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Sunday, 6/15/2014 [Weather] and [Flight Articles] by [ ? ? ] & [Sundowner] [Photos]

Sunday, 6/15/2014, Fathers Day

Wilcox Tandem with Ranjan (one of Rob's students from India)
Bantoo

Sundowner's Flight Report, see also [Weather Archive]

When my kids were younger, Fathers day meant a free pass I could use to go flying.  My kids are now older and more cognizant so it 's appropriate to do something as a family, but they let me pick the activities, so I overloaded our 91 Toyota Corolla with my tandem paraglider gear plus assorted toys including bikes for all (2 kids and a wife).  Bates had been turning on daily, so the probability was good, but on the drive north, the wind look brisk and building, so we opted to get off the 101 at Las Positas and go direct to Wilcox.  Rounding Elings, we could see PGs parked out above the cliff.

The potential co-pilots in our car wouldn't be enough ballast by themselves, and I didn't bring a third harness with triple spreader bars because we were packed tight.  I was going to need a passenger heavier than either Sam or Tess.  Fortunately, Rob and his Eagle Paragliding team had moved over from the Training Hill with a full queue.  Rob was doing assembly line tandem flights with assistance from his polished crew.  Due to the stiff breeze, he was flying Marge's smaller wing.  He wasn't bringing the canopy down on landing, which would have resulted in getting dragged, even with assistance.  His crew would help stabilize and hot-swap loads, un-hooking one student passenger and then hooking in the next.  Pretty impressive.  He repeated the process a number of times and must of set some sort of record.

With Rob backed up with students waiting their turn, surely they could throw me bone.  I asked Marge to supply me with a victim and she worked out the details while I went to retrieve my gear from the Toyota.  When I got back, she introduced me to 2 of her students from India.  Ranjan and his friend were in town on business.  They worked for a software team that built graphic stuff.  Ranjan weighed about 175 pounds and his friend (forgot his buddy's name as I write this 4 weeks later) was in the upper 140s, so I opted for the heavier load.

Conditions were building, so we were going to need at least several assistants.  Fortunately, one of Rob's associate instructors, Bryan Rice, was addressing the tasks of a capable staff sergeant directing resources to cover multiple activates.  We laid out for a front pull-up and had an assistant on each break line keeping the trailing edge pulled forward through the flapping wind by choking in about 5 to 8 feet.  Another 3 assistants were positioned behind the canopy at the leading edge and each tip.  Bryan gave his crew an appropriate briefing on what to expect when the break line chokers let go and we loaded the leading edge.  Bryan was centered in front of Ranjan's harness with another 2 tractor pulling assistants, one on each side.

When all the assistants were confirmed focused, I gave word for the break line chokers to let go and popped the leading edge.  We were snatched back hard.  Bryan had instructed his crew to hold on, but give ground to minimize overloading the rotation.  I got on full breaks as the canopy came overhead and over-rotated out front some, but it didn't front tuck and we stabilized with the anchor crew about 50 to 60 feet downwind of our initial pull.  From there it was easy as the tug crew pulled us into the vertical air which took over and drove us forward as we flew away.

Most of the solo pilots had landed because the wind was stronger than when we arrived, but we were loaded heavy and had penetration to spare.  Rob was still making the rounds on Marge's smaller wing and it was fun to fly close.  With the strong conditions and wide lift band, there wasn't much need to hold a prime line.  We could get a hundred plus over the tree tops, but I like climbing trees so we would scoot out to burn off altitude, then come in below cliff level and ride the elevator up through the 3D canopy foliage.  After a half a dozen passes, I gave the steering handles to Ranjan and he flew for about 15 minutes.

On one of our turns, a bit loaded, the right spreader bar busted through a seam.  The loud pop was a bit un-nerving, but the glider continued to fly ok.

The wind was trending lighter with better penetration, but the direction was crossing more from the west (cross from the right).  We couldn't get quite as high, but opted to try and jump the gap upwind.  We reached the other side and made some progress breaking even along the cliff edge, but sunk out in the lee of the upwind point a few hundred yards past the restaurant.

Fortunately, we got far enough past the restaurant to avoid the thicker beach crowd.  The air was smooth enough to have Ranjan quickly unbuckle before touch down so he was able to step out of his harness and grab one of the break lines to kill the canopy sideways.  The wind wasn't as strong on the beach, but too much to pack up, so we stuffed the canopy and met Ranjan's business partner at the restaurant for a ride back to my car.

After a few photos, we said goodbye to the Indians.  Sam & I took the bikes toward the harbor and the girls (Pam and Tess) crewed the car.  We couldn't settle on a restaurant in the harbor and elected to continue on toward Padaro Grill.  Sam and I pedaled along the waterfront to meet the girls at Butterfly Beach, but after we arrived Pam phoned and said they were waiting for us in the "parking lot".  Lookout Point Park in Summerland has a parking lot, but Butterfly Beach in Montecito doesn't, so we got a little extra exercise.

Dinner at Pedaro Grill was just right.  We moved some tables for prime seating on the elevated platform for a view of the ocean under an umbrella.  A light wafting breeze and comfortable temperature contributed to a pleasant environment in the shade.  After unloading the car at home, I drove down to the end of Linden to shake the sand from my gear and pack-up on the grass in good conditions, wafting onshore about 2 to 3 or 4.

All in all, a great father's day.  Thanks to my troops for tagging along and going with the flow.

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