Maverick

Ah. Maverick. In 1995 I took a semester off from Washington State University & traveled around the Western United States with the PD guys, Kevin & Larry. I met up with them jumping in Pullman, Washington. We drove a motorhome from dropzone to dropzone. I packed, Kevin & Larry demoed PD gear. One of my favorite stops was Moab. A couple months into it I ran into Chris from Skydive AZ. A couple crazy nights in Star, Idaho & I said good-bye to Kevin & Larry & joined Chris flying one of the Skydive AZ twin otters around the boogie circuit.
It was great flying right seat in a twin otter as we flew across the United States. We flew to Denver & back to Eloy, AZ, stayed in the desert jumping for a couple weeks & flew off to Greely Co, Salt Lake City Ut, Lost Praire Mt, Quincy Il, Sturgus & back to Eloy. On a trip to Denver we picked up my buddy Big Doug & took him with us. We literly kidnapped him. I called the FBO in Durango & asked them to phone him & tell him to meet us at the airport just outside Crested Butte. He showed up. We landed, taxied, I put out the ladder as the airplane stopped for no more than 30 seconds. Doug jumped in & asked what was happening. Chris started rolling. I asked Doug if he wanted to go or stay...we will be back in 3 day's I promised. I shut the door looked at Doug, smiled & told Chris to hit it. Chris reached overhead pushed the throttle all the way forward & we were off to Denver. It took me about 2 minutes to convince Doug all would work out fine. I decided to stay in Colorado. Chris flew on, I wouldn't see him for several years. By then he was flying commuters in the Boston area.
Part of my summer was spent in Crested Butte. Since it was summer & there was no snow eveyrone met at the bar in the evening, the talk of the town. Here I heard about a group of people going to the Virgin Islands. I decided to go. A few months later I was running around the Caribbean on Maverick, the 100 ft. Brixham Trawler pictured above. One of the things the crew did on a regular base was to moon any boats passing by. If you look closely you can see this in the picture, which I found on the internet. Maverick survived three hurricanes, the biggest being Hurricane Marilyn, during 1996. The captain, Doris, stayed aboard during the hurricanes & kept her afloat, eighty seven sailboats were sunk or washed out to sea. Anchored off the Island of Jost Van Dyke, I spent new years 1995 - 1996 on Maverick. Everyone went to the island & it was my turn for watch. I was to be relieved at 10:00pm but let the other guys stay on the island all night & took over their watch. It was one of my favorite times in life. I accomplished my goal of running off to the Caribbean & working as a deckhand.

Sunset at Nor Cal Aero Club

Diev on one of the last tows of 2005.
Nor Cal Aero Club

Dec 11, 2005

Dixon, CA

Ed Levin, Just Add Mud

I did it! Today I met Jim at Ed Levin State Park in Milpitas to work on my H2. It was the maiden flight of my new Sport 2. I did three runs off the 50 footer & we took her up to the 300 footer.

Upon launching on the first flight from the 300 footer I immediately started getting some lift. I turned towards the brown water tower, went to the steps, turned base, flew halfway across the field & found myself very high for a landing in the circle. I "s" turned about 6-8 times & finally found myself at about treetop level near the ditch. I was a bit high so I did another "s" turn & landed just past the circle. The second flight was shorter but I accomplished exactly what my instructor asked me to do. After a week of non-stop rain the field was wet, the setup area becoming muddy after being used a few times.

I noticed Mike driving down the hill, he stopped to watch when he noticed me at the launch area. Hang check, balanced, CLEAR & I was off. I ran hard, took 3-4 big steps & I was gone. The wing flew nice, the wind in my face felt great. I pulled in the bar, looked to the left, picked a target & headed for it. This time I didn't get much lift. My glide was feeling good & I turned base at the steps, finding myself right at about the perfect altitude as I turned final. I came across the ditch at about 3/4 of the way from the top of the trees. The glide angle was looking good. All those parachute landing really seemed to help at this point. I entered ground effect & flew right over the circle at about 5-10 feet. I was going to overshoot. All I wanted at this point was a nice flare landing & sure enough as I reached about 3 feet I flared & stood up the landing. What a great flight & a perfect Christmas Eve.

Three target landings & I'll have my H2!

Sylvia's Wedding

I attended my sisters wedding in September. I took many pictures & posted them on a website, this is by far my favorite. It reminds me of everyone enjoying themselves as we talked, ate great food & danced the night away. We were on a hill in the Spokane Valley overlooking the city of Spokane, Washington. It was in an isolated area so we turned up the music and danced away. The dj alternated between English & Spanish music. It was fun to see everyone enjoying themselves. It was also nice to visit with my nieces & nephews whom I had not seen in many years.

A day earlier, I was about an hour late for the pictures. I spent the day at West Plains Skydiving Center in Davenport, Washington. I made a couple jumps out of their Cessna Caravan & hurried to the photo shoot. In the end it all worked out but if I hadn't made it back just about the time I did I would not have made the photos.....darn, I should have made one more jump:)

Dia de Los Muertos

I ran into these two at Dia de Los Muertos in San Francisco this year. Alters were setup at a park on 25th & Harrison. I ran across the picture today & here they are.

I'm trying to figure out a way to setup my jeep with an overhead rack to carry my wing around. There are several systems for sale but I don't really like any of them. Called today for a quote, $600.00 is what they want. Instead, my buddy Mike is building me a custom one. I'm buying him a welder for half that price & he will take care of the materials. I ordered a light bar that mounts to the center of the jeep near the windshield. I'll come up with some drawings for the front & rear "T" bars & Mike is building them.

The weather hasn't been all that great. Winds at Ed Levin were S/SE at 15-20mph. Twice my limit so I had to go to work today. The excitement of the day was that Diev put up some videos on the the Nor Cal Aero Club site earlier today.

Vario, Parachute & Harness

Friday I bought a vario from a guy in Ohio. I found it on the internet & decided to pick it up. Saturday I went to Ed Levin to work on my H2 but the weather just didn't want to cooperate. There were about 15 flights from the top but nothing soarable. I walked the LZ with Mike & Young. Young has been considering hang gliding for 15 years & finally started lessons. He's a H1, working on his H2. He looks forward to soaring at Mission Beach.

We went back to the shop. My harness came in & I tried it & found a nice fit. One of the final pieces of equipment was an emergency parachute. I guess it could be considered a reserve parachute but it's not quite one, it's really an emergency chute. You would only use it in the case of a catastrophic event. The funny thing is that there's no regulation around it's packing. Anyone with the instructions can pack it unlike skydiving parachutes that must be packed by an FAA certified rigger or the person making the jump. Reserve skydiving parachutes are only to be packed by an FAA certified rigger. I was asked if I'd be packing my own. I watched a guy pack one at a parachute clinic but have never packed one myself. I feel that it's not that big a deal but for someone who has never been around parachutes to pack their own seems a bit strange to me.

I worked out a great deal with my boss. Through December 26th if the weather is nice, I take hang gliding lessons. If the weather doesn't cooperate I go to work. This allow's me to hopefully finish my training for H2 without having to waste any PTO days. Originally I was going to go to Wallaby to finish but decided I'd give it a real shot here first. I'll be doing private lessons with Jim Woodward of Natural Flying.

Jumping the Trike

Nathalie called me today to let me know that Diev put up pictures of our weekend. Sure enough there they were, spider webs & all. Jumping the Tryke was lots of fun. I look forward to jumping it again next year when the club starts up again.

Nor Cal Aero Club

A large group of flying enthusiast descended upon Nor Cal Aero Club operating at the Dixon crop dusting airstrip just outside Dixon, California.
The morning was chilly but it didn't stop Paul & I from rigging the trike so that I could jump it. I've heard of people jumping from them but have never actually seen it done. I was a bit concerned about the propeller, you've gotta admit, it's a bit scary looking at it spin less than a yard away. Paul & I discussed how I would exit, we rigged a hang strap as a handhold. With this I was fairly certain there wouldn't be a prop strike. I sat sideways to make the exit easier. In the air we found that my legs were blocking the air intake. I did all I could to move my legs away from it. The air was chilly. We climbed to 4000 feet, circled over the airstrip & I was off. I turned to face Paul, exited, saluted & turned around. It was a sweet exit. As I passed 3000 feet I reached back & pulled the hackey. The canopy opened softly as it's been doing since I first started jumping it less than 3 months ago. The air was covered with spider webs hanging in the air & blowing in the breeze. I was covered in them on landing. Paul landed shortly after I did & asked if I wanted to make another. Of course, I replied, & off we went for a second jump.
We had hang gliders, rigid wings, paraglide & skydivers in the air along with a few C17's, C130's & C5's from nearby Travis Air Force Base. The hang glider pilots kept the tug pilots busy all day. Although there were no thermals to keep us up everyone enjoyed a great day of flying. All this on a winter day in California.

New Wing

Ft. Funston Hang Gliding

If you follow Ocean Beach past the San Franicsco Zoo you come to Ft. Funston. This area only minutes from downtown San Franicsco is one of the best hang gliding spots in the world. Mechanical lift allows hang glider pilots to soar for hours on end.
To fly at Ft. Funston you must have your H3 & fly under the guidance of one of the Fellow Feathers Hang Gliding club observers. I haven't found a soarable day where there weren't three or more pilots hanging around waiting for the perfect winds.
I'm only an H1 now therefore I cannot fly Ft. Funston, yet. I am working on my H2 & look forward to my H3. It will be tough to watch the web cam from work & have to wait until 5:00pm to leave. Already on nice day's I'm glued to it counting the pilots in the air.
Ft. Funston is only 15 minuts from my home. Home is only 10 minutes from work. In the spring & summer I can see myself at the cliffs 30-45 minutes after leaving work.
More pictures here.