First Flight 2008, Old Friends

First of all, I apologize for my lack of blog post recently. It's been a hectic couple weeks. I have much to write about and am playing catch up, stay tuned for a diverse set of posts.

First Flight 2008. This time I made it past DEFCON 5 and into the air (for a DEFCON explanation click Here). My last hang gliding flight was on December 5th, 2007 (posted Here). Adam (aka Batman) was stateside from South Africa last week and I caught up with him and Jeff in Salt Lake City. Of course we had to fly...

Time was short so we had to maximize our time together. On Friday, Jeff and Adam picked me up at SLC International Airport at 2:00pm and after stopping for a burrito and some Utah culture shock we headed to the North Side of Point of the Mountain. Jeff treated Adam and I like royalty, setting up and offering his Wills Wing Spectrum glider to fly. We hung out, caught up and shot the bull while the conditions slowly built. After a while Jeff had a go and boated around in the bubbly air with ease. After an impressive landing it was Adam's turn. Adam suffered extensive analysis-paralysis, but it worked out because by launching when he did he was able to bench up and enjoy stress and traffic free soaring on the upper ridge.

Jeff Launching the Spectrum

Adam and Jeff on Launch

I went last and battled the paragliders on the lower ridge for about 20 minutes. If I was more current or aggressive in traffic I think I could have benched up, but I was happy to just break myself back into the sport. My last of flight of a total of 4 hours last year was in December! After 20 minutes my back had had enough and I headed out to bottom land where Jeff and Adam were waiting. It was great to be in the air and at the point with Adam and Jeff, just like old times!

My landing sequence. I rounded out a little too low giving me a "#2 in the woods" stance. and a definite lack of coolness!

After flying we headed to the rec center for a 2 hours of racquetball punishment from Adam. He "pool sharked" us in the first game with a mediocre performance followed by pure domination. Sandbagger! After racquetball it was back to Jeff's house for photo contests, pizza, and pancakes till 3am. Jeff has a great post and more pics Here. Stay tuned for more...