Spring forward

This morning, I figured I'd play hooky for a sled ride and some R&D on some camera setups and another project at the LZ.

11:00, I barreled outta OC and made it to the LZ with 15 minutes to spare, and spent 10 of them mollifying a distressed client. phsaw.

Running into a rolling McBus, the cast of characters was light, with Mark Hoffman & Gene (& Liz as a return driver).

Rebardan was already up top with his ATOS (Dan have you landed yet?).... and Dusty ran the McBus off Marshall Road to beat us to the top (okay, we dropped Diane off at the last fork for a hike).

Typical late winter / early spring weekday, I thought. Not so much.

Rob was out having fun, shooting top landings, one of which I got on video (pesky pause button got another). Gene showed his love of Rotorville & buzzed launch like Maverick in a full pattern, time and again. Dusty flew off into the distance and scared the bejeebers outta the locals ("people! they be fallen from dah sky"). Firefighters who showed up at the LZ just to watch said there was a hook and ladder chasing a distressed ultralight through town. Or something.

On that note, if you see a fire engine in the LZ & the lights aren't on, they're just smokin' pork chops, no emergency. I saw it and kept an eye out for the X in the Circle, figuring a paraglider had gotten hammered by some cross winds.

What a fun and different day. I decided not to borrow a jacket from Rob and got high enough to get cold. I brought three cameras out, but forgot something for each, and it was a clear and high day. I didn't pack my bags in my harness and it would have been a great day to explore a little more than I could without them.

I took the Marshall house thermal to about 5,600 and started back toward Crestline. I chickened out, got back on the elevator, and tried again.

"Ruh roh," said Astro, I was pretty sure I was heading into North winds. That pipe-filled U-Turn in the road looked pretty close. I could read "ACME Pipes and Fittings" on the side of one of them. In for a penny, in for a pounding. I was thinking about that bailout LZ and how to store my glider without a strap of velcro while I walked back to the LZ (lesson there). I looked at the Crestline windsock and it was either torn or pointing the wrong way.

Boom! There were two thermal factories there, though, on the spines on each side of the launch. Rob sauntered by and zipped up and away, fun to see him in the air without a student.

At 6800 it was time to explore again. I did a half circle to the front of the Pine spine and fund lift to 7,800. I last saw Gene heading toward Arrowhead and wanted to go that way, but was down to 6200 by Crestline, so I punted back to Marshall for another lap back to Regionals, Billboard, and Pine, nice thermals at each.

Topping out at 8,500 at Pine, I decided to see if I could reach the 215. I got there a bit above 7K & went down it to the golf course. There, I hit the inversion layer and felt like Saddam Hussein falling through the floor and called it a day.

My landing must have been amusing to watch, I thought the ground was a foot or two higher than it was and ran in air for a while, mushed out, and skidded to a stop on my knees.

Didn't care, though.

Rasp/blipmaps look better for tomorrow, though the winds look a little more westerly.

PM me for a link to some quick & dirty video. No torrent crap, high def. With Kyle's help, I got a lot of Gene, some dan & mark, and even a paraglider (Doosty). I got a bit of Rob, but I wish I had gotten more. He's just so relaxed. It's like watching Perry Como fly.

Hope I can play hooky again. My first non-sledder in quite a while has fueled more than my loquaciousness. (ooh big word)



Here's a youtube video of the track (follow link for high quality option):