Chris Ballmer  aka gracecab
Monday, 6/15/2015

Email from Chris Ballmer to Tom Truax regarding progression
Note Chris's [T-Hill flight on Sunday] where he got 500 over launch
                                                         and Tom Truax's [reply comments]

From: gracecab@roadrunner.com [mailto:gracecab@roadrunner.com]
Sent: Monday, June 15, 2015 4:01 PM
To: tom@truax.com
Subject: Here and there...

Hi Tom:

Just wanted to give you a shout, hope you are doing well.

I'm still pursuing paragliding as much as family and the weather allows.  It's interesting to see that the ebb and flow of when and where to fly changes acutely with the seasonal change.  Winter was ballistic locally in the Mountains, seems like everyone was getting out and I was enjoying the progression.  I"m glad I went as much as I did, and feel like it was a successful season to begin to see what flying can truly be.  It only made me want more...

It was then obvious as the season moved to mid-late spring and now summer, that there were not many more trips to Skyport/VOR... they were sporadic which means that much harder to plan and connect with the one-way drives up to top.  Since the good days were often in the middle of the week, I began to plan my work to be open to a 'long lunch' and had a couple meetings with Eagle when they went at 10am from Parma (20min from Helix in Carp.). But it was a weening of the long weekends and half-day Fridays I could expect to score flights on.

Come to think of it that is the time I began to look toward The Avenue.  I am finding that as you described, the wind channels and basically side slopes making sustaining flight on a PG impossible...i had a few flights where I ended up on the ground in front of launch basically exactly below where I took off... or at De Anza school.  A lot of work for a little reward.

Which gets back to Bates, most convenient and most consistent.  So, it is good to get out and keep flying around here, keep 'the feel' of flying, and the camaraderie is always here and lively.

I also ended up driving down to Marshall a couple weekends ago with Dave Bader.  Dave has been a recent flying 'sky shepherd' and we did a 4:00pm run up to Skyport recently too.  He kind of takes to flying over me and pointing out my path and suggesting pathways, usually resulting in lift for me.  I appreciate having someone who wants to try to help keep me in the air, and I suppose I'm entertaining to him to do so, so it works out for both.  At Marshall we both launched close, and had a great flight. I got to top land a couple times, while he almost went back to Crestline but decided against it not wanting to miss the return trip.  It was a great day, light wind, strong thermals, and super fun.

Oat Mountain was fun with Mark opening up to a few of us also, and he says he's getting back into PG this summer, after having some bad family issues he's going through.

Elings yesterday was, i'll use an overused term, 'epic'.  For me it was at least.  I am currently pursing the smallest thermals I've been in...or try to be in.  I'm also pretty heavy wing loading, so I notice the sink rate alot and it's making me work really hard, and really try to not make any mistakes and be efficient.  I've decided to not blame my highish wing loading for my inability to stay up as long as I want, and to remember that there are tons of other reasons why I'm not staying up as long as the other pilots... Flying is so fun, I'm not going to turn this into something competitive and frustrating.  I'm only challenging myself to be better but trying to not compare with others flights.  I had some great and more extended flights yesterday which I was proud of, and used my accumulated knowledge, turning skills, thermaling skill, and everything to help get me up to 500 over... I couldn't have done that my first day out. Then the wind turned on more, mixed with thermals, and it was a really fun time scratching and sloping the main launch... only Doug Gothard, and I ended up staying out... everyone else were first-dayers... and we had a great session ... he is a very steady pilot and his flying really brought up my game.  It was really more like a dance together, and i had no fear flying in sync right in front of the hill... each of us naturally taking turns up and down and top landing relaunching, etc.

One thing I did was take out all my extra weight, and it seemed to help, but maybe it was a mental help more than in reality.  It probably put me right in the middle of the suggested weight range.  I had one event with the wing going pretty far out in front of me...not quite horizontal...prolly 60 degrees?  I did put on brakes to stop that, and it seemed to be the right choice as i caught it from going out anymore, but maybe it would have stopped anyways, but at least I helped...then hands up.  It's really fun to start thinking about how the wing is acting and reacting to anything but smooth days... mainly giving me more confidence so I am not worried all the time about the wing going wonky and me freaking out...but i'm sure that time will come too...

The Buzz Z4 is my Air-Hummer.  It's a tank.  But it really thermals up when I need it, and is pretty fast and stable.  I guess I'm only missing staying up in lighter lift, and staying in lighter thermal days... It seems like if we are making all the effort to go to the top of a mountain, we should have as many advantages as we can get to make our trip as long as possible... within safe measures... too light has it's own issues, so for now, i'm heavy and super stable, and learning what the wing even does in different situations...

I'm still referring to your book and it's helpful on lots of levels.

Be well amigo,
chris

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