Flights 49 - 52

Four flights today: 3 on the top, 1 on the beach.


Ki inspecting my reserve chute.

One of the amazing things about Torrey is the consistency. I dropped by the gliderport for a late lunch with no real intention of flying. I did have an intention of flying, but at Marshall, about an hour and half from where I work. I fought that urge all morning as I payed bills and checked charts.

When you read paragliding blogs of europeans they're always complaining about the conditions: rain, no wind, or great conditions all week, then the weekend is a washout. When you show up at Torrey it's pretty much perfect every day; a little cross perhaps, but no threat of rain and the wind is just perfect.

After my sandwich I couldn't take it. The conditions were just so good I had to pull the wing out of the SUV and go.

I was wondering what my objectives of the day would be. Altitude was definitely one. A lot of people were getting very high. I thought I could do some wingovers as well. When I saw Bill and asked if I could fly he suggested spot landings. Oh yeah, that's right. I'm still a beginner.

That said, spot landings are exactly what I need to work on. I still make some incredibly dumb mistakes coming in for landings, and my first 2 tries where glorious examples. Wind was a bit north so I landed from the south.

Flight 49:

I used my vario today in record mode. I "competition packed" my gear last time with the wing still attached to the harness. I have a fantasy about pulling everything out and just flying one day. It seems like it still takes as much time to check all the lines and get the wing up, which I did. As I was setting up I thought about Gabe's PWAIT check list. It's something I don't normally do at Torrey. I got stuck on the 'P'.

I didn't feel personally good about flying. My intuition wasn't saying anything was dangerous, just that I should go back to work. Work seems so daunting these days. I need to get back my focus. I'm still reconnecting.

With this uncomfortable feeling I went through the weather, air space/alternatives, indicators, terrain on my most familiar of flying sites.

I went north and came right in for a landing from the south. My turns were too abrupt. I came straight in. I needed to crab.

Flight 50:

Next time out I got a lot of air time. The LZ window was full of people taking off and all kinds of contraptions from hang gliders to huge RC devices. One looked a lot like a 747 and kept coming very close to my wing. When I came in I did my best land of the day, pretty much right on the pylons.

Flight 51:

Another quick flight to the north. This time I got a lot of altitude, nothing record breaking, just to about 550. I felt confident enough to keep going north to the golf course. When I returned there was a lot of traffic. I can only imagine what this place is like on the weekend. When I came in for my landing I turned to the wind too quickly. Traveling with the wind you move very quickly and lose a lot of altitude, then you turn and suddenly you're motionless and far to high. This is pretty much the big thing I need to get over. Practice will make perfect.

Flight 52:

There was long wait to the next flight. The wind nearly died, a few folks went to the beach. I didn't mind kiting. I've been having a blast going up and down the hill controlling with the A's and D's. I even simulated a B-line stall. Suddenly Bill flagged me on for a launch. Cool. I took it.

Again I got a lot of altitude. I was feeling pretty good but again had a long wait to get in the LZ due to all the take offs.

Then the air died and the tandem was coming. You have to give way to the tandem. I went from 500 to 375 in 1 pass of the north ridge, and then started coming down wind. I started scraping for altitude. I'm getting better at that. I feel a lot more comfortable with what the wing can do. I survived a lot longer than I expected. Bill was encouraging me to land on the beach but I got 2 more passes before that was necessary.

Finally I came in for my north landing on the beach. It was beautiful down there. I gathered my wing up into my ruck sack and asked the nudies if there was a trail on the north side to the top. There is and it's a lot quicker than the south trail. This was a nice find. It's very direct and steep, but that's fine. I timed the walk up. I started at 3:25 and got to the top at 3:30. What! 5 minutes? That can't be right, but that's what it was.

I'm never going to complain about that climb again.

In fact, it's another 10 minutes or so from the top to the LZ, but it's a nice walk. The sky was full of paragliders again. It was a temporary lull.

I befriended another guy with a Merlin packing up and a woman who's got easystorecreator.com written on her wing. It's a good group of people at Torrey - entrepreneurs, bums, millionaires and students. I love it.

Disconnected

Today was my full day at work after a 3-week vacation in St. John and NYC. I couldn't help but feel remarkably disconnected.

With nothing happening in my startups all that has taken place without my hands on the wheel was, well… nothing at all. I need to reconnect. I started working with my charts, annotating and digging in. However, there's nothing to do just now, too many unknowns, nothing over-bought or over-sold. I dug into kapsize a bit. The code to be written there is staggering. I'm hoping to merge that project with another in SF with some highly-talented programmers. We've got a meeting next week. Still nothing to hold on to, or move forward on.

I felt "in orbit" : close to earth, not really part of it, spinning in circles.

Perfect antidote: head to the gliderport.


Photo of me kiting by Antonelle Zampolli

On arrival I met up with Ivan (pron: EE-van) who remembered me by name which cheered me up right away. I certainly remember him. He's a great pilot and teacher. I also met up with Antonella whom I befriended at the SIV clinic. She introduced me to a new guy named Joe who was leaving for tomorrow's SIV clinic in Lake Chelan, WA. Joe told me he read my blog with some care as he purchased the same equipment as I and was heading to the clinic.

The wind was light – Ivan warned that a flight might be to the beach. It was quite south and shifting. I said I was happy to kite. Ivan joined me for most of my kiting, showing me quite a few new things. He showed me how to grab the D's to drop the wing in an emergency, quite useful. I spent an hour or so just launching - trying to keep the wing perfectly above my head - and kiting back up to the top of the hill.

My wing's starting to show some age. The red is fading. It's a great color and I think I'll stick with it on my next wing, though I'm sure that's at least a year out.

Flight 48:

At one point the cycles started picking up. Ivan encouraged me to take a run and I eagerly accepted the invitation. I was kiting for so long that I didn't do the usual "checking in" with my intuition. As I was running for the ledge I did a quick check. All systems go.

I've had quite a few experiences with my intuition lately that seem to indicate that I'm getting a better read. Nothing ground shaking but worth sharing.

The other day, all of the sudden and for no reason, we couldn't find Trinity, my 3-year-old. She was playing with us as we were unpacking our suitcases. Then after a short time there was no sight or sound of her. I started walking from room to room calling "Trinity!" No response. My wife saw me and the search became a bit more panicked. As I finished looking in the garage I checked in: it's mostly a feeling in my heart. There was nothing wrong.

I went to our neighbor's home to see if she wandered over there and heard my wife calling me back, "I found her!" She was soundly asleep under the sheets in our bed. She crawled up there while we were busy, cuddled up and fell asleep.

I'm not saying that the intuition is a genie or a magic device. It's just that when something's wrong you can usually feel it, or you somehow know it. I seek the advice of my intuition daily and trust it implicitly.

Moving on… I bought a watch with an altimeter: the Suunto x6. I used it for this flight rather than my vario. There's far less information, it's harder to read and doesn't beep, but in general I was glad to have it. It's one less gizmo to worry about before launch. The readings seemed accurate or at least in line with what I know about Torrey. I like it.

The wind was light and lift came in bursts, puffs actually. I noticed a number of crows sitting it out on the ridge and took that as an indication I should probably head back and work on my kiting. When I came in for my landing I turned into the wind a bit late and ended up over compensating as I approached the ground. I kind of did a pendulum drop. It didn't look or feel that great. Lesson: start the turn into the wind earlier and keep it consistent.

Some comments about my blog: this is a beginner's blog. I don't try to be anything other that what I am here. I have found a few blogs by some serious acrobats and competitors and I have to admit I feel a bit embarrassed when I return to my own site. However, at this point in my life, with work, family and other demands I know I can only do so much paragliding. There's a limit. I love it. It's a passion, but I don't think I'll be anything but a part-time warrior. (I say part-time as I never paraglide on weekends. That time is reserved for my girls.)

So unlike Brett Hazlett and few others I've found along the way I won't be cutting too many leading edges. I suspect I'm much like most paragliders though who do this for love but aren't going pro. I hope that I can maintain some degree of interest in this blog expressing my growth as I progress.

One more thing – I suspect tomorrow will actually be my first full day of work. ;-)