9 July 2009, Thursday - We got to Chelan early enough to set up our camp on the green grass (clue no. 1) of the horseshoe court near a bunch of other tents. Since it was Chelan we didn't put up the fly (clue no.2). The pilots' meeting was just ending as we got up to launch and we spent the next five hours (there were some re-launches) keeping the launches safe and more-or-less orderly. Conditions were pretty "big" with lots of flat-bottomed Cu's and later some towering CuNim's with at least one lightning flash. Even after lunch and a rest in the shade we were too beat to fly our own wings so we went down to hang out at the soccer field LZ where people were returning from great flights (or not returning - Sam Mulder had flown his pg to Creston and Meredyth was out at Wilbur!). Later we headed back to camp and found out why people protected their tents with flies - the sprinkler from the adjacent softball field had soaked our tent. Fortunately, we had only our pads and clothing bags in the tent and it was early enough for the sun to dry everything out. Chris A. joined us late for dinner (he had to rescue his tent which had blown away at Beebe). Before bedtime, Joe Jackson put a big rock in front of the sprinkler to keep the worst of the spray off of everyone - it worked pretty well, only two water streams hit us overnight - and, by then of course we had our fly on the tent.
10 July 2009, Friday - After breakfast we hung out in the campground until it was time to leave for the pilots' meeting. On the launch it was more of the same as yesterday but maybe even more dust devils. There was a time when none of the hang gliders were launching - the thermal appeared to be far out in front of Between-the-Rocks and no wind was flowing up the launch. Some people made the rounds of all the possible takeoffs with their gliders and ended up back at Green Monster. Still when we got the reports later, many pilots had great flights (Steve Stroming, for example, flew Withrow, Mansfield and back to the Butte; Brian Webb went to Withrow, Leahy and back to the soccer field). Around 1600, after lunch and a rest break, C.J. launched from Lakeside and got up over 9000 ft at the Butte, then made a run at the flats but turned back when the air started feeling funny. I met her at the soccer field and we hung out there until the BBQ was over around 2100. Pilots were still arriving from distant, or slow, triangles even after most of the burgers and brats were gone (Claudio was one - his route was Withrow, Sims and back, something that a hang glider would be happy with.)
11 July 2009, Saturday - Darren had to return to Seattle for a job so he turned the awards ceremony over to C.J.
She did a great job, getting each placing pilot to tell one story from the comp.
Sunny Jim told about dancing with the (dust) devil which resulted in a bent outboard leading edge, Naomi recounted her low save and flight to Withrow, Mansfield and back with Peter just ahead of her, both on Falcons. Later several of the competitors headed up the Butte and we found lots of PGs up there as well. But no one had launched (it was only 1130 or so) and it was already very hot, so C.J. and I decided to head home. First we stocked up on local cherries at Red Apple ($1/lb), then stopped at Aerial Paragliding's SIV clinic in the Entiat park to see how Patricia was doing (great!, as it turned out). The rest of the trip home seemed kind of long but when we got home there was still time to do some laundry and hang it out in the wind and sun while starting to water the dry garden.
No comments:
Post a Comment