Linda Salamone's Blog

Friday, August 25, 2006

Wednesday was another halfway decent flying day here in New York... I thought it would be a light lucky thermal day but when I arrived at 2:45pm I saw Doug and Doug several hundred feet above the ridge with speedbars on.... Doug was getting high while Doug was hanging lower. I raced to get my glider set up and Jack had two tandems to do. With Bill's help he was ready right when I was and I launched first. Right away I thought the air was a little trashy- but I got a few hundred over and tried to assess the situation. Doug had landed but Doug was behind the church when Jack and his student launched. I pimped off them a while and watched Doug take a big ride a couple thousand feet over. I was late to get there, but I tried, and only got around 800'. It was up and down, sticky wing stuff most of the time. When Jack and Doug landed, I got low (no one to pimp off of) and it got pretty dicey next to the ridge. So I stayed far away and when I thought I'd have to land, I did wind up catching another "thermal" back to 600' over. Still it was short lived and I gave up the fight after an hour in the air. Jack thought it wasn't rough, Doug thought it was some of the roughest air he'd been in (but he's a weenie), and Doug said it was so so and he like doubled his airtime that day. I caught a body ride up and raced back down to get my wing together for another flight since Ron was having a great time soaring high now. Ed sledded so I gave him a ride back up. Jack and his second student sledded, but then Doug and Doug were up again so I launched in between them for another 25 minutes of a 200' over wonderwind. It was fun doing figure eights around the PGers... Ron and Doug definitely had flight-of-the-day honors to split between them. And I am left wishing I had all the pieces to my old Litespeed....

Monday, August 14, 2006

I was planning to chase the wind in some remote location this past weekend with Mark, but he had prior commitments at the flight park so I took Dave Koehn up on his invite to pilots to fly Utsayantha in Stamford, NY. They were having the first annual "Music on the Mountain" I went to school at Delhi, around 20 miles away, so I know the area well and I have friends there that I love to visit. Emily and I set out on Friday night and got to the dairy farm where I had lived for a semester at around 11pm. We were beat from the drive but stayed up later still to catch up with Candace and her husband Paul. In the morning Emily got to see the workings of a 45 head dairy farm and chase kittens around the barn. I was trying not to get a glimpse of the young pigs whose fate I can't face. Ah well, so we headed to Utz and got there around noon. There was a shuttle going up the mountain and parking below, but with the gliders I got special consideration and drove to launch. There was the makings of a big party going on- vendors and food and crafts, henna tattoos and a sound stage. Lots of people and kids and dogs just getting started. I dropped off the gliders and headed to the LZ where I was supposed to meet Dave. When he and Jenny arrived he gave me the particulars of the site. I haven't flown the NW side, but I have had great flights off the NE side. When we went up top, I got my first good look at the NW launch. Scary. And it was blowing pretty hard and crossing from the north. Not good. So we blew a lot of time and then at around 4 o'clock Dave and I started setting up. By now there were a couple hundred people milling about and we were quite a spectacle. The band that had been playing was giving way to the next on the list, so we had a lot of attention. The mayor of Stamford came over and welcomed me and thanked me for coming. Okay so this was weird! But I was determined to focus on the launch and not let this crowd pressure me into doing something stupid. I chose to fly the Sting since the Litespeed had been giving me launch angst lately. So I tried to watch Dave launch, but the crowd was thick. It appeared to me that he went straight up, and the shallow stretch out to clear ridge was not an issue. He was climbing out fast above and behind us now and I had to yell for people to move so I could get into the slot. It was hard to handle the glider in that much wind, and I launched quickly, hoping to not miss Dave's thermal. I did run out of running room but got clear of the hill and the hit a WALL and felt like a fish on a hook. I had just been gazing at the weeds, not all I could see was sky! How interesting!!! Two seconds later I knew I had made a mistake with the Sting. This was Litespeed air! Oops. Well, I fought with it for a while, got 400' over at times but it was gnarly. Dave was sinking to the mountain again and it did get smoother for a while but I gave him and the mountain wide berth. I had a couple of twangers (mechanical disturbance I think) and the extra space was to spare all the onlookers from any spectacular impacts into the hill. I finally gave up after half an hour and went to check out the LZ. Penetration issues for sure. When I did get out there, to add some more spice to this flight, the N cross to the wind was setting a rotor up right along the LZ and the sock was doing 360s and such. Okay so now I am happy for the Sting because I just aim it at the ground and push up at the last second. The landowner was running out a few minutes later, so excited to see a girl in her field- a first for her. And they were all so nice and Dave landed soon after (he got over 3K) and his girlfriend picked us all up. Bob Murphy joined us then and when he got up top he understood why I said the air was rough. He passed on a flight when he saw how strong it still was. So Emily and I set about enjoying the party that was going on and we danced til past midnight. I had an old friend in one of the bands and caught up with him after he was done playing. It was freezing cold out- huge difference from last week, and the bonfire or dancing was the only way to stay warm. So we headed back to Candace's and slept a few hours and tried to figure out the weather for the next day. We decided on Harris even though Ellenville was close and definitely the best choice. But I have a hard time driving so much on my own so Harris would have to be it. When we got there and I went to take the Litespeed off the car, I noticed a long clean slice in the bag of my Sting. Further investigation revealed that the damage went clear through 3 layers of leading edge and two wraps. It was obviously deliberate. I was crushed to think that someone would do something like that and I hope it was random. Being one of the only vehicle on top of the mountain where there was a lot of beer drinking and pot smoking... well maybe I was just a target. The damage is not really fixable, and a new sail isn't really worthwhile. But the glider is still flyable. I had to fly that after finding way bigger problems with my Litespeed frame. But those problems I knew about, it just suddenly became too late to fix them. So anyhow, by the time I got done screwing around with everything, I got a 20 minute flight to 770' over in some really sweet air and the glider flew GREAT. Mukrim, Ron, Doug, Jim, Ed, Louis... 2 other PGs.... it was fun and Ron and Ed and Doug really took a lot of time trying to solve my many many many problems.... Emily watched 3 movies in that span of time and we drove home with a renewed respect for each other. So even though it wasn't the weekend that I had planned, I got to see old friends, fly a new site, reconnect with my wayward daughter, and dance like a white girl.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

I'm stuck in Rochester, NY while a bunch of my buddies are slogging it out in the heat of Big Spring, Texas. But, I am picking up some serious airtime. Yesterday looked so nice for Hammondsport I left work early. Steve B. was a speck when I got there. Ed was unhappy in the LZ - I was late and he was stuck watching Steve get high. But we got up top fast and set up like nobody's business and I think I was in the by 3:30. I had another sqeaker launch. Level and all, but just no speed. There was a hawk climbing right over the slot slowly so I may have been in a shadow of a thermal, but this low slow launch thing is a great concern of mine now. Anyhow, I was below launch thinking I really screwed up, but I gained some slowly and held on to the ridge tightly. I finally found a weak climb in the big north bowl that turned awesome when it cracked through 1000' over. Then it was strong lift and easy to stay way over. Everywhere I went. I watched Ed launch and he soared the ridge the whole time. I got to almost 3500' over but just couldn't get to the clouds. It was too cold up there and I figured I could explore from less than that altitude anyways. I was thinking about everyone flying the big task in Texas, and I knew in a way I was sharing the air with them. I drove out into the valley and went over the old Hickory Hills campground and got to 4000' over and pretty much stayed there, shivering my ass off. I saw Steve way over Bath and decided to go say hi since it seemed that the only clouds left were around us there. He had about 800 feet on me so I decided to save face and head back to the ridge. It looked like Ed was packing up and ready to drive up top anyways. When I headed back I lost so much altitude that I was ridge level behind the church. I saw that Ed had no car there. I took a run towards launch and started to get back up again thinking I would top land and go get him. But as I tried to climb high enough I eventually saw him appear on launch with Mark, so I stayed up to fly with him. I was so tired after 2.5 hours of flying and it seemed to take forever for Mark to launch. But he finally launched and we flew around a while and after 3.5 hours I just figured I should try for 4 hours so I stayed in the air. I looked and saw a car in the LZ so I knew I didn't have to worry about where to land. We stayed at 300-600' over in this wonderwind and James W launched. He was flying that Falcon really fast so I thought he would sink out but he scratched and got up and joined us. My back was screaming and my feet ( I even had SHOES on this time!) ached! But I made sure my vario recorded 4 hours when I set up to land. It was an interesting downhill landing but I pulled it off okay. Ed got us all to our cars and we went to Bin Bins... never thought I would want to eat there again. After the second helping I wondered aloud where Steve was. It was his idea to go to dinner. After the third and fourth helping I wondered again. Now I was worried. After my second dessert run, I was sure the guy was dead in a ditch somewhere. Kind of a bummer because he's sort of grown on me. I washed the smelly shrimp skin smell off my hands in the bathroom and when I emerged I found out what happened to Steve. Seems he was the victim of a little road rage incident and he was across the street at the Bath police station trying to sort out the legalities of rear-ending someone. Well, we'll wrap that drama up as it unfolds in the next few weeks. So yeah 4 hours, 4K over, all over town and mountains. Good flying day.
On the Texas front, my favorite competitor, Jeff O'Brien, is kicking some ass. His blog is linked onto mine. So cheer him on along with our locals: Jack and Marcelo. He seems to be in the running for a slot on the US Men's Team. That would be cool because I can say I knew him when he was a poor lost soul looking for a driver in the Nationals a few years ago. Go Jeff!

Monday, August 07, 2006

What a great mountain flying weekend here in Upstate New York! Friday was very strong at H-port so I waited til later to leave work and head down. Maybe a mistake- Dan W was getting some air, although not very high when I arrived, he eventually flew to Corning. Ed J was set up already and took the next window and it was getting nice- or so we thought. When Ron K got into the window it started blowing like stink. So we waited it out a while and watched Ed get his ass kicked. It all changed around the same time Karl and Katrin and Andrew got there. Doug and Doug(?) were the latecomers. I got about 55 minutes in strong wondering conditions, got about 600 over and just had a great time until I got to low to try to scratch back up. Ron was all over the rest of us, and everyone has interesting landings down at the church.

Saturday was looking like it would be nice at the flight park but I opted for a run down south. After checking H-port and Mossy (no corn in the LZ there!!!) we wound up at the Cliffs- one of my most favoritest mountains. That's like more better, I guess. Anyways, it was blowing in pretty nice when we got there, and when Doug and Jim K launched. But their flights were a little short and Ed backed out of the slot and I was up. Dan W totally goaded me off launch and two steps into it, I knew I was screwed. I turned left out of habit there, and I maybe should have turned right. Anyhow, I was on the ground in record time, in a field just out front of the river. Nice LZ! Some kids on 4 wheelers gave me a ride with my harness back to where Doug was packing up, after I stowed the Litespeed by the treeline and headed back up top with my harness and vario. I watched the ridge as Ed launched and got high. When we came around the back we saw that Dan had launched and was getting high. Damn! I threw my Sting together in record time and it was HONKING into launch. Andrew had launched and Karl and Katrin both launched ahead of me . When I got out I could see right away this was going to be rough. It was for the first 500 feet but it got smoother over that. I tried to just dog Dan and stay on top of him.... surprisingly easy to do. Later he said it was all my hot air in the LZ that made it blow in up there. Dickhead. So we all boated around both ridges and I waited til everyone but Karl landed. After 1 and a half hours, I got tired of waiting for his feet to be safely on the ground so I hunted him down on the east ridge and took advantage of the ridge rules to gently NUDGE him into a safe landing. Everyone had landed in our new LZ, and since maybe it is owned by Senator Smith as well, we can hopefully use it as one. It would be great for the PG pilots, for sure. So we all headed to dinner and Dan apologized for "underestimating" my abilities earlier. Like I said: dickhead.

So Italy was the call for Sunday. When I got there I saw no one, and I waited a little while in the LZ for K&K to arrive. But I got impatient and headed up. Dan S was set up and Scott R was about to carry in so I dropped both gliders at launch (just in case!) and set up the Litespeed. Karl and Katrin arrived, Louis and Pete and John (PGs) showed up. Lon showed up... and Dan launched his Atos. Scott was brave enough to be next although Dan was not getting high. Scott proceeded to get high though so I got into the slot. My launch... well same as all my launches on the topless glider lately: kinda shitty and slow. I am always scraping the bottom of the launches and I think I actually hit greenery on this one. Italy is overgrown, for sure, but it's steep, and I have no excuse for slipping out so low like that. I need to evaluate my run and my VG setting. Anyhow, it took me a bit to get comfortable above the ridge, and it was short lived. Saturday was a busy- air flight and this was even busier. Typical Italy with a slight South cross. Ratty small thermals to 1000' and brief at that. But we all hung out a while, sometimes I was getting in Scott's way for sure, and Karl and I said HELLO too closely. But the weirdest thing about my flight was that nosing over sensation I have felt in this glider before. Last time I found out it was the nose cone. I think it still is although less dramatically that the whole thing coming undone. But that was very unnerving at times added to the classic Italy crap. After 1:45 I headed out to land instead of trying to scratch back up. My approach was too high I thought but I dropped so fast in the LZ that I was grateful for that extra altitude. I got popped hard after I transitioned and the wind was 100 degrees from what it had been when everyone else had landed so that was weird. But I stuck it on my feet and I was glad for that. Karl and I agreed it was snotty air but Katrin thought it was fine. Lon did awesome!!! on the ridge in all that traffic. I need to check my nose cone, and VG, and work on my launches!!!
Great flying, over 4 hours, and great company. Meesha had a blast and she'll be sleeping this weekend off today!


 
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