Flight 26

I've had it with work.



I've been hammering on kapsize and pingnote. The good news is having been single-threaded on those two products since January I've made a lot of progress. I believe I'll be launching both next month. The bad news is of course I haven't been up in the air. That ended today.

I felt like I just had sex when I landed. Actually, more like I hadn't had sex in a long time, really needed sex, and then had sex which wasn't perfect but was overdue enough to not matter, and was having that post-coital high. It was great to be back in the air.

We flew from Rancho Penasquitos today, just outside of Poway. (Click on hybrid on that map and you'll see the exact hill.) Gabe as usual gave a phenominal lesson on what he does to survey a new site, a site where he's never flown before. He called it: P-WAIT.

P - How do you feel personally. What's going on physically and emotionally. Are you in a good enough condition to fly?

W - How's the weather. We looked at and talked about micro and macro factors, all affecting the safety and enjoyment of the flight plan.

A - Alternatives. We surveyed the lanuch and landing sites for alternatives, picking places to bail on takeoff and landing.

I - Indicators. What could we see that were giving us a heads up on conditions, rising air, cumulous clouds, birds, other paragliders.

T - Terrain, both of the air conditions and ground. He described where we'd find lift and sink, and what to avoid.

Obviously there was a lot more to it than that, but I believe I'll remember it better having written in down and it gives you an idea of how articulate Gabe is. We're blessed indeed here in San Diego to have him.

I picked up a vario today, the flytec 4020. I strapped it to my leg and prepared for launch. I always ask silently for God's blessing before I take off and listen carefully for any advice. All I heard today were my usual mild physical apprehensions. Man was not made to fly, it's not natural, so some anxiety is expected. I've had strong feelings before not to fly, like the day I whacked my wing. Not today. Today it was just enjoy.

Robin monitored the cycles at launch and I got a beauty catching a lot of lift right at launch. I heard the vario beeping up for the first time. That adds some excitement for sure.

I'm concerned that having a vario on may take away from the silent beauty of paragliding. I didn't catch anything bad today. It was nice to know when I was ascending and just moving about.

I was airborne well before the ledge. I turned into the lift Gabe said I'd find on the left and looked around for a bit more. I followed Gabe's advise to head to the rocks on the ledge for more lift, but the cycle ended.

Gabe said he's never had a good day flying where he didn't see birds. There were very few today.

In fact it turned out to mostly a sled ride. Except when I started approaching the LZ the vario started pinging again. I like my vario very much.