It's been a while since I have written a story......ok, I have never written one, but finally I got down to work and this Big Island Soaring Blog needs some new ink.
I was trying to get Thom 'Sidehill' to come to the Big Island Playground again. It had been awhile since he been with the gang here. It was tough until, I had a 4k flight one day with a trip north to land at Kona Waina Elementary School and then Scotty & Bill made it to Old A's ( old air port just past Kailua Kona proper). These XC trips were all it took and the fact that the strong winds shut down Oahu for the next week or so. He booked his flight to Kona totally forgetting that he had the HPA annual meeting to attend. I told him what is the worst that can happen, they will vote you out, only Alex has a life sentence.
I picked him up at the airport on Friday at 9 a.m. and we headed to Church. We stopped by Azfelia's (probably miss spelled) which is a new LZ for him since the old Brown Spot now has houses on it. We walked it and I gave him a thorough briefing.
We were headed to the Church when the Gene, Sammy and Scotty past us. Hey, wait for us. Their car was full and Jean said he would come to pick us up at the bottom of the launch hill, so we headed up and parked at the bottom. Thom got his gear ready as did I. Gene was there in moments and appeared to be happy to see Thom, as you know Gene is a PG politician too.
We were greeted at the Club House by Smiling Sammy & Scotty Gee. Small crew today just the five of us. Scotty, Gene, Sammy, Thom & me. Great flights were had by all but Thom scored only one, he stayed up for just under 2 hours and broke his Big Island record. Highest and longest time for a flight. We, 4 landed and road back up and prepared to re-launched while Thom was still up. But by the time were launching he had was tired and had gotten low. He headed in to land at the new LZ. Gene had headed home, so we were down to just 3.
Thom said you guys stay up and have a good 2nd flight. I am going to take a nap or walk down to the Ice Cream store. Apparently he talked himself into the ice cream and started walking, it's a long walk down from there especially with a stuff sack hitting you in the back of the legs.
While he was eating his ice cream he met Doug Stroup's dad. Doug is an instructor in Washington state that runs alot of the Chelan Opens. Then he got the call that we 3 had landed at Azfelia's but we needed a car. We asked him to keep walking to the Church and grab Sammy's car. I know that is not very hospitable to have a visiting pilot walk all the way down to get the car to come pick us up but it gets worse.
Thom arrived and we told him he had to stay on the side of the road while we drive Scotty to his truck, me to mine and then let Sammy go on his way. So, now we stranded him along the side of the road watching our gear. I guess I owed him one now. But he got that the next day.
Saturday was another day and it looked a tad but better than Friday but you never know. The crew was bigger this day with Neil, Charlie, Denise, Visitor Stan, Meila (not spelled right I am sure but she might understand) and most of Friday's crew of Sammy, Scotty, Thom and me.
Everyone had great flights and as usual Neil ventured off north giving us updates on the conditions and his elevation. Thom got the closest to Neil's 3600' by hitting yet a new personal record of 3200'. Thom got to fly over the Pali, towards Choice Mart but turned out over the bay to land shortly after with Sammy at the Church.
I had the scratch session that was the hardest I have worked in quite sometime. I flew for an hour and 20 minutes trying to get above the road and when I did I was beat. When I finally had enough elevation, I took a 10 minute jaunt to join Sammy and Thom at the Church with Neil coming in shortly after. We were tired and hungry, so Thom & I left to Annie's for some lunch.
So far Thom is 2 for 2 but he has an XC itch that he wants to get a trip to the Old A's. Hopefully Sunday just may be brewing in his favor.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Monday, May 28, 2012
Flight of the Minnow (a 3 turnpoint tour)
It was my 1st
day on the Island, and my 1st mistake of the day was seeing the huge
vertical development taking place and thinking how good the lift was going to
be, instead of thinking how dangerous the clouds were going to be. Having only
flown Kahana once, and not getting up on that occasion, I headed up the hill
expecting to just get the lay of the land and try and identify the best areas
of lift. Woody was already up and playing out front as Alex, Duck and I began
our ascent of the hill. Being totally out of shape and with a bum toe to boot,
Duck and Alex had already launched by the time I made mid launch. With just a
slightly sketchy launch, I got airborne and began to work my way up to the main
ridge. The air felt pretty thermic so I was right at home and soon worked my
way up to about 1500 ft. before heading back to Pu’u Pei’i? I then joined Alex
back out front to climb some more under the wispies, then followed him around
for a while. At one point I stopped to
climb in a thermal on Pu’u Pei’i? and took a couple of collapses just before
going into a cloud that had suddenly formed in front of me. Alex radioed he was
in the cloud, so I responded I was in it too at 2400 ft. and headed 60 degrees.
I was only in the whiteroom about 2 minutes before popping out the top. Duck
and Alex were headed towards Sacred Falls with Duck reporting strong thermals,
so I headed across the valley hoping for my 1st Oahu XC. I headed
towards Alex as he was obviously climbing over the ridge. There was some really
good lift there, but now Alex and Duck were heading back toward the ocean and
there was a huge cloud developing in front of us. Duck was already under it and
Alex was headed back toward launch. When I saw Duck pull ears, I immediately
went to ears and speedbar, but was still going up at 2-400 ft. min. About a
minute into the cloud, it looked like I was breaking through, so I let my ears
out thinking I could just fly out the front. That was my second mistake. This
is when the flight really started going bad. I began to doubt if my course
toward the ocean would get me clear of the clouds, so I radioed for directions
to get clear. I was told to head North, but this didn’t compute because at my
home site North is to my right when facing the ocean. At about 3300 ft. I started
to come out the top, then pulled ears and found some holes in the bottom. The
terrain was looking awfully close at this point, so I let my ears back out and
suddenly hit extreme turbulence and a rush of 1600 ft. min. up. At this point,
things started getting progressively rougher and wetter, and holding a steady
course became nearly impossible. At one point, I thought I was seeing small
hail, but I think it was only water droplets streaming off my risers. When I
finally saw holes below me, I was still about 3400ft. I pulled big ears and was
soon sinking at 6-800 ft. min. I finally broke out under the clouds at 2500 ft.
and could see ocean in the distance. What I didn’t realize at that point, was
that I was on the opposite side of the Koalaus. But what I did know was there
were miles and miles of jungle between me and civilization. I thought about
trying to get back under the biggest cloud which was to my right, but didn’t
have enough height since it was over a ridge. My next move was to follow a big
valley toward a sunlit area hoping to find some lift there. Not sure I could
get there, I tried a ridge to my left, but inadvertently flew into it’s lee and
the corresponding turbulence. When it was clear that I wasn’t getting out of
the mountains, I began searching in earnest for a fairly level spot with the
lowest or sparcest trees. Spotting one, I made a beeline for it, but didn’t
have enough altitude to get downwind and had to come in pretty hot. I was
having to be so active just to keep the wing open in the incredible turbulence
that there wasn’t a lot of control left for course changes, so I was fortunate
that a fairly bushy tree slowed me down before I hit the solid one. Landing on
my head, once again I was glad to have a good helmet on. After it became clear
from the lack of wings in the air above, and silence on my radio, that I had no
radio contact, I began searching through the thick underbrush for the cellphone
that had fallen out of my flight deck when it opened on impact. I was quite
relieved to see that one little bar on the display, and immediately put in
calls to Thom and Don, the only 2 local numbers I had. Then I took stock of my
resources. Let’s see; ate my last granola bar before climbing the hill. One
swallow of water left in the bottle. Wing is nicely laid out between a snag and
a small tree. I extricated the wing from the tree packed up, and began
searching for a way out of my predicament. Every way I tried to descend to the creek below was
blocked by vertical drop offs, and every step was a struggle as it was total
deadfall covered in uluhe fern. I was getting dryer by the minute, and after
some conferring with folks on the phone (the battery of which was rapidly
declining) realized that I’d better just do the smart thing and call in air support
while I was in a good pickup location and there was still daylight and clear
sky above. In contact with the good folks at Fire and rescue, I guided the
chopper to my location, they lowered a guy on a rope, he graciously shouldered
my pack, hooked me into my big blue diaper, and away we went, swinging under
the chopper and over the jungle to a park in Whittmore Village. Pretty cool
ride actually. Then I had to hike about a mile to the right bus stop, talk the
driver into taking my pack, transfer to another bus, talk that driver into
taking my pack, and arrived tired but unbroken back at camp in time for dinner.
The highlight of the trip was the scenic tour of the North Shore and a cute,
but very wasted little filly named Trish who kept me entertained on the bus.
Aloha to Fire rescue and all the HPA guys who helped out, Woody and Thom for
accommodations and Frank for hiking Cactus with me on Sunday for a nice
relaxing Makapu flight. LZ coordinates: N 21
33 874, W 157 56
882. Elev. 1743 ft.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Gorse Spray, Puuloa
Saturday, June 2nd
We will be spraying gorse at Puuloa.
(See Saturday, November 5th, 2011 post for details.)
We will be spraying gorse at Puuloa.
(See Saturday, November 5th, 2011 post for details.)
Monday, February 27, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)