Session #8

July 17, 2014

Thursday

Conditions – light to moderate <10mph on the beach and about 12 at launch

Cape Kiwanda
Cumulative flights to date: 3
Number of flights this session: 4

Arrived around 10:30AM, light NW just enough to lift the wing half as I was setting up. Another hot day in the valley and I expected fog but it was clear. Signs of a good breeze on the way. Decided to take the trailer to the dune vs. leaving it in the parking area and car topping the glider. Good thing I did because I had not taken the Thule cross bar to mount the rear rack on. Low tide was 6AM or something and high tide was forecast at 8 ft (very high) by 5PM. Did everything I could to keep her out of the sand and did OK for the most part. Only one other glider there which was a beginner that never got on the main dune. Went 2/3 to the top and attempted a launch on the north side of the trough. Didn't get enough speed but got into the air and couldn't keep it level. Ended up stalling the left wing and came down about 10 yds down the hill to a soft stop not even touching the cage, but just the left wing tip I think. Walked it back up and took it to the top. Launched again and got a good, solid flight, well controlled right down to the tarp I had laid out. Got a feel for the pitch and the gradient near the ground, compensated and ran it on in a nice controlled landing with wings level. #2 Went to the top again and did another solid flight, no problem. Trying to maintain awareness of my pitch inputs and also getting into auto mode on the rudders. Still have work to do on both but observers say I looked smooth during my flights. #3 Went to the top again and had another solid flight and landing. Decided the tide was looking threatening and made this my last flight. #4 Another solid flight and landing. The wind velocity on top was light, I'm guessing about 10mph since I had no trouble controlling the wing but only could get in maybe 3 strides before it pulled me off the hill. Very successful day but I don't want to come back here because of the difficult road down, the saltwater on the trailer, the tide pressure and the people. There was a circus at the road access to the beach and I nearly got stuck trying to pull the trailer (with it's narrow wheels) through the soft sand because of the mass of cars parked on the solid sand.

http://youtu.be/9CZsbgipPrc

The video link above was from a clip taken by one of the onlookers that day.  The still photos that follow were taken of the second or third flight.

   

Tim Weaver, a hang pilot I met at the beach sent a CD of still shots he took of those first flights I made.

This shot shows a little of the shoulder straps that allow me to take all the weight of the glider onto my shoulders which frees both hands to either control the rudders, balance the wings level using body torque or keep the nose down when launching.

Here I am ready to start my launch and you can see that I've got both hands up on the diagonals to steady the wings and keep them level. As soon as I'm ready to go, I dropped both hands onto the hang tubes well toward the leading edge to keep the nose from coming up which it wants to do (and it will stall if you let this happen with no downward pressure).

I have just left the ground in this shot and where you see me hanging is about where I set the hang strap length. My forearms are just about parallel to the hang tubes which may seem high but that's where I felt I had the most control.

Notice I've deployed the right rudder, probably to counter a heading just after launch that was taking me too far off the wind to the left just after launching.

Here you see the result of that rudder control move. The rudders are really effective, even at low air speeds.

In this shot I've leveled out again and am trying to manage a smooth turn toward a final glide path to the beach.

Sweet flying glider! Starting to think about a gradient in the breeze as I glide out of the gentle lift band against the dune.

Gliding on in I get ready to run it on and stall the root. The glider was amazingly easy to stop. The tips kept flying as I stalled the root and had no problem catching the glider as I touched down.