Re: Keeping the Faith

From: Kristi
Activity_Date: 4/1/01
Remote Name: 152.163.206.199

Comments

We headed out early this morning around 7:30am from Nordoff High School. As soon as we got to launch, we set up as Eddie encouraged us to launch as soon as possible. It was starting to blow over the back. The wind was so light we were actually considering a front launch. However, there was a good enough cycle for me to reverse launch and I left. I went straight for the ridges to the North none of which had much lift. I passed a few ridges before I found one that was workable. I kept doing figure eights and 360ing when possible. I was very close to the ridge a lot of the time, remembering my tandem flight with Tom T.

After several minutes, maybe even 30, I finally was able to catch a couple of good thermals helping me reach the top of the ridge and over launch. I was in the convergence a few times. Unfortunately, I would lose it and have to climb back out. Each time I tried to go south toward launch, I would get out of the lift and have to head back to my survival knob. Working and working it, getting up, sinking out, climbing up again until I finally made a break for the ridge to the south. I was hoping to fly with Tony and follow him down the pass relying on his guidance. It appeared that it wasn’t launchable as I passed them at launch. So I worked what little lift I could find around there until I lost all hope and headed to a safe lz.

On the way out to the lz, there was a lot of turbulence with strong crosswinds. It was a challenge to manage the wing and make the glide to a nice grassy area. I was fortunate to land in the center of a group of oak trees. It was a beautiful grassy spot landing. I was so thankful I didn’t have to pull my wing out the trees.

I hiked out to the river and met up with Brendan. We waited for Tony and Eddie to pick us up and enjoyed a nice meal and beer at a local restaurant.

I had a good 1:45 minute flight, challenging my skills and perseverance. Thank you Tony for introducing the site!

Kristi Bechtold