterly headwind. Rather than tuck in tight to the bowls behind the upwind ridges, I decided to play it safe and I made a wide retreat around and down to the LZ, where I saw that the second shift was gaggling up for the hike. After some sweet tree soaring, I landed my trusty new steed, and I was soon joined by Ken and Thom.

After that, the wind picked up a bit, and swung east to tempt everyone (except One Eye) to the east ridge, and then it swung north again, and it began to drizzle. Reaper got off with Bonnie's brother in law John, followed by NJ Alex for his second session, and Mad Dog, and Scot. One Eye had an easier time from the north ridge. But it was strong and drizzly and people didn't stay up long. Scot came down and enjoyed an epic tree soaring session.

Great to see everyone out there on such an interesting day. Ken, Thom, NJ Alex, Mad Dog, Maui Doug, Jack, Reaper, Bonnie and family, Duck, Scot and family, Ray, Larry, Jim, Jeff and family.

Parawaiting Claims Pilot

Dehydrated pilot found at Cactus launch waiting for the north wind that was reported to be on its way. It appeared to be another first, solo air space flight, no one was around … hmm … wonder why?

Mad Dog had scored 3 flights, 3 sites in 2 days while the rest of us, the monkeys that is, looked on or sledded, so I thought, well maybe I will get a flight today.

When I got to Cactus, it felt ok, not great but ok, so I hurried and laid out, tried to kite but no chance, it just would not load.

While parawaiting, I got hot, so off with the suit, off with the boots, and I got bored and took this picture. Packed up, hiked down and went off to do honey dos.

Of course the breeze finally showed up after a trip to COSTCO and with frozen food in the truck could not sneak one in, but Reaper and BlubBlub got one.

Tomorrow, Mad Dog is off, hopefully he will share the air.

Wind Dummy for a Day

A beautiful day to chase it in Hawaii! We had southeast wind and sun to start us off at my old launch above Kalama Valley, the one we used to call Mad Dog's. Thomas, Scot, the Japanese contingent and I all went up for a look see, and we all thought it was good and doable, but they all gave me the "looks good, you go first" theory. Since it was my old site from 14 years ago, I agreed.

After my first couple of attempts to kite it a bit, the Far East contingent probably thought we were crazy to try and get up from such a wild place we call a launch, barely big enough for the wing to fit. A failed first! Mahalo to Scot and Thom for getting me back on track and up the hill again, now our visitors knew we were crazy! The next pull up was good, and off I went, a few passes at launch level and I hooked a good one, as this is a thermal only site, and I climbed out to now make it look great, at 600' over. Thom offered the visitors the chance to launch next but they graciously declined. 20 minutes of good soaring and it was down to the LZ in the park for me. Met Da Boyz at Sandy's for a beverage or two and some relaxing.

Untitled from Thom Therrien on Vimeo.

Now it was time to motivate again, as Jorge communicated that Tantalus was looking good, and he would be off work soon, and Jim was also on his way there. So I arrived behind Scrappy and Jim who gave me another "looks good, but a little SSW, so you go first!" Feeling good about my earlier flight, I took to the hopefully friendly skies and yep, beep beep beep, luckily up I went to 1700' over launch at 2700' altitude. Thom was now on his way up, and I heard him on the radio, saying Scrappy was bombing out on the road, so no one else tried to make it work, as I glided in zero's across Manoa Valley to a position above St. Louis Heights. Cruising there for a while, I never really got any good hits, so I went across Palolo Valley low, and got nothing on the Wilhelmina side, so I went in after almost an hour to the LZ at Palolo Park and swimming pool.

It was a very nice day overall, especially after Thom picked me up at UH and gave me a lift back to Tantalus lookout, where I had a couple cold refreshments in the cooler, so we enjoyed them reflecting on a perfect setting sun.

Aloha, Mad Dog

Fistful of Firsts

The family of the Oahu Flying Monkeys is growing, and the regular LZs are getting lonely. On Saturday we celebrated so many firsts that Reaper had to stop counting them just to save his liver.

I got to Kahana for the afternoon session and several pilots were already flying their quota. But a barrel of monkeys were on East Launch waiting for some lift. Please add to the following list of firsts, as I may not get them all, but just remember: the Reaper does take 'beer checks'.

Seattle Stu soared over Kahana, and I am sure he had some firsts during that session, or at least on the beach in the chair, where he had his first, second, third, and so on. He did have his first career XC a few days earlier, crossing the bay and then to Hauula.

Seattle Betsy, Stu's much better half, had her first soaring flight at Kahana after a few days of attempts, sledders and the dreaded hike down. She and Stu are hooked on Hawaii flying and will be back to the monkey cage again and again.

Don was lucky to fly with the legend, Ken "Airborne" Berry, who has blessed us with a return visit. Doubt there were any firsts for these monkeys, but the stories of their adventures are always worth hearing.

Maui Jim, Reapers student, got his first launch and landing. Welcome to the clan, Jim, and hopefully Reaper will let you use a backpack next time; he had to hike his gear up in a stuff sack.

John 'Duck' Mallard scored his first top landing at Kahana. It was so good and controlled I thought he had done plenty but it was his first, and yes, Reaper did tally that one to the cooler. We had the dreaded 'Afternoon Lull,' coined by Alan G on launch: a few monkeys tried and sledded to the beach, but finally Duck took off and slowly worked the lift to show us the way. North ridge was working better, and he started a frenzy of launches. Good job, Duck.

Courtney flew 'Pinky,' and I believe had her first soaring flight at Kahana.

Alan G got some air time today, but had to force himself to stay low below the gaggle above him. Alan is also a dive master, and had worked earlier that morning touring deep in the ocean, so he did not want to get the bends. Oh, Alan when you use the radio, cover the the mic slightly - I thought you told Reaper to get bent....or maybe that was subliminal.

Matt had a top landing as well but I don't think that was his first, or at least he avoided the penalty, not admitting to it.

Finally I got in the air. It has been awhile, so staying in the playground was the only thing on my mind.....not really. Reaper finally got his....wing off the launch and flew past me up high, and I slowly inched up just below him. Alex came up and coaxed me over the back, oops, I mean over to the next ridge. The air was great, and it was chilly, or at least that was Reaper's excuse for not following us, but we know his cooler was now overflowing and the draw was a little stronger.

While Alex and I were getting high over Sacred Falls, we heard Nick and Scrappy on their way down from Makapuu - we were all cheering them on, and hoping to have them join us to Pounders. Nick had his first pod XC, and Scrappy had a his first long tandem XC with his roomy Mike. Hopefully we will read about these in up coming articles.

Alex and I headed for the next ridge. He got super high, 3K, he was cold without a flight suit. I grabbed a fat thermal and got bounced up quick. On the way to the next ridge, Alex said that he had never been this high, and was going to see how far he could go. We just flew past the next ridge - no need to even stop there to try and get higher.

I was lower than Alex, and headed for Pounders. When I got there I was still high, and went for the next beach over. I lost sight of Alex, and was going in to land on the narrowing Laie beach. I had started a sharp left turn when I noticed a knot in my left brake line come through the pulley. I am not sure when it got there, but there it was, and it was not going back through without forcing it. I did not want it to get stuck while landing so I gabbed the lines above the pulley and landed safely next to a girl who was sleeping. I did not wake her until I dropped the wing, with the tip getting caught in the tree behind her. I think I might have scared her a bit: she woke to me standing over, her clad in my flight suit, helmet, console and lines connected to a fluttering wing. But she rolled over and went back to sleep.

Alex landed at Gunstock Ranch, his first time making it that far from Kahana, and Larry was there to grab him, and he also came and got me. Thanks for the lift. On the way back to Kahana we passed Maui Doug, JD and Tommy, who had landed at Punaluu. It was Tommy's first XC and possibly JD's too.

This was my first time to Laie Beach, and my first XC since my OTB. Thanks for coaxing me on, Alex, I needed to get back in the saddle.

Achievements for All

It started out to be a very windy north day at Kahana, but as the day wore on, the winds calmed a bit. It is sometimes a challenge to get around the rhino horn from north launch and into the lift (for me at least), and it was the rattiest air I've been in for a while - I almost turned to the beach for safety. On my fourth attempt, I made it around and into the lift, as it was getting lighter, but I still scratched my way up with many collapses, very nerve wracking indeed.

I finally got up high with Don, Maui Doug and Seattle visitor Stu. Thanks to Scot, who helped me after my first failed attempt at north high launch. Reaching more stable air out of the NNW at altitude, I didn't wait long, and crossed to the Crouching Lion side of the bay from just 1800'. Don and Stu followed, with Maui Doug making his first bay crossing on his new steed. Again I didn't wait, and went across to Kualoa as the crew followed on my heels. We all hung there for a short bit to stack on altitude, and then we went back to the Crouching Lion side, where Alex was now in the air and crossing the bay to meet us. He was the last pilot to get up in the fickle north winds. Feeling like a yoyo in flight, I crossed again to Kualoa with Maui Doug who was on his first trip over there.

This time cloud suck was on, and the crossing was super high to Kualoa. Since I was still very high on the back peak at Kualoa, I bounced again to the Crouching Lion side, like the aforementioned yoyo, while Alex was now crossing my path in the opposite direction.

Feeling cold now, I headed home to Kahana, and hovered at 1700' above north launch, until the bug bit me to run down the coast to Pounders Beach Park. So I took a nice and easy quick cruise down there to the beach LZ, just before a patch of whitecaps whipped up. Alex and Stu had followed me as far as Hauula, but there they turned around to try and get back to Kahana. They got as far back as Punaluu, where they headed out to the beach at Chings store on speed bar to enjoy some frothy cold ones. Mahalo to Maui Doug for the retrieval back to the sunset party at Kahana, as Duck, his wife, Reaper and Malolo along with everyone else was there, to talk story and pack down a few coldies.

Very fun day after getting a bit of altitude under ya, but it was grueling for a few of us to get there. Also it was Stu's first X/C flight! Way to go, Doug and Stu... till next time.

Aloha, Mad Dog

Cold Day in Paradise

A dozen pilots met at Kahana today, in super north conditions, under a dark blanket of clouds, and out of the five pilots that managed to get up, all of them made it across the bay. But it sure wasn't easy to get up - the wind was switchy and gusty and hard to bend to our will today. Also it was chilly at sea level, so you can imagine how it felt at three grand with a 20 mph breeze. Brrrr!

Mad Dog led the way across the bay and across Kaaawa to Kualoa, followed closely by Don, Maui Doug and visitor Stu. Conditions on launch deteriorated, but I finally got airborne, working my way up over Kahana as I watched Scot, Thom, visitors Bets and Matt struggle below on launch.

I finally crossed the bay just as the other bay crossers were coming back from over there. Meanwhile, Scot sunk out during a sledder to the beach and landed in a bush on the east ridge. We may one day see that in HD-POV!

I flew to Kualoa by myself, but I didn't stay long because I was starting to freeze. Don and Maui Doug landed at the LZ, because they were frozen, and Mad Dog flew past Kahana to land at Pounders. Me and Stu returned to Kahana to tank up, and then flew to the Hauula ridge past Sacred Falls, and then turned around to fly back to Kahana, but we landed short, me at Chings Store and him at QLCC.

Thanks to Scot for the retrieve and the cold beverages. Reaper and Bonnie met us at the LZ, along with John and Ginger, and we hung out for a while and watched Reaper and Doug play with the demo XT16.

I didn't take any pictures in flight because I was wearing gloves. The four aerial shots in the slideshow linked to the photo above are from Don. Mad Dog took some great pics that are now featured in his excellent article about the day. Congrats to all the achievements today: Mad Dog's first time flying Kualoa to Pounders in the same flight, Maui Doug's first bay crossing, Stu's first XC anywhere, ever, and Don's first good flight at Kahana in quite a while.

Makapuu Beach Clean-Up: Part 2

On Monday, February 22 at 8:30 a.m., we will be doing the second phase of work at Makapuu Beach Park. Kawika Eckhart and the lifeguards, the Waimanalo Neighborhood Board, other volunteers and Hawaii Paragliding Association members will finish clearing the naupaka plants and painting, along with minor roof repairs on the lifeguard shack.

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