BeachWeb
- April 2007 - Hang Gliding events
and such
Final
Hang Gliding event report - as of Sunday, 22nd... - last night
we returned from Quest Air in Groveland after 5 successful days of
events, and Ms. May was able to fly very successfully - (and broke her
first weak-link in a year of flying) and watched a lot, drove a lot and
learned a lot - to say nothing of visiting with friends (a lot), and
contributing to the successful event in a small way... A LOT of
our learning was listening to the experts we drove for (retrieved for
(see below section on retrievals for the un-initiated)).
Here's a link to the ' Scores
' page for last week's "Flytec Championship 2007" event.
There's also another event going on this week - this one for CASH
PRIZES - as much as $10,000 for the first place - this event can be
followed with this link.
BUT we're home now (Sunday, 22nd) and our cat has missed us (a lot) and
so we are petting her, watering the orchids, washing and vacuuming the
mini-van and other such 'domestic chores'!
A couple of pictures, though: Mr. Bo, in Florida
Ridge (after his 128 mile flight) - tying down his glider - he ALMOST
went to Islamorada in the Florida Keys; but couldn't quite figure out
how to get around the Homestead Air Force Base air-space (to say
nothing of the airspace of another 1/2 dozen or more Miami
Airports)... Mr. Bo is also a Quest instructor and
tug-pilot - he spent a lot of time towing Ms. May and myself during our
training at Quest, and also contributed to our learning process in a
very positive way...
Mr. Larry Bunner - tying down his rigid wing glider in Florida Ridge -
Mr. Larry did VERY WELL in the rigid category, and also taught us
well. This retrieval was the longest in this event - 128 flight
miles and about a 3 hour plus drive one-way. The retrieval
thing is a very positive experience, if a lot of hours with your buns
in the driver's seat...
Blown
out but not out of it?! - Today
is
Sunday, 15th - and the Quest - Flytec Hang Gliding
competition was 'supposed' to start today. However, 20-30 knots
of (west / west-southwest) wind and major rain kept the
hang-gliders all rolled-up and in their bags on the ground at Quest in
Groveland,
Florida.
On the other hand - it were EXCELLENT Boardsailing weather today and we
went out and maxed-out at about 26 knots ( or about 31
mph). Not bad, but I fear that as I get older, I'm getting
'more scared' and I don't go as fast. I used to be able to do
30-32 knots on a sailboard, but now - well - maybe it's old-age, huh? ...igc
file here (only useful if you
have the "See You" Hang Gliding flight-analysis software) - this is a
board-sailing 'track-log' and so it has no 'altitude' to speak-of but
the "See You" (Hang-Gliding specific (analysis)) software can
give you a reasonable amount of analytical
information... If you do NOT have "See You" - then there is a
track-log with a Google Earth background image ( larger
here ) and/or (
smaller here )
One
down, one to go: - as of LATE LATE LATE on Friday evening, 13th
April - we're finished with our first week-long Hang Gliding event at
"The_Florida_Ridge" (between Clewiston, and La Belle, Florida (off the
south-west-corner of Lake Okeechobee)). - The next few pictures and
some
text are about that event, some details on parts of the event that the
'un-initiated' (in the ways and means and such of Hang Gliding Events)
may not know - some 'new and interesting' information (well at least we
think you might be interested in how these events are run) - for more
commentary write to Mr. Bill at: ' bill@vikingasia.org
'.
On or about 7 April - through
about 21 April we will be volunteering at two Hang Gliding Events - the
first week between Clewiston and LaBelle,_Florida (off the southwest
coast of Lake_Okeechobee) - the second week near Groveland,_Florida -
west of Orlando,_Florida. The Volunteering "Work"
consists of many things (mostly, field-crewing (helping people get
launched into the air)) and retrievals (driving a HONKING BIG TRUK to
go pick-up way-ward hang gliders and their pilots when they don't make
it to (quite?) where they
are supposed to make it to (and/or when they DO make it to where they
are supposed to make it to, and that is the 'goal' or the 'finish' for
that day!) We'll tell you more about the "Tasks", in text,
at a later time...
Ms. BIG RED the barking squirrel - this dog is about 1/2 as big as our
cat but she sure does have a lot of energy to run around the
hang-gliding field all day and chase the end of the tug-plane's
tow-rope! - Big Red belongs to Dennis - pictured on the left, below...
Some of the "Field Crew" - hard at work in the "Field" (Left is
Dennis, middle is 'you-know-who' and right is Terry (of
Terry_&_Mike fame, - whom we met in Lookout Mountain Georgia on the
training -
hills up there, in late September, early October, 2006. (see this link
to our Lookout_Mountain_Flight_Park
trip for more information on that trip...)
Group Photo of participants(competitors), ground-crew, staff, family,
kids, dogs, hangers-on, generic-on-lookers and various
others. Some are NOT in the picture - those flying, those
who left early and those who were just 'not around at this instant'...
- click on image for larger (MUCH MUCH Larger) version.
and here's some 'cut-outs' from the above Group Picture...
On the left is Mr._Mark and Ms._Linda (and - oh - Ms. Big Red, too!), -
in the middle image is Mr._Bill & Ms._Big_Red; and the right image
is the four guys we did retrievals for. The guys are (from left
to right) Campbell, Jim, Kevin (who was Ms. May's instructor) and Mr.
James. Kevin flies a 'flex-wing' glider
(somewhat similar to Ms._May's and Mr._Bill's) the rest are
'rigid-wing-pilots' (read this as "MACHO GUYS"). These are about
the best group of guys you could ever imagine to drive for, a
really great experience.
This picture here gives you an idea of why Campbell Bowen's ATOS rigid
wing glider is called "The Mother Ship" - it's VERY LARGE - as in about
a 48 foot wing-span. Mr. Campbell thinks he would like 4-5 more
feet on each side... - Mr. Bill & Ms. May might have to have a go
at this glider someday as a 'tandem-team' - but - we definitely need
way more experience than we have now before we try one of these, singly
or as a tandem team. On the other hand - if we were to put
Ms. May on this glider, by herself - assuming she could get it off the
ground - it's likely we might next find her on the ground in Texas - as
her weight compared to this glider's area is WAY out of range!
Some other 'miscellaneous'
pictures from the "Florida Ridge Nationals - 2007" - event at the
"Florida Ridge Flight Park" in SOUTH Florida:
Mr. Mark (Of Mark and Linda fame) on his cart, ready to get towed-up
and to his right - Ms. Linda, also getting ready
Our new friend Mr. Jim Yocam (from Colorado (who subsequently separated
his left shoulder while landing this thing)) on tow ready to do his
(excellent) thang on a rigid-wing hang glider... Mr._Jim
can be seen in the above-right photo of the four pick-up guys - he is
the second from the left in that photo.
"Pink Things" - Mr._Bill in Pink shirt on Pink 4-wheeler - he chases
're-lights' on this vehicle - which is pretty slick - and was assigned
this task because his faded red (now Pink) shirt matches the 4-wheeler
and other 'macho types' wouldn't be caught dead on a Pink 4-wheeler?!
One of our favourite Animals in his new airplane (notice the matching
colors!)
{left picture} Mr._Bill in the "Retrieval Monster TRUK" - which belongs
to Mr._Campbell_Bowen (who's picture appears as the left-guy in the
right-picture (got that) along with Mr._Kevin_Carter - who is also an
awesome Hang Glider Pilot - and was also Ms. May's instructor for quite
a while before she went solo just over a year ago).
A short note on the "Retrieval" thing:
This Honking Big Truk - belonging to Mr._Campbell we used for seven
days running for 'pick-ups' - sometimes called "retrievals" in this
business. For the
un-initiated, what this means is that a hang-gliding (event)
'task' is called-for and planned in the (typically late) morning.
That
'task' is typically between 30 and 180 miles (depending on forecasted
surface and winds-aloft and
(other) weather conditions) and sometimes has 'turn-points'
(imaginary
points that one goes around (each competitor has a GPS which is
programmed with the task or course)). The competitors will
'launch' (leave the ground (typically get towed aloft behind a small -
over-powered ultralight airplane)) in a 'window' of about an
hour, they usually start this process (called the 'Launch Window")
shortly after lunch.
About an hour after the "Launch-Window:" opens the competitors leave an
imaginary 'start circle'
and attempt to race to the 'goal' (end of the 'task') - typically at
some remote location, but sometimes back at the origination point).
Invariably some competitors don't 'make it (arrive) at the goal
(task end-point) so they float to the ground somewhere along the
way, in someone's "Field_of_Dreams" ( we HOPE near a paved road that
they can identify by name and is on our map and/or GPS, and then they
phone us with their cell-phone and give us their
GPS coordinates)).
Then we use GPS and paper-map and 2-meter
amateur radio, amongst other things (like good intuition) to
'hunt' them up and help them get their gear on the (Honking BIG)
truk and go for the
next downed pilot. Our LATEST retriveal was for a
'goal' near
Vero
Beach, Florida (about a 4 hour drive one way on back-wood 2-lane roads)
and we
arrived back at the "Florida Ridge" shortly after midnite on Friday
morning!...
Anyway the "Retrieval" is obviously something that the (hang glider)
pilot (hopes to) arranges before an event or task or flight and
it is sometimes a
single individual in the pick-up vehicle, but sometimes two (Ms.
May joined me several times). It is a bit like what is
known as
"GeoCaching" but it's using GPS, map(s), (2-meter) amateur radios,
other skills, talents, to find the wayward hang - gliding pilots
and
their gliders and other gear. It can be, if one is both
careful, and lucky, financially rewarding, but the goal is not to 'get
rich quick'; the goal is to help-out friends and such who are
much
better glider pilots than ourselves...
We REALLY ENJOYED ourselves
during this week's retrievals and we
also learned an awful lot about a whole plethora of subjects,
only some of which were hang-gliding-related.
Lauren_Tjaden and her hubby Paul (both pretty good pilots) and Mr.
Campbell_Bowen who's a good pilot - as well as the owner of the
HONKING_BIG_TRUK! - Mr._Campbell won the 'rigid' class hang-gliding
event this week...
Other miscellaneous pictures - a good photographer named Ms._Cheryl
published a CD-ROM for $10 with about 200 something ...jpg files on it
- here's excerpts from that CD-ROM - more to come at a later date!
Another picture from a guy we met at Quest Air; he has his own
plane up north, in Canada, and he has floats, skis and wheels for the
plane - so he can go in just about anything...
Today is the First of April = a
'joke-day' - today is
April 1st - sometimes called 'April Fools Day' ...
IF
you're 'politically' aware, you might want to listen to the 'Capitol
Steps
April Fools Edition' - they are an amazing group of parody
experts who write, talk and sing about the political scene in
America... They are
National Public Radio exclusives - their broadcast is 'about' a
half-hour
long and available at their web-site.
(you'll find the link in the left-side at the top...)
Anyway - since today is the first of the month - there's not much to
report - other
than Mr. Bill's bruised ribs still hurt (a lot) especially when he
sneezes in bright sun (might be nice to live indoors, huh?)
One thing we can report on, though is Mr. Ray Chan's vacation /
holiday - Ray (a childhood friend of Ms. May's and her brother's,
from Hong Kong) - works for Daimler Chrysler in Detroit, came to visit
on Sunday, 25th, and left on Saturday, 31st. He was here a week
and we managed to get him involved in, kite flying, bicycling,
kayaking, Boogie-boarding-swimming, boardsailing, waterskiing, hang
gliding, Sea-Doo-ing, and more
bicycling during his short visit. We missed RollerBlading,
Land-Sailoring and Skate-Sailing with him, though, maybe next
time... He also had (like we all do I
guess) a (Canon) digital camera and took some great
pictures. By having
this 'third person' around there are a number of pictures of Ms. May
and myself, that he took, because of the 'third-person' thing. - we are
rarely able to get pictures with both of us in the same frame!. A
(very) few here, though:
family portrait (we'll work on the 'color balance' soon)...
oinking (eating to excess) at the local Mexican restaurant, here in
Stuart...
Lastly - going for SeaDoo-ing Lessons with instructor and
(dock- based) observer
there are more pictures of Mr. Ray's holiday visit in-on "last
month's page" - here (March 2007)...
Within the last couple of hours when Mr. Ray was here, on Saturday
morning, the 31st - he saw several crocodiles / alligators when we went
for a short bicycle ride along the (Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail (LOST)
levee at Port Mayaca, near Stuart.
WELL - there's going to be some MORE to REPORT here, soon! - two Hang
Gliding Championships this month (April) - one in Florida Ridge - about
7-13 April, then in Groveland - 15 to 21 April; as well as the
Wills Wing (Hang Glider Manufacturer from California) Demo Days here in
Florida. - LOTS to do this month - then the end of the month we leave
to go to Hong Kong for a few days!
AND - there's not much 'politically motivated' content on Mr. Bill's
web-site but this is (at this critical time in our country's politics)
the one and only 'promotion' you'll see that has any political
content: try this
politically motivated link
Book
& Movie Reviews
sub-section:
"Lucky You" - by: Carl Hiaasen
- the lady gets lucky by winning the Florida Lotterry - but in Carl
Hiaasen tradition life ain't always grand and there are a pair of
red-neck-twits on her trail that want her winning lottery ticket,
because they, too, won with the same set of numbers (Those numbers are
the ages at which she dumped a bunch of different husbands!) - a
TERRIFIC read about the Lottery Winning types and how they get at each
other!
"Taking
Lives" - by: Michael Pye - a novel of tremendous depth and
lenghty - a bit slow in the middle but very surprising & enjoyable
- also a Movie by the same name - but the plot and the twists and
the outcome are different in the movie and the book...
This guy has a terrific writing style and the movie
adaptation doesn't necessarily follow the book, but it is still pretty
good. After all when you have a cast including (but not limited
to) Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke, Keifer Sutherland and a trio of
excellent French actors you can't really lose. H owever, there is
some 'blood and gore' - but the overall effect is excellent!
"Search
Engine
Optimization for Dummies" - by: Peter Kent - an excellent
treatment of this typically "more art than science" computer-web-site
black-art. There is some real science in this book and there are
some excellent recommendations. However, how your web-site scores
in the "Search Engine Free-For-All" is, still, to some extent very very
very much a 'black art'.
A couple of more paperback
military books - one called "Clearwater"
by: Bill Buchanan - about the hijacking of a nuclear submarine and
subsequent chasing around the Pacific. Has a LOT of Naval and
anti-submarine-warfare jargon and terms but the story is pretty good,
anyway... The other is "Dreamland"
by Dale Brown - who writes good (if militarily detailed) books about
aviation, this is just another of those...
Meantime - you might want to go
'back a month' and review our March
2007 web-page.
last updated:
08:18 a.m. Saturday, 11 October 2013; revID: 1v
