[Bob Kuczewski]

It was a pretty good day at Crestline today (and probably still is as I'm writing this).

Several hang gliders and a few paragliders went up on Joe's shuttle at noon. Some of the HG's sunk out, but some got up. The paragliders had similar results. The problem was that the overcast was too thick for strong thermal development. So I waited for the sun to break through a little more. But eventually, I decided to go anyway, and I should have waited just a little longer. I got a nice flight of about 20 minutes, but shortly after I landed the sky started showing a lot more blue and a good mix of small puffy cumulus clouds.

Anyway, here are some pictures taken from my video camera ...

Hooking into the glider ( I was launching alone as the last one on the hill ):

v005_00m15s.jpg (33.21 KiB) Viewed 3306 times

Walking down to launch in front of the parking lot barriers:

v005_01m47s.jpg (30.49 KiB) Viewed 3306 times

Hook-In Check just before launch:

v005_03m38s.jpg (39.36 KiB) Viewed 3306 times

Launch Run:

v005_04m24s.jpg (39.16 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

Flying:

v005_04m39s.jpg (25.9 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

v005_04m57s.jpg (36.96 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

v005_06m34s.jpg (28.59 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

v005_08m03s.jpg (33.38 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

v005_09m17s.jpg (34.2 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

v005_09m44s.jpg (33.98 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

v005_09m54s.jpg (44.19 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

v005_10m42s.jpg (29.49 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

v005_10m43s.jpg (28.32 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

Getting ready to land:

v005_18m04s.jpg (49.51 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

Looking at the LZ ahead:

v005_18m06s.jpg (40.98 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

Still working a little lift:

v005_18m19s.jpg (51.5 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

Looking at the LZ again:

v005_18m48s.jpg (41.37 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

University in the background:

v005_19m23s.jpg (37.06 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

Still working some light lift hoping to get back up:

v005_19m42s.jpg (23.77 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

v005_20m29s.jpg (57.46 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

Flying upright for the approach (I should mount my vario lower):

v005_22m58s.jpg (41.95 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

Looking at "The Ranch":

v005_23m10s.jpg (42.65 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

Short Final:

v005_23m29s.jpg (48.81 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

Mild Flare:

v005_23m40s.jpg (31.13 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

Unhooking (note the nice plush grass on the Andy Jackson LZ )

v005_24m50s.jpg (42.18 KiB) Viewed 3305 times

[majiemae]

Crestline's nice, and the pictures are very good - but the Torrey Pines pictures are prettier. Maybe I just like pictures of the coast more than the desert.

Glad to see you had two great days of flying.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Crestline's nice, and the pictures are very good - but the Torrey Pines pictures are prettier. Maybe I just like pictures of the coast more than the desert.

So which flights did you like better ... Torrey, Crestline, or Wallaby?

Glad to see you had two great days of flying.

Make that three days. I had a good long flight from Crestline yesterday, Unfortunately, I must have messed up when I started my camera because it only recorded about a second of video for the whole flight.      I'll have to be more careful in the future.

[majiemae]

hmmmm... let's see, Crestline was awesome - because it was my first and very exciting.

Then there's flying over the ocean and La Jolla - amazing! And breath-taking! Whew!

But, Wallaby Ranch... there's something to be said for flying over a flat, green and beautiful state like Florida.

It's really hard to say which I liked best. They were all so different and had features that can't be compared to any other.

I'm just really grateful for having done them at all. I suppose Torrey only because I'm passionate about the ocean - but that's only by a thin margin.

I can't think of too many sports that can arouse such emotion.

[Bob Kuczewski]

I had a good long flight from Crestline yesterday, Unfortunately, I must have messed up when I started my camera because it only recorded about a second of video for the whole flight.

It looks like I was wrong. When I checked the video camera, it looked like there was only about a second of video, but when I downloaded it, the entire flight was there. You can see the photos from yesterday's flight at:

http://ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1049