Sunapee Chase

I realize that planning your flights should give better results, but I still can't get myself to do it consistently. And when I do plan, they usually don't work out. And yet, some of my best flights to date had zero planning. So...

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My birthday was on Friday. I don't really celebrate them. It's just another day, right? But I figured, an evening spent among flying friends was the way to "celebrate" it. I didn't even check the weather, I was simply going to Morningside no matter what.

I left work early and got to Morningside around 5pm. The little hill was soarable, and a couple of paragliders were up in the air hundred feet above the hill.

I set my glider up as fast as I could, and by 6pm I was standing on launch trying to squeeze a good run between very south cycles. It worked out, and I soared 450 for a few minutes. Made a mistake going too far north, and it put me on the ground. Conditions were not favorable for another try, but I was happy to have me a birthday flight.

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In the morning I still didn't check the weather. I heard some pilots were going to Ascutney again. That meant conditions were supposed to be good for cross country flying, but I was not in a mood for another hike. Eric was back at Morningside, and towing seemed like an easier option. Instant mountain, Crystal calls it.

Finally, by 10am I checked the forecast, winds were forecasted WNW around 15mph at 6000' MSL. A very good thermal forecast too. Still spring conditions for going places. Hey, I might have me a birthday present!

Afternoon, however didn't look that great. Overdeveloped. A lot of clouds were rolling in from Ascutney. My optimism was waning.

Clouds moving toward MFP from Ascutney

Ilya came in the morning barely recovered from a cold. He promised me that the day was going to be epic. Whatever you say, my sky brother, I am just keeping expectations low to reduce disappointment, and increase excitement - whatever the outcome  :-)

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We had around 10 pilots setting up at Morningside for towing. With one tug - it would take a while for everyone get in the air. So I decided to launch early, and see if I could beat the crowd and stay up. After all, something generated all those clouds - there must be some lift out there.

Setup area

Eric towed me at 12pm, and I instantly knew it was a mistake - the tow was either too smooth, or we were hitting some major sink. When I released at 2500' AGL - all I got was 600 FPM down, all the way back to the flight park. A very short sledder. Tom Lanning asked me if there was some kind of emergency for me to get back so fast. Thanks, Tom. Rub it in.

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Three hours later, the sky didn't look much better, but Peter Judge decided to give it a try. He asked Eric to tow him to 5K AGL, if they didn't hit anything good below 2500'.  He wasn't on the radio, so we didn't know how he was doing. All we knew that they went all the way to 5K. It took a while, too.

Jeff Curtis launched next, and he reported good lift. Everyone scrambled to get in line. Since I had my sledder - I wasn't hurrying, and ended up being very close to the end of the line. Tom Lanning was right behind me.

Eventually, around 4PM I got into the air. This time it was indeed working great. While towing, I listed to a radio exchange between Crystal and Ilya. They both launched in front of me. They got to 7K and just took off. I was way behind, and as usual mildly disoriented. I only approximately knew what direction they could have been flying.

Anyway, I got off tow in a nice thermal. A few adjustments later - I was climbing at 900 FPM, average. That was the first time when I experienced such a nice climb. Sure, I hit some turbulence before, where instant vario readings would be 1200 FPM, but completing a circle it would read like 400 - 600 FPM. Not this time, I was in a fast lane up. It was rather smooth too. What a great feeling it was!

I got to 6500' MSL and decided that I needed to catch up to Crystal and Ilya. The problem was - I still had no idea where they were. If you remember from my last flight at Ascutney - I still struggled with identifying my position, and picking my next target. Earth always looks great from 6-7K up. It's like ... um... a satellite view in google maps but in real life. Except, no street labels option available.

When flying, there is not much time to dwell on shortcomings. You make a decision, and you execute it. I took off in general direction of where I thought my friends flew. I was flying away from Ascutney, and in the direction of the drift, more or less, - so that must be good.

My decision was reaffirmed by the fact that I was still climbing when I left the thermal. Must be a good direction. I enjoyed it for a mile or so, gaining almost 1000 feet while flying straight. I loved the way this day was working! It has already exceeded my expectations.

After a long glide, I still couldn't find any other glider in the sky around me. I asked Crystal and Ilya where they were. They said they were over a golf course. That didn't help, as I didn't see any golf courses. But I saw a big lake, I figured it was lake Sunapee. I didn't really like what I saw in the proximity of the lake though. Vast forest all over. I wasn't prepared to cross that terrain. That was where little planning would have helped, but then again - this day was already way better than any plans I had before. No complains here.

I saw that the south part of the lake looked marginally better as far as landing fields were concerned. I adjusted my flight in that direction.

At the end of my first glide I was at 3K MSL. Below me was some small air strip. Tom was asking me on the radio several times where I was. And I had really hard time to explain my position. My "3D brain" is way underdeveloped. Eventually, with Jeff's help we figured out that I was over Newport town airport (Parlin Field Airport). Tom was chasing me in a totally wrong direction based on my initial assessment of my location. Oh well, a little detour was not a big deal for the master pilot :-)

I found a nice thermal over Newport airport and climbed back to 6K MSL. I could see the golf course now, but still couldn't find any other gliders in the air.

Low over Newport

No matter, I pressed on toward the south part of the lake. I saw some fields there. I hoped, I could land just fine.

On a glide toward south part of the lake

I was flying directly toward ski slopes of mount Sunapee. When I got near it, I was too low to fly over. I picked a field close to the mountain that looked "decent" from 3000 feet up, and started searching for another thermal.

Why this one? Not sure...

No thermals were found anywhere close to the mountain.

Getting low close to the mountain

I turned around and headed for the field I picked.

Back over future LZ

Initially, my choice of the LZ didn't trigger any alarms. It was on a smaller side, but looked adequate. When I got lower, I saw fence lines across my chosen path, dividing it in two. Terrain didn't look even either. It was too late to worry about this. I still thought I could land in a half of that field, parallel to the road.

Boxing the field. Trying to figure out the best approach.

I didn't dare to start my approach too low over the taller trees (at the bottom right in the picture above), and I ended up too high on my final approach for the bottom part of the field. It was a good thing, though, as the field was sloping down, with a small swamp/pond at the end of it. That would have sucked big time.

Still too high - turning on final.

I started making another S-turn and realized that the farthest (from the road) part of the field was going uphill. It had a clear path upwind (although I had to clear a barbwire fence). I modified my final, pulled in, and dropped a few feet of altitude much faster than I expected. Most likely due to a gradient. I also rounded out a bit too much. Probably, because of uphill. The ground effect was very short, and by the time I tried to check if it was time to flare, it was too late. No whack though, just dropped the control bar.

This path looks better.

Time to flare

No energy left for a flare

But... safe of the ground.

I carried my glider to the gate, sent a text with my location to Ilya (I heard on the radio that he was landing in the Forbidden field), and broke down the glider. I had to clear 2 gates to get off the property that I landed in. I probably spent 40 minutes, breaking down and hiking out - no one came out to yell at me, or ask who the hell I was, and what I was doing there. Good.

There was a small cemetery across the road. It had plenty of shade, which was nice after all that break down work. I picked a nice grave for myself, and settled to wait for the rescue.

A graveyard across my LZ

Ilya called and said his truck was on its way to him. Jeff landed in the same field, and they would pick me up in an hour or so. Crystal didn't land with them, she was still flying somewhere. So Ilya needed to figure out the retrieval logistics.

An hour later Crystal called. She couldn't reach Ilya and thought I landed with him. She had an epic flight, and her LZ was another 20 miles away from us. Jon Szarek landed not too far from her. He had a driver. Crystal was all set with the retrieval. That simplified things significantly. Amazing how it all works out sometimes.

I got picked up shortly after. On the way back, we stopped at Sanctuary Dairy Farm Ice Cream.

Sanctuary Dairy Farm Ice Cream

Later in the evening, Ilya and Crystal treated me to a dinner as well. I have awesome friends! Thank you, guys!

An awesome conclusion to an awesome day. I could not have planned it better... Wait... I haven't :-)

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Here is an abbreviated video of this flight:

Flights: 2

Total Flight time: 1:15

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Recording of the flight:

Milk Run

As the weekend was approaching, it looked like towing at Tanner-Hiller would be a good, lazy, option. NNW, 15mph at 6K, great thermal forecast. Hey, I might fly some place south...

On Thursday, I got a text from Ilya - "Planning on Ascutney tomorrow." ... Damn! That hike again. I reluctantly checked the forecast for that area, too. It looked great. And a big group of pilots was going... Tempting...

Ascutney and I had some unresolved issues. In particular, I hadn't flown away from the mountain beyond the main LZ in all my previous attempts. I hadn't even done the "mandatory" milk run - Ascutney to Morningside. I also had not done off-season flying at Ascutney.  All of these could be resolved at once, all in one flight... OK, the hike it was, even if I had to carry my glider all by myself. "I am in" - I texted back.

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Friday morning everyone gathered at the Ascutney State Park gate to go up in one or two cars. There were 8 pilots ready to challenge Ascutney - Crystal Wolfe, Ilya Rivkin, Jon Szarek, Bill Gottling,  Mike Holmes, Jake Pierce, Jeff Bernard, and I.  Dave Milton and Ryan were helping with launching and retrieve (thank you guys!)

I loaded my glider on Ilya's truck, and off we went. The temperatures were still on a colder side, I even put another layer on while we were driving up.

Since I didn't have a hiking buddy this time, and my gear was heavier than last year (my new harness weights at least 10 pounds more than my old retired tracer), I decided carry it all as far as I could in one go. Then rest, and start splitting the hike - hike harness a hundred yards, then come back for the glider, and hike with it for 200 yards, rinse and repeat. To my amazement, I hiked pretty much half way there with all the gear, without a stop. I probably could have gone longer, but the trail started to be too uneven, so I switched to a "split" hike. It gave me a chance to rest plenty as well.

As I got to a widowmaker part of the trail, Ilya and Crystal finished their hike, and Ilya ran back to help me the rest of the way. Man! I was so happy to see him :-) He even grabbed my harness! Thank you, my flying brother!  Much appreciated!

Here is a video of the complete hike from last year. Just to give an idea what we are going through to fly this mountain!

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On my last flight from Ascutney, I launched last, and sank out. I also had to get an improvised wire crew from willing spectators, which was rather stressful. This time, I was also launching last, but at least we had a wire crew that didn't need any training or persuasion :-)

The day, however, didn't progress the way it was forecasted. It looked overdeveloped, light, and cross. But in the afternoon, clouds cleared up for a while, letting sun to heat the ground a bit more. Decent thermal cycles started to roll through. By 2PM, the collective pilot's brain decided that it was as good as it was going to get. Everyone started launching. It looked like a rollercoaster though. Up and down. It seemed no one could find a sustained climb. Some pilots were getting low, heading for the LZ. Not very encouraging... but always beats walking back with the glider.

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I got ready to launch around 2:30PM. Ryan and Dave helped me with the hangcheck, and to carry my glider to the rock. Thermals were rolling through. Not very strong, but enough to lift the glider if I wasn't careful, so help was definitely appreciated.

Hang check

Ready!

My launch went OK, but I didn't ran as far as I should have. I caught myself doing that, and pulled in to gain more airspeed before clearing the trees below the rock. I am still adjusting my foot launching technique to the longer harness hang strap... Later in the day, after the flight was over, Dave Milton told me that my launch indeed didn't look ideal. ... things to work on...

Run!

I flew away from the hill and joined the rollercoaster.  I gained a few hundred feet right next to the mountain then started losing it rapidly. Circling in a very close proximity to the mountain and to other pilots didn't help matters either.

Jon circling in a light lift as I am gliding off the launch

Working a very bumpy, tiny thermal close to the mountain.

As I was being flushed by mother nature, I decided to play it safe and look for thermals over the LZ, away from the terrain.

The last year at Ascutney, I observed Jake climbing out over south end of the LZ. It was a rather low save, too. I figured, I'd try that spot first. I set on a glide there, and as I was approaching the edge of the field I started slowly climbing out. By that point I was 1000' below launch, not exactly a low save, but I didn't need to set any records. Actually, Crystal did set that record for the day - she climbed out from 500' AGL.

Anyway, the lift was rather weak, 50 - 100 feet per minute, but as I got to the launch height, lift was getting more organized, and I could center in it better. Very soon I had a solid climb at 400 FPM. Life was good. Big A was treating me better this time.

I climbed to 4900' MSL and that thermal couldn't push me any higher. I decided that I needed to fly some place. So... Well, let me digress for a bit ... Now that I can thermal OK, and land OK, and launch OK... the hardest thing about free flight for me is making the next decision - where to fly. Where should I look for the next thermal? Or even where the drift is taking me? Simply - observational and directional skills. Why am I saying this? I guess, I am trying to "explain" my decision making process here, or rather significant lack of it.

The drift was taking me south, but I paid no attention to that. For some reason, I wanted to fly over the mountain. Some robot in my head thought it was a good direction. So we, my robot and I, went there - over the mountain, flying east.

I didn't fly directly over the mountain, but skirted it to the south as I was losing altitude. It's always safer to stay away from the terrain, eh? I got to the other side of the mountain, but lost 1500 feet in the process. I needed another climb, and it presented itself right when I was about to start worrying. Life was good again.

This climb took me to 5600' MSL. Now I finally figured out I wasn't flying in the "right" direction, I was also not getting as high as I hoped I would (I dressed for 8K, and was sweating like a pig at 5K :-))  so I decided that Morningside was an adequate destination for me (gotta check this milk run off my list anyhow). Now, I could see Claremont airport, and I knew where Morningside was. I could see it far in the distance, too. Just in case, I punched Morningside waypoint into the instrument. The instrument also confirmed that I had the flight park on a glide. And so I went there.

That was basically it. It was just a 15 minutes glide, and I arrived to Morningside with 1500' AGL to spare. The sky over the park was all cloudy. I didn't find any air going up, but found less sink. While on the glide, I played with the vario watching actual L/D numbers changing depending on the sink I was hitting. I was trying to make sense out of those numbers (comparing to L/D required) for future reference for waypoints I cannot easily see.

It didn't take long to burn off 1500'. I landed, and got greeted by Morningside welcoming committee, with cameras rolling and all. My landing wasn't perfect, I was late with the flare, and ran it out. Tried to hit the bullseye, too. It didn't happen. I guess, my future H4 rating needs a bit more practice time.

Ilya and Crystal arrived 30 minutes later. They struggled at Ascutney for awhile, but then got much higher than I did 7-8K MSL and arrived to MFP with way more altitude than I did. I guess, they didn't feel like going anywhere that day either. It's nice to have a company on the ground though :-)

Three Sport Twos - Ascutney to Morningside (photo courtesy of Crystal Wolfe)

I didn't set any personal bests with this flight, but it was very satisfying anyway. My first decent flight off Ascutney. For many pilots in New England, Ascutney to Morningside is the first XC. It wasn't the case for me, but I am happy I got this one off my list :-)

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Flight time : 58 minutes
Point to point distance: 9.5 miles
XC distance: 13 miles

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Recording of the flight: http://doarama.com/view/764071

Team Challenge 2016 – Part 3

Day 3

On the third day winds finally switched to WNW. That meant we didn't have to drive anywhere, and I got to run off Henson Gap ramp again. The ramp is a marvel of engineering, and it is a pleasure to launch from.

On the downside, the day's forecast called for even lighter conditions than two previous days.

Ollie tells us about the weather

David Hanning reviews XCSkies forecast

The task committee and safety committee were trying to map forecast to something XC flyable.

Eventually, it was decided to fly between LZ and the launch. C task, for example, - tag LZ, tag launch (at launch height or above), land at LZ. A and B tasks were similar but with added SW launch waypoint, and multiple trips back and forth.

Erik and Bryson writing down day 3 tasks on the whiteboard

The day progressed pretty much as expected. Paragliders launched first and some of them were able to tag the waypoints a few times. It was a lot of work even for them to stay up.

Around 3PM our team decided to launch. Steve went first, and I could definitely see why I would want a topless glider. He went to the north, all the way to the other side of route 111, and he was working some light lift there.

Paul launched next, I went after him, and then Dana. I probably dove of the ramp a bit too much for the conditions, and lost more altitude than Paul. I was gliding toward route 111, but I got there a bit too low for my comfort. I turned around, and went for the LZ. I got there with enough altitude to box the field and do a nice DBF approach. Paul landed just before me. I am not sure if he was sinking faster than me or simply decided to land so we wouldn't have to land at the same time.

Steve landed quite some time later. I love watching his landings - he is so relaxed and graceful

Here is the video of his landing:

While we were breaking down, other gliders were landing every few minutes. Everyone was executing good landings, and some people were having fun, showing off their landing skills. Like, a topless glider skimming the ground downwind at high speed, pulling up, turning around and landing perfectly. It is amazing how much energy this glider retains.

Breakdown area in Henson Gap LZ

Steve Pearson

And a short video review of my flight with multiple camera angles :-)

Day 4 and up...

Not much to say about day 4. It was Whitwell day again. It had some potential. But wind switched, and launching safety was questionable. Our team made a mistake by setting up at the paragliders side of things. At that launch it started to tail after 1pm. All paragliders packed and went home.

Hang gliders were launching from the cliff. But only Zac Majors was able to stay up. He found a thermal somewhere in the middle of the valley. My poor Sport2 had no chance getting there even if I was at the cliff launch.

We packed our gliders and went back to Henson. The cool thing about that day - I spent a lot of time talking to Steve about past and the future of the sport, different glider designs, and why certain things on a glider done one way or another. Did you know that curved tips on your glider don't do anything for glider's performance and handling? But that's what people wanted for non-engineering/non-logical reasons. It would be much easier to assemble the glider without those things, too. Anyway....

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Day 5 - it was raining. Natalia and I spent time playing tourists. Visiting Chattanooga, Ruby Falls, and Lookout mountain hang gliding launch.

The morning of day 6, after reviewing the weather for the next 2 days, we decided to head home. There was a chance of flying this evening, probably without XC tasks. And forecast for the next day was questionable, too. I had plenty of flying done for the last 2 weeks, and didn't want to stay for marginable days. It's a long drive home. It was time to get back to our cats :-)

Final thoughts

It was my third year in a row at Team Challenge. Different time of year - each time very similar conditions. Despite of very challenging flying weather that I got here, I loved flying in Sequatchie Valley. Tennessee Tree Toppers club at Henson Gap is awesome, too. I definitely going to be back, I am just not sure if or when I am going to do another Team Challenge.

Team Challenge was a good event for me to push beyond my comfort zone, and submerge in everything-about-flying atmosphere for a week. It was not that good for me from practical, A pilot to C pilot mentoring, standpoint. Most of the time I was on the ground before A pilot could provide any coaching. Oftentimes, A pilot had trouble staying up as well.

I DID learn a plenty. Most of it on the ground, of course, from conversations, presentations, lectures, weather reviews, observing other pilots. But hang gliding is a physical sport, you can have all theory you want, but without practice, it is unusable. And on the trip down south this year, I got that kind of practice... in Florida where Tom Lanning led us on an XC flight from Wallaby to Quest. On that flight, he provided exactly the mentoring I was looking for at Team Challenge.

One very useful thing that I picked up (or rather started to develop) from 3 years of visiting Team Challenge - weather analysis. I find weather subject very boring. I know, as a pilot, I need to understand it, but it puts me to sleep very fast. All these years, I relied on a couple of very basic tools and, mostly, on other people do the weather forecasting for me. At TC, every morning, David Hanning had excellent forecast analysis using XC skies, and a couple of other tools. This year, to my amazement, I started using some of those tools, and it even started to make sense, I think...

So, it was all good. Made new friends, learned new tricks, challenged myself, scared myself a couple of times, got to apply my New England thermalling skills to Sequatchie Valley (which is apparently has very similar weather). I am glad I didn't just go once and forgot all about it. And I recommend any new H3 pilot (or a paraglider pilot) to do the same. Or, for that matter, to any pilot who wants to get exposure to competition basics. Even if you are an H2 pilot, go fly there outside of the competition, you can help with the retrieve, fly, and absorb a wealth of flying information concentrated there.

Will I be back?... If we form a New England team - I'm game. On my own... probably not next year.  Green Swamp Sport Klassic event, on the other hand, looks interesting.  Oh, and when I get to paragliding - I will definitely do another Team Challenge. Paraglider pilots seem to have too much fun in Sequatchie Valley...

Thank you Ollie and everyone helping to organize this event! It's been real. I'll see you next time, whenever it is going to be.

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More photos -> Team Challenge 2016 Photo Album

Team Challenge 2016 – Part 2

Day 2

Day 2 started as usual with the weather review. The forecast was very similar to the previous day. South-East day, Whitwell.

Then the task committee decided on the tasks for A, B, and C pilots. C pilot task was to tag Stargap waypoint, and then land at Church LZ. B task - tag Stargap, land at Galloway airstip. A task - tag Stargap, tag Galloway, land at Church LZ. C task should have been easy enough... if I could get above the ridge, and stay there for a bit.

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Steve Pearson arrived the night before. Our team was complete. We loaded gliders on Steve's SUV. Dana and Paul drove their cars to Galloway to simplify retrieval.

Team's place in the launch line rotates every day. We shifted from spot 7 to 6, and still ended up in the very back of the Whitwell's setup area. No paragliding launch option for us this time.

It didn't matter all that much. The day was supposed to be light, and it wasn't likely there would be a launch traffic jam. Everyone would be waiting for sure signs of lift.

While we were setting up the gliders, Steve gave us a glider tune up clinic. It was great to be able ask any questions about the glider design, performance tuning, maintenance, and whatever else we could come up with, or things we didn't even think of. Steve always had an answer, and he was more than willing to share all the secrets. Thank you, Steve!

...

Back to the competition... I wanted to launch earlier (if there was even slight indication of lift), so if that didn't work out, I would have time for another attempt. Competition doesn't limit number of launches as long as they are in the allowed launch window (usually somewhere between 12pm to 5pm).

Everyone was on board with that. Team strategy was to push the C pilot (me) first. Around 2PM, we lined up for takeoff. There were just a hand full of people in front of us. Everyone else was either undecided, or still getting ready.

The launch was uneventful. I saw a glider climbing slowly out in the valley. I thought I could get there. As I was about to set on a glide there, he wasn't gaining anymore, and turned away from the spot. I felt some turbulence, tried to turn. Lost altitude. I was still too close to the ridge for a comfortable 360. I moved out, trying out every possible bump. But nothing was working. In a couple of minutes, I noticed that I was too low and too far from the LZ. Pulled VG, set on a glide, cursing myself yet again for poor strategy.

I barely made it over the trees into the LZ. I was speeding up on the last part of the glide so I would have energy to go over the trees, but fortunately it wasn't necessary. I left no safety margin on this flight, and was in survival mode. At least my landing was good.

And so I was on the ground, pretty pissed at myself, too. It was time to execute plan B - do it again!

Natalia was already waiting for me in the truck on the other side of the road across the LZ. What can I say, I am a lucky man :-) Thank you, Natalia.

I broke down the glider as fast as I could, and Natalia drove me back up to the launch. This time, I figured, I would launch from the paragliding site. The team that was there before was most likely already gone, and I wouldn't be in anyone's way. Plus, I really liked that launch better.

It was a good decision. While I was setting up, paragliders were launching, spreading out, showing where the lift was. I launched, and followed one of them to a thermal he was marking. It worked really well. In a few minutes I climbed above the ridge. Moved over the plateau, and found even a better climb.

Around 4K MSL, I wasn't climbing as fast anymore, but I saw another paraglider circling above me not to far. I adjusted my circle, and up I went again.

At 5900' MSL, I was at the top of the climb. There were no other paraglider or hang gliders above me. I had the C-task on a glide. I pushed for Stargap waypoint. In a few minutes I was above the cell tower (a visual marker for the waypoint) but lost 2000' in the process. Before I could decide what to do next, go for the Church LZ, or look for a thermal - a thermal found me. The cell tower was triggering some nice lift. I recharged but topped out at 5000' MSL.

5000 was still plenty high, the day seemed to be working over the plateau, so I hoped, I could find yet another climb when I needed it. I decided to go for the B-task. I wasn't really interested in simply making points - I wanted to fly as far as I could. In retrospect, I should have tagged Church LZ, and then look for another climb. That would have made things more challenging... but it was more fun to fly forward. I hate u-turns :-)

Initially, I was trying to stay over the ridge, thinking that I might have a better chance finding a climb there. That didn't happen. Stargap is pretty big, and as I was getting lower, not finding any up-moving air, I was getting nervous being too far from the fields. My morning experience was fresh in my mind - safety first. I adjusted my glide slightly, angling toward the valley.

I didn't find any climbs, but I found less sink. Turning in it prolonged my flight time, but didn't extend the distance. When I picked a nice field to land in (no fences, no crops, next to a paved road), I found a bit of lift, and worked it patiently in case it would switch on and take me out of here. One last thermal that I needed to make the goal...

It didn't happen. I landed in that nice field, 3 miles short of the goal. 8 miles straight line, launch to landing. 10 miles if one accounts for the initial drift away from the goal (when I was working on my first climb).  50 minutes flight time. Considering I was all by myself, with no help to make any of the decisions I made, I was pretty happy with the flight.

Here is the visualization of the flight  on doarama: http://doarama.com/view/716278

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I sent my location to Natalia, and she got there as I was finishing up breaking down the glider. A few local people drove by. All of them waved and smiled. Good. Looked like I didn't upset any landowners.

In the evening we were back at the camp for diner and Team Challenge storytelling... um... I mean, debriefing. Good ending of a good day. This day got me what I came here for, everything else would be a bonus.