Reacquainted

Had my first flight of 2011 last Wednesday on the dunes at Cape Cod.  Since I'm temporarily glider-less, Randy kindly offered the use of his old glider, a Wills Wing Ultrasport 147.  I used to fly an Ultrasport many years ago.  In fact, I used to fly that very glider.  I bought the glider in 1997, 14 years ago, sold the glider to Ken, who sold it to Brian, who later sold it to Randy.

I met Randy at 5am so we could take advantage of the morning low tide after a 2.5 hour to Wellfleet Massachusetts.  Keith, Matt, and JJ were already there when we arrived and were soon playing in the near-perfect soaring conditions.  (It was blowing almost straight-in at 20-25 mph (32-40 kph) but the temperature was only 37F (3C)).

Randy and I usually rig quickly, but both had "issues".  I took time getting reacquainted with an old friend with a king-post.  I also found a zipper that wouldn't close and struggled 30 minutes trying to re-thread it with my frozen hands.  Meanwhile Randy couldn't squeeze into his new-to-him harness.  During the time it took us to get ready, John arrived, rigged, and launched and Keith and Matt flew and landed.

We finally got everything sorted out and were ready to go.  I helped Randy launch and then stepped into the air with the help of an RC pilot and a paraglider pilot.  My old friend flew well with the exception of being trimmed too slow, which meant I had to keep pressure on the controls to keep it from stalling.

JJ, John, Randy and I played on the high dunes north of launch before jumping across the first challenging gap.  JJ stayed behind while John, Randy, and I continued north the lighthouse about 9 miles (14 km) away.  On the way there we spotted a seal that had bled-out on the beach, probably the victim of a shark attack.  Hawks and hundreds of seagulls joined us in the air.

JJ and John

John

Randy

The shoreline along the outer cape recedes to the northwest, so we started with a bit of headwind on launch but had a bit of tailwind by the time we reached the northern lighthouse.  That become very obvious when we swung around for the return trip.  However, the velocity and direction easily provided enough lift to cross the sketchy sections.

Mud flowing onto the beach

We also kept an eye on the shrinking beach since the tide was coming in.

Once back south, we saw JJ had landed near an easily accessible parking lot.  I decided to join him but first wanted to soar the tiny dunes.  However I forgot about the glider stalling easily and lost too much altitude when I made a quick turn at the southern end.  Oh well.  I had a soft landing close to an easy exit spot.

JJ walked back to get his car while I de-rigged.  I got some video of John and then Randy landing a short time later.

Randy

While John and Randy de-rigged JJ gave me a lift back to the car.  We briefly stopped at the Beachcomber restaurant to see how John M did on his flight before returning to launch.

It was a fun late-winter day and a good start to a new season.

Update:  JJ wrote about the day on his blog.
Update:  Reporters from CapeCast produced this video.

Flights: 1, Duration: 2:00, Distance: 17 miles