Pacifica

The weather hasn't quite been soarable lately but on Thanksgiving Day they switched from blowing East to North West and picked up enough to fly. Wunderground read NW at 11. I got in the air, immediately lifted off, headed to the Green Monster and arrived with plenty of height above the windsock. I felt confident that there was plenty of lift. I was even with the cliff by the time I reached the Church and was still climbing. I must have climbed 500 feet above the cliff before deciding to get on the speed bar and head out to the Ocean. Keeping an eye on the beach I tried to stay right above it but noticed that I was being blown, ever so slightly, towards the cliff & decided to drop altitude. Up high the winds seemed much stronger & although I wasn't backing up I noticed the difference in forward speed & decided to stay at the lower altitude where I knew I had plenty of penetration without the speed bar.

At one point I decided to head off towards Ft. Funston but turned around because I was barely moving at some points. A quick turn & I understood why, the winds were really North, it was easy to get back to the Dumps.

The last time I flew I lost one of my gloves. This time I felt the pain. I wore a set of Newmans I use for jumping & quickly realized that they don't protect against the wind. I could have easily stayed up longer but decided to land after 45 minutes because my hands were cold.

High 5 Dingo

Earlier in the year, Dingo flying at the Church off the cliffs at Pacifica. Arnel & Amanda on the ground. JJ taking pictures.

End of July thru end of September 2008 were really nice flying times. We met at the dumps after work & flew until it got dark around 9:30pm. When the winds were from the West at 8-12 mph my phone would begin ringing. Text messages would start coming in & by 5:30 most of the gang would be at the parking lot at Mussel Rock. The train ride from work to home is roughly 10-15 minutes depending on if I have to wait on a train to arrive. My gear is ready to go therefore I spend about 10 minutes at home, jump in the car & the drive to the dumps in about 25 minutes. It's another 10 minute walk from the parking lot to Walkers Launch. Within an hour of leaving work I'm standing at the launch area ready to fly. This is defenitely the best dicovery I have made in quite some time. Flying on a daily basis for hours on end!

Now it gets dark at 5:00pm. I look forward to the spring.

Change

Looking out my winow at work. December 4th will be my last day at this window. Team consolidation dictates that I move to a cubicle with no window.

Random Pictures

Pacifica Paragliding

It's been a while. I hung up hang-gliding and sold my wing shortly after breaking my arm. I've done a couple of tandem hang-glider flights with Mike at Ft. Funston. I took the money from the hang-glider, bought new skydiving gear & headed off to Byron. I spent the summer learning to free-fly with my buddy, Zack. We made about 100 sit jumps over the summer & learned to fly relative to each other, take docks & be safe about it.

I've moved on down the road a few miles from Ft. Funston to Mussel Rock in Pacifica. Zack gave me some pointers on paragliding, lent me his wing & off I went. I've now got 11 hours of paragliding at the Dumps in Pacifica. It's as fun as skydiving.

In September I went ahead & ordered an Ozone Rush 2. It's fast but still slower than a skydiving canopy. My maiden flight lasted 2 hours, 40 minutes. I spent 2 hours in the air on the second flight and yesterday after a month off I spent a whopping 2 minutes in the air. I took off from Walkers Launch & it was a sled ride to the Beach. I decided to take the week off work & am hoping the winds are good for some flights.