4 hour and 15 mins flight at Oceanside Oregon 3/14/18

Today we had 5 hangs (Bob, Neil, Pete, Ray, myself) and 1 bag (Mark S) at Oceanside and everyone had at lease two hours plus awesome air times. I launched at 2pm and flew for 4 hours and 15 mins. The best altitude gain was around 1,700ft over the back bowl.

Ray report: 
Perfect Oceanside day all around, we were afraid you weren't going to make it Rick. 4 hours plus, yikes. Plenty beach, good winds approx. 15 mph, no squalls, and good company. Mark Sanzone made it down to Happy Camp first and back to Oceanside, showing us the way. Pete Owens from Corvallis showed up at Oceanside, his last flight there was 10-12 years ago. My flight was 2 hours 42 minutes again, same as last Saturday at Cliffside. Neil and Bob had about the same. Good times, Ray

 

Report from Mark Sanzone: 

Oceanside was great today.  Full sunshine with just a few clouds passing. I got 500+ over launch, easy flight to Happy camp and back.  I flew almost 2 1/2 hours (bladder limitation).

Rick launched his hang glider at 2 pm and was still in the air at 6 when I left. Unusual day as I was the only PG flying with 5 hangs. 

Mark

5 flights 8 hours in 3 days at Cliffside 3/10 to 3/12

Day one Saturday:

Cliffside (near Rufus, Oregon) Saturday. 1st flight: The skies already fill with a dozen of PGs when l launched around 1. Thermals goes up to 2,000 ft. and there were some areas with big sinks. The unstable lifts that was there would exist in one spot for a while and then disappear. My flight last for 50 mins. Thanks for Gabe stopped by the bailout LZ to pick me , Stas and Ron Stephen up. 2nd flight: The winds got much stronger in the afternoon so most of the PGs didn't fly after 3. Ray Berger launched after I done packing up and he benched up above the wind turbines while I was setting up. I launched at around 3:30 right after Kory McEniry and Nat. Gabe Dinu and Stas launched after me. There were a lot of lifts escalate us up to 3 to 4 K around launch area which is quite high for normal Cliffside day. I was able to benched up to the wind turbines and passed the aluminum plant but the strong east winds (also too cross) was just way too turbulence for me so I didn't stay there for too long. I flew for two hours (last one to landed) and we all landed by the river in 20 mph strong ESE winds. It was one of the nicest Cliffside flight. Gabe , Stas and I went to The Dalles for dinner to celebrate. We are spending a night at The Dalles and will fly Cliffside again today.

Report from Ray B: 
We all skied out the last hour plus! I managed 2 hours 42 minutes and almost 3400 ft after scratching the first hour. Flew up to John Day River and later flew over the Oregon side on the way down searching for sink when landing. The lift east of aluminum plant turned on and finally filled in all the way back to launch. Smooth glass-off seemed to flush all but 1-2 paragliders out of the sky as it picked up to 20mph. 

Accidently hit a paraglider pilot in the head when I was moving up to launch. Those long wings on the rigid are hard to judge but probably not a good idea to do a top landing on launch when pilots are moving their gliders up to launch. Might want to top land somewhere else? 

Lots of hangs as Rick already mentioned their names. Good crew of paragliders too. Beautiful and warm day in the Gorge. Ray

 Day 2 Sunday
Another fun day at Cliffside. Stas and Gabe Dinu left early so I was the only hang glider with about a dozen paragliders. It was a repeated of yesterday except with much lighter winds. I launched around 4pm and flew for 2.5 hrs. Got up to 2,500 ft few times on the NW side behind the old hang launch with few PGs. Wind turbines on top was facing east (same as yesterday). Pretty mellow ridge lift from 5:30 till sunset..

 Cliffside day 3 report: Two hangs (Neil & myself) and two bags (Jon M & Austin) flew Cliffside today. It was soarable. However not epic but a repeated condition to the weekend and last Tuesday with much stronger winds. Jon flew his full size pararglider and Austin flew his mini wing in 15-20mph winds. I launched at 3:30 and got a bit over 2 hrs flight with maximum altitude gain of 1,900ft. The winds became stronger around 5, causing my glider to fly backwards at times. It got very windy and rowdy between 1,500 to 1,900ft due to some north winds, so it wasn't fun like the last couple of days. Surprisingly, it wasn't that windy at the LZ by the river when l landed at 5:40, but definitely had some north winds in it. Wind turbines were facing more NE after I landed. It was blowing especially strong when I returned to the launch parking lot to fetch my water bottle. Videos and photos coming soon.

 

 

   

2 flights 4 hrs Cliffside 3/6/18

I was the only hang glider today at Cliffside with about 15 plus paragliders. There were already a few PGs above launch while I was hiking up around 11:30. I launched at 1:15 and landed at 2:40. The winds was light therefore not much of a ridge lift kind of day, but there were some solid thermals on and off especially over the old hang launch area. The highest I got was 1,800ft on the NW side way behind the launch. While heading back to launch, sometimes l'd sank out below launch level, then climbed back up again over the hang launch; a repeated pattern for over an hour. Almost zero wind at the LZ by the river when I landed. Mark Rabe came by and gave me a ride up for the second flight, which I couldn't refuse such an offer, so I flew again from 4:15 to 6 sunset. Everyone flew and cruised effortlessly around a few hundred feet above launch till sunset with a few PGs making it to the wind turbines. My max attitude was 1,500 ft.

2 flights 3.5 hours Oceanside 3/4/18

Oceanside video (3/4/18 Sunday) :
I've squeezed down 2 flights 3.5 hours video into 4 minutes footage. 1st flight from 11:30 to 1:15. 2nd flight from 03:30 to 5.

Ray report:
Wild day at Oceanside, not what I expected from the forecast SSW 5-10. Most forecasts said 10 mph for a few hours in the afternoon and 35-50% chance of precip. 

I arrived with Rick and few already in the air before noon, so I was pleasantly surprised. I started setting up and after numerous rain showers, I didn't launch until shortly before 4:00, after my rigid wing finally became dry enough to take off.. With lots of help from Kory and Rob, I managed to take off with one of my most scariest launches ever. The control bar down tubes sort of got ripped out of my hands after only one step, the gust rotor action coming from the trees below. My reaction was to drop head down toward the nose and base bar, shifting my weight forward on the glider. I don't know if this was instinctual or just plain luck as the glider seemed to weather vane into the cross south wind at the same time. After letting out a scream, I flew away like nothing had happened. Shorts were clean anyway. 

I managed a good flight going to back bowl for some extra altitude, then flew to Happy Camp and then more south to the Schooner restaurant. Great lift as winds were in the 20 mph range on my Flytec Vario, which the Stratos rigid wing loves. I flew out to the 3 Rocks after returning to the Oceanside main hill and realized this flight was going to be cut short by the impending squall cells from the south that had been pestering us all day.. I decided to put her down as my luck for this day was already spent. I managed only 58 minutes duration with max altitude almost 1700 ft. Better safe than sorry and yes, we bagged them wet. Thanks, Ray

1.5 hrs Dog Mt 3/3/18

Very light (2-3 mph) west and SW winds at launch. There were 3 hang gliders (Stas, Sunny Jim and myself) and 2 paras (Alan & Kim) , all had a soarable flight. My flight time from 3 to 4:30pm. Maximum altitude 400ft above launch. Still have 3-5 inches of snow at launch.

photos: https://www.facebook.com/pdxrick.lai/posts/10155639132374285