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Sunday, 4/18/18
Tandems at Elings with Lucy & Tess
1 Flight with Lucy & 1 Flight with both Lucy & Tess
Bantoo

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

Had a 6 am flight to Pittsburg scheduled for Monday morning, and was hustling to get stuff done.  Spoke with Bob Hurlbett and told him I wasn't going to fly because the lapse rate looked poor, and I didn't have the bandwidth.  Tess normally has her horseback riding lessons mid morning on Sunday's, but she was pushed back to 1 PM today, so we got a late start.  Made it a family affair and Tess wanted her friend Lucy to come along also.  Pulled the 3rd seat out of Topa Chase and loaded 5 bikes, Frisbees, and the tandem gear for good measure because the trees had a little wiggle.

Did a trick or treat round at the Earth Day event down town (Alameda Park) after Tess riding lesson.  Parked close and rode the bikes in.  I wanted a couple of the black freebee Frisbee's because I'd gotten a couple a few years ago, but they both had gone missing.  They are good for close quarters in light to no wind, and fly pretty straight.

Afterward getting it all loaded back in the truck, we took a vote on a beach bike ride or paragliding .  The girls were game for paragliding.  Pam said no way, but we stopped to let here run an errand and Lucy called her mom.  Tess is 6, almost 7, and Lucy is 8.  We could all hear the cell dialog between Lucy and her mom.  Lucy asked Maggie, Mom can I go paragliding with Tom.  Maggie asked when she would be home.  We fumbled on the time and Maggie said sure, why not.  Pam got back in the truck and we informed her that Lucy had clearance, so the plan was for Pam to evaluate how well I did with Lucy and then pass judgment on weather on not she would let Tess fly also.

It had been SE all day, but recently clocked around from the west and the breeze freshened.  We said hi to Dave Saffold on his bike driving up the hill, but no other pilots present.  The conditions were good, perhaps a little cross from the west, and Lucy weighs less than 60 pounds so we were a little light for the 8-10 MPH breeze.  Sam gave an initial assist to get the canopy up, and we needed another from Pam to get to the edge.  Lucy was riding low and never got in the seat, but she loved it just the same.  We popped up a little over launch, but I didn't try and scratch and was on the ground about a minute after launch.

Tess's enthusiasm was high, and Pam gave in and said OK, but we needed 3 tries to get off with the triple.  In retrospect, I think the problem was I had them rigged too low, miscalculating the triangulation adjustment for their weight.  I'd usually rather have a passenger too low than too high because if they ride high, I ride low and have visibility problems  Plus, if I'm riding low in the back then I may have to reach high for the brakes.  I've got 3 anchor loops on my spreader bars for the carabiners attachment.  On Lucy's 1st flight I used the very back loop, but should have used the middle loop.  That would have gotten her in the air while I was still on the ground.  As it was, I was getting light on my feet while she was still on the ground, so I didn't have much drive and needed a pull to get to the edge.

The rigging problem with Tess was even worse.  I use the back loop on the big spreader bar set, which I never do.  My thinking was the girls only weighed about 120 together, but that works out to the middle loop, not the back loop.  I was a little rushed because the park staff wanted to close the gate.  Should have used the middle loop, not the back loop, so Tess was hanging excessively low.  Lucy and I were lifting off before Tess, and we'd start to move forward faster than she could run in the harness, so we'd overtake her.  On the 3rd pull, we were over the lip and got off ok because the air was more vertical and the hill dropped away.

Looking back, I never use the back loop on the big spreader bars.  No one is ever that light.  You can see from the photos that Tess is hanging much too low.  The flight was only about a minute, so it was ok.  I'm glad we went to the training hill rather than Wilcox to work out the nuances.

After flying we went to the top of the hill at Carrillo and I took the down hill bike ride to the harbor with the kids, Pam drove chase.  Dropped of Pam and Sam at home, and took a look at Bates sometime after 6.  The birds were doing real good, but it seemed a bit light at launch.  More wind to the west and up higher.  No one around to assist, and it was getting late, so I opted to call it a day and packed up at Viola Fields.

Sam had taken some pictures with Pam's camera, but the settings weren't optimal.  Had to throw away most the pictures because they were blurred.

Hadn't done a tandem flight since August 2005, so it was a step in the return progression.  When I came back to my solo glider after a 4½ year layoff, I did some kiting at the park and then went direct to the Skyport.  Tandems have more stuff to deal with, and added responsibility for someone else's well being.  My progression was a sole flight and some kiting with the tandem canopy, the double flight at the training hill with Lucy, then a triple flight with Lucy and Tess.  I should be ready for a mountain launch.

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