[Bob Kuczewski]

It was a great hang gliding day at Torrey today (May 25th, 2012), and I was lucky to have my video camera along for an hour-long flight. Unfortunately, the video recorder ran out of memory shortly before my landing. But it got great pictures of the rest of the flight.

I flew at least two complete runs from the Gliderport, north to Flat Rock, back south to the Scripps Pier, and returning to the Gliderport. Here are some frames from the video of the flight:

Hook-In check:

v011_3m32s.jpg (39.99 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Ready to Launch:

v011_4m00s.jpg (39.82 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Lift Off:

v011_4m05s.jpg (39.76 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Kick into harness:

v011_4m21s.jpg (29.22 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Great sun through the clouds:

v011_4m26s.jpg (23.49 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Heading north toward the Gliderport:

v011_4m55s.jpg (46.02 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Turning south with Turbo Bob flying his Freedom in the background:

v011_5m23s.jpg (22.18 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Down by the Scripps Pier:

v011_11m58s.jpg (49 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Coming back from the Scripps Pier with "Horizons" in the background:

v011_12m23s.jpg (52.47 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Heading back up toward the Gliderport with location of recent accident just below the left end of my base tube:

v011_13m58s.jpg (43.33 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Back over the Gliderport with the "North Face" in the far background:

v011_15m47s.jpg (43.3 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Up over the "North Face" with Golf Course and Flat (bathtub) Rock in background:

v011_16m42s.jpg (33.44 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Up by the Golf Course:

v011_17m27s.jpg (40.77 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Approaching "Flat Rock" (also known as "Bathtub Rock" because of the square tub carved into it):

v011_20m49s.jpg (36.33 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Looking down on "Flat Rock" with the Torrey Pines State Preserve (now off limits) in the background:

v011_22m05s.jpg (33.92 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Another great shot of the sky with the sun shining through the clouds:

v011_22m14s.jpg (25.82 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Another pass at "Flat Rock" (the bathtub is the little square in the middle of the rock):

v011_22m23s.jpg (44.39 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Heading south again ... the ocean side shots are all pretty similar:

v011_25m40s.jpg (50 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Still heading south:

v011_27m05s.jpg (32.98 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

The point at La Jolla cove in the distance:

v011_27m06s.jpg (19.97 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Flying toward the cliff during a 360 degree turn:

v011_27m16s.jpg (41.47 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Flying back out toward the ocean:

v011_27m23s.jpg (40.71 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Another nice dark shot against the clouds:

v011_28m40s.jpg (20.49 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Back to the Gliderport (right around this time, my washout-mounted camera rotated slightly downward for the rest of the flight):

v011_28m50s.jpg (36.67 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Over the Gliderport looking north toward the "North Face":

v011_29m08s.jpg (40.3 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Turning over the Scripps Pier:

v011_35m47s.jpg (48.79 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

The "Fisheries" building on the corner of the ridge:

v011_36m30s.jpg (44.96 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

A flat section of "Horizons" where spectators often photograph gliders:

v011_37m23s.jpg (40.47 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Looing north from "Horizons" with mansions on the right, and Flat Rock in the far distance:

v011_37m27s.jpg (30.67 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Another mansion (this one used to have its own golf "green" inside the curved path:

v011_38m35s.jpg (44.35 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

The bowl where the paraglider crashed recently. The bowl may be in rotor during northwest winds:

v011_38m59s.jpg (46.08 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

An interestingly shaped mansion just south of the Gliderport:

v011_39m44s.jpg (39.86 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Part of the ridge near the "Southern Rhino Horn":

v011_40m16s.jpg (38.54 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

More of the North Face:

v011_41m32s.jpg (33.73 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Looking north from the North Face to Flat Rock:

v011_42m02s.jpg (18.22 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Back to the Gliderport again:

v011_40m57s.jpg (36.33 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Back to the North Face again:

v011_41m32s.jpg (33.73 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Looking north to Flat Rock again:

v011_42m02s.jpg (18.22 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Getting close to sunset:

v011_42m13s.jpg (33.39 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Back to the Golf Course one more time:

v011_44m57s.jpg (27.18 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Over Flat Rock looking north toward the State Reserve:

v011_48m14s.jpg (34.36 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Looking down on Flat Rock again:

v011_48m28s.jpg (33.17 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Sun reflecting off the waves:

v011_52m28s.jpg (39.19 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

RC glider along the cliff in front of the gliderport:

v011_54m47s.jpg (31.95 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Back to the Gliderport one more time to get ready for a sunset landing:

v011_55m26s.jpg (31.77 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

Sunset from the air just before my camera ran out of memory:

v011_55m46s.jpg (32.69 KiB) Viewed 6631 times

[SamKellner]

Great photos Bob! Thanks.

It's great that you were there for the day made for HG


Sam

[Bob Kuczewski]

It's great that you were there for the day made for HG

It sure was. If you look at the Gliderport shots ... you don't see the usual crowds of paragliders setting up and kiting.

But Steve Rohrbaugh was one of the few PG pilots flying, and in this sequence, I wave to him as he flys by:

v011_4m32s_wave.gif (401.64 KiB) Viewed 6616 times

Steve has pretty much opposed my reforms at Torrey, but there's no sense in not being polite and friendly in the air!!

[majiemae]

Awesome photos!!!

[Bob Kuczewski]

Awesome photos!!!

Thanks Margie. They're all from the Flip, so thanks.

Most people will mount a side view camera at the point where the cross bar meets the leading edge. It's a pretty solid location, and doesn't have too much flex. But the Flip doesn't have a very wide angle lens, so it gets a good shot of the pilot ... but not much else. So recently, I've begun mounting the Flip further out - on the washout struts near the tip. That gives it just enough distance that you can see the scenery around the pilot.

Coincidentally, I just finished a nice flight at Crestline (from Marshall actually), and I'll be posting the photos from that flight in the next half an hour or so.

[majiemae]

All of them are really good, but I love that last shot you got when the camera ran out of memory. I'd enjoy getting a print of that one.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Because these are all from video, they're not very high quality ... even at full resolution. But here's that last one in higher resolution.

v011_55m46s_final_1024.jpg (105.25 KiB) Viewed 6602 times

[majiemae]

Thanks! The image came out good.