Dodging rain with the hawks!

I had already dodged one rain cloud, the second one was coming directly West from the Pacific Ocean. It was grey with rain pouring out of it, sunlight filtering through.

The first rain cloud I noticed was forming over the Golden Gate Bridge. It seemed to appear from nowhere then suddenly there it was pouring rain, a distinctive line of water coming our way. Flying over the Pacifica cliffs I kept an eye on it. The hang glider pilots all headed back to Ft. Funston & the paraglider pilots headed back towards the dumps. I stayed close to the launch site watching Nova doing acro. I could see him stall the wing then spread out the risers as he went into a heli. He'd lose altitude, scratch near the cliff, regain altitude & start over. I watched him do this 4 times & then decided to go back & check out the rain. The cloud was now over Ft. Funston & was heading my way. Then out of nowhere it was sucked into the Sunset district in San Francisco & was no longer a threat.

Flying along the ridge I noticed an area of strong lift. I flew back & forth along it gaining quite a bit of altitude. It was at this point that I noticed Mike's tandem hangglider cruising along at roughly the same height. I shadowed him attempting to gain his attention but there's no way he would know it's me. I kept my distance shadowing him along the West Lake cliffs.

About a half hour later a cloud started forming out to Sea. It starting blowing directly towards us. I decided it was time to land. Flying out to sea I lost plenty of altitude, turned around, came back & landed in the center of the road at Lemmings. I packed up the wing, carried it to Tomcat, bs'd with the guys a bit & it started raining, not 10 minutes after landing. Another great hour and a half flight at Pacifica.
After landing I watched a hawk that was sitting on the fence. Earlier I flew near one that was soaring just off the cliffs near the church. The sight of these birds less than a few yards away with their wings spread soaring in the wind is truly amazing!