(photo, left, back of t-shirt, "Load the van!" in
Russian. Thanks, Matt!)
Expecting a hot, sunny day I had dragged out our old 11’x11’ dining fly and our new Alps Mountaineering dome fly to set them up for practice on Friday. However, Saturday dawned cool and cloudy making the shade probably unnecessary. I threw them in the Trooper (and later set the old fly up anyway). There were a couple dozen pilots listening to Matty and Wheely talk about XC tactics and competition when we arrived around 1045. Amazingly we lucked into a parking spot in the lot even though the roadside strip was already filled. We had already figured that the van would be overfull for the ride to the shuttle so we sent our packs up to launch and then set off to walk up the trail. We were passed by three of the pilots in the “hike and fly” race and some hikers going up and down. Launch was still above cloudbase with streamers of clouds drifting quickly up the slope. However, the horse farm below the south launch was occasionally visible and the clouds were breaking up to the north. We hung around for several hours while some tandems and a few individuals took off. Eventually it cleared but very few pilots managed to soar. And the launch conditions often left much to be desired. Then David Byrne launched and found lift and disappeared over launch. By that time it was 1600 or so and the hamburgers and other lunch goodies were calling so we launched even though the cycles had really become light (…but at least they weren’t east anymore). Five or six minutes later we were on the ground…and Dave Byrne was high over the towers. If the flying (for most) wasn’t great, the t-shirts and hamburgers almost made up for it. And the price was right – only $25 for a family and that included three shuttle rides to the top plus a t-shirt and lunch. Organizer Ralph Boirum certainly deserves a round of applause.
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