First Time Over Launch

January 31, 2009

We brought our new puppy to Santa Barbara for some hang gliding...

As we were setting up, a van and 2 or 3 other vehicles full of PG pilots showed up. We finished setting up and watched the PGs launch to see what the air was like. A few were gaining very little altitude--but in general it didn't look too promising--so we waited a little while. John was first off, and just west of launch he started to climb. I wanted to do the same. I've only been able to extend my flights a little bit in Santa Barbara, never really climb. I made the precarious walk down to launch with my assembled wing. This is one reason some HG pilots choose not to launch here. The path down to launch is steep and loose. Carrying a hang glider down it is an awkward dance. No other PG pilots were interested in launching right away, so I took the next slot. I flew over to where I saw John climb, and sure enough my vario started to beep. I managed to get about 500 feet over launch before losing the thermal or reaching its top. The view over the ridge was spectacular. It's really satisfying to look down on launch. Well--that was about it. For some reason, I didn't manage to get back into that lift and sank rather quickly below launch. I began my flight towards the LZ. There were a couple little pops in front of the front range, but I didn't manage to go up in any of them. There were a number of PG pilots hanging out there, though. Maybe they were too small for my turning radius. So much to learn. Down in the LZ, we noticed a number of HG and PG pilots soaring high over LaCumbre. Later we found out that they were traversing the range between Eliminator and Alternator.

Airtime: 20 minutes


First Time Over Launch in SB! from henderthing on Vimeo.