After a tough morning at work I still had an tower of work to do all afternoon. Raising money for a startup is hard. Getting sales on a product that doesn't yet exist is not easier. In the past I would just head to Torrey in the afternoon on a day like this, but now of course my partner runs the gliderport: no more playing hookie.
Following the final call of the morning I sat down to work and decided I just couldn't do it. I asked Gabe what he thought of my blowing off the rest of the day and he of course said it was a good idea.
I brought both of my harnesses and wings. It's been a long time since I've flown the ki2fly harness. We're heading to Italy in a few weeks and I'd prefer to bring my acro harness as it's much lighter. It will be a lot easier to lug around. My goal of the day was to fly both harnesses, both wings and decide which I'd prefer to bring on the trip. I was biased towards the dragon3 and acro harness, but open to what I'd experience.
Before I launched a lot of pilots were complaining that conditions were a lot worse than they looked. Steve said, "Don't believe the flags!"
I kited for 15 minutes or so and then launched. I thought conditions were great. I took some flights up and down the ridge, landed, and put the old harness on.
Sitting in the ki2fly harness felt like sitting in a bucket. There's a lot more material in the harness, perhaps twice as much. That said, it did feel much more stable. I did some wingovers over the north side of the golf course. I really had to lean into these, that is to say the acro is much more weight shifty.
The other very obvious feature is the speed bar. That's missing on the acro. Most acro harnesses don't have pulleys for a speed bar. Flying Torrey you don't really need one. You just pull it now and then to see what it does to the wing. I did that, back and forth, into the ever more north wind.
I came back and got back in the acro. The bottom line is the acro is lighter and will be easier to transport. It's not likely that I'll be disappointed by missing out an epic cross-country flight because I didn't have my speed bar. Gabriel said he has some handles I can put directly on the lines.
My last flight the wind turned very north. I scraped for a while before surrendering to the notion that I was going to land on the beach. The lifeguards have been really hard on beach landings lately. Lucky for me I landed directly in front of their truck.
They marched right over and accused me of making a voluntary landing. I politely told them I would not have launched if I had known I was going to land on the beach. They took my name and number without checking my ID. Next time I'll make something up.
Getting very lucky with a beach landing.
I can't believe I didn't notice the women I landed next to on the beach. I'm so used to seeing wrinkly old gay men on the beach I never assume I'll be treated to eye candy. Just as I started folding my wing a 19-year-old or so statuesque brunette walked by with nothing but a thong. My jaw hit the sand.
I snapped a quick photo that I think preserved their anonymity. Suffice it to say I didn't hurry to pack my wing. It was the best beach landing I've had in a long time. Oh yeah, except for the life guards.
