Four days a week
By Carmela Moreno
With daylight saving here the weekday after work has begun. I had missed
the flying over the weekend replacing a rope on my harness that was showing some signs of fraying.
Well, missing the weekend of flying might not be the right words, since it was extremely unstable
with spotty rain showers and strong winds. There was flying to be had but you had to be ready and
I was not.
With my new harness line in place, I found a tree to hang in. I had Rex eye
my harness. He sees what I am feeling a little head low and slightly arch back. I make a slight
adjustment and go with it. The next best way to check out the harness is to fly. The annual
keyholder/monthly club meeting was Tuesday night and it looks as if I can fly Mission before
the meeting. OH BOY! My harness could not have been more uncomfortable. The lift was somewhat
buoyant but light. You had to stay on top of the ridge. With my back arch and my head low I
did not like it and I just went to land. The next day, I head to the Mission soaring to have
Pat help me adjust my harness since the shop was open. I was going to miss what looks to be
a good day at Mission but I had to tend to my harness. No worries, I had a four day weekend
and Thursday's weather was looking promising. Did I mention I also have plans to go to Lake
McClure for three days? The plan was to fly, bike, hike and swill.
Before heading out to McClure I really wanted to fly my Litesport at
Mission. I find jumping back and forth from my Falcon to my LS I can get a little squirrelly
on the LS. Add adrenaline and it makes things real interesting right off of launch. On
Thursday, the plan was for me to fly the LS no matter what the conditions were. Rex,
Bruno, Karl, Mike and I meet at Mission around 1pm. The conditions were as such I was
more than happy to be on my blade wing. Mike gets launch first and quickly climbs to
altitude and heads to the peak. I think he said he got to 3400ft. Bruno launches and
was hanging out front not getting much but does manage to get over launch for a short
while. Then I get launch, the air is punchy and somewhat hard to work the lift. Did
I mention my vario battery was dead? It turned out to be tough air to stay in the
thermals. Some thermals were drifting and others you were able to auto core. According
to Rex you had to find the center part of the thermal for that was strongest part.
No matter I felt good I was hanging tough with no vario and made a couple of low saves.
Rex is starting to notice that Bruno and I are struggling out
front. Bruno is in some heavy sink and heads downrange to the LZ. Rex is smart enough
to take his altitude and top lands. Karl sees Rex land and helps him walk to the
breakdown area. I was able to make a few more passes before I was going to be following
Bruno to the LZ. Down below in front of launch my trusty thermal is waiting for me. I
am working hard to find the core and I get pitch over twice, I re-center myself back
in the thermal and start climbing. That was rough but I finally get over
launch. I head
to the peak only to come back with my tail between my legs and low. I head back where I
caught the last thermal and I was able to make another low save and back to the peak.
The third time is not the charm at the peak I head back to launch where my luck runs
out and I had to head downrange to RC hill. RC hill is the last chance for a thermal
before heading in to land. I was able to work the lift and really extended my flight
before having to land. All I could think is this is what McClure is going to like I
might as well get used to it. I finally lose out, Karl had launch and was able to do
about the same as the rest. Get over launch only to be below launch not long after.
This was going to be par for the weekend. He sees me working RC hill and tries to head
over there. It is not there for us and we have to land. I have a good landing and I am
feeling good about heading to McClure for the weekend. Karl is on my tail and he has a
good landing. I am happy to say the harness felt good, I had a challenging flight and I
am really feeling my muscles. It was good for an hour and boy that was a tough hour.
Lake McClure for some flying, biking, hiking and swilling:
Karl meets me at my house the next morning to head to McClure.
Joe was planning on coming Friday morning. We show up at the campground and there's
really no other pilot in sight. At time we thought Joe was a head of us but he got
lost some where on 132. We just start setting up our tents. It is a perfect temperature
plus with daylight saving starting early this year we have lots of sunlight. Joe
finally shows up and he was able to round up the ONLY keyholder around for the
weekend. Damn what happen to everybody? Later I found out they had headed to Diablo
for the first time at least Brian did and a few others. DOH! I am reminded about ONE
of the reasons why I do not go to McClure. Thanks Brian for hooking me up and taking
care of me. Promises promises! I am glad you had a good time at Diablo however.
A few newbie pilots from the Bay Area showed up as well Dirk,
Aaron and Gabe. They are all flying falcons. We take the keyholder Mike up the hill
and Karl is feeling rather lazy from the weekday flying and the late night. He offers
to drive the first day. We show up at launch and it is blowing in but not enough to
entice me to setup my Litesport. There are plenty of other falcons that were going to
be flying. We all get launch, the air is rather broken from the amount of wind. It
is somewhat ridge soarable then a thermal will come through but you had to be in the
right place to catch that magic carpet ride up. I was able to make my way over launch
along with Gabe, Aaron and the local Mike. Dirk is hanging on LOW for all that it is
worth as he really wants to rack some hours. It seems once you got over launch you can
stay there but being in the falcon you can not go any where. Then I found myself losing
altitude and heading to the LZ with Aaron. We land less than a minute of each other but
we are safe on the ground. Dirk and Mike
head in and then here comes Joe. Let the
swilling begin!
The next day, Saturday the flying is showing a little more promise
and I go for an early morning bike ride 16 miles on 132. A few more pilots are going to
show up and then even more on Sunday. The group that was at New J is going to come to
fly McClure as well. Still only one keyholder for the weekend is there. Chris had stopped
off at New J and decided to come to McClure. I see him driving on 132 on my bike, he sees
this strange person waving wildly. WTF? I think he finally realized it is not a strange
person it is only me riding on the narrow steep road on hwy 132. I guess being strange
is a matter of opinion.
I get back from my ride and take a shower. Everybody is fed and the
move is starting to take place to head to the LZ. Hurry up and wait kind of thing. Luckily,
Mike is still around and this time he decides to drive for us. He wants to head down fairly
quickly after we launch the newbie pilots. That leaves one pilot to self launch (reason #2).
Luckily it was fairly nice conditions for self launching. Still I do not want to self launch
so I launch shortly after the newbie pilots. I launch into some heavy sink; this is going to
be a short flight. I start my zig zag pattern to try to found the air that is going up and
not down. I do get lucky and I found a thermal going up. It is smooth and one of the biggest
thermals I have ever gotten in at McClure. UP and over the top and now you can see the snow
top mountains of the Sierras. With the green hills and snow cap mtn what more can you ask for?!?
Well, maybe a little more airtime because that was short lived. I am getting below launch and
now another pilot is struggling down low with me. Not really wanting to come in at the same time
as another pilot again. I go ahead and stuff the bar to the LZ. I make my approach over the break
down area. ZOOM downwind cranking a diving turn checking my spot all the while and get it down
close to the ground. I am coming straight down the chute and I land pretty dang close to my spot.
I even get crowd noise. Let the swilling begin! I look for the other pilot and he was able to
hang on long enough to climb back up.
On Sunday, I am pretty happy for all the flying I have been doing and
decide to hike to launch and drive a truck down. Let the swilling begin! The New J pilots
show in the middle of the night and are ready for the flying on Sunday. KM just showed up
mid afternoon after flying Diablo for two days he is willing to drive up. More importantly
he is the only keyholder. Some how we lost Mike the other keyholder. We finally get organized
to head up the hill. With five trucks and four drivers and one key we had to leave at the same
time. One driver could get stuck on launch with no key to get out. I was hoping to leave early
enough to get home before dark. So we all drove down together after watching a few pilots launch.
All in all a fun weekend of flying, biking, hiking and swilling.
Happy flying!