My Week at the Beach
By
John Kraske
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Three Arches from Maxwell Launch,
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I’ve been attending the Annual Oceanside Fly-In for years
and have always had a lot of fun flying every years, so this year I decided to
take a week off and fly my butt off. Instead, I got my butt kicked.
A good day for hangs off Maxwell. But none here. Just one bag pilot; me. It’s Thursday, April 26th, two
days before the 2012 Annual Oceanside Fly-In and the wind is too strong for me
to launch from Maxwell. Go figure.
Yesterday was gray and miserably wet; depressing.
This morning when I awoke the weather looked promising;
onshore flow and blue sky. Not exactly
what I’d expected after checking the weather forecasts; ninety percent chance
of rain.
I puttered around making breakfast and checking my emails
then booked on down to the vacant lot between Rosanna’s and the Oceanside Community Center 10:30 when I broke out my extra small Ozone Addict. Its
rated for pilots 55 to 70 kg. I scale
in, buck naked, at about 84 kg. Needless
to say, “I’m over the top.” Fast
too. Not hang glider fast, but fast for
a bag. I acquired it from one of my
light weight flying friends, for high wind beach flying. I’m at the beach. And, the wind at Rosanna’s is southwest about
18 to 20 mph, or 40 to 44 kph, for those of you who prefer metric.
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Ross Jacobson glides by at Rosanna’s
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I pulled up and kited to the southwest corner directly in
front of Rosanna’s. Up I went,
scratching along tight to the bank, decks and house fronts. I boated along to the south and back to the
north for a few passes, testing the air; smooth, strong and cross from the
southwest. I landed where I’d launched a
few times before I became more adventurous.
I flew to the north, out in front and over the beach parking lot where I
attempted to bench up the southern face of Maxwell Head. The lift band was narrow, almost
non-existent in front so I probed my way west to the southwest facing, salal shrouded
slope at the point of the head and found some broader lift; fat low lift that
you’d expect on a more horizontal slope. I didn’t want to get too high for fear of
being blown to the north, so I flew to the west, out over the water toward the
three arches, until I achieved a more manageable altitude, banked back to the
east and the low sand bank and landed next to Rosanna’s; nice and easy on the
vacant lot front.
While out over the water I recalled the pilot who had to be
plucked from the frigid waters off Cape Lookout
by the Coast Guard a few years ago. One
of her harness leg buckles would not open and as a result she became tangled in
her lines as she battled the pounding surge and her tenacious tentacled glider.
The Coast Guard Rescue swimmer had to cut her leg strap to free her. Recalling that close call I was glad I had
recently used graphite on all my carabineers and buckles in the event I might
end up in the water. It is the beach,
afterall. I’m thinking this is something
that should be done every few months, especially if flying near salt water and
sand; the beach. I’ve had trouble with
sticky buckles and carabineers in the past, fortunately not in an aquatic
situation.
My next launch from Rosanna’s I worked south, benched up
above the new sewage treatment plant on the southwest facing, pine shrouded
cliff face. From there I banked west to
keep low and out front, eventually working my way to Happy Camp, Netarts and
then to the Netarts boat harbor. The
tide was really low, the channel into Netarts Bay Cape Lookout four miles to the south,
were awe-inspiring. I considered jumping
the channel but figured the wind had too much south in it for the four miles of
dunes to be soarable. For years I’ve
been jonesing to catch a strong westerly and do just that; soar all the way to Cape Lookout and back again. As far as I know it’s only been done by hang
gliders.
From above the boat harbor I
turned back towards Oceanside . My return trip was quick with the southwest
wind pushing from my port quarter. I had
to work to stay low, but not as hard as I did on my south bound route. Back at Oceanside
I buzzed the vacant lot, played the lift band, landed on the beach, kited to
the base of the cliff face and lifted back into flight again.
By 1 o’clock the wind was picking up. I landed and had a cold
one in Rosanna’s. A huge squall was
forming on the distant horizon, heading my way, pushing wind in front of
it. I opted to return to Kathy’s cabin
for some lunch and to empty sand from the wings we’d kited with at Kiwanda last
Sunday. Kathy’s cabin’s west facing yard
is the perfect place for such tasks. I
bundled the now sandless wings on the lawn and sat down for some nourishment
and kept my eye on the conditions. The
rain had started; big slow drops at first.
I rushed to move the balled up wings indoors. As I closed the door the winds cranked, then
the sky opened up and rain pounded down on Oceanside .
I watched as the horizon
brightened up. By 3 o’clock I was back in the air, out front of
Rosanna’s. The wind had clocked around
to the west and was now blowing straight in.
I have to say that I much prefer a southwest direction over west when
the conditions are strong. This time the
lift band was much wider than it was when the wind was cross from the
southwest. I found it much easier to
escape the lift, earlier, when the wind was southwest. All I had to do was bank around to the north
and would quickly loose altitude. With
a strong west blowing the lift band was pretty wide and I didn’t have that same
option. To bank 180 degrees from into
the wind to down wind would put one in the town that is mostly power wires and
buildings. Cross wind escapes help, but
not nearly as much as down wind. I
landed on the beach.
The west wind seemed to be fairly
gusty when I next attempted to launch from Rosanna’s. I took a break and headed to the cabin to
check for phone messages, make a few calls and add to my flight log.
Spring time at the beach can be
very interesting and conditions do change fast.
When I returned to Rosanna’s at about 6:30 p.m. I hooked into my xs wing again, pulled it overhead
and had a quickie to the beach. The wind
had switched back to southwest and had backed down significantly. I hiked back up to the vacant lot and
switched to my medium Niviuk Artik. The
western horizon was clear out front with some squalls farther to the south that
looked like they’d hit land south of Cape Lookout . How quickly spring conditions change. I attempted to get down and land in the
vacant lot as it was obvious the wind had switched to west again and was
quickly picking up velocity. As I put my
left foot on grass I was hit with a gust and lauched up and back, and found
myself looking directly down the chimney of Rosanna’s, two stories above my
intended landing spot. I engaged full
speed bar and still was heading in the wrong direction. Looking behind me at the approaching rotor
zone down wind of Rosanna’s I noticed a tight triangle of space with not quite
enough space for my glider. I reached up
my outside A-lines as far as I could and pulled way big ears and was smacked
down between the power wires just south of and between Rosanna’s and the
Brewing In The Wind/Three Arch Inn. I only just barely managed to avoid all the
various power lines, and got rotored and spun into the concrete hard and
fast. I walked away. Actually, I limped. My wing tip hooked the corner of the front of
the building I’d crashed in front of. I
may or may not have a cracked rib, I definitely have a sore shoulder, a swollen
and bruised wrist, a small tear in my wing tip and two broken lines. A lesson I’d learned from my whitewater
kayak mentor years ago came in handy. “There’s always a door out; when you quit
looking for that door is when you’re in trouble.” That sage advice saved me from going in the
wires and taking out the power for Oceanside . Electric power, that is.
Friday, other pilots began to
arrive. The wind again was too strong for bags to launch from Maxwell, and too
cross for flying at Rosanna’s. As the day wore on a few pilots began flying.
Hangs and one bag from Maxwell. Several
bag pilots attempted Rosanna’s in a light mist.
It worked a little, but could have been better if the wind would have
only clocked around a little more to the west.
It didn’t. I was pretty sore and, as a result, not very sociable.
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Pete White flies away from Maxwell Launch. Three Arches
in the background, offshore.
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By the time Linda, Pete and I
arrived on launch, it was packed with pilots, CPC event volunteers, tandem
students, tourists; the curious. Lots of
tandems were flown, most of them extended sled rides. It was a glorious day, with bright blue skies
and light wind. I flew a tandem for the club and got in several passes south of
launch before heading in for the beach.
The winds were light. On the way
back to launch Kathy, Lisa and Wendy were hoofing it up the road. At launch I contracted a couple CPC pilots,
John Sargent and Dave Cantrell to fly Kathy’s friends and I flew Kathy. Again, these were short flights, but fun never-the-less. That’s pretty much how Saturday went.
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Gannon Launch at
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Sunday looked good and was
forecast to be more of the same, only with NW wind. We’d be flying Cape
Lookout . By the time we had
all eaten and cleaned up our breakfast dishes, Gannon Launch at Cape Lookout was packed, with cars parked along the road
for about a mile in each direction.
Those who arrived early were rewarded by nice soaring flights, some into
the marine cloud layer. Jeff Smith flew
out to the tip of Cape Lookout and set a
course to the south and landed on the beach south of Cape
Lookout . As I set up my
tandem the winds backed down. I did get
in line to launch a couple of times, but the conditions seemed too light and I
didn’t want another short sled ride.
Besides, I was pretty stiff and sore from my impact with the road
Thursday. Later in the afternoon,
several pilots headed south for Cape
Kiwanda
The rains moved in Sunday
night. It’s noon Monday and the winds at Oceanside are straight in from the west. It’d be perfect for Hangs from Maxwell and
for Bags at Rosanna’s. Too bad it’s
raining.
Two
Weeks Post Oceanside
