I had hoped to head north around noon to go fly but there was little interest from others. I decided to get my scooter setup better then and got the batteries mounted properly now but they needed charging. Kim and Chris were going to Inkler's for 4pm so I resigned myself to that and kept busy around the farm. I found the umbrella and got it put up on the deck for the summer.

The shit head birds had been jumping over the fence so I had to put up a second row to keep them out.

I am going to need the engine stand which had a boat motor on it. The easiest thing for me to do was tip it over and roll the motor off. I'll figure out how to deal with the boat motor later.

I got to Inkler's a bit before 4pm and soon Kim and Chris showed up.

We got to the launch and the winds were NUKING. 20/23 for a while and as we waited in Kim's truck the winds lulled nicely.

It was after 5pm and we got our wings setup and ready to launch.

I was first off and got lucky to find a nice lull. INSTANTLY my wing felt SO MUCH BETTER having the extra 8 pounds of weight in the ballast bag. There was little to no flutter and my wing felt way way way more solid. The lengthened brake lines really helped my shoulders as well.

My wing came up and wanted to dart forward so I had to run to get under it. As I did the left tip folded as I was running for the edge so I popped the left break a bit and the tip opened and I was in the air.

I went pretty much straight up for a while then started to get horizontal movement.

We ended up with the 3 of us in the air and varying times each would be higher or lower than the others.

At my highest point I was over 3100 ft elevation and 2k agl.

Kim and his wing.

I had hit the hour mark and was looking to try and land but the winds were really strong and I was having no luck going forward. I was standing on my speed bar but no forward movement. It was a bit frustrating.

So I flew along the back side of the ridge in hopes of getting back over it but I kept getting pushed away from it.

I found myself stuck in the lee and pretty clearly not going to get back to the front.

I had few choices at this point and my wing was getting slapped hard by the rotor.

I began eyeing the fields to the north and was about to head for them.

When my wing got slammed hard and I looked to my right to see my wing 90 degrees from normal! I yarded on the right brake and flew the wing out to the right with the direction it had slammed.

I was getting battered by the rotors and jacked up winds and was working hard to come down cleanly.

I got a glance up at where I had flown from and saw Chris and Kim who could see me and where I landed so they knew I was safe.

It was a bit tricky to get landed with the swirling weird winds.

A little rough landing but really nothing to complain about. I made it down safely.

The farmer was in their tractor and I would think they saw me land. The dogs were barking a bunch but I hiked to the corner of the field, packed my wing and harness, tossed them over, climbed under the electric fence, and hiked my ass the mile back to the lz and my car.

My shitty garmin watch froze before takeoff so I didn't get all the metrics from it but thankfully had xctrack and my vario. 1 hour 18 minute flight, my longest by 23 minutes, 17.6 miles total distance, and my first encounter with rotors.

It was after 7 when I finally got back to the car and the lz not long after Kim landed and Chris landed as I was getting to the lz. We all had wonderful flights and could have flown till dark the way the wind was.

I bombed for home and waiting food.

The soak was nice on my shoulders for sure.

High winds today and tomorrow then Friday should be good to fly again. Today I will get the boys to school, work on the truck, start tilling, test the scooter with my paragliding setup on for distance, will get J after running club, and run my clothes through the wash.

SIGNUP FOR YOUR NEWTON PORTAL ACCOUNT AND WE BOTH EARN!