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

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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;-)

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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!

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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, Dorli, 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 Cajon 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.





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.

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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;-)

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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.

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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.

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Our second prototype is showing great promise. I'm intent on designing a "first generation" race/xc harness that outperforms the instant you hook in. Soon, Wills WIng will be able to offer a harness that, combined with the T2C, will provide a "top of the stack system" to help you meet all of your hang gliding goals. Stay tuned;-)
Cheers

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When the forecast for the last day called for a greater chance of overdevelopment and higher winds, I knew that day 6 was going to be important. I blew my final glide and landed a couple of k's short and thought my comp was over. Luckily, when we woke for the last day, the sky looked a bit more promising and by the time the spot landing contest was over, it was blue and looking as though we would indeed get to race one last task. I knew O'Brien wanted a "real" task for the last day and was psyched when he told me that they came up with a 90+ mile dog leg (shaped like a "7") that would hopefully keep us away from overdevelopment.

Jeff O'Brien getting "race ready"


The group gaggled up over the airport with most of the field trying to gain height to work toward the edge of the start circle. I felt most were thinking that we should go earlier than later because of the chance that the sky would blow up and stop the task. The clouds were getting thick and the lift was getting stronger. The first 110 k's of the course were almost directly down wind and with a stiff tail wind, would prove to be fast.

Me and Zippy getting yanked out of the cart- photos by Karen Johnson



My team was a bit quicker to get to the best cloud at the edge of the start cylinder and were much higher than myself along with Derrik Turner and Chris Zimmerman. They called over the radio that they were going when the first clock turned over but we (Derrik, Chris and I) were still 800-1000' below them and were forced to take a few more turns, leaving after them by over a minute.

Luckily for me, by the time we got to the next cloud, Jeff, Zippy, Glen, Davis and others were climbing in 350 fpm on the far side of the cloud, still 1000' higher but I found 800 that turned into 1000+ fpm which allowed me to catch up quickly. We were getting higher than previous days, topping out at over 10,000' MSL.

James Stinnet proving that he can still fly a flex wing very well


Mark Stump- one of the nicest and most helpful guys on the circuit


The group was gliding with airspeeds between 55-60 mph and climbs of 7-900 fpm. It was classic Texas racing. As we approached the Turn point however, the ground was getting darker caused by the shade from quickly growing cu nims. We got social and grouped up with OB coming in higher from the left and Davis, Glen, Terry, Zippy and I finding a climb just before the t-point. It was only 200 fpm (which at this point, we were thankful for) and we gained just enough altitude while drifting away from the turn point to dive in and tag it. Most kept going but I flew through 50 up and Glen, Terry and I stopped, thermalling at 3/4 VG trying to squeeze the max lift out of every turn. I could see Davis and Zippy trying to dig themselves out from low a half glide ahead and watched OB and several others land. The red dust form the gust fronts were approaching and there was lightning on 3 sides of our position. It was quite surreal to be climbing in smooth, light lift with three guys while surrounded by what felt like a group of hungry lions. I left our climb right after Davis decked and flew toward Zippy who was in zero to 50 up. I came in 100' over his head and Glen followed (I think Terry had just landed behind us). We were the last ones in the air at this point and I got the feeling that Glen wasn't going to go unless Zippy did, to hold onto his position in the comp (which was winning;-). In the end, the potential danger proved too great a motivator and we left on glide to the ground. Because of altitude, the placing for the day was where we were in the last thermal. Glen was first, I finished second for the day with Zippy just a couple hundred meters behind me.

Up and coming pilot, Eric Donaldson.


Ben Dunn, smiling as usual


Luckily, it was enough to make up a little for the previous day's final glide mishap and to slip past Larry Bunner (who flew really good this comp) for 5th overall. OB finished 4th, Derrik (who landed just short of the turn point) held onto 3rd. Zippy was 2nd and Glen Volk won the comp showing that his experience and skill is a benchmark for the rest of the US pilots to try to beat. It was a great comp with 7 tasks over 7 days and brilliant task selection by Davis, Jeff and Glen which kept us mostly away from overdevelopment and allowed for long, challenging tasks each day. We raced hard and in the end it was how a good comp should be. The best pilot for that particular race was on top of the podium. Well done, Glen.

Glen Volk, Winner of the Big Spring US Hang Gliding Championship


After landing, ZIppy and I broke down as quickly as possible to beat the gust front that was quickly approaching. I knelt down to unzip my sprog door and put my hand in the grass and onto what felt like a spider web. I felt something move and looked down. Under my palm was a black shiny spider with a red hour glass. Sometimes the most dangerous point of a flight is just after landing;-) I pulled out my camera to take a photo and some more video (I had my camera out for several memorable moments during the flight) only to realize that my SD card was still in my card reader from the night before;-( Bummer!
Who says that all lessons learned during a comp are flying related;-)
Cheers

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Jeff under the building cu nim at the start


The task committee called for a 160+ kilometer dog leg today, made interesting by the fact that there was significant wind and cloud development at the start of the day. Russell Brown rolled in front of me as I laid in the launch cart dreaming of having a good fly with my friends. It got a bit sporty out of the cart as a thermal ripped off to my right and kicked me way out of wack. I am psyched to have the guys that are towing us up here (Russell Brown, Johnny Thompson and Whiley) because they really know how to use the airplane to straighten us out and keep us in line when turbulence gets the best of us. I saw him turn around in his seat to make sure all was good. I gave him the thumbs up and off we went to a cloud. He dropped me off in lift and up I went right to base. It feels a little like I would imagine a big wave surfer feels when a jet ski pulls him into a big wave. I pulled the release when Russell waved me off and banked it up in 600 fpm. Good times!

I played the start game a bit but in the end, decided to take the first clock with the rest of my team. We were having a little trouble staying out of the cloud we were under as it was towering and approaching cu nim status. I figured overdevelopment was immanent and if we got on course, we would have a good shot at making it furthest toward goal before the day was stopped.

We had a few good glides straight down wind, finding 600 fpm up at each cloud. I saw 71 mph on the ground speed and was stoked that the course seemed to be literally flying by. After one long glide, the cloud cover took over and shade dominated. We all shifted down from high gear to scratching, taking anything over 250 fpm. Our group was strong with Glen, OB, Zippy and Terry Reynnolds. We had managed to get pretty far off course line by staying under clouds and now had to grovel our way back to the turn point.

Jeff and Zippy climbing on course


We did just that. After Glen took another route and Terry went closer to the turn point (he accidentally marked the t-point as a 400 meter cylinder as opposed to the designated 1 k), Jeff, Zippy and I hooked up and made pretty good time toward goal. We were finding 5-600 up and now had a tail wind that seemed to be getting stronger because of a quickly developing cu nim behind us. At 30 k's out we climbed to 9100'. As we were leaving, Jeff wrapped up in something that got him above 10,000'. I thought about staying as I was still in 450 fpm but pushed on with Zipp thinking that we would get the "one more climb that we needed" and that "over 9 grand was high". I flew toward a cloud and was starting to get a bad feeling as my glider began to fall out of the sky. I really hoped that it was just the leading edge of the lift I was to fly into but it wasn't there. The cloud fell apart and I was getting a 4-1 glide. Instincts took over and I was now switching from nervous to desperate. I couldn't believe that after 90 miles of going well, I was now struggling to stay off the ground 4-5 k's out from goal. Zippy was low with me and he said on the radio that he had zero's but that "it wasn't worth coming back for". He was right and I pressed on, hoping for a low save to drift me into goal. He did just that as I landed 2-3 k's short.

After the obligatory tantrum (lots of cussing and pulling my hair out;-), I broke down dissapointed but thrilled to be able to take part in this sport on a day like today. We had unbelievably fast moments, groveling in soft conditions, strategy and risk. I landed short and lost a place in the overall but I learned a lot and felt like we flew well as a team today. We are getting better, more consistent at staying together and becoming more efficient as a group. I said more than once today on the radio "man, I love flying with you guys". Tomorrow is another day.
Cheers

This is a video that I took right after landing short

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