Dominican - Feb. 14, '07
Bright and early we awoke on Valentine’s Day to make our way back to Bonao. The 3 hour drive went by quickly, and after making a pit stop at a place that sold chocolate, we drove straight up to the launch at Casabito!
Conditions looked good when we got there – very good. I think Deryk was the wind dummy again, and soon we were all in the air.
This was probably my best flight of the trip; I ended up ridge soaring in front of launch, playing around with the abundant thermals that kept popping up everywhere. I made it about 400 feet above launch, but I guess because launch itself sloped steeply, it never did seem that high.
I found some really sweet lift towards the far side of launch, where the ridge sat. I knew there was a rotor there, so I kept clear, but made the most of the first-rate thermal I was in. Soon, the lift around launch faded, and I headed out into the valley.
Oscar and I flew out together, and tried finding lift around a house with a pool atop a nice hilltop. Unfortunately I was sinking, and headed towards the fields.
There was a fire burning nearby (but not dangerously close) to where I wanted to land. The air was buoyant around it, but the thought of flying right into it didn’t ever cross my mind. I’m not really sure why…maybe because I was more fixated on landing, or perhaps I thought flying around the smoke was adequate, versus going right through it. Anyway, I ended up circling and S-turning up and down along my landing spot, until I landed successfully upwind.
A little mass of kids and a local farmer greeted me and immediately started helping me pack up my glider. The people in the Dominican are really gracious that way.
Oscar extended his flight by another 15 minutes or so, by flying through the smoke and getting some really decent height. He probably could have turned back towards the mountains and join Deryk who seemed to be doing especially well, but instead, opted to land by me. I estimate my flight time to be about an hour in total – not too shabby!
Jens landed too, and we all took motorcycles back up to launch to get one last flight of the day.
The wind had died by then, and after some of the guys flew out and made it to the main LZ with plenty of height and without turning, we figured I could make it too with my sinky glider.
I launched, and pretty much flew the entire way without any brake. It was a sweet, sweet flight. I just kinda sat there pretty much maintaining a constant height, and admired the scenery, weight-shifting here and there to keep a good heading. At one point I kinda laughed out loud and yelled “how cool is this?!” That flight, regardless of its simplicity, is precisely why I choose to fly.
We then all headed to the bar, and afterwards to a nice fancy restaurant for dinner. It was a very sweet Valentine’s Day indeed.
Conditions looked good when we got there – very good. I think Deryk was the wind dummy again, and soon we were all in the air.
This was probably my best flight of the trip; I ended up ridge soaring in front of launch, playing around with the abundant thermals that kept popping up everywhere. I made it about 400 feet above launch, but I guess because launch itself sloped steeply, it never did seem that high.
I found some really sweet lift towards the far side of launch, where the ridge sat. I knew there was a rotor there, so I kept clear, but made the most of the first-rate thermal I was in. Soon, the lift around launch faded, and I headed out into the valley.
Oscar and I flew out together, and tried finding lift around a house with a pool atop a nice hilltop. Unfortunately I was sinking, and headed towards the fields.
There was a fire burning nearby (but not dangerously close) to where I wanted to land. The air was buoyant around it, but the thought of flying right into it didn’t ever cross my mind. I’m not really sure why…maybe because I was more fixated on landing, or perhaps I thought flying around the smoke was adequate, versus going right through it. Anyway, I ended up circling and S-turning up and down along my landing spot, until I landed successfully upwind.
A little mass of kids and a local farmer greeted me and immediately started helping me pack up my glider. The people in the Dominican are really gracious that way.
Oscar extended his flight by another 15 minutes or so, by flying through the smoke and getting some really decent height. He probably could have turned back towards the mountains and join Deryk who seemed to be doing especially well, but instead, opted to land by me. I estimate my flight time to be about an hour in total – not too shabby!
Jens landed too, and we all took motorcycles back up to launch to get one last flight of the day.
The wind had died by then, and after some of the guys flew out and made it to the main LZ with plenty of height and without turning, we figured I could make it too with my sinky glider.
I launched, and pretty much flew the entire way without any brake. It was a sweet, sweet flight. I just kinda sat there pretty much maintaining a constant height, and admired the scenery, weight-shifting here and there to keep a good heading. At one point I kinda laughed out loud and yelled “how cool is this?!” That flight, regardless of its simplicity, is precisely why I choose to fly.
We then all headed to the bar, and afterwards to a nice fancy restaurant for dinner. It was a very sweet Valentine’s Day indeed.
Labels: Dominican Republic 2007
posted by Veronica at 7:53 PM
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