Lift

RSS

2009-01-21T14:03:00.000-08:00

RSS news feed is now enabled on the new (b)Log site. Update your bookmarks or subscribe to the feed if you're interested.

Lift,
Darren

www.darrendarsey.com/lift

This Blog is Moving!

2008-12-31T21:32:00.000-08:00

With a new year comes a new personal blog site with a new look. Lift will be moving from Blogger to my server at

http://www.darrendarsey.com/lift

Happy new year!

- Darren

Angle of the Dangle

2008-09-19T13:37:00.000-07:00

Dangling the DSLR over Snoqualmie Pass, WA

Fight Gone Good

2008-09-12T18:02:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! I posted a new PR of 352 for the benchmark work out Fight Gone Bad at "jazzercise" today. Gettin' older but still getting stronger and faster.

The workout consists of 5 stations and 3 rounds:

Wall-ball: 20 pound ball, 10 ft target. (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull: 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump: 20" box (Reps)
Push-press: 75 pounds (Reps)
Row: calories (Calories)

You have one minute at each station with no break in time. At the completion of 5 minutes (one round) you have a 1 minute rest. Your score is the total number of reps + calories from the row from all three rounds.

15 minutes of work and 3 minutes of rest...doesn't sound too tough, right? ;)

Happy Birthday

2008-07-08T17:39:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of having my dad with me for the whole week during the Chelan Classic. He provided me with support, motivation and acted as our unofficial photo documentarian. Thanks Dad! BTW, no one believes me when I tell them you'll be turning 83 this month.

Happy Birthday!

Dad getting a better vantage point to capture the action

He has an eye for beauty...Stella and Katie watching the pilots launch.

Day 6

2008-07-07T10:37:00.000-07:00

The 2008 Chelan Classic has come to a close. The last day was very windy and although some pilots managed to get off the Butte and onto the flats, no one improved their ranking and we were all back that evening for a great BBQ and awards ceremony. The final standings are as follows:

Topless (HG)	4118	Ben Dunn
Topless (HG)	4113	Tom Pierce
Topless (HG)	3925	David Gibson

King Post (HG)	2118	Jim Fennison
King Post (HG)	1402	Konrad Kurp
King Post (HG)	1355	Tina Jorgensen

Single Surface (HG)	2226	Joe Evans
Single Surface (HG)	1433	Tom Johns
Single Surface (HG)	50	Adrian Dybwad

Paraglider	2806	Brett Yeates
Paraglider	2333	Brian Webb
Paraglider	2145	Matt Senior

Rest Day

2008-07-03T12:22:00.000-07:00

Day 5 has been called due to the severe weather forecast...

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON.
DAMAGING WIND GUSTS...HAIL TO THE SIZE OF QUARTERS...
AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING WILL BE POSSIBLE THROUGH EARLY
EVENING. A SIGNIFICANT LIGHTNING EVENT IS POSSIBLE TODAY.

....

Looking back at meet HQ

Day 4 Scores

2008-07-03T09:29:00.001-07:00

Thursday saw slightly weaker conditions with light winds. The battle for first place continues between Benn Dunn and Tom Pierce. Both flew incomplete triangle tasks on day four with Benn getting a bit closer to goal on the final leg putting him in the lead again by a slim 5 points.

I ended up on the ground as well on the final triangle leg from Sims Corner. As I was breaking down the glider a doe and her two fawns came out of the wheat field right next to me and calmly walked across the street. They were totally unconcered with me and my scrambling to get my camera out and take a picture.

.....

Daily Flight Scores

Day 4 totals

Day 3 Scores

2008-07-02T10:20:00.001-07:00

....

More perspectives of the Chelan Classic on Konrad Heildmann page.

More Chelan Info

2008-07-01T22:38:00.000-07:00

Day 3 saw more over development in the late afternoon with big cloud suck, sightings of incredibly large dust devils, rain hail and lightning. Many pilots cut their flight short or altered coarse to avoid the quickly deteriorating conditions.

Todays scores aren't ready yet. I'll get an update out tomorrow night. In the mean time check out Ben Dunn's (b)Log for more pictures and accounts of his Chelan Classic experience.

.......

Pics of the Day

Meet headquarters

Meet (Meat?) Head and pilots at morning briefing

Uncle Chop Chop giving Darren some advice on going long...

...Darren on his way directly to the Soccer Field LZ
:(

Ah, relaxing after a day of flying in the lake behind meet HQ

CXCC Day 1 & 2

2008-06-30T21:50:00.001-07:00

Super busy here with running the comp and trying to fly as well so I'm not finding much time to blog but here is a very quick summery of the first two days...

The competition has gotten off to a great start. There are 54 pilots here and the first two days have seen excellent flying conditions with light wind and great climb rates. It was brutally hot on Sunday with temperatures in the low 100's but that didn't keep people from having great flights. On Sunday pilots were having climbs to 10,000 ft with 50 to 80 mile triangles being flown by many of the hang glider pilots and 40 to 50 mile triangles being complete by the top paraglider pilots.

Monday the temperature back off a few degrees. We waited on launch a bit longer for the day to start to develop but when it did, it was off to the races. Large cumulus clouds started to form and we were seeing climb rates of 12-1400 ft/min, topping out at cloud base at 14,000ft. The 30 mile leg from Farmer to Simms Corner was a fast, cold glide with a large cloud street lining up the whole way. Conditions started to overdevelop by late afternoon and shortly after we landed back at the Chelan airport there was rain, lightning and towing CUs out on the flats.

Standing as of day two:

Topless:
Tom Pierce 2495
Ben Dunn 2489
Larry Snyder 2176
David Gibson 1984
Bruce Bousfield 1896
Fiona Katay 1831
Darren Darsey 1674
Phil Bloom 1621
Konrad Heilmann 1608
Chris Smith 1554
Eric Troili 1425
Marty Van Datta 1391

King Post:
Jim Fennison 1456
Konrad Kurp 797
Tina Jorgensen 643

Sing Surface:
Joe Evans 784
Tom Johns 614

Paraglider:
Brett Yates 1569
Matt Senior 1111
Brian Webb 1048
Kendel Banister 606
Joe Sullivan 516

Alright... who wants some?

2008-06-24T16:55:00.001-07:00

Pilots are coming in from all corners of the US and Canada for some big air, long flights and a week of fun competition. I'll be picking Chris Smith and Phil Bloom up from the airport on Friday then heading over the pass to the arid openness of eastern Washington. Stay tuned for updates through out the week on who's leading, who's chasing and what's happening on the ground.

Kagel

2008-02-18T09:10:00.001-08:00

Chris "Chopper" Smith models the latest hang gliding fashion on launch at Kagel.

Random Snapshots

2008-02-15T13:25:00.000-08:00

Shadows on the beach

Petit warming up her madd hand stand skilz

Me and my buddy Dana bloggin' at his pad in Santa Barbara

Rincon

2008-02-14T22:23:00.000-08:00

Being in Santa Barbara the last couple of days has been great - warm weather, good friends and a decent swell rolling in. I'm beginning to wonder why I ever left in the first place. This morning we decided to try surfing Rincon again. My friend Petit and I headed out around 10am and when we got there we found we weren't the only ones to have that idea. I had forgotten how crowded the good surf spots can be in California. We suited up and paddled out into the line up with about 40 other surfers. I managed to catch a couple of decent waves but it was a bit of a mad house with that many people in the water. I ended up mostly just sitting on my board watching Kelly Slater and a couple of other world class surfers rip it up on the head high sets that were rolling in. Later as we packed up in the parking lot Petit saw Jack Johnson on his way out to the break...quite a day for celebrity sitings at the local surf break, eh?

Santa Barbara Bound

2008-02-13T08:47:00.001-08:00

After 3 great days of hang gliding at Kagel with Chis Smith and the gang, I'm headed off to Santa Barbara to do some surfing and visit some old friends. The weather continues to be perfect and as we head up hwy 1 there is a good swell coming in and we call ahead to our friend Heidi to get the surfboards loaded up so we can all head to Rincon for a sunset surf session. I haven't been surfing since I lived here but I find that all those old neural surfing pathways are still there and we have a great session in the golden light of a Santa Barbara sunset.

The Valley

2008-02-10T17:53:00.001-08:00

Another great day at Kagel Mountain

Valley Crossfit

2008-02-10T17:06:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of Crossfit affiliates around the country now and I found that there is one just down the street from Chris's place where I'm staying. Micheal Latch of Valley Crossfit was kind enough to let me drop in for a work out. He had just turned 39 the day before (and I had turned 39 a couple of weeks ago) so we did a special birthday work out. It's a bit of a tradition when you have a birthday at Crossfit for your age to be the number of reps you do for the work out. So Micheal created the following workout for us:

400m run between each of the following exercises
39 pullups
39 bumper plate burpees
39 wall ball
39 ball slams
39 box jumps
39 kettle bell swings
39 bumper plate overhead walking lunges

It was great to get a work out in and meet Micheal, Becca and the great group of crossfiters at Valley Crossfit. Thanks all!

Northwest Pilots at Kagel Mtn

2008-02-09T19:32:00.000-08:00

Marty, Larry, Russ & Darren

Flying Kagel Mtn

2008-02-09T18:55:00.001-08:00

I hooked up with Chris on Friday and we headed out to Kagel Mtn even though the forecast wasn't too good with some east wind predicted. It was in the low 70s and clear with very little smog in the valley. By the time we got to the LZ it was already starting to blow in and it seemed that the Santa Anna wind was not going to be a factor. We launch around 1pm and had a great two hour orientation flight. It's amazing how much GA and commercial air traffic we are flying with here. During my two hour flight I had about 5 aircraft come within a mile or two of me and 2 come within 1000'. I kept pulling out of the thermals around 5000' to try to stay below the majority of the aircraft coming and going from the two major airports nearby. We had a great flights though and will be out there the next two days getting more air time.
Thanks to Kraig Coomber, Jo Greblo, and all the pilots at Kagel Mtn for getting us set up and being so welcoming.

SoCal

2008-02-08T19:06:00.000-08:00

Came down to Los Angeles for a few days to see some friends and do some flying. The weather is warm and sunny (74 degrees today) and the first thing I did after landing was to head to the beach and put my feet in the ocean, then got a little work out on the rings and rope near the Santa Monica pier.
It's great to be out of the cold, rainy northwest for a while. I'll be hooking up with Chris Smith later for some hang gliding at his home site, Kagel Mtn. Woohoo!

Slack Line Therapy

2007-11-20T10:36:00.000-08:00

I've been ill and haven't been able to do much but lay in bed and wallow in my own little hell. But today I've regained some energy, enough to set up the slack line and start re-learning some skills. Focus, concentration, determination, and awareness.

Learning to balance again

Exercise

2007-11-16T12:12:00.000-08:00

I'm taking a hiatus from the "jazzercise" (that's Jonny's name for the crossfit gym group workouts, lol) for a more travel friendly version. This means getting creative and figuring out what can be done with the minimal equipment that might be available. I started this on my last job where we stayed at a Marriott hotel that had a very small gym stuffed with a bunch of machines. If you know anything about crossfit you know it doesn't involve Nautilus equipment. Luckily they had dumbbells up to 50lbs, treadmills and a bike that actually had fairly decent resistance settings. Between these things and being able to push two treadmills close enough together to do dips on the arm rests, I manage to find enough weight and intensity to fill up my stay. Except for the manager coming in and saying, "uh, that's not the way your suppose to use the treadmills" all went well and it was pretty easy to come up with stuff to do.

Now that I'm back home it's a bit harder. All I have is a pull up bar and today was the first day of working out at home. The workout was: 10 non kipping pull ups, 20 push ups, 20 v-ups - 3 rounds as fast as you can go with no rest periods. Then a one minute rest while I transitioned to a 2.7 mile run stopping half way for 50 squats. Total time: about 25 minutes

Working out for me has become increasingly important not only for the physical benefits but more importantly for the psychological boost it gives me. I love what I do (for work) but as a freelancer work can be sporadic and coping with the downtime can be tough at times. I'm finding a regular exercise schedule is one tool that helps me keep an even keel. The other is having good friends and family who care about me and are always there with advice and support. I'm truly fortunate to have such good people in my life. I love you all.

Peace out.

Travel

2007-11-16T11:53:00.000-08:00

Work is getting busy and it looks like I'm going to be on location quite a bit this winter. I just finished up a 12 day catalog job in Charleston, SC and after the holiday will be off again to Florida for the next catalog in early December. It's good to be back on the road with good crews and friends and to have some time way from the Seattle winter.

My hang gliding time is certainly going to be leveling off with my increased travel. I plan to take some breaks after up coming jobs in SoCal this winter to fly with Chopper in LA and my buddy Andy in San Diego but wont be logging the hours like before. So I guess my hang gliding posts here will be pretty sporadic from now on, but really I guess that's nothing new.

Rampart Ridge in October

2007-10-26T13:28:00.000-07:00

Pocket Cameras

2007-09-17T14:54:00.000-07:00

If you're looking for a small digital camera to do some in-flight photos with you might be a little frustrated like me by the current offerings out there. My two basic requirements, a wide angle lens and a remote, seem to be rather rare specs to find in one camera unfortunately. I was hoping that the new Canon G9 lens would get bumped towards the wide end of the spectrum but alas it didn't and Canon is still not including a remote option in their newer cameras. So it seems that the Canon S60 and S70, which were released a couple of years ago and now discontinued, still have the best compromise between picture quality and portability while having a relatively wide field of view and a remote. The S60 has been a great hang gliding companion for me over the last couple of years. I've taken most to the in-flight photos on this site with it. It's getting a bit long in the tooth technology wise I guess, but it's still working flawlessly and unless I give up on the remote option requirement or go to using my DSLR equipment (better call my insurance provider), I'll probably be hanging on to it a bit longer.

Got a camera you like to take hang gliding? Let us know, leave a comment.

Chris Culler with Mt Rainer - Canon S60

Hacking your Canon

2007-09-13T15:07:00.000-07:00

Being a professional photographer, I thought I would try to create more posts here related to photography. Hopefully I can provide some useful info and make this site something more than just a home for my flight logs and snapshots. In the process maybe we'll get more hang gliding pilots inspired to take pictures and those that take pictures, inspired to create images.

So to start off here is a cool little tech tidbit for all you with Canon point and shoot cameras. Andre Gratchev has developed a firmware hack that will allow you to add some goodies to Canon digital cameras based on the Digi II chip. Gratchev's program, CHDK, adds some worthwhile features including:

Shooting in RAW format
Live histogram
Zebra mode (blinking highlights and shadows)
Depth Of Field (DOF) calculator
Battery indicator
Scripts execution
File browser
Text reader
Calendar

If you're interested, there is an article by Nathan Willis on using CHDK.

Pretty cool, eh?

More Cloud Surfing

2007-09-03T17:56:00.002-07:00

Another magical cloud surfing day at Rampart Ridge.

video 1 - 4mb
video 2 - 13mb

Rampart is ON

2007-08-18T08:52:00.000-07:00

I picked up a new Litespeed 4s last week, just as the Keechelus lake level was dropping low enough to expose the LZ for my favorite flying site, Rampart Ridge. Rampart is flyable much earlier in the season but the problem is there are no good LZs available until the Army Corps of Engineers begins releasing water from the lake which then exposes the lake bed and a small strip of dirt we call the Carrier Deck. When your on final over the water, getting tossed around by turbulence you'll know why it is called that.

The first couple of flights on the LS4 were in weak thermal conditions and gave me an opportunity to get use to the new wing in relatively mellow conditions. It is a pleasure to fly and handles very well. I'm liking it a lot.

A front blew through a couple of days ago bringing stronger winds and unstable air to our region. The next day the winds diminished and cumulus clouds scattered the Cascades. Perfect Rampart conditions and a great opportunity to go on some long glides over the rugged crags of the Cascades. Cloud base was 7200' with abundant lift, but very cold. We launched and beamed up to cloud base, heading north up the valley and maneuvering to stay out of the clouds that were forming all around. The lift diminished over Alta peak, and at only a couple hundred feet over the peak, I decided not to push on into no mans land and instead headed West to Red Mountain and toured the Snoqualmie pass area.

None of us were very prepared for how cold it was going to be and after only an hour and a half of racing around, we were all shivering and looking for sun and lower altitudes. Brain was the first to head to the LZ and we all soon followed. Winds were West at about 12mph in the air but on the carrier deck it was switching and variable and my nice head wind at 200 feet turned into a slight tail wind on the deck. I used up the whole LZ but had a well timed, hard flare and landed well. Did I say I'm really liking this wing? :)

Looking towards keechelus lake

Back on the deck

Glass Off

2007-08-09T18:12:00.000-07:00

Took some snapshots with the point and shoot during a late afternoon flight at Dog Mt. The first shots I've taken in flight for quite a while. I always fly with the point & shoot in my harness but lately haven't been motivated or inspired. Hopefully that'll be changing soon.
That's Dave Scott, way out there to the right of Dog Mt, with Riffe lake in the background.
Interesting fact: Dog Mt was the site of the 1976 US Nationals.

Hang-On Comp

2007-07-27T16:18:00.000-07:00

I drove down to Woodrat with Jonny and Chris on Sunday for a few days of flying at the Hang-On competition. We had great flying the first two days with clouds streets over the mountains towards Grants Pass. Unfortunately a wild fire started along the coarse on the first day and the race was stopped. Most of us landed at goal as the tankers and helicopters zoomed over head carrying water and flame retardant to the near by fire.

As we were getting ready to leave the LZ I helped Chris load his glider on the van and as he stepped down he twisted his ankle severely. Chris went to the hospital that evening to have it x-rayed and found out that it was actually broken and would require surgery to ensure that it mended quickly and correctly. He's still planning on flying at the World's in Big Spring in two weeks and I'm sure he'll do great. More info is on his Blog.

Mexican ice pack

Darren, Jonny & Chris

Chelan 2007

2007-07-10T08:49:00.000-07:00

It's been a fun but very busy week of flying and meet directing. The Chelan XC Classic was a success with about 45 pilots competing and everyone having a good time. We had great flying weather every day of the competition with light winds the first few days, allowing for some big triangles to be flown. Then the winds picked up in the afternoon on the last two days and pilots went long with several 100+ mile flights.
Thanks to all the volunteers - Tryg, Paul, CJ, George, Brian, Tom & Lori - it wouldn't have happened with out all your help.
CXCC Results

My retrieve, a bunch of happy pilots with a head start on the evenings activities

That middle guy looks like trouble.
(Darren, Marty & Chris)

Chopper's New Ride

2007-06-28T22:23:00.000-07:00

Getting the last few things wrapped up here in town then it's off to Chelan Saturday morning for the Chelan XC Classic. Chris and I went to the shipping dock yesterday and picked up the Litespeed 4 RS that he'll be flying. Looks pretty nice. We got it unpacked and re assembled then had a little fun with the traffic. I wonder what that guy was thinking as he looked in his rear view mirror. lol.
Clear!

The Swyft

2007-06-28T13:23:00.001-07:00

I'm getting ready for a week in Chelan, Washington, and in preparation I'm building a new Swyft to have on hand. The Swyft is an incredible little RC glider. It's wingtip-launchable to 100 feet, weighs less than 5 ounces, and breaks down quickly into a very small box for traveling. The design has had a long evolution from the scratch built Li'l Nipper to the current Swyft; each incarnation has seen incremental refinements to achieve this simply elegant little glider design.

Keep an eye on Liftworx. I have a feeling you may be seeing more unique RC glider designs from them in the future.

Here's a little flight demo movie I shot of Scobie flying the Swift.

Performance

2007-06-15T14:38:00.000-07:00

Got Chris Smith into doing Crossfit with me. He's doing great but the first couple of weeks adjusting to the intensity and work load can be tough, especially for a competitor like Chris who doesn't hold back, but I think he's already getting into the groove and enjoying the new challenge.

I don't hear much discussion about fitness and hang gliding but I think it's a cornerstone to performance flying and to just enjoying the sport more. For competitors like Chris, fitness/nutrition should get as much attention as equipment and tuning. At the end of long flights your physical & mental state can have a big effect on performance, both in maximizing your gliders potential and good decision making. Why not take every advantage you can? Whether you're a comp pilot or fly recreational cross country, working towards your physical potential will help you maximize your flying performance and increase your enjoyment of the sport.

If you want to know more about Crossfit check out Crossfit Foundation's and What is Fitness?

See you in the air.

Foul Weather? Go to Blanchard

2007-05-20T18:04:00.000-07:00

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?

2007-05-12T10:42:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-02T11:33:00.000-07:00

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.

Speed Gliding Championships

2007-03-02T19:03:00.000-08:00

Once again those downhill racers of the sky will be gathering at Chelan Butte in Washington to see how fast they really are as they test their accuracy, judgment, and technical skill against each other and the clock. This is the longest-running speed gliding event in the US and it promises to be another fun week of flying. The event runs May 1st -5th, butting up against the Chelan Beach'N May 5th-6th, which will challenge your spot landing skills on the shores of Lake Chelan.

You don't have to be an expert speed glider to participate. If you have an intermediate rating or above and would like to give it a try, you can enter in the Sport Class and work on improving your time each round with helpful hints and advice from the pros.

For more info and registration check out the 2007 Speed Gliding Championships page.

Blanchard Bliss

2007-02-19T10:27:00.000-08:00

Finally logged some air time on Sunday in some pretty spectacular conditions at Blanchard Mountain. Winds were SW at about 15mph with cap clouds forming over some of the hills on the islands west of launch as well as above Blanchard and Chuckanut. We took off on the west launch and flew out to the front edge of the clouds, then continued to climb as we headed north. At about 4000' we started to encounter sporadic light snow before topping out at around 4500'. The air was smooth and cold, and we took several long glides across Samish Bay.
It was good to be back in the air again.

New Club Website

2007-02-02T11:30:00.000-08:00

The long cold winter continues here in the Northwest as does my hiatus from hang gliding. My last flight was at the end of October and is definitely the longest stretch yet with no airtime. On the other hand I'm getting a lot done. Between my photography work and night class (working on my EMT cert.) I've managed to finish updating the CBCC website. We now have working forums and a few other improvements. And if you're interested in flying in a fun competition at a world class xc site, check out the Chelan Classic page. You can now register online for the competition which runs July 2nd through the 7th.

Valle de Bravo

2006-12-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

Not much flying happening here in the Northwest right now so I thought I would post a short video from my trip to Valle last February. Mmm, looks warm and sunny.

More Rampart

2006-10-21T10:58:00.000-07:00

Here is a shot that Paul Dees took on our cloud surfing day at Rampart last month. You can see me and Russ in the upper right corner.

Cloud Surfing

2006-09-10T08:59:00.000-07:00

It rained Friday night and I awoke to a cool overcast morning. The heavy clouds were forecasted to hang around all day with WSW winds 10-15mph in the passes. Russ, a cloud surfing aficionado, called around 11am excited about the possibilities of flying Rampart Ridge. I was skeptical that launch was even below the clouds but with a little online weather research we determined it was and that we had a decent chance of getting a flight.
We were set up and ready to launch shortly after 3pm. I launched first and immediately climbed 500 ft in smooth, cold ridge lift. I flew away from the hill to stay out of the clouds and waited for Paul and Russ to join me.
There were basically two layers of clouds, one solid layer at around 8000' and a very dynamic broken layer starting at 5500'. We flew up the valley to the Rampart wall and found that we could fly up the front side of the lower level clouds and get above them. It felt like a dream, flying above the clouds in the smoothest lift you could image. We flew until the cold finally forced us to come back down to earth and reality.

Another Flying Day in the Northwest

2006-09-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

The day looked like it was going to be shut down inland due to cloud cover so we headed to Blanchard, a little hill over looking Puget Sound. As we arrived the clouds were breaking up and the sun was getting through enough to give us hope. I launched first and found some zero sink in front of launch. I circled hoping it would build but nothing much was happening and I went off looking for something better. Not finding any other lift near the hill I headed out towards the LZ where we had seen some birds getting up earlier. Unfortunely I was already low on the hill before heading out and by the time I arrived over the fields I was only about 400' agl. Unzipped and ready for landing I had just enough altitude to do one pass over a likely thermal source to the SE of the LZ. It was either going to be working or I was going to land. My wing rocked and the nose pitched up as I hit the disorganized lift. I turned, gain a few feet then fell out the side. I continued struggling and eventual gained 100' before the lift began to consolidate. Now I was in the thick of it and it was on up to cloudbase and over the back towards interstate 5. I followed the retreating CUs to Lookout Mt to the east before landing and hooking up with Jeff and Andy. The CUs were retreating farther inland and Jeff and Andy, who had sledders at Blanchard, wanted to give Big Johnson a try. I hadn't been there before and agreed to drive for them. It was windy with strong gusts on launch but they both got off with no problems and enjoyed a beautiful sunset flight.

Final Results

2006-07-03T09:25:00.000-07:00

Finally put some miles behind me on Saturday, the last day of the meet. We had good conditions with a West wind that built in strength through out the day. I attempted a 52 mile triangle (Butte - Farmer - Mansfield and back) which I hoped would be enough to take the lead in the king post division.

The first half of the flight went quickly with 1500ft/min climbs up to 12,000 ft. It was relatively smooth for me but others found some rough spots with Tom Pierce inadvertently getting rolled past 90° in one of the big ones early on.
Halfway through the coarse the lift began to weaken and I had to slow down and work some lighter thermals before making the last turn point at Mansfield. By now the West wind had built in strength and I had a 17 mile up wind leg to finish the triangle. With the weakening lift and the strengthening wind it was soon obvious I wasn't going to make it back. Each thermals I stopped to work drifted me away from my goal and my climb rates were too slow to net me any forward progress. I finally decided to go on glide to see if I could make it past the halfway point for the final leg and at least get the mileage multiplier but my glide was poor and I ended up landing short.

The final standings for the 2006 Chelan XC Classic:

Name	Class	Glider	Points

Tom Pierce	Rigid	Atos	4380
Mike Daily	Rigid	Axxess	3085
Larry Jorgensen	Rigid	Axxess	2516

David Scott	Topless	Litespeed 4	4067
Kelly Harrison	Topless	Fusion 150	2452
Lenny Baron	Topless	Fusion 150	2418

Jimmy Culler	Kingposted	Laminar	968
Darren Darsey	Kingposted	U2 145	802
Mark Salesse	Kingposted	U2 160	799

Jim Fenison	SS	Northwing	1518
Tom Johns	SS	Falcon 2 170	1313
Konrad Kurp	SS	Falcon 225	844

Chris/Sarah Galli	PG-S		407
Conrad Kreick	PG-S		289
CJ Sturtevant	PG-S		25

Pam Nichols	PG-OP		172
James Bender	PG-OP		90

Chelan Classic

2006-06-28T21:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, my strategy isn’t working out too well. We are half way through the comp and so far I’ve landed out twice (both times far too close to where I took off from) and I haven’t had to use my bar mitts once. So much for staying high and not landing out.
The up side is that the high temperatures are mellowing back down into the 90s and we are expecting good weather for the rest of the competition here in Chelan.

Chelan

2006-06-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

I'm in Chelan, WA this week for the 25th Anniversary of the Chelan XC Classic. The comp starts tomorrow so we went up to the Butte this afternoon for a little warm up flight. We didn't get much of a flight but we certainly got warm. The temperature the last couple of days has been in the high 90's with predicted highs tomorrow and Tuesday in the low 100's. My strategy to beat the heat... don't get low and don't land out. :)

The Jorgensen's have found a way to deal with the heat this year without having to drive down the road from their hill top property to the lake- they've brought the lake to them! And they don't mess around with those puny garden hoses either.

Sunset at Blanchard

2006-06-09T14:40:00.000-07:00

Solo

2006-06-07T08:17:00.000-07:00

Tiger Mtn served up a couple of days of cumulus covered skies that bolstered my confidence enough to try going XC, my first attempts in the conifer carpeted terrain of Western Washington. It's an interesting feeling making the commitment to go on glide alone over such terrain and I found myself circling at cloud base an extra 10 minutes watching the clouds along my intended route and trying to build some confidence for that initial leap. But the conditions were good and as I made my last turn and pulled the VG tight that feeling of unease subsided and I settled into trying to fly as efficiently as possible towards my goal. As I approached Rattle Snake Ridge I could make out a paraglider pilot working light lift near the ridge. Seeing another pilot in lift over inhospitable terrain is a real morale booster! As I got closer I ran into the meat of the lift an quarter mile or so in front of the ridge and rocketed up to cloud base again as the paraglider pilot worked his way upwind to get the good stuff. From here North Bend was an easy glide with plenty of LZs. The goal now was to get across the valley and up on Mt Si. Finding a bit of lift over the valley, I managed to arrive a little over half way up the side of Mt Si and worked light thermals on the cliff face as the hikers on the top watched me circle below then slowly climb until I was right in front of them, close enough to see what they were having for lunch. As I reached the peak the thermal turned on and it was on up to cloud base once more for a few photos before heading out to North Bend to land.

Thanks to CJ for the retrieve and fine home cooked meal!

Oceanside, OR

2006-04-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

Regret

2006-03-09T20:45:00.000-08:00

"Never regret. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience." -Victoria Holt

As I was surfing around the web, getting caught up on the latest happenings, I meandered into despair.com; a demotivational, tongue-in-cheek website for the pessimist in all of us. I'm sure many of you have seen their spin on the pretty picture with inspirational quote below it. Flytec did something similar a couple years ago with their "Victory" ad.
Well, when I saw this clip I had to paste one together myself...

The Sun Sets in Valle

2006-03-01T13:25:00.000-08:00

My trip has come to an end and as I write this I'm already settling back into the reality of the cool, moist Northwest. It's been a great week of competition and free flying with incredibly consistent weather for hang gliding. What a pleasure it has been flying here; thanks to Jeff and the crew at FlyMexico, everything went smoothly and without hassle, from the transportation to the flying to the extracurricular (i.e. non flying) activities, FlyMexico handled it all. I'm definitely looking forward to returning in the years to come. Carrie wants to go too, now that she's seen that Valle has lots to offer beyond flying. Pretty unique place all in all and as far as taking a flying vacation to a foreign country it's hard to get more bang for the buck anywhere else.

Millennium Cup

2006-02-26T08:27:00.000-08:00

We've had good conditions the last couple days, with clouds forming above the mesa at ~12,000 msl. Everyone is flying fast in the favorable conditions and on Friday Brett came in first at goal, about a minute in front of Dustin. I made goal as well, about 45 minutes ahead of the next class B pilot.
The goal each day is Valle, and landing on the green grass in front of the Boga Boga Cafe is a pleasure. You can unhook, step out of your harness, and enjoy good food and friends as you watch the sunset.
On Saturday I get a late start and have to struggle a bit to get high but once up and on coarse the cloud streets show the way and I make the 37-km dogleg without getting low and make my final glide from the last turn point at 12,000'.
Going into the last day of the comp, Brett was leading Dustin by a couple of minutes (quite a bit for a 3-day meet). Both pushed hard and got low; Dustin managed to hang on and make a low save while Brett landed out. Dustin took the day and placed 1st for the meet.

The Competition Begins

2006-02-23T20:54:00.000-08:00

First day of the competition in Valle. There are about 25 pilots competing, including Brett Hazlett and Dustin Martin. I'm flying in class B (shorter/easier tasks) so I'm not competing with these guys, but a few of our turn points are the same so I have a chance to fly with these experienced pilots for short periods of time, which is fun.
I was the last one off the hill today but managed to get high in the start circle just in time to follow the lead gaggle to the first waypoint. Our paths diverged there as I headed off on a different route for class B. I hooked up with Dustin and Brett at Cerra Gordo. We all were low but they managed to hang on until a cycle came through while I sank out and had to land. I was bummed, but soon felt better when Russ and two other Mexican pilots landed near me half an hour later. A short wait for retrieve and then it was back to Valle for cervezas and sunset.

(photo by Russ Gelfan)

The Other Side of Valle

2006-02-23T05:57:00.000-08:00

Russ and I went with Alfredo, one of Jeff's retrieval drivers, today to check out the Monarch butterflies. This is truly a must-see if you are in Valle in the winter. It's a short walk up a dusty trail to the bower of the butterflies.

There is so much to see and do around Valle that a week hardly seems enough time. I guess we'll have to come back next year to see all the sites we missed this time around.

The El Peňon Yo-Yo

2006-02-21T18:29:00.000-08:00

It was another beautiful day here in Valle de Bravo, and another day of flying from El Peñon was on the schedule. The pilots called a task that took them off to the West as practice for the comp that starts Thursday. My goal for today was to make it back to Valle. It was a bit windy today and the thermals were small and broken. Russ sank out to the Piano LZ and I worked the launch area for the next 40 minutes trying to get up. The thermals were hard to hang onto and I repeatedly got up to about 8600' only to lose it and sink back below launch. Not having much luck there, I flew west to El Peñon and repeated my yo-yoing another 30 minutes until finally I was able to hang onto a large enough thermal to take me to over 11,000'. I headed north to El Gordo Mountain and then on to Valle to finish the flight with some nice ridge soaring above the town to relax the muscles before landing. The lake LZ is quite large now that the lake is down, and Alex and Jeff have made some great improvements to the place with a new pilots' lounge/cafe to have a cold beer at after a great day of flying.
A couple more pilots showed up last night (Dustin and Mark) for the comp and will be staying here with Russ and me at Jeff's villa. They brought their gliders with them, so they'll be putting them back together this morning then heading out to El Peñon. Russ and I are going to take the day off and explore some of the many other activities that Valle has to offer.

First Day in Valle

2006-02-20T19:34:00.000-08:00

A long day of traveling on Sunday to get to Valle de Bravo. Left the house at 5am to catch a 7am flight to Dallas, where our connecting flight was delayed because it was 20F and all the aircraft had to be de-iced before take off. I'm so ready for some warm weather! We touched down in Mexico City around 5pm, got our baggage, and cleared customs without a hitch. Jeff Hunt was there to meet us and we caught a superdeluxe bus (they served snacks and showed a movie, neither of which were present on our flights) to Toluca to meet Jeff's driver, who took us the rest of the way to Valle de Bravo. We arrived with just enough time for Jeff to give us a quick tour of the square and to grab some tacos before getting dropped off at the pilot bunk house, a comfy multi-level Mexican villa with a beautiful view of the lake from just about every room.
This morning we headed to El Peñon, the local thermal site, for our first flight. There are some other pilots here for the upcoming competition, and a group of about eight of us flew. The thermals were rippin' and I found it hard to relax, having not done much big-air thermal flying since the Chelan Classic last year, but after about a half hour of getting tossed around I found my groove and got up high enough to head over the back but sank out shortly after. Ah well, it was a good first orientation flight. Russ on the other hand, headed over the back and nearly sank out as well but managed a low save thanks to the help of a local farmer whose tractor apparently triggered a thermal as Russ was getting ready to land in his field. He rode it up from 500' agl, as the only cloud in the whole sky formed above him. He made it the 14 km to Valle and took this picture of "downtown" before landing.

Voy a Mexico

2006-02-06T12:07:00.000-08:00

I’ll be heading to Valle de Bravo on the 19^th. I just talked to some local paraglider pilots who are just back from the Monarca Open in Valle. They had good weather and conditions for the comp, which is the norm there, I hear. I don't think a day went by during the competition without a reserve deployment though.

This will be my first trip to Valle de Bravo and I’m looking forward to checking out the area and the flying. I’ll be hooking up with Jeff Hunt of Fly Mexico and using one of the wings from his inventory while I’m there. Not having to travel with my glider makes going to Mexico for a week to fly a lot more appealing. Flying vacations sure make me envy the portability of paragliders. Paragliding opens up some unique travel opportunities for pilots, but seeing the pilots throw their reserve chutes on a daily basis quells my interest a little bit, but maybe that's just me.

Check back for updates from Valle!

Kayaking

2006-01-22T18:01:00.000-08:00

It seems the continuous march of weather fronts coming across Washington have slowed and we won't be breaking the record for most continuous days of rain after all. Too bad. After going through all that rain, falling short of the record is a bit disappointing, but it sure is nice to see the sun again.
Today Carrie and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and high water levels to do some river kayaking, something we haven't done much of since I started hang gliding. It was fun being back on the water and we had a great day running the rapids of the Green River Gorge.

Rain

2006-01-13T08:53:00.000-08:00

The Emerald City is really living up to its reputation as a rainy place. Twenty-six consecutive days of rain so far! We are well on our way to breaking the all-time record of 33 consecutive days, set back in 1953.
There was a short break in the rain Sunday morning and a few of us managed to get an hour of ridge soaring on Whidbey Island before the rain returned and forced us to land. It was great to get in the air again but having to break down the glider in the rain really isn't too much fun.
We're really looking forward to some sunshine here in the upper left corner.
The rain hasn't been interfering with my workouts though. The new CrossFit Eastside space is really developing fast, with a steady stream of new toys coming into the gym. Last week they got the cargo net installed and it's already being incorporated into new, fun, inventive workouts.
The 6am workout today was 12 box jumps, 12 D-Ball slams, 12 push-jerks (85lbs), repeat for 20 minutes. I managed to complete 8 rounds.

Photography

2005-12-21T21:45:00.000-08:00

The first day of winter. It’s dark, cold, and raining outside. As a short escape from the weather, I’ve been going through some soaring photos from last summer.
I'm reminded again of the power photographs have. It’s a history that seems to me more immediate and intimate than the written word. They seem to leap the fence of linguistic description, bring me closer to the experience than any words could possibly do. The memories are both bitter and sweet this year.

Rampart Ridge continued to produce some of the best flights and photographs
in 2005. I experimented with mounting my Canon s60 digital point and shoot to the wing tip. It worked well, with no noticeable effect on the glider's flight characteristics. The camera is triggered by an IR remote attached to my basetube. The camera allows for a 2- or 10-second delay, which is nice if you don't want a bunch of shots of yourself pointing the remote at the camera. I ended up using the 10-second delay the most. It allows enough time to put the remote away and then maneuver the glider for the perspective I wanted. I also experimented with mounting a small video camera at different locations on the wing which I'll post more about later.

Unfortunately, Rampart also brought tragedy to us this year. We lost a dear friend as a result of a bad launch. A tragic reminder of how unforgiving our sport can be. Hang gliding is so wondrous and amazing, it’s unfortunate that it is tempered all too often by such loss.

He will be missed.

Specked Out

2005-12-18T19:12:00.000-08:00

Only a week left until Christmas. Oy, I hope you’ve taken care of all your shopping because it’s a madhouse out there. If, however, you're still looking for a great gift for the special hang gliding/flight fanatic in your life, check out Liftworx. These little hand-launched gliders are really cool. Ultra lightweight, amazing performance, and tons of fun to fly when you're waiting around on launch for the conditions to improve. Be sure to check out the video of the Swyft being hand launched. The height to which you can launch these little gliders is truly amazing.
The picture is of me doing some light-air ridge soaring at Gasworks Park in Seattle. One of the nice things about these R/C gliders is that you don't need a lot of room to fly them. Most any parking lot, city park, or backyard will do. I've thermaled this one up so high here that the thermal turns had to be done purely by muscle memory since it was so far away I had no visual cues. It was merely a speck in the sky.

Year in Review – Prototypes

2005-12-17T14:30:00.000-08:00

The Delrin aero basebar skids that I made for my U2 are working out great. I had been using the Wills Wing aero basebar wheels for a short time on my U2 and found them to be well made but was annoyed that the design allows the base bar to rest on the ground when the glider is tilted back on its keel during setup. The base bar was getting scratched up and it made it harder to keep the pit pins and side wire attachment points clean and free of grit. That--combined with the fact that I didn’t feel the 4” wheels were big enough to be at all useful unless I was landing on a flat putting green--led me to experiment with the skids. I’ve been flying with the skids for an entire season now and I like them a lot. They are probably not going to slide any better than 4” wheels would roll on tough terrain, but they keep my base bar out of the dirt, cause very little drag, and were inexpensive and easy to make.

These custom Delrin wheels Albrecht Buchner had made are quite nice too; I may have to try to make a pair for my next project.

The other prototype I made this year, with help and inspiration from my friend Scobie, was a simple lightweight instrument pod. It’s made out of PETG plastic. You can buy the plastic in sheets of various thicknesses that then can be heated and formed over a mold. (This is the same material 2 liter soda bottles are made of.) This pod was easy to make and has proven to be very durable. This is version 2.0, which has a space in the front for an airspeed indicator.

Bye Bye 2005

2005-12-16T11:48:00.000-08:00

I always look forward to the winter solstice. The thought that each day from then on will be longer than the last gives me some comfort. The soaring days of summer are on the long march back.

I did manage to get a couple of short soaring flights on November 12th at Blanchard (near Bellingham, WA). It wasn't too spectacular, but I managed to get above launch for a little bit and, well, any soaring flight this time of year is pretty special. I noticed the next day that I was a bit sore though. I've been slacking on the winter exercise routines. But, like the rest of the nation, I'm re-devoting myself to fitness with the new year. I've been doing CrossFit off and on for the last year or so and I've found it to be great general conditioning for whatever your athletic pursuit is. It certainly was the foundation that got me through my first XC competition last year—6 days of big-air flying at the Chelan XC Classic. If you're not familiar with CrossFit, do yourself a favor and check it out. CrossFit Eastside in Redmond, WA, is the place if you live in the Seattle area, or check out CrossFit.com for the meat and potatoes of it all. Well ok, maybe not the potatoes—too many carbs. ;)