Blank Slate

Without a driver for sightseeing trips, I'm looking for other ways to challenge myself.  I spent yesterday afternoon experimenting with a variety of camera angles while tethered to the ranch.  Much to my disappointment I found a blank slate last night instead of a cache of pictures.  Crap.

Anyway, the flying was great.  Unlike most days, I delayed pushing out to launch since I thought day would improve with time.  I had to abort about 3 seconds into my first tow when my harness unzipped from the top.  A quick "re-zip", reconnect, and I was away.  Paul and I hit a strong surge around 1000 feet (300 m), but I wasn't ready to get off that low after watching others sink out.  However, when we drove through it again at 1100 (330 m) I got the hint and released into a strong climb.

I spent the rest of the afternoon zipping between strong climbs to base above 5000 feet (1500 m) but always within a glide back.  My playground for the afternoon was roughly a cylinder with a 6 mile (9.6 km) radius.  The day got even better as the sea breeze began to trigger lift everywhere.  I had long unbelievably kind glides through huge blue holes.  Oh, I also captured many flying buddies on video with a camera that wasn't recording.  Sigh.

Here are some pictures from a few days ago.

Seth looking for the perfect shot.

Malcom and Sarah

Flights: 1, Duration: 2:18