1 flight 45 mins at Bingen, Wa 01-19-15

There were 9 pilots hiked , and 6 flew (3 hangs and 3 Paragliders) on a challenging and rewarding day at Bingen. We got plenty of air flow at launch so we were expecting easy lift. Unfortunately, it was not much wind up front, except for some light thermals popping up. I managed to stay up below launch for about 45 mins. Just another exciting fun day at Bingen.

1 flight / 1 hour at Newberg 01-18-15

I was a bit worried about the weather being too overdeveloped, too wet, and blown out but decided to go anyways. It turned out both Eric O and I had a great flight today. There was a nice conditions until the clouds rolled in to covering the whole ridge along with some rain. The winds at launch was blowing about 15mph (smooth) and almost zero wind at the both LZs. We got an hour of air time and topped 700 ft above launch. The winds switched more to WNW at 2:00pm. And also a lots of rain.

4 sledders at Dog Mtn 01-16-15

About 10 pilots showed up at Dog Mtn today (Jan 16th 2015). The conditions were light so all flights were resulting in sledders. I had four flights, it was still worth the effort.

3 sledders at Dog 01-12-12

As expected, the conditions was mellow today with calm air and buttery smooth at Dog . Paige and I had 3 flights (Eric has 2) and we all launched off in zero wind conditions.

2 sledders at Dog 01-03-15

We thought we were going to get skunked. After hours of waiting at launch, five pilots flew (Alfredo, Glenn, Luis, Enrique and myself) and three of us flew twice in another challenging east winds day. Conditions was similar as the last time (2 days ago) we flew , a lot of East component and we had hoped that the West or North winds, or even thermals cycles could overpower the East wind. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, so we basically waited for the launchable zero wind window to punch off before the East wind increases again.

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Led by our fearless (unwitting) leader Rick, six pilots gathered at Dog. (Alfredo, Luis, Glenn, Stas, Rick and Enrique) The fog banks swayed gently, veiling and unveiling the landing area. The wind direction was East, at from 0 to 3 miles per hour. I wish I had taken a selfie of all of us posing under the wind streamers pointing to the back of launch, and another of all of us huddled in Stas’ car waiting for the lulls to increase!
Rick tried to improve things by rotating the wind streamer mast. It must have worked, because the wind slowed down to a condition we felt we could manage. Ever ready, he showed the way with an impeccable and solid run. The rest of the team followed except Stas, who decided it was not worth the effort, the one sane guy.
I was the only one who launched from the West launch, as the windsock consistently showed some slight South, and the only one who, in spite of mental conditioning and good advice, popped the nose up and received the mildly rebuking but well intentioned commentary “Scaary”. Everybody had good landings. Rick, Alfredo and Luis managed to squeeze a second flight.
If one looks at things from the cost-benefit point of view, our five-minute sledders look extremely onerous compared to a couple of hours each way of driving, plus setting up over snow and sludge, plus the wet cold wait (and wait and yet more waiting) but the grin in our faces told a different story. Here’s to a rewarding new year of flying.
from Enrique.

2 sledder New Year (1-1-15)

Well, for the start of 2015, we had 6 hang glider pilots (Aaron S, Kerie, Rob N, Alfredo, Steve and myself) doing our first flight for the year at Dog today. We all managed to have 1-2 extender sledders. Alfredo and I had two flights since we got there early. As for the condition,there was a lot of East component and we had hoped that the West or North winds, or even thermals cycles could overpower the East wind. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, so we basically waited for the launchable zero wind window to punch off before the East wind increases again. What a great day to start a first flight of the year.

Cliffside 12-30-2014

It's nice to end the year with John D , Solo R and Travis P with an absolutely terrific flights, given the iffy weather condition at Cliffside. The wind direction was blowing straight up (approx 8 mph) at launch from east (between 9:00 to 10:30am) with almost zero wind at the LZ. It became lighter than it was earlier when we launched around 11:30am. I was waiting for a stronger launch cycle when the wind started to drop down to less than 5 mph, to which I told John that we'll probably end up having a sledder,.......... but I was wrong, the day turned out much better than expected. We both launched in a good thermal cycle and was able to bench up and climb above launch quickly. I flew for 30 mins and later hooked up with more good thermals that took me up to 1400 ft over the hang launch. John also did really well and got 600 to 800ft over. After about an hour of air time, the thermic conditions had shut off and winds switched more to the opposite direction (west). A couple of PG pilots didn't fly because the wind suddenly switched over the back or too west. So, the 4 of us (2 hangs & 2 bags) got to soared and ended up with great flights today at Cliffside,...pretty awesome for an unpredictable forecast!
Date: 12-30-2014