creating the new man cave

When I started waking up and going to sleep thinking about harness design and construction, I figured it was time to re define the lower level of my house.



Working long days sewing made me realize every insufficiency in the space that I was using and how efficiency is directly proportional to how organized your work area is.



Things that are important were apparent. Wide open, clean spaces, a table that allowed large pieces of fabric to flow easily, a place to hang finished products, good lighting and music are essential.




All coupled with a computer to work on design alteration and customer service while surrounded by photos of flying makes for a nice place to throw thread.




The newest carbon back plate is curing, sliders are being anodized and it's my #1 goal to have the next proto done to race in while running the costal ridge with "the boys" in Canoa. Hopefully, that goal will be realized and photos will follow.
Stay tuned

ahhh, relief

Since my arrival back to Missoula it's been a whirl wind. Although we had a full schedule over my weekend in LA, it was fun packed, progressive and motivating. The motivation continued when I got home and I have been going pretty full on. Between research and spending free time ripping apart and organizing what will be a much larger space for my shop I've fit a few hours of sleep into before and after 12 hour shifts in the ICU. Yesterday, when I got off work, the sky looked inviting and knowing that I always feel more relaxed after a fly I decided to grab the T2C and go up the hill for a hop.



The direction was wrong and the lift was broken, in-cohesive and tough to gain altitude in......perfect. Sentinel has a way of delivering no matter if it's easy or difficult and it didn't disappoint. I spent an hour scratching with the occasional bullet to 7000'. The lift was strong and ratty but going up 800-1000 fpm in the strong ones but only 150 and broken in everything else. I kept strafing launch yelling down at the guys still on the hill that it felt like lee side and sure enough, it started blowing over the back, trapping the others. I felt lucky to spend the afternoon off the ground and the balance gained in my head was measurable. Not really an escape, more like a short vacation;-)

September at Crestline

Here is a short video from my last flight on the new proto sail. It was sweet, for sure.


At loose rope, the glider was very nimble, switching from tip to tip easily and predictably. I felt like I could put it up on a tip with little effort yet it didn't want to wrap in and would stay quite stable, even at a high bank angle. It also took no effort to fly at full VG fast and straight. Even with the sprogs turned down to a comp setting, this glider would exit spins with a comfortable predictability. I believe Dustin is going to race on this one in AZ. I have a strong feeling after flying it that he is going to like it.

All in all, it was a fun packed couple of days in So Cal hanging with O'Brien and the WW crew. Thanks Guys!

LA for the weekend

Because of recent developments in the harness project, I decided to fly to LA for a visit to Wills Wing. I was lucky because the chosen weekend happened to be the same weekend that the annual fly in at Andy Jackson air park was to take place. It was certain that progress and fun was on the menu.



I arrived on Thursday night and got snatched in front of a busy LAX baggage claim by Jeffrey. We drove back to Steve's house and had a nice evening catching up and talking about the future. I was stoked to see Steve and Jeff hang in the harness and knew that a brainstorm session would follow. I had prepared a list of known changes and wanted to add to it. I was also really looking forward to seeing Mike, Linda, Peter and all of the familiar faces at Wills Wing. Eva, Rick, Bill, Paul, etc., they are all so experienced and proficient at what they do but to actually see them building gliders and harnesses is the only way to appreciate what it takes to make a product that performs as well as Wills Wing products do out of the box.


Eva building a customer Z-5

We had a good session and excitement was in the air. The next steps toward getting the race harness to production are fairly clear and after a meeting with Steve and Mike, we are swiftly moving ahead toward a projected date to achieve production status by Spring '10.



Later that night, we all were graciously invited to a friends house for a Beatles rock party. Owen Morse is a professional juggler who is one of the most positive people I have ever met. His energy is contagious and his family was unbelievably generous. Owen's wife, Doralee, laid out a beautiful spread that we feasted on after racing around on Segways in front of their house. With full stomaches, it was Beatles songs on the menu for desert and we all took turn doing our best impressions of John, Paul, George and Ringo which, was obviously laughable. I had never played a game like this before and let me tell you, it was an experience to say the least.

After a little work at the factory the next morning, routing a new VG configuration on the latest prototype, we packed up and headed to Andy Jackson for a fly. I was stoked to see what looked like more than a hundred pilots had shown up for the fly in. We arrived on top of the Crestline launch and punched off in a stiff breeze. Owen gave Jeff, Mike and I a tour to the east followed by a little harder push to Cahon pass and back. We spent a little more than 2 hours in the air playing with other gliders, birds and bag wings. I REALLY like the new sail cut and material. For what ever reason, the roll response is very fast yet it retains a nice and predictable roll rate. It was a pleasure to fly and I couldn't stop smiling.

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The rest of the afternoon/ evening was spent talking with friends, some that I haven't seen for a fairly long time. I was stoked when Mike showed that he is still one of the most skilled pilots around by winning the spot landing contest. I have only had the pleasure to fly with him a couple of times but when we were pushing down the range together earlier in the day, I felt lucky.

The evening was capped when OB came in 3-4 feet over the LZ kiosk at over 60 mph and then pasted a perfect landing close to the spot. Everyone laughed and clapped. Pretty inspiring. Hang gliding IS like dreaming awake. Even when your a spectator.

Cover

I was stoked to see the cover of this months issue of Sky Wings.



Seeing that photo brought back good memories of Marble Canyon, trying to throw down with O'Brien and the KAVU boys.
If you've never been to the head waters of the Grand Canyon, it's a place that holds magic. Stay tuned for the premier of the Elements film. Hopefully it will help to show the public how lucky we are to get to fly hang gliders (not to mention the other amazing footage that Seth has collected on his adventures). Can't wait to see it on the big screen;-)

new faces

A truck full of WW Falcons and Sport 2's




Had the pleasure of heading out to the "Big A" (Alberton) with a truck full of recent and past students for a late evening fly down. Alberton is a launch located 45 miles west of Missoula and overlooks the Alberton Gorge, our local kayakers play zone. It's almost twice as high as the other beginner launches close to town and provides up to a 20 minute fly down. Two of the "boys" had only 3 altitude flights to this point and were both excited and nervous about their first flight from this site. It's a bit of a slot in the trees and a little intimidating in comparison to the open launches they were used to but with good conditions, it's straight forward and offers a chance for the new pilots to overcome their fears and doubts.



Here are some shots that were taken by our driver. The wind was a little strong when we arrived on top but it worked out well because flying down at sunset was both beautiful and memorable.



It's really cool to see new faces in the flying community. The smiles and energy in the LZ while breaking down reminded me of my early days in this sport. Life is good and continues to be so.

Ian's first flight

We have several great flying sites surrounding Missoula but Mt Sentinel is our "local" site. It's distinctively different from the others (and from most other sites around the country) because of the fact that it overlooks town with the designated LZ right in the middle of town. You can arrive on top of Mt Sentinel from most anywhere in Missoula in a matter of 25 minutes. This makes it one of the main reasons why most of the HG and PG pilots live here. There's something great about being able to see the wind sock from your deck.



We have the luxury of breaking down after a good flight in perfectly mowed and manicured grass and can (after loading the gliders up) be home or anywhere else in town in a matter of minutes. The only issue is that the LZ is surrounded by homes, businesses and a tree lined golf course which makes it "sporty" on windy days. It has been decided for years that it is a designated H-4 site because of the restricted nature and high visibility of the LZ. H-3s can fly there accompanied by H-4s or above but we have until recently not allowed H-2s to fly from Sentinel because of the LZ and tenuous nature of the site.



Thankfully, we have recently voted as a club to allow our H-2's to fly on appropriate days accompanied by some of the H-4s or H-5s in town. I think it's great because it increases the newer pilots ability to gain airtime and experience exponentially. One of my students from last year, Ian, got to take his first flight from Mt Sentinel a couple of days ago and I was lucky enough to get to be there with him to watch and fly with him. Ian is a really cool guy and brings a lot of positive energy to the club and to hang gliding in general. Luckily, here in Missoula, most of my students have been college age. Ian is 23 and along with a few others here is the future of our sport. Pretty cool. His smile in the LZ was beaming.