Sledder at Tiger Mt 1/31/17

Today report:

I made a last minute decision of joining two hang glider buddies Travis and Robin to fly Tiger Mt today.

Short report: it was Travis who launched early (@1:30pm) and got to soar. l think he climbed a few hundred ft above launch.  Robin, myself and the rest of the paras launched later when the winds turned light east (wrong direction) only had extended sledders.  Travis had not flown for more than two months, so it was good that he got the flight of the day.

Detailed boring report:
I left Portland at 8am , arrived Tiger LZ at 11am (185 miles drive),  followed Michael 12pm shuttle to launch, then l drove Travis truck down and l hiked back up to fly (40 mins hiked). I arrived launch at 1:45pm when Travis just took off with few paragliders. The conditions was light north 0-3mph with overcast skies but they were able to hooked up some good thermals and climbed above launch. The wind died down quickly to zero and turned more east (wrong direction) when Robin , l and the rest of the paragliders was set to go. I waited till 3pm with no sign of improvement and decided to launch. One para blew his launch and ended up 20 ft below launch on the west side. He was okay. That all for today.

About tomorrow and Thursday: Paraglider Rick Ely will be at Cliffside tomorrow around 1pm and hang pilot Robin wants to fly Saddle (Mattawa,WA) tomorrow or Thursday if anyone is willing to join him.  I'm heading home from Tiger Mt tonight so can't go to Saddle tomorrow, but possibly can join Rick Ely at Cliffside tomorrow or on Thursday to either Cliffside or Saddle.

one hour bumpy flight at Dog Mt 1/29/17

 https://youtu.be/YsO5-qIHIZA

 

 

Dog turned on early today, and the sun was shining with winds blowing 10-15mph from SW at launch around 11:30am. Larry and Chuck passed by launch in their trikes while we were setting up. l launched first at 12:00 followed by Stas and Eric O.  I gained about 300 ft over launch immediately,  but it felt really bumpy so I flew to the front and it was also bumpy too.  The rowdy prefrontal air gave us all a good one hour workout. The winds were stronger than expected , but died down around 1:30pm when we were landing. Light rain hit Dog patch with light NE winds around 2:45pm so we left early. 

 

 

3 sledders at Dog Mt 1/27/17

 Video

 https://youtu.be/WyKfRZQUVY8

Light east winds all day at Dog Mountain. Gabe and I were launching off with slightly tailwind. I had three extended sledders and Gabe had two. 

Two sledders at Dog Mt (Glenoma,Wash) 1/24/17

Video
 https://youtu.be/ytNOCEIbX2M

Temp 40F
Overcast skies
Two sledders
Hiked up with Stas
7 pilots came only 5 flew.

Launch conditions was very light  (0-2mph) with no cycles coming up both west and north launches.  Stas, Robin and I ( hang gliders ) flew twice.  Dave Blizzard, Greg McMurtrie, John Benedict and Andrew (paragliders) came too but only Dave and Andrew flew once.

1st Skunked at Peterson Butte 1/24/17

4 hangs (Chris P, Ray B, Peter and myself) arrived lower launch around noon.  No one get to fly due to the strong winds.  I got my first skunked of 2017 today. Winds were blowing 30-45mph.  

Newberg report from Neil.

Getting skunked might have been the better decision, given how sketchy my launch was.  Quite turbulent!  Bit of a workout once up too.  Some nice lift here and there, but any more than three or four circles and I'd have been going OTB with no other option.  Thanks for the help on launch, John!  Thanks for the ride back up, Greg and Rob!

-Neil

1 flight 2 hrs Very chilly day at Cliffside.

Three paras and l arrived launch at 10:10am. Frozen cloud still layer below the Windmills but it's improving.  I started to walk up to launch at 10:55am after dropped off my glider and parked car by the river. The temperature at 10am is  10°F  (-12 C ) at the LZ and winds is blowing ESE 5-8mph by the river. 

Flight report: 
About half a dozen of paras and l (only hang) flew today and we all had great flights in very chilly weather at Cliffside.  The wind condition was light all day from SE and the first 4 or 5 windmills on top didn't even move. Nobody was able to bench up to the windmills, however the ridge produced enough lifts for us to play as long as we wanted. I flew from 1 to 3:05pm, it was easy to maintain 200 to 400 ft above launch and got up to 700 ft above launch a few times. The temperature was between 16° to 18°F during the two hours of my flight. The cold was tolerable with the sun out and dry climate, so it wasn't too bad. I think my face got sunburn too.  I will post video and pictures later. That's all for today! 

Video:

https://youtu.be/zroGiZrh6qk