After an evening (Saturday 1/27/18) spooky scary hike at Cape Lookout last night, I headed down to Newport, Oregon from Tillamook (1.5 hrs 68 miles) with plans to check out Yaquina Head for my first time. I was up at the launch after breakfast in the morning, and counted 800 steps (about 10 mins) from the gate to south launch. It was a pretty easy hike with the help of my kayak cart hauling my glider and harness. I was able to get in two soarable flights with a total of nearly 90 minutes (1st flight 20minutes & 2nd flight one hour). The morning session was an uncomfortable flight due to a lot of east winds. I wasn't able to climb up above launch. Fortunately, my second flight was awesome with pleasant 15-20 mph straight up consistent south wind. It made take off more challenging but soaring was easy. Conditions were so smooth that I was able to use Facebook live and sent out a text to Ray in the air. Ken had launched before me in the afternoon and we both got up to 500 to 600ft above launch (1,000ft AGL above ground level). The winds drop down to 5-10 mph around 2:30pm and I was cursing between 100-200 ft above launch. All in all, this was a fun site with the exception of trees located on both sides below which made launching a bit nerve wrecking. I don't think there's enough room for ATOS rigid wings to launch (see pic and video ). Paraglider would be fine. You'll know what I'm talking about when you see the video.
Facebook live video:
https://www.facebook.com/pdxrick.lai/videos/10155549965994285/
well! what a nice place, makes it worth the drive, does it not?
ReplyDeletegood job, Rick.
130 miles from Portland. Almost same distance to Dog Mt.
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