Squeezing It In

(Archive photo - Greg Billow at the Point)

Wednesday I had a nice flight at Inspo. Greg and I arrived on launch and was set up to go, when the wind died out. We waited - Greg broke down his glider, but I hung out for an hour or so and finally launched in a light cycle. Surprisingly the air was somewhat thermic as I gained a few hundred feet over launch. I drifted north to my favorite house thermal and climbed out to 700 and some change. After circling in the light lift for ten minutes or so, I was high enough to make my way over to the shoulder of Timp, climbing out well over 2500 in the creamy, buoyant air. I'm waiting for Jeff to forward a pic or two of my landing sequence. The LZ was filled with soccer players, so I picked out a spot with no kids and flew a gauntlet style landing. I ended up landing safely on my belly, thanks to my new set of wheels!


We've been getting the house ready to sell - gona do it again!
Here's a few projects I've been working on.


Our front entry door has been without strike plates for the locks since the beginning.


I built a custom jig and routed out the aluminum jam - carefully.


New set of stairs accessing out newly terraced side yard.

Saturday At Inspo

One of the strongest showings I've seen of hang gliders, appeared at the LZ at Inspo on Saturday. Jeff, Craig, Mark, Greg, Gary and myself loaded up and reached launch around 2:30pm. There were several bags on launch. After several minutes the bags were off and climbing out overhead. After setting up, we waited through several long lulls. I carried my glider out to launch and took the first good straight cycle. I scratched around and exhausted all known thermal generators. I ended up in the bailout LZ with a 15 min. flight. All the rest of the boys waited around on launch for better conditions. The air on launch got unpredictable. Throwing up a few dust devils, mother nature was intent on letting everyone know she was boss. Gary's glider got picked up and tossed down the hill. Greg got picked up by a dusty (hooked in), and had a scary pre-mature launch. Finally everyone was in the air and had good flights. Jeff and Greg topped out above 12,000ft. Gary, Mark and Craig did well, all landing in the big green LZ.

Oh Happy Day On The North Side

When I saw this pic I had to cop it. Courtesy - Jeff O'Brien


We played the waiting game today on the North Side at the Point. Shad, John and I arrived early, slowly set up as it nuked. It continued to blow hard, with strong spikes until around 6:45pm. At around 7:00pm we considered launching. The weird thing about the wind today is the direction. I've only been at the Point a few times when the wind was west. Today was one of those days. With the direction, velocity and gusts, we were hesitant to fly even as the wind calmed a bit. However, all three of us lumbered into the air around 7:30pm. The air was quite nice, even though it was strong. All three of us had scary landings. John and Shad landed on top and I land in the bailout LZ below........yikes!


Shad's friend, Shad and John after flying.

High Hopes

It looked like Inspo might be the ticket for Sunday. Everyone was anticipating flying at Inspo since it officially opened last Friday. Jeff O'Brien thought it would be a great day as well - excitement was high! Greg and I left Park City as the pre-frontal south winds were howling (Inspo doesn't like strong south winds). it was Mother's day and Greg was feeling bad about spending only the morning with his family. In lieu of the the strong wind and their accompanying visual meteorological marks in the sky (linticular clouds), we deeply questioned our judgement and thought about turning around...........naaaa.


Wave clouds (linticular) on the Wasatch Back.




A stop at Heber's 7-11 sandwich shop - priceless!


We arrived at the LZ and joined up with Jeff, Mark and Zippy, didn't look to bad! The wind on the Wasatch side was much more mellow.
Once at the set up area, we unloaded and set up. Of course the wind soon began to crank, averaging over thirty with higher gusts - beyond my personal threshhold. Zippy launched as well as Jeff. Mark, Greg and myself chose to save it for another day.

Once launched it looked somewhat smooth, which is what Zippy and Jeff reported once on the ground.


Zippy landing.


On the way home we stopped by the South Side in hopes of an evening mercy flight. A gust Font spoils the plan.
another day.

No, But Really!

Nothing exciting going on, just a lot of work around the house. Finally the snow has melted enough to make me think summer is on the way. However, last Wednesday we had 8 inches of snow in the sub-division - Snowbird got 2 feet! No, but really. I dug up a few pics from last season to inspire.


A gathering of feathered friends at the top of Hurricane launch. left to right - Jeff O'Brien, Greg Billow, and Steve Rathbun


Jeff "O" with his new T2C after landing. It's hard not to take a good picture with hurricane's awesome scenery.