As far as I know, we will meet up on the 4th and I don't think anyone is planning on going sooner. Nurit and I are planning to leave Wednesday evening and stay a night in Primm just across the NV line where you can get rooms pretty cheap. If any others plan to do the same we can meet up there.
From there it's only about 3 hours to Kanarraville where our campground is. I plan to check in there and drop off my trailer. We can meet there if you get there early enough and then go back to Hurricane and check out LZs and do a flight in the afternoon. If you get there later in the afternoon, call my cell, the number is on the website, or contact me sooner.
Fireworks in the evening in Hurricane then back to Kanarraville.
We are planning to leave Sunday afternoon or evening and stay in Vegas for a night, driving back Monday. If anyone wants to do this schedule, we have room in the Tahoe for you and your glider. If you want to share rides or need one, call me and I will try to hook you up.
Hurricane revival
Moderator: Event Co-Ordinator
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gregangsten
- Posts: 502
- Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2005 11:22 am
- Location: Westchester
Meeting
For people coming to Hurricane or still thinking about it, let's meet at the LZ after flying on Saturday, say around 5:30. We can discuss options, meeting times and places, etc.
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Ken Andrews
- Site Admin
- Posts: 215
- Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2005 8:22 pm
- Location: Pasadena
Hurricane trip report
Promptly on Thursday morning, July 4, Lin O'Driscoll and I met in the LZ, collected gliders and gear, and pointed our way towards Hurricane. Many hours and many miles later, we rolled to a stop at the small airport in Hurricane to scout LZs. Not ten minutes later, Steve and Pat Murillo arrived with their three little dogs. Together, we found that the north end of the airport is such a good LZ that several gliders could land side by side. Encroachment has made our traditional field next to the gravel quarry too small to be useful, but there's a good field just north of it. Back in town, we joined Greg and Nurit Angsten, who had picked up Will Ramsey and Orian Price from the airport where they had landed in Will's plane. Sony Stevan had driven out as well, rounding out our group of six pilots, two spouses, and three dogs. We all drove to launch with the expectation of a classic evening ridge-soaring flight, but found that scattered rainstorms in various directions had conspired to create a steady wind over the back. After admiring the view and cursing the wind, we drove back down the hill and watched a rather good fireworks display for a small town.
Weather forecasts suggested a drying trend, so we decided to spend Friday in Zion National Park, and aim for big cross-country miles on Saturday when the chance of thunderstorms had lessened. The Zion Narrows were very busy, but the crowds gradually thinned as we splashed a few miles upstream. Along the way, we came to a fork in the canyon, and followed the smaller branch until it came to a waterfall. Will and Orian managed to scramble up the waterfall, but this was the right time and place for us to turn around and head back. Looking at maps in retrospect, it turns out we had taken Orderville Canyon and turned back at Veiled Falls, beyond which one should have back-country permits. While we hadn't done much planning, we evidently did things about right.
After leaving the park, we found a late lunch and returned to the Hurricane ridge for our evening flight. This time, the wind had picked some crazy new direction, with rain right in front of launch and big black clouds back over Zion. A truckload of Colorado pilots showed up along with the first raindrops, and they were followed, amazingly, by Phill Bloom. We watched the occasional lightning strike and wondered if the rain would turn to hail. It didn't. As the rain ceased, the wind settled down in a creative new and incorrect direction, so we all drove back down the now-muddy road and returned to our campground in Kanarraville.
To be continued...
Weather forecasts suggested a drying trend, so we decided to spend Friday in Zion National Park, and aim for big cross-country miles on Saturday when the chance of thunderstorms had lessened. The Zion Narrows were very busy, but the crowds gradually thinned as we splashed a few miles upstream. Along the way, we came to a fork in the canyon, and followed the smaller branch until it came to a waterfall. Will and Orian managed to scramble up the waterfall, but this was the right time and place for us to turn around and head back. Looking at maps in retrospect, it turns out we had taken Orderville Canyon and turned back at Veiled Falls, beyond which one should have back-country permits. While we hadn't done much planning, we evidently did things about right.
After leaving the park, we found a late lunch and returned to the Hurricane ridge for our evening flight. This time, the wind had picked some crazy new direction, with rain right in front of launch and big black clouds back over Zion. A truckload of Colorado pilots showed up along with the first raindrops, and they were followed, amazingly, by Phill Bloom. We watched the occasional lightning strike and wondered if the rain would turn to hail. It didn't. As the rain ceased, the wind settled down in a creative new and incorrect direction, so we all drove back down the now-muddy road and returned to our campground in Kanarraville.
To be continued...
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Ken Andrews
- Site Admin
- Posts: 215
- Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2005 8:22 pm
- Location: Pasadena
Hurricane trip report
On Saturday, Will and I campaigned to fly from Cedar Mountain, so the Sylmar crowd scouted LZs and collected on launch. The wind wasn't right, but we were optimists and set up our gliders. In time, a bunch of pilots from Las Vegas joined us. Their club president, Ron Peck, looked at the crosswind and darkening clouds, and gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up while he unpacked his paraglider. He's a long-time pilot who knows the site well, and he holds H4/P4 ratings plus just about every additional certification in the book, so we couldn't argue. We all watched one storm cell develop, pass in front of launch, and head north. As the next one in line formed and moved in from the south, Ron announced that this was our window. He promptly laid out his wing and launched expertly in very tough conditions. Greg and I tentatively began to suit up, but we missed the launch window as we watched Ron fly through really big sink and equally big lift. Ron radioed back to us that conditions would be perfect in a half hour, but we were more concerned about rain and gust fronts. Orian calmly broke down, Phill pancaked his glider, I hesitated and then frantically broke down, and Greg stood by his glider with complete peace of mind. The gust front was minimal, but Greg finally started pulling battens and Phill followed. We drove down the mountain, and by the time we got back to town, the clouds had dissipated and conditions looked perfect!
Nurit and Pat returned to camp since they'd driven enough rugged dirt roads for the day, while the rest of us returned once more to Hurricane for another try at our evening ridge-soaring flight. At long last, the conditions were right, and the Colorado pilots showed up soon after we did. Our group had failed to consolidate vehicles, so we ended up on launch with three trucks, seven pilots, and no drivers. Steve had been suffering all weekend with a bad knee, from Karate I think, so he decided it was best to drive. Greg decided he'd rather drive than cope with complex logistics, and I planned to top-land or hike back up. Will attempted to launch first in his paraglider, but got dragged and scraped up a bit. When he became a driver, that freed me from my foolish plans. Orian, Sony, Lin, Phill, and I launched in prompt succession, interspersed by the Colorado pilots. With one mind, we all flew down the ridge a bunch of miles to the red rocks near the Arizona border and back to launch. The lift suddenly quit at that point, so we landed two- and three-abreast at the airport. The wind went to zero, came up the reverse direction, and blew so hard for a while that we couldn't break down our gliders without help. None of us saw that coming, so all I can figure is that this was a reminder to remain humble even if the weather gods do allow us to fly now and then.
Sunday morning started gray and thundery from the beginning, so for those of us headed home, it wasn't so tough to leave. Sony was out first, and while I was in no hurry to go, Lin and I weren't so far behind. Driving was easy to Las Vegas, and then turned pretty horrible for the next few hours to the California State line. In the middle of that stretch, the clutch linkage in my 4Runner quit and Lin pulled over to the shoulder. I took over, started the engine in gear, and with Lin's patient coaching, we drove the next four hundred miles in Las Vegas holiday-weekend traffic without a clutch. We swerved onto the shoulder every time highway traffic dropped below first-gear speed, timed traffic lights, and cut people off when necessary, but we only came to a stop once or twice in the entire distance between Primm and the Sylmar LZ. When we finally did arrive, about ten stressful hours later, Will and Orian were already there, drinking beer and telling stories.
All in all, Hurricane provided the usual good times. There wasn't a lot of flying this year, but Lin, Sony, and Orian did get to fly one new site and see another. Moreover, we got to meet interesting pilots from a couple other clubs, spend a weekend in the spectacular Utah countryside, and escape from Los Angeles for a bit.
Nurit and Pat returned to camp since they'd driven enough rugged dirt roads for the day, while the rest of us returned once more to Hurricane for another try at our evening ridge-soaring flight. At long last, the conditions were right, and the Colorado pilots showed up soon after we did. Our group had failed to consolidate vehicles, so we ended up on launch with three trucks, seven pilots, and no drivers. Steve had been suffering all weekend with a bad knee, from Karate I think, so he decided it was best to drive. Greg decided he'd rather drive than cope with complex logistics, and I planned to top-land or hike back up. Will attempted to launch first in his paraglider, but got dragged and scraped up a bit. When he became a driver, that freed me from my foolish plans. Orian, Sony, Lin, Phill, and I launched in prompt succession, interspersed by the Colorado pilots. With one mind, we all flew down the ridge a bunch of miles to the red rocks near the Arizona border and back to launch. The lift suddenly quit at that point, so we landed two- and three-abreast at the airport. The wind went to zero, came up the reverse direction, and blew so hard for a while that we couldn't break down our gliders without help. None of us saw that coming, so all I can figure is that this was a reminder to remain humble even if the weather gods do allow us to fly now and then.
Sunday morning started gray and thundery from the beginning, so for those of us headed home, it wasn't so tough to leave. Sony was out first, and while I was in no hurry to go, Lin and I weren't so far behind. Driving was easy to Las Vegas, and then turned pretty horrible for the next few hours to the California State line. In the middle of that stretch, the clutch linkage in my 4Runner quit and Lin pulled over to the shoulder. I took over, started the engine in gear, and with Lin's patient coaching, we drove the next four hundred miles in Las Vegas holiday-weekend traffic without a clutch. We swerved onto the shoulder every time highway traffic dropped below first-gear speed, timed traffic lights, and cut people off when necessary, but we only came to a stop once or twice in the entire distance between Primm and the Sylmar LZ. When we finally did arrive, about ten stressful hours later, Will and Orian were already there, drinking beer and telling stories.
All in all, Hurricane provided the usual good times. There wasn't a lot of flying this year, but Lin, Sony, and Orian did get to fly one new site and see another. Moreover, we got to meet interesting pilots from a couple other clubs, spend a weekend in the spectacular Utah countryside, and escape from Los Angeles for a bit.
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gregangsten
- Posts: 502
- Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2005 11:22 am
- Location: Westchester
Angry gods
Wow. That man is thorough, isn't he?
The final kicker was standing on the airport runway after watching Will and Orian fly off into the North wind. As I turned and walked back to my car with trailer attached to head for home, I watched the wind shift to West, straight in under a blue sky.
The final kicker was standing on the airport runway after watching Will and Orian fly off into the North wind. As I turned and walked back to my car with trailer attached to head for home, I watched the wind shift to West, straight in under a blue sky.
Set up the GoPro on the gilder. Didn't turn it on.
Here is the non flying GoPro video I got:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciL7j4FTOTY[/youtube]
Here is the non flying GoPro video I got:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciL7j4FTOTY[/youtube]