reluctantsparrow wrote:coming down here to the point has been a real "wake-up" call for me.......OMG!
Now I am experiencing what a lot of you are up against....
7 am....rise and shine....set up glider....
8 am...ready to fly....air is smooth but already full of bags
9 am....even more bags...I count about 20 of them....Lots of hangies set up but only one brave enough to fly....the rest of us just wait, hoping the winds will increase enough to blow the bags out of the sky....so we wait....and wait....and wait....
12 am....several of the hangs are just breaking down now without ever getting a chance to fly....I count four breaking down on launch....three more take off but get flushed to the lower LZ because of dodging bags......Geezus......I still have not launched.
2 Pm....finally getting strong enough to shut down the bags but the sky is now very turbulent....Dangerous Dave takes off as does my buddy Steve Danielson....looks like rock and roll...
2:30 pm....I say the hell with it and take off....Flybar works great but serious rock and roll air....Dangerous Dave said he considers the air 50 percent fun....50 percent no fun....
I top land after getting my a** kicked and call it a day....the air is really rough.....so now I get it....the bags eat up all the smooth morning air and the hangies are left with the scraps.....how frustrating this must be. I cant imagine living down here and putting up with this every single day.....Why don't they have windows during the morning where the hangs get to fly on the odd hours....paras on the evens....like..
7 to 8....hang gliders only
8 to 9....paragliders only
9 to 10...hangs
10 to 11....paras...
???????????????????????.....
Do the paras realize that hogging all the good air in this manner makes them look like a bunch of pricks to us ground bound hangies that used to be able to enjoy the same smooth air they totally hijack each and every day?
If I lived down here I would be tempted to go against my better judgement and learn to para just so I could get some smooth airtime....even though a hang glider is a far more airworthy craft......HOW frustrating this must be....glad as hell I don't live here...
Here is an old post I put up about POTM in 2012:
Bill Cummings
Post subject: Re: Tooele Hawks Forum
PostPosted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 9:35 am
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Location: Las Cruces NM 88005 (Region 4)
Thanks Bob.
I’m thinking strongly about following Utah’s hwy 6 to Spanish Fork where it connects to Utah Interstate 15, just to the southeast of Utah Lake.
This is my usual route from Las Cruces, NM to Chelan, Washington.
I used to stop and hang glide at South Face Point of the Mountain, Utah.
I once towed up on the north bench before there were any houses. Now there is a whole town on the bench.
I quit going once I flew into a flying box canyon of paragliders at South Face.

With eight or nine PG’s kiting on the rim and several flying north in a row I was over taking a PG’er ahead of me and flying south. I couldn’t get over, I couldn’t get under, I couldn’t go right and land, and I couldn’t turn out and around in front of the PG’ers flying north. I had to dive down hill and skim the ground and go under the PG’ers going north to avoid the PG pilot I was overtaking. I landed and decided to “bag it and drag it,” and never fly there again. I used to love it there.

I’m thinking that the Stockton Bar on the south face would have early morning south winds due to the Great Salt Lake that causes the early morning south winds at Point of the Mountain.
The big lake heats up all day and lifts off all night and into the following morning drawing the wind out of the south toward the lake.
Now all I have to find out is ---is it also crowded at the Stockton Bar? If not I may stop by during the last few days of June.
So Tooele Hawks---What is the traffic like on the Bar?

Bill C. H4, 30448