Day 7 AZ Flats

With light and variable winds they called for a 60 mile triangle landing back at the resort. I set up my glider and staged in a good spot near the front of the line. Once off of tow, I found a weak but steady climb up to the main gaggle and loitered for about 10 minutes. Getting really thirsty I reached for my camelback but couldn't find it. I flew away from the gaggle for clearance and tried to figure out what was wrong. I soon realized it was probably down in my harness and that I would have to land to sort it out. It was still 15 or 20 minutes before the first start and with the weak conditions I figured nobody would take it; so I spiraled down quickly.


On the ground again I sorted out the problem and towed back up. Somewhere in that 10 minutes conditions turned on and most people took the first start. This left Trevor and me working up together with Lucas coming back to join us.

Just before the first turnpoint I found a climb that eventually turned on and I took it up to over 10,300ft. I didn't really need to go that high but I wanted to take the T2 over 10k just one more time. Making the turnpoint was easy after that. Just after the turnpoint I met back up with Lucas, Ricker, and Trevor. This was the first time the "Lookout boys" were flying together. It was fun.

We separtated on that glide until it was just Lucas and I. We were on courseline and were going good when our driver came over the radio and warned us to avoid an airport that had busy skydiving traffic. It was right in front of me within glide. I looked up to see the jump plane gaining altitude above us. Not sure what to do, I veared to the east to go around it. Getting low now we were in trouble. Lucas stayed more west of me and I headed over to a prison complex hoping there would be some heat coming off.

I arrived with about 1,000ft and found a very small, broken climb. For about 10 minutes I struggled over the prison watching people in the yard playing basketball. I kept thinking of the irony. I am free like a bird, and they are caged in the desert, but we still wanted the same thing; to climb away from this place.

After fighting for a while I was slowly losing altitude. I realized I only had a few more minutes of flight and this was the last one on my wing. So, I stuffed the bar, gained good speed, then let it out for a huge wingover. Afterwards I set up an approach and landed next to the road. It was an awesome final flight.

Day 6

It was a triangle task of 56 miles. I had to take two tows to get going and everyone had already left but near the edge of the start circle I found a huge climb; 800fpm on the averager. After gliding toward the 1st turnpoint a few miles I found another great climb averaging 1000fpm. With both of these climbs I was able to catch up with other pilots and things were going well.

Working with Ben and Bruce, we clipped the turnpoint and headed off to the second. This is where things slowed down. We couldn't find any climbs that were solid and they were averaging 200fpm. It was frustrating and my hips and shoulders were getting sore. We limped along to the 2nd turnpoint and finally found a decent climb. They left and I stayed until I hit 6,500ft. After tagging the turnpoint I turned towards goal with 18 miles to go.

I found my last climb of the day just 11 miles to goal. It was about 350fpm. My final glide computer started telling me I had goal made but I didn't trust it as I could see the hotel off in the distance, and it looked too far. So I kept climbing until I had 1000 feet of insurance. Eventually, the climb started fizzling out and I felt that I could make it, so off I went. On glide my numbers immediately started dropping and I knew I was in trouble. I stretched the glide as best as I could and ended up landing 1 mile short.

So tommorrow will be the last time I fly my T2. It is leaving this meet with someone else and I am getting a new T2C. I am so excited but also hate to see this one go. It has taken me on numerous adventures and we have spent hundreds of hours in the air together. Maybe that's why she wouldn't glide on in to goal with me today; so that I would have to set up, fly, then break down one more time. I look forward to it.

Don't be a Cowboy

Today a mostly downwind task of 45 miles was called. I sat patiently on the ground waiting to launch so that I wouldn't have to battle the wind staying out of the start cylinder. This strategy paid off perfectly as I topped out at the edge of the circle just 5 minutes before the second start. I left at 7,000ft and at 1:45:40. A PERFECT start.

Then I made a big mistake. Following 4 or 5 other gliders, we made our way to the turnpoint. As we got lower and lower I saw a small dust devil off to our right. No one else went for it but I couldn't resist so off I went, all by my gambling self. After getting close, the dusty dissappeared and I found nothing. Looking back for the others, I saw them climbing over a small mountain. I tried to make it back to them but landed just short, extrememly dissappointed with myself.

I have had this lesson many, many times before but for some reason I can't discipline myself against it. DONT BE A COWBOY!!!! I am not smarter than everyone else. I need to hang with the pack, especially on blue days. With no clouds I am basically running blind.

I just threw away any chances at a decent finish in this meet. Alot of people (22) made goal today. I sure hope that this lesson will be the one that sticks. It sure does sting right now.
It's all good though. Tommorrow is a fresh new day and I am still doing what I love. Maybe now I can relax and just fly my glider.

Wind Too Windy

We awoke today to more strong wind. Still, I went through the motions with my Cheerios and a banana and then off to the pilots meeting. They didn't waste much time today telling us that the day would be cancelled and hoped tommorow would be better.At first, I looked up an ATV rental place in Phoenix and found a few folks who wanted to go. But after some thought about logistics, money, etc., we decided to stay local and entertain ourselves by going to a movie; Ingloriuos Bastards. - great movie of you like Quentin Tarantino's style.After that I went around with the camera looking for shots. Then, we decided to hold a paper airplane competition. We had a beatiful launch site on top of the 10 story hotel roof.
I sure hope the winds relax enough for us to fly tommorrow. I've had my fill of ground based entertainment around here.

Wind Wrong Way

The safety committee decided to cancel the task today around 12:30pm due to the wind. It wasn't so much the velocity but the direction. We would have had to take off over the trees on the golf course.
So we had a nice relaxing day off from flying. Most people scattered to do different things in town. We went to Pizza Hut for lunch and then sat around the hotel taking it easy. It finally felt like a vacation.

The hotel was still empty at sunset.

AZ Flats day 2

For me, the day started out OK. I launched early again and quickly got up to about 6,000ft with a group of pilots. We were waiting around for the 1st start but the wind was blowing us out of the start circle so I decided to go back up wind to find another climb. I went to some gliders over the hotel but their climb was diminishing. Searching around I found nothing and was back on the ground for a re-light.

Now the whole area was in a flush cycle and lots of pilots were having to tow back up. I was unable to stick on the second tow and had to re-light yet again. I tried not to get frustrated. Launch closed at 2:15 and I barely made the window, being the last person to tow for the day. Finally, the tug pilot found a climb for me and I was out of there.

I found a few pilots near the 1st turnpoint to fly with. We made that one pretty easily but going to the second turnpoint proved to be quite difficult on account of a stiff crosswind. I lucked out and found a climb to 9,000ft and then went on glide to the second. After tagging the turnpoint, I dove into the big mountains to get a climb where I saw some gliders turning. I was right up against the mountain that I admired yesterday. Climbing up and over the peak was incredible. That climb took me over 9,500ft and I headed toward the 3rd turnpoint. I saw some gliders turning up ahead but realized I couldn't make it to them. Looking off my right wing, I noticed a decent sized dust devil tearing up the ground so I dove towards it. By now I was down to 1,200ft and desparate. It was a rough start when I found it but I held on.

This climb was taking me over what I thought was an airport but I noticed no terminals, and few hangars, just lots of big 747's and a runway. I later found out it is a 747 boneyard. They fly in but can never check out! I wish I had a picture but I was really busy getting out of there.

That climb got me back up to 7,500ft with 12 miles to goal. My instruments told me I had goal by 2,200ft so I left feeling good. On that glide my numbers steadily decreased and I was getting nervous. The air was not as bouyant as I had hoped and I still couldn't see the small RC airport goal. Finally I found it and arrived about 400ft over. PHEW!!

So it turns out I had a great flight after a frustrating beginning. Since the last start was 1:45 and my last tow started at 2:15 I had a huge penalty on my time. I actually ran the course pretty quickly but it doesn't show that in the results. I'm just glad I wasn't sitting in the hotel watching a movie or something.

1st Day

The first day of the Flats Race called for a 69 mile task with three turnpoints ending back at the hotel. The forecast called for blue skies and lift averaging 700fpm though I feel it was quite less than that.



I wanted to launch early so I wouldn't get caught in line with all my gear on in the desert heat. After getting up, I found myself fighting for lift in a gaggle of about 30 gliders. The lift was spotty and light and took a lot of patience to make it work.




Halfway to the first turnpoint I found a good core away from the big gaggle. They left theirs about 6,200 but I was climbing really well. Should I go with them or take the climb higher? I decided to stay. I left around 8,000 and caught up to everyone at the turnpoint with more altitude. I felt great having made the right decision. Then we were off to the second.

The second turnpoint was near a huge, gnarly mountain. I had one of those "magical" moments and had to snap a picture. It's a bit crooked but I was busy in a thermal. These mountains look so much less forgiving than the ones I fly around back home.

I struggled a bit in that thermal and ended up losing everyone. After getting up to about 8,400ft I left for the 3rd turnpoint. I could see the gaggle there in front turning in something. I arrived a bit lower than them and was unable to find the lift. After hitting the turnpoint I went on glide all the way to the ground. I didn't score all that well but I had a great flight none the less. Arizona is beautiful from the air.

Santa Cruz Flats Race

We finally arrived here in Casa Grande, Arizona late on Friday night. The drive wasn't so bad on the first day, but the second seemed to drag a little. I think it was about 30 hours or so.

This place is nice. A towering hotel with pool, lounge, restaurant, and golf course with lush green grass surrounded by miles of desert. It's an oasis and I still can't figure out why they built it here, but I like it. They just finished paving a runway next to the driving range for us to take-off on.
Here is some pictures from outside our room.

I'm eager to get into the air and have a look around. The weather seems to be nice today with light winds and cloudbase around 12,000ft. Stay tuned for updates!

Santa Cruz Raffle

Hi, my name is Eric and I am addicted to competition hang-gliding.

I have signed up for the Santa Cruz Flats Race in Arizona starting September 20th and am trying to raise gas money for the trip. Hang gliding comps take a lot of time and money. It's the money I am short of. So, I am having a raffle at the Labor Day party here at Lookout this weekend.

For just $2.00, you get a ticket and a chance at winning great hanggliding art from yours truly.

For $5.00, you get THREE tickets!

For $10.00, you get SEVEN tickets and a huge handshake!!!

Puzzled?

Hope to see everyone at the party. Thanks for your help!

Spot Landing Comp at Big Spring

Since I was participating in the spot landing contest, I couldn't get any footage of the action. Ricker, on the other hand, put one camera on the ground and then took still shots with another. He gave me the video clips to put together so here it is - the "cactus cam".



And then, I had a bit of a controversial landing. "was the landing over?" For the landing to count, you have to be on your feet and only the wingtips or keel can touch. Basebar and nose disqualifies you. I felt my landing was over and I was repositioning to get off the field. Anyway, I was 4th so it didn't matter. Spot landing was alot of fun. Check out the footage below.

Day 7 - final and best day

The task for the final day was a 105 mile dogleg to the north and then east. It was difficult to get to base around the airport but clouds were looking good on course so I decided yet again to leave early and by myself. I got to base and left the start circle only 9 minutes before the first start so the penalty wouldn't be too severe, especially for my game.

I caught up to a good street which put me up to over 10,500ft and then raced along just under the base for a while. I found good climbs along the way and stayed high. Around 50 miles out I noticed the lead pack catching up. Jeff O'brien came my way as the others took a line more to the west. I topped out on a climb to 10,800ft and went on glide as OB climb up right behind me. A few minutes later, out of nowhere, he passed just feet over my glider diving in front of me. The bright colors of his glider, just feet in front of me, was really startling and was a lot of fun. It's funny how he can just play with me that way and keep kicking butt. I guess that's why he's on the world team.

So now we were gliding together and storms to our west continued to move in. We got low on that glide, maybe 4,500ft (1,500agl), then found a good climb back up. I was getting nervous about the two storms ahead because the turnpoint was in between them. I used hand gestures to communicate my concerns to OB and he just gave me an A-OK signal and motioned to move on. So we did. At the turnpoint we joined the rest of the lead gaggle in light to maintaining lift. I didn't see any future in this light stuff so I went to tag the turnpoint and glide out for a landing before the storms got worse. I had had a great week and didn't want to push it on the last day.

So it turns out that I flew 71 miles and everyone else kept dropping soon after. Nobody made goal. I came in 8th for the day, my best in this meet. I ended up in 16th overall and am really happy about it. I flew 464 miles out of 651. Not bad for a weeks worth of flying. Texas never dissappoints a hang glider pilot.

Here is a picture of the storms heading to the turnpoint. That's OB in the center.

Day 6 - I'm famous

Today they called for a 105 mile task with 1 turnpoint at Lamesa. Thick mid-level clouds threatened to shade everything so I decided to launch early and get as far as I could before it did. This meant I was going to ignore the start times and get moving on course. When I launched cu's were forming to the east and I headed that way even though it took me way east of courseline. I made good time all by myself and eventually got near Lamesa but was 10 miles east of it. By now everything was shaded and I stretched my glide towards the town. There was a small spot of sunshine on the ground and I headed for it. 6 miles from the turnpoint and at 600ft I found some lift. I took it up to 6,500ft until it got weak, then headed to the turnpoint. After I got it I turned north towards goal only to glide all the way to the ground. Turns out I should have waited a bit cause the high clouds were clearing and everything started heating up. So, I went 70 miles out of 105.

Here is a picture from the flight. Notice how dark and shaded everything was.
Then, after I landed, notice how sunny it was.I ended up landing on a dirt road that was access to the oil fields. This turned out to be a retrieve nightmare. Not only was it difficult for my driver to find me, a huge storm developed and eventually started dumping hard rain on me. I stood in the pooring rain trying to protect all of my electronic equipment for over 2 hours waiting for them to find me. Here is a little vid of the approaching storm.

Now the cool part. After we got back and I got dry cloths on, we headed to Cowboys restaurant for some grub. When I walked in there was a newspaper dispensor next to the door with a picture of me flying my glider on the front page! I plopped in 50 cents and took one.

Day 5- from 300ft to goal

At first the task was a 105 miler to the WNW with 3 turnpoints. But before launch they changed it to the exact same task as yesterday, 85 miles with 2 turnpoints. I guess they felt that coming back into the wind over the un-friendly oil fields was a bit too dangerous.

The cu's didn't form until late again but we were all eventually in the air and fighting for a space in the gaggles. There must have been some confusion between pilots as to which direction to turn today in the start circle. It was a right turn day but half the pilots were turning left, and the other going right. This made a huge mess and was quite stressful trying to get up in the cramped lift.

I started following a group of guys to the north of courseline under some clouds but looking ahead I didn't think it was a good call. So, I decided to go solo across a huge blue area towards more clouds south of courseline. This was a big gamble that almost didn't pay off as I had to work hard to get back up over there. But, once at cloudbase again I could play connect the clouds and I was on my way.

I flew most of the flight by myself only getting with some other people near the second turnpoint. The sky by this point was getting blue and we were having to search hard for lift. I tagged the turnpoint and headed north towards goal. This is where things got exciting.

I got down to about 300 feet and was about to land when I saw some birds circling. I went to them and found small, punchy lift. I held on to it for dear flight and did many turns trying to get back up. A Litespeed came in even lower than me and tried to do the same but wasn't making much progress. I was concentrating so hard I could only glance at him occationally. I looked and saw him at 150ft, then again at 100ft, then I looked again just in time to see him crashing hard into a fence and going over. As I circled I watched for movement but nothing happened for a few minutes. I kept trying to decide if I should go land to help or keep climbing. Finally, a car pulled in and I figured they could give assistance. It turns out he knocked himself out for a bit and couldn't remember the last seconds of his landing(crash). He broke the carbon basetube, downtube and put a fencepost through the sail. He was OK except for a few scratches.

Anyway, this climb finally became organized enough for me to get back up to 9,000ft although it took over 30 minutes. This allowed me to float the 16 miles into goal. Maybe 10 or 15 pilots made goal today. Fun day with a challenging ending.

Day 4

Today they decided on a task of about 85 miles with two turnpoints. High cirrus was already overhead in the morning making me wonder how good the day would be. But, early in the afternoon they were spreading apart and a few lone cu's were forming.

I made sure to get a good spot in the staging line since I got burned yesterday by launching late and then the task was called. (I could whine a little here but I'll spare you). So today I launched about tenth in line and found a steady, though not strong climb with all the top guys. I watched them like a hawk and was able to stay with them as we left for a good start. About 8 or 10 of us continued on towards the first turnpoint when the usa team began pulling away. Eventually I was on my own but making good time, staying high.

Soon after the turnpoint, 38 miles into the flight, I caught up to some gliders and realized one was Jeff O'brien. Had I caught up to him?! I was really excited. Talking to him later he said he messed up and got stuck low. So it's not that I was fast, I just didn't make any mistakes. Anyway, I'll take it. At the second turnpoint, I caught up with Davis and Shapiro. We hit the turnpoint and then took a good climb. I soon lost sight of Shapiro but held on to Davis. Now just 15 miles from goal, we took a climb until he left. I was about 500 feet lower than him and should have spun up a little more but decided to go with him. This was my critical error for the day. He arrived at goal with a couple hundred feet and I landed a bit short. Looking at the airport I could see I wasn't going to make it, so I veered east to shoot under a cloudstreet hoping for ONE more climb but I couldn't find it and landed 2 or 3 miles short.

Tough lesson today. I have never been so close to finishing with the top guys before and I blew it because of a few hundred feet. Oh well, tomorrow is another day and I still had a spectacular flight.

Here is a picture I took while on course of the oil fields below.
Here is some video clips that I put together of my flight and my deserted LZ.

Day 3, storms and spiders

As we brought our gliders out to the staging line the clouds were forming quickly to our east. Most of us were worried about over-developement and wanted to get in the air quickly in case the task was called. I was stuck near the back of the line again and waited 30-40 minutes for a tow. Once in the air I found a good climb and was on my way.

While on course I noticed rain showers behind me at the airport and a few scattered east of me. No big deal and I kept pushing on. Then, I started watching a large storm up ahead right on courseline. I decided I could keep going and would just keep an eye on it. Coming up on the town of Lamesa the storm continued to grow and then I noticed a HUGE gust front kicking up thick dust, completely engulfing the town. I was at 8,500ft and could see the dust line for miles to the north and south. Just then I heard over the radio that the task had been called. Having never been in this situation before I got quite nervous and wasn't sure what to do. The only thing I could think of was to run from it. I pointed straight west and pulled the speed on.

I don't think I have ever felt so small before. I ran for 10 or 15 miles looking back at this huge, very defined, wall of wind chasing me. Up ahead I saw the only house around and aimed to land there in case I needed any assistance. I arrived with about 500ft and to my surprise, the trees were calm and not blowing. I circled down and had a nice landing in their crop and carried my glider to the road. Looking east I could see the dust coming. I turned my glider around and un-hooked. 2-3 minutes later the gustfront hit.

Before I got close to the storm I had the camera out. Here is a little clip.


Before the flight I found this "little" dude walking around at the airport. Look, he was waving at me.