First Flight of 2009 - Cayucos

January 2, 2009

NOAA was calling for peak winds of 14 mph at 1:00 pm. Seemed like a marginal call, as 14 would probably not be enough to soar and the last time we went with a similar forecast--it was dead. We decided to go for it anyway. Jen and I met John at the LZ and we headed up to the hill. By the time we got up there, it was blowing 22-31 mph. We gave John an assist at launch and he was off. There was no way I was going to launch my F3 in this wind. We watched John as he parked his glider into the wind. It was clear that he could penetrate with his double surface glider--but not by much. After waiting about 20 minutes, the wind had calmed down and I launched. I was able to get about 150 feet over launch but not much more. I flew around the hill for a while, circling over Jen and the truck.


Cayucos - January 2, 2008 from henderthing on Vimeo.

The weather was starting to change, and small wispy puffs of cloud were blowing beneath me. That's where I should have stayed. After about 10 minutes of playing at the hill, I decided to head south to the knob. I didn't arrive with enough altitude and had to land. Nice flight with an uneventful landing. Could've been longer though! Airtime: 12 minutes

I now have my 10 hours of airtime for my H3 rating (+7 minutes). Just gotta take that test.