Foul Weather? Go to Blanchard

Great flight at Blanchard with just about every condition you could have. We started out waiting on launch for about an hour with a very light south breeze and 95% cloud cover. When the sun did peak through the thermal cycles would start pumpin' immediately. A couple of times it looked like the clouds were going to give way enough to allow for some decent heating but it would soon cloud back over...then rain a little. Finally the south wind kicked in enough to ridge soar and we all got off launch quickly. Once up we found light thermal lift mixed in, even though there was next to no sun getting through. We worked these to a couple thousand feet over launch and tried to fly away from the worse of the rain and occasional hail that was blowing through. Towards the end of the day the wind let up and the cloud cover finally broke up allowing nicely spaced CUs to develop.

I ended the flight with my first wheel landing (still nursing my injured ankle). It all went smoothly but if I do it again I'm going to keep my harness zipped up. I got soaked landing in the wet field and got a nice sampling of the terra firma in the harness boot.

Russ and I took these pictures of each other at about the same time. The two pictures give you a kind of panorama of the area.

Going Rigid?

I’ve been intrigued by rigid wing hang gliders for quite a while, having built and flown a Mitchell Wing with my father in the mid-eighties. So when an opportunity to get an Axxess came along, I figured I’d give it a try and see if this type of wing is for me. My first flight went well, with a good launch and mellow thermals to climb in and get used to the handling of this new wing. The roll rate is a lot slower than a flex wing and I found myself flying out the edge of the smaller thermals and having to come back around a couple of times to center the core.

I climbed to cloud base and explored the river valley and neighboring peaks, enjoying the glide performance and reach of this new wing. After a nice introductory flight of an hour and a half, I set up a long final into the LZ with a very light headwind. Unfortunately the grass was thick and tall, making it hard to run my landing out. I flared, took a few steps, and twisted my ankle when the weight of glider came down on my shoulders.

The weight of this wing is really the hardest thing to get used to. Carrying it out of the LZ to the car by myself was a bit of a chore. I know some people use carts or split the wing in half to deal with this. Either way, it's more hassle than just shouldering my light weight U2. I plan to give it some time, but at this point weighing the pros and cons of a rigid wing doesn’t make the choice a “no brainer.” It’s a very personal choice and depends on what you value and the type of flying you do. Right now I’d say the jury is still out on this one, for me anyway.

Frostbite Fly-in

Other than a couple of rain squalls, we had good conditions for the first fly-in of the season at Dog Mtn. It was great to see everyone and to fly, eat and sing around the bonfire once again.