Working Class... (July 30th)

Today was a day for the "working class".  My turn to run the rig, Mia and Mike were up on the flight line.  Forecast was not quite as good as yesterday but it was likely there would be a SW aloft to make things a challenge. (XC sky's, top of lift 7-8000asl... blue winds 8-12mph top of lift)

At 1pm, Mia took the first tow, 2000 ft, pinned off into good lift and was on here way. Mike was right behind (1700 ft tow) and had to back track a bit to connect but also was into lift and on his way. Plans where more or less to head to Waterville, then.... well what ever?

Soon, it was pretty obvious that XC Sky's was "off" with the wind and both of my intrepid pilots where complaining about 14mph winds at 7500 . Even on a rigid, enough to dampen your progress. Slow climbs and broken lift where also not helping the task.  Still progress to the west was being made and Mike had taken the lead as the two of them approached the West end of Hwy172.  With a little determination, both Mia and Mike consistently started to break through 8000asl (later getting as high as 9800asl... at that altitude winds were getting as high a 22mph! out of the WSW).

Mike made it within a few miles of Waterville, Mia decided to turn near her favourite Tohler Road TP with a low save over the Gravel yard west of Farmer.  Mike decided to try and fly East to get a FAI triangle (100+) Mia decided to head back to the tow site. Both found that the lift was getting weak and the day appeared to be coming to a close . Mia had a good landing back at the start point (84km flat triangle), Mike got desperately low (3500asl)  near Adams Butte 25 miles south but still managed to scratch his way north, with hard fought climbs to 5000asl ending with his first (good) out-landing 6 miles south of Mia (ended with a 102 km's worth of a FAI triangle). Both pilots were smiling with 4hours of airtime.  (Mia gives two "thumbs up" for today's tow services):

Links to today's flights: Mia and Mike.

After our trip down to Park Lake, we learned that nobody got away from Chelan Butte and hardly anybody got over 4500 asl. Odd... as the forecast showed that things should have been much better?.....

Today, July 31st, looked windy and we decided to pull the pin on the day (weather on the coast). There were good Q's and 15 -20 mph winds... so no opportunities to do any sort of out and returns. For a change we will head into Blue Lagoon (Chelan Falls) and go for Dinner at Cambell's in Chelan. Less wind in the forecast for tomorrow.

Now... That's better....(July, 29th)

So far this has been a season that has never really started. Here we are ending July and have had so few of those classic big day's on the Columbia Basin. Simply put, today was good.

Mia was "crewing" (I ran the rig on the last flight). We setup at mid-point L-Road and were on our own. Conditions were blue, not too optimistic for the XC Skies but I had the feeling things were better then forecast.  After a shallow low tow north, at only a 1000ft I had Mia pull the extra 1/2 mile north across the highway (kind of a Dukes of Hazard transition across the highway ;-). I pinned off in broke light air and started to scratch up. Eventually climbing through 6500asl I decided with the 10mph N-W wind and a few scattered Q's it was best to drive my first leg down to Wilson creek.  Shortly after leaving the tow site I managed to break through 8500asl and was on my way.

Today was work day for Boeing. We had "Blue Tail and Red Belly" were both in action (the New 747's ) Blue was circling the neighbourhood at altitudes between 4 and 10 thousand asl.  Blue Tail did a cruise up Banks Lake at less then 4000 (showing off the product I guess). Kind of nerve-racking  experience when later, when over Dry Falls when I was near cloud-base at 9500asl I watched Blue Tail pass over top of the Q that I was under (1/2 mile to the east of me)! At this point I tried to recall my "From the Ground Up" flight training manual and wake turbulence rules.... hmmmmm was that "wake vortices disperse within 1000 ft ?.... 2000ft?....." At least "it" was east of me and there was a dramatic increase in westerly winds aloft which should keep the "Heavy" turbs down wind of me for several minutes....

The rest of the flight was without much drama.  I got a little low around Wilson creek and had to do a little scratching to work my way up toward Wilbur.  Occasionally the air was a little frisky in the turbulence department. Plenty of blue air thermals with the occasional shallow Q. Several trips up over 10,000asl.  The final leg back was good, staying high most of the way. Arriving across Banks on the west side I crossed paths with 3 PG pilots on a out and NO return flight from the Butte. I was heading for the tow site but  Mia encouraged me to stretch out the triangle so I took a dash up to North of Mansfield then back to the tow site. Mia was waiting with the cold beer and a windsock. 

Well attempting to land, there was a real strong cycle of activity so I decided to climb out from 3200 asl up to 4000 and wait for things to settle down. Tuned out to be a good plan as I when I finally came into land I had a nice 10mph westerly.  As per tradition, quick trip to Park Lake for a swim, beverage and back to the shack... exhausted. No that's more like it!

Flight: 5.3 hours, 185km FAI triangle (The Flight)

Today... my turn to Crew!

Mother Nature Sets the Rules....

Saturday, Wind, Thunder and Lightning, wild sky, We took a trip down to Summer Falls, met up with an old Sailplane pilot friend of ours, Harry. He was taking his side kick Ema (golden retriever) for a swim at the lake. From there we headed to Ephrata (sailplane Mecca) just south of Soap Lake. (Ephrata, Seattle Glider Council Web cam) BBQ and beer then back to Mansfield.

Sunday, same freaky air and weather system (north winds on the ground, obvious south winds aloft). Mia decided to wash her VS, I did some maintenance on the tow rig. By 3pm we had given up on the day and headed to Park Lake for a swim.

The day was not a complete loss.... Mia and I are into the bird watching scene and all the nature spotting stuff. Our customary return to Mansfield includes some of the back roads (including the tow road) and there is plenty of wild life to see..... This trip included:

A painted turtle (that for some reason loves cross country treks from a local lake, down one of the dirt roads. He's missing half of one of his front feet... btw, this was our third siting of "stumpy" on this trip)

Further down the road we identified:

-Multiple Logger head Shrike, Great Horned Owl, Kestrels falcons, Red Tailed and Marsh Hawks, Horned Larks, Meadow Larks, Sage Thrashers... you get the picture, Its a birders paradise.

With the weather remaining unsettled and unpredictable I expect we will been heading back to work until we see a shift in the weather. Prime classic conditions for the Basin include a Thermal Low (very high pressure established over the entire area) and very hot weather. As I said in a previous post.... there is nothing you can do about the weather ;-)

Things, not as they appear....

One of those strange days yesterday. I crewed for Mia on what looked to be shaping up as an epic day. Blue skies in the morning, optimistic XC Skies forecast, manageable wind and best of all Q's popping in a wonderful pattern all over the plateau.... it appeared to be wonderful day in the works.

 

Unfortunately, things were not as they appear.

On my end of the rig,  I could tell there was something missing. Normally on an active day you will have plenty of speed adjustments to accommodate lift and sink. Instead..... it was a lonnnnng smooth tow.  Mia was well over 2000ft and trolling when the weaklink popped. Not a bump could be found and she was back on the ground. Second tow was much better and she pinned off at a 1000ft agl and this time managed a slow climb to 7500 asl. 

Mia worked west to Mansfield (shared the air with a pair of sailplanes from Ephrata)  but in the end,  after a least a dozen times of going weightless, the "Fun Meter" was running low, decided to run back to the tow site and land.  (Link to her flight)

With day ending early we had plenty of time to run to Park lake for a swim, beverages and bird watching.  Looks like the next two days are going to suck. So it will be some more hang waiting.  Thankfully we have plenty of summer and holidays left and we have the flexibility to move some dates. 

Flying Lessons....

Again, a day off with some "weather" determining if we fly or not.

Nick departed for wine tasting adventure through the Okanagan  and back to Whistler.  All our guests had left s0 Mia cleaned house (a Dutch compulsion I think...), I got sent out to do chores, cutting the lawn, washing our harnesses to get rid of the Mansfield Moon dust that can ruin a zipper in a day.

The day started off with some potential, but some minor showers came through followed by some clearing and some strong west wind. While Mia was off on a shopping I went out and did some testing of our towline recovery chute. 

When I got back to Mansfield I discovered that one of our nesting Barn Swallows had decided this was the day to leave the nest.  While I'm always harping about our local PG schools and the sad way they huck their students off the hill I have to admit nothing beats the ground school of our resident Swallows.

One day their anchored to the nest getting fed and no sign of training:

The next day....

Out on their own in the big bad world (with Mom and Pop running defence against anybody showing interest!).  Talk about taking a leap of faith. Can you imagine your first day of flying where class includes landing on a telephone line?  Followed by returning to your home base that is 6" square landing pad stuck up under the eves of an old house (oh and for reward... you get fed dead bugs?)

Makes some of our local paragliding instructors look damn near respectable ;-)

Today (Friday15th) might be a good day. I'm crewing for Mia and think she may get a chance for a nice flight... fingers crossed.

Some Airtime!....(July 13th)..

We awoke to blue skies over the Mansfield area and cumulous development surrounding the area. Looking off in the direction of the Chelan Butte, there was Q's that were based no higher then 4000asl.... and despite the strange looking conditions XC skies was advertising 8-9000 cloud base with light SW winds. As it turned out the cloud base was dead on. The winds on the other hand were a little stiffer then the 5-10 mph.

Nic Voss was our "Tow-Mister" for the day. Nic is an old time Hang Glider pilot (Nic, sorry about the "old" comment ;-)  that has retired from flying but has regularly joined us in Mansfield to lend his services as our winch operator and enjoy some holiday time with old friends (Sun and Scotch).  Today was his last day and with a turn for the better in the weather his services were very much appreciated.

The first Q's of the day gave away an obvious southwest wind and while a little on the low side things were looking good!

Nic towed me up first to test the waters and after a strong tow to 2000agl I pinned off into 500 up and was on my way west to Waterville.  Unfortunately, Nic who had previously praised the performance of our tow line recovery chute.... suffered a bad chute and was forced to go for a walk...  When a chute fails, you have a choice, try to drag it in (usually the death of the chute) or walk out to the towline end and remove the chute and go back to the rig and rewind till you can remount the chute ( not a pleasant task out in wild sage) . I was thankful Nic decided to walk but it did delay Mia's start which was about an hour and a half behind me. Oh well, the perils of towing.

In the air, my tip to Waterville was slow (measuring between 12 and 18 mph sw winds). Solid climbs and good cloud streets made the task doable.  As I turned at Waterville, Mia was up and away and slowly working her way toward Withrow.

Mia's Lifts Off....

Meanwhile I pushed around the remainder of 128km FAI triangle. 

Flying west of Dry Falls:

The day had a real edge to it with strong lift and bouncy spring-like air, It was cool... in fact cold!.. very strange for July 13th.

The late start for Mia made here decided to cut short her drive to the west and  eventually both Mia and I landed back at L-Road with  pretty strong winds (gusting 10 to 18 mph) and lots of activity.

Fortunately, Nic was right on que, and was there to assist breakdown (I get nervous handling the VR in strong winds... a helping hand is always welcome)

We ended the day with one last trip to Park Lake (for Nic's vacation) refreshments and a swim. Then back to Mansfield where Nic capped the evening off with a fantastic chicken dinner followed with our traditional  Scotch.... wow... life is good. 

Mia's Flight and My flight

Tomorrow is not looking good with another wave of "over the Cascades" weather. Still, its looking like there is still some potential over the next week.... fingers crossed.

Road Trip....

We blew off our efforts yesterday. Forecast included thunderstorms, when Q's started forming the tops had imbedded cap clouds and wave was evident. Did not look good till Thursday so Mike headed back to work, and we continued to be patient (waiting for prime soaring conditions).

So what to do when bored? Road trip of course! Project: explore Palouse Falls. Our curiosity with this little wonder was spurred on by a Banff Film Festival and a short film involving Tyler Bradt a Kayaker that shot these fall in Washington state (The Video ). Reported to be the biggest Kayak drop (180ft?) We had no idea this little water fall was in our back yard so off we went to explore.

It was a 600km Round trip from Mansfield but worth every km. Can't imagine what inspired Bradt to run this falls.....

 

The upper rapids:

Traveling misfits:

Great road trip, the Columbia Basin is truly a marvel. Weather may improve....Promising Wed?....

Martin

2011 Mansfield Summer Encampment (July 11th)

There's noth'n you can do about the weather!

The nice thing about the weather in central Washington is, even when its bad... its better then the coast. Now, this is not to say the weather has been bad, we just have not managed the epic conditions that make this place rock. Lots of high cloud, lots of quirky conditions. The eastern areas across Banks Lake have been pulling very poor forecasts, hence very little inspiration to head east and open up our triangle attempts.

I've managed some triangles, 180, 150, 100, all with challenging circumstances (and I got caught out down south toward the Beezly hills). Mia had a nice little 50 and has been caught for some out-landings. Mike, a new VR pilots has been teaching all about how to fly my VR, guess I'm going to need to buy a sailplane to keep out in front of him.

Randy also enjoyed a few local flights and finally (on his last day with us) plunged east across Banks Lake on a murky high overcast day, only to have his zipper blow out, forcing him down near Hartline (Randy's Bank Lake Crossing. )

If your interested in any of the places we are flying, you can check out our live Spot Tracks:

Mia and Martin

We also post our flights up on the OLC's:

Mia's OLC and Martin's OLC

(You will probably note several trips down to Park Lake!)

Today looks a bit iffy but I think we will try and put 3 rigid's up to see if we and do some triangle work in the Mansfield area. The next few day have some Thunderstorm activity and south winds so it looks like we will be working on our swimming strokes.... oh well, better then working!) We have another 10 days to go....

Martin

Life and Death

Not trying to be dramatic or sensational, just the truth. I recently participated in paragliding advanced manoeuvres clinic and found myself getting, well... as the expression goes.... "over my head". I posted a incident report on the West Coast Soaring Club web site that pretty much describes the event. The nut shell version is, well flying my Ozone Delta (my first season on this wing) I had a stall manoeuvre go bad... very bad. Immediately on entry I entered multiple riser twists and things rapidly went for shit. You can watch the Video and judge for your self.

Under no circumstances am I going to say the event has not shaken my confidence nor will I say that I coolly fought my way out of the predicament. I was a passenger simply trying to survive. I will say fear was not a factor, more the fact that I was shocked that things could go so badly so quickly.

You could say that allot went very wrong but I would like to think that just enough went right to have a positive outcome. Over water, half a chute (better then none?) half a glider (even though it was tied to one ankle ;-).

Life and Death? Yes.... but I was not going to give up. I'm bravely look forward to next years SIV... this time with two chutes?

I will also say, stalling a paraglider is quite possibly the most dangerous manoeuvre a new paraglider pilot can perform. It is chaotic, it is unpredictable. Do your research on the net you will find plenty of examples of stalls gone bad. One thing is for sure, not a manoeuvre to be taken without respect.

BTW, 2 hours after my "event" I was nervously "back in the saddle" on Mia's Gin XS Sprint, performing another 5 stalls... some not so pretty but all were successful.

Fly safe.