Team Challenge 2016 - Part 1

On the road again

We left Wallaby on Saturday morning to have enough time to get to Tennessee Treetoppers (Henson Gap) before dark. The trip was uneventful with an exception of some traffic due to accidents. We had plenty of daylight time to setup our tent, and enjoy dinner from World Food Tribe truck.

Food Tribe

Meeting old friends was also a treat. Rich Elder, my teammate from 2015 was there, but he switched to paragliding for this event - so no teaming up with him now :-)

Dana Harris was already here. We could form a partial New England team :-)

....

Day 1

Sunday started as a blue day. Not a cloud in sight. That was a huge difference from Saturday. Every pilot that flew on Saturday was raving how epic it was. Well, I got to Tennessee - no epic weather is allowed. Third year in a row, no matter the season, I get the lightest and most challenging conditions. I guess, I have no choice but get good flying in those conditions, right?

The morning started with forming the teams. We already had 2 people on our team, Dana and I. Dana as a B-pilot, and I as a C-pilot. Then we got assigned to an A-pilot - Steve Pearson. How cools is that? Well, Steve wasn't here for the day 1, he was still driving from Wallaby. But if anything, being on the same team with the master was worth the trip :-)

Our fourth teammate was also a B-pilot, Paul Edwards. Dana and Paul were flying U2, Steve would probably pick T2c, and I was the only one on a Sport. Should be fun.

Paul

...

SE wind - Whitwell day. This year there was a pretty good turnout - 7 hang gliding teams were formed. Our team had number 7 on launch for the day 1, and we got an option to launch from the paraglider's site. This looked like a much nicer launch option. The cliff launch at the hang gliding side of things is smaller and more crowded.

...

On their way home, Dave and Jennifer Park drove from Wallaby to Lookout Mountain. It wasn't flyable at Lookout that day, so Dave joined us at Whitwell as a non-competitor, a free flyer.

...

Paraglider pilots launched early. Some of them were climbing out. Then a couple of topless hang gliders launched. They worked hard to find a good climb, but managed to gain a couple of thousand feet above the ridge. Not enough to go for the A task, but better than sitting on the ground. I was trying to convince myself and my team to launch, but everyone was still thinking of yesterday - it was better later in the day.

Eventually, I got too bored and too frustrated. Why not to launch when you have a few markers in the air? It was not guaranteed that I could get into the same thermal, of course, but one gotta try.

Dave assisted me on launch, and off I went

Ready to fly

Take off

I launched and went on a glide toward the spot where most paragliders were able to climb up.

I got where I thought the lift should have been with only 700' AGL to spare. Some bubbles were there, very weak and small. After a few circles, I was sinking out, and I continued toward the LZ.

Soon, the LZ was 500 feet below me. That was it for the day, I thought. At that point, I was in the landing mode - harness unzipped, checking for wind direction on the ground.

Over LZ

Then I felt very faint bumps again. Slow turns, patience. I was over the LZ - it was safe enough to play for a minute or two.

I started coming up very slowly. 30 feet per minute, 50, 100... The thermal was getting more organized, speeding up the assent. 200' - life was good again!

After a few minutes of patiently circling, I was 300' above the launch.

above the launch

Other hang gliders started launching, and some of them were circling above the ridge.

I thought I was topping out my thermal. It wasn't taking me higher, and I was starting losing altitude. I think, with all the excitement of a low save, I simply lost my patience.

I set on a glide toward the ridge. My vario started wailing - big sink! I hesitated, panicked, and tried to retreat back to the thermal I had.  That proved to be a disaster. Even bigger sink! My decision making process malfunctioned. Later, after analyzing the tracklog, I could clearly see that I was taking the worst line possible. I missed the thermal I was looking for, circling in big sink. I should have glided through the sink toward the ridge, or maybe, should have searched for that lost thermal why my sink rate was not dramatic... Easy to be smart while typing...

Anyway, coring sink - I landed just a few minutes later. I was proud of my low save, but frustrated with my decision making later on. Oh well, at least my New England thermalling experience was starting paying off.  It was my best thermalling day in Sequatchie Valley in the last 3 years.

Here is the visualization of that flight: http://doarama.com/view/714981

...

Southern Drift - Demo Edition

To demo or not to demo

My winter goal for this trip was to demo T2C. Now, however, I was a bit overwhelmed with the new harness. By that point, I had 3 flights on it - one "crash", 2 good landings, and about 4 hours of flight time. There was no way I would fly in my old harness again, but I should have probably gotten more practice with this new one.

While I was waffling, Crystal and Ilya were doing the demos.

Crystal was absolutely perfect with that shiny T2C

Crystal towing T2C

T2C afterglow

WW guys reasonably asked Ilya to fly U2C first. He's done great. A perfect landing, too.

Taxi to launch

Ilya in a U2C

I couldn't resist. I figured, U2C was close enough to Sport2, and I was feeling confident with the new harness on my Sport... Time to play with new toys!

I talked to Steve Pearson about trying U2C. He set me up with proper hang loop extension, and off I went.

Ready for U2 (photo courtesy of Crystal)

The tow was pretty easy. Not more difficult than towing a Sport. When I got off tow... OMG, what a nice glider. Comparing to Sport2, it was so much easier to fly. Don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting that new pilots should skip Sport2 and go directly to U2. U2 is more sensitive to input, so it requires light touch. Sport 2 definitely helped me to develop it. But after a year on Sport, I could feel and appreciate the difference - so little bar pressure on U2, especially at higher VG settings. Gliding fast and true was a breeze! Thermalling was pretty easy as well.

The day was very active, and I had plenty of opportunities to test U2C's at different settings - thermalling capabilities, fast glides, best glides, stalls. I loved it. I started doing very fast glides from cloudbase to other side of the ranch. When I was getting to 2K, I would search for another climb and repeat. In one thermal I climbed to cloudbase with Steve Pearson who was test-flying Sport2C. He dived super fast from the top of the climb, and I tried to out-glide him. Difference in performance between those two gliders wasn't that dramatic, so I couldn't glide noticeably faster than him, but it was a lot of fun nevertheless.

After a few fast runs like that, I finally failed to find another ride up top. I landed. Landing wasn't hard, but I missed flare window and ran it out. I had a huge grin on my face. I was so glad I put my worries aside, and tried it out. Confidence building experience for sure. I wish I had cash now to buy this glider... Oh, wait, I had to try what I came for - T2C.

The same day, after lunch at Wallaby, I set up to test fly T2C 144. My expectations were set too high for this glider. Ilya and Crystal were raving about it, and U2C set my expectations high as well.

I had no problem with the glider on tow. It felt heavier to handle, but nothing unexpected. In flight, it responded well to all inputs. It thermalled well in very weak lift.  And most impressive - it glided at 30+ mph while going down only 200-250 fpm. It certainly was a machine to take me places. And yet, it left me cold. I am not sure what it was, handling maybe, or simply my expectations were too high, but it didn't feel like I was having as much fun as I had on U2C. Maybe I need to try again later.

The landing wasn't harder than on U2C. I ran this one out as well. Considering that there were at least 4 cameras running - it was a very good landing :-)

In any case, I don't have resources to buy a new glider any time soon. Plus, I think, my Sport can still teach me a thing or two before I switch. I do recognize that if I want to go long(er) distance, I need something like T2C, but I am having plenty of fun on what I already have... Will re-evaluate some time later.

Drifting back North

Week at Wallaby Ranch was excellent. Food, entertainment, company of old friends, and of course, excellent flying. It is definitely one of my favorite places to relax and fly.

I achieved everything I came here for and then some. I loved the way my new harness felt, and I was ready for new adventures. Tennessee Treetoppers Team Challenge event was starting on Sunday, and I couldn't wait to fly different time of year in Sequatchie Valley.

We left Wallaby on Saturday morning to get to Henson Gap the same day. ~600 miles - whole day of driving, but we should get there before dark.

More awesome flying is expected ahead.

---

Photo album from the trip : Wills Wing Demo Days 2016 at Wallaby Ranch

Southern Drift

Planning

After my last flight in January, the winter settled in and I didn't feel like flying. What can I say, I am not a fan of cold weather. A break from intense activity is a good thing, though. It allows to keep things fresh when you get back.

While not flying, I was planning my next flying adventure, and the next gear update. A part of it was a trip to Wallaby Ranch in Florida. At the end of flying season of 2015 I felt like I was ready to try something new, a topless glider maybe. Wills Wing demo days were coming to Wallaby in April - the perfect opportunity to go away from cold New England, and try those new gliders.

Even better, the week after WW demo days at Wallaby, Wills Wings guys were going to Tennessee Tree Toppers. TTT was running Team Challenge 2016 event the same week. I went there for the last two years, and weather wasn't cooperating much. I hoped that different time of the year, in spring,  conditions would be much better and stronger.

I also wanted a single suspension harness for a while. My current harness didn't quite fit me right, and it was pretty beat up anyway. I liked the idea of something more efficient and comfortable. I ordered Aeros Myth 3 - an entry level single suspension harness. As little as I knew about those things, I figured that would be sufficient for me, especially the price was hard to beat - $1200 for a custom made, single suspension harness.

New harness

The harness arrived just a week before the trip. Highland Aerosports,  I ordered it from, sadly was busy with going out of business... That put a wrinkle on the whole plan. I wanted to tow, and adjust the harness with the dealer.  Now that wasn't possible. Oh well, I was going to Wallaby where plenty of hang gliding knowledge was concentrated, too. We would figure things out. But it raised my level of anxiety somewhat.

Getting there

The trip to Florida was uneventful. Natalia and I decided to do it in one day. And even though we had to switch drivers every 2 hours at night - it was the right decision.

We arrived to Wallaby Ranch around 1pm, right on time for lunch at the ranch.

Entering Wallaby

We ate, and had plenty of time leisurely set up our tent while there was still plenty of daylight.

Camp

Around 4PM every pilot at the ranch was suiting up to fly. I wisely decided not to fly after the whole night/day of driving. The evening turned out to be pretty good for flying - everyone logged 2+ hours.

Harness test

The next day, I got up early for a morning towing session to test my harness. Early, but not early enough. I launched close to 9AM, and air was already moving. This wasn't a problem on tow. It was bumpy, but I knew how to handle it even with the new harness. I had to make a few adjustments, but different harness design didn't surprise me on tow in any way.

The landing, on the other hand, was plenty exciting. It had nothing to do with the harness, though. Things just didn't get to it. I didn't evaluate air conditions on the ground properly, and flew right into a rotor. I had plenty of airspeed, started rounding out for ground effect. Almost got there... and suddenly, the world was spinning. My right wing dropped like there was no air at all, right side of the basebar hit the ground, and I wend through the downtube.

In retrospect, it could have been much worse, both for myself and the glider, but some luck has been had, and the lesson has been learned.

Malcolm had another downtube for me. After excellent Wallaby breakfast, I quickly replaced the downtube, double checked everything for damage, and decided to have another go. This time all went without a problem. I stayed away from rotor. Now, evaluation of possible rotors was in my landing approach decisions. I am not totally sure why it wasn't there before.

On my second attempt, I landed ok. I missed the downtube on transition, and didn't flare. Muscle memory got in the way on this one. No damage was done, though.

At the end of that flight I had some rough idea what I didn't like about the harness. It mostly had to do with the hang angle for thermaling. I had no idea what needed to be done to adjust it. The manual was too brief to be helpful. Tom Lanning came to my rescue. He never dealt with Aeros harnesses before, but he knew exactly how they worked, and what needed to be adjusted. After all those adjustments the harness felt great in flight. Thanks Tom!

Flying  Somewhere

For a couple of days after we arrived, more New England denizens were showing up at the ranch. First, Dave and Jennifer rolled in. And the next day Crystal and Ilya.

The forecast for that day looked pretty good for serious cross country flying. Ilya and Crystal went for an early test flight. By the time Ilya launched it was already pretty buoyant. After seeing Ilya's tow, Crystal decided to wait. Ilya, on the other hand, was finding thermals everywhere, and he wasn't coming back down. The day was working early.

Meanwhile, at the breakfast, Tom suggested that we should fly somewhere today, like Quest Air, for example. The wind direction was suitable for that. I was all for it.

We launched at 11am. I went first, and Tom right after me. Ilya was still up, enjoying nice flying weather.

I had a good tow, and got off in a good thermal that took me to 3000MSL. Tom however, pinned off low. He was struggling to stay afloat. It took him good 30 minutes to find a climb. He said on the radio that he finally found a strong climb, and I scooted over to join him. It took us both to the cloud base.

Tom radioed if anyone was up for a cross country trip. Ilya, Pete Judge, and I - said yes. And off we went. Dave and Crystal were still on the ground at that point, but we hoped they would join us as soon as they could.

On a glide

My first glide was just 4 minutes. I lost only 600 feet, but I stumbled into another lift, and I was taking it. I transmitted that I was recharging, and started circling. It took me back to the cloudbase around 4600' MSL. I went on another glide. For the next 30 minutes I was gliding, stopping to recharge, bouncing between 2.5K and 4K feet, never getting back to the cloudbase. And we all were drifting NE, too. The goal was in NW direction.

At some point, around 2000' MSL, I was in zero sink above a very smelly field. Things didn't look too good at that point. Eventually, zero transformed to a very weak lift. I wallowed in it for a while, looking at Ilya and Pete struggling below me as well. We went up and down, while drifting downwind north-east, toward Orlando, away from our goal.

I was around 3200' MSL. I didn't feel like leaving what little I had. Not until Tom gave a little push - "If you are still climbing, keep climbing, if not - let's move on".  I wasn't really climbing anymore, just maintaining. We were 1h 40m in our journey, and the day wasn't getting any better. I started a glide WNW, losing altitude pretty fast. I was looking at possible landing options already, just in case.

And yet again,  I stumbled into some lift. First, into some weak one that took me back to 3000' MSL. When this one was over, I started gliding away from it, and very soon got into a much stronger thermal. This one was sweet - 500 feet per minute. I called it out. Pete and Ilya found it as well, just a few hundred feet below me. That thermal was on the other side of that smelly manure field. Smell of lift, as Ilya called it.

Just in a few minutes I went from 2000' to 4600', all the way to the cloudbase. Tom was already on a gide to NW, and I went on a glide behind him. I could see his glider getting up while gliding straight. I was getting some leftovers from that lifting line, but not much. At that point, Tom decided to explore west, but instructed me to keep gliding north-west, toward Quest Air. I kept going.

After 15 minutes on my glide, I was getting low, 1500' MSL, and I heard on radio that Tom was already landing. He couldn't find anything to the west. Well, I was on my own now. I was still hoping for a good lift ahead, but all I was getting was little bumps. I circled some field from 900' up. Didn't like it, uneven, cows on one end of it. Saw a better looking one just a bit farther to NW. It was closer to a paved road, too. I went for it.

I got there with 500' to spare, made a few circles to determine wind direction, and landed as close as I could to the road. My landing was perfect, new harness and all, but I forgot to switch my camera on to have a prove.

I carried my glider closer to the road just to find that I was behind a barbwire fence with no gate. I called Tom, and he reminded me how to deal with those things. Sliding glider under the barbwire, not touching the fence, and climbing over at the post. Got it.

Breaking down in my new LZ

Getting out of the LZ

I sent my location to Natalia and got an immediate reply - "On my way. 31 minutes". Thank you, Natalia! You are the best!

By that time everyone was already on the ground. I collected all location information, so Natalia and I could pick everyone up. Pilots were also texting some essential information about things they saw around them:

Tom: On a hard pack dirt road.  Lots of bovine friends.

Tom's LZ

Ilya: Me too.  And me too.

Ilya's LZ

In an hour or so we all were in my truck, gliders loaded. Natalia was driving us back to Wallaby.

Ilya

Amazing day! At least for me. My personal best - XC flight 14 miles straight line, point to point. Flight time: 2h 33m. Thank you, Tom, for making it happen, and being such a great mentor.

Here is recording of this flight: http://doarama.com/view/710406