Video Link
Youtube
Trip to Happy Camp
Heading to Netarts
Trip to the black ridge
Cross wind landing in the narrow beach
Map of Kilchis / Sollie
Kilchis Launch
Thermalling on top of Sugar hill
Day 1 (Friday 04-24-15)
1st flight @ Oceanside
1 hour and 15 mins
1 hour and 15 mins
2nd flight @ Oceanside
2 hours and 15 mins
Morning:
It was pouring rain from Portland to Tillamook this morning but when I arrived Oceanside around 10am there was a lot of blue sky and sunshine. Few paragliders were soaring above launch already at that time. I launched at 11:00am and got 1600 ft MSL , went to the far end of a Happy Camp and returning back to OS launch and gained back 1000ft over. I landed at 12:15pm because a rain cell was approaching from CLO. Three PGs couldn't make it to the beach and landed in the back side of the launch. They were okay.
Afternoon:
There was showers on and off in the afternoon but the sun did came out around 4:00pm that give everybody few hours of effortless soaring window. I flew for 2 hours and 15mins on my 2nd flight. Max altitude gain 1300ft MSL and many trips to Happy Camp. So the forecast was right about 100% chance of rain with WSW 10-15 mph wind.
Oceanside open 2015
Day 2 (Saturday) :
1st flight @ Kilchis 2+ hrs
2nd flight @ CLO 30 mins
All forecast was showing to be light NNW. So it'll be either Cape Lookout, Kiwanda or Kilchis (inland site in Tillamook).
It was sunny and warm the whole day, however the soaring condition at CLO and Kiwanda did not look promising due to the light wind. Enrique and others made a good call in giving Kilchis a try. When we arrived at the landing, a few PGs were in the air getting sledders at Sollie and about 8 hangs were heading up to Kilchis launch. It turned out to be a good decision flying Kilchis , because we all (maybe 12 hangs) had fantastic
flights.
It was nice straight breeze about 6-8 mph when we arrived launch around noon; an easy launch for
everyone. The thermals along the ridge was pretty stable; Rob S , Orv and Ray B launched off before me. Ray thermaling up really high to cloudbase. After I caught a thermal and rode up to a few hundred ft above launch, I was debating on whether to keep going further down towards the right side or turn around a bit closer to the landing field (since Kilchis launch is quite a long distance to the LZ ). I decided to turn back and fly a bit closer to the LZ. When I reached Sollie launch, I was still hundred ft over and once I arrived Sugar Hill, there was an abundance of thermals waiting for me (they were huge and impossible to miss) ! It could've been a good XC day to Tillamook airport. I was getting 2500 to 3500 AGL and flew across the Hwy 6 multiple times enjoying the gorgeous scenery. Orv, Ray, Enrique, Scott and others... came to Sugar and we all had a great time thermaling together. I wanted to fly Cape Lookout later, so I landed after getting more than 2 hours of air time. Days like this are just awesome! Great fun! Ray B and Scott was still in the air when we left.
Alfredo, Enrique and I arrived CLO around 5pm and still a lot of paragliders (no hangs) waiting in line to launch. The set up area was very crowded. We didn't see anyone above launch and most of them had sledders. The breeze was still not quite strong enough to soar, but I set up anyway preparing to take a sledder. Enrique and Alfredo went to Oceanside to checked the condition and reported back that it wasn't good at Oceanside either. All other hangs had left. I launched around 6:00 pm in super light wind condition and expected a 15 second of air time flight down to the beach. Surprisingly, the smooth ridge lifts was good all the way through the gap and I was gaining 10-50 feet
above launch sharing air with about 10 paragliders at the same time. We all followed each other flying really close to the ridge and trees, trying to stay within the super narrow long lift band.I flew for 30 mins and decided it was time to land, so not to miss the7pm dinner party at downtown Tillamook. I really enjoyed the ridge soaring at
super low altitude with a lot of paragliders; one of my most unique and unforgettable flights. Too bad that I've used up the battery on my camera for the afternoon flight. Hopefully, the paragliders I flew with will post a video later.
So the 2nd day ended with lots of good memories too. Great flights, dinner party....overall, another
spectacular event! Thanks a lot for Mark Sanzone , Reed, David Le ,drivers and others volunteers.
Oceanside open 2015 hang pilots list:
Afternoon:
There was showers on and off in the afternoon but the sun did came out around 4:00pm that give everybody few hours of effortless soaring window. I flew for 2 hours and 15mins on my 2nd flight. Max altitude gain 1300ft MSL and many trips to Happy Camp. So the forecast was right about 100% chance of rain with WSW 10-15 mph wind.
Oceanside open 2015
Day 2 (Saturday) :
1st flight @ Kilchis 2+ hrs
2nd flight @ CLO 30 mins
All forecast was showing to be light NNW. So it'll be either Cape Lookout, Kiwanda or Kilchis (inland site in Tillamook).
It was sunny and warm the whole day, however the soaring condition at CLO and Kiwanda did not look promising due to the light wind. Enrique and others made a good call in giving Kilchis a try. When we arrived at the landing, a few PGs were in the air getting sledders at Sollie and about 8 hangs were heading up to Kilchis launch. It turned out to be a good decision flying Kilchis , because we all (maybe 12 hangs) had fantastic
flights.
It was nice straight breeze about 6-8 mph when we arrived launch around noon; an easy launch for
everyone. The thermals along the ridge was pretty stable; Rob S , Orv and Ray B launched off before me. Ray thermaling up really high to cloudbase. After I caught a thermal and rode up to a few hundred ft above launch, I was debating on whether to keep going further down towards the right side or turn around a bit closer to the landing field (since Kilchis launch is quite a long distance to the LZ ). I decided to turn back and fly a bit closer to the LZ. When I reached Sollie launch, I was still hundred ft over and once I arrived Sugar Hill, there was an abundance of thermals waiting for me (they were huge and impossible to miss) ! It could've been a good XC day to Tillamook airport. I was getting 2500 to 3500 AGL and flew across the Hwy 6 multiple times enjoying the gorgeous scenery. Orv, Ray, Enrique, Scott and others... came to Sugar and we all had a great time thermaling together. I wanted to fly Cape Lookout later, so I landed after getting more than 2 hours of air time. Days like this are just awesome! Great fun! Ray B and Scott was still in the air when we left.
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2nd flight @Cape Lookout: Alfredo, Enrique and I arrived CLO around 5pm and still a lot of paragliders (no hangs) waiting in line to launch. The set up area was very crowded. We didn't see anyone above launch and most of them had sledders. The breeze was still not quite strong enough to soar, but I set up anyway preparing to take a sledder. Enrique and Alfredo went to Oceanside to checked the condition and reported back that it wasn't good at Oceanside either. All other hangs had left. I launched around 6:00 pm in super light wind condition and expected a 15 second of air time flight down to the beach. Surprisingly, the smooth ridge lifts was good all the way through the gap and I was gaining 10-50 feet
above launch sharing air with about 10 paragliders at the same time. We all followed each other flying really close to the ridge and trees, trying to stay within the super narrow long lift band.I flew for 30 mins and decided it was time to land, so not to miss the7pm dinner party at downtown Tillamook. I really enjoyed the ridge soaring at
super low altitude with a lot of paragliders; one of my most unique and unforgettable flights. Too bad that I've used up the battery on my camera for the afternoon flight. Hopefully, the paragliders I flew with will post a video later.
So the 2nd day ended with lots of good memories too. Great flights, dinner party....overall, another
spectacular event! Thanks a lot for Mark Sanzone , Reed, David Le ,drivers and others volunteers.
Oceanside open 2015 hang pilots list:
| 1 | Alfredo Moreno (From Seattle) | Flew Kilchis on Sat |
| 2 | Andy Frank (From Bend or Eugene??) | Flew Kilchis on Sat |
| 3 | Conrad (Bellingham,WA / not sure his last name) | Flew OS Friday and CLO on Sat |
| 4 | Enrique Ebava (Portland) | Flew Kilchis on Sat |
| 5 | Jim Weitman (From ????) | Flew Kilchis on Sat |
| 6 | Mark Rabe (Portland) | Flew Kilchis on Sat |
| 7 | Orv (from southern Oregon) | Flew Kilchis on Sat |
| 8 | Philippe (from southern Oregon) | Flew Kilchis on Sat |
| 9 | Ray Berger (Portland) | Flew OS Friday and Kilchis Sat |
| 10 | Rick Christian (Atos with Mosquito harness) | Flew CLO on Sat |
| 11 | Rick Lai (Portland) | Flew OS Friday and Kilchis & CLO on Sat |
| 12 | Rob Steven (Portland) | Flew Kilchis on Sat |
| 13 | Ruun Meir (Portland) | Flew Kilchis on Sat |
| 14 | Scott Mickalek (Atoa pilot) | Flew Kilchis on Sat |
| 15 | Xan Harwood | Flew CLO on Sat |
Ray Report:
Thanks to all the hang pilots who showed up for the Oceanside Fly-in and Meet. 110 pilots registered with record number of total pilots. We had more hangs this year too than recent years. The weather pulled thru on Friday and Saturday as you can see in Rick's videos. I suggested we go to Kilchis on Saturday because it is best post frontal when Cape Lookout is too light or timing is critical. I think Rick might even be a believer now. The cluster.... at Lookout would have been too much anyway. Kilchis delivered with max. altitude 3931 for me and slightly less for Scott Mickalek (Bend,Oregon)in his Atos. Some pilots like Rick had personal bests for the site. My flight was 3 hours 7 minutes with Scott coming in at 2 hours 48 minutes. We both flew west right from Kilchis launch to Kilchis River and to Sugar. From there both of us flew across hwy. to Fairview with myself going further west than I have ever before. Scott followed too, matching any attempt to push on further. We both enjoyed the herd of about 20 elk standing tall on one of ridge top logging roads. Rick, Rob, and others also made it to Fairview earlier it was reported. Andy Frank, Jim Weitman, Ruun Meir,Mark Rabe, and also Washington pilots enjoyed Sollie all to ourselves on Saturday as the para pilots were at CLO.
Great to see hangs from the past, especially my buddy Scott Mathews of Disaster Unit (Cadillac ambulance) fame. He came down from Fairbanks, Alaska passing thru Minnesota for some chemo/radiation followup. Dave Raybourne, Tom Gaskill, Russell and Mert, Morry and Jeanine, Rick Christian and others. Sorry if I missed anyone.
Thanks to all the paraglider pilots for another great Oceanside Meet. Oh yeah, Reed too! Ray Berger
