The Skydog Report

Saturday April 15th 2017 We have blue skies again and the tandems and Wills Wing Demo gliders get off early and by 9:30 the breeze is too strong so breakfast is on. In the afternoon Mike and Steve give a presentation on many Hang Gliding topics and the pilots really enjoyed it. The big Saturday night party was fantastic with a great meal and a live seven piece band playing until midnight. Thanks so much to the Wills Wing gang for putting on this very special event. Our group will be heading home Sunday morning so that is all for now and I will be reporting from Canada very soon. Skydog Bob

Jean Martin Welker - New U-2

Steve Pearson Launching

Steve Is Airborne

Dave Aldrich Launches

Steve Landing Flare

When You Hang Out With Skydog Bob

You May End Up At Tastee Treat

The Skydog Report

Friday April 14th 2017 More blue skies and light breezes in the morning so the Tandems and Demos get off early. By ten am. the wind picks up to over 12 mph so off to breakfast and after break we socialize and Tom Lanning is off to the dunes with a group of pilots. The forecast says windy for the next couple of days so likely no flying. We get the wind sailors out for a while in the afternoon. Party time tonight and Saturday so that should be fun.

The Line up 2017

Landing

The Skydog Report

Thursday April 13th 2017 and another sunny morning with light breezes. We have a lot of tandems and solo pilots and oh so many trying out the new Wills Wing Demos. Mike and Linda Meier are here today along with Dave Aldrich. Lisa Pearson is also here now. The morning flights go until almost ten am. and the wind picks up some so breakfast is on. Around one pm. we form a line of anxious pilots with Michael Robertson of High Perspective, Canada getting off first. Michael has a flight of about one hour. I am off next followed by George Adams, Tom Niblock, Chris Christopherson and many others some trying out the new gliders. George tried an XC flight and landed about eleven miles to the west. The thermals were very strong but the sink was also strong and most of us had the ups and downs throughout the day. My first flight was one of those and went like this. Fay Barber towed up to a good one after some searching and I got off at 1,800 feet and like many of the other days of this past week I rocketed up to 5,300 feet at the ten minute point in my flight and I thought, here we go again and you readers might be getting bored with all the talk about great lift and flying all we wanted BUT NO today would be different. OK so fighting my way down out of the cloud I thought, oh finally out in the clear blue and this is nice and smooth so I will just come back here if I don't find anything out further upwind so I ventured south east to the cloverleaf at 4 and 27 and turned around and wandered back but now I was loosing a lot of altitude and by the time I got back over the Ranch I was down to 1,600 feet and I had left the cloverleaf at four grand so I was in struggle mode but the clouds over the orange groves were not working and soon I was on the ground with only 30 minutes flight time. OK so I can go again and Jimmy Nordle towed me back to launch and I was in the air again real soon. Fay dragged me around again and finally found lift and I pinned off but where did that lift go and I was on the ground with a 16 minute flight. From what I heard later most pilots had a hard time staying up today. The wind had picked up and the sea breeze was moving in so we did not launch again. The evening was full of fun with dinner and a live performance by a great young lady with her guitar and then another couple from Alaska who played their string instruments beautifully.

The Skydog Report

Wednesday April 12th 2017 another sunny morning with lots of action by 8 am. Lots of tandems and solo pilots and some trying out the new Wills Wing Demo Gliders. We started a line just after one pm and I was first off with Greg Linamen following me and then Tom Niblick from Indiana in his Exxtacy and many others in line. Well this may sound repetitive but Paul let me off at 1,800 feet in a good thermal and I took it up to 5,600 feet in twelve minutes and soon Greg was right with me and soon after Tom Niblick was up there also and we stuck together for maybe twenty minutes. This was a huge thermal in diameter and strength. We followed it back to the west as others joined in the fun. Brian Deimling and Brian Ridder were in the same lift. I topped out in this one at 6,700 feet ato and soon Oded was in the air and I saw him working low at first and all of a sudden Oded hit a boomer and he was off south to the hospital and then back to wallaby where we met up and got into some good stuff up to six grand and soon Oded left me and I drifted over the warehouses not finding much lift. Tom Lanning was flying with us today and had a good flight. I was getting a little cool so I worked my way down to a good landing in the switchy winds with a flight time of 2 hours and 20 minutes. Jimmy Kolynich had a great flight after the lunch break and Jimmy will tell us about it.

Jean Martin Welker - Switzerland

Peter

Jean Martin

Dave Aldridge

Jean Martin

Good One

The Skydog Report

Tuesday April 11th 2017 and Steve Pearson of Wills Wing fame arrived early last evening with a big load of Demo gliders and it is a beautiful day in Florida at Wallaby Ranch. The morning starts off with light winds and a blue sky and Steve has a new design supine configuration glider for Malcolm to try out and it is a big hit. The new design takes off and lands perfectly and flies great. Photos below. Lots of tandem flights this morning and many solo pilots take to the sweet fresh air. Around 12:30 pilots are eager to get into some thermalling air and the two Laminar boys get off first followed by Chris Christopherson and Tom Niblick and a line of about twenty pilots behind them. Looks like they are all sticking up there and I am about sixth in line. Paul Smith (Smitty) hauls me up into some pretty bumpy air and I almost lock out at 1,500 feet so I wrap my elbow around the high side downtube and the T2-C comes back around behind Paul in the Dragonfly. Paul signals me off at 2,500 feet ato and I am in good lift so I take the first thermal up to 4 grand at 13 minutes as I see my buddies circling all around me. Soon there are many gliders in the air with three tugs getting them airborne. I see Fabiano and Marcello take off to the west as we have a straight east wind of about 12 mph. The odd pilot finds a sink hole but most stick it out for a couple of hours. I was one of those who found sink and landed with a 46 minute flight and topped out at 4,600 feet. The sky was a beautiful deep blue with white cummies everywhere. After lunch at four pm. I started a line and was in the air again at 4:15 and this time Smitty dropped me in a monster that took me up to 6,700 feet at 19 minutes and into the mist. I don't think I have ever turned so steeply and went up like crazy. I just love this sport. Oded was soon in the air and within 15 minutes Oded had gone north and we still had about ten gliders in the air including Jimmy Kolynich on his Atos VRS Rocket Ship. I moved around a bit and watched as others spotted the best lift for me. I was usually hanging out at around five grand or more. I watched as George Adams came in under me after flying to Quest Air and back. George is an amazing pilot. Lee Silver did a great XC of 40 miles around the Green Swamp. Lee has been doing spectacular flights since his participation at the Green Swamp Challenge this year. I landed at six pm with a flight time of 1 hour and 46 minutes. Oded called soon after I landed and asked to be picked up at Quest so John Russell and I made the trip to Quest and back to Wallaby Ranch for the live music and so many flying stories of the great day we all had, Fabiano had a great flight of almost 50 miles and Marcelo landed a little short of that behind locked gates for some extra excitement including police escorts out of there. So many happy pilots with great stories that I can't recall them all so come on down and check things out and try out some of the new Wills Wing Super Gliders.

Steve Pearson Of Wills Wing Spotlighting The New Supine Design

And Steve Is Airborne

Cool

Malcolm Jones Tries Out The New Design

Smooth

Tandem

Tandem

Marcello

Peter On Approach

Peter Landing

Marcello

Marcello

Peter

Marcello

The Skydog Report

James Kolynich and I are Flying from Rochester to Orlando Wednesday April 5th and staying ten days until the Wills Wing Demo Days event is over on Saturday evening April 15th.

Wednesday April 5th 2017 and we arrive at Wallaby Ranch around three pm. and is it ever hot like 94 degrees and 20 mph + winds. The land sailors are having a good time with Tom Lanning taking a beating when a cleat jammed and the cart tipped over causing a few abrasions. Jimmy and I set up camp in the big cottage and it is great. We expect Moritz to arrive Saturday evening and Oded later in the week and then George Adams may come by. Matt and Christina from the Boston area and Emma and Peter from Australia are here and ready to fly the beautiful Florida Thermals.  Wednesday evening the Brazilian group put on a great dinner and we had multiple players on the guitars for our entertainment. Video Below. A great time was had by all.

Thursday April 6th 2017 and a cloudy morning with sun breaking through by 11 am. Looks like we may have too much wind until Saturday so we may have to run the land sailors today. Yes we did have a good day on the Blow Carts with the 20 mph winds today followed by a great dinner with Tom Lanning, John Russell and Jimmy Kolynich who had some exciting stories. Photos and videos soon.

Jimmy Needed A Little Encouragement

James Kolynich First Time Land Sailor

Leon and Aric

Paul Smith

Mick and Smitty

Leon

Oliver

JK "And So That's How It Is Done"

The Skydog Report

Friday April 7th 2017 Tandems are off at 8 am with a group having a great time in the air and on the ground cheering each other on. By noon it is over 18 mph again so no flying for us today but Saturday's forecast looks good.

Saturday April 8th 2017 Lots of morning tandems and at 1:30 we are being towed by three tugs into a blue sky without a cloud. As often I took off first as wind check pilot (Dummy) and Fay Barber towed me through some pretty Rasty (Rough and Nasty) air and at 1,500 feet I had a lot of slack in the rope and when it came tight WHAMO a broken weak link. OK so I may find something but nothing until I am down to 600 feet and then a nice tight thermal at the south side of the Wallaby field and I take it up to four grand at the twelve minute mark and from there on it was easy sailing up to six grand. Tom Niblick was off next with his Exxtacy with the electronic camera mount. Tom and I got close for a few minutes around four grand. Next Griffin Hostettler came up and we circled together for a few minutes up to five grand. Chris Christopherson was next off and we took some good thermals up high. Chris topped out at 6,300 ato and my highest was 5,961 ato and Chris was high most of the day. Tom Lanning was next pilot and of course Tom was usually high and I saw Tom take off to the north so I expected that he was off to Quest but later on Tom came back way low and worked his way up to me late in my 2 hour and 14 minute flight. SkyMax was off next and Max had some great climbs throughout the day. In the take off paddock there was a lot of talk about rowdy tows so many did not attempt flight today. Winds were switchy all day and landings were very challenging. I came in cross wind and slid in on my skids with no problem and right behind me was Chris and then Tom Lanning who had a tip lift and stall and Tom tripped hitting the base bar with his upper leg. Tom went to the hospital to get it checked out and he is only badly bruised so we are very happy for him. The Rasty air today was challenging and not for the faint of heart. I had taken a morning flight for 13 minutes and then around five pm. Fabiano from Milan, Italy asked If I wanted to give it another try and of course I said sure and Malcolm organized a crew and Paul Harrison towed us into the blue where we found a nice evening thermal and we played in it for a while and my flight time was only 22 minutes and I think that Fabiano had 30 minutes. We were happy campers. Jimmy Kolynich was not feeling well so he was good enough to take some wonderful photos for us. I will get them online asap.  After supper Oded and I picked up Moritz Wagner at the airport so now we have a full house in the big cottage.

Tandem

Tandem

Tandem

Tandem Landing

Tandem

Gliders

Tandem Group

Laurie Croft Drives

Tandem Group

The Skydog Report

Sunday April 9th 2017 Lots of tandems this morning and a big crowd of pilots today for an exceptional day of blue sky thermal action. Fay Barber towed me into the biggest thermal in the house and at 19 minutes I was up to 7,000 feet ato. George Adams was next and soon was up high with me. Lots of pilots from up north here for a week of Demo Days which starts on Wednesday. There was outrageous lift most everywhere and most pilots went up to six grand and more. Oded also had a great flight today and Jimmy is still under the weather. The most very exciting part of my flight was when Dean Williams came in close at six grand with his beautiful sailplane and we climbed to 7,300 feet close together. Dean dropped by later on and said "hey Bob that was me in the sailplane" and I was surprised as I thought that it likely was Steve Arndt as Steve had said earlier that he would do that sometime soon. I was very cold at seven grand and came down for a bit to get warm and the elevator ride up again was always great. I was cruising at over six grand for most of the flight. My flight was the longest of the day at 4 hours and 51 minutes and I topped out at 7,608 feet ato. Rick Bremer was last to land at about 6:30 Fabiano flew to Quest and two of the NH pilots also flew XC.

Paul Wheels Her In

Tom Niblick Being Towed Skyward

Group Tandems

Jim Nordle

Griffin