Sunday June 13, 2010 - Launched before noon from Mt Laguna (East of San Diego)
and landed at the foot of Mt San Jacinto in Mountain Center, CA after 52 miles
and 4 hrs, 41 min of upwind flying. Maximum altitude was 13,000' and the
temperature slightly below freezing at the top .
A novice XC pilot, Andy flew his Sport 2 155 the same distance but along a
different route landing 25 miles East out in the desert. Andy gets the sky king
of the day award for that. He also sank out several times near launch and
scratched his way back up then finally clawed his way out. Andy is the other
hang glider in the video near the beginning.
My friend Mike who invited me to join their group was all set up on launch next
to me and reached into his bag for his helmet which was nowhere to be found.
Mike had his longest PG flight the day before (an hour) and left his helmet in
his PG bag. You can only imagine the "serves you right you traitor" grief he got
from the rest of us. Mike, wisely broke down and drove chase.
I had misplaced my transceiver harness and finger switch so I had to reply on my
VX-150 tied to my base tube which made it very difficult to communicate with Mike
and our driver, Dan. Had I been in easy contact I could have taken a route that
actually followed the lift lines since Mike could have advised me along the way.
Instead, I punted and took a route that gave me multiple escape options while I
followed the lift lines across tiger country toward my goal of tagging Mt San
Jacinto then landing at Andy Jackson. This approach required a very serpentine
route and waiting for the cloud lines to form in the general direction I wanted
to go.
I wasn't in a race or out to set any records but it was still a very challenging
upwind flight with scenery that was spectacular both above, below and all around
me. I did the edit and music track to reflect the experience of flying cross
country as I personally experienced it.
On Saturday, I flew 51 miles from Pine Mountain in Ojai and that flight only
took 2 hrs, 8 min. I left the camera's at home to avoid the distraction. I
landed in a field where the surface wind was gusting from 15 to 30 mph. I had both hands on
my base tube all the way to the deck and continued to fly the glider while
standing on the ground. Once the wind subsided a little I moved one hand to the
down tube and set the glider down and pulled on full VG to keep the nose from
pitching up.
One I got the tail into wind I called Dizzy (Alex) on radio and warned him about
the extreme surface winds. Alex was flying his PG and was still pretty high. I
advised him to head as far North as possible so he wouldn't get dragged and
injured of damaged his glider. The high winds were only below 300' AGL and were
from cool marine air blowing over the back of the mountains. Alex was prepared
and landed safely but had to wad his glider into a ball. That evening we stopped
at a park in Ventura where he spread it out and inflated it and determined that
everything was o.k.
While driving home I learned that two of my other XC comrades had flown their
Atos gliders very long distances East from Ord Mtn but their flights were long
and exhausting. So I was left with only one option to exploit Sunday's even
better forecast than Saturday's. That's when I remembered to call Mike and
begged him for a spot on somebody's vehicle.
Take a 2 hr 24 min ride (10 minute video) with me from launch to landing and post-flight comments. Lots of thermaling and extended glides above 70 mph. Plenty of live commentary, too.
