Finally a great race day

Well seeing as how the local weather just refused to cooperate, the organizers just upped and moved the entire comp for a day to the mountains adjacent to Mt. Fuji - much closer to Tokyo.

It was an early 3:45 wake up for a 4:45 bus departure. They said about 4 hours including a few rest stops and that's about what it was. Seemed really windy when we first arrived in the area, but sure enough things died down enough to have a nice race. It was really great to finally get up to launch under nice skies and see pilots thermaling and know that we were going to have a fun afternoon.

Now the launch situation was something I have never seen. The launch is actually built right up and off the forest floor. Seemed constructed mostly of metal, and was covered with some kind of fabric. The only problem was that it was quite small... only large enough to lay out 2 gliders at a time, and the wind was light and fickle most of the time.

I've never seen so many sketchy launches which almost resulted in the pilot going over the edge with a partially inflated wing. the organizers and their helpers were positioned at the bottom with a loud speaker shouting instructions... BRAKES! or RUN RUN RUN! They were practically catching pilots who were about to go careening over the edge with a glider only half inflated.... There was netting out front - kind of like you would see approaching the top of a ski chair lift so if you did get all balled up and go over without flying it wouldn't be too serious. I managed to let the launch situation really distract me, and even though I had a good priority for launching, I kind of moseyed around taking my time, watching one top pilot after another launch...

The race today was a bit different then what we usually do. It was an "elapsed time race" instead of the normal race to goal. This type of race has several different start times, and is designed to try and make things more fair when the launch area is very slow or restricted as it was today.

Only problem was, the race course today was a 65k task set to go back and forth along the mountains. The first group was made up of very strong pilots - once they made the first turn point and turned to come back the other way, all they had to do was just look and pick their thermals as everything was completely mapped out for them by all the other pilots who were starting later. The first group just cruised and were much faster than any of the others who started later..... Perhaps some day it will just click for me and I'll finally "just get it" and won't be late to the start anymore... You think I'd learn after all these years. My launch was fine, and when I relaxed in my harness after getting airborne, I was being very thankful that I'd had an easy time of it after watching so many others struggle with very scary launches. Why I didn't just get ready and go with the leaders is beyond me.... typical Jack self psych out...

Had a great time on my R10.2 today, and only took one small tip crevate over 2:40 of very strong conditions at times. Glider is feeling more comfortable every time I fly it... Gin threw his reserve but landed just fine, and another pilot went into some trees but also escaped unscathed.

Tomorrow, the last day of the comp looks marginal again for the weather here in Hakuba, and we won't be traveling the comp again to Mt. Fuji..... So, it may have been a one task comp... I'll have to set my Superfinal ticket sights on Chelan in July......

Monkey Business

Seems like I've been writing more about my non-flying activities this season than my flying! Oh well, it's all good and Sue and I have been having a really nice time together. It used to really bother me when we couldn't race due to the weather, but I've become better with it over the years. The world cup, after all, is also about seeing different places, and enjoying the temporary immersion into other cultures around the world.

As with most of the world cup destinations I've visited thus far, they are usuallly well of the beaten tourist path, and typcially located in beautiful mountainous regions. Hakuba is no different with the exception that most of the valley floors are covered with rice paddies!

Today was another good day to leave the local Hakuba valley as it poured rain there all day. Again the competition organized a day trip for the foreign pilots. One bus went to a castle in Matsamoto, and the other bus went to see the Onsen Monkeys. "Onsen" is Japanese for hot spring or hot bath, and we all know what monkeys are! Put the two of them together and it makes for some very interesting and entertaining sight seeing.

It was about a half hour walk through a beautiful forest to get to the river and hot spring. There are about 200 monkeys which inhabit this particular area and they seemed quite at home with all of us gawking at them and taking pictures. The youngsters were playing endlessly while the adults looked on and seemed rather board with it all. When I first walked into the area and came upon the first monkey, I sat down on a rock and started to film him with my small Go Pro video camera. He came right up to me and actually started to climb on me while reaching for my camera. Fortunately my grip was just a bit stronger than his as I was prepared for his antics! He actually got his hand around the camera and we had just a bit of a tug-a-war for a moment before I elbowed him and made it clear who the dominant male was at the moment....

The young babies were definately a 10 on the cuteness scale. I watched one very young one venture away from it's mother, trying bravely to climb a small little hill on it's own. It made it a few feet and then lost it's grip on the ground and rolled end over end backwards right back down to it's mother who reached out and scooped the little guy up as he was about to go tumbling by....

The organization is optimistic and thinks we might get a chance to fly tomorrow. Looking at the satelite and weather forecast I can't say that I agree but nothing wrong with optimism. It takes a minimum of 2 decent days of racing to make the competition valid enough to award 15 places in the Superfinal. If this ends up being a total bust for racing, then my last chance for a Superfinal spot will be in Chelan in July. I was orginally planning on attending the Greece event next month, but have withdrawn from that one as it just wasn't working out to get the time off, and I'd really like to stay closer to home.... Might check out the Rat Race competition earlier in the month....

sushi buffet

Hakuba Japan

Another adventure in the rains.... this time near Nagano, Japan, home of the 1998 Winter Olympics. Smooth travels to Narita (Tokyo), and then a long 6 hour van ride through Tokyo and up into Northwest country. We are staying in the small village of Hakuba, which is about an hour west of Nagano.

On Saturday I flew over the Olympic ski jumping venue which was constructed for the Nagano Olympics. It's a beautiful site which looks good for racing if the weather decides to cooperate. About 95 pilots in attendance from 18 countries.

Sue and I are staying just above the village and are just a short 10 minute walk from the gondola which takes us up the mountain. The paraglider launch is just a large ski slope area and is quite nice and wide open. Sue and I both had nice flights on Saturday, which was the official warm up day. Sue had her brand new Gin Sprint which she really likes. When I launched she had already climbed up above the launch altitude but was having some issues with her harness so decided to head out to the landing field. The sun had just come out and conditions were rather active at 1pm when I took off. I was quickly reminded of the glider I was flying and had my hands full for a few minutes but then fell into the groove. Looks like I'm going to need to load up on some ballast to make this glider behave.

Flew for over 3 hours and went down the range and then across the valley towards Nagano, and then back across the valley again to Hakuba. The reach of this glider is just amazing. I'm easily cruising at 65kph accelerated when the air is not too rough. Climbed out again to almost 3000 meters and took some pictures and then just boated around until I was tired of flying and came in to land. The lz for the site is small and kind of squirly with switchy winds.... and surrounded by rice paddies. I found some major sinking air as I was making my last turn to land and almost ended up in a rice paddy. I'm still not used to how this glider turns after so much time on the Boomerangs which love to come around so easily. Sue was there of course taking pictures of me with my lines a little tangled up at the edge of the lz....

The first two days of the comp were seriously rained out with one to two inches each day. The rivers are very swollen with rain and snow melt. Today the organization took the non-Japanese pilots on a sight seeing trip to a famous temple in Nagano. Nagano is on the other side of a range of mountains and the weather was cloudy but dry so that was nice. We did a good job at playing tourist and really enjoyed the temple and gardens.

We did some shopping at a mega electronics store and then stopped for sushi at a sushi restaurant unlike anything I've ever seen. You sit down at a table, and there are conveyor belts running by the end of the table with all kinds of sushi pairs on them. When you see something that looks good you just grab the plate and chow down. If you want something that's not on the moving conveyor, you can just use a touch screen menu mounted also at the end of the table to order up whatever you want. A couple of minutes later, this little mini Bullet train pulling plates with your order behind comes by and stops at the end of your table on a different track. As soon as you lift off your plates, it heads back down the track to the kitchen. Crazy but quite efficient and very inexpensive. When we were all done we pushed the check out button on the touch screen and someone came and just counted up the number of plates we had collected. They were only 90 yen each (about a dollar) which is a really nice treat if you're a sushi lover like we are...

Tuesday, day 3 is calling for some sun but probably gonna be too windy to fly. Next day is calling for rain again but right now the end of the week looks like we might be lucky.... Sue and I are enjoying our time together and I'm really glad she decided to join me. It makes passing the time much more enjoyable....

Have Dental Floss, will Paraglide.

R10.2 Update

It appears to me that the risk / reward scenario which was so seriously skewed initially as I began the transition to the R10.2 has begun to return to an acceptable range. Hours on the training hill in Santa Barbara, a few hours of ridge soaring, and several thermal flights now in both light and moderate + conditions have shifted the comfort level quite a bit in my favor. It probably wasn't the best call to dive into a new harness as well but that is the path I took.

Some Observations:

At the training hill, one of the main objectives was to get a feel for the stall and spin authority of the R10.2. When the winds came up late in the afternoon, I was able to hover just off the ground on the edge of the hill with zero ground speed and only a foot or so to fall. I was fully expecting this glider to 'snap' when it stalled, and to do so within a reasonable range of brake travel. Chad standing next to me, and myself were very impressed with the internal loading of this glider as it took substantial, extremely deep into the brake travel to get the glider to let go, and it didn't snap at all.... just slowly horseshoed. This was NOT what we were expecting. Note: this maneuver was done at about 103kg on a 110-120 kg range.

As was expected, launching this glider in moderate wind or better is a handful. I've experimented with different techniques, but so far haven't come up with a better plan other than to launch the way I always launch and be prepared to sprint hard under the glider and turn and be flying all in one maneuver. Having no C riser removes the most common and effective method of managing the overshoot. Many of us launch the tandem with the As in one hand, and both brakes in the other, which gives us a nice opportunity to control the climb of the glider overhead. I've tried this technique several times and had some success . However, if there ever were a glider where you don't want to be switching brakes around to a different hand while launching, this is the glider. It's also difficult keeping the glider wings symmetrical without more direct input to the trailing edge.

There is another launching option with the R10.2 which is to use the B riser handles as you would the C risers on a 3 line glider. I've tried this also several times, but the glider just doesn't want to be managed that way and it hasn't worked for me. Seems that even the smallest asymmetric input to the B risers will cause the glider to come up all over the place, and when this glider pressurizes and loads in wind off to the side, be prepared to be flying off to the side.....

Bottom line for launching so far for me: extremely efficient airfoil which performs just as strongly on the ground when launching as it does on glide at cloud base....be prepared. With normal light to moderate winds, launching the R10.2 is predictable and easy. Because of a mostly frozen shoulder, I have yet to forward launch this glider.....

Another important consideration when launching the R10.2. This glider breaks easily when launching before it's loaded. If it's thermic, don't be surprised to have an entire wing asymmetric strongly if you are kiting or getting ready to run off the hill. I'm taking extra care when launching making sure the glider is loaded up well before I commit. This is especially critical if executing a running reverse in light winds.

My initial flights with the glider were on a Thin Red Line harness, and this was probably not the best call as it was next to impossible to get the glider to turn with no seat board. When I got going with the XR5 things obviously improved dramatically, but I still struggled to turn. I had a 3 and 1/2 hour flight a few days ago and I'm now getting the glider around, but still missing the easy turning of the Boomerang. A big part of this could be the change in harness from the Impress 2 to the XR5. I was kind of prepared for this and will just have to accept the differences. Ultimately I think this is good for me as it's forcing me to get my hips and entire body more involved with the turn so I'm hoping that eventually this will lead to more overall turning efficiency.

Probably the biggest hurdle to overcome transitioning to the R10.2 is learning to fly the glider accelerated through turbulence while holding the B riser handles with brake toggles unwrapped and held loosely. As with most comp gliders, input into the trailing edge while speeding in turbulence is poor technique and will very likely end up causing that nice high arc form to transition into some less desirable shape. For me, those handles are pretty far up there and I kind of get it after some practice but it's gonna take some time. I can see how it could become intuitive to give some backwards pressure on the B handles to help keep things pressurized, but the idea of using only the B riser handles to head off frontals and asymmetrics while strongly accelerated right up until the point where the glider actually lets go will take some work. I know this is the way the glider begs to be flown, and this is my goal.

I know there are many different techniques to feel the pressure of the glider and to try and sense when the leading edge is getting soft, etc... I've heard all kinds of ideas over the past several years on how to do this.... from spreading the fingers through the C and B lines, to holding various individual lines with a forefinger, etc... Now I have a B riser “handle” to hold onto while accelerated, and I'm to use this handle until It get's too rough and I can't keep it pressurized anymore with the B risers..... then, and only then do I resume control with the brakes.... They're recommending 25 hours on this glider before seriously competing with it.... I'm starting to understand why....

Overall impression of this glider? We'll obviously Ozone has been cranking them out just as fast as they possibly can. If you look at the Greece pwc roster, I haven't counted them up, but there are many R10.2 liners signed up. I expect the Europeans will see a third or better 2 line gliders between the Ozone and the Niviuk, and I believe the U5 as well. Results will be interesting to say the least.

This glider is WORK! When I first saw it I was reminded of when Mitch brought his red, white, and blue Airwave proto knife to Chelan some years back. I don't equate my R10 to that glider anymore and should be clear that this was only an initial impression. The glide and overall performance are very strong, but the calories burned during active conditions are definitely up a notch or two from what I'm used to. The tips behave amazingly well and I initially thought that there really wasn't much going on in terms of internal design and construction.....just the reduced line drag was the main factor. I must admit at this point, however, that there is clearly some exceptional design going on that has produced an amazingly stable and well pressurized glider. Sure, it dances around the sky overhead and wiggles and wags and gives you all kinds of feedback through your harness which you might not be used to.

I'm slowly getting used to the idea that I'm not really “giving up” anything more than just extra weight. I'm a spoiled rotten Boom pilot who has really enjoyed the rock solid feel and handling of the Boomerang series (5,6,7). When you rosette your glider and pick it up off the ground, and you feel like you're picking up a speed wing, it's hard not to second guess your decision making. It's coming to me slowly but surely....... but is a huge transition from what I'm used to..... I don't know how long this glider will last. There has been much discussion about the lower surface fabric and line thickness, etc... Those who know me know that I'm quick to upgrade so I can't really speak from experience on this front. I replaced the riser/lineset on the Boom 6 last fall after 130 hours and it was like being on a brand new glider. They say that the R10.2 when well cared for will last for 2-3 seasons.... If you fly one for 3 seasons please let me know how it goes.....

I'm 100% aware that the increased performance has not come without an equally increased demand of skill and energy. As with any glider performance upgrade, if you don't have plenty of mental and physical capacity growth room, please wait until you do.....

I feel that with the time I've already built on the glider that I'll be ready for Japan. Japan should be a good warmup for Greece along with some additional strong thermal flying at our home mountain site. Greece should prepare me well for Chelan... Sounds like a good plan anyway :> Until I really race and blow up on speed the jury is going to have to stay out I think. I've heard many reports now from friends who say the glider is totally predictable, and that the one reserve toss so far was due to pilot error..... from my own experience flying wih the R10s I would have to agree....

I'm trying to be careful with my overall expectations, and closely monitor all the factors of the equation.....

Want to have fun.....
Want to keep the risk/reward meter out of the yellow arc and in the green...
Want to be on even ground with my fellow pilots who are pushing hard and being really competitive....
Want to have a good shot at making the Nats team.

And most importantly, be able to enjoy this amazing thing that we get to do for years to come.....(albeit at a reduced pace!!

Pics from Santa Barbara shake down...

http://www.flyaboveall.com/Jack_wilcox/index.htm

Jack