Saturday, March 14, 2009

Ecola Soaring

A bunch of pilots had headed for the coast while I was still at work, but they were getting frustrated by the strong, S winds. I arrived in Ecola just after they headed S, hoping for better conditions at Neakahnie or Oceanside.

I found Mark on launch; he had to be back in PDX by 5pm and couldn't follow the others. It was a little strong and a little South and the tide was a little high. I had my speedwing (Ibex 17) with me; that essentially took care of the wind strength.

Decisions like this are always difficult. Jerry had an accident flying here in S (or maybe even SSE) winds with a high tide. When one thing (e.g. wind strength or direction) obviously rules out flying, that's an easy call. When a couple of things make it tricky, that's more complicated.

After careful consideration and watched by Mark and Cleo I took off using my little wing. Right away, I knew I had made the correct decision. I could penetrate with ease, there was plenty of lift, my wing was just super solid and super fast.

Ecola is still a tricky place to fly; things can over develop behind launch, so I monitored lift and ground speed carefully. After 10 or 15 minutes I noticed an increase in lift and a decrease in ground speed. I didn't hesitate; with full bar I had 20mph groundspeed and landed on Crescent Beach. In hindsight, this was an over-reaction (the wind never really picked up) - but better safe than sorry.

Mark headed home, Cleo and I went for a hike to Indian Beach. Back on launch, high tide had passed and the wind had moved (veered or backed???) 15 degrees to the West; things felt better. Of course, I was alone now + had to be more conservative. Still with my Speedwing, I flew for another 45 minutes or so; slightly more lift (because of the direction change) + slightly less wind. Just as much fun.

I landed on Crescent Beach and was hiking back on the trail, happy with my day, not paying attention when I suddenly stumbled upon a herd of elk. I'm not sure who was most surprised!

Photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/DMMullin/Ecola13March2009#

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