http://flyingjochen.blogspot.com/

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While there were low cu's in the morning it had been blue for hours and didn't
look like there would be any cu's the rest of the day. The wind had been strong
out of the south southeast (unlike the forecast for east southeast winds) but it
had backed off. I was off first and didn't pin off until 2,500' as there was no
lift.

I did finally find some lift down to 2,000' but it was weak. Jochen joined me
and a bit later Mitch and Tom Lanning. We all searched around and worked weak
lift and got lower down to thousand feet. Mitch and Tom found some lift to my
west next to the flight park and I went in under them to find it also. Jochen
with a flat radio headed south and got really low not hearing Mitch tell us
where the lift was.

Jochen came in over the runway and not much above the trees worked the weak lift
as we climbed up to his west. When I got to 2,200' I went over Jochen as he was
climbing. I found even better lift and all four of us climbed to 4,200'. I'd
been in the air for fifty minutes, at first just trying to stay in the air. Now
we were high about two kilometers northwest of Quest having drifted in the four
mph southeast winds.

I suggested a task to the intersection of highway 33 and the Turnpike, Cheryl
and back to Quest. The wind was mostly east. It sure didn't look like a big day.

I headed up highway 33 while Mitch and Jochen headed north along highway 19. The
lift was quite weak. I went slowly taking whatever I found and doing a lot of
searching and not getting over 2,500'.

As I approached the turnpoint I saw Jochen landing at it. I was only at 1,400'.
Mitch was a ways behind me working weak lift to stay up. I couldn't be
absolutely sure it was Jochen because he quickly put his glider under a tree and
I couldn't see his tail. Also Belinda called and said Jochen said that he was at
19 and the Turnpike. I knew that Jochen really had no idea where he was but his
radio was flat so I couldn't talk to him to confirm his location.

I found 150 fpm at 800' just south of him and drifted through the turnpoint to
the northwest still not getting to 2,500'. I was working a bit of lift from an
orchard fire (cleaning up the orchard) to the southeast. Mitch was climbing to
the south about four kilometers.

I drifted east toward the Cheryl turnpoint. Mitch came in low by the fire and
found 600 fpm. I flew back east to join him way under him. I found 400 fpm to
3,300'. I headed southeast to get right over the fire but it wasn't happening. I
should have gone back to the lift that I had found  but headed south back
toward Quest instead. Mitch stayed in the fire lift for the next hour.

I found no lift and lots of sink as I headed south. Surveying the fields below I
landed in the biggest one uphill into the wind. I walked the glider to the
locked gate and started to break down. The women in the house across the street
asked me if I was okay.

About half way through breaking down the glider a man in a Harley showed up and
started yelling at me. He asked me what I was doing on his property. I politely
replied that I was doing my best to get off it as quickly as possible. He
continued yelling and threatening me. I kept my mouth shut and ignored him as I
continued breaking down the glider. I wasn't interested in being captured
emotionally by his hatred.

He went across the street to his bike to call the sheriff. I called Belinda and
had her call the sheriff. The guy had threatened me and that is assault. I
wanted the sheriff to protect me and arrest the guy.

I packed everything up and waited not touching his gate (he didn't want me to
touch it) and not daring to put anything on the outside of the fence as I didn't
want to have anything between me and my gear. The sheriff showed up. She had
received both of our calls.

The landowner's son began yelling and she basically dismissed him and argued for
my position, that I wasn't causing any harm. This totally pissed off the guy and
after a short while and after additional threats to me he rode off on the bike.

She came over to me and stayed until Belinda and Jochen showed up to retrieve
me. She knew Quest Air well and knew that this guy was a loud mouth who never
followed up on his threats. I hope she is right.

Anytime in the future when I have a landowner angry with me I am going to
immediately call the sheriff. It worked out great for me. The sheriff and I had
a great talk.

Mitch stayed up in the fire, and got high enough to make it back after a scare
getting low south of Groveland.

It was a great time flying with all my flying buds in difficult and weak
conditions. The thermals were weak and broken and not much fun for some down
low.