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July 1982

August 1982

Volume 28b

Jon's Record Flight

Hot Tub Party at Hull

Fourth at Elk and Hull

Long Tow Home

Birthday Party at Hull

Into a Cloud

Volume 28b

Volume 28:

June 8, 1982 to August 16, 1982

Tuesday, June 8, 1982 - 6 PM

In almost all respects, I'm content and happy with my life these days. It's Spring, quickly turning to Summer, and a wonderful hang gliding season stretches before me. I have a new high-performance hang glider, on which I've already had quite a few marvelous flights.

And I have a beautiful and intelligent lady love, who is a wonderful companion to me, and who enjoys our weekly hang gliding excursions. Our life together so far has been quite harmonious, loving, and fun.

There's not much more I could ask for, and I'm very grateful for what I have, feeling very much blessed.

I also have a great bunch of friends, my hang gliding buddies, and Mary, who is still very much my good friend.

My job has become pretty mellow for the most part, pays me very well without making excessive demands on me. If only I could find a way to cut down on the time it takes from the rest of my life, I'd feel truly content in all respects, at least for now.

As I've said so many times to my friends, "We're living in the Golden Age of Hang Gliding," and I hope it can last for a long time to come.

Meredith is very much into her writing these days, feeling that "it's the right time," and is accomplishing a lot. She's also been enjoying her work in the garden, and our weekend expeditions. And she's even become comfortable about driving the Scout down Elk Mountain, which she was somewhat terrified of at first. She seems quite happy with her life here these days, and I'm very happy having her living with me.

Mary's been somewhat frustrated with her flying recently, had hoped to have progressed further than she has, wanted to fly in the mountains this year.

Enough now about general things. Let's get back to this past weekend where I left off in Volume 27, at the top of Elk Mountain on Sunday morning with Ernie and Meredith.

It was cycling up the south face nicely by noon, so I hooked in and waited for a nice thermal.

We'd heard from Sharol on the CB. She and Bones, Jon, and Dick Fugett had arrived, but had no way to get up the hill, as they didn't have a 4WD vehicle.

I launched at 12:10 into a thermal, made a couple of 180's in front of launch, working up to a hundred feet or so above launch, then circled in light thermals, but didn't get much higher.

Flew over Meredith down at the knob, then back over launch where the thermals seemed a bit better, but finally had to head out over the SW ridge looking for more lift. Didn't find much, and gradually slipped down the ridge, thinking I'd have to head out to the landing area.

Made a couple of passes over the rocky outcropping above the final lower ridge before heading out, but then, to my pleasant surprise, I found a thermal over the last slope, in which I was able to circle and climb, slowly at first, then faster as I got higher, 'til I was soon above launch again, and on up to 6500' or so, with a wispy cloud forming above me.

Soon Ernie launched, and was able to find a thermal too, and we were both happily soaring around at five or six thousand feet and higher, getting into the clouds at 6800', so that the view of the ground would fade away.

This was great fun, and in one cloud I got strong lift, was sucked up into it and got a bit scared, pulled in to try to fly out of it, but found the ground spinning when I did get out, and was quite disoriented. I should have been calm and set a course by my compass. But I couldn't tell if I was level or not.

Anyway, it was good fun, and Ernie and I were in touch by CB to keep from running into each other.

The thermals were drifting back towards Hull Mountain, and I considered making a try for Hull, but didn't. There were also areas of strong sink between the thermals, during which we could lose considerable altitude.

At one point, after more than an hour, Ernie radioed that he was sinking fast in the south bowl. After seeing him far down the mountain, I too encountered severe sink, and looking for lift, didn't find any, found myself soon below the launch (where many other gliders were now being set up), scratching my way down the ridge again.

Found occasional light lift over the valley, but couldn't find anything strong enough to maintain in. Saw Ernie climbing again over the lower slopes of Pitney, so headed over that way, but was below him now. I hit sporadic lift, but again nothing strong enough, and was soon committed to setting up my landing approach.

The wind had now switched, was coming from the NW. Made my approach, flared hard, and had a pretty good landing after an hour and thirty-five minutes. Ernie landed a few minutes later, quite pleased with his flight, as I was also.

But by now we were seeing other gliders launching and getting above the mountain, including Sharol, Bones, Jon, Fred, Rich, and others. Dick Fugett soon landed, as did the Chief.

But as we folded up our gliders, we watched Bones, Jon, and Fred leave from high above Elk and come over to Pitney Ridge, and then beyond. After I went and got the Eagle Scout, we could hear their radio transmissions as they got further away.

Eventually Fred came back to Pitney, while Jon and Bones faded into the distance over Upper Lake.

Meredith had folded up the tent and we soon got our gear and Ernie's loaded into the Scout in preparation for a retrieval mission, but we had no idea how far we'd end up having to go.

Sharol landed soon, as did most of the other fliers. We told her that Jon and Bones were going cross-country. They had headed down the west side of Clear Lake, and got to cloudbase over Lakeport.

Jon asked over the radio if someone could bring his car. Sharol had to go back up the hill, as their gear and bags were still up there in Fred's truck, so we decided that she'd bring Jon's car when she got back down, and we'd go looking for them now. So off we headed on the chase, listening to them on the CB.

Soon, Bones had to land, in a field across the street from Craig's parents' house in Kelseyville. It looked like Jon would also be landing nearby.

Eventually we arrived at Lakeport and contacted Bones by radio. We'd stopped on the way and gotten six-packs of their favorite brands of beer, and we found Bones, congratulated him on a great flight (over 20 miles), and gave him his beer.

Then we called Jon, and to our surprise, he was still in the air following Route 29 near Mt. Konocti. So we left Bones for Sharol to pick up, and headed off after Jon, keeping in touch with him by radio.

He passed Lower Lake, and headed south over Route 29 towards Middletown. After awhile we caught up with him and spotted him high above us, as he'd gotten back up to 7000' again.

We continued south toward Middletown, where he was getting lower, and spotted him again a couple of miles ahead, getting pretty low.

Finally he told us he'd have to land, in a field to the right of the road near a big white barn, then he disappeared over a hill. When we came around the hill, there he was, having just landed.

We filmed him and the ranch sign (The Bar-X Ranch), then took him a cold beer and congratulated him. It was a fabulous cross-country flight, far exceeding the previous record for the area. He was thrilled, of course, and happy to see us arrive so quickly.

We all basked in the glow of his achievement as he folded up his glider. He'd landed at 6:05 or so, for a flight of three hours and fifty minutes, and forty miles as the crow flies, or about 55 road miles (his actual path). He'd bent a downtube landing, but wasn't bothered by this at all.

Finally we had him and his gear in the Scout, and his glider on top, and we decided to head back towards Lower Lake to find Bones and Sharol.

A few miles up the road, we passed them coming the other way. Fortunately Bones had been able to hear Jon's transmissions until he was five miles from Middletown, so they knew where to go. We were all jubilant.

We turned around and headed back to Middletown, where we stopped at Larson's Pizza place, and had a pizza and a couple of pitchers of beer to celebrate. It was a very nice time.

At the pizza place was a very cute little woman waitress, married though, who said she'd always wanted to try hang gliding, so we gave her one of Sharol's business cards.

Finally, about 9:30, we left and drove the rest of the way to Santa Rosa via Calistoga.

We got the car unloaded, took a bath, and went to bed, feeling very good. Meredith had very much enjoyed the excitement of the chase.

I was inspired by Jon's flight, and am excited by the idea of going cross-country soon myself.

I was very tired at work on Monday, but felt more rested by today.

Monday, June 14, 1982 - 6:40 PM

I was tired all week, considered taking a sick day or morning to recover, but then on Thursday, I was given a high-priority project of forty hours, to complete by this Thursday, so I didn't feel I could take any time off.

Anyway, I've made good progress on the project, will probably complete it ahead of schedule, though that seemed unlikely at first.

Worked on a couple of flying related projects at home. One was a better way to stow my flight bag and gear inside the sail. A small aluminum tube, six feet long was the key, to keep the bag rigid.

Also, in response to Bones' complaints to UP, I received in the mail a "lightweight cross-country glider bag" from UP, with a letter of apology from Mark Bennett, the Sales Manager, for the stitch holes in my sail's undersurface. I hadn't complained about them, but Bones had. It was a very nice gesture on their part, but I don't feel I'll actually use the glider bag, since I've devised a good way to stow my regular one, and the weight difference isn't that significant.

Also, I'm hoping to take an Owens Valley trip. Don and Marty talked of it this weekend. Don suggested the week of July 17-25, which sounds okay to me if I can get the time off. Sharol didn't sound very much interested. So I'll talk to Jon, Hank, and others.

On Saturday morning we slept until eight before getting up to go to Hull Mountain. We took our time. Hank and Jan arrived here about 9:45, then went on ahead, and we got off about 10:20.

Stopped at Scandia in Cloverdale for sweet rolls and coffee. The town was filled with bikers, off to a Harley-Davidson rally somewhere up north.

We pulled into the campsite at Lake Pillsbury around 1:30, unloaded our gear and put up our tent while waiting for others to arrive. Loaded Hank's and Jan's gliders, then headed on up the mountain in the Eagle Scout.

On top already were Mel and Lynne, Bones and Sharol, Curt, Mike Kunitani, Fred, Erin, Don and Marty. Joe, Roy, and James had already launched, were up amongst thick clouds overhead.

The Rockpile launch setup area was packed, so I set up on top by the ramp by myself. Watched others launch and get up, mostly at Red Spot.

I was ready myself by 3:30 or so, but the air was almost dead at the ramp. So I got ready and waited for a light cycle. A side gust almost blew me over at one point.

I finally launched into a very light breeze of 2 to 4 knots, but had a good launch. Made one pass to the right past the Rockpile, then back down the ridge.

There was some lift at lower launch, but not enough to get up in, so on to Red Spot. There I found a strong thermal, circled on up to cloudbase at 7700', then flew back over the top to wave to Meredith. But it was turbulent there with some sink, so I soon had to return to Red Spot, where I found more very strong thermals, and again got up into the clouds.

I practiced keeping my orientation by compass as I'd get sucked up into them, and was able to, flying out the front, or seeing wisps rising below me and flying over them into lift. It was a lot of fun, there was much turbulence, and much sink also, but very strong thermals when found.

I was by myself for most of the flight, as others went out and landed. Finally I was the last one up. Roy radioed that it was blowing 20 in the landing zone, so I thought maybe I should land before it got much stronger (this was a mistake, as it got lighter soon).

So I came out over the campground at 4500' or so, flew along the lakeside, then to the Resort (which is no longer there), finally did some steep 360's to come down, set up an approach from the NE, and made a pretty good landing, though I got picked up when I flared, but came down okay. Landed at 5:45, a little less than two hours in the air. Better than expected on such an overdeveloped day. More later.

8 PM

Hank and Jan provided our dinner of chicken and potatoes, which we cooked over the campfire later. The usual crowd was there except for Stretch and Anne, who were showing his parents around and didn't come to Hull Mountain.

A lively fireside rap session followed, lasting 'til eleven, when I finally dragged Meredith off to bed. She's into the social aspect of camping, and likes to stay up while there's anything still happening.

Bones was getting drunk on Bombay Gin, and gave her a glass. She'd been asking him why he's so mean to her.

I didn't sleep very well, but got a few hours, I guess. Bones and Curt were up early at 6:30, and it got warm pretty soon, so we got up around seven.

Meredith had made plans to go running with Mike and Gail (a couple from San Jose, who'd come up with Don and Marty). By the time she and Mike got back from an eight mile run, a couple of truckloads of gliders had already left for the top. I was planning to wait for Jon anyway, so we had breakfast at leisure after a swim with Meredith and Mike.

Around 10:30, Jon, Mike Mahoney, Dick Fugett and Ivan arrived, so we loaded up gliders and headed to the top in two vehicles. It was very cloudy again, with huge cumi's forming over the top, but they were blowing from the NE, and we heard by CB that it wasn't launchable yet.

The truck we rode up in, Erin's pickup, got a flat on the way up. It was fortunate that it happened then, and not when Meredith was driving it down.

On top were Joe, Roy, James, Phil Ray, Mike, Mike Kunitani, Don and others, ready to go from the top, either at the ramp or the propane tank launch. It was pretty still at the Rockpile, but promised to be launchable soon, so I set up there.

Joe and Roy launched and got up, in thermals over Red Spot, as did James and others.

I was ready first at the Rockpile, and launched into a very light breeze at 1:45. Lost altitude as I headed out to Red Spot, where I'd hoped to get up. There I did find a light thermal which got me up to 6500' or so, but no higher, and not high enough to get back to the top.

Tuesday, June 15, 1982 - 9:40 PM

The lift was much less strong or widespread as it had been the day before. I scratched around at Red Spot, then on further down Boardman Ridge, finding small thermals here and there, but taking many 360's to gain just a couple of hundred feet.

Eventually I was over the junction of the lower ridge, still just barely maintaining, occasionally trying to head back up towards Red Spot, but without being able to.

Other gliders were around, including Mel, Phil Ray, Mike (in a Fledgling), and Mike Kunitani, and I'd watch them looking for thermals. Some were finding them out beyond the lower ridge, so I headed out there too, and in one thermal, managed to get up close to cloudbase, at 7000' or so, then head back up the mountain, but again not getting very far.

Got another thermal near the lower knoll, with Mike K., Mel, and Mike thermaling beneath me, but didn't get very high in that one.

Later I saw Jon below me, decided to follow him, and thermalled up the lower ridge near him, but eventually quit when the drift was taking us too far back without much altitude gain.

He eventually thermalled up past me and on up over the ridge, while I headed out the ridge again and finally had to head out to the landing zone after a two hour scratching flight.

There was only a light wind in the LZ. I slowed down and flared hard, but still popped up a few feet, held the bar out, and came down on my feet. A nice flight, all in all, but it was hard work, and I never got over the top in all that time.

I folded up my glider, and after the usual socializing in the LZ, we eventually said our goodbyes and headed on home.

Don brought up the Owens Valley trip idea, asked if I were interested in going this year. I said I was, and we set the week of July 17th as a probable time. But Sharol said she wasn't real interested, and I talked to Jon today, and he doesn't think he'll be able to go either.

On the way out, Meredith and I stopped for a refreshing dip in the Eel River. It was cold, but not as icy as we'd thought it would be, and it felt quite nice. Then we stopped at the Henny Penny, north of Ukiah for cheeseburgers.

Got home around 8:30 or so, took a bath, and went to bed. I was quite exhausted but didn't sleep real well.

On Monday evening, Stretch and Anne brought his parents over to see some of my hang gliding movies of him.

Then Hank and Jan arrived later in the evening on their way back from Hull. But I was too tired, didn't wait up for them, but went to bed around 10:20.

Monday, June 21, 1982 - 7:15 PM

They'd brought strawberry margaritas, which, along with wine, had gotten us pretty wasted. Dinner was some good pasta, and afterwards we talked on until 10:30 or so.

In the morning I had a headache and my eyes hurt, so I stayed home, slept until eleven, which was nice.

This weekend was to be the hot-tub party / meeting at Hull Mountain. We'd planned to drive up Friday night, but decided to take it easy and go up on Saturday morning instead, as we were both pretty tired.

Got a late start Saturday, and outside Cloverdale I got a flat tire blowout. Had to change it, then bought a new tire in Cloverdale, feeling fortunate to find a comparable one, a new Goodyear Polysteel Radial, for $100 altogether.

We were soon on the road again, getting to Hull by about two in the afternoon.

The mountain was hugely overdeveloped, with the clouds drifting from the East. Joe, who'd landed already, put his glider on the Scout, and we headed up after watching a few others land. Jan and Dallas came up to bring down other vehicles from the top.

Joe and I set up at the ramp. Huge grey clouds were overhead, and there was thunder in the distance. But on top it was dead still.

Around four, Joe made a no-wind launch and headed on out, not finding much, except rain on the way out to the LZ.

I waited quite awhile for a wisp of wind, but none came, so I finally made a no-wind takeoff from the ramp myself. Before I got to lower launch, I was in the rain, fairly hard, so headed on out towards the sunlight over the creekbed.

But I didn't find much in the way of lift there either, so came on out over the campground, maintaining as long as I could, and finally setting up a landing towards the lake.

But I found myself coming in low and fast again, yawing a bit, flared hard but dragged a tip, wasn't pleased by my landing. Was down in twenty minutes.

After folding up my glider, it started raining, so most of us took refuge in the Enterprise, Bones and Sharol's former housetruck, which they'd recently sold to Curt Webber, who'd driven it up this week.

When the rain let up, some of us headed for the hot-tub. I stripped and left my clothes in the Enterprise so they wouldn't get wet. Stretch, Anne, Dallas, Mike, and others joined Meredith and me. We also swam out the channel to the Lake which was pretty warm and refreshing.

Eventually we dressed, and I set up our tent.

Then Eric Havstadt came over, needing some help to get his VW bus. He'd landed back in the creekbed, then gotten his bus stuck there when he drove back to get his glider and gear. Dave Thor came with us as we went first to Sunset Campground to get some heavy rope, then past the airstrip into the hills beyond, where he'd gotten stuck down a hill with no place to turn around.

But we pulled him out with the Eagle Scout pretty easily, then headed on back to camp, where I cooked our steaks and corn for dinner, but most people had already eaten by then.

We had a club meeting of sorts, and Dave Thor read a letter in which he described being expelled from the Regionals when in 4th place, for "dangerous flying." He was quite angry about it, felt he'd been wronged, and not given due process.

After that, we went back to drinking and talking 'til 10:30 or so, when I was ready to go to bed.

Meredith got up and went running about 7:30, for about 45 minutes, then I got up and went swimming with her. We also lit and stoked up the hot-tub, which was warm by the time we got back from the lake.

After breakfast, people began loading gliders. Already, big clouds were forming over the mountain, coming up from the East, so, soon, the rest of us loaded our gliders onto Fred's and Ivan's trucks. Roy's had already gone up.

On top, Stretch was the only one to get launched before it started raining pretty hard. We all huddled under gliders waiting for it to stop, which it did about 45 minutes later.

It was pretty still, but Joe, then Roy, and others did no-wind takeoffs from the ramp, and even managed to find some lift once they got out a ways.

So Jon and I decided to set up, and others followed our lead. I set up at the ramp with Mike, while the others set up by the Rockpile.

I hurried, as it was clouding over again, and lightning and thunder were happening in the distance. The sky was dark grey to the east, and it was all moving SW towards the landing area, so I wanted to get launched and down while I still could.

Did another no-wind launch at 12:07, then headed out looking for lift. It wasn't raining, but there were no sunny areas left by this time either, so I headed on down the first ridge, then across the knolls and out toward the landing area, encountering no lift.

The wind was from the east along the lake, so I set up over the trees at the camp, then came on in, again low and fast, flaring again at a slight angle, so that a tip dragged, resulting in another disappointing, though not very bad, landing.

Folded up quickly, as rain threatened, then took movies of other landings. We started packing up the camping gear as the rain started, getting all but the tent away without getting wet.

Then we socialized for awhile, as people were getting packed up to go home, finally said goodbye, and left around three.

We stopped at the Eel River for a quick freezing dip, then on to Henny Penny for a burger and pie, before heading home.

Also this afternoon, I got some bad news. My landlord, who's been away for months, called to tell me that I may have to move out in November or so, as Cathy and her boyfriend will probably want to move back in here, or else he might want to if he comes back to California.

So that's depressing news, as I've grown to like it here very much, and hate to move anyway. I told him it would be very disappointing to me, but don't think there's much I can do to prevent it, just hope it doesn't happen.

Enough for now.

Monday, June 28, 1982 - 7:50 PM

Last week passed quickly.

Friday evening we took it easy, went to bed early. Got up on Saturday to go to Elk Mountain.

The weather didn't look great, as a low pressure system was off the coast, and it was cloudy all the way to Elk, with cloudbase at about 5100'.

We arrived at the campground around noon, after stopping for coffee and rolls at The Calico Kitchen in Cloverdale. Waited for Hank and Jan, who were behind us. Bones was there, but had already gone up the mountain.

Roy, Stretch and Anne, and Rich Sauer soon arrived from Rich's house. Hank and Jan arrived, so we loaded their gliders on and headed up.

It was soarable from the south, and the sky was soon crowded, as everyone tried to work the lift zone, with no one getting very high. I took some movies, didn't take off for awhile.

Hank decided not to fly and, unfortunately, forgot to tie his glider back on, and as Meredith drove down the steep hill, it slid off, nearly causing her an accident, and bending his leading edges and tearing his sail. I felt bad for him, and for Meredith, who also felt bad about the situation.

I eventually launched, had a nice flight, soaring with Stretch, Anne, Roy, Rich, and a bunch of others who'd arrived at the top.

Bones eventually got up and launched again, and was up with us, usually above me in his big Gemini. I just hung out for a long time, looking for uncrowded lift here and there, and eventually headed out after three hours, when only Bones and I, and a couple of others, were still flying.

The air was very turbulent over the landing area. I made passes over the trees, finally turned into the wind and came down. I was descending and slowing down well until I hit a low gradient and near stall, pulled in, and then was flying fast and low. Flared hard, but it didn't stop me, and I fell forward, dropping the nose.

I was quite tired. Meredith put up our tent while I folded up my glider, and after awhile we cooked our dinner with the others.

We shared our steak with Rich Sauer, who stayed for dinner, and we all got quite wasted on beer, May wine, and a brownie. Eventually Meredith and I called it a night and staggered off to bed.

I didn't sleep very well, and we both vowed not to get so wasted in the future. But I felt okay once I was up on Sunday. It was a clear blue sky, to our surprise, after some light rain during the night. More later.

Wednesday, June 30, 1982 - 9:30 PM

We got up on Sunday to a pretty nice day. After breakfast, Roy took a truckload to the top, but I'd decided to wait for Jon to arrive, along with Meredith, Hank, Jan, and Bones.

Eventually Fred, and Rich Sauer arrived also, as did Dick Fugett, and Jon. So we loaded gliders and headed up in two vehicles. Hank volunteered to drive the other truck, as he had no glider to fly.

The wind had switched to the NW, and since a bunch of other gliders were already setting up by the competition slots, we went on past, down to the west knoll to use the launch there.

A few gliders were in the air soaring the NW ridge and bowl, and occasionally getting flushed out. Stretch, Anne, and Roy had already gotten flushed.

I launched first of our group, at about 1:10. Turned right, headed up the ridge, made a couple of passes before working my way up above the ridge. I could only get a few hundred feet over in the best cycles, so it was crowded when there were other gliders, as there were.

Bones launched next and came over. This day, I was able to stay up with him or above him most of the time, and after awhile he went out the ridge and had to head for the landing area.

Friday, July 2, 1982 - 10 PM

Jan took a long time launching, with Jon assisting, and eventually Jon got launched too, and we flew around together for awhile. Also up were Rich, in his Stratus, and a few others.

It was somewhat marginal and crowded, and occasionally we had to make passes in front of the launch area (where the lift was best) to stay up.

At one point, I saw a bald eagle below, out the ridge. I thermalled out there awhile, getting back up over the top once, but later I was gradually sinking further down the ridge. After an hour and a half, I headed on out.

It was quite trashy around 2500', and there was a strong gradient, as it was almost dead still on the ground. I set up a landing from the south toward the campground. Found myself going too fast again, pushed out, trying to slow down, then, when I needed to flare, I was already too extended to have a good flare, ended up dropping in on my belly, dragging my knees on the rocks, and bending both downtubes slightly.

Needless to say, I was disappointed in my landing, hope I learn to do better soon. I want to concentrate on getting higher on the downtubes, arching my back, and coming in slower if I can.

Took awhile folding up my glider, getting our gear packed up, and saying goodbyes, then headed out with Meredith back to Upper Lake, where we stopped at a Deli she'd discovered on the way up. Stopping there with us were Hank and Jan, Jon and Nancy, Bones and Tim.

Then we headed on back to Santa Rosa for a bath and to bed.

I was tired most of the week. Stretch and Anne came to dinner on Tuesday night, and we resolved not to get too wasted this time. Did some computer horoscopes for them on the Apple II.

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

My new aircraft altimeter arrived on Monday, and I worked on a mount for it for a few evenings. Dropped by at Bones' Wednesday evening, and got a good idea from seeing his mount, ended up doing mine the same way, essentially, mounting it on top of my Litek vario.

On Thursday afternoon at work, I had a loud ringing in my ears, so came home early. Had a hard time sleeping, and went in a couple of hours late today (Friday).

The weather for the Fourth of July Weekend is iffy, as a low pressure system is coming through, but we'll probably go to Elk, and if it's too crowded, go on to Hull.

Enough for now.

Tuesday, July 6, 1982 - 8:10 PM

But today I'm quite depressed over some bad news. My landlord called again, told me this time that he'd be moving back to Santa Rosa, would want to move into the house by August 15th.

I told him I was "stunned," that this would ruin my summer, that I didn't think I could find a suitable place in such a short time. I told him I could accept November (though reluctantly), but that August would be a severe hardship, that I had a vacation planned for late August, that this was the peak of the flying season, that Meredith had planted a garden, etc.

I said I didn't think it was fair to disrupt our lives this way. He said he didn't have the money to rent a place. I told him I'd lend it to him. But I don't think he took this seriously. At any rate, I expressed my dismay, and he, his sorrow for the situation, but it was left unresolved. More later.

Wednesday, July 7, 1982 - 10:15 AM

Also I've been realizing that I feel "betrayed" at being asked to leave less than two years since moving in, would not have taken the place on those conditions, also had no inkling that they'd consider moving me out for their own personal convenience or desire to live here again. I feel that this is unreasonable and unfair. Anyway, I've been "stewing" about this all night.

Getting back to the weekend now, it was an exhausting one, though we took our time getting off, sleeping late Saturday morning, then going out to breakfast at Elmer's.

The sky was filled with clouds, but it was expected to get better for Sunday and Monday.

We drove up to Elk Mountain in the early afternoon, arriving to find Bones and Sharol with a nice camping spot. It wasn't all that crowded after all for the Fourth of July weekend, though full, and Bones and Sharol had gotten their spot from Stretch and Anne, who'd left for a party in Willits.

Also we'd seen James and Sandra on the road, stopped to talk with them, where they'd stopped for a carburetor problem just north of Cloverdale. They were also going to the party in Willits.

At Elk, we talked while waiting for Hank and Jan, who'd also decided to go up late.

Bones and Sharol were fairly acceptant of the fact they'd have to move from their home. They'd just gotten "evicted" by their landlord after a dispute over the landlord renting the back yard to a guy with a schoolbus.

Bones had told him he wasn't happy about having the guy there, and he'd asked for his money back, so the landlord called him a "troublemaker," said he wanted him out in thirty days. It's a bummer for them, but they were taking it pretty well. Little did I realize that I'd soon find myself in a similar situation.

After waiting another hour or so, we decided we should head on up the hill. Bones wanted to test fly Hank's glider anyway, after having repaired it, and we didn't know when they'd arrive. So around 3:45, we headed up the hill.

It was marginally soarable from the NW when we got there, so we set up at the west knoll, as there were other gliders at the competition slots. I took my time, and Sharol and Bones launched ahead of me and headed out, as it had become non-soarable in the meantime.

When I was ready and got to launch, I found it had gone totally dead, was even wisping from the back. There wasn't a hint of a thermal or gust.

After standing there for ten minutes or so, I looked around for other places to launch, and found that it was now blowing lightly up the SE bowl, which looked launchable, so I carried my glider over there.

Had to wait another 5-10 minutes for a launchable breeze of 2-4 mph, then ran hard, pushed out over the bushes, and was off. Didn't find any lift, so headed on out towards the landing area.

Made my approach from the SE, as it was still blowing lightly from the west there. Came in, slower than usual, followed my intuitions, and flared hard, coming to a good stall at the right moment, my best Comet landing so far, so I felt good about the short ten minute flight.

Hank and Jan arrived, and we soon began preparing dinner. Meredith made tacos for us. We stayed up awhile around the fire, eventually went to bed. It was quite peaceful there for a holiday weekend.

On Sunday we had a nice sunny day. After a leisurely breakfast, we loaded all five gliders on the Scout and headed up around eleven. Rich and Fred had arrived, as did Ivan awhile later.

Again we went to the lower knoll to set up. Talked to Jon at Hull by radio. He and most of the others were there instead of Elk, though it was quite overdeveloped, whereas we had clear sky.

I launched at 1:10, after Sharol and Bones. Was able to get up by soaring the face, then catching light thermals as they came through occasionally. Some of them went quite high and back to the SE behind the ridge, getting to 4500' or more, 5 or 600' above launch.

Later, people were finding thermals out the NW ridge, so I headed out there too, caught a few and rode them back over the top getting to 4500' or more at times. Was flying with Sharol, Ivan, and Hank, later, until I eventually headed on out.

It was very turbulent on the way out and over the landing area. I made my setup from the SE again, made a good approach, got high on the downtubes, but flared too soon, then pulled in, flared again, but dropped the nose, was upset at myself for blowing it. But it was a good flight of over two hours.

After the flight, we decided to pack up our gear and head for Hull Mountain to be with our other friends. So we loaded up and left about five. Got to Hull to find a large contingent of Sonoma Wings and others at a makeshift campsite next to the one we usually occupied, which had been taken by non-pilots.

But it was okay, and we greeted Stretch, Anne, Roy, James, Jon and Nancy, Jerry, a friend of Joe's from Santa Barbara, Tera and Loni, and others.

I set up our tent, while Meredith started cooking our dinner, marinated chicken breasts and corn.

Later, Meredith was the hit of the party as she got out the makings for "s'mores;" graham crackers, Hershey bars, and marshmallows, which everyone enjoyed, especially the two little girls, Tera and Loni. Then she got out the sparklers she'd brought, and she and the girls lit them.

All in all, it was a very pleasant evening, as we then listened to and watched fireworks from other parts of the campgrounds. Finally we went to bed.

Awoke on Monday to another clear sunny day, warming by 7:30AM. Meredith and I decided to go swimming in the morning, which we got up and did.

The water was chilly but nice, once you got in, and we swam out the channel to the lake and back, feeling greatly refreshed.

Then we had some breakfast, before people started loading gliders and heading up the hill. Cumi's were already forming by 9:30 AM.

After Roy's truck headed up, we loaded the rest of the gliders on Ivan's truck and the Eagle Scout. Nancy James was a drag when she talked two friends of Sandra's out of driving for us, so Ivan had to go up without a driver. Fortunately, he found someone on top who was willing to drive his truck down.

Stretch launched just before we got to the top, and was able to thermal high over the mountain. He was followed by Roy, James, Anne, and Jerry from the propane tank launch, while the rest of us set up, most by the Rockpile, but I by the ramp along with Doug Groenhout, and Howard (flying a Demon), who launched soon.

It lulled around noon, and some of the gliders headed out down the mountain, leaving only Howard and Jerry over the top for awhile, until Stretch worked his way back up later.

Eventually Jon launched, as the first from the Rockpile, but headed out low around lower launch, finally finding a thermal below Red Spot, and getting back up to the top. So I suited up and got ready to launch after Doug.

It was crossy at the ramp, but launchable. Gordon Stitt held my left wing wire 'til I got a light but straight gust and launched, at just before 1PM.

Behind lower launch I found a thermal, in which I circled up over the top. I headed to Windy Gap after awhile, where Howard and Jon were circling. Got some lift there on up to cloudbase at 8000' or so.

Jon headed towards Sanhedrin. I followed part way, but headed back when I hit too much sink.

Got over the top again and up to cloudbase several times. Caught a very strong thermal over the east bowl, which quickly took me up into a cloud, to 8500', so I pulled in and headed through it towards Windy Gap.

Later Mike Kunitani launched, as did Ivan, and I talked with Mike by radio as we both got into clouds nearby, and didn't want to hit each other. Ivan was low for awhile, but eventually got up with Mike and me over the top.

Eventually, after 2 hours, I was very tired, especially my wrists, so decided to head out. Got a strong thermal past Red Spot, which took me to cloudbase again at 8000' and headed on out from there, over the lake at 6500', on over to Soda Creek and back over Pogie Point, finally over the landing area, doing a lot of spirals, wingovers, and stalls, to lose altitude.

Finally, I set up my landing from the north, towards the lake, over the grassy area. Had a good approach, was high on the tubes, but flared too soon again, this time holding it out, then coming down hard from ten feet up, breaking my left downtube, to my dismay. That put a damper on an otherwise wonderful three hour and seven minute flight.

Stretch had a spare downtube, and helped me put it on, but it still wouldn't fit, as one of the corner brackets was twisted a bit.

So I folded the glider up, while Meredith folded up the tent, and we prepared to head on home after a good weekend.

We stopped at the Eel River for a quick dip on the way out, then proceeded to Henny Penny for some dinner. Came through Cloverdale around 8:30 PM and the traffic had thinned out to normal, no bottleneck, as there usually is on a holiday weekend.

Finally got home for a bath and to bed.

But I wasn't able to sleep very well, tossed and turned for most of the night, and was like a zombie at work on Tuesday.

It's 3 PM now. I've been catching up on this, also finished fixing my glider, etc. Enough for now.

Tuesday, July 13, 1982 - 6 PM

Back to work on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday night, Patti came over so Meredith could interview her for her article on "Women in Hang Gliding." I watched Fame on TV, and we all had strawberry margaritas.

On Saturday, Meredith had made plans to get together with Rick, her ex. He called in the morning from a woman's house in Petaluma, wanted to postpone the meeting until afternoon, so she and I went out to Arrigoni's in Santa Rosa for breakfast.

Then I called Mary, as we'd planned to go to Dillon Beach for some tandem flying with my Raven. I picked her up in a little while, and we left.

It was blowing pretty hard at the coast, 10+ at Dillon, but still flyable, so we set up.

First we carried up to the top, but it was blowing over 15 knots there, too strong without assistance, so I flew a flight from there by myself, with Mary holding a wing wire to assist at launch. Got about one step before being picked up, made a few soaring passes in front of the hill before heading on out to land.

Then Mary and I decided to launch from the lower west face, and we had two good tandem flights. The glider picked us right up strongly, and control felt stable and good. So we folded up and headed up to Goat Rock to try a soaring tandem flight.

Got there around 2 PM. It was blowing about 20-22 when we arrived, but ten minutes later it was blowing 30-35, too much. Mel also arrived while we were there.

So we headed on home, feeling good about the flights we'd made at Dillon Beach.

Meredith got home around six. We had some margaritas before going to bed, fairly drunk.

On Sunday morning we packed up to head for Hull Mountain for the day. Charley Warren had called and rode up with us. He's an old time hang glider pilot from Nebraska, recently moved here and joined Sonoma Wings. I met him at Elk a few weeks ago.

We got to Hull, meeting Jon and Nancy, Bones and Sharol, Stretch and Anne, Hank, Mike Kunitani, Mike Mahoney, Dave Thor, Ernie, Roy, Ron, and Joe, as well as a bunch of non-local pilots.

Bones and Sharol loaded on with us, and we headed up. Unfortunately, the Eagle Scout didn't make it all the way. Above Timberline, one cylinder started missing. We stopped and checked the plugs, which were okay. About then, Mel called on the radio, had just arrived, suggested we check the valves, which we did, finding the problem, a failed push rod, so that one exhaust valve wasn't working.

When Mel got up to us, he said we shouldn't drive it, and he volunteered to tow me home, which I greatly appreciated. Bones and Sharol also decided not to fly, as had I, and Meredith drove Charley the rest of the way to the top in Roy's truck. She'd ridden the rest of the way up the mountain with Jon to get it.

So we coasted down the hill, watched from the campground awhile as a bunch of gliders had gotten up in a convergence area over Sunset Campground after being flushed down the mountain.

Soon we left, towing the Scout behind Mel's van with a 50 foot nylon rope he had, with me driving the Scout, and Meredith riding with Mel and Lynne. We stopped for a dip in the Eel River on the way out.

It was a long, tedious trip, but we made it okay, bringing the Scout home to our house, where we dropped the pan after draining the oil, to look for the missing push rod, but it wasn't in the pan.

Mel said he'd work on it, but would be gone all this week on vacation, so I decided, after calling on Monday, to take it in to the Chevron place, where the mechanic, Don, seemed quite knowledgeable about Scouts. So on Monday, after lunch, I got Mel to help me tow it there, only about two blocks away. Felt relieved once I'd left it with them.

It's been very hot out yesterday and today, well into the nineties. Mary and I have plans to try a tandem flight at Goat Rock on Wednesday or Thursday evening.

Monday, July 19, 1982 - 4:45 PM

On Thursday night, Mary and I had plans to go out to go out to Goat Rock for a tandem flight. Meredith decided to come with us, but when we got out there, we found the wind blowing over 40, blown out again. We saw Bones and Sharol on the way, and Jon arrived shortly after us, stayed to walk his dog, Bentley.

Meredith, Mary, and I decided to go down the coast looking for a place to have dinner. We ended up, after much tedious indecision, and some car trouble (the distributor cap wasn't on securely), at Heavenly Hamburger in SW Santa Rosa. Got home by eight, and the three of us watched Fame on TV, then I took Mary home.

On Friday evening, Bones had invited me to the Pizza Place with Jon and Hank (and Sharol) for a business meeting concerning the future of Bright Star Hang Gliders. Basically, this was his proposition: to sell us a one third interest in Bright Star for $10,000, on condition that we'd also share in the time and energy of running it.

I elaborated my response after awhile as follows: I told them of my support for them, personally, but that I could commit no time or energy to the business. Also, that I was opposed philosophically to "marketing" hang gliding, as I feel that publicity and commercial motives will eventually bring an end to "the Golden Age of Hang Gliding."

They feel that if they don't do it, someone else will, such as Hang Gliders West. They're talking in terms of a "retail store" in public view.

We talked about ways in which time and monetary support could be rewarded separately, but it became too complicated. Jon was quiet, but later said he'd have energy to put in up to forty hours a week, said he liked to be "consumed" by his interests. Hank was interested, but lacked time also.

We consumed a large pizza and many pitchers of beer, before I finally left by 10 PM or so. They went on even longer. I'm not sure how it will be resolved.

On Saturday morning, Meredith and I got up around 7:30 to get ready to go to Hull Mountain. We loaded all our gear and went out to breakfast at Elmer's first. Then home, to pick up forgotten items, and on the road by 10:10.

In Hopland we saw Rick Innocenti at his new store, Sonoma Burl, when we stopped for a roadside sale.

Got to Hull around one. Saw Stretch, Anne, Roy, Joe, Hank, and others who'd flown a morning flight. Bones and Sharol had just arrived, so they loaded on with us, as did Jon.

Jan volunteered to drive for us. She was upset with herself because she hadn't flown. She'd spent 45 minutes at launch in good conditions, but couldn't do it.

So we headed up, set up at the Rockpile, taking our time. Mel was there too, had gotten back from Oregon, came in to Hull from the east.

Mel launched first. I took movies of Jon launching, and he almost blew it, just clearing a rock and brushing some bushes. Then Sharol and Bones launched. I finally launched at 3:40.

Got a thermal behind lower launch, and climbed on up over the top. Mike was also up and we talked by CB. Ivan arrived soon and also launched.

And Roy's truck eventually arrived, and they all set up and launched again.

I got up as high as 9000', over the top, flying with Mike, Jon, Sharol, Mel, Joe, Roy, Stretch, Ivan, and others. Saw Joe, high above Monkey Rock, so headed on back there myself a couple of times, getting to 8700' back there, but not nearly up to where Joe was.

Had fun, but my wrists got sore after awhile. Eventually I headed out, after all but Jon had left, after 6 PM. There was sink most of the way out past Red Spot.

I set up my landing, but came down quicker than I thought I would, landing short of the creek, but an okay landing. I was pretty tired after a three hour flight.

We spent a pleasant evening around the campfire, had a good steak and potatoes dinner.

We had decided to sleep out without the tent, so hadn't prepared our sleeping site. We had to gather all our gear and head out to the reeds to find a place to sleep. We ended up on a piece of ground that sloped a bit toward my side, but finally got to bed. I had trouble sleeping, and only got a few hours at most.

The sun awakened us early, and it got warm quickly. We got up feeling more relaxed. Joe cooked us all some eggs and hash browns, which were very good.

It was another beautiful sunny day, so we soon loaded all the gliders for another trip up the mountain. Rick Kannisto arrived early, as did Mike, from his family's cabin across the lake. We headed up in three vehicles.

People were launching at the propane tank, but it was beginning to come up at the Rockpile also, so we set up there, and watched as people launched and circled up over the top.

I launched at 12:45, in very light lift, from the Rockpile, headed across the west face to get over the ridge as quickly as possible, and found a light thermal over the rock near the ridge. Circled up over the top from there to join about eight other gliders circling in light lift. I managed to climb to the top of the stack, topping out at about 8000'.

Flew around with Mike, Sharol, Roy, Rick, and others, for quite awhile. Headed over to Windy Gap, but found no lift over there.

Eventually Jon launched, flying Joe's Sensor, and Dick Fugett also launched.

After a couple of hours, I headed on out. Didn't find much lift after Red Spot, until I was down to 3500' past the lower knoll. Then I caught a nice thermal which took me up to 6100'.

In the meantime, all the others headed out to land, except Dick, who was low way back up the valley. I caught another thermal up to 6800' while watching Dick far below, eking his way out to the creekbed, and onto the runway at the airstrip, where he landed.

Then I headed on out around the airstrip, over Sunset Campground, before spiraling down to set up my landing. Set up a good one, but came down a little short of the spot, but made a good flare, landing on my feet. Was tired again after two hours and fifty minutes, another fine flight.

I put away my glider, then went swimming with Meredith in the lake. Then we packed up our gear to leave.

Patti rode with us, as Ivan was going to stay for a few more days, as were Rick Kannisto and Mike. We stopped at Henny Penny for dinner, which Patti insisted on paying for, then came on home, with Meredith driving.

I unloaded the Scout, while Meredith took Patti to her house. We had a bath and went to bed around ten. Slept pretty well, but was very tired today.

Called Mary and postponed our tandem session, which we'd tentatively scheduled for this evening.

Monday, July 26, 1982 - 8:20 PM

During the week, I rested on Monday night. And on Tuesday, Stretch and Anne came over for dinner, bringing a delicious lasagna and salad. I tried not to get too wasted.

Anne had come over Monday evening, and Meredith had interviewed her for her article on women in hang gliding. I had one margarita with them.

Mary had Friday off, called to see if we could go try a tandem flight at Goat Rock, so I said sure. We headed out there after work.

Bones and Sharol were there too, so Sharol could try out her new Comet, on which Bones had just installed a small control bar.

It was only blowing eight to ten, however, only marginally soarable, if at all. We set up, at least to fly to the beach if we couldn't soar.

Sharol launched first, then headed out to the beach. In the next few minutes, the breeze picked up to ten to twelve or so, and Bones was able to get up and soar in his big Gemini.

I knew it wasn't strong enough for Mary and I to soar, so we just planned to fly out to the beach. We hooked in, had a good launch, picked up quickly, and headed on out, but didn't go nearly as far as Sharol had.

Our landing wasn't great, as we came in on our knees, but the sand was soft, and all in all it was a good flight. Mary was thrilled and pleased.

We packed up our gliders. Bones eventually landed after an hour or so of soaring. We socialized a bit, then headed on home. Got some Chinese food on the way, and came here to eat it.

On Saturday morning, we packed up our gear for Hull Mountain, then went to Arrigoni's for breakfast. Left Santa Rosa around ten, stopping to shop in Cloverdale, get a cake in Ukiah, and gas in Redwood Valley. We finally rolled into the campground around 12:45.

Hank, Bones, and Sharol loaded on their gliders, and we headed on up the mountain, as everyone else had already gone to the top. There was a light SE wind on top, but the Rockpile had started working by then in spite of it.

Mike, James, Steve Hawks, and a guy in a Sensor were preparing to launch on top. They all launched and got up.

Steve Hawks added to his bad reputation by doing radical passes next to the lookout, not even wearing a parachute. Hank yelled at him to "Get Away!" and he eventually did. He seemed a nice enough guy, but short on good judgment.

I launched first from the Rockpile, choosing the left slope. Had a good launch, then cut over to the ridge as fast as I could, since I knew the lift would be coming up from over there. Found a thermal above the ridge near the big rock, and circled on up over the top, talking to Mike by CB. Got up to 9700', almost 3000' over the top. The thermals were small, fairly rowdy, drifting back over the north bowl.

After an hour or so, it was just Mike and me up there, and we finally headed on out. There wasn't much lift once we left the top, but we made it out with plenty of altitude to spare.

I made a fair setup, but sunk out in the gradient on my last turn, came down suddenly and bent a downtube (my new one), which was disappointing. So I replaced the worst one, straightened the other, and put it all back together again.

Soon it was time for dinner, and Meredith's birthday party. Roy, Joe, Hank, Mike, Stretch and Anne, Bones and Sharol, James and Sandra, Loni and Tera were all there. Ken Nead and Paula came over to join us also.

We cooked some shiskabob, which we shared with Joe and Stretch, also had wine and beer. Then afterward, under Loni's management, we brought out the cakes (Anne had made one too) and sang "Happy Birthday" to Meredith. Also, Stretch and Anne gave her a very nicely wrapped bag of coffee, a perfect gift for her.

It was a very nice party, and a fun evening for all. I tried to get only 90% wasted, had already had four beers after landing, and a couple of glasses of wine, as well as a few tokes.

We'd set up a sleeping area on the reeds before it got dark, so we were able to get to bed with little trouble, and slept reasonably comfortably.

In the morning, I felt okay, and Meredith and I got up soon after the sun warmed up, and walked naked to the lake to take a nice swim, which was quite refreshing.

Then we had breakfast, for which Meredith cooked apple pancakes for anyone who wanted any. After breakfast, people began to load gliders for the trip up the mountain.

Headed up at about 10:30. On top there was a stiff wind from the SE, crossing at the propane tank. People began launching there despite the crossed angle (Stretch went first), but I checked out the lower ridge just below the propane tank which faces east, found it coming straight up there, so elected to carry my glider down there and began setting up.

I was soon joined by Meredith and Loni, then Mary and Dennis, who'd ridden up from Santa Rosa by motorcycle, also Sharol and Bones, and Ken Nead and Paula, who all stood around while I got set up.

So I had plenty of assistance at launch. In the meantime, Joe and Roy also launched from above, and were scratching around the east bowl for lift, as did James shortly before I was ready.

My launch was good and clean, and I turned right, then back to soar the main ridge over the east bowl, soon working my way up to above the lookout in a few passes.

Was pleased to confirm my judgment about the launch site, my first from down there. But I couldn't get high above the top from the bowl, so headed on down the ridge looking for a thermal.

Past lower launch, over Timberline camp, I found some light lift, which, after I worked it for awhile, gradually got stronger and soon got me over the top, where I was able to stay for most of the next three hours. Up with me were James and Mike, as everyone else had headed out.

And soon below, Sharol, Bones, Hank, and a couple of others began setting up their gliders on top. After awhile, they also launched. The wind had become more southerly.

Soon Sharol and Hank were up with us too, and I found I was able to stay up with and above all four Comet 135s most of the time (in my Comet 165), to my pleasant surprise.

Got good at working small thermal cores, getting up to a maximum altitude of 8500', usually topping out higher than the others.

Mike got flushed once, was way down the valley before catching a thermal and eventually getting back over the top. And Hank did the same thing a little while later.

But after three hours, I was alone over the top again, waiting for Meredith, Mary, and Dennis to finish launching the last gliders, Tim's Raven, and a Phoenix 8 (Ted). Then they started down the mountain, and I got to 8000' and headed out also.

Found Bones and Sharol below me past the dog leg, still hanging out in light thermals. Circled over them awhile in zero sink 'til Sharol landed, then headed on out myself, did some spirals and light wingovers over the landing area, before setting up my landing.

I set up high this time, slowed down, but overshot the spot, flared a bit high, dropped off to the left, but not a bad landing, nothing bent, and a three hour and thirty-five minute flight.

We took our time folding up our gliders and socializing, then packed up to leave. Stopped with Mike and Hank at the Eel River for a refreshing dip on the way out. Then on to Henny Penny for dinner with them also.

When we got home, we found a Happy Birthday sign strung across our driveway. Meredith correctly guessed that it was Mel and Lynne who had put it there. We took a bath and went to bed, and I slept fairly well.

This evening after work, I went running at the track with Meredith, then home for dinner.

That's all for now.

Wednesday, July 28, 1982 - 9:45 PM

While I was working on the Scout, adjusting the clutch slave assembly, Mel came over for a visit. He hopes to get to Hull this weekend. A spring had broken on his truck, so he hadn't made it up there last weekend. I told him that Meredith had really been pleased with their "birthday card."

Michael Cate also called a little later. He wants to go to Hull with us one of these weekends soon, is also planning to get back into hang gliding at the end of the summer.

I told him I'd be glad to let him use my Cirrus as a training glider, which he indicated he'd accept. So I'll be glad to see him when he does come, maybe the weekend after next.

Wednesday, August 4, 1982 - 7 PM

Meredith called me from Berkeley last Thursday, to tell me that she'd had a running accident, a bad fall, while running in Tilden Park with Vincent on Wednesday. He'd taken her to the hospital, and they'd sewed up the gash above her knee with many stitches, she said.

So she was stuck in Berkeley, as she wouldn't be up and around, or able to drive, for a few days anyway. She was staying at Karen's house, and Karen was taking good care of her, and she'd be moving to Katie's house soon, thought she'd stay there until Sunday.

She was upset, because she'd really gotten into her exercise program, and this would set her back a few weeks. Hopefully she'll be back in shape before our Colorado trip.

I made arrangements to go to Hull Mountain with Hank, who was planning to come back early on Sunday, then ride with him to Berkeley to pick up Meredith and Hummer (my '73 Toyota).

Thursday was Mary's birthday, and she asked if I could take her tandem soaring at Goat Rock. I said sure, and we went. Dennis also came out, as did Jon James.

We took two flights to the beach in sub-soarable conditions, blowing about ten for the first flight, and about three to five for the second. But it was enjoyable for both of us, good tandem flights on the Raven. Dennis took movies of the second flight from the beach.

Charley Warren was also out there, and couldn't get his Scout started, so I went over to jump start him. After quite awhile we got it started, but it sputtered and died again soon after. So I towed him up the hill, and broke off his front bumper in the process (it was weakly welded). After starting and stalling a couple more times, he was able to get it running long enough to drive home. I followed him, carrying his glider. Mary went earlier with Jon, as she would miss a birthday party at her house otherwise.

I got there around 9:30, had cake and champagne with her and Dennis, and a couple of friends of hers from the hospital. Came on home after ten and went to bed.

Hank wanted to leave for Hull on Friday evening, so I packed up to go with him, and he got here around 7:30 PM.

I'd been trying to call Mike Mahoney all day, but no one answered, so felt bad about changing our plans.

We got to Hull in the Scout around 11 PM, and soon went to bed on the reeds.

On Saturday, I got up to a warm day. Met James and Simon, two Canadian pilots who were there. Also, Stretch, Anne, Roy, and Joe were there, and Jan arrived with Ken Nead. Charlie Carlson, and later Ivan and Patti, Bones and Sharol, and perhaps others also arrived. There were also a large contingent of pilots from the San Jose area, but they were camped somewhere else.

We headed up the mountain fairly early, but found a light northerly wind on top. Stretch launched first at the NW Rockpile launch, but didn't stay up. Roy, Joe, and others launched at the Ramp during lulls in the crosswind. We set up at the Rockpile and waited.

The San Jose pilots, many of whom hadn't been to Hull before, were disappointed with the site, which secretly pleased us, as we weren't thrilled having so many of them there anyway.

Periodically some people were able to launch, but none were able to stay up.

I finally launched from the NW slot at the Rockpile (very crossy) at 2:52, worked the south bowl for five to ten minutes, getting above launch, but not able to get over the top. Stayed up the longest of anyone, but soon headed down to Red Spot. Found no lift there, so headed on out to find that the wind had shifted to NW, toward the lake, in the landing area.

I set up my landing off the camping area, behind the trees, which was a mistake, as there was a definite wind shadow there, which caught me, dropping me fast, so that I bent a downtube on landing, to my dismay. But at least I got to fly, which is more than Hank, Bones, Sharol, and others did.

Cooked steak for dinner. Slept very well that night. On Sunday morning after breakfast, Hank and I packed to leave, while the others headed up the mountain.

But we heard on the radio that we didn't miss anything, as the wind was even stronger from the north on Sunday. No one flew but Joe, who launched from lower launch, and wasn't up long.

Hank and I headed on down towards Santa Rosa. Past Cloverdale, he realized that he'd left his car (and apartment) keys at the campground, and his spare set was at home.

So we had to leave his car at my house, and go down in the Scout to Berkeley, with him planning to bring it back the next morning. So he dropped me off at my Toyota, and I went to Katie's to get Meredith. Her leg was still pretty stiff and sore, but it was very good to see each other again.

We decided to go home via the Napa Valley, where we stopped and had dinner at The Diner in Yountville.

Did laundry Monday evening. Meredith was still in pain when she was up.

Mike Cate wrote, said he won't be able to come up this weekend after all, but will sometime later.

Monday, August 9, 1982 - 6:45 PM

We went shopping after work, and got a nice cutting board for a birthday present. Also I got a vehicle alarm for the Scout, with which I'll be able to protect the hang glider while we're on our trip, I hope. I still have to install it, however, which will take some doing. And we got a small camp stove for our trip, with a nice case that doubles as a pot and pan.

We left for Hull Mountain on Saturday morning. The weather didn't look very promising, with a layer of high frontal clouds to the north, shading the whole area. We had breakfast in Cloverdale, where Mike Mahoney stopped in to say hi.

At the campground, Stretch, Anne, and Roy had landed, while most of the others were up on top, including Don and Marty, Bones, Sharol, Curt, Jan, and some other fliers from down south. Ron arrived when we did, and volunteered to drive for us, as he wasn't that much into flying, and it didn't seem to be that good anyway.

Also Jon arrived, and rode with us, as did a guy named Eric, who had a Harrier. Also there were Chuck (of Tom Jensen and Chuck), and some friends, but we didn't have room for them.

As we drove up, we talked to Don Piercy by CB, who was getting flushed. But later, as we were setting up our gliders, he came back over the mountain top, had caught a good thermal near the end of the runway.

And by 3 PM, people were starting to get up. There was a light SE wind, but the Rockpile was working too.

Curt, Bones, and Sharol took off and were able to get over the top. I launched after Jon at 3:25, made some passes in the bowl, got over the ridge, but finally had to go below lower launch before I got a thermal that I could climb up in. But it soon got me over the top, and up to about 7800' before topping out and drifting back.

I hadn't bothered to wear my down jacket, a mistake, and I soon found more good lift over towards Windy Gap and out toward Monkey Rock, which took me on up to 10,500' and more.

By now, cumulus clouds began forming over the top in a line towards Snow Mountain, and we began reaching cloudbase at 11,100' or so, and a bunch of us were flying around at that level and finding it pretty chilly. Soon I got to 11,500' and eventually headed out the cloud street towards Snow, behind the main ridge.

Past the dog leg, I saw Sharol thermalling far below, so I drifted back above her until I was over Red Spot, where I encountered a strong thermal which took me smoothly again to cloudbase at about 11,300'. It was so smooth that I continued to circle as it sucked me on up into the cloud, as I was curious as to what it would be like.

As I climbed, totally whited out, the lift became even stronger, and I was past 12,000' with no chance of getting out. I was talking by CB to Mike and Roy, continued to circle, and soon was past 12,500', beginning to get scared, as the wind noise inside the cloud increased. I was hopelessly disoriented, began to picture myself getting iced over, and was very cold.

I climbed on up to 13,000', my highest ever at Hull, getting thrown around more now, then my sink alarm began sounding, and I was going down at 900 feet per minute, with a lot of tension on my harness.

Finally I saw daylight at 12,000', and found myself still over Red Spot between two large clouds. I headed on out between them, thankful to have gotten out of my first real "cloud suck" experience.

I was surprised that it had taken me up over 1500' inside the cloud, as I hadn't thought it was that large a cloud (or I wouldn't have let myself go up into it).

By this time I was very cold and wet, decided to head out, but came to the lake with over 9000' and kept going past Sunset Campground to the other end of the lake, the farthest I've ever gone.

Saw Stretch coming out my way about 1000' feet above me, and had thoughts of going on to Elk Mountain, but couldn't get back to his altitude, but only to 9000' or so.

He headed west, then turned south, and it looked like he could make it to Elk. I headed south too, but was too far below him. Then a glider I thought was him, turned and headed back and passed under me. But it was the green and red Harrier (Eric) and not Stretch, so I didn't know where Stretch had gone. It turned out he'd headed on to Elk, made it with 7500'.

Anyway, I eventually headed back up the lake to where Mike was coming out, talked to him, was really cold and tired by now, after two and a half hours or so, so I headed back to the campground where I began to do spirals and wingovers to get down.

But it was difficult to lose altitude, as every time I'd level out, I'd start climbing at 300 feet per minute. But eventually I got on down. By now the wind was blowing from the east on the big windsock, but the smaller sock further up showed it actually coming out the gap from the NE.

So I made my approach from the WNW, a wrong direction, as I found myself streaking across the grass in what felt like a downwind landing (actually it was crosswind), and I let my legs fall under me, didn't save enough for a good flare, and crashed in hard, breaking one downtube and bending the other, a disappointing end to a fabulous flight of three hours and ten minutes.

So I spent the next hour or so replacing all three control bar tubes and straightening out the corner brackets, then folding up and putting away the glider.

Meredith started dinner while I finished up, then put out our ground cloth while it was still light, and finally we had some dinner.

Then we had our party for Sharol's birthday, and eventually Stretch arrived back at camp after catching a ride over from Elk. He was ecstatic, and we all celebrated with him.

Finally we headed out to our grassy spot (with pennyroyal too) and went to bed, after a very pleasant evening.

Slept okay, off and on, and awoke at sunrise. We had a nice breakfast. Eventually we loaded gliders to go up the mountain. Meredith came up even though she couldn't drive because of her injured leg, but Gail had volunteered to drive, and Ron, and Susan Grey also rode up with us.

I set up at the Rockpile. Decided to change two things on my glider. One, I quit putting my bag in the nose, felt the extra weight there might be an adverse factor on landing, and two, I set up the control bar in the rear hole on the keel, to give more flaring leverage (by half an inch).

People began launching, and getting up. I launched after Bones at 12:52. Cut across to the ridge and found some lift behind lower launch, gradually working it up over the top. Kept climbing, and soon was over 9500', later got up to 11,500'.

Talked to Joe by radio, and he suggested going over to Sanhedrin. But he couldn't get up to my altitude, and headed across much lower. So I followed about 2000' above him, out past Windy Gap, and over the Valley.

He got too low and had to head back, while I got a thermal to around 11,500', and Anne joined me at about that level, and we both drifted across and over the slopes of Sanhedrin.

She left first, heading NW towards the mountaintop, while I thermalled higher. But soon she had to turn back and passed 1000 to 2000 feet below me in sink. I watched as she flew all the way out low, just making it, it seemed, to the runway, and finally landing in the gap, short of the campground.

Meanwhile, I stayed high over there, worked my way back up towards the peak, staying at 9000' or more in thermals, waiting for Joe to come over, as he'd said he would (he was back up over Hull by now).

But I started to get worried at how far back I'd gotten, and began to work my way to the SE towards the Polo Field, which seemed far away. I was down to 7000' or so before I caught a needed thermal, which took me back up to 9500', then I headed out the ridge in lots of sink, worried, even with that much altitude, that I might not make it, as the wind was pretty stiff, and there were no more thermals in the vicinity.

Soon I was down to 4500' and still far across the runway, crabbing down toward the lakeside, but eventually, as I came out in front of the lake, there was light lift, and I made it over the campground with 1000 feet to spare.

It was blowing pretty good off the lake, so I set up over the trees, turned into the wind, got some speed, went to the downtubes, and came on in. Flared a bit early, but got a good flare, which took me up to six feet or so, held it, and came down on my feet. Was delighted that I didn't bend anything even if it wasn't a great landing. The flight was two hours and sixteen minutes.

After folding up, I went to Sunset with Meredith, Stretch, and Anne to go swimming, which was very refreshing.

While there, we watched Dave Thor land. It turned out he'd flown over from Elk Mountain, made it to the top of Hull, then had come down to land.

There were also five people who didn't make it out, three landing near Red Spot, another in a tree in the East bowl, and another on the knob. None were locals or part of our group. And Sharol had just made it to the airstrip. There was quite a penetration problem if you came out low.

Eventually we got our gear packed up, said goodbye to our friends, and left. Stopped at the Eel River for a cold dip, then drove straight home.

Slept fair, but was very tired at work today. Took an hour at lunch for a nap.

Talked to Mel awhile. He'd been at Elk on Saturday, but left before it got good. He'd gotten a new radio.

End of Volume 28a

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