The E Team's Turkey Meet at the New Lake Elsinore LZ

Lake Elsinore's weather is very hard to predict in Santa Anas. Right up to the moment of launch, you can't really tell if it's going to be soarable, unless it's really honking, then you're worried about getting off safely.

The E Team, led by Mickey, have an annual fly in they call the Turkey Meet. Nov. 29 this year was a real hoot, though the winds were not strong enough for ridge soaring. The burgers were tasty, the beer cold, the Marina LZ fun to land on, and the company good.


Lake Elsinore Turkey Meet from knumbknuts on Vimeo.

My two flights were both 7 minutes long, straight bingos to the LZ. My bombs were 3 out of 4 in the outer circle and my second landing sucked, but my first was one of my favorites ever. I was beating myself up for my second launch, where I dropped a wingtip and missed the left downtube on transition, until I saw on a video that my wireman twanged my left sidewire while clearing, causing the drop.

I have added something to my list: watch the wiremen clear.

My bad landing was due to the fact that I cut the approach on the Sport 2 tight and retained less energy than I expected. I have to remember that my cocoon harness is like a big drogue and that I will lose speed in a tight turn, especially if I don't carve it, which I didn't. I was expecting about another half second or second when the bottom fell out and I belly flopped. But, it wasn't a whack and I got 4th in the HG comp, thanks to the good bomb drops on the run.

The good landing was after an approach that started higher and gave me more room to manuever. I came in over the water and landed into East winds. I was the first to launch and was really surprised to see the East winds, but they gave me a great shot of the Marina on my side mounted camera. That berm in the little bay sure loomed large as I came up to it at 30+ mph. I overshot the circle, but I was going for a good, safe landing... not the circle.

Fun day. I hope to fly Elsinore a few more times this winter and maybe next summer. It's a nice change of pace, though the lack of predicability can be frustrating.

Here's a fun landing Dave Aldrich caught of Wolfgang Siass, a comp pilot from Austria.