[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACcEVF4Fhd8[/youtube]
Sunday June 13, 2010 - Launched before noon from Mt Laguna (East of San Diego) and landed at the foot of Mt San Jacinto in Mountain Center, CA after 52 miles and 4 hrs, 41 min of upwind flying. Maximum altitude was 13,000' and the temperature slightly below freezing at the top .
A novice XC pilot, Andy flew his Sport 2 155 the same distance but along a different route landing 25 miles East out in the desert. Andy gets the sky king of the day award for that. He also sank out several times near launch and scratched his way back up then finally clawed his way out. Andy is the other hang glider in the video near the beginning.
My friend Mike who invited me to join their group was all set up on launch next to me and reached into his bag for his helmet which was nowhere to be found. Mike had his longest PG flight the day before (an hour) and left his helmet in his PG bag. You can only imagine the "serves you right you traitor" grief he got from the rest of us. Mike, wisely broke down and drove chase.
I had misplaced my transceiver harness and finger switch so I had to reply on my VX-150 tied to my base tube which made it very difficult to communicate w/ Mike and our driver, Dan. Had I been in easy contact I could have taken a route that actually followed the lift lines since Mike could have advised me along the way.
Instead, I punted and took a route that gave me multiple escape options while I followed the lift lines across tiger country toward my goal of tagging Mt San Jacinto then landing at Andy Jackson. This approach required a very serpentine route and waiting for the cloud lines to form in the general direction I wanted to go.
I wasn't in a race or out to set any records but it was still a very challenging upwind flight with scenery that was spectacular both above, below and all around me. I did the edit and music track to reflect the expereince of flying cross country as I personally experienced it.
On Saturday, I flew 51 miles from Pine Mountain in Ojai and that flight only took 2 hrs, 8 min. I left the camera's at home to avoid the distraction. I landed in a field where the surface wind was gusting to mph. I had both hands on my base tube all the way to the deck and continued to fly the glider while standing on the ground. Once the wind subsided a little I moved one hand to the down tube and set the glider down and pulled on full VG to keep the nose from pitching up.
One I got the tail into wind I called Dizzy (Alex) on radio and warned him about the extreme surface winds. Alex was flying his PG and was still pretty high. I advised him to head as far North as possible so he wouldn't get dragged and injured of damaged his glider. The high winds were only below 300' AGL and were from cool marine air blowing over the back of the mountains. Alex was prepared and landed safely but had to wad his glider into a ball.
That evening we stopped at a park in Ventura where he spread it out and inflated it and determined that everything was o.k. OTOH - our friend Tony floated his Atos VR down rather than burning it in to the deck as I did. He fell through a gradient then a wind got picked up and he turtled it. Some passers by came to help get him disconnected and off his base tube.
While driving home I learned that 2 of my other XC comrades had flown their Atos gliders very long distances East from Ord Mtn but their flights were long and exhausting. So I was left with only one option to exploit Sunday's even better forecast than Saturday's. That's when I remembered to call Mike and begged for a spot on somebody's vehicle.
If you enjoyed this video, please pass it around to your friends, family, facebook contacts, etc., etc.
Cheers, Jonathan
Mt. Laguna to Mountain Center - Video
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addicted2climbing
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gregangsten
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gregangsten
- Posts: 502
- Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2005 11:22 am
- Location: Westchester
I topped out at 13K. In other words it was a low flight across tiger country. I had to top out before I could cross each set of badlands.gregangsten wrote:Very nice! How high were you getting?
Tracks and interactive map here: http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/340809