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August 1981

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Owens Valley Trip

Labor Day Weekend

Volume 27

Volume 26c:

July 22, 1981 to October 4, 1981

Wednesday, July 22, 1981 - 9:40 AM

On Friday evening, Bones called, suggested they come over, bringing food (Hank was there also), then Sharol and I could go to the union meeting, they could see the films, etc. I said sure, and they came.

Hank's new Comet 135 had arrived, and we'd all go to Hull Mountain on Saturday. I invited Hank to stay over at my house.

At the SCOPE meeting, they presented the compromise package worked out by another union official (Paramutual Clerks Union). They had a stake in ending the strike so the County Fair wouldn't be disrupted. Anyway, it wasn't that much of an improvement (10% this year, 8% next), but many people were tired of the strike, and many were going into debt.

We broke into bargaining units to take straw votes. I stood up and spoke to our unit, saying that while it was difficult to go against the emotionalism of the group, that, realistically, it wasn't that bad an offer. And that the lady who complained about being out for three weeks for 1% would feel even worse being out another month or two for 1/2% or less, and that, basically, I was happy with my job, felt that a lot of frustration is with the economy, inflation, and Reagan, and not really with the County, and that I was going to vote to accept.

Afterwards, an old lady and some other people thanked me for speaking out, said it took courage. Anyway, our bargaining unit accepted, 58 to 8.

Back in the main meeting, all units except Nursing had voted to accept. But emotional speeches followed, mostly by nurses, and on the next overall vote, the total was to reject, though our unit and others still accepted, but by a smaller vote.

It was 11:30 by then, so I left at that point, as our unit would ratify and go back to work. Other units which didn't accept it also agreed to go back to work, but continue negotiating. The nurses would stay on strike.

Back at my house after the meeting, Bones was pretty drunk, had drank most of a bottle of tequila. I had a taco with them before they headed home. Hank stayed, tried my new self-inflating air-mattress in the living room.

The next morning we headed for Hull, meeting at Bones and Sharol's at 9 AM. Dick Swenson was also there, so he and Hank rode with me, and Bones and Sharol rode in their bus.

Stretch, Anne, and others had gone to Slide Mountain for the weekend, and Jon was still on his Colorado trip, so it was just us. Sharol had her new Comet, and Bones had completed making the smaller control bar.

We all loaded into the Scout and headed up with no driver. But Bones said he was pretty hung-over, probably would drive, and did.

We set up at the Rockpile. I mounted the movie camera, was ready first, so launched at 2:36. Worked the face after takeoff, making soaring passes, and gradually got over the top. Couldn't get really high there, and as the cycle would die, got lower and had to soar the front again.

Sharol was out at launch a long time, waiting for me to go away. Eventually I went down to lower takeoff where I got a good thermal and climbed high over the top for awhile. Sharol, Hank, and Dick also launched.

I got down by Red Spot where I found a very nice thermal and was headed back to the top as Hank was headed out far below. I also headed over to the ridge past Windy Gap, but didn't find much over there.

Eventually I headed on out with 5000' agl, as everyone else had left. Came out over the camp area with 3500', hung around, took some more movies, then landed, a pretty good one, just past the spot, for an hour and 48 minutes.

Oh yes, Dave Thor was there too, and I'd flown with him for much of the flight, frequently above him, though he stayed up longer after I left.

Some Venezuelan pilots landed near our camp, and we talked with them awhile. They had Comets, had flown in the Owens Valley also.

We couldn't have a campfire at our area (outside the main campground) due to high fire danger, so we just cooked over the camp stove. Went to bed fairly early.

On Sunday, we headed up the mountain around 11:30, again without a driver. I was somewhat tired, figured I might drive if we couldn't find one. But we did, a guy named Don from Santa Rosa, who'd talked to Bones the day before. So I finished setting up, and mounted my movie camera again.

Hank took off first, then I did at 1:56. Scratched out in front, finding some thermals, making passes, getting barely over the top, then out to lower takeoff, thermalling some more.

Also in the air at that time were the Venezuelans, also scratching around out front in their high-speed shiny-skinned (mylar) Comets and a yellow Lazor. But I was able to thermal with them and get above them from time to time, getting over the top a few times.

Sharol also took off, got over the top, the highest of anyone, stayed up over two hours, whereas Bones scratched low for awhile, was flushed and down short of the camp in 42 minutes.

Dick was near me for awhile near Red Spot, where we were both thermalling. I was out a little farther from the ridge than he, found the core and went up fast. He came too, but left sooner. I stuck with it to over 6000' agl, and then headed back over the top, arriving higher than the Venezuelans, who were circling there.

Eventually headed out again. Didn't find anything at Red Spot that time, so headed on out the upper ridge to where I saw Bones scratching. Passed near him, getting some lift over the second ridge, then headed on out over the grassy area towards the lake. Watched Bones low, below me, cross the road, then land.

Dick also got low, landed in the creekbed on the other side of the runway after heading out the first ridge and not finding lift.

I landed after an hour and ten minutes. There was a strong gradient, so I overshot the spot landing hot.

Eventually we packed up our gear and headed on home, stopping again at our swimming hole for a refreshing skinny dip in the icy water there.

Then on to Burger King in Ukiah. We decided to stop at Jon's house to see if he'd gotten back from Colorado, and he had, so we visited him for a little while.

From a hang gliding perspective though, his trip had not been a success, as it had overdeveloped and rained at Telluride each day. He'd only gotten two short flights from a 1000 foot hill in New Mexico, for eight minutes or so total airtime. Too bad.

We finally headed on to Bones', unloaded, said goodbyes, and went home.

Ernie called, and came by to get some films for the MCHGA (Marin County Hang Gliding Association) meeting that night, and left.

Then I was on the phone awhile with Bones. The subject of the W.O.R. (Wings of Rogallo) meeting Tuesday night came up, and the presentation of an award by John Bostrum to Pat Denevan for his hillside landing at the Regionals to find the downed pilot. Ernie had instigated this, and yet he hadn't told any of us about it.

So I called Ernie. He said he'd totally forgot to tell me, said he was "so embarrassed," that I'd "saved his ass." Anyway, Bones was very upset at Ernie and what he'd done, and worried that he'd be representing the Competition Committee and Sonoma Wings, so we discussed the possibility of going to the W.O.R. meeting, just to keep Ernie straight.

I decided I should probably go, as president, since we'd gotten word that they (W.O.R.) were expecting a contingent from Sonoma Wings, and not to come might be seen as a snub.

I slept pretty well. Got up and went to work on Tuesday. Talked to Jon and Bones, and we all eventually decided to go to the W.O.R. meeting after work, meeting at Bones and Sharol's house at 5:20.

So the four of us, Bones, Sharol, Jon, and I drove down in the Toyota, arriving by 7:20.

There were about fifty people at the meeting. Ray Parsons, their president, introduced us and Ernie, and then presented John Bostrum, who made the award presentation of the medal he'd made for Pat, by reading his letter. Ernie took pictures. It was all quite well done, and Ernie was on his best behavior, not saying much.

Then their meeting continued, including a report from their Site Committee, reporting on a recent fatality at Ed Levin Park in which an unstickered Hang-1 had been killed under the instruction of Nels Johnson, who was suspended from the site for nine months (his second offense), and it was recommended that his Instructor's Certificate be withdrawn.

Nels spoke in his own behalf, but he's evidently a real problem personality, having been involved in two other poor judgment situations at the Regionals (flying until 10:30 at night, and flying off after saying that his opponent wasn't on the hill).

The meeting dragged on until almost ten, before we got to show our Regionals movies. After that, we headed on home, stopping at Jack in the Box at Rohnert Park, and getting home by quarter to one.

I had a slight sore throat this morning, so decided to stay home, catch up on this and rest up.

Saturday, July 25, 1981 - 1:50 PM

On Thursday evening we had a meeting of the Hull Mountain Committee here, at which we (Bones, Sharol, Mel, Jon, and I) smoothed out my draft of some guidelines. A pleasant time, drinking three beers in the process.

On Saturday morning, Bones called around 8:15. Hank was coming up. They'd head on up to Hull Mountain. Sharol and Jon had gone to Dillon Beach for lessons. I told Bones I wouldn't be going up 'til later, afternoon or evening, perhaps.

Tuesday, July 28, 1981 - 7:30 PM

I went out for pizza on Saturday evening, then went to bed fairly early, I think.

Got up early Sunday morning, got my gear and glider loaded, and met at Sharol's at 8:20, where we loaded their gear and gliders onto the Scout, and Sharol, Jon, and I headed for Hull Mountain.

We found Bones and Hank at the campsite, and heard that Saturday had been a fantastic day, with people getting to 9 and 10 thousand feet agl, and Rich Sauer flying from Elk Mountain all the way to the Hull Mountain landing area, the first time we'd heard of that being done. People had flown all over the sky, and Joe had evidently landed on Mt. Sanhedrin.

Anyway, we found Rick Innocenti, who'd lost his harness on the way up or left it in his truck at home, and he agreed to drive for us, so the six of us headed up the mountain with five gliders.

On top, Stretch, Roy, and the others had already flown, and there were a couple of other gliders overhead by 1 PM, so we set up at the Rockpile.

Saw Tom Jensen and talked with him. He's flying a Bandit now. He wrecked his Fledge three times, and has lost some confidence. He'd had a good flight on Saturday, but decided not to fly on Sunday.

Mel arrived at the top after we'd set up, but after setting up his Fledge, he was dismayed to learn that he'd forgotten to bring his harness, so he didn't get to fly.

I was impatient to get launched, so got to the slot first at 1:45 or so, ready to launch. It wasn't cycling very strongly then, but I thought I'd find enough to get me up. I was wrong. I launched at 1:50 into a mild thermal, but lost it and sank down the bowl, just barely making it over lower takeoff. Made some passes there to maintain, and climb a little, but soon lost that too, and headed for Red Spot.

Saw Ron on the ground there, having landed his Lazor after scratching for awhile. I circled a bit and soon found a pretty fair thermal which eventually got me to about 5000' agl, even with the top. But it seemed to be drifting down the ridge, and I followed it that way, and when I lost it, I went on to the SE down the ridge, rather than heading back up, which I probably should have done.

Anyway, I eventually found some raggedy thermals over the second ridge, but they were blowing back, and I was worried about penetrating out against a lower level south wind, so I stayed near the front and headed out when I lost the lift, committed now to leaving the mountain.

Found some marginal lift near the road, but not enough to sustain me, so I set up my landing at the campground, turned on the camera again, and landed, a pretty good one, but not near the spot.

I was down in 37 minutes, to my disappointment, especially as I saw several specks high in the sky, and the others didn't come down for a long time. I had bundled up in my down jacket, was sweltering when I landed.

Jon had launched after me, had gotten up eventually to 10,000' flying all over the valley, in sight of the lumber mill.

Hank, who had gotten 5000' over the day before, was down next, not getting up after launching last, but Sharol and Bones both got very high, 9500' or so. James landed after Hank, had also gotten to 9800' agl.

Finally, after the usual hang-talk, we got loaded up and headed for the swimming hole by about six. Had a refreshing dip there for awhile, then on to Burger King, where we found Mel and Lynne. Then on home, with Bones and Sharol riding with me, and Jon with Hank.

Got home by 10:30 or so, and soon went to bed.

On Monday evening, I worked on the Scout and managed to finally discover the problem with my capacitor discharge unit. It turned out to be a frayed ground wire from the alternator, and when I fixed it, it started like a champ ever since. So that long running mystery is finally solved. I'd called up an auto electric shop to make an appointment, and when they'd told me their rate was $32 an hour, I'd decided to take one last crack at it, and it paid off.

Ernie called as I was cooking, told me about a memorial get-together for Jet Kirby, who'd been killed at Elsinore when his ultralight (Goldwing) had broken up.

Ernie also told me about a recent trip he'd taken to Vacaville with Mark Andreason, Wayne Ashby, and Pat Denevan, where he'd mushed another takeoff, and was upset about that.

Wednesday, August 5, 1981 - 6 PM

When I picked up the Scout last Wednesday, the guy told me I had two bad U-joints, one of which was the cause of the roughness in the drive train. So I made an appointment to have them replaced there the next day.

Stopped in Thursday evening to see Mel, and to drop off our Hull Mountain Guidelines, which Sharol had typed and forwarded to me. But on Friday morning, I realized that they were incomplete, so called him to hold up on sending them out. Called Sharol, and she found the missing parts, would retype them.

On Friday evening, I went with Mary to Dillon Beach, but the wind and fog was blowing in at a pretty good clip (15 or so), so we turned around and came home. We went to Straw Hat for pizza. Dennis is back at work, but Mary hasn't been scheduled yet.

On Saturday morning, I got up and got ready to go to Hull Mountain. Hank arrived around 9:10 after picking up his harness at Mel's, where he'd had his parachute repacked. And Dick and Susan arrived around 9:20. We loaded Hank's gear and glider, then headed up in two cars.

Met Bones and Sharol up there. Jon was at an Instructors Clinic, so wasn't there. And Stretch, Anne, Roy, Joe, and Phil Ray were also there. They'd flown already (it was 1 PM or so), and a strong SW wind had picked up in the landing area, unusual for so early. Some people were thinking it was probably blown out, so we didn't get all the gliders loaded on the Scout for awhile.

But finally we did, and headed up the mountain, six of us including Susan as our driver. On top it was mellow, so we eventually set up at the Rockpile.

Sharol launched first around 3:30, and was able to get high, a few hundred feet over the top, but neither Bones, Hank, nor Dick were able to get up, and Sharol was soon flushed.

I went last, was a bit worried about penetrating the SW wind with my Raven, wanted to leave high if I could. Had a nice takeoff, turned right and worked my way up the face in front, soon getting over by a couple hundred feet.

When I lost that, I headed out to the bowl in front and was able to find a good thermal, and again worked my way up over the top. Hung around the Lookout by myself for over an hour before finally heading out.

I came out pretty high (my max at the top was about 6000' agl), and had 2900' over the Resort where I was talking to Joe by CB. They were down there with Phil, sailing.

Went out over the lake a ways, finally did some steep spirals with the movie camera on, then set up my landing, and had a pretty good one, into a stiff breeze with no flare.

Had an hour and 38 minutes, longest of the day, as everyone else was long down. Bones had been scratching all the way down in 45 minutes, and Hank was down in 30. Felt pretty good, making up somewhat for last Sunday's short flight.

After folding up, I made a new spot out of driftwood near the windsock, as we'd moved up the lakeside from our former spot, and since no campfires were permitted anyway due to high fire danger.

Then our group decided to camp up at Timberline, near the top, so we loaded our gear and gliders, and headed up in the VW bus and the Scout. It was very nice up there, a bit cooler, and with a beautiful view around sunset. We made a nice fire, and cooked up some cheeseburgers.

Went to bed around ten. Everyone, including me, had strange dreams. Maybe the altitude affected us.

I dreamed that I was on an expedition with Hank, Bones and Sharol, and we were at a village where some kind of festival was being held. There were skits, booths, people giving away cakes and cookies, etc.

Eventually, Hank and I left, not realizing we'd forgotten Bones and Sharol until later, so we headed back to get them. Just as we were walking back on the beach (which the area had become), a large wave came up and bowled us over, soaking us. Bones and Sharol, whom we soon found sitting in chairs, were also soaked by the wave, but laughing it off, as were others.

Later it was 4 AM, and I told them we had to leave, as we had to get up at 6:30. So we did leave, after walking through a lot more streets and booths where strange things were going on.

Back at camp, I inadvertently kicked a bunch of leaves into my tent, and a whole bunch of flying bugs came out inside my tent, upsetting me. Later I found the screen had been chewed to tatters, so that it was ruined. I was relieved to find it was just a dream.

Around eleven, after a leisurely morning of getting up, drinking coffee, and packing up our gear, we all headed to the top in the Scout. Stretch and the others had already flown, and we watched Phil, who flew a bit later.

We were ready to fly a little before two. Sharol went first, and didn't catch anything 'til way past Red Spot. And neither Hank, Bones, nor Dick were able to get up, though Dick maintained awhile near lower takeoff. I took movies of them before launching myself.

Dave Thor launched from the ramp just before me, and managed to stay above the top for awhile. The wind was picking up from the north, blowing the thermals to SE.

I got launched okay to the west, then turned right and was able to work my way over the top again by staying to the NW of the top, watching the tassel. Got up with Dave in very trashy air over the top until he got flushed, maintained at lower takeoff awhile, then headed out.

Again I was over the top by myself, circling over the Lookout, heading out to the NW along that ridge, flying the backside of the mountain to find ragged thermals coming through. Enjoyed the challenge of staying up, however, and several times got below the top, only to head straight for the Lookout up the NW ridge, clearing it, and turning sharply back into the wind.

My best altitude was 6000' agl or less, and the good thermals blew out over the east bowl. You couldn't follow them very far and stay over the top.

Eventually I followed one back to the SE, then headed towards Red Spot with 5500' or so, but the south side of the mountain was mostly rotor by then, and I sank out fast, got out to the second ridge with 4000' or so, where I was surprised to find Bones and Hank still maintaining.

Found a thermal and joined them and Dave Thor in that area. You could head back over the lower knoll to the west and find lift, then follow it back to the SE.

Bones and Hank eventually headed out. I headed upwind towards the Pillsbury Ranch and climbed steadily to 4800' near the tennis courts before hitting sink.

Eventually I headed out, landed just past the spot in a fairly stiff breeze, a good landing after an hour and 40 minutes.

A guy named Bob McCloud, who had driven Bones' bus down, had enjoyed watching us and talking to us. He was 49, had been surprised to learn my age (43), thought I was about 32, he said.

Some girls, friends of Hank's, had arrived to see us. One took some photos. Her name was not Lizbeth, but something like that. (Deborah?)

After awhile we headed out, looking for Roy's truck, so Bones could recover his notebook, in which we'd been writing letters to the USHGA via Pat Denevan, about separating powered ultralights from the USHGA.

Then, while stopping at Soda Creek, Phil Ray came driving in. I was shocked when he pulled out my equipment bag, which I'd left and forgotten in the landing area, and he'd luckily found. Over $800 worth of equipment I'd almost lost. Did I ever feel stupid!

Then we went to the creek, where we took our usual refreshing dip in the icy water, before heading on to Burger King in Ukiah.

Got home by 9:30 or so, after a nice weekend. Called Paul to tell him I'd be in an hour late on Monday morning.

Forgot to mention that we stopped at that Potter Valley ranch for sweet corn. A cute blonde, with a Cal Poly T-shirt, waited on us. I got six ears of corn. Had two of them Monday evening with Mary, who stopped by, and they were quite delicious.

Also later Monday evening, Tom and Joe called from Stretch's house, then they all came over with three bottles of Cold Duck; Stretch, Anne, Roy, Joe, and Tom. We talked, showed movies, looked at Roy's photos of Indian Valley, and had a good time.

There was some talk at the end, of dissatisfaction with the club, focusing mostly on the T-shirt misunderstanding between them and Bones and Sharol, with some obvious resentment over the way they'd brought it up at the meeting, and reference to a history of difficulty of getting along with them.

I thought it was too bad, as both groups are important "wings" of the club, and it can't really fly without both.

They expressed support for me, felt I was "in the middle," and I saw both sides of the situation.

They finally left around 10:30, and I went to bed.

A somewhat hectic day at the office today. I declined an invitation by Bones and Jon to go with them to Fort Funston this evening. As it turned out, it wasn't soarable anyway, so I'm glad I didn't take the time.

Tuesday, August 18, 1981 - 5 PM

Our Owens Valley trip plans finally came together. Bones and Sharol left Friday evening, August 7th, for Yosemite, to fish and camp, then meet Don and Marty at Bishop on Monday morning. Hank decided not to go. Jon and I decided to go to Hull Mountain for the weekend, then leave from there for the Owens on Sunday, the 9th, meeting the others in Bishop on Monday.

So I got packed up Friday night, then left for Hull on Saturday morning. Hank met me here, but drove up separately, and Jon and Nancy went up together, as she would drive their car home Sunday evening.

We met at the campground. Also there were Stretch, Anne, Roy, and Joe, who'd already flown. James (Goshawk) was there also, had a driver, so they rode up with Hank, Jon, and me. Jon had his brand new Comet to fly, before taking it to the Owens. Mel and Lynne were also on top. Mel was going to try a loop on his Fledge, so I loaned Lynne my camera to take movies.

I took off first at the Rockpile at 3:20, ahead of James, Jon, Hank, and Mel. Scratched below lower takeoff before catching a thermal up the ridge and over the top. Mel got up for awhile, and so did Hank and Jon later. Hank, Jon, and I got to 8500' agl later, and were up there for a long time together.

Jon headed across the valley to Sanhedrin, and I followed him halfway, until I was down to 7000' and turned back, making it back and getting over the top again. Jon eventually got back also. Finally we headed out high and landed, and I had another three hour flight.

We camped at the lakeside campsite near the landing area with Stretch, Anne, Roy, Joe, and the others. In the morning, we all went up early for a morning flight, getting drivers from Sunset campground.

But the wind on top was not favorable, no-wind or crosswind at the propane tank launch.

Jon got off first at the propane tank launch, running hard in no wind, then catching a thermal out past Red Spot.

After waiting at the propane tank for a long time and getting no launchable cycles, I traded places with Stretch at the ramp, as he wasn't liking anything there either. I finally launched in a very light crosswind cycle, running hard and diving, taking the top couple of inches off the tree in front of and below launch with the tassel on it, but a good takeoff.

Stretch and Joe also took off, but no one else did after that, as evidently it became too NW.

I got a thermal near Red Spot, but didn't get very high. Eventually I headed out with Joe to the landing area. Overshot the spot, but landed okay.

After Jon landed, we got packed up and left by about 2 PM for the Owens Valley in the Scout.

On the way there were forest fires burning everywhere. We'd seen a big one near Ukiah, and there was another near Elk Mountain, and a couple of more near Clear Lake which we drove past.

We headed east from Sacramento on Route 50, only to find that it was closed by a large forest fire caused by an auto crash. So we backtracked to Route 80 and headed NW to Reno, and were stopped again by a fire on 395 between Reno and Carson City. There we were stuck in a traffic jam for over an hour, before getting around it and heading on south to a roadside camping area on the eastside of the Sierras, where we stopped for the night.

Then up in the morning and on to Bishop by eleven, where we found Don and Marty, Bones and Sharol, and Curt and Joan.

Eventually, after greetings and miscellaneous errands, we headed up to Paiute launch, north of Bishop. We went up in two vehicles, Don's Toyota pickup with camper shell, and the Eagle Scout, a steep ascent on a definitely 4wd road.

But it was overdeveloping on top, with heavy dark cumulus clouds forming, and thunder and lightning in the distance. Four other pilots were on top, including Eric Raymond, with a Sunseed, the only other one we'd ever seen other than Roy's. Two of them took off before the storm arrived, one thermalling up to the clouds then heading south. Eric and the other guy with an Aolus got stuck on the hill as the winds came up and the lightning struck nearby, and the gliders started buzzing from the electricity building up.

Needless to say, we had decided not to set up, and soon headed down the hill. We followed Don and Marty out to their campground 15 miles up in the Sierras across the valley, at 8000' msl, where we camped with them for the next three nights, a pretty place though somewhat far away.

On Tuesday, the 11th, we headed up the mountain again in somewhat better weather.

Wednesday, August 19, 1981 - 6:15 PM

This caused us to wait longer, 'til Jon finally took off around 2 PM. He was able to maintain out in front, getting some lift here and there.

I was ready next, so passed Don and launched at 2:05. Looked around for lift, and finally found a good thermal, in which I circled up, soon above Jon, and Don, who'd launched behind me in his Comet. They also found good thermals, and the three of us soon climbed high above takeoff.

Soon I was at 16,000' msl, or 12,000' above the valley floor, looking over the spine and the back of the mountain. Jon was soon up with me, and when I lost my thermal, he got even higher.

Soon, Sharol, Bones, and Don had all landed. Don got sick. Sharol lost a tip batten, which was evidently inserted improperly, and Bones didn't find any good thermals. Curt also flew, and landed shortly at Don Partridge's Ranch.

Soon Jon was high above me, and I couldn't find any more lift, began sinking out, and worried about being so far back from the valley over the spine, so I headed out towards the valley after losing track of Jon, who had headed south.

I didn't find much more lift, so headed out over the valley towards the south. Finally landed in a field near Jean Blanc Road. Folded up my Raven, then went walking, looking for Bones who'd said on the CB that he was nearby. But I couldn't find him where he said he was, so walked out to the road again, where I was soon picked up by Marty.

All were picked up but Jon, and we didn't know where he was. I went with Don and Marty to the south, to the big disk antennas, but found no sign of him.

Around 9 PM, we found that he'd flown to Independence, 40 some miles south, and got a ride back with another hang glider pilot driving north. We waited for him at the park in Bishop, then returned to camp around ten.

On Wednesday, the weather was also good, and we got up the hill earlier. Curt and Joan had headed south, so all of us could ride up in Don and Marty's truck. Also, the Scout had a slow leak in one tire, so we dropped the tire off to be repaired.

I waited 'til last to take off, after Jon, Don, Bones, then Sharol, who all got up. Flew with my movie camera. Nearly blew my takeoff, as a wing got picked up, but as I corrected, I got picked right up, turned left and caught a thermal right away, circled up to 14,500' msl, above the top, and after hearing Don say he was heading north (against the crossing wind), I headed north also, above Jon and Sharol. Bones had headed south.

Crossed a few canyons high on the spine, but lost some altitude, finding my altimeter reading as low as 7500' (11,500' msl), on the south side of a large canyon. Found a thermal and was able to gain over 2000 feet, then cross. Jon caught up with me somewhere along here, and we circled together in some thermals, 'til he got much higher than me, and headed on north, higher on the spine, while I headed north lower down, passing through some areas of zero sink.

Finally, when down to 7000' or so, and not finding much more lift, I felt I'd better head out across the valley, as the road was far away across some desert area, and there was still a slight NW headwind.

I'd heard by radio that Don was at Benton to the north, and now I was able to contact Bones, who'd landed near where I was, near the road. I talked to him, but headed further north than where he was, wanting to max my distance.

I finally got over the road, and selected a field for landing across from a small ranch, and set up a final glide to the north. But on my final approach, I got the impression I was going downwind, so turned to the SW, which seemed even more downwind, and made a fast landing into some high weeds, fortunately not damaging anything.

Carried my glider to the road, and began to fold it up. Was able to talk to Bones by grounding my radio to a barbed wire fence.

After quite awhile, Marty arrived in the Toyota, with Sharol and Bones, who'd been picked up. I took movies of them pulling up, as I hadn't used up the whole roll of film, in fact had forgotten about it, only used less than half.

Anyway, then, as Marty was trying to tie down my glider, I set the camera on the roof to help her. Then I spaced out, forgot about it, and it came crashing off the roof at about 60 mph a few minutes later, to my dismay, pretty much wrecking it. That was the main disaster of the trip.

We picked up Don further north, then Jon, who'd come back south past where I'd landed. Then we headed back to Bishop after a fine day of flying. My flight was two hours, and I'd gone 17 miles north of launch.

It was too late to pick up my tire, so Bones and I picked it up early Thursday morning, the day we'd decided to leave the campground. Don and Marty would be staying at a motel in town, and we decided to look for a place to camp closer in.

The weather on Thursday, however, was overdeveloped early, and we decided not to even go up, but rather to go find a place to swim, an artesian well that Dick Cassetta had told Bones about. We found it, and had some nice swimming.

Then we went to find a campground an Indian there had told us about, called Millpond. We found it, decided to stay there, but it cost $4 per vehicle per night. We thought we'd be able to get out of paying $8, but we got nailed for it both nights.

After setting up our camp, we went back to town, where we showered at Don and Marty's motel room, plugged in our radios to charge them, and went out to dinner at a Mexican Restaurant. I was a bit uncomfortable there, was afraid of upsetting my stomach on Mexican food as I'd done once before. Had cheese enchiladas, which were okay.

On Friday, we went back up to the Paiute launch. It was threatening to overdevelop, so I got set up quickly, was ready to go by 11:30, far ahead of any of the others. It looked like I'd be risking a "sled ride" versus risking having to ride back down in the truck if it got overdeveloped.

So I decided to take off, and did at 11:56. There was a little lift in front of launch, but not enough to sustain me, so I had to head further out, where I found marginal thermals which would get me up a little, then peter out. I explored the whole area west of launch, finding occasional thermals, until eventually I headed north to the next ridge, where I did find a strong thermal, one which took me to about 10,000' msl, or a couple of thousand feet above takeoff.

Flew back over launch, where no one was ready yet, and continued to just fly around, having fun, waiting for the others for over an hour.

Eventually, I decided to head over the knoll to the south, where I'd gotten a good thermal the first day, but alas, I only found marginal lift, and gradually lost what altitude I had. It looked like I'd have to land at Don's Ranch soon.

So I scratched for what I could get, finally crossed down to the front of the last ridge at about 500', where I was able to make soaring passes for awhile, occasionally gaining, but finally having to give up and land at Don's after one hour and 50 minutes, a fun flight.

The others were just getting launched. Bones and Sharol didn't find much, landed soon at the windsock, but Don and Jon headed north.

Marty picked me up first at Don's Ranch, and we headed north to look for the others. To my dismay, I realized I'd spaced out again, and left my equipment bag at Don's Ranch. Fortunately, it was still there when we got back after picking up the others later.

At this point, after leaving my gear behind twice recently, I made myself a new rule: Always put the gear in the vehicle before loading the glider. That way I can't get distracted and forget it.

We found Don on the road north to Benton, and found Jon in the town of Benton, folding up his glider next to the Post Office. Then we went back for Don, Bones, and Sharol, who hadn't had their gliders folded up when we'd gotten to them the first time.

Thursday, August 20, 1981 - 3 PM

Again, I was set up first and ready to go by 1 PM, far ahead of the others. It had looked like it was overdeveloping again, but never got past a certain stage.

I launched at 1:15, certain I'd be able to find something, but to my dismay, I sunk out further and further down the face, only finding submarginal lift here and there, which I'd milk for all I could, finally headed across to the next northward ridge where I'd found the good thermal the day before, but only found wisps of lift, too fleeting and underdeveloped. Gradually sunk down the face, finally had to leave and head across the desert toward the windsock, but with no chance of making it that far. Did go a few hundred yards though, before landing in the sagebrush a couple of miles from the windsock, somewhat disappointed at having been flushed out on my last day, a 25 minute flight.

Eventually the others launched after two, flew around a bit in improving lift. Sharol was at 1000', about to land, when she caught a good thermal over the valley, got up a few thousand more. Don thought he was going to have to land, when he caught a thermal and headed north. Jon, Bones, and Sharol flew around awhile above, finally landed before it got too rowdy on the ground.

I'd folded up my glider, marked its location as well as possible, then walked to the road and to the windsock, where I talked to the others by radio awhile, before taking the Scout, which we'd parked there, up to get my glider and gear, having a little trouble locating it, however.

Then I took a dip in a stream, and returned to the windsock, where Sharol and Jon had landed. Bones had flown south to Laws.

After packing everything up, getting the gear into the proper vehicles for the trips home, we said our goodbyes and thanks there, and then headed north, Bones and Sharol in his Scout, Jon and I in mine. We decided to go as far as that place where Jon and I had stopped on the way down, then camp for the night. We got there around 10 PM.

Then on Sunday, we made the rest of the journey home. As we came up Route 89, we found what appeared to be a fine flying area, a pretty valley (Slinkard Valley) surrounded by some steep mountains, and an observation tower on the top plateau. We stopped there, talked to the lookout man awhile, then explored, looking for possible launches, but didn't find any good ones, unfortunately, though the man said a hang glider had flown there a week ago, the first he'd seen.

So we headed on to Route 50, where the traffic got heavy, on to Sacramento, and finally home to Santa Rosa, dropping Jon off at 3 PM or so.

Tuesday, August 25, 1981 - 5:20 PM

Ivan called me on Friday night, was interested in going up. Hank was already up there. And on Saturday morning, Dick Swenson called. He and Susan were also going up, but decided to meet us there. I called Ivan to see about riding together, but he'd already left, so I drove up by myself.

Met Bones, Sharol, Ivan and Patti at the campground. We decided to load all the gliders on Ivan's truck. Then Hank landed from an earlier flight, was packed up before Dick arrived, so we loaded his glider too. When Dick arrived, we squeezed his glider on too. But then Mike arrived. So we took his car up too, as he had a driver and some of us rode with him.

We set up at the Rockpile. There were a bunch of people with Flight Designs gliders on the top.

Mike got launched first from the ramp, and was able to thermal up way over the top.

I launched next from the Rockpile, headed SE to the ridge, where I found a strong thermal, circled back towards the lookout and on up over it, continuing to climb to a max of 8300' agl, up with Mike. Stayed up there for quite awhile, watching the others launch below.

Watched Ivan go way down past Red Spot low, before starting to circle near the dogleg where he maintained for an hour or so.

It got more crowded over the top as more people got up, including Hank and a Super Lancer. Bones left soon, and Sharol took a long time getting back to the top. Dick was down fast, not finding anything.

At one point, we all got flushed down on the west side of the mountain, and I headed to lower takeoff to look for another thermal. Was able to maintain there for a few minutes, but when I circled back over the ridge, I found a lot of severe turbulence. Finally got a good thermal with which I was able to get back over the top.

Finally left the top after over an hour at about 6200', with Hank, but he turned back in a thermal. My wrists had been getting very sore, moreso than usual. Bones later told me that his were too.

Anyway, on the way out, I saw Ivan still scratching low near the dogleg. Above him at 4800', I hit a good thermal and circled on up to over 6000' again, where I waited to make sure he got out okay, which he finally did, though coming out low over the trees and landing short of the landing area.

Then I headed out, set up my landing, made a good one, at 4:27, a two hour flight, very nice. Landings were easy, as there was a 10 mph breeze off the lake, a nice change from the Owens Valley.

Later I went with Dick to the lake, where his twin brother and lady friend, Becky, were wind surfing. I tried it, but wasn't able to get it going. Neither was Ivan.

The evening was somewhat chilly, and I went to bed at 10:30 after having dinner with Bones and Sharol.

On Sunday, a strong breeze started up fairly early. Eventually Jon arrived and we went to the top in the Eagle Scout and Bones' Tonto Scout. Ivan had decided not to go up.

To our surprise, it was blowing from the SE at about 20 mph on top. It seemed blown out, so we decided to go back down.

But at the lower takeoff area, it was fairly mellow. Jon wanted to fly. So I headed down with Sharol, Dick, and Linda, while Jon, Bones, Mike, and Hank stayed up to fly.

We waited in the landing area, reading and relaxing, until they eventually launched around 4:20, when the wind had slacked off. But none were up for over 30 minutes.

After they landed (except for Hank, who drove down), we saw a fire in another part of the campground. It was growing quickly, so we ran over to check it out, and/or fight it if we could. I also radioed about it on channel 14. It had encompassed an area of about an acre downwind from us.

Soon fire-fighters arrived, and contained it rather quickly. Afterwards, they questioned us, trying to ascertain its cause.

Eventually we left for home around 6:30, stopping at Burger King. Then cruised on home by about 10 PM.

Monday, August 31, 1981

Got up Saturday for my trip to Hull Mountain. Hank arrived around 9:20, and after coffee and movies, we left. Not too many others were headed up as Bones had gone to the Nationals and fishing, Sharol was going to visit her mom, Stretch and the others had gone to the Nationals again, Dick was sick, Ivan and Patti had made other plans, Mel had work to do, and Jon was taking some novices to Hicks Ranch.

But James called, and we met him and his family there, and Sandra drove for us, and we were pleasantly surprised to find Don and Marty there also, with some other pilots from the South Bay.

We met James, and headed up in the Scout with Sandra and Tera, their daughter. Everyone else had launched earlier, so we set up and were ready around 2:30. There was a NW wind picking up.

James got off first at the Rockpile, didn't get much near the top, but got a thermal further out.

I launched next at 3:01, but had to use the NNW slot which Mel had pioneered. Got a good launch, made some passes, almost got up from a thermal in the west bowl, got even with and close to the top, but not over it. Then I was flushed on out past lower takeoff and out after Hank, who'd launched after me and headed out across Red Spot and the south valley, and was finding some lift.

I got some lift too, near the dog leg, found James also in the vicinity and thermalled back over the dogleg. Also, I talked to Tera on the radio, which she liked.

Spent an hour or more thermalling over the lower ridge, heading upwind to the NNW, looking for new thermals, and finding them fairly consistently. Got to 5200' max, but around 4500' most of the time after arriving at the dogleg with 3500'.

Eventually I headed out after James and Hank to land in the spot after two hours and three minutes, in a stiff 15 to 20 mph wind.

More later.

Wednesday, September 2, 1981 - 5:30 PM

So we got our gear together and headed up the mountain, where we pitched our tents and had some dinner as the sun set.

As it got dark, we drove up to lower takeoff where we set up the telescope, and Carl gave us a "tour" of the sky and some interesting things such as Jupiter and four of its moons, twin stars, galaxies, nebulas, etc.

Carl and Karen are friends of Hank's from Oberlin, and are nice people.

On Sunday we headed up the hill around ten, where most of the others were setting up for a morning flight. Hank and I decided to wait until later, so we watched as others took off and had good flights, including Stretch, Don, Joe, James, Ron, Anne, and some more non-locals, one on a Raven who got high over the top for an hour or so, as did others. And it was clouding up overhead, light wispy clouds, which later damped the thermals so the morning flights were better than the later ones.

One guy, a friend of Don's named Jack Pine, blew his launch from the propane tank launch, tripping on his stirrup, falling, and inadvertantly deploying his parachute as he scraped over some rocks, and then descending fairly gently after almost flying again. He bent a downtube. I helped him fold up his glider and carry it up.

Hank and I set up at the ramp for a change, but the wind was still coming across from the east, so Hank launched from the propane tank launch.

I waited a few minutes and launched from the ramp when it straightened. Had a good launch, but didn't find much over the ridge, but flew into a thermal over the lower takeoff where Ken Nead was waiting to launch his Fledge. Circled up even with the top, but then it died and I couldn't get up again, headed out to Red Spot and on across the valley, down the ridge to the lower knoll, coming over it with 2000' or so, finding nothing, so took a left to head out towards the landing area, feeling I probably couldn't make it all the way. But at 1200', halfway to the road, I got some lift, started circling, and after awhile was up to 2200'. Then I was able to find other lift, eventually getting to 3000', and being joined there by Hank, who'd been higher up the second ridge, and Ken, who caught a thermal at 700' when about to land at the end of the runway.

We all circled there for an hour or more, until I eventually got down to 1500', so headed out to land. Overshot the spot, but made a good landing.

Eventually we got packed up, said our goodbyes to Carl and Karen, as well as Don and Marty, then headed on out, stopping for a refreshing dip in the creek.

On the way home we stopped at the Potter Valley ranch for some sweet corn. Had nice talks with the ladies who live there as they picked our corn. And we stopped at the Henny Penny Truck Stop in Ukiah, which Hank especially likes, for some supper. Home by about 8 PM.

On Tuesday evening, we had our Sonoma Wings Board of Directors meeting at my house. We didn't accomplish much but to go over the by-laws to see what we needed to do, and to plan our annual meeting for mid-October when we'll elect new officers. We also talked about our purpose as a club, took further steps on the Hull Mountain guidelines, and argued for a long time about whether you should seek out the property owner before flying a site or not. Sharol was adamantly in favor of not flying until you ask. I played devil's advocate to show her there was another side to the question.

We finally quit at 11:30, said goodnight, and everyone left. I went to bed.

Thursday, September 10, 1981 - 4:45 PM

Went to Hull Mountain for the long Labor Day weekend, leaving Saturday morning, with James riding up with me. We arrived and found Stretch, Anne, Roy, Joe, Bones and Sharol, Don and Marty and a friend of theirs named Steve White, Gib, with Woody and a lady named Melanie, Ivan and Patti, Dick and Susan, and others. Some had already flown.

We loaded up on Ivan's truck, adding Dave Thor and Rick Innocenti when they arrived, finally giving up on Hank, who was late, but Jon and Nancy arrived on time.

The mountain was crowded, as there were other flyers there as well, some of whom I knew. We set up at the Rockpile.

I launched there after James, using the SW slot (left), as the wind was crossing from the south. Didn't find any lift near the top, passed lower takeoff after a few circles, then passed Red Spot too. On down the ridge to the dogleg, where I finally found some thermals, and got up to 5200' agl finally.

Wanted to get back to the top, as others were who'd launched after me, so headed back up to Red Spot twice, and on the second time, went on past too low into the bowl in front of lower takeoff. Scratched there, but couldn't get up.

Had to head out low around the first ridge, finally crossing it and scratching on down far below Red Spot. Finally over the first knoll, then crossing the lower knoll low, not finding anything, wondering if I'd make it across the trees, almost deciding to go for the creekbed instead, but heading SE over the trees and squeaking over them to land in the grassy strip before the road.

Bummed a cold beer from some spectators who stopped to ask questions, and was eventually picked up by Patti and Rick in her truck.

I was somewhat disappointed with my flight, and Sharol commented that I was looking glum later in the day. Actually some other things were making me somewhat uptight, including the tension between Sharol (and Bones) and Stretch's group. And also, I'd brought steaks, had told Sharol I'd share with them, but was nervous about how to decide who else to share with.

Hank had arrived later with a lady friend named Meredith. I liked her, found her attractive.

Eventually I started baking potatoes I'd also brought, and talking with Stretch and others. Bones and Sharol stayed away from the fire, and I felt the tension.

I finally realized that my steaks were still frozen, so we decided to cook them Sunday night instead, eat Hank's chicken Saturday night. That relieved some of the problems.

Went to bed around 10:30. Slept fairly well, I think.

On Sunday, we all went up the hill fairly early, by 9:30 or so. But the road to the Lookout was taken by gliders already there, and it wasn't launchable for awhile, with the wind from the east.

So I put up the guidelines we'd written in the display case while we waited, and finally, with others, decided to set up at the Rockpile, as it would eventually become launchable.

A few people got launched in the morning, had pretty good flights, but it got better after the mid-day lull.

I launched first from the Rockpile at 2:22. Didn't find anything right away, nor at lower takeoff, and finally headed out, fearing another flush, but as I crossed over Timberline Camp, I felt lift, started circling, and rode a strong thermal on up to over 6000', enough to get me over the top.

Continued finding thermals, circled with many other gliders and eventually found myself on top of the stack at over 8500' agl, past my previous high altitude.

Headed NW past Windy Gap, where Jon and I flew together awhile, and there we both circled up in a thermal that topped out at 9400', another new high (11,200' msl) for me. We headed further north, eyeing Covelo in the distance, but not going for it.

Soon I was sinking below Jon, so turned back towards Windy Gap, and Jon followed at a distance. Down to 8000' or so, I caught another strong thermal coming up from the big bowl below. Circled up in it and it stayed strong and soon I was 1000 feet or so above Jon, and to my surprise, it topped out at 10,300' (12,100' msl), the highest of anyone all day.

Meanwhile, Jon headed across toward Sanhedrin Mountain.

I stayed high in that area until my vario quit when the battery went dead. Then, after drifting awhile and losing altitude, I headed out with over 6000' toward the lake. Eventually landed after a flight of two hours and 36 minutes.

After folding up, I went swimming again, as I had the evening before, to get washed off and refreshed.

Then came back to cook dinner. Stretch and that group left for Willits to visit some friends, so that relieved the tension around the cooking fire.

The steaks came out very well, and we all had a very nice dinner, and a pleasant evening. Also there were Mel and Lynne, who'd arrived later on Saturday.

I went to bed earlier on Sunday night, feeling better, and slept okay.

On Monday, we took our time getting up the mountain, finally heading up around 10:30 or so. Again, there was a crowd, so we elected to set up at the Rockpile and wait for that side to get active. People were already getting over the top, so I was optimistic.

Jon launched first there at around 1:10, and got up. I followed at 1:18, but got flushed again, not finding anything all the way past Red Spot. Headed down the first ridge, and finally got some light thermals, but couldn't gain much. Got one which drifted me SE towards the dogleg, where I saw Ken Lloyd thermalling low after getting high over the top a couple of times earlier.

Came under him there, and scratched awhile, getting a couple hundred feet. He stayed higher and eventually headed out. I stayed there and scratched low for a long time, below 3000'.

Eventually I got a stronger thermal up to 3800' or so, and headed partway back to Red Spot, but had to turn around. Later I got another that took me to 4200', so got back to Red Spot, sinking all the way until finding another one there, just as Bones was passing, headed out the other way.

I lost the thermal there, and had to head out also, eventually getting back to the dogleg low again.

Finally decided to head out. Was pretty low, crossed parallel to the grassy strip, but then sunk out across the road, only getting to the first camp. Had to carry my glider the last couple of hundred yards in a stiff ground wind. Had a flight of an hour and 28 minutes, however, but mostly scratching. Somewhat disappointing, as I'd really wanted to get back up over the top.

Folded up my glider, then my campsite, and got ready to head home, after saying goodbye to everyone. Hank and Meredith were just leaving, so we stopped at the swimming hole together on the way out, where we all took a refreshing skinny dip.

Eventually we got dressed, said our goodbyes, and headed on home. I got home by around 8 PM, went to bed early.

Back to work on Tuesday, for one day, as Wednesday was also a holiday.

On Wednesday morning, I got up at my regular time to take Mary to Dillon Beach. It was cold and foggy, but nice when we got there, a mellow breeze of 4 to 8 mph.

She got set up, and I carried her glider up the hill. Also there were several other novice pilots, including two with Ravens and one with a Comet (Judy Canham), also an Alpha and a Lancer.

When we got to the top, it was coming from the SW, so the only launchable spot was from the top. But it switched to west, so we moved to a west facing spot slightly lower.

After psyching herself up for awhile, Mary launched and had a perfect flight from launch, to corrections, to standup landing. She was pleased, took three more flights with the wind steadily increasing to 10 to 15 mph, and did very well except for a momentary lapse on the last flight, when she corrected the wrong way, then recovered okay.

We packed up and left Dillon Beach about 1 PM, came home.

Wednesday, September 16, 1981 - 5:20 PM

By Friday evening I was feeling that I might not go flying at Hull that weekend, as neither Bones and Sharol nor Jon James were going, and I was feeling low energy, somewhat depressed.

Kathy Taylor from Mountain View called at one point, said all her connections had fallen through, wondered if she could go up to Hull with me. But I told her I wasn't planning on going.

But later Hank called, wanted to go anyway. So after thinking about it for awhile, I called him back, deciding to go after all.

I slept until eight on Saturday morning, but Hank was late anyway. We finally got off by around 10:45, our latest departure, so we didn't arrive at Lake Pillsbury until around 1:15.

As we came in though, we saw a van with a glider on top, and arranged for them to go up with us, since they had a driver and we didn't. It was Bill Wood and Adrienne.

We found Joe's car at the lakeside campsite, so we left our stuff there and went up in the Scout. We set up at the Rockpile, as others were already set up at the Ramp.

Bill launched first, almost blowing a "Funston launch."

I went next at 3:10. Made some soaring passes in the west bowl and got a little above launch, but not for long, had to head down the ridge soon. But I got up again in a thermal over lower launch. Got to a maximum altitude of 7200' agl, with James and Rich Sauer for most of the time. Finally headed out after 5 PM and made a good landing at the campsite after two hours and 17 minutes.

Camped there with Stretch, Anne, James, Roy, and Joe, having a pleasant evening. Shared Hank's dinner of chicken.

Saturday night there was a full moon so they were talking about doing a night flight. I decided to go too if launch conditions were okay, so around nine, Stretch, Anne, Roy, Joe and I loaded our gliders on and headed up the mountain, with Hank coming along to drive.

But at lower launch the light wind was down from the NE. Joe and Stretch elected to try a downwind launch off the south corner where there was some running room. I judged it too close to try, so elected not to fly, along with Anne and Roy.

But Joe and Stretch both made good launches, having to run hard and just barely clearing the bushes, and had nice flights down.

We drove down, and went to bed soon after.

On Sunday, after breakfast, we all went up for a morning flight, and set up on the upper road, as there was a SE wind, and the propane tank was the only reasonable launch site.

There were some other gliders already up there, and around ten they began launching, with some thermalling up over the top, including Joe, Roy, James, and Stretch.

I launched after Stretch at 11:05, circling immediately over the upper ridge, and steadily climbed up over the top too. Anne and Hank, who launched after me, weren't able to get up, spent a long time scratching low.

I circled on up below James and eventually reached my maximum altitude of 8700' agl, where it was just James and me, flying around together for a couple of hours, as the others had headed out.

The thermals were coming from the east and we'd fly far out over the back ridge toward the east, catching them and drifting back to the top of the mountain.

I stayed high, a few hundred feet above James most of the time, and got to 8600' four other times in addition to my maximum of 8700' (10,500' msl), my second highest day at Hull so far.

Eventually things changed, and James got flushed down the mountain. I managed to survive that one, staying over 7000' for awhile until around 1:30, when I began losing my altitude relentlessly, finding only ragged small thermals from time to time, and finally being flushed.

While I was over the top I saw Rick Innocenti blow his launch off the ramp (though I didn't recognize his glider at the time) and crash into the bushes below. Fortunately, he wasn't injured seriously.

Eventually I was below the top in heavy sink, had to head down the ridge fast into a headwind, finally got some lift past Red Spot, but slowed to take what I could then head on out.

Was worried about making it to the campsite as I crossed the second ridge, but managed to get some more marginal lift on the way out to the lower knoll, then turned SE with about 2800', which got me to the campground okay. Then I landed into a fairly stiff breeze, after two hours and 57 minutes, a great "morning flight."

We were able to get packed up and headed for home earlier than usual, and we stopped on the way out for a refreshing plunge into the creek. Then on to the Henny Penny Truck Stop in Ukiah for some supper.

Got home by around seven or so, was quite tired. Hank had a cup of coffee, then headed south to Berkeley.

Tuesday night we had our Sonoma Wings meeting at my house. Hank arrived early, then Rick Innocenti, finally others, including Bones and Sharol, Jon, Stretch, Anne, Joe, James, Mike Mahoney, Wayne and Bonnie, and finally Ernie, who arrived late.

I showed five reels of film taken since the last meeting, saving six more for after the meeting.

We got on to the situation at Calistoga Road soon. Last time Stretch, Joe and others had flown there, a man had come and told them it was his land and not to fly there anymore. In the meantime Jon had started negotiations with someone else whom he thought was the owner, and reported his progress. I suggested he form a committee to pursue it, and wanted Stretch's wing to be represented on that committee.

I got angry with Sharol, who kept interrupting to thwart that aim, said Jon should appoint his own committee, and things got a bit weird.

Eventually we got past that, and on to nominations for next year's officers. I was nominated again for president, along with Jon, Roy, James and others for various offices. I also nominated Ivan for vice-president, and Stretch and Bones for treasurer. Hank was nominated for secretary and volunteered. Jon James and Mel were nominated for flight director. I forget some of the other nominations. Sharol was nominated for vice-president, I think.

I think Hank will get secretary, Jon, flight director, and I will probably get president again. I'd like to see Bones as treasurer, and James as vice-president for balance.

After the last movies we adjourned, and later, as Bones, Sharol, Jon, and Hank were leaving, we got talking about the meeting and why I'd gotten mad at Sharol.

I told her I thought she'd been pushing the split between them and Stretch and his group, and we got into a long heated discussion in the doorway about that hostility.

I was surprised at how heated the discussion became, and how angry and worked-up Bones and Sharol became over their differences in perspective vis-à-vis Stretch and Anne.

Jon and Hank mostly took their side, while I alone was trying to take a middle position, feeling that the other wing of the club was also important, while Bones and Sharol would be happy if they all pulled out.

I tried to show that both perspectives were valid, but Bones insisted that they (Stretch and the others) were "wrong." He later said that if any of them, including James, got on the Board (the 5 elected officers), he'd pull out, which I thought was quite unreasonable.

The central issue was the same one we'd argued about before, as to whether people should fly sites before firm permission is granted by the owner. I pointed out that we'd all done that before (Russian Gulch, for example), after Sharol insisted that she'd never do such a thing.

We argued heatedly for two hours, with Bones and Sharol remaining quite self-righteous, I thought, as I mostly argued the other side, having to defend Stretch and the others' perspective.

Mary was there, and occasionally supported my attitude, while also disagreeing with what I said or remaining neutral. I felt that the club needs both wings to survive.

Finally, after realizing we were disturbing the neighbors, we quit and said goodnight, though still disagreeing strongly. Bones said he was affected deeply by what had happened, couldn't understand my position, and perhaps felt betrayed by me.

After he got home, he called to tell me he was "quitting" the club, but that out of respect for me, we were still friends.

This is a very brief account, probably distorted, but I'm tired, want to get through it and get to bed, as it's 10:30 by now.

I went to work late today, being tired (at 10 AM) and was somewhat depressed all day. But I felt I'd said what I had to, did what I could do to be true to what I believed, and don't regret the discussion. But I hope Bones and Sharol can get off their self-righteous attitude, as I like them and value their friendship.

Tuesday, September 22, 1981 - 7:40 PM

Drove to Hull Saturday morning with James. Hank had also called, had two passengers, Meredith and Deborah, both attractive ladies. Deborah came to take pictures, is an art student at California School of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, does photo-realistic paintings, and is very attractive, with long dark hair and a beautiful body, and is somewhat shy.

Anyway, they were delayed, so James, Mike and I headed up the mountain. Stretch, Anne, Roy, and Joe had already flown, just landed.

It was calm on top, but blowing from the NW in the landing area. James launched first from the ramp around 1:40, was flushed far down the mountain. Mike and I decided to wait awhile.

Mike launched around 2:30, and was also flushed out. Hank and friends had arrived by now. He decided not to fly, and Deborah was taking pictures.

I launched at 2:40 down the ramp, managed to make a couple of soaring passes in front, so she may have gotten some good pictures, before I slipped down into the bowl, getting flushed on down past lower launch, across Red Spot, and down toward the lower knoll, after cutting across to the lower ridge. Found only sporadic lift along the way, headed out over the knoll, turned left, saw James and Mike both catching thermals over the road and the grassy strip.

But I was down to 1500' and too low to get up, though I did chase marginal lift there for awhile before having to land in the grassy strip heading west.

Carried my glider to the road after a twenty minute flight, watched James and Mike get very high, both having flights of over two hours.

Folded up my glider, was eventually picked up by Meredith and Deborah in Hank's car. Then they went swimming after dropping me at camp.

Had a very nice dinner with Hank and the ladies, with me providing steaks, and they serving chicken tacos, which were good.

I also found that the Scout had a leak in one of the radiator hoses. Taped it up as a stopgap measure, but decided not to drive it up the mountain on Sunday.

We all went to bed pretty early. The campground was practically deserted except for us, and most of the others walked out to the dry reeds to sleep, while I stayed in my tent.

Around 3 AM, some crazy guys in a car came wheeling through the area, chasing a rabbit. I hollered at them to watch out as there were people sleeping out there. They turned and left. Also there were gunshots throughout the night, echoing across the lake.

On Sunday it got windy early. We all headed up for a morning flight, found it blowing over the backside from the north.

At lower launch, Joe, then Stretch, Roy, and Anne did launch, but only for downwind dashes to the landing area. It was soon too much from the north to launch there, so eventually the rest of us drove down without flying.

Jon had arrived, as had Bones and Sharol a few minutes earlier. Bones and Sharol had gone up the mountain to drive the road to Covelo. Jon didn't go up at all.

We all packed up our gear, then headed for the creek for our usual skinny dip there; Jon, James, Hank, Meredith, Deborah and I. Deborah wore a swim suit, however, and we all had a very pleasant swim. Then James and I headed on home, arriving home around six or so.

Mary called me at work on Monday. They'd had a nice weekend at Yosemite. We're planning to go to Dillon Beach tomorrow morning, as I took a vacation day.

Saturday, September 26, 1981 - 9:45 AM

Mary was a very good sport about not having me to help her all the time, and she carried her glider on up the hill by herself.

The wind was completely dead for awhile, and people stood around waiting. When Bones and I got our gliders up, it started blowing lightly from the south. So Bones took the first flight from the south side on my Raven and had a very nice flight.

I got Mary set up ready to go, but the wind got more SW and picked up, so we had to move her glider to a different spot. Finally she did get launched, turned right and headed south, corrected into the wind for a good landing.

Then the wind died again, and then began blowing lightly from the west. I didn't want a no-wind launch with the Comet, so waited until it was 3 or 4 knots, then launched, had a good flight, no surprises.

Came back up and flew one more. Assisted Mary flying three more off the top to the west. She's doing very well now. Bones flew two more with my Raven, then one more to the parking lot on the Comet.

It was a nice day, though very tiring, and I felt good about my first Comet flights, feel able to fly it now at Hull Mountain.

Decided to rest up this weekend rather than go flying anywhere. Oh yes, it rained Thursday, the first rain of Autumn, which may spell the end of the thermalling season. Today is partly sunny, with lots of clouds blowing in from a frontal system.

Also, in the evenings I've been editing some film, in preparation for our annual meeting.

End of Volume 26c

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