I miss timed my arrival at the hill yesterday morning. I was there a bit before 9am and had to hike up to the top as no one else was there.
The road up is steep but at least it is a road. I hiked my way up and was standing at the top launch by 9:30.
The winds were just right when I got my wing out and got things ready.
Then I screwed up. I brought my wing up but the wind lifted me and took me back across the launch and I was hauling in the brake line trying to kill the lift to the wing.
I got carried across the launch and towards the rocks while trying to quickly rein in the wing.
Needless to say I had an impact but not too bad, and at least I was on the ground again.
And then my wing ended up in the tree.
I got healthy scrapes on my right leg which began to bleed a bit. I quickly pulled my harness off then monkeyed up the tree to the top where I was able to remove my wing without harming it or the lines. I gathered the wing and my stuff and laid the wing out to check for damage, noting the new blood smears on it. By this time the winds had built to WAY to strong showing that I had missed the window by about 20 minutes. I folded my wing and began to hike down the hill.
I was tromping along a deer path and I came into the lower launch site which I had not been to yet. The site is much lower than the top and has a way different wind exposure. I was getting some winds that looked okay so I pulled my wing out and setup to try to launch.
Try is the real outcome as I attempted to front launch at least 8 times only to have the wing pull off to the side and whomp into the ground.
I eventually had enough as the wind was just not right so I bunched up my wing and hiked down the hill to the truck. On my way I got the wing up off the training hill at the bottom of the ridge and got a little air for a few feet.
So I had to fold my wing and I sat and thought about what I should do. I ended up deciding on going to the high school and doing some ground handling. It was after noon when I got to the field and the wind was blowing pretty hard. I was a bit nervous but not terribly.
I then proceeded to get drug around the field, sometimes on my feet and sometimes on my face. It was getting pretty disheartening and my body was getting seriously sore from all the work in the high winds.
The flag was straight out so it was rather windy. I had such a hard time with the kiting that one time I got drug face first someone stopped that was driving by to make sure I was ok. Next time I will go to the fields away from the road.
It was an hour of mostly frustration with about 15 minutes of actual proper kiting. I had enough and with the winds rocking I just balled up my wing and stuffed it in my truck to fold when I got home. I was really beat, both sore and tired.
Once my wing was folded and my truck emptied out I had time to ruminate on my day and I am going to have to go back to Saltese a lot more for flights as the topography is much more conducive to my learning levels right now. This is supposed to be a fun endeavor and yesterday was not.
Mid afternoon I checked the doppler and saw storms popping off all around the region with a number going right over Inklers where I was in the morning. We got a smattering of rain but that was all.
It had been enough rain though to put out the fire J had got going so I went out and helped it along as we needed it for me to grill our steaks.
2 big T-bone steaks from our recent quarter. Such big cuts of meat will be great to try and extend how long we have it since one can feed all of us.
Soaking was nice on my muscles but hell on my skin. The scratches did not like the chems in the water so I got a shortened soaking time.
Today I have to decide when I will be heading to California to help my dad put a new roof on the garage and deal with the masses of trees that have shed limbs all around the property.
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