[spydermike]

Found these in my old scan folder...probably from when I was back home visiting during college days...reliving my hanggliding start at Kiwanda in 1975 or 76. I gotta get back there. What a sweet spot that is/was. Not sure who the pilot is that I am shooting here.

Having trouble posting pictures - getting an error saying I can't access the file?

[spydermike]

trying again...

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[Bob Kuczewski]

Great pictures Mike!!!!

I first flew Cape Kiwanda in 1978. Those were my first "high" flights after the typical shallow slope training glides.

But my instructor didn't bring us to the famous dune area. Instead, he launched us somewhere along the ridge line for longer flights requiring one or two 180 degree turns to stay above the beach (maybe 30 to 60 seconds per flight). I went back to Kiwanda many years later but could not find the location where we flew.

I do remember (from 1978) that we drove down a dirt road that ended in a small clearing at the edge of the ridge. The launch was fairly steep ... almost like a cliff. There was a "shallower" slope just to the south of launch where (with considerable difficulty) the glider could be carried back up by two dedicated 20-something year olds in prime physical condition. We spent the entire day there (myself and one other student), and working as hard as we could, we each got 3 flights (for a total of 6). I would guess it was taking us 30 to 60 minutes to get the glider back to the top for the next flight.

Does any of that sound familiar to you?

[wingspan33]

Bob (and maybe Mike), If you take a look at Cape Kiwanda in Google Earth you may be able to see (Bob) where you flew from. Google Earth has recently been upgraded to where the terrain now shows in 3D. At least I hadn't noticed this feature until today.

[DaveSchy]

We used to call that area north of the dune the "Crow's Nest". I would drive my '51 panel down from Olympia and we could camp right there(it's houses now).
End of the day we would pack our gliders (Windlord and C5B) up and leave them set up overnight for a morning flydown.
We never got hassled for being there....

[Bill Cummings]

Where did those hassle free days go? I went to Chelan Washington this summer
and there is too much hassle going on there now so I’m thinking I won’t go back
again.
I had spent two to three weeks in Chelan on 18 different trips.
I used to love it there.

[Bob Kuczewski]

We used to call that area north of the dune the "Crow's Nest". I would drive my '51 panel down from Olympia and we could camp right there(it's houses now).
End of the day we would pack our gliders (Windlord and C5B) up and leave them set up overnight for a morning flydown.
We never got hassled for being there....

That sounds like what I remember. I went back around 2004, and I suspected that our previous launch was all houses just as you've reported. Thanks.

Where did those hassle free days go? I went to Chelan Washington this summer and there is too much hassle going on there now so I’m thinking I won’t go back again.
I had spent two to three weeks in Chelan on 18 different trips.
I used to love it there.

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. USHPA has been asleep at the wheel (or worse) for decades now. Their motivation is control ... not freedom. It was during the Paul Montville era that they cooked up the 1984esque slogan "This is Flying. This is Freedom." ... straight from the "Ministry of Truth".

[DaveSchy]

Cloudbase Country Club developed a taste for the U$HPA purple Kool aid and the Dweebus Blob thought he was big news.

The early years of the XC Classic were structured to donate profits to locals like Search and Rescue, then Dweebus Blob used the proceeds to rent an expensive home for him and Bobimba to stay in, and excluded most contestants. Profits went to CBCC to purchase "site insurance" instead. Leftovers went to CBCC, who actually had the gall to brag about it.
CBCC went to the state DNR and made USHPA insurance mandatory, as I am sure you found out from the gestapo in Chelan.
People began flying bags there mid-day with totally predictable results, and the injuries and fatalities added jet fuel to the U$HPA member and "insurance" requirement. The Borg used that model for their pet project, and still use RRRG baloney as a soon to fail negotiating ploy on private land.

Success is futile over the long term, but I won't be surprised if U$HPA fails around the same time as certain individuals retire.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Cloudbase Country Club developed a taste for the U$HPA purple Kool aid and the Dweebus Blob thought he was big news.

The early years of the XC Classic were structured to donate profits to locals like Search and Rescue, then Dweebus Blob used the proceeds to rent an expensive home for him and Bobimba to stay in, and excluded most contestants.

"Dweebus Blob"?

Hmmmm ... it kinda sounds like "Davis Straub"?