Warning this post has over 50 pics from my day yesterday which turned out to be outstanding. I was up at 4:30 am for the 4th day in a row. I got on the road a little after 5am to head to Saltese in the valley to hopefully get in a flight before the winds got too strong. The clouds were showing the winds already but I made a beeline for the hill.
I got to the parking lot and quickly was hiking. The winds were rather strong already and they seemed to only get stronger as I hiked. I had no interest in going to the summit to try and launch as it was a bit wild just standing there at one of the lower launches.
I have launched from this spot before but not in winds that were as strong. I measured a sustained 12+mph with gusts up over 20mph.
I got my wing out and waited for any kind of lull. I thought it had lulled and popped my wing out only to get drug up the hill quickly. I had to kill the wing and drag it back to me so it didn't get caught in the wind and take me over the backside out of control.
I had been trying for nearly 45 minutes to find a spot to launch in the winds and finally gave up and hiked down the hill to the base to do kiting.
This turned out to be a VERY wise decision on my part. It was exactly what I needed. I sat at the base of hill and used the nice strong winds to kite my wing which worked FAR FAR better than prior times. The high winds helped to keep the wing inflated fully and allowed me to properly kite my wing. I did this for another 45 minutes or so until I noticed that I was having to wait for winds to kite more and noticed some clouds had moved in front of the sun. That meant lulls. So I quickly packed up and began to hike back up the trail.
You can see the green dotted lines which are trails and I ended up hiking less than 1/3 of the way up the hill to launch. I knew that I was going to get lift so my hope was that it would pick me up and not backwards so if I started low on the hill I would have a bit more room to work with.
All the kiting below was exactly what I needed to be able to launch. I felt the winds slack a bit and I got my wing out. I kited it a bit and had it ball up in a pile so I flaked it out again and soon had a nice wall built.
Soon the wing was over head and I was turning to launch.
The wing swung over to my left and the tip brushed the hillside but I pulled the wing back up overhead and began my run. As I did it I had the images of the XAlps pilots launching and managing their wing the same way.
5 steps forward and I was in the air and going up fast. My vario was singing as I was lifted up the front of the hillside and within a minute I was higher than the top of the hill. It was a little concerning as I was getting pushed back up the hill and I was a little concerned about getting pushed over the back. I finally figured out how to turn to get forward momentum so I could fly forwards.
At this point I was well above the top of the hill for my first time ever getting into ridge lift.
I kept getting bands of lift that would pop me up higher and I started to get a bit uncertain about getting down. I was flying my new harness that does NOT have a speed bar which makes it so I can increase the speed of my glider to penetrate winds like I was in. I had options run through my head but I have never tried big ears so I went for what I know works, a 360.
I began my turn towards the hill which put me flying with the wind and my speed picked up a lot.
As I made my turn I could hear the vario telling me I was sinking which made me feel a good bit better.
I made a rather sharp turn at the end of the 360 which I think I know how and why. I am on the very light side of my wing's weight range which means that I can turn it faster than if it was loaded higher. Now this may be a good thing or not, I am not sure yet as I need to as knowledgeable people about it.
After my 360 I ended up over the flatter ridge which then got me into sink and I began my decent to land.
The wind was so strong that as I came down to land I was able to float gently down and lightly place my feet on the ground.
The wind was still blowing so strong my wing stayed inflated over my head so I kept kiting a little farther through the field before it came down. It was the best flight of my life so far, over 11 minute in the air in the strongest winds I have ever flown and actually getting a few minutes of comfort in the lift. If I would have had my big harness I think it would have felt even better. Soon I was packed up and headed for home.
Back on the farm it took me a bit to get to work as I had a lot to process from my flight. When I did head out I started with the cucumbers and got 17 of them.
The winds were whipping all day long and the trees kept raining debris down all day long.
UPS delivered my new phone case that I am using for flight. It has a hard piece of the case that comes off and the rubber beneath is softer. My vario has velcro on the back and I wanted the same on the phone case.
I cut strips of velcro and then used a curved needle and thick carpet thread to sew the velcro to the back.
It was a bit tough on the fingers so I did the first one then went out to the garden.
The cabbage are doing amazing and I got 15 heads picked which weighed 19.5 pounds.
The squash put off 12.5 pounds and the green are doing quite well so far.
a bit later I gt the other piece of velcro sewn to the case and this is how they will look as I am flying. I wanted the case for flying so I could have it always on the flight deck and not have to pull it off and on. The only other instrument I will need down the road is a Garmin Inreach.
The cucumbers needed more branches trimmed as they keep growing out so fast. I was then outside the house when I saw the big gust of wind come through then J ran out and said the power was off.
I got an exactly handful of raspberries but with no power I didn't want to be opening the fridge a lot so I just ate them.
Later afternoon I decided to get my wing out and look for the hole that I saw while kiting. The wing was in the air backlit by the sun and I saw a bright spot on the wing which meant a hole. Thankfully it is not too big and not in a horrible spot.
I grabbed the repair tape that came with my wing and cut a small square of it and applied it over the hole. I repacked my wing and put it away.
It was nearing 6pm and I had to go haul a turkey carcass out of the coop and take it to the bone yard. Sunday evening a car parked in our dead end and was there overnight. It was still there in the morning and then through the day. That meant only one thing, a drug addict. @stryeyz was driving in the driveway as I carried the carcass out and on my way back I walked up to the car and instantly knew what I was looking at. The blood shot eyes and slow movement along with his rig on the seat next to him. I laid into him yelling at him to get the fuck out of here and get moving. His little bullshit responses were exactly that of a person on heroin. He was slowly beginning to drive away and then would stop. I ended up smacking his car with my shovel then followed the idiot down the road and made sure he drove away. I was seething after that for a bit as it was NOT the type of adrenaline I enjoy, that was the flying in the morning that I liked.
@stryeyz brought home dinner as the power was off and it came back on right before she got home. Thankfully as I was in desperate need of a shower and wanted to soak my sore body.
Today I actually got to sleep in a bit, more so my body didn't pop me up at 5am like normal. It is the cooler day before the heat wave rolls in starting tomorrow. I have a dentist appointment today, have harvests to get to, weeds to pull and cut, I need to get bird feed on the way home, and I need to get prepped for a dump run soon.
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