Sled Run at Cayucos

December 7, 2008

John and I decided to meet at the Cayucos LZ on Sunday. We're still trying to figure out how to reliably predict conditions for Cayucos. NOAA has a Cayucos report, and a marine report, and there's always a pretty big difference in forecasted wind speed. Jen came along to drive and take some pictures. When we arrived the wind was pretty much west at maybe 3-5 mph. We loaded the truck and headed to launch. While we waited for conditions to improve, a couple PG pilots launched into the light breeze, and flew straight to the LZ. A little while later, John chose to launch his paraglider. I decided that a short flight is better than no flight, and set up after John landed.


Cayucos Sled Run 12/07/08 from henderthing on Vimeo.

As expected, it was a sled run. I would have to land on the beach north of where I wanted to. That's where the exciting moment came. As I was coming out of a U-turn onto final, I went to move my hands from the basetube to the downtubes. I was pulled in for speed, and whacked each hand pretty hard on the wire that runs from the control frame to the keel. This caused not only a lapse in glider control--but in the case of my left hand--really caused the nose to pop and mush to the right. This could have been pretty bad if I were a bit lower. As it was, I had just enough time to turn and bring some speed back for my landing. I will definitely be looking out for those wires in the future!

Total airtime was 2 minutes and 46 seconds. This brings my remaining airtime required for my H3 to 5 minutes. Hopefully that will be accounted for in my next flight!