Rio Grande Soaring Association Forum
by RobinHastings » Wed Oct 07, 2020 10:56 am
WEATHER FORECAST, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2020: This looks like a flyable weekend for our Columbus Day Fun-Fly. Sunday will be a windy day - we can probably get some flights in if we go up early, with southwest winds hitting 15+ in the LZ around noon. Friday and Saturday look ideal - light to moderate, west and southwest winds, in the 8-10 mph range. Monday, the winds turn WNW and that would be ideal for flights at La Luz. And, of course, since we seem to be in a megadrought right now, there is no hint of rain coming. We should have a pretty good weekend! -Robin
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by RobinHastings » Sun Oct 11, 2020 6:42 am
We've had a wonderful fly-in. Great turnout, great flying, both PG and HG. Great visiting, too. Might be too windy today, but we've had some might fine times. -Robin
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by RobinHastings » Wed Oct 14, 2020 2:33 pm
The 2020 Columbus Day Fun Fly was well attended, considering that we had a blowout forecast for Sunday (which did happen). Friday, we had 6 pilots go up to launch early (me, Nate Wreyford, Mitch Graham, Wyatt Lines, Chris Chayney and John Demptster) and several others in the evening. Lee Boone, Brian Reindl, Jills, Steve Crye, Tony Conger and Chris Grotbeck also attended and got to fly. Attila Plasch, Finis Miller, Nancy Hastings and an onlooker named Barney did the driving for us - we can't thank 'em enough for making it work for those who flew! (Attila's harness was blown out, so he was out of the air this weekend. He still had fun!) Terry Cummings tended the landing zone and brought a more-than-sufficiency of delicious food to share - goulash, spanish rice, apple crisp, salad, desserts... I saw no famished individuals around that table! Friday conditions were clear, with modest winds (10-12 mph at launch) and a haze layer, from all the fires in California and Arizona upwind of us. Temperatures about 80 degrees on launch - can YOU say "global warming"? Pretty comfortable, though. Not a cloud to be seen anywhere. Nate took his T2C cross country south to Oliver Lee State Park, then back to the Cox Field LZ; I made a low save from 6000' MSL up to 11,500, and another from 9000 up to 12,000. Wyatt flew his PG to Tularosa. In the evening, Lee Boone flew his Exxtacy rigid wing and had a blast. Good landing, too. All pilots flew that day, and all the landings and flights were good ones. (John landed out of the LZ near the Space Hall - but safely, so what's there to complain about?) On Saturday the conditions were very similar, but worried about possible strong winds we all launched earlier. Plenty of airtime, though Chris Grotbeck and I were only up about half an hour in our HG's. He had a landing on his knees, as his harness zipper wouldn't release, but his was one of the better landings. Tony got dropped as the wind abruptly changed on him, and Nate and I both experienced a monster thermal on our landing. Nate whacked and had to replace a downtube. I came in on a perfect south approach - and suddenly was 50 feet higher and heading north! Screaming "No! No!" I managed to turn my Sport2 around and get back over the grass of the field - then shot up another 30-40 feet! I was running out of LZ by then, but turned from south to north, hoping to land in the overshoot area - then set it down like a feather, right at the edge of the grass. Whew! Am I a great pilot, or what? (Answer: What.) Lee Boone, of course, set his Exxtacy down 10 minutes later with a perfect west approach. There was more flying that evening (including Lee for a second flight) and Wyatt did some more XC in his PG. There was plenty of visiting that evening after everyone finished supper and Terry headed home; I showed folks Jupiter, Saturn and Mars in my telescope, and Chris Grotbeck gave us an outstanding concert on his guitar. (I sang a few songs with him.) The next day was already too windy by 10:00 am, so everyone headed home by noon - but despite only two days out of four for flying, it was a really fun event! Here's a few pictures to go along with the verbiage... -Robin

- Mitch Graham in flight - first off for the fly-in.
- MitchGraham_Oct9.JPG (30.87 KiB) Viewed 4057 times

- Chris Chayney, second pilot of the day October 9th.
- ChrisChayney_Oct9.JPG (54.88 KiB) Viewed 4057 times

- Nate Wreyford in Cox Field, after an out-and-back on October 9th.
- NateWreyford_Oct9.JPG (85.92 KiB) Viewed 4057 times

- Launch in late morning, October 10, 2020.
- SettingUp_Oct10.JPG (87.17 KiB) Viewed 4057 times

- Brian Reindl launching with Attila Plasch assisting. October 10, 2020.
- Brian&Attila_Oct10.JPG (72.48 KiB) Viewed 4057 times
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by RobinHastings » Thu Dec 31, 2020 1:23 pm
I'll hope to see you then, Nate! It's good to have someone to fly with. Keep the Guads in mind again for Presidents Day weekend. -Robin
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by Bob Kuczewski » Wed Sep 29, 2021 4:55 pm
I've heard a rumor that this year's Columbus Day event will be in memory of Robin Hastings. The dates I've heard are the 8th through the 11th.
Join a National Hang Gliding Organization: US Hawks at ushawks.orgView my rating at: US Hang Gliding Rating SystemEvery human at every point in history has an opportunity to choose courage over cowardice. Look around and you will find that opportunity in your own time.
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by Nate » Sun Oct 03, 2021 11:20 am
I have not heard anything as much as a rumor other than this post. Would love to go but YIKES, that is short notice. Is the road passable again?
I do not know of anyone planning on going to Dry. I know a few folks headed to ABQ for Balloonfest. Most everyone else I know, including myself, are heading to the XC Bohl in Wharton, TX. The wx is looking good this year!!
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by Bob Kuczewski » Mon Oct 04, 2021 3:08 pm
Hi Nate, Many of the RGSA members use a texting service (I don't remember the name) to communicate club events. Robin was very good about posting that kind of news to the RGSA forum here on the U.S. Hawks. There are, of course, pluses and minuses to having several different communication channels. One big plus is that there is redundancy and less centralized control. One minus is that they are not always kept in sync. I'll post a few of the recent club text messages related to the Columbus Day Fly In here: Ty wrote:I'm happy to help. Hang gliding and paragliding has been a staple in my life as far back as I can remember. Cutting the road to dry in 86, landing at the small lz on Indian wells road. I have some very good memories of dry canyon. Later in life Bill (not Cummings) was my father in law before passing away on dry. I definitely have connections to dry canyon and want future pilots to be able to experience this site. Anything I can do to help I gladly will. After talking with the schools I see no issue getting this done for Columbus day fly in. They are removing the survey stakes today. Any questions, feel free to msg me.
Lee wrote:I wanna go!! I need to try out my new harness. Need to be ready for Columbus Day Fun Fly.
Steve wrote: ... We have verbal agreements from the city and APS; written confirmation to follow. A porta-potty will be delivered Thursday. Right now the main thing we need are sturdy 4x4 vehicles. My ankle is still not healed enough to fly, so I'll be driving. I can only be there Saturday and Sunday. The area by the shade structure is owned by the city, first come first serve, the camping ok. The new rules prohibit firearms and alcohol on the LZ.
Tyler wrote:I will be rolling into camp Thursday evening staying through Saturday. ...
Brian wrote:Arriving Thursday eve. ...
I hope those help.
Join a National Hang Gliding Organization: US Hawks at ushawks.orgView my rating at: US Hang Gliding Rating SystemEvery human at every point in history has an opportunity to choose courage over cowardice. Look around and you will find that opportunity in your own time.
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