Labor Day Weekend-Hyner/Pulpit. (Long)

[hepcat1989]

I arived at Hyner sunday afternoon around 2 to see a handful of pilots in the air.I was by myself this trip. My wife was feeling under the weather. She stayed home along with my pitbull/guard dog "Goldie".Not too ferocious of a name I know, but it fits her.
I got my ass up to launch to see Mike L. on deck at 2:30. Bob and Karen G. were on his wires.He had a good solid launch run and a damm good flight, but he can tell it! Janni did a good job I thought as well flying through the rain, but he can tell it.
I set up, helped pilots off launch, and flew around 4:30. I was on the ramp, but the wind started to wane and danced around the wall(direction).It started to mist. I then had Pat, and Mike L. move me up and around the wall to the gravel slot. Hyner makes it's own weather i'm learning.I managed 10 mins. on that flight, but man,what a view!
I set up a good approach and landed with a no-stepper in front of Keith Olena and Shawn Mac.They said nothing, but a thumbs up and a smile. That felt good for I have not flown in 4 weeks.
We had a great evening around the campfire with Bob B., Dennis P., Rich D.,Dave B and Jody,Mark, and many others. Sorry, my memory was getting blurred at that point!
Fireworks that night provided by the land owner!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SWEET! BONUS!
I flew again monday morning with a bit of an extendo and a good landing. I then started packing up camp in the hopes of catching The Pulpit on the way home.
I arrived at The Pulpit at 4:30 to see Mike L., Janni and his girlfriend,and two PG pilots. Dave B. and Brian arrived later I was setting up a while when Mike told me the PG pilot went down into the weeds and rocks in front of the new ramp.........Well, is he allright? He was..He untangled all those strings and stuff and launched. I invited my mother to come up. She has never seen my fly before. Mike gave me my hang check and up to the old ramp. It had started to cross from the North , but light. Brian came up and we talked about the cross and light wind. I then decided to go over on the new ramp and look for a lull. It was light....I had been doing no- wind launches at Hyner in the mornings off their ramp and slot. I knew what I had in store...I took a lull when the streamers went limp.It was puffing 90 degrees from the right. I ran my ass off and had to dive it out, swooped and had PLENTY of clearance from rocks and trees. I flew straight out and came in for a no-stepper on top of the hill in the secondary heading to the north. Felt good. I then looked to launch to see Mike L.on deck. Brian brought him back down then. It seemed that it wasn't going to happen. Brian came down to pick me up(thanks man.) We talked about the launch. He said that I had a good solid run, I didn't pop the nose but my nose was a bit high on the run. If it was down a bit I could have got a bit more speed . He said it was fine though.
Two firsts on this trip. 1- I flew two sites on the same day.2-I did a no- wind launch off the ramp at The Pulpit. Also my dear mother got to see me fly for the first time! It don't get any better than that.
Well, maybe hunting alligators in the Florida swamps while drinking warm Old Millwaukee tall boys!!!!!!


I had fun. Peace, Shawn.

[brianvh]

Not a whole lot to add to what Shawn just wrote, since it was raining saturday so no flying, but there was a good band in the bar.

The cloud dive conditions broke up before I woke up on sunday, but went canoing with Janni and Leoni. The current was fast! Made it from Ronovo to Hyner (6-7 miles) in about 45 minutes. Then I made the mistake of thinking that under the overcast there was no reason to rush to launch and did lunch instead. Normally I skip lunch at Hyner. Got up top in time to see Bob Beck climb way above launch, then Mike Lee hang out on the ridge for a good long bit. by the time we were ready to launch it had died. No more lunch for me!

Shawn McDuff mentioned that the landowner wanted us to buzz his outdoor party, with the standard offer of food and beer afterwards (when we walked up to the party after landing they'd wave us over shouting "you fly for food, right?"). With benefits like that many of us did it twice.

Janni was worried about the misting conditons, and asked me if I thought it was safe. I mainly thought I wanted to get down there and drink beer, so replied "Uh...better go now before it gets worse". So he went. He didn't like it. I followed and did some mild aerobatics over the crowd to lose altitude. People keep telling me I'm doing wingovers, but I dunno.

Monday I woke up, saw the ridge socked in, so threw on clothes, gulped some juice, and drove out on the field, only to see a wall of clouds at the south end of the LZ with launch clear. I started to throw a tantrum, but Tom Gartlen came running out "come-on! Let's go do a cloud dive!" I protested the clouds were gone, but he jumped up and down and insisted more would come. He was right: it was already blowing in the LZ, and more clouds were coming down the valley. So up we went. It was blowing around 8 and cross, but occasional straight cycles coaxed me to set up. I beat everyone on setup and caught the last bit of cloud crossing the LZ. It's good to do a cloud dive.

Then looking at the satellite maps we decided the Pulpit would get more sun. Ended up being mainly a washout, so perhaps we should have hung out at Hyner (haven't I said before, never leave Hyner unless you have to?). But it was a fun weekend as always. I heard that by thursday night Mike had already slipped into the Hyner network like he'd been there his whole life. Always good to have new converts.