Or my blog at :
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B99GLXHjAJaTfkhoWmJMTng4SGhpU0xya2RMRFFwM01TcTM2Uks5emUxSWhNOURSY3lfbkU&usp=sharing
Two Guys Tearing Up the Skies in the Pacific Northwest
By C.J. Sturtevant
I'm an active pilot in the Northwest hang gliding and paragliding communities; I go to the fly-ins, get around to many of our sites, count hang and para pilots as my best friends. So I've known both these guys—hang glider pilot Rick Lai and paraglider pilot Owen Shoemaker—for at least a couple of years. On the surface they're "just folks" in search of airtime like the rest of us, but both these guys have an extra "something" that makes them stand out, giving them just a hint of super-hero status among their fellow pilots. Having lucrative jobs that allow them to work from home on a flexible schedule is a huge bonus, but that's only the beginning. Rick considers himself a recreational pilot, who loves to get out and fly at every opportunity. Owen is an adventure-sports nut whose SPOT track on the xcfind.paraglide.us website shows us he's out over tiger country more often than not. What they have in common is this: They both, intentionally or not, put their passion for flying to use to the benefit of their fellow pilots. I wanted to find out what makes these guys tick. Here's what I learned.
On getting started flying, and keeping going:
Owen was introduced to paragliding over a decade ago: A friend was celebrating his birthday with a tandem flight from Tiger Mountain, and knowing Owen was into "extreme" sports, he asked him to join the party. After that first taste of airtime with tandem instructor Mike Eberle, Owen admits he "was hooked" on paragliding but, unfortunately, circumstances prevented him from pursuing the sport until 2012. He tried to connect again with Mike to take lessons, but by then Mike was no longer flying. After interviewing many of the instructors at Tiger, Owen ultimately chose Bob Hannah, who, he says, "had a slow, safety-first approach, and a teaching style that I felt would be complimentary to my more aggressive pursuit of the sport."
Rick saw his first hang glider in 1989, when he purchased a home in Sylmar, California, within sight of the Kagel LZ. He and his wife bought a tandem package from Windsports, and for the next four years Rick flew his Delta Wings Dream 185 and, later, a WW EuroSport, several times a week at Kagel. But then work took him to Hong Kong, where a lack of flying sites put his hang gliding on hold for several years. Even after returning to the US in 2001 he was unable to pursue flying at his previous level, "due to family, work and skateboarding accidents..." It wasn't until 2010, when his kids were grown and he'd moved to the Pacific Northwest, that Rick was once again able to immerse himself totally in the hang gliding scene.
Which wing, and why:
Rick currently flies a single-surface North Wing Freedom 170, "bought brand-new in 2010 from North Wing" he says, adding, "The Freedom is perfect for me since I consider myself a recreational pilot and I don't do aerobatics or cross country."
Owen's wings of choice are an Ozone M6 and a Gradient Freestyle. When he decided he wanted something with a bit more performance than his Delta 2, but more stable and less of a handful than his Icepeak6, his friend Matty Senior let him demo his M6. "Honestly, I was not very impressed with the M6 at first," Owen recalls. "It seemed like a tweaked Delta 2. With only modest performance specs I wasn’t expecting very much." But his first XC flights on it, at a comp in Valle De Bravo, changed his perspective. He found himself "more efficient in climbs, and I had more speed and reach. I was hooked." When he had what he describes as a "bad entrance" to a maneuver in an SIV clinic with Matty in Thailand that resulted in some broken lines on his M6, Matty lent him a Gradient Freestyle to finish out the clinic, and "that is now my go-to wing for acro/SIV," Owen says.
On being in the right place at the right time:
Read and weep, all you 9-to-5'ers: Both Rick and Owen have jobs that, in Owen's words, allow them the "luxury of working from home"—or anywhere they have an Internet connection and a computer. That's why you'll find them in the air on just about any day where the odds are in favor of it of being soarable.
But how to determine those odds? We pilots seem to spend a lot of time checking the weather, trying to figure out where the best flying is going to be on any given day. "Too little information and you get skunked," quips Owen, "but too much information and you end up in analysis paralysis." His go-to resources for NW weather are UW MM5 (http://www.atmos.washington.edu/mm5rt/gfsinit.html) and TJ Olney’s Windgrams website (http://home.comcast.net/~wxtofly/windgrams.html) although, he says, he's been trying to use only the MM5 "just to simplify things." He describes his forecasting strategy as "constantly evolving," adding that it has taken him some time to be able to accurately interpret the skew-t. "I am getting better the more I use them," he concludes.
Rick recalls not needing to consult the weather gurus during his early days of hang gliding in southern California—all his flying was at Kagel, and the SoCal weather is almost boringly consistent. But flying in the Pacific Northwest, he says, "is a totally different ballgame. We have many more flying sites that face all directions and it is important to understand the wind speed and wind directions before heading out to fly." Rick doesn't use MM5 or skew-t, but Weatherunderground, Windfinder, Iwindsurf, NOAA, and weather.com seem to work really well for him.
On motivations and challenges:
For Owen, exploring is what it's all about. "Paragliding is a great sport for the adventurous traveler!" he enthuses, and elaborates: "I hope to make it to six countries by the end of this year and get a number of vol-biv trips in as well. As my skills have improved, that has opened up a lot of new terrain and bigger routes at some of our local flying sites."
At his stage in his flying career, Owen finds his biggest challenge is "mental overload. After about three hours in the air I feel so overwhelmed with all of the mental stimulation that I sometimes land earlier than I should, missing out on hours of good flying because I chose to end my flight. I am working on staying hydrated, snacking in the air, and relaxing to help push forward to maximize the day."
Rick, on the other hand, considers landing to be the highlight of each flight. "I always love the landing part," he says, adding, "I get excited when I land safely." Which makes for a lot of positive excitement in any LZ when Rick arrives with his typically perfect touchdown! As for personal challenges, Rick's ongoing goal is to keep improving as a pilot, and to accomplish that he figures he needs to just get out and fly. "I feel that the more I fly, the safer I am as a pilot." In other words, practice makes perfect, a good mantra for all of us regardless of skill level.
The bigger picture:
Both Rick and Owen are stand-outs in the NW hang gliding and paragliding communities this season, not just because of their personal accomplishments, but because of the impact of their personal philosophies on the rest of us. Rick brushes off my suggestions that he's an influential force within the hang gliding community, but the truth is that he is an inspiration to many of us, newbies and experienced pilots alike. "I do just the same as other pilots, which is post my plan on the public forum before heading out to fly," he says, but there's much more to it than that. Post he does, prolifically, and since he's out at the flying sites so often and has so many great flights (of which he also posts in-depth descriptions along with photos and videos), he often inspires others to join him. He mentors pilots flying new-to-them sites, and offers to help transport hang gliders to walk-in launches, making those sites accessible to anyone who wants to fly there. That's going far above and beyond "just the same as other pilots"!
Owen is taking his personal skills-stretching program to the masses. After attending his first XC clinic in Pemberton, BC (last year? When?), he asked clinic guide Matty Senior for suggestions on the best way to improve his skills. Matty's response: Go fly a comp. "The next scheduled comp was a pre-PWC in Bir, India," Owen recalls. "I registered, got my visa, bought my plane tickets. I had no idea what to expect."
Fortunately for him, Jugdeep's Northern California XC League had an event scheduled a month before Bir, providing Owen with his first exposure to competition flying. "Everyone there was happy to help, answer questions, show me how to use my new flight instrument, and make goal," he recalls, adding, "Having access to mentors really improved my flying skills, and I had such a fantastic experience I knew we needed something similar in the NW."
And so, this summer Owen is the main organizer of the first NW XC League, which is already (as of the May 9 event at BJ) proving popular with the NW parapilots. "Starting out as a beginner XC pilot can be very daunting," Owen acknowledges, but points out that flying a task removes some of the uncertainties. "There are more thermal indicators and if you really aren’t sure the of best route you can hang back and watch. That, coupled with having your retrieve taken care of, frees up some mental energy. It creates a good transition into XC flight and eases the stress of making that first jump away from the hill and primary LZ."
What's on their flying-related wishlists for this summer:
Owen doesn't hold back—"I really want to take a crack at the Washington state record this year," he declares. "The combination of in-flight endurance, the logistical challenges, and beating my personal best really appeals to me. My stretch goal is to fly the Pakistan Himalayas. After seeing pictures and hearing the stories I really want to do some vol-biv there."
Rick is less goal-oriented. "I'm pretty spontaneous," he muses, "and don't have any dream list for this summer." His main focus remains on having safe launches and landings for every flight in the future. The rest of us would urge him to add to that the goal of continuing his in-depth postings before and after each flying day, and perhaps enticing others to follow his example, thus expanding the flying-related database of forecasts vs. realities for various weather sources.
What super-heroes really look forward to when returning to Earth after a long, satisfying flight:
Both Rick and Owen told me essentially the same thing: What they really enjoy after an awesome flight is sharing the experience with friends. Owen prefers to de-brief over an ice-cold beer, "discussing with my fly buddies the highlights and what we could have done differently." Almost as an aside, he adds, "Sometimes I get weird food cravings in flight, typically for something that is incredibly difficult or impossible to find. Like an ice cream bar in the middle of the desert. Recently I had a craving for an ice cream sandwich so badly I had to cut my flight short just so I could stop by a gas station and pick one up. It was worth it…"
Rick, of course, shares his flight stories via the Internet in his post-flight posts. "I'm always looking forward to another good day with more pilots to share the great flying with me."
No flying article would be complete without some flying stories! I'll close with Owen's and Rick's accounts of a few of their most memorable flights.
Owen especially enjoys flying "the aesthetic line—big mountains, glaciers, alpine lakes, all really appeal to me. The Cascades provide unbelievable vistas and are very accessible from Seattle. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest backpacking in a lot of these areas so being able to fly over the same area close to terrain is really special to me." He's laid down some truly impressive flights in eastern Washington, crossing miles and miles of mountainous, roadless wilderness areas. You can see the tracklogs from some of his favorite excursions here: (links?)
When he first learned about flying cross-country, Owen immediately asked if it was possible to fly a paraglider over Snoqualmie Pass from Tiger Mt. The answer he got was, “Yes, you can get BLOWN over the pass, but people rarely do it.” Owen took that as a challenge, and one day (date?) this past spring conditions came together and he set out from Tiger with friends Brian Franklin and Sabrina Krewin; Sabrina landed just short of the summit, but Brian and Owen crossed the pass and landed at Kecheelus Lake, below Rampart Ridge and just east of Snoqualmie Summit. It was, they all agree, "a really special trip!"
In the last couple years, Owen has flown in both the Indian and Nepali Himalayas. "Both Pokhara (Nepal) and Bir (India) offer great flying, easy vol-biv, and comfortable lodging," he says. "While it is a long trip to get to either of these places, it is worth it. World-class flying and the terrain make the Himalayas an area I will visit again." Track logs, or online vids?
Although Rick told me that he doesn't go XC, two of the flights he chose as his most memorable include some elements of cross-country flying. Last April, at the annual Frostbite Festival, he launched his Freedom from Bremer Mountain, and with several other pilots found good lift in leeside thermals that got them high enough to hook into the stronger thermals coming up from the back side of Bremer. "My altimeter ran out of battery when I reached 5000' above launch," Rick recalls, "but my vario just kept screaming so I think I got over 10,000' AGL or more." From that altitude he could see the Morton airport about eight miles away to the east as the glider flies, and another four miles beyond the airport, Dog Mt. He'd lost track of his flying buddies, and he doesn't consider himself an XC pilot, but even so he couldn't resist going for it. He was so high when he reached the airport that the hang rigs parked there offering an easy retrieve didn't even tempt him to go down to land. He flew on, getting about halfway to Dog before finally turning back to the airport, where retrieve driver Mike was still waiting to return him to Area 151, the site of the evening's Frostbite Festivities. Rick received a trophy for this XC venture at the Frostbite award ceremony the next day.
Rick's other unexpected XC flight was last August. Rick thermaled up to about 4500'AGL at Dog Mt., high enough to cross Riffe Lake and soar Elk Mt. Typically it's a bit of a push into the west wind to get to Elk, and then a quick downwind ride back to the reliable lift at Dog, or to Dogpatch LZ. But on this day, Rick "experienced a sudden wind switch due to an oncoming storm, with a strong east that I wasn't able to penetrate even at full speed. It was clear I couldn't make the crossing back to Dogpatch. So, I had to find a bailout spot below Elk to land in, or else I'd end up in the trees or the lake." All his landing practice served him well, and "I had a soft landing without getting wrecked, injured or wet." He adds, "A BIG thanks to Travis for taking quick action to get a boat and come to my rescue at this remote location." Without a radio or a cell phone, and with evening coming on, he'd figured his best option was to land somewhere visible from the Dog side of the lake, where he could signal he was OK, and then begin the long trek on foot around the lake, leaving his glider to be retrieved later. Luckily, Travis's commandeered boat made retrieval of Rick and glider relatively easy. "A guardian angel must've been looking out for me," Rick concludes. All's well that ends well…
A few weeks after his outlanding at the base of Elk, Rick experienced the magic of one of the NW's most spectacular soaring sites: Rampart Ridge. For more than two hours he and a group of hang gliding friends had "the privilege of being surrounded by the magnificent scenery, soaring above the lakes and summits at 8000' MSL." Everyone who's gotten high at Rampart would concur that looking down on those lakes nestled behind the vertical cliff of Rampart Ridge with snow-covered peaks in the distance is one of the "most stunning views in Washington State." Again, Rick's non-stop focus on perfect landing form served him well. Rampart's infamous LZ turbulence left him unscathed but resulted in downtube-crunching touchdowns for several others.
As I mentioned earlier, Rick posts videos of his flights so the rest of us can enjoy or learn from his experiences. His "totally unexpected" XC flight from Bremer to the Morton airport is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3giRI17uJA.
The flight at Rampart ("the most beautiful flying site in Pacific Northwest") is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIARNwu4NG8.
And his "escape from disaster" at Dog Mt., which he admits is "still kind of disturbing when I think about that landing, but the flight was just spectacular" is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nHRgfR-SiU
The takeaway for the rest of us:
It may not have occurred to you that just doing what you love, and doing it well, can be hugely inspirational to your fellow pilots. Rick's posting his flight plans so others can tag along if they wish, and then following up with reports on how the day went, has motivated more than one pilot to get out and join him. And while most of us have neither the skill nor the desire to venture as deep into the mountains as Owen has gone, nonetheless it keeps the "wonder" in this wonderful sport to see where our flimsy craft, in the hands of a skilled pilot, can go.
I've always felt that one of the coolest things about our flying "family" is how we celebrate each other's successes and personal bests, no matter where they fall on the continuum relative to what others have done. Back when email was a new phenomenon, sending out a so-called "gloat post" was a common practice among my flying friends; letting the rest of the gang know who went were and how well (or not) that site was working was just part of our post-flight routine. Rick's emails, and Owen's tracklogs on http://xcfind.paraglide.us/map.html?id=1, have somewhat resurrected that abandoned tradition. I surely am not the only one who enjoys knowing what's been going on in the wide world outside my own little circle of sites and flights. When you've had an interesting flight, or learned something new about a familiar or a new site, consider sharing the story! Some offhand comment or trivial-to-you detail might provide an ah-ha! moment to someone else, transforming you into their super hero, even if only for a few minutes. Who knows what unsuspected powers may lie within each of us?!
No comments:
Post a Comment