Jason Dyer

Long Winter

2011-03-18T19:15:00.003-06:00

It's been a long flyingless winter. I haven't flown for many months. Have not even given it much thought. Drove the 6 hr round trip to go to the reserve clinic to toss a chute and say hi to people I haven't seen in months. Starting to get excited to fly but this year is going to be a slow down for me. Not likely to take in the yearly normal competitions do to family constraints. I plan on doing a little more local flying so it might wash. Sean, the local trainee is going to progress to the point that he should be towing by summer and this will help us both with airtime. I'm going to the Miles In May which I hear is moving for the first time since I started to it's previous proving ground just south of Edmonton. Nice to move to new ground but the distance from home just doubled.

Final day (7)

2010-07-25T00:57:00.000-06:00

The day started with plenty of sled runners under a clear blue sky. Mid morning our eyes were drawn to a five hundred foot tall dust devil on launch 3 times in a row clearly visable from the lz. Once on lauch, conditions looked melow. A few pg'ers went and rarely did one stick. The wind switched from steady south to honkin cycles out of the west. The hanggliders lined up qwickly and launched. I helped a few off and suited up. In the air it was odd. You could turn a good few turns in a strong thousand up and then it would get very turbulant. Once I got over the peak I had had enough and desided to test the lift on the other side of the valley. It wasn't as rough nor was it as strong. I made it back to 9G and tried to get to kicking horse gondola but every tome I got close to the mountain I got trashed by lee side turbulance. I gave up and landed. Doug L made it the farthest at 20K south of canal flats. Doug K was at fairmont, Ralph and Gary made invermere.

Awards dinner had john C winning intermediat. Grandprariejohn won advanced with Ralph in 2nd and me in third. Doug L won topless with Doug K in 2nd and Rob in third.

The next week looks stellar and I wish all the compeditors of the PG Nationals good safe flying

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Day 7

2010-07-23T17:47:00.000-06:00

Started out overcast and stayed that way untill small blue holes formed at 3:00. I launched off the grass into light winds and made a couple turns in light lift. Wasn't long untill I found out it was a rough day. It was punchy and small. I made it south of parsons by the time I sunk out. Unknown where anyone else is as I'm sitting on the side of the road right now
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Day 6

2010-07-23T00:06:00.001-06:00

Nothing to report. Rest day forced by rain. Sat around all day. Party for PGer Dale as it was his 50th. Had the best cut of beef tenderloin cooked to perfection. Tomorrow looks good.
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Day five

2010-07-22T13:10:00.002-06:00

A storm was dumping south down the valley. I was not moving and soon it started to dissipate and everyone started to get ready to go. The ramp was windy and people were having a hard time controlling in the wind. Doug K got a wing high and blew his launch into the hilside north of the ramp. He fared well and was unhurt but the ju-ju level dropped and not to many were raring to go after. I qued in on the grass and got off with some running. I got up over the peak and headed out and soon had Ralph and Gary B tailing me. Do to no jacket and the subsequent lack of warmth I stayed low and fast. They stayed on my tail till the range split when i got too low and they continued on to Invermere while I landed. Doug L made canal flats for the longest of the day. A couple of PG's made invermere as well

day 4

2010-07-21T09:23:00.002-06:00

looking north up the valley

looking south

The day started looking good but the clouds soon grew to monsters around launch. after waiting a couple hours a few of us decided to just play a little locally and fly down if conditions deteriorated. It was a rough flight and a storm developed just west of town so most played safe and landed. the longest flight was 50K out and return by Gary B. Fantastic flight considering the day.

Willi Day 3

2010-07-20T13:33:00.001-06:00

Nothing to report. Rainy day. Went to radium and sat in the pool with 8 or so others. Some PG's went to revelstoke and got some flying in.
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Day 2

2010-07-19T11:43:00.000-06:00

The forcast was for overdevelopment with thunderstorms in the mix. On launch, there was verga on both sides, but the sun was shining on Mt 7. We (HG) all launched fairly close together and everyone got up quickly. The texture of the air was worse than yesterday with some serious hard edges. I got up over the peak to 10grand and I didn't get any better. After having a great flight yesterday and still wore out from that, I decided to go land. Rob and the Dougs (L and K) did spilli and back as there was big storm south of there. Most landed at the LZ.

In the evening a gust front came through and caught Doug L and the pg tandem trio in the air. Doug made it into the LZ unscathed, the tandems landed in the swamp, the airport, and the railyard with a few minor scrapes.

Proof of my new hight record from yesterday

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Willi, Day one

2010-07-18T09:49:00.000-06:00

The day started with a fantastic forcast and lots of morning sledders by new students. We all critiqued the students as they flew. One new pg student made some bad decisions and wound up with a helecopter ride off the mountain and a broken back.

On launch later that day we noticed some rough air in some of the pg's that launched. Most got up and away. I was around 5th HG to launch and I found it was rough and punchy right away. I got up over mt 7 and proceded down the valley. Passed many pg's along the way and hooked up with rob and fiona and a couple others. I lost fiona near parsons when she got drilled and had to dig out of a landing field, and lost rob in the middle of the range divide. From then on I was by myself in the lead. I had no problem making Invermere except for physical discomfort. I almost gave up many times due to frozen fingers and sore sholders. I made it in just under 3 hours. Fi came in 15 min later. Rob dug himself out and landed at canal flats as did Mike S and Brett. I think that was the fathest of the day.

The air was rough but not unmanagable. Not pg weather though. One had a reserve toss and got strung in a tree, and they all have pucker stories.

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Day 6 and 7

2010-06-22T07:35:00.002-06:00

Day 6
On launch we waffled and waited for the clouds. They were thick and 100% coverage. If no competition crew launches the start times can keep being pushed back. I could see it was not going to get better anytime soon and rather than wait all afternoon on the top of the mountain, I was the first to launch, sealing the times. On one hand, I didn't want to ruin a what might be a good day, but on the other I wasn't into sitting on launch for 6 hrs. I think most were relieved. I got a sledder and landed. Only a couple others flew and most packed up for the drive down.

Day 7
Task was set for 100Km via 6 turn points. The weather was so far cooperating. I climbed out above launch but couldn't get much higher. I struggled to get a thousand over and went for the turn point. At the turn point I climbed well and went for the next one. Milco was in front with about 4 others. This was the day I wanted to overtake him and take first in kingpost. I kept an eye on him and watched him get low. I was getting low as well and switched to survival mode. I was maintaining in light ridge lift when I heard Milco call on the radio that he had landed but broke his arm. I scanned the fields ahead of me but could see noone on the ground. I hugged the ridge and pushed ahead, scanning the fields. When I got low I picked a large alfalfa field to land in. I had time for one circle over the power lines before final. I looked strait down and saw Milco's glider in a 15' deep silage pit under the powerlines. I landed under the assumption that a someone had moved it there for some reason. when I got to the site he was laying under the glider holding his right arm and covered in dirt. I couldn't believe that a broken arm was all he had after gliding under hi tension powerlines and flaring into a 15' deep by 20' wide silage pit. Cathy and Rob soon arrived to take him to the hospital and I got both wings packed up before the impending thunderstorm hit. Milco ended up needing surgery and had an overnight stay. I wish I could have stayed long enough to sign his cast.

First overall went to Ross, second to Dave S of USA. I was 7th overall and 2nd in kingpost class.

Day 5

2010-06-18T01:13:00.000-06:00

We decided to head to vernon mt for a task. We got up there and it was a beautiful veiw but the clouds moved in and when the rain started we called of that mountain early and headed for saddle. A task was called, 50K out and return via 3 turn points. A couple brave souls launched into shade and eventually sunk out. The landing field was windy and jeff took out a keel stinger and a few battons when he struck the windsock on landing. The rest of us held off for sun and launched. I was toward the end of the pack and did a little ridge soaring before climbing out and heading on coarse. I was not high and was not left with a lot of choices. I soared a cliff face for an hour trying to get high enough to tag the first tirn point but couldn't do it. I landed with ross, jon, and rob. Tomorrow isn't looking so good but saturday should be a good task.
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Day 3 and 4

2010-06-16T17:06:00.000-06:00

Day 3 was canceled do to weather. Went and sat in the hot tub and sulked.

Day 4 didn't look awsome this morning but the odd blue hole opened up and a task was set. From launch to cherryville, then to vernon, and back to the lz. The lauch was light and there were some iffy launches. I launched toward the end of the pack and by then high cloud had moved in and most lift was shut down. Jeff and Ross made it about 20K toward the first turn point before they got shut down.
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Day 2

2010-06-15T00:54:00.001-06:00

A westerly flow on an east site means get off early. We waffled but most got off. A turnpoint was chosen from a list but it turned out it was an unobtainable turn point 20K into unlandable territory making today canceled. I got 25K out and landed in a huge field with Jeff S. Soon after Niel, Steve T, Eric, and Ross joined us. It was a very atractive field.
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Final day Lumby air races, first day Canadian Nationals

2010-06-14T00:23:00.001-06:00

We got up onto coopers early, but not early enough. Started blowing down as some were just compleating setting up. I didn't bother pulling mine off the truck. The call was made to head to saddle. When we got up there it was cross and gusty, again I made the call to drive down. From the lz we watched 8 or so gliders launch and have rough scratchy flights. One finaly got up and and made most of the task. He will not score well.
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Day 2

2010-06-13T08:16:00.000-06:00

The weather gods smiled on us but it was more of a smirk. It was a tough blue day. You had to work to get any hight. The sky was full of death gaggles. I waited untill things calmed down and launched toward the end. I made it 2 turn points but couldn't quite tag the 3rd. This may sound good untill you realize there was 16 waypoints! The top dog was John M that made goal.
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Day 1 Lumby air races

2010-06-12T01:57:00.000-06:00

Forcast looked unstellar, woke up to rain. Noone in a hurry to get up launch. Once up there the wind was verry light and cross. A few pg's launched and sunk out. We pushed the launch window by an hour but we had a perminant shade cloud over us all day. Noone even came close to goal. I sledded down at the end of it with only 2 other hanggliders. Tomorrow looks fantastic.
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Day 4

2010-05-26T19:30:00.001-06:00

We all expected today to be windy out of the east. We awoke to gray calm skies. The forcasted winds were still telling us we couldn't stay here and fly do to nothing west of us. After much debate we desided to tow out of lethbridge. When we arrived it was windy and a bank of gray was moving in. I decided to leave mine bagged but most set up. The gray moved in and it was apperent the soarability was fading. When the rain drops started falling the dihards packed it in. With the next three days looking ugly, everyone packed up and left. I think I'm a bad weather troll because I hear of all the stories of seven days of flying from years past but in the four years I've been coming to Miles in May we've had ugly weather for most of it. It's really to bad for the people running it (Ross and Cathy Hunter) to go through all the work of organizing to have it all fall apart do to conditions beyond their control. I love this meet and would hate to not have it.
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Day 3

2010-05-25T23:34:00.000-06:00

We called a task from nanton tow road, west to longview, then north to black diamond. Good for just just short of 60 K. I felt it was a great obtainable task by most of the field. The first couple tows landed back at launch even though the sky looked great. Doug towed up before me and was the first to stick. I towed up after and and made a very low save right over the trucks. That set the tone of the day for me. Low save after low save I slogged for the turn point. 13K out I reached my highest point at 10500'. I did another low save right befor the turnpoint and tagged it. Instead of taking the high road over the hills I foolishly opted to go to the
buisy highway in the valley and sunk out 5K north of longview. I was in the front of the field and watched them all pass over my head. An hour later or so Ken came and joined me in my landing field with an ill thought out landing approch. Doug first in goal but double the time of Rob, Ross third and bruce last. A great task and a fun day.
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Day 2

2010-05-25T00:31:00.001-06:00

Finaly a fly day, the task was set from launch near nanton, to black diamond and back, good for just shy of 100k. Optomistic task given the conditions. The entire field was dotted along the landskape with Rob making it the farthest at 5K back. Ross was next at black diamond with bruce and doug not far behind. I got a good tow into gereat lift right to cloudbase at 10 grand, dolfin flew till I got away from that lift and sunk out just west of high river. I am presently in second place in my divition and I think fourth or fifth overall. Cloudbase was much to cold to get any pictures but I wanted to snap a few of high river.
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Day 1

2010-05-23T22:21:00.001-06:00

Goal set for bow island. Goal is optomistic in my mind but the day looked great. Ross was on the tow rig just about to tow when the cops arive and shut us down. Someone must have complained to someone important. No proper aproval from the important people so towing is shut down in vulcan for this meet. The day is shot. Likely the best day too. Everyone goes seperate ways, a couple groups go towing in various directions, free flying. Nobody goes xc. Likely to head south tomorow. See what the weather gods say.
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Practice day

2010-05-23T07:21:00.001-06:00

The trip out was boring as ever. I left Medicine Hat with rain, wind and overcast skies, and arived in Nanton with sun and spotted cloud. I didn't find anyone milling around the campground so I set up camp. Just got done when Ross texted me and let me know where they were. I got to the tow site and slowly got set up. Conditions had deteriorated to solid overcast with spotty cumulus below that. Every one got a tow or two but nobody whent anywhere. Comp starts today
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excellent day, I was late

2010-05-14T06:13:00.005-06:00

Got out to the tow road by 2:00 and the day looked great. Wind was variable so I set up at the east side to take advantage of the long road. I took forever setting up as it was my first time towing in close to a year. As I set up the clouds dissipated slowly and by the time I launched I was in a blue hole. This was the first time towing with my new harness so I didn't know what to expect. And I had to train my driver Terry. He had towed for me once before but that was a year ago. When I launched it was apparent that my bridle connection to the harness was not going to work. It was cutting into my hips and caused a great deal of discomfort. I pinned off at the first sign of lift and tried to work it but it was slow and disorganized and I soon lost it. I opted to land at the opposite side of the road and do a retow from there. The second tow terry had a brain fart and turned the tension down instead of up as soon as I launched. I floated twenty feet off the ground for what felt like eternity hoping he would realize what he had done. Just when I was about to pull the pin the tension rose and I climbed the rest of the tow. It was a slow smooth climb with no turbulence. I pinned off and found I was in a sink hole at 600 FPM down. I was on the ground in no time. I conceded defeat at that point. And I had to fix the tow bridle attachment point. I dropped off my harness at the seamstress Thursday with a plan. I doubt I'll get out again before Miles in May competition in a week. I'm glad I found a couple bugs to fix.

At the top of my tow I could hear familiar voices on the radio. It was Mike and John. I had a brief conversation and mike had said he was at the 100 km mark from Gliechen to the north. This would mean he was 300 km away. Holy radio reception! No clue where he got to.

I found out later that day that Lief had flown 177 Km and Rob had done 150. Good flying guys.

Forecasting

2010-05-11T19:42:00.004-06:00

It this sport you must learn about weather. I check numerous weather forecasts and compare them to what the next day turns out to be. I have gotten pretty good at forecasting but do to my lack of flying, cannot verify how great a day actually was. We had some ugly weather for the last two weeks but now the soaring forecasts are looking very promising. Miles in May is coming in under 2 weeks and I`ve been out only once this year. A crying shame and downright embarrassing. This will change tomorrow. The forecast is awesome, I rounded up a driver, and work is slow enough to take an afternoon off. This is what I`m talking about.

Ten grand cloud base, warm surface, no wind through to top of lift, fast lift rate, MASSIVE cross country potential. Not the best day to try out rusty skills but too good a day to pass up. I doubt I`ll do well but I`m game to try. Lets see how it pans out. My flight plan is to follow the hiway west from Medicine Hat.

SPRING!!

2010-04-17T07:22:00.002-06:00

Easter Sunday, wife left for a week to visit family and I was to scrape and re texture the ceiling. I was ahead of schedule, the wind looked perfect. Good enough reasons to take the morning off and go flying. The wind was progressively get stronger throughout the day so I got up there early. On the way I noticed the lack of wind but trusted the forecast. As I set up the wind picked up as planned and when I was ready, the wind was perfect. Excellent timing. I launched with one step and smoothly climbed away. There was a large cloud bank that slowly was passing over with sunshine on the other side. I raced from the south end to the ravine a dozen times flying fast and popping a few wingovers in the smooth lift. As soon as the sun hit the air changed to gusty with week thermals blowing through. When the frequency got steady I started jumping fom one thermal to the other out front of the ridge till I got dangerously close to CFB Suffield airspace and decided to take a strong one to the clouds. I reached cloud base at 6500' at 10:45 in the morning. It was a day to go far. Problem was, I was there alone and lack of roads an traffic made retrieve very tough. I raced for the ridge and landed a half mile short and had a pretty ugly landing behind a hill in rotor. Great first flight of the year. Later that day the cloud streets set up and there was dust devils breaking off in town. Very good day for flying.

been awhile, again

2009-11-12T20:31:00.004-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything. I know, I'm lacking flying time or interesting things to post. The Alberta crew put on another Octowberfest this year. We all head to the Standard tow site and tow up. The weather has never really cooperated at this meet but it gets us all out. This year it was mostly newbies and few veterans. I arrived and set up my glider after towing Graham up. Rob was doing a few tandems so I towed him up a few times. On the last tow the wind switched 90 degrees and that was the end of the towing from that road. I packed up my glider and taxied Satier to the cross roads and towed him into the wind. After a thousand feet or so the wind switched 180 degrees and I was driving 100K just to spin off line. He was in a falcon and after releasing, couldn't penetrate and ended up in the middle of a field somewhere. That was my sign to get lost.....

A couple weeks ago I got a phone call in the evening wondering if I knew who the victim of an accident at Camrose ridge was. I knew nothing about it and after a few texts was informed of the guys name and that he had died when he hit a rock pile at the ridge. I recall meeting him at the tow meet but did not get to know him. He was a yearling that was just getting started. Had a few high flights under his belt and was looking to soar. The entire circle of friends here was rocked. I'm sure his mentor took it hardest of our family. I feel bad that I didn't get to know him but on the other hand I think I was spared a hardship and heartache. From the obituary it sounded like he was a hell of a guy who lived and loved life.

Last week the wind gods smiles at me the same time as I had no other commitments. Now that I am all by myself in regards to flying partners, I didn't need to ask anyone if they wanted to go. I loaded up the truck and headed to the ridge. The wind looked slightly light but was to pick up as the afternoon wore on. Once I set up the wind was honkin. No windmeter but it took a half hour to walk the hundred feet to launch. Twice on the walk, if I could have unhooked and not been cartwheeling in the wind, I would have. But when the wind quit gusting enough to unhook, it was also good enough to walk ahead and launch. I waited for a lull and launched. Instantly gaining a hundred feet. It was fairly rough in the air, gusty and a few thermals, one of which I gained 1500' over the ridge. I flew for an hour before I was wore out fighting the wind. Landed 50' away from the truck flying the base tube till my feet touched the ground. By the time I was packed up the wind was back down to barely flyable. Lucky timing. It was close to a year since I flew the ridge last. I wasn't let down this time but I'm owed some good flight there.

Good looking wind on the ridge

Pack up time.

Day 7 last day

2009-08-23T19:04:00.001-06:00

Winds were a bit strong and from the sw. Short task was set to get everyone back for awards. 60k to the north. Ian launched first but blew it. I got ready and was in the air early.

The fires in the area intensified and the course line was right over 2. From the air I could see 200' flames, firefighters and choppers. I made it 13k short of goal. 10 were in goal with Jeff being 1st and mike taking second. Gary was last into goal but launched 2 min after the start window and only got minimum distance. He took it well.

It was a great competition and the organizers/volenteers did a fantastic job. I gained tons of experience that will help me in my future flying.
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Day 6

2009-08-21T18:43:00.001-06:00

83K task to the north. Strong SW wind started up just as launch opened. GP piled into a tree on launch and was uninjured. Couple of ugly launches but all but 6 got off. I was one of those 6 that felt it was unsafe to fly and bagged it. At least one in goal that I know of at this time. A t-storm blew through last night causing at least 4 fires in the area. That caused a bunch of heavy air traffic too.
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Results day 5

2009-08-20T19:22:00.001-06:00

Canceled do to unsafe wind on launch hopefully tomorrow is better
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Day 5

2009-08-20T12:29:00.000-06:00

83K downwind dash to the north called. Gusting to 25K on launch out of the south. Lift forecasted to be the best yet but wind may be a problem.
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Day 4

2009-08-19T21:46:00.001-06:00

125k task, no one in goal. Jeff was 10k short and lots littered in between. 2 blown launches. No injuries. Dust devils wreaked havoc on launch tossing a couple gliders around. Tomorrow looks better for lift but may be windy
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Day 2 results

2009-08-17T22:29:00.001-06:00

Day 2 saw a repeat of day 1. Slightly different optimistic task of 80k but same stable air. I made it highest over launch height at 1100 over and when it petered out I did a dash into the shade to shoot for minimum distance but was short by 10k. Ross did a k farther than me. We were the only ones that shot for the task. Everyone else baled to the lz, which translates to another no points day. No incidents today. We are all optimistic that "tomorrow" will be better.
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Day 1 results

2009-08-16T22:23:00.001-06:00

Day didn't turn on. Everyone sunk out. One injury, Peter from Ontario ended up with a dislocated shoulder on a downwind into the "crashpad". Everyone flew.
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Day 1

2009-08-16T13:35:00.001-06:00

91 Km task set consisting of one out and return to the north, then another to the west from Savona launch. The overcast sky is slowly burning off and it's looking like a doable task.
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Practice day at the nats

2009-08-15T14:06:00.001-06:00

Woke up to gray skies that turned to rain. Registration saw some optimistic pilots but alas the lift was canceled and everyone did their own thing. Some went to Savona to fly and it's looking like they my get to fly this evening. I'm just bumming around being bored. Tomorrow is looking good and this week is looking awesome.
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Secluded

2009-08-15T10:02:00.001-06:00

In my early teens I had a dream of being a bushman, living off the land and secluded from civilization. That dream went away when I had to pay for things and got a job. From that time in my life I've always enjoyed the back woods and roads less traveled when I have the time.

While sitting in Creston watching the rain I realized I had an extra day to try out the road less traveled. I would take the long way to Kamloops north through Kaslo and Trout lake. I loaded the camping gear and kissed the kids and took off.

The windy lake road was a lot quicker than I remember and I made the ferry just in time. I've only ever been as far as Kaslo up this road and from there everything is new. The "highway" quickly turned to a gravel road with a beautiful river beside it. A quick look at the regulations showed that the Lardau river was closed to all fishing except for two tributary creeks. The first one looked too small so I continued on. The second one, Healy creek, looked good but the regs said above the falls. I drove a long time and never seen any falls. When I found a good camping spot, I set up. It was near a bridge right beside the creek. I was fast setting up my new tent and grabbed the fly rod. The fishing was great.

I found out the new tent I purchased doesn't keep water out too well and had to sleep in a wet sleeping bag.

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Weather woes

2009-08-12T11:20:00.000-06:00

The weather has not cooperated since I've been in creston. Only flew one day so far. Windy on launch but nothing to worry about. Flew to the border and back and got into an evening glass off and floated around the valley till I was frozen. Spiraled down and landed. I love this site except for the lack of xc potential.
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Last day of the Willi

2009-08-02T23:59:00.001-06:00

The last day was dramatic. The weather forcast was for the best day of the meet except for strong north wind. On launch the wind wasn't bad out of the north but noone wanted to be first. It was late and soon some keener pg's launched. As soon as they started climbing it was one after the other. I noticed that they were all taking collapses not soon after lauch. It was rough. I had a great day yesterday so was not into a rough day and waited till second last to launch. I noticed imediate sink that was unrelenting untill I smacked into 1200 fpm up. I gave 5 turns and altough I gained back to launch, I went negative three times. I think I know my limits and although I could fly, it would not be fun. I opted to head out and land as did quite a few do to the rodeo air.

Soon the destress calls started coming in. One reserve toss and one strung up in a tree. The helecopter was sent out and picked them up. No injuries.

The big flight was jim S made Invermere.

Gill won beginner, I won intermediate, searge won advanced, and rob won advanced topless. It was a great meet with great weather and great to see friends again.
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Invermere

2009-08-02T01:29:00.001-06:00

The little tourist town of Invermere is 100k from launch and is the goal of many pilots that launch from golden. I have had my sights set on it for a while. Today I did it. My farthest cross country to date as well as my longest airtime at three hours ten minutes. The funny thing is I never broke 9500' my entire flight. There was once I thought I might have to land but scratched my way to jump a gap and it was quite easy. I had Gary B way out in front so I knew I wasn't the only one needing a ride and I flew a substantial portion with Greg L and Searge before leaving them in my wake.

Another gust front moved in from the north and caught a few off guard again. Chris C landed in 40k winds and did well but Fiona was much to high. She ran north 15k or so and just got down in time. Gary B and I were all packed up and enjoying a beer at the airport in Invermere when we saw Greg L landing. I rushed over to help unpack and we got 2 batons out when the gusts hit us.

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Another stable day

2009-07-31T21:17:00.000-06:00

We were on launch for a few hours watching most pg's and a few hg's scratch their afternoon away. I launched late and thought I was going to sink out when I got rocked by a bubble and climbed 500' before it petered out. This went on for two hours and I made it over the summit a few times but never high enough to leave. No HG's went anywhere and a handfull of pg's went down range.
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Stable

2009-07-30T23:49:00.000-06:00

Last nite a super warm wind started up shortly after dark which was welcome at the time to avoid frost bitten fingers from your beer, but as a result we were plauged with a stable day. Noone got much higher than launch and there was a storm aproching from the north. I never bothered setting up fully and drove down. We had a great tstorm blow through this evening which will hopefully destablize everything for tomorow. Timmy danced in the rain in his shorts for a clensing and was rewarded with an awe inspiring rainbow.
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry

Out and return

2009-07-30T03:00:00.000-06:00

Today was a day of timing. Time your launch, both for the right wind and sun, and wiat for the sun to shine where you wanted to go. The keeners were off early and got away. I got stuck behind some launch potatoes and slipped off while noone was looking on the other launch. I'm not a big fan of the ramp anyhow.

I caught something light right off launch an was soon at the clouds at 10500'. That's when it became painfully obvious that I hadn't dressed warm enough. I passed over 7 and continued on down the range. The sky was littered with gliders. I stayed at peak hight and aimed for whoever was going up when I needed a top up.

When I reached parsons the rest of the south was black with shade. I was happy with that distance so I turned around and came back. The last littlebit of the way was covered in shade and people were being flushed down everywhere. I headed for the 15k field but was rewarded with low save half way there and got back up to within glide to camp. Good for a 60k out and return.

The best flight of the day was Rob C who made it to invermere and then back to spillimicheen.
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry

More rain

2009-07-29T11:32:00.001-06:00

We loaded up and headed up the mountain. At the top we saw ugly weather comming and the pg's were rushing to get off. A few were high when the rain moved in but seen it coming and got down. The only hangglider to launch was Doug L. He got caught in it and landed in ugly rain and wind but was fine. A few of us waited it out and were rewarded with a light thermaling flight. I got an hour in light slow thermals, never breaking over the top of the mountain. The shade moved in and flushed about 6 hangies and 10 PG's all at the same tine. We needed air trafic control to keep things safe. Today looks awsome so far.
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry

river and trees again

2009-07-28T09:12:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was very unstable and there were thunderclouds popping up all day. The brave ones waited and succeeded to go go far. One paraglider flew 100K to invermere and Rob C made it to Canal Flats for 160K or so. I waited till evening with some blue sky and found the air still too rough for me. I got up over the peak easy but there was 1200 up right beside 1200 down and not big enough to stay in so the rodeo wasn't worth the return and I landed.

When I went for supper I learned that there was a hangglider cought in a gust front and wound up in the river, and a paraglider in the trees in invermere. Guy in the hangglider was fine. Paraglider unknown who or his condition. today looks much of the same but slightly better,,,we'll see

rest day

2009-07-27T00:14:00.000-06:00

Nobody flew today. Shellshocked from yesterday and too many beers by the time it got better. Tomorrow is forcasted to be better so we'll see.

carnage

2009-07-25T20:44:00.003-06:00

I had a very memorable flight today second only to the nastyness that happened afterword. First, my flight, I was later in the launch line after watching a few get away slow and few sink out. I locked into a great thermal right off launch and was soon at 10 grand. that was the last turning I did for the rest of the flight. 50 km out and return with one turn. I've heard of people doing it but never thought it was possible. I bounced between 11000' and 9500 for the entire trip. the air was semi rough but nothing abnormal for here. I turned around do to an ugly storm brewing down the valley. Which leads me to my second half of my adventure.

The entire valley to the south was black. I turned trail and ran home. I was on the ground and packed up when it started raining gliders. When the gust front hit there was likely 15 still in the air. All the paragliders ran downwind and to my knowledge only one wound up in the hospital with injuries unknown to me at this time. 3 hang gliders were parked at full speed and hat the ride of their lives. Searge made it down with only a broken down tube. Doug K piled in hard and took out at least two downtubes. He got popped at 50 feet and stalled straight in. Dave B was the last and he was doing good until the bottom dropped out and he piled in with a high speed skid. glider fine, him bleeding but ok. There was a few lessons learned and I was very happy with my decition.

New harness

2009-07-25T01:08:00.001-06:00

Thursday I started my trip with a treck to Calgary to pick up my new harness. John installed the reserve which was a bit of a puzzle to get it rammed in. I tried it on and was impressed with it's attention to detail and fit. It will take some getting used to as far as actualy using it.

Once in golden I took an early morning sledder to try it out and found I couldn't do up the zipper as my feet just weren't long enough to take out the pucker. Later that afternoon the day was just too windy to be enjoyable so I passed up the flight and went back down. In the evening I watched two paragliders not make the LZ and have squeeze into ugly spots. I flew shortly after and had no issues.

Tomorrow is the official start of the Willi and most have showed up today. Weather forcasts look good unlike most years. Should be a good year.
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry

Creston BC Mt Thompson

2009-07-13T21:10:00.003-06:00

I went to Creston for a quick trip. Sarah had some family visiting and she wanted to see them so My plan was to fly in the evenings. Of three days possible I wound up with one flight. The first day was rained out. Second day I was all loaded up on a borrowed truck and before I even started up the mountain road I found that one of the dual tires on the back was flat and all the wheel nuts were loose with one stud broke and the others with some serious wear. I decided to forfeit that day on equipment failure. The last day I hashed a plan with my family to take a picnic supper of pizza to the top of the mountain. We loaded two trucks with people and kids and pizza and headed up.

As I set up I got real nervous realizing that my parents, brother, wife and a dozen kids would be watching, Of all places this was not the time to make a bad call or mistake. I actually lost my appetite and started to worry. As I set up I couldn't help but notice that there could be nothing more perfect about conditions. There was a light trickle of wind straight up the steep launch, no signs of turbulence and an all round nice day. I calmed down, suited up and hooked in, triple checked I was hooked in, and turned the glider around. I took a moment to remember that it had been a while since foot launching last so I went through the motions in my head and cleared my mind.
"CLEAR!!"

Launch was perfect and I was away. The air was not bad but the thermals were small and slow. Close to the trees I could climb a little but the higher I got the slower they got, still I was holding my own. I flew long enough for them to get down and watch me land. I did a few mild wing overs and did a good landing. A great flight and it will be a memorable one with most of my immediate family there. I think next time will be better.

dry spell

2009-06-27T21:59:00.002-06:00

My friends have left me, I'm all alone in this great sport and I don't understand why there aren't thousands beating a path to the sky. I live in a town of fifty thousand and I'm the only one who does what I do. Agonizing. I thought when I started hanggliding that it was what I always dreamed of and as soon as I explain it people will realise that same dream. That's not what happens and I've realised I must be the odd one.

My new harness has arrived but work is so hectic that I have not found the time to get to Calgary to pick it up. Worst case scenario I will pick it up on my way to the Willi competition coming up in a month. I can't wait to try it out and hope I'm not disappointed. I have a nightmare in my head that it won't fit.

I'm going to Creston for some flying July 9. I'm actually supposed to be visiting but I need to fly, only for a couple days but it will be much deserved. I haven't flown since Miles in may and I've blown through the best flying part of the year.

Miles in May

2009-05-25T16:29:00.004-06:00

May 22 Vulcan to High River to Nanton to Vulcan

The day was forecast to be light south east wind so we called a triangle that should be challenging in those conditions. It was much more challenging than we imagined. The wind was 3 times faster than forecast and just about straight south. The first leg of the triangle was east north east heading. I decided to not get excited about getting starting early and waited around waiting for something to change with the conditions. What that did for me was wait till the day turned on a little more and I was not fighting light lift and getting blown off course. No one made it to the first turn point. I made a fatal mistake and didn't trust my GPS. I headed for town instead of the way point causing me to get downwind of the way point and getting second for the day. I originally thought I had won the day but at scoring the next morning I found out I had lost by a very small amount and would have easily won had I trusted my gps. Another lesson learned.

May 23 Last day, Short task to Strathmore (75k?)

Forecast was for the same as yesterday, learning our lesson on that we called a mostly down wind task to Strathmore. I towed my entire team up (twice) and after they were all gone, got a tow from Brett on Leif's rig. I pinned off into lift at around 1000' and never looked back. I climbed out like a rocket to 9000' and met up with Dave at cloud base where we went on glide. I followed him for a kilometer or so before I realized I was taking the wrong approach to gaggle flying and moved over a few hundred yards to take advantage of the separation. Soon after a long glide Dave started turning to my left and I pulled in under him. We climbed to base and I lead on ahead. I tried to stay on course while Dave pulled to the left. I was soon on the ground after a long glide and Dave picked a better line and continued on. I made it 20K or so and landed right beside Rob G. He had a ride on route so I lucked out there.

Final Notes.... After attending Miles in May for three years, This was by far the best one yet. Comp headquarters was a bar that we never left, except to fly. The drive to launch was minimal inconvenience and access to internet was much more convenient then years past. I did my best placing at second place (novice) and my winch performed beautiful with the highest tows and consistent performance. Best of all the only incident was one perturbed farmer.

Miles in May

2009-05-22T07:58:00.002-06:00

May 21 Goal: Formost = 100 miles

We decided to go long. All the forecast models showed an awesome day. We called the task to Formost for around 170 Km. Everyone made it away from the tow roads, Ross and Fiona made goal, I made it 20 km or so. I made some fatal errors in judgment that put me on the ground early. The day was rough with some wire twanging and getting dumped many times. I was disapointed in my performance but not too sad I was on the ground.

Miles in May

2009-05-20T09:04:00.003-06:00

May 19 Day called

After a delayed pilots meeting and sky watching the safety committee ordered beer. Gusting to 70K. A group of us went fishing at chain lakes. Cost me a fishing license to catch one 8" rainbow, but at was an afternoon doing something different. Cal is like a 12 year old fanatic when it comes to fishing.

May 20 Day will be called

Awoke to an odd sounding rain, if that wasn't enough to piss a guy off, when I finally crawled out of my tent, that odd rain was actually snow. Forecast says crap for today but tomorrow will be awesome. This whole group is going to snap if we don't fly soon.

Miles In May

2009-05-18T15:10:00.003-06:00

May 16 Practice Day
The forecast was for a great day, possibly the best of the week so there was allot of gliders/pilots set up when I got to the tow site. So many in fact that it was going to be impossible to get any consistent tow time. I rounded up my crew for the meet and asked if they wanted to head to a different road. We headed over to a different road and set up. It was getting late by the time I towed the first glider up. I went with a soft tow for the fist one and I wasn't sure how far the road went so Loren got a 1600' tow but didn't stick. Next was Ken. He broke the record for height of tow off my winch with 3200' which was broken soon after by Glen with a tow to 3600'. But apparently high tows don't come with luck and after a couple tows each, they never got away. There was a few others that were dotted along the countryside all the way to just north of brooks. (actually a paraglider pilot of all things!) About 120K or so.

May 17 Goal: Brooks-100k
At the pilot meeting, some rules were layed down, classes were sorted out, and I was elected to the task committee. The classes are Novice (never over 50 miles) Intermediate (never over 120 miles) and Advanced (anything over 120 miles flown) That put me into the novice class. Myself, Loren, Ken, and Cal make up the novices which I feel is pretty fair. The intermediates have some pretty extreme ranges of pilots, and the advanced looks pretty fair too. I like the splitting of the classes and hope it works out well.

With the forecast "gusting to 50K" winds we decided on a straight downwind task to Brooks. We drew the long straw and got the long road with Dougs crew. The wind started south and we towed a few south but again it was proving tough to get away. One by one Dougs crew towed and left the site. We had a trainee driver I was teaching for a few tows. He did well but small problems kept popping up that made life difficult. Loren had the chute pop out on tow and somehow ripped the bridles off it when he got released. That sent the chute floating in the wind down the field (thank you Karen) After that crisis the line was all pulled off the winch on the next tow and had to be found and rewound. On my tow my release line got tangled with the chute and upon release, cut the chute bridle again. I had the chute still in the sock so I had to go and land to give back the chute. On the second round of tows we went away one by one. It was very windy and with the bar out to min sink I was traveling a 75 kph The order of the day was drift with what you could. I got farthest of my crew, at around 20 K. Ken was a K or 2 short of that, and Loren was around 10 K. Glen never got away. Ross and Rob made goal, Gary was 20 k away. In my class Cal beat me by a long ways flying to Bow City for around 75K and will be tough to catch without some luck on my side, or bad luck on his, but it's still early.

May 18 Weather day.
It started to rain on our parade shortly after breakfast. There was a few people that headed out last night and I was going to but a few beer later and it was too late to hit the road. I am at home now and the forecast is looking alright for tomorrow so I'll be driving back tomorrow morning.

First Winch Test 2009

2009-04-29T19:41:00.006-06:00

Jason and I went out on Sunday the 19. I found a prospect for a driver and brought him and his girlfriend out too. The day looked explosive so I took the first tow. It was fairly rough on tow, I didn't dress for it nor did I take my gps. All indicators it would be an awesome flight.

I skied out till everyone was specks on the ground and struggled to get down after I couldn't feel my fingers.

The first tow was just a test for the winch and the day but I must admit that if I was prepared I would have headed out. The winch performed beautiful. The new pulleys worked great. The new 8 sq ft flow form flying kite works great but might still be a touch small. I'm going to speed up the rewind sometime soon to counteract that.

Jason discovered something wrong with his mark 4 and decided it was time to fly the predator. He wanted smooth conditions as it was his first flight of the year, the first flight in a while on that wing, and the first time towing it. (3 wrongs is usually a no no) I took another tow when the sky filled with high cloud and it was smooth, no lift/turbulence. Jason got on the rig and had little trouble towing/flying the high performance wing. Landing however, discouraged him from trying again. Wind was dead calm till he set up final and then it went tail. With a weak flare, there was a dust cloud and a wing upside down. To me it looked like a nasty whack but he should have faired well. I resisted the urge to yell WHACK!!! Glad I did, he was pretty beat up. Looked like he was on the loosing side of a bar fight. Probably made for a good story at work the next day. Bleeding from various places on his face and a mouth full of dirt, I enthusiastically asked when he wanted to go again. I'm an asshole...... We packed up and went home. I'll probably never see my drivers again either. Was a little longer than the hour or two I think they were expecting, but I'm glad they got these videos.

Airtime at last

2009-04-19T09:36:00.002-06:00

Finally received some much needed airtime. First time out this year and I flew for just short of an hour. Tow was uneventful.

The plan was not to go out Saturday but to go out on Sunday locally. After numerous emails, phone calls and texts I built up the courage to ask my loving wife and the answer was no. I expected that. Saturday rolled around and the forecast looked great, I cried a little. She asked if I was going to mope around the house all day. When I replied yes she kicked me out. I have a very understanding wife. No idea why she sticks around.

Pulling out my winch and headed out today for the first time this year. Looks great today too.

Winter blahs

2009-02-16T10:03:00.003-07:00

As this winter drags on my focus has switched to flying planning. I have plan to take in the Nationals and the Willi with 2 weeks in between to take in some Kooteney sites. I have also rebuilt some components of my winch. I ordered a new flying chute here, The first one I bought was too small and never provided enough tension on rewind. This new one is twice the size. I had no problem using a round drogue chute except they don't last too long dragging them through the stubble fields, and the occational fence post/well head was murder.Spring flying should kick off in the next month or two and by then I should have the winch working well. The first competition will be Miles In May but I have not heard of where or when it will be. I'm hoping my new harness will be here before then but I doubt it. Winter is almost over and the excitement for the upcoming flying season is building. This year has been terrible for wind strength and direction at the ridge. It hasn't been right all winter. Last year I had multiple flights at the ridge by February and thus far there has been nothing. Hopefully the next blog entry will be my first flight of the year, at this point it doesn't matter where or how long.

bored

2009-01-22T20:40:00.002-07:00

I'm not a winter guy. All projects go on hold and I can barely get out of depression to go to work. Winter here is cold. I thought I would get used to it but this year was record snow with record cold for most of December and we are currently heading into another cold snap. On the up side work has treated me well and I will soon be the proud new owner of a Rotor harness. I'm living vicariously through the internet/blogs and am getting excited for the new season ahead. Along with the new harness I'm keeping an eye out for a topless glider. Before the cold set in I redid some stuff on the winch. there is only one spring now and I've gotten rid of the small pulley in favor of a larger one with larger bearings. This should get rid of the self destruct mode once and for all I hope. It seams there will always be ways to make something better when you take on a project like that. I will likely be using it be April. We'll see then.

Do you smell hair burning?

2008-10-11T09:11:00.003-06:00

I spent some time last weekend trying to test out my gasifier. It didn't take much work to get it fired up and running but it was not running all that well. I had a major tar issue and not enough vacuum from the furnace inducer motor I tried. After fifteen minutes or so the temperature spiked and the flame went out. I knew it was bridged up but wasn't too sure how to go about breaking it. I turned off the motor and opened the top. With a three foot stick I started to jab at the wood. About the fourth jab she let loose with a mushroom cloud of flame and I had my arm and face right in there.
It's not the the first time I've had things blow up in my face but it has been a long time since the last time. I thought I was getting smarter but I guess it was just luck. "play with fire and you'll get burned" is what my mother would say when I came home with no eye brows/hair. After contemplating what I had done and a little thinking I lit it back up and had a flare for an hour but found I needed to do some more work before I could test it some more.

The flame should be almost invisible during the day, not orange like this. I'm producing too much tar do the fire not being hot enough. I'll need to find a better fan and make a couple modifications before another test. I'll do my best to keep the rest of my hair.

wood gasifier

2008-09-20T08:30:00.004-06:00

For the last month I have been building a wood gasifier for my truck. The technology has been around for over a hundred years. With gasoline prices going through the roof, I figured I could build one in my spare time, out of junk and drive for next to free if it all works out. So far it is almost ready for a test fire but I have yet to build the secondary fine filter. Wood gasification was enhanced during the second world war when the fuel embargos/shortages were in Europe. Thousands of vehicles were switched over and the design is generally the same as today. There are very few people running wood in north america.

The process is simple. Control the air to a hot fire, pipe the incomplete combustion gasses to the motor and control the air mixture as it enters. The gasses produced for the purpose of combustion are hydrogen, carbon monoxide and some methane. The power of the motor is cut to 75% or so do to the lower btu content compared to gasoline but the price is right. Its all experimental build your own at this point. My gasifier should be able to burn any biomass with some modifications but the design is for small wood chunks/chips.

If your interested in the design/concept. Google "woodgas" "holzgas" or "gengas" and check it out. There is a large group of experimenters on Yahoo groups they post trials and tribulations of thier work.

You will see more posting of my work on this as the flying season ends.

Towing again

2008-08-18T21:11:00.002-06:00

Went out on Sunday and got some more tow practice. Jason was first up and got a great tow but couldn't stay up. I suited up and was soon pointed for the sun. The tow was going well when all of a sudden I went from a 1500 fpm up to a down in the blink of an eye. First time I've gone negative on tow. It was a little unnerving but after flying Golden, a non issue. The thermals were big and slow but between thermals was rough. I hadn't planned on going anywhere and after an hour was bored of fighting the wind and not getting too high. On my way down I did few high wing overs and told Jason I was aiming for the road as a spot. Into ground effect I didn't think I would make it, but soon it was time to flare and the road was right under me. Dead on spot landing in my books. Jason was soon on the line and it was his turn to go cross country. His first one. He did well and I picked him up 15 K down the road.

Home!

2008-08-06T21:29:00.003-06:00

I made it home, holidays over, grass is cut and watered, back to work. The willi was a wet one, again (the wet willi is catching on). I didn't get any distance on any of the days of the willi comp. I managed first place in the intermediate king post division though, I was the only contestant in that class! This was only because the week before, I flew a great distance and jumped a class. I told the organizers to keep the prize money, but I wanted the trophy. My first first place in hang gliding but I feel like I stole it. I took a little footage of the two weeks I spent in Golden and will post it as soon as I get around to editing it. Edit, done and posted

When the forecast went to the crapper I went to Creston for some visiting and flying. I finally got to fly down to just about the border on Mount Thompson and got some wonderful views of "home". I would post them but my camera died midpic and I got squat. Trust me though, it was awesome!

2008-07-27T16:32:00.000-06:00

July 25

Task was an out and return at 100km. I had no plans to make goal so I launched first and planned to leave as soon as I got up. I scratched along the ridge and the bowl till I hooked into a great thermal near the top. It was smooth lift at 600fpm and gained strength with every turn. At 1200 fpm I was making huge turns and thinking “something’s wrong. This is never this easy.” Then it clued in I was in cloud suck. I was 500’ below the cloud and racing for the edge. I was at 11000 feet and headed for Paglearo. I found little sink and was in a great position. Just as I was happy with my situation I hit a hole in the air. I was slammed back into my harness and my heart raced. A few seconds later it happened again with more force. Now I was having second thoughts about continuing this flight. A few seconds after that I was swung into a wing over ninety degrees. Now I have had enough and headed back to land. I was the first to land. No one else felt the violent air that I dealt with.

July 26

Task was called off do to impending storms. I was all set up and flew down between them. The Willi also starts today so I got my flying and landing points.

nats

2008-07-25T10:00:00.000-06:00

July 23

Day called off do to weather

July 24

Task: parsons and back, twice, 123 Km! I was in a good position to take the last start time of four o’clock. Wasn’t too high but this was racing. I flew the course to the first turn point very fast never topping ten thousand feet. I passed a few people along the way and was very impressed. After tagging my turn point(first time ever) I fought my way back upwind. It was a long time to get back. I stayed low but had to stop more often to find lift. After reaching the second turn point (Mt 7) I struggled to tag it as I was too low. My goal was to tag it and land as I was exhausted. But it never happened. I mad it to within 800 m but the cylinder was 400. I flew for 2.5 hours. The toplesses finished in 3.5 hours or so and the only kingpost to finish (Dave) took over 5 hours.

Nats

2008-07-23T11:28:00.001-06:00

July 21

Windy in the Lz prompted us to delay pilot meetings a few times and then call one late up on the mountain. It was no better there and the day was called. A few diehards flew and I wanted to get Cal his first thermal flight. We waited till the wind died and soon he was in the air. I quickly got suited up and followed to try and guide him. To my surprise he was thermaling up the spine and higher than launch when I launched. I climbed up over the peak to see him, Tim, Leaf, and Rob all sharing the sky at the top of the mountain. Your first high flight is great but there’s nothing like your first thermaling flight. I flew for an hour and landed early to catch his landing on video. He flew for an hour and a half and was ecstatic when he arrived on the ground.

July 22

The day was forecasted to blow in ugly stuff from the north so we called a task to Invermere. While setting up we could see the dark clouds advancing and were all trying to get off fast but the pilots in the air were not finding any lift. I was all suited up and jockeying for position when I heard over the radio that the LZ was very windy and turbulent. The gust front had arrived and with no lift it was likely to land there. I bagged it and drove down. We got hit by thunder storms soon after.

Nationals start

2008-07-21T10:42:00.000-06:00

July 19

Practice day

I broke a few personal bests on Saturday. I flew just about Edgwater, and 2.75 hrs in the air. It was a very rough day but as soon as you were above the peaks the thermals smoothed off and became coherent. I had no problems the entire way. Doug and John made it to Invermere and rob was a few Km farther than me.

July 19

Nats start

It was rough. Didn’t matter where you were in the sky. The task was to Brisco and back. Lots of people bombed out early. I struggled in a gaggle over launch, not getting very high, till I got tired and ventured to the spine. I was rewarded with a good climb and was soon over the mountain with enough height to cross the gap. I was fighting a head wind and knew I would not make the peak, luckily I found a good strong thermal half way through the gap and just when I thought it was good smooth lift I went negative by a foot and was slammed back down. I screamed like a school girl and then looked around to make sure no one heard me. I was alone. Made the next peak easy but nobody was following me. I wasn’t feeling too good from the night before and long flight, so I turned around and headed for the landing field. Flew for an hour and a half. Scott won the day with John just behind. Everyone landed at the LZ either making goal or bombing out.

weekend warrior

2008-07-15T21:05:00.003-06:00

I've been getting out every weekend (except 2) since the miles in may. The weekend of the fifth I got Terry, a coworker to come out and tow Jason and I up. He learned quick but it was to no avail for me. I got four tows and could not make any stick. Last weekend was windy but I still managed a short flight to the other side of rattle snake lake. Slow drifting lift was the order of the day. I'm pleased with my flying and practice so far and now I'm getting excited to go to the Nationals next weekend. The Willi is the weekend following so it will be two full weeks of flying. I'll try to post here as much as possible.

Also stay tuned for my next project in the making.... I'm going to convert my truck to run on wood! I'll start on this when I get back hopefully.

finaly linked thermals and went somewhere

2008-06-28T22:05:00.004-06:00

The wind was forecasted to be light out of a southerly direction, with great lift to 9000' and a blue sky. Jason and I headed to the north south road and set up. Jason got 3 uneventful tows but couldn't stick. Said it was all sink. I suited up and gave it a try. My first tow I found nothing but heavy sink all the way back to the launch. An 8 minute flight. I loaded back up on the trailer and went for try number two. Right off the truck I was going up like a rocket. I was much to low to try it out so I stayed on. sink most of the rest of the tow till the very end when I stumbled into something good. Pinned off and started turning. I was going up fast. (for the prairies) Averaging 800 fpm till I hit 6500' then it went to 100 up with some down and was rough till 7500' where I was bouncing off the top of the haze. I didn't pack anything with me as I was just checking the air so I boated around the road for a half hour and came down and landed. Jason loaded up and and found little to play in. Soon he was on the ground again. I talked him into another tow. he was planning on packing it in but I stated the obvious, he was all suited up and ready. Soon he was in the air again but this time he pinned off early. He found something and spun it up to 6500'. Played for a half hour and came in to land. I had my wing loaded on the trailer and suited up. This time I was packed and ready to go somewhere. I pinned off into light lift and drifted with it till I was over rattle snake lake. I decided to make retrieve quick and easy and not cross the river. But I didn't expect to have such an easy flight. There was lift everywhere although light. So I headed for Medicine Hat. There airport there has airspace that I'm not supposed to go into. It can get busy on a nice day so I was keeping a look out when I thought I saw something quite close and near my level. Slightly anxious I scanned the sky till I saw it again. It was a Pelican circling in what must have been a thermal right next to mine. I moved over to his thermal and tried to get my camera out. By the time I did I couldn't find him anymore. So I snapped a few shots and moved on.

This is a shot of the campground from around 5000'I was getting to the point I had to either land or cross the river. Jason radioed me and said he was on the road. I let him know where I was and where I would be landing. I got into one more thermal and crossed the river and came back and landed. I'm sure I could have gone a lot farther but as soon as you cross the river you add quite a bit to the retrieve. My flights are posted here

This is a shot of Medicine Hat with the airport in clear view

Fathers Day is a day to do what father want

2008-06-15T21:17:00.002-06:00

Jason and I headed out for another day of towing on this fathers day. The forecast all looked good but wind was forcasted to be every direction depending on the model you looked at but light. It very light when we got there so we set up at the east side. We flipped a quarter to see who would go first and I won. I loaded up and was soon towed up. I flew through some light lift but nothing worth releasing for. On the way back to launch I found a good little thermal and took it up. I have no idea how far because I forgot my gps at home. The picture below is of rattle snake lake from I'm guessing 6 to 7000'

I flew around for a while then thought I'd give Jason a chance at the good flying. With the wind so twitchy I wanted a good look at the sock before committing to my approach. I delayed much to long and did a turn much to low and slow. As I picked up speed on final I was not level and too low. This is the picture entering final.

Between worried about that and watching the sock I misjudged the hight I had and grazed the dirt with a wheel at a high rate of speed. This is a picture of impact.

I quickly gained some hight but that had my heart beating. We call it intermediate syndrome when you think you are better than you actually are. I'm right in the middle of it and these little lessons humble me and bring me back to reality.

Jason got a really good thermal flight and had a blast. Took two tows do to the wind switching out of the east and he got a downwind low tow. With his second tow he released at 1000' over in good lift. He made it to just shy of 6000' and was up a half hour or so. Here he is showing the safe approach...

I got a second tow downwind and couldn't make it stick. Landed at teh other end of the road and got another tow into teh wind. I thought I was in a boomer and released. I was low and it was not a boomer. I drifted in 50 up untill I figured I could make it bach to launch. I was short by 100' but a much better landing. All in all a great day.

One thermal wonder

2008-05-31T21:57:00.004-06:00

Check out this sky!!

Jason and I went towing today. My plan was to tow him till he was sick of of towing/flying and then I would go cross country. His first tow he pinned off early into a thermal but couldn't hold onto it and groveled around in broken lift till he landed. I set him up and towed again. This tow the line broke. There are a few weak spots in the line do to the loose wrapping we did on the first tows and they are showing up now and again. I fixed the line and loaded him up and towed again. He released and found nothing but sink right to the ground. After loading him up a fourth time I noticed as we staged that he was missing his tip batten. After looking where he landed and along the road we called his day done.

I set up my wing and Jason tore down. Got my wing on the winch, and soon I was flying. I went through a couple small thermals to low to release into and then into some good sink. I was still going up but very slow. Then at 1500 I started to find some real rough air that knocked me around on tow. Then my vario started to sing wildly. Quick glance at my gps and I was going up at 1500 fpm. Time to release. Circled into a great thermal that took me to just over 9000'. I have dumb luck finding great thermals right off tow. But I have yet to find a second thermal. With Jason below on retrieve I went east. The sky looked awesome. I've never flown in such easy looking conditions. I was going to break my record xc easy. On glide I was hitting 800 feet down at times. I knew there would be a thermal in that somewhere...But I never found it. Landed 20 kilometers from where I released. I was a little disappointed but happy to have flown. Posted the flight HERE

Made the paper

2008-05-23T18:25:00.003-06:00

Here's an article the local newspaper did on James and I. Click to read it. They got some facts wrong, I made it 30K, not 30K from goal. I think James made it 30K from goal though. Too bad about his GPS. Mabey they just mixed up the people. Oh well, it wasn't focusing on the accident. They said they wanted to do a shoot next time we go out flying. A little positive exposure would do some good.

Miles in May

2008-05-21T19:47:00.003-06:00

Another Miles in May competition has come and gone. And I didn't take one picture. The weather was less than perfect the entire week, and finally with the long range looking bad and pouring rain today with a driving north wind we called it done. I was the weather guy and had to drive around town looking for open access to the net from unsuspecting homeowners. The Vulcan country club (used to have free access for us) is growing not to fond of our business I guess.

Practice Day
Rounded up my winch mates and got everyones stuff sorted out and got to test out the winch. Soon as I got to the tow road I noticed a liquid dripping under my winch. A rock had been kicked up by the trailer and poked a hole on the brake line. Off to town I went to get parts to fix it. the driver towed the rope in and never shut it off soon enough and broke the swivel from the push rod to the pressure needle. After a few head scratches and parts scrambling we fixed that too. I got a tow late in the day when the wind had switched to a light downwind and on our short road I got a tow to only 800'. I found nothing and didn't quite make it back to the launch. not a very good day but we got everyone ready for the comp.

Day one
Task: Vulcan to Vauxall, 100K or so. Driver showed up and I spent the day teaching him to tow. I knew I wasn't going to get off too early. While loading a pilot on the winch I heard screams and yells and looked up to see everyone running my way. Then I heard an awful sound of a glider hitting the ground. I knew what happened and I turned to see a glider folded up on the field. He had locked out on tow. I quickly unloaded the glider and drove up to deliver a first aid kit and help. The pilot was in very bad shape. Very quickly the fire trucks arrived and I retreated. Soon after that the ambulance came to take him away. I found out later that his injuries were extensive but nothing life threatening. He suffered two broken tibia, three fractured vertebra 10 broken ribs with a punctured lung, and a broken shoulder. A few of the guys bagged their wings soon after due to the bad ju ju and nerves.

I launched soon after and got a tow to 2000' I tracked back along the road for only a few hundred hards when I found a light thermal. It soon turned on to 600 fpm and I was soon at cloud base. I went on glide towards the goal and found very little to turn in all the way to the ground. I called my driver and packed up my wing. When I looked up I saw another glider on the ground a kilometer away. After a long hike I found it was Ralph. I felt goon knowing he only made it 1k more than me. Ross made goal. Most others were spread out along the course line.

Day two
Task: Vulcan to Bassano. The weather was crappy but there was forecast to be lift and south wind. I got the first tow but found no lift to speak of. Got a few wing overs and landed. After launching everyone else the cloud cover became overcast and I packed it in. Ross made it just short of goal.

Day three
Task: Vulcan to Bassano, again. Again the day was only forcast to open up for a small window of opportunity. Just when it was my turn to go, my driver radioed there was a problem. The line was missing. After an hour of searching we found it. An hour later it was back on the winch and raining. packed up and left.

Rain and gale force wind was the greeting for the morning of day four. The meet was over. the next four days looked the same. Turned out I got fourth place in the king posted class and seventh place overall. Pretty good for a not very good flight on one day. but lots of other didn't even get that. I was soooo looking forward to this comp but mother nature wasn't going to cooperate. Better luck next year.

Windy

2008-05-10T20:31:00.003-06:00

Went out hang waiting today. We sat around watching the wind pick up all afternoon. I wasn't too worried about launch because there were lulls in the wind that were safe to launch in. It was the landing I was concerned with. It would lull down to 15 km for a minute then gust as high as 40 at times. After pondering it for a couple hours I made the realization that if I was at the ridge I would not hesitate to fly. And we land in top side rotor there. I set up and James followed. Jason played it safe and left his bagged. Launch and tow up was a non issue. Actually relatively smooth. At the end of the road I pinned off at 5000' and was soon turning in lift. It was a hurricane at altitude and 10 turns later I was at 6000 and right over launch. I was making it into the headwind but at 5km/h. I looked downwind and figured I could make the river easy from the height I had. But I chickened out and stayed put. Retrieve from that side of the river is a 45 minute drive and I didn't want to put anyone out. I watched James launch and tow past me. The drift was amazing and at 1000' over the ground I committed to landing. I took on a ton of speed and still was just barely moving in ground speed. A little rough from 50 feet to ground effect. Got the bar on the ground and waited out the gust till I could move. Like I figured it wasn't teh issue that I made it out to be in my head. I wasn't fond of the broken lift and major drift and gave up on towing again. It just wasn't that fun. James did the same. We packed up and went home. Lesson learned.

Airtime at last

2008-05-03T20:29:00.002-06:00

Jason ready to go

With most of the bugs worked out of the winch it was now time to get some practice flying. Jason and I headed out to the local tow road expecting a great day of flying. I checked various weather reports and for the most part the wind was to be westerly but light. We set up on the east end of the road expecting some westerly wind but it never showed. It was light east until later when it turned north. The good thing about payout winching is the light wind makes no difference. I towed Jason up in a light down wind. He didn't do to well the day was still early. Not thinking he went and landed at the same end of the road where I towed him up again, downwind. Again he landed but this time on the west end of the road where I relit him again. A little over half way through the tow the line broke. I found my new pulley had overheated do to my slopy machine work causing it to rub. I had another pulley that was much truer that we put on for my turn.

Me getting ready, Notice the color coordination.

My first tow was down wind and so I did not get very high. The tow felt great, I'm still impressed. I passed through a good thermal but I was low and decided to hold out for better. There was nothing but 700 fpm down at the other end of the road and I was soon on the ground. I got back on at the other end of the road and went for tow number two. About half way up I went from 700 fpm to 1400 and decided to pin off. It wasn't a great thermal but I was going up. I climbed a slow climb till the clouds shut out my sun and soon after, my elevator. I headed for a sunny spot and was rewarded with a rodeo ride up. At 5000' it smoothed out to an even 300 up and I held onto it till 6600' I was 1000' below the clouds but getting a ways from home and I didn't want to head cross country. I boated around looking for more but the 700 fpm down finally got the better of me and I landed after an hour of airtime.

This is a neat picture Jason took while I was high, click for a bigger one

On final approach and fast

2008-04-25T20:45:00.002-06:00

Here is my solution to the bronze bushing issue. I like the pulley so much that I wanted to use the same pulley, that and the winch was already made to fit it. The pulley is found in most stores. I picked this one up at Peavy mart but I've seen them in Princess Auto and the first one I got from the local welding shop. I did a little internet research and found a bearing used for roller blades and skate boards that's a fad of some sort. They are very small and tough. 608 is the number, 16 mm OD 8mm ID and 5mm wide. Tough to find unless you go to a sport/skate shop. I found them at Sport Check for $3 a piece. I bored out the center to 5/8" (close enough to 16 mm) and pressed in 3 bearings with a vice. This should make this little problem go away and make room for the next one. We had a blizzard last week so towing will have to wait for better weather. In a week it's looking better.

Yard maintenance

2008-04-18T17:33:00.004-06:00

When I moved into this house 2 years ago the massive poplar tree in the back yard made me shudder. I could just imagine the boat load of leaves in the fall. That turned out to be not much of an issue as the wind here on the prairies blows the leaves in the neighbors yards. But in the spring the little brown sticky bud covers all fall off and litter the ground in a tar mat that ends up in the house. It had to go, and this year it was going. After my eyes settled back in my head from the quotes to remove it I selected a contractor and had it removed. I'm no stranger to tree removal but one of the three trunks leaned over the house which would have involved a crane. Counting up the hours of crane work and loads to the dump and time it was actually cheaper to hire someone.
The contractor was mad he under bid this job. It took 4 hours to get the tree down and just about 8 hours to grind the stump. It was a massive stump with roots all over the yard. My yard just grew exponentially.

Ok not that great

2008-04-17T21:16:00.005-06:00

I under engineered something. Not the first time and definitely not the last. I heard on some list or something that bronze bushings wear out in the dusty hight stress payout winch environment. But a cheap pulley that lent itself to my application was sitting on the local welding shops' shelf. So I figured I'd get two for when the bushing failed, I could then just replace it when it got loose. Don't be sucked into this mentality. They "wear out" with a catastrophic failure! Wednesday, Jason and I went out after work for some flying. I was doing a whip tow which involves paying out the line as fast as you can comfortably drive and when you run out of line you slow the truck and up the pressure till the line quits paying out and switch to a static tow. Unbeknown to me, the bushing had disintegrated and was wearing on the bolt holding it. The pulley heated to very hot state and upon stopping the drum, melted the line, causing 5000' of spectra to be dragged across hells half acre. End of the towing that day. These little things are the things that drive me nuts but as soon as they are all taken care of, it should be bullet proof.

works great

2008-04-12T20:12:00.004-06:00

I found a sale on beach umbrellas at a local furniture store and picked one up for 10 bucks. I spent two evenings at the sewing machine and made it into a drogue chute. Today Jason and I tied it onto the line and rolled out 500' and tested it out. It wound the spool uber tight. We then pulled just about all the line off and wound it tight. Jason was first up and had a premature release right off the truck. We figured the chute bridle wound up on the link knife and cut him off early. Extended the chute bridle and tried again. This time the tow went awesome. The line tension gage was dead steady and easy to change. No guessing the tow tension. I hit the end of the road and he pinned off into a thermal and got his first good payout tow and fist good thermaling flight all at once. He stayed up for a half hour and came down to tow me up. We loaded up my wing and up I went. This has to be one of the smoothest tow rigs I've ever been on. About half way into my tow I got into a great thermal and intended to tow through it but as I corrected from a right wing up I felt the tug on my left wrist and like that I was auto released. I stayed in that thermal and topped it out and returned to the ground for another go. I added a little length to my release pull string and went again. This tow was too slow a driver and I was straight over the truck for the duration and not climbing too much. After wondering if I would make it back to launch I released and headed for it. Caught a small ratty thermal on the way to get enough hight to make it there and landed.

I am very impressed with the quality of tow this winch provides. There is no guessing what's going on on the line and rewind is quick. This will lead to quick turn around and easy to operate.

I snapped a few pictures.

The rig all ready to go

Jason landing

Testing one two....

2008-04-06T20:22:00.003-06:00

Rounded up the guys and went and tested out the winch Friday. A few problems sprang up right away. Teflon makes a crappy line guide. It ate into the side of it and when it hit metal it started to chew up the side clamping the line in the guide. That led to over pressure and the pressure gage needle spun right around so I couldn't see it anymore. James didn't feel any of the problems and got the first tow to 2000' . I ran out of road but not line. Jason was set to arrive when he got off work so I called him and asked him to make up a new line guide when he came out. We waited for him to arrive, the wind shifted 180 degrees so we packed up and moved to the other end of the road. We set up his wing and put the new line guide on and tossed him on the winch. When James towed up it was slightly down wind which caused the line to be wrapped somewhat loose. When Jason hit 400' I heard a tell tale snap. I assumed it was a week link but I didn't see the pressure climb so I was somewhat puzzled. when I went to rewind the line there was none. The line had broken. My best guess is it got bound under a loop of loose line and rubbed itself through. I had to now try and find the broken end that was buried in the spool. It actually wasn't that hard to find. Today I found the end and spliced the line and got it all wrapped back on. I picked up a roller fair lead and mounted that instead of the teflon one. The other problem I need to address is I need more drag on rewind to get the line to wrap tighter. I'm thinking another round drogue chute attached to the parafoil should do it.

truck view

2008-03-30T18:29:00.002-06:00

Here's the view you would see from the truck. Should easily see the gage, spinning reel, and how much line is left. The gage will get a painting after testing.

Finished!

2008-03-30T17:37:00.006-06:00

Spent the day redoing the line tension system. I put it all together and hooked the trailer up to the truck to drag it home and found out that the gage I had made was too high to see out the rear view mirror. Slight over sight. Here are some pictures finally.
Here's the brake disc mounted to a sprocket and painted

This is the heart of the line tension system. It pivots on the right. A rod extends up to the gage on the back side of the pulley. The springs try and hold it down. The cable is there for a positive stop if a spring breaks.
The disc and caliper mounted on the winch.

Here's the motor, belted from a centrifugal clutch to a 10" pulley on a jack shaft. then from a 4" pulley up to a 16" on the reel.

Here's a shot from the back showing the teflon fair lead.

Painted

2008-03-29T09:18:00.002-06:00

Tore the winch all down yesterday, and painted it. When the paint was (mostly) dry I put it all back together, and put the line on. Had a friend hold the spool of spectra while I ran the motor. I got cocky and wound the motor up, which spun the spool very fast. When I let off on the motor the spool didn't slow down, over spun itself and turned into a rats nest. Word of caution here, don't do this! It takes hours of unneeded untangling, causing you to drink excessive amounts of beer and have a serious case of drag ass in the morning. When I get around to it I'll mount it on the trailer and take lots of pictures and post them here. That, calibrating the line tension, and hooking up the brake is all I have left to do before testing it out. It looks awesome.

Line Tension

2008-03-23T06:54:00.003-06:00

Well I forgot the camera, but I did get the springs and line tension linkage done. It's going to be a foot round mechanically driven gage that you should be able to easily see from the rear view of the truck. It runs off the first pulley and has some push rods and linkages all running a giant line tension gage. The idea is to always know what the pilot is feeling at the end of the line.

I didn't get to the motor mounting yet but that is on the agenda for today. I'm running a small gas motor(2.5 hp) with a centrifugal clutch, belt driven to a 10' pulley on a jack shaft. On the shaft is a 4" pulley belt driven to the reel with a 16" pulley. This should keep the reel from spinning too fast and still have the motor wound up to fully engage the clutch, to combat over heating the clutch.

more work on the winch

2008-03-21T18:56:00.004-06:00

spent allot of time on the winch today. started the day off with adding all the supports to the stand. After that I did the mock up to start on the brake caliper. It has to be dead on. I built the caliper support out of 1/2 inch plate and threaded the holes to hold the caliper. The plate is welded to the support arm. I'm very impressed with myself how straight and true everything is. The "wobble" in the reel when spinning is under 2 mm and in the brake it's under 1 mm. I have the pulleys just about mounted where they need to go and put on the line guide. I'm using a piece of teflon for the line guide but I'm guessing it won't last long. I'll likely go to rollers soon. The reel has been radiused to get rid of the sharp edges. I'm going to work on it tomorrow and will try and remember a camera. I had planned to take step by step pictures but it never worked out that way. My project for tomorrow is to get the motor and jack shaft mounted and belts on it.

I received my spectra yesterday. I was very impressed by the light weight of it. It was packaged very well and I tried out the fids already too. I would gladly send any one to Towmeup. they are first class.

hubs

2008-03-18T19:20:00.005-06:00

I welded the hubs that attach the hubs to the drum today, and got one bolted to the drum. I have to pick up a keyed shaft to bolt the other side on so I can line up the key ways straight. The "hubs" are a weld together chain gear and weld in hub that I drilled 4 holes in. The price is right compared to getting one spun on a lathe. I also picked up the brake rotor. On my original winch I went with the same rotor and caliper that I had on my truck (91 chev) just for the heck of it. I've heard of people having heating problems so I figured bigger wouldn't hurt. Because that winch was a wide drum with small diameter it took very little pressure to work. Now with going to a larger diameter the bigger brake will need more pressure to brake the same. I still will have more than enough brake. It worked well on the old winch so I'll give it a go on this one. Everything is going better than expected. I don't have much time to work on it but I squeeze a few minutes every day.

Drilled aluminum

2008-03-15T21:26:00.003-06:00

Did a little more work on the winch today. Drilled out the 24 holes in the drum sides. Welded the stand tube to the base and started to guess work on the line sensing pulley. I found a spring that expands to 8" from 4" at 50 lbs. I'll mount it to the arm the pulley is on so at 200 lbs line tension the spring will be extended just about fully. There's a little guess work involved because I have an idea of what I want in the end, and a bunch of steel and a welder laying on the floor waiting to be assembled. The stand tube is 2.5" heavy wall square tubbing and 5'6" tall. At the top will be the nose release. I would like to use a fixed release point and make all gliders that want to use my winch set a nose rope length suitable to their preferred angle of attack, But it makes set up a time consuming process. I'll likely just use the standard three string with a rope pull, it's easy.

winch

2008-03-15T08:19:00.007-06:00

Living on the prairie, hangglider's need to tow to get into the air. There are many different forms of towing but I prefer the payout winch. I built a quick one for last year but it was tough to run and didn't work too well. I'm in the process of building another. I will post pictures here and blog my progress. It will be a skinny drum, friction brake, gas motor rewind, and mounted on a trailer. I have ordered the line from towmeup, the line chute from here, and the rest of the parts I'll make out of whatever I can find/buy locally or on ebay. I'm hoping to have it done in a month for it's first testing. The weather here is getting good to fly and to get regular airtime without driving 1000 km round trip this is the only way. Commercially bought, a good winch will run >$3000 to $7000. I plan to spend $2000 or less. The majority of the cost is the line.

I have already had the 1/4" aluminum drum sides cut for me on a cnc plasma cutter. They are 30" round. The inner diameter will be at 16" and the spacing between the sides will be at 1 3/4". I chose this spacing because 3/8 reddi rod couplings (really long 3/8 nuts) are this long. There will be 24 of them spaced evenly at the 16" diameter. These dimensions should hold plenty more line than I need.

Here's the trailer I'll mount it on, half disassembled. It was my old 4 wheeler trailer

The 1/4" aluminum drum sides ready for drilling

I'm lazy

2008-03-12T10:32:00.000-06:00

I've decided to make my life easier and start a "normal" blog so I can post easier on the fly. You can find my old blog here. It has a complete history of my flying up till now. I'm no computer whiz so I was dreading posting to my old site as I couldn't remember how to do some things. This will make life easier, and I'll post more often.