Dockweiler RHG Diary

[Bob Kuczewski]

Great Soaring Day Today!!!

This is just one of my 22 flights:

https://youtu.be/O_MMzuEVYQo

[JoeF]

"SuperKiteBob" ... up and down and up and down .....

[Bob Kuczewski]

... up and down and up and down .....

Yes, I was "bobbing" along.   

Here's a screen shot of the audio volume from that 5 minute flight:

Audio_Screen_Shot_400.png (8.99 KiB) Viewed 3024 times

The camera was on a tripod on the ground, so it recorded the ambient wind noise. You can see the bump in audio volume in the last minute of the flight (marked in red). You can also hear it pick up at 4 minutes and 40 seconds into the video. That's when I decided to land.  

You'll also notice that I was able to "hover" in place from about 2 minutes and 20 seconds to about 2 minutes and 50 seconds. It's hard to judge the motion of the glider against the sky, but it's much easier to judge the motion by the shadow on the ground. During that period, the shadow is pretty much stationary.

It was an epic day!! Thanks to Joe, Frank, Supervisor Hahn, and LA County Beaches and Harbors!!  

[Bob Kuczewski]

Forecast for Christmas day 2022:

Dockweiler_Forecast_for_Christmas_2022.png (22.97 KiB) Viewed 2471 times

The National Weather Service is predicting a west wind at 6mph starting at 1pm.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Today I celebrated Christmas at Dockweiler Beach flying Frank's old Condor 225 (Thanks Frank!). As forecast above, the wind was light but from the right direction (generally west). I arrived pretty late in the day, but I had enough time for 10 nice flights:

https://youtu.be/m1UUCKvudmQ

The video of the first flight was taken with the tripod set up on top. Then I used the second flight to fly the camera out to the beach. I tucked the tripod into the keel pocket with the camera running, and I think it mostly captured the velcro pad on the keel (along with the ground rushing past). The other 8 flights were taken with the tripod down on the beach. On the third flight I was calling "Fore" because there was a fellow on the beach practicing his golf shots. There was no danger of me hitting him, but he could have hit me, so I thought it wise to announce my flight.

In addition to the normal site clean up (picking up trash), I spent some time talking to a fellow in college who was very interested in taking up hang gliding. He took a few pictures of my flights, and hung around until I was ready to break down the glider. So I showed him the basics and he helped me pull battens, fold the wings, and roll the sail. I also took a photo for a Dad with his kids down on the beach:

Christmas_at_Dockweiler_Outreach.png (676.36 KiB) Viewed 2415 times

It was a Merry Christmas!!

[Bob Kuczewski]

Today I celebrated Christmas at Dockweiler Beach flying Frank's old Condor 225 (Thanks Frank!). ...

In addition to the normal site clean up (picking up trash), I spent some time talking to a fellow in college who was very interested in taking up hang gliding. He took a few pictures of my flights, and hung around until I was ready to break down the glider. So I showed him the basics and he helped me pull battens, fold the wings, and roll the sail. ...

Here's a photo before we began folding the glider:

Christmas_20221225.png (263.21 KiB) Viewed 2391 times

And speaking of Christmas photos, this was from Christmas day 2017 (see page 7 of this topic). That was the first Chrismas to be celebrated under the new Dockweiler Waiver. Thanks to Joe and Frank for helping make that happen.

Joe_Frank_Bob_Christmas_day_at_Dockweiler_800.jpg (89.31 KiB) Viewed 2387 times

[JoeF]

January 24, 2023
A Condor 225 with Colver and Kuczewski pedigree was put through its paces today in very low wind (though LAX noted 8 mph, the bluff at Dockweiler was much lower than that). Bob noted that careless flights in low headwind that reached the wet sand and seashore incline could get unwanted fly out into the wet Pacific. Today he added S paths to assure dry-sand landing.

Aided in wing assembly by an interested visitor named "Clay" who accepted information about the Windsports school, Bob expressed enjoying the colorful sunset over sea state that was rougher than expected in the low wind day.

[Bob Kuczewski]

The forecast for Dockweiler looks great for Monday:

    13mph from 11am to 1pm
    16mph from 2pm to 4pm
    18mph from 5pm to 7pm

20230319_084844.png (46.16 KiB) Viewed 2132 times

[Bob Kuczewski]

Update at 3am:

20230320_0420.png (63.7 KiB) Viewed 2124 times

[Bob Kuczewski]

Updated by the National Weather Service at 6:18am:

20230320_0618.png (50.62 KiB) Viewed 2121 times

This forecast is looking very consistent.