KnumbKnuts' Hang Gliding Blog: January 2010

What a week... and the week before that was a lot of hard work. I spent a lot of cabbage cutting a road up to new launches and a fair bit on top of that, prepping it for the rain. That rain came with a vengeance... the wettest week in almost 15 years. Ugh.

The call for help went out here.

Mike Zeller, Rob McKenzie (in the rain especially), Owen, Carl, Flakey John, Kevin Greene, Megret, Rebar Dan, Kenny, Rod, Bob, the list of people who helped prep for the rains is bigger than that, but they are the ones that spring to mind at the moment. What a great team effort.

It held up against 8 inches (at least) of rain in 5 days... that's half a normal season. Lots of that came down in strong bursts that overwhelmed the terrain. The road needs more design work and a lotta "touching up," but it held.

The jute matting (straw / mesh) held well, as did the canvas. The hay bales were also a success. The home made straw rolls were basically worthless, the drains were a joke. Cutting trenches seemed to help, especially the deeper ones.

The culverts worked very well.

Here are some pics... Click on them to pop larger ones.

The F'O' Hundred Launch

Soft stuff washed away, leaving these monsters

Between the launches

Zeller's diagonal cut across Embree

Looking down the last climb after the last turn

These straw rolls didn't do much

The burlap strips and jute matting held the line... the slope held.

This slope was a concern

I was worried about a slide from the left... didn't happen.

10 dollar rolls of burlap... best bang for the buck

The drains sucked... only figuratively... this was the only visible one.

The mud in the middle pushed the water to the right (see next photo)

Under the bale and down the slope... this was the worst spot in the "Great White Slope" and still not bad. That jute matting was worth the $740... it save the slope.