Getting your lunch handed to you, or Are we having fun yet?

Today at Baldy and points East I was reminded or maybe taught where Eastern Washington thermal flying meets the question: "Are We Having Fun Yet?"

Paul my firefighter friend gave me a couple of hours and got me to launch about 2:00.
Cycles felt just right - light southerly mixed to 12 at peak. No question there was lift but no developing cumulus.

Launch and low lift were normal with fairly sharp edges to a small but strong house thermal. Action to 300 over was typical for a hot active day. Once over the towers life became more interesting. - The north and south flows converged at about 500 over and climb rate went to 5-7m/s. No worries but focus was needed to keep smooth in a bit of rocking and rolling.

At about 6,800 it became even more interesting. - The inversion layer had broken down but the top was still near. Twitchy air became violent, this twitch had real power from the 93 degree desert floor.

As you move round a strong Baldy Bullet it has always seemed safer and more stable to try to stay toward the center. Not today, today the center was too strong and crazy. To take on that buzzard was to subject oneself to 40 percenters, 180's, tossing back and forth with no right side pressure at all or was it left - anyway -, so the best bet was to stay on the outer edges and milk it, hoping you didn't fall back into the fire.

This might be fun if you pay for it at a theme park but - man - get me out of here.

On to exit 11 with my tail between my legs and plenty of lift with a bit more sanity on top along the way.

Caught good lift and a bit of crazy at the transition off Menastash to over 8,300. Again at the top it was leave or heave.

Nice glide to the Boylstons and the tit worked fine until about 5,500 and again all H... broke loose. Right, left, up down - where did that come from let me out and only 5,500. A bit of searching found a couple of better formed flows but still not to high and at this point I was totally gun shy.

I got to Rygras with 1,500 to 2,000 so I hoped maybe things would get better but - NO WAY. -

This is not fun and not getting high to boot just made the call all the easier. WE LAND right here, right now.

LOL - more of this on the way down but lots of room so the LZ was just fine and the landing soft but what a work out for a 16mile XC.

Are we having fun yet?

RULES TO LIVE BY

The lure of big air spring flying is very strong just about now. Many have been waiting for opportunity to fly and each "Good Day" seems like a unique opportunity that must not be missed. - Add to this the amazing flights we hear about and think - "if only I could have been there......".
Right about now the temptations are maxed out and the corresponding risk is as well. I haven't been around long enough to have correlative data but I must assume that spring is the most dangerous time in the air sport year.

Today I was reminded of a very valuable Rule/Lesson I last employed on Disappointment Cleaver on one of my last climbs on Rainer.
That day had temptations like spring flying:

I was lead with a friend whom I had promised I would "get to the top." I made the promise when we made the decision not to tempt weather and cold on a previous climb instead deciding to return down to camp. -

On the day in question we were climbing in chain with a large group of climbers forcing our speed to be faster than I was able to maintain. After 3 or 4 hours of fast pace climbing I was getting dehydrated and facing mild exhaustion. It was then that my mind began to fritz and I knew it. I couldn't tell if it was early signs of cerebral edema or just hyper exhaustion and dehydration.
The thing that saved me/us that day was remembering a rule given me by a very wise climbing buddy about making go/no go decisions during or prior to a climb.

Here is the Rule:
You can break a single rule some times if you understand the risk involved. - You may break a second rule and continue to climb if you must but you are now on very thin ice - YOU MUST NEVER break three rules at the same time during ANY climb.

Rule one: Climb with two rope teams: BROKEN
Rule two: Climb within your physical limits: BROKEN
Rule three: If your not thinking clearly don't go any higher: ALMOST BROKEN we went down.

This Rule of Three works for Paragliding as well and I found myself using it on Baldy today.

Rule one: Never fly Alone: - to be broken
Rule two: Fly only when you are feeling up to it and strong: I WAS TIRED
Rule three: Fly skies and conditions you know and are comfortable with: It looked prefrontal and winds were forecasted to increase in the afternoon. I didn't like the look of the sky, it was changing too fast.

I had three rules in front of me, and was thinking about breaking them until I remembered the RULE OF THREE. - NEVER! - I didn't - and thanks old friend for returning the call.

Monday At The Office

Isaac & Nico

Today one of my youngest parishioners, Nico, who is just learning to talk, asked his dad if he could see me, (Pastor Dave). His request came at the same moment I was stressing BIG TIME over how to get a second 4wheel drive for retrieve at Baldy.

"Chance" had it that his dad was at the gas station an hour later as I was gassing up for the day. He told me Nico's unique request and I was off to their house to see Nico before going flying.

As we started talking it turned out that Nico and his brother Isaac(4) were just about to head off on an adventure with their dad and grandfather. I suggested they take a detour in their nice red 4wheel drive Tundra and take me and a couple of friends to the top of the hill. The boys wouldn't mind watching Pastor Dave fly would they?

The game was on as Pastor Dave's prayers were answered through a 2 year old and his father.

Go Figure.
Here is the video:

Dateline Manastash Ridge

In a cunning move North West Star Paraglider Pilot Meredyth Malocsay took the lead in this season's Pacific Northwest XC competition. Taking a page from comp flying she feigned a tactical mistake to hide a brilliant strategic move. Comp pilots will often wait for very long times in thermals for a bold or foolish pilot to lead out. Like in bike racing where the leader is used as a wind break, paraglider pilots use a solo leader to judge the rising or sinking air further down the course. Malocsay's found herself eye to eye in a thermal with her competition, the up and coming pilot known as Preacher when she made her move.
Preacher's lead after the first weekend of competition placed Malocsay in a bind. If she were to fly as a team they might have worked similar lines which would have led to similar scores. "Preacher is flying really well," said Malocsay when asked about the competition. "We usually try to work together early in a flight but I knew there was a chance he would head out early if I held back. It worked out to my advantage, as it turned out."
Malocsay's move occurred over launch as the two were thermalling together working to reach the towers in the house thermal. In a right hand turn, established by Preacher they were at 180's in 500fpm lift when after 2 or 3 circuits Malocsay inexplicably turned left leaving Preacher and the thermal. "I still don't know why she bailed," Preacher complained. "It didn't make any sense we were cranking just fine and then she was gone." The move left the new comer at the top of lift having to choose between waiting for others to join him, risking that a building layer of cirrus might shut down lift or heading east in search of the next thermal alone.
Malocsay's strategic plan paid off when Preacher dirted on the newly opened right spine of the Boylston Ridge. Malocsay reported: "I saw Dave on the ground and knew I wasn't going that way and stayed with the traditional line. He paid the price for searching out a new line without having enough height. But tomorrow is another day." There is always something to learn in paragliding and sometimes that learning is done from the ground.

When asked about Malocasy performance Preacher said: "I don't know I guess she just thinks and flies at another level." Logging over 35miles to Preacher's 10miles Malocsay takes top honors for the day and the yellow jersey for the competition.

The second day of Round 2 begins Saturday at the Rock @ 11:00.

Guess Who Dropped in For Dinner

Friday and Saturday - My Oh My.
A quick look at leonardo will tell the story about Friday. Thanks for the retrieve M.

Saturday was great for many. Baldy was a challenge early on with a Easterly Flow that made launching difficult and thermals at ridge top and below very tricky to find and work. Those who got up really went up. Those who didn't went down and experience a nice day on the mountain but must have lusted after those way high.

Cloud base was around 9 to 10,000 ft. I launched last for a variety of reasons and had no particular plans other than maybe a little triangle or something.

On my second top up I found a street in front of me heading toward the firing center and South and it looked like it might go round the corner East through what Steve P. calls the "needle."
The needle is a corridor of airspace between Yakima Firing range restrictions and Yakima Air Terminal restrictions. - Parts of it also includes flying over land you can't land on but can fly over. Tricky stuff requiring advanced prep which I did a bit of and was ready when the streets appeared over the route.
I figured I would go as far as lift allowed and found streets granting 5,500 to 9,000 for over two hours right down the line.
At the 3/4 mark about 6:00 the street was looking real big and suck started to be an issue. I headed due South into the next valley to get away but was able to maintain contact with the street for lift as I continued S.E.
About 6:50 the sun had given up on heating the ground and the cloud street above and in front of me literal evaporated before my eyes.
The Air turned to Glass and I was at 8,500 on final glide. - More distance or ?? what to do. Sunnyside was to my right and I have a good friend who lives there that happens to have a large green back yard - About 1.5 acres. SWEET.
Got there with a thousand to spare - Set up and landed.
Where did you come from was the question and I said North of Yakima. - Smiles all around cold beer, Salmon on the barbecue ready on landing with cous cous and fruit. - What a way to end a great two days of flying.

Friday

:)

Perfect Retrieve at Dunlap

I had a great second task at the Nationals. The effort required just to get out of the valley was right at my max ability and everything was working.

Once southbound however I was out of my element. Just freeflying South without any experiance as to what would work or what wouldn't.

I took a line that put me too far east for sustained lift and I landed in the middle of nowhere which was fine because they had set up radio high ground and I had good communications with Sonny the retrieve maven.

After waiting on 152 in a nowhere valley for about 45 minutes a single car came by and offered a ride. - Following procedures I check w/ retrieve, informed them of my new destination - corner of 152 and 245 and my eta. We headed out and I was dropped in nowhere again. Now however there was no radio or cell coverage but I sent another SPOT OK and set up shop for the long wait.

The following Video shows what happens when you do what your supose to do and so does the system.

Timing is everything!!!