3 hrs/ 3 flight at Cliffside fist weekend of Oct

https://youtu.be/_viT6QP4ozM

Oct 3 rd 2015 Saturday
1 flight
40 mins

It was REALLY light at Cliffside today. The West winds were still blowing about 5-10mph at the hang launch when we arrived at 11:30am. It turned ESE around 2:00pm and more East around 3:30pm. Five hangs (Neil, Gabe, Mark R, Enrique and myself) launch around 4:00pm at the Paraglider launch and it was pretty easy to climbed above launch. I was lucky that hooked up with few small thermals that extended my flight to about 40 mins and got 1200 AGL few times. The LZ by the river also very calmed , it was pretty much zero wind at the LZ.

Oct 4th 2015 Sunday
2 flights
over 1 hrs 

We had a beautiful day at Cliffside today. 3 hangs (Gabe,Mark Rabe and myself) and a lot of paragliders. Everyone had a great effortlessly flight cruising around till sunset. A few PGs made it above the wind mills and I think some got 4k earlier. My max attitude was 1,600 ft AGL. I had over 2 hrs of air time landed around 7:00pm on my second flight.

6 hours air time / 5 flight on Sept 11 to 13 weekend

Sept 11, 2015 Tiger Mountain (Issaquah ,Wash)

Only two hangs (Travis and myself) flew Tiger today. We and most of the paras had an extended sledder. It was almost zero wind conditions at launch and also no wind at the landing. Nice to flight Tiger again and I ran up to launch in a hot humid weather.
Anyway, I'm here for the Tiger party tomorrow so I will fly Tiger again even a sledder conditions. Not sure about where to go on Sunday yet. Maybe Dog, Rampart , Tiger again.... Etc.

Sept 12, 2015 Tiger Mountain Fantastic Fly-In Festival

The 2015 Fantastic costumes festival turned out really good. There were about 50 paragliders flying at one time and only 9 hang gliders including myself, Tim Cayward, Travis, Glenn, Steve Alford, Rob, Kerie, Aaron and Bryan. The soarable condition turned on around 3:00pm and we all soared. I flew for 2 hrs on the second flight and hooked up with a few thermals that topped out 1000 ft above launch. I had two flights and total of almost 3 hrs of air time. As you can see from the video the whole sky was filled with paragliders.

Sept 13, 2015 Dog Mountain (Glenoma, Wash)

It was really windy and gusty (20-25mph) at launch the whole day. I had two flight that combine 3 hrs of air time. Aaron R, Eric O and myself flew till sunset.

On Sept 12

I captured this incident on Sat (Tiger Mt Fantastic Fly In) around 3:30pm. It looked as if two paragliders were launching at the same time ; one got tangled with another glider and was dragged down to the bottom of the launch. I'm not sure exactly what happened. I heard that the pilot was okay, however his glider got toasted.

1 hr 20 mins (2 flights) at Kilchis (Tillamook, Oregon)

Video coming soon!

Sep 3rd 2015 Kilchis (Tillamook, Oregon) flight report:

Today I went flying with Ray, Kory and Mark at Kilchis with no paragliders in sight. There was a few showers around noon. The winds were pretty light at the LZ/launch for the whole afternoon with overcast skies. I launched first around 3 pm and scratched for a while just to maintain 100 to 200 ft over launch elevation. There was enough bubbles above Kilchis launch to keep us up boating around a few hundred feet above launch all day. I got bored at the same spot, then headed out to Sugar Hill hoping to find better thermals. Unfortunately, rain came when I arrived Sugar and I didn't feel any lifts either so I landed. The other guys stayed close to Kilchis launch for a while and had a longer flight. Ray stay up for more then an hour and I think he got 800 ft over launch. I went up again for the 2nd flight with Mark and had a better thermal climb this time around, reaching 300ft over launch. Similar to the 1st flight with a bit of improvement, I was able to soar for 50 mins, with the first flight lasting about 25 mins.

Photos: 

https://www.facebook.com/pdxrick.lai/posts/10153256215924285

1 flight 2 hours air time at Oceanside/ Aug 30th 2015

 

https://youtu.be/vGSZF4FUwAY

Oceanside was awesome yesterday (Sunday). Seven hangs flew (Steve Forslund, Ray B, Rob Stephens, Gabe, Jeff H, Jonathon and myself). The winds were a bit strong and too south at launch most of the time but once we punched off it was just effortlessly elevator up to 1000ft above launch in the smooth coastal air. I think we all got more than 2 hours air time. There were a lot of cloud forming and we had a great session of cloud surfing.

This is the video and photos from yesterday

What wrong with this photo??

3 flights 10 hrs in 3 day at Rampart and Dog (Aug 7th to 9th, 2015)

It was another great weekend at Rampart and Dog Mt again, with a total of 10 hrs combined within those 3 days of flying.

Aug 7 & 8th at Rampart (Snoqualmie Pass, Wash)
Aug 9th at Dog Mt (Glenoma,Wash)

Day 1. Friday (1 flight)
There was six hangs (Ron B, Chris C, Jonas, Stas, Travis and myself) who flew Rampart on Friday. Not too windy at launch & pretty smooth at the landing "Carrier Deck"  too.  We were all able to get off launch without wire assistance. Thermals were everywhere and reached up to 7000ft.  I flew for 3.5 hrs while others at least got 2+ hours.

Day 2.  Saturday (1 flight)
Also six hangs (Alfredo, Shah, Dave L, Aaron R, Kurt, Cliff S and myself) who flew Rampart. The conditions was similar to the day before exception to more friendly clouds and better thermals.The cycles was a bit stronger and gusty at launch compared to yesterday. I flew from 1:55 to 5:10pm (over 3 hrs) and I think others flew for 2 hrs too. It was an easy trip
to the cliff wall and Alta Mt (The next Mt north of 2nd big
Rampart cliff wall). I cored up to 7800' at Alta Mt.


Day 3. Sunday (1 flight)
I launched around 1:30pm (landed around 5:00pm) after Scott C, Justin H, Larry (Tandem with Hazel) and Tina. It was almost no wind at launch, so I expected a sledder.  Flew down to the lower point and found a lot of small bubbles that consistently kept me at a couple hundred ft above the tree top for over an hr until the good soaring conditions arrived.  JJ and Stas joined me at first, then followed 10 hangs and 2 bags launching after seeing JJ , Stas and myself getting above launch. I went to the back bowl to avoid air traffic with Ron B, Stas, and JJ....  for a while and topped out 2000ft AGL over the back bowl. I made one trip to Elk but found nothing there.

2 flights 6 hours at Dog on Aug 1st 2015

I went down to Area 151 on Saturday morning after 3 epic days at Rampart, and then headed out to Dog with Travis and Paige.  First flight I launched at 1:00pm and flew for 3 hrs.   I went up again after lunch and launched at 6:00pm when wind turned north . The thermals just keep getting better, got 1000ft over the north ridge and went over to Elk and got really high  (4000ft AGL) until 9:00pm. The last group when up to launch around 7:00 and winds turn more NE so they didn't launch.

4 flights 9+ hours air time over the weekend at Dog (July 11-12)

Not much to report for the pass weekend (July 11-12 , 2015).  Nothing epic,  just another good weekend flying at Dog Mt with friends.  Those consistent thermals and ridge lifts allow all of us effortlessly soar for hours till sunset.  I had two flight per day and approx 2+ hours on each flight.