17-24 June 2016
This is the fourteenth year for this paragliding competition held at Woodrat Mountain in southern Oregon near Medford. C.J. has been to all of them and I've been to most (missed a few due to work). I think, however, that this is the first year that C.J. has really been participating rather than competing. Her back was giving her trouble so she decided that her goal would be to fly as long as possible until she was no longer comfortable, then land at the Longsword Winery where most of the goals were located anyway. It worked out well for her. I went along as a volunteer as usual; I helped "fluff" wings on launch and kept the garbage cans from overflowing at the headquarters, Gail and Mike Hailey's house in Ruch. Gabriel Schwarzmann took our picture just inside the door to HQ (left). This was the second year in a row that all eight days of the meet were flyable. However, I did little flying during the middle of the day and our busy schedule did not allow much opportunity for flying the evening glassoff, either.
17 Jun, Friday - left at 0830, stopped for gas and a McDonald's mocha frappe in
Roseburg. Got to RR HQ shortly after 1700, in time for the volunteer meeting.
On the way down Barbara had called to say that it was going to be cold and that
Teri and Geoff had offered us a room for the night. We picked up a couple
slices of pizza and a small container of chicken salad at the Ruch Store and
heated the pizza up in the microwave at Teri's. They were out to dinner and
didn't get back until around 2200. Barb stopped in to visit after her
meditation group. |
| Photo by Gabriel Schwarzmann |
18 Jun, Saturday - We went over to the yurt to cook oatmeal for breakfast then headed for HQ for the 0930 meeting. It was cold, as expected. We rode up to launch with David Le in the big, white van he was driving and I helped "fluff" wings for the 31 superclinic students, the Race and the Sprint (and probably a bunch of free-flyers, as well, including CC and Cathy who were there to fly tandem). I drove a truck down to Longsword for a hang glider pilot since it was windy and I didn't want to fly. David picked me up as promised and we returned to the HQ. It was pretty early and both C.J. and I were glad when the staff put out some chips and salsa to snack on. C.J. had had some problem with getting the new message on her Delorme InReach and worked with Eric ? to figure out what had to be done. After the big pilots meeting there was a baked potato buffet and I served the cheese sauce, sausage gravy and sausage bits. There was also a big salad bar and then brownies for dessert. A couple of volunteers helped me with emptying the HQ garbage cans, much appreciated.
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| Pilot Meeting on Woodrat Launch, C.J. is near center right |
19 Jun, Sunday - We shared breakfast with Chris and went in early enough so that C.J. could get connected to the inadequate internet at HQ and download the update for her Delorme. After another relatively short pilots meeting we waited until the school bus arrived to take us to launch. It was warmer on launch on Sunday, but not t-shirt weather. I fluffed until everyone had launched and then thought about flying. However, when I was ready there was a big gaggle of pilots sinking out over Hunter's. And then, when they started to climb, it got somewhat windy on launch. Most of the Superclinic people who had considered relaunching packed up instead. David Le asked me to drive the white van down so he could fly. I took a load down and hung out at HQ until the Hunter Charity Dinner at 1715 prepared by the local RVHPA. Later I got some help with garbage duty and took a shower. C.J. had attended a mentoring session by local pilot Jared about flying in the Woodrat area. We got back to the yurt around 2030 and C.J. took a bath and I just loafed around reading.
20 Jun, Mon – I wasn’t on duty for fluffing so I flew. I got a ride back up with the Superclinic van. David Le asked me to take over driving the white van, at least down to HQ. I took the few people who didn’t want to launch, including Lori Dirks. Later, A lot of people wanted to fly glassoff so I got in line for the available transportation. Thanks to some generous pilot, we got to use his truck – the white van and the Civil van were full. At launch the conditions were light and crossed from the north. A couple of people launched to the west but they barely made it around to the north side. Kari took off from the sketchy north launch and stayed on the north eventually getting up to the upper launch. A bunch of folks gave up on the midlaunch and went to the top where people were getting high. I stayed until 1915 or so then gave up and got a ride down in the Civil van. Gail opened the kitchen long enough to get me a meat patty and all the fixin's.
21 Jun, Tuesday – Up late at 0715 since we didn’t have to be
at the HQ until shortly before 0900 when the Penske truck was scheduled to
leave for launch with our wings. Oatmeal with mango for a change. At launch I
helped launch the Super Clinic students and since they seemed to be soaring in
friendly air, I took off at 1250. Almost all launches were from the north
launch. I managed to get up over launch by about 400 feet then I headed off
toward Rabes Ridge. I had a couple of tip collapses, so apparently the air
wasn’t as smooth as it had appeared. I got to the Ridge at about the level of
the M/W tower, too low to catch any good lift. I turned back to Hunters and
landed short of the upper field, but it was only a short walk to the gate. I
packed up in the oak shade just outside the fence. I didn’t have long to wait
for a ride up as Sonia showed up with a big pickup truck. Julie and I rode up
in the back and talked about our trips to Colombia. [I had launched right after
Julie and landed just a moment before her.] The Sprint group was already
launching when I got to the launch. C.J. was near the end of the line and the
wind switched just as she was ready to go. She went over to the west launch and
got off on her second inflation (video on phone). I hung around a while longer
helping the Superclinic and hiding out in the shade from the broiling sun.
Around 1600 I drove HG Orv’s truck down to the HQ. C.J. had flown to Burnt,
Rabes and then, with her back aching, landed at Longsword. It took a while
before she got a ride back to HQ, just before I sent her a text asking if she
needed a ride. Back at HQ I finished the re-install of my Microsoft Office,
probably a waste of time as I have to return this computer to get a new
motherboard so that the “sleep” power option will work. Dinner at Red Lily
winery at 1830. I had a glass of Red Lily Cuvee and C.J had a Blood Orange Ale
(10). The dinner of tri-tip, pulled pork, pork ribs and chicken was very good
(15).
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| Sprint task board for 22 Jun |
23 Jun, Thu – After oatmeal with mango and pear we drove in
around 0800 to HQ. We checked the scores and C.J. was right in the middle of
the group at 26th place; she was second in the list of women sprint
pilots. We rode up on the school bus as usual. There wasn’t anything to do for
a volunteer so when C.J. suggested I fly with Michelle and Janie, I started
getting ready. The whole group of superclinic students seemed to be getting
ready at the same time. I launched at 1100 and found lift out in front which
took me to over 4000 ft. Then I pushed across to the M/W tower and came in
above it; there was lift as usual and I was able to climb up onto Rabe’s Ridge
and then to 5300 in strong (1070 fpm) lift. There were clouds above me but they
did not look like the kind that suck you up, nevertheless, I headed to Baldy
and arrived above the top and burbled along almost to the Burnt turnpoint. Then
I turned south and flew to Mid and then thought about going to Longsword where
Kari had reported being at 5400. But there wasn’t any help from thermals as I flew
in the direction so I turned back and landed at Hunters (0:35). Michelle and
Janie were already packed up. I got a ride back up to launch after dropping off
my wing at HQ. C.J. was just getting ready to launch and later I saw her in the
gaggle and then forging ahead as the Start window opened. I rode down with Tony
from Alberta and ? to HQ. I grabbed a shower while it wasn’t busy (and was
still working) then started to record my flight. C.J. called to say she had
landed off the main road but only 7 km from the goal at Donato’s. I headed
over there with her coordinates but the GPS would not show a road route to her
location – apparently the roads/driveways were newer than the GPS database. I tried the
car Garmin and Google Maps on my phone but no luck. Finally I hooked up the
mobile 2m radio and called her on 146.55Mhz. That lessened some of the
frustration but did not get me any closer. Finally she asked the landowner and
he gave me his address and directions. It turned out that the access was off
Dark Hollow Road and not Pioneer where I was. It was easy then to find the
landowner’s driveway which had a couple of big temporary signs (5305). C.J. got
a ride out to the road and we headed back via Jacksonville so we could get gas.
Unfortunately the one local station was out of regular unleaded; fortunately the
pilot we picked up along the road bought us ice cream at Ray’s Market. Back at
HQ C.J. uploaded her tracklog and I emptied the garbage cans. Dinner at
Longsword was tacos prepared by a new vendor that Gail was trying out.
There were three kinds of seasoned meat, refried beans, Spanish rice and a foil
packet of warm 4-inch flour tortillas and a drink (beer or wine) was included
(not a small thing since a glass of wine at Longsword usually costs $8). We got
back about the same time Barbara did.
24 Jun, Fri – Breakfast and on to HQ, up on the school bus.
I hung out waiting for people to start launching then helped fluff wings.
Everyone was off by 1300. I drove Sam’s van down to HQ, took a shower and
waited to see if C.J. would make it to goal at Donato’s. Nope, she called and
said the air had been ugly and she had made a couple of turnpoints but did not
want to go way in to Sugar so she landed (to the east!) at Longsword. I went
into West Medford to get gas at the Mobil station near Albertson’s – it was a
couple miles farther than Jacksonville but the price was 20 cents per gallon
cheaper. I bought enough to get us to Roseburg, about 100 miles. C.J. was back
by the time I returned but she had misplaced her phone. We looked in her wing
pack which was under a pile of wings in the Penske truck with no luck. Then we
drove over to Longsword and it was still on the arm of a chair where she must
have left it. We hung out there with David Blizzard, Wendy and Kari Castle and David bought us a
Fentiman’s Ginger Beer which was good. It was 1630 by then so we went back to
the HQ so C.J. could get a shower before we went to the Upper Humbug Fish Fry
that Barb, Teri and Geoff were doing for us. Chris arrived a bit late but the
corn took a little longer to roast on the charcoal grill anyway. Teri roasted
the salmon fillets that Barbara bought at Albertson’s, and there was a kale
salad with some lettuce, chopped cashews and nutritional yeast. We brought over
our bottle of heavy cream to whip for topping for Teri’s peach and blackberry
cobbler. I asked Barbara to take a look at what I was planning to do
with the cracked doorstep of the yurt. After cleaning out the crack we were able
to clamp it almost closed; maybe putting glue in the crack before we put
tighten the clamps and screws will help hold it together. Someone had tried
just glue and that had not worked.
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| RR banner and Ninkasi beer trailer |
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| Trophies and local wine prizes |
There were big
pans of teriyaki chicken, pork and beef. I was serving pulled pork on the second shift. In addition,
there were vegetables, Hawaiian rolls and salads. Later, after the awards
ceremony there were two big sheet cakes and strawberry shortcake. C.J. was just
37 points out of third place for the Sprint women even though she had been
flying only for personal goals, not the whole course. Owen Shoemaker took
second for the Race even after having to deploy his reserve on the last day (as
did three of the six top finishers. Francisco Montares from Argentina took the
top place, Andy McCrae third. After emptying garbage a final time, C.J. and I
went back to the yurt.
26 Jun, Sun – After breakfast we moved some furniture and
pulled the rug back from the door of the yurt so I could drill holes in the threshold/doorsill
with the pockethole drill bit. Chris put the two large clamps on (the other two
I brought were not big enough) and closed up the crack after we liberally
doused it with waterproof wood glue. I put in five 2½ inch x 8 screws.
Hopefully that will hold it together. If not, then next year (or August, if we
go to the FFFF) I’ll bring 3-in x 10 screws and more clamps. We started home
around 1030, stopped for gas in Roseburg (2.229), a frappe’ in Vancouver and
gas again in Tumwater (2.459). It took more than ten hours due to slow traffic
on I-5 here and there. Just north of Olympia (exit 111) we got off and took a
detour through Yelm, Roy and back to SR 512 to avoid a jam that stretched to
Mounts Road (near JBLM). It may not have been any faster but it was interesting and saved on wear and tear due to frustration in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Home around 2030.
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