Other than some brief reports from the first weekend, we haven't heard much about the fly-in at Villa Grove. How was the flying and miscellaneous fun other than the flying?
In a nutshell, it was fantastic. I was there for a few days. I'm sure flying reports will follow, but hats off to Larry and Tiffany, Yellowdog, Rich, Grant and everyone else who had a hand in it. Good times through the good flying and the 60 mph winds in a couple of squalls. I'd right more but I'm in recovery mode. Good meeting all the folks there, and great to see some familiar faces. Thanks so much........
The event was good. The weather on the other hand. Very disapponting. Rained every day I was there. The only flying window was small 10-1. After that it od every day. No glass offs as hoping after rain. The beer was $2.00 that helped. Nice shirts and nice people. Some of the locals and experienced pilots got in good flights before I left on Friday. I had fun just was hoping for big blue thermals and glass offs in the evening. Mother nature is a fickle b****.
Other than some brief reports from the first weekend, we haven't heard much about the fly-in at Villa Grove. How was the flying and miscellaneous fun other than the flying?
JR
On the practice day, Scott H flew to Taos. Monsoon conditions kicked in on the weekend and the flying windows were reduced, but many great flights were had by locals and visitors as well.
Wish U were here for it. Ben and LE, Gardner, Chevalier and I raised a toast to the WV Mountaineers. _________________ 'Spark
H4/OBS - WW U2-160 & Falcon 2 195
P3, Skywalk Chili L
IMO It was a great event even if the weather wasn't epic.
While we didn't have any typical Villa glass offs or booming thermals what we did have was 8 out of 8 flyable days. The thunderstorms that helped put out the blazing forest fires in Colorado also shut down launch a little earlier every day. Best flying day was the first day and each day got a smaller launch window from there.
Even with smaller launch windows later in the week many people flew good XC flights with some heading down to the Dunes and others logging 20-30 mile flights later in the week. Tipper flew to Poncha Springs on Thursday (25 miles) and that was one of the shortest days. I missed the big air too but this was very unusual weather for VG, and apparently some were able to XC even with morning launches.
The vendors served up good food, it was easy to get rides up to launch, there was great launch coordination, nice entertainment in the evenings, and fun hanging out with people. While I didn't get big airtime, I got to fly every day I took my wing up to launch. _________________ jj
H3 - U2 160, Falcon3 195
P2 - BuzzZ4
I talked to a guy from Arkansas but I forgot his name off the top of my head, good guy. I need to get back there to fly, Nebo is a great place.............
This was the greatest hang gliding event since the last Telluride meet.
We had 9 flyable days, 141 registered pilots, 130 mile flights, climbs to 17,999+, a fully stocked bar where we took credit cards, beautiful bartenders who dressed up in wonder woman outfits, killer trophies, top notch shirts and hats, a hot springs 15 minutes away, glorious vistas, 5-star catered food providing 3 square a day - with lunch on launch, on-site EMTs, a fly-over of F-16s on the 4th right of the deck, on-site massages, circus performers, belly dancers, a burlesque show down to pasties, 4 bands, off-key sax solos, random hook-ups, tandem flights, out-landings with stolen gear recovered by the police, HG & PG camaraderie, no launch congestion, gust fronts, lightening, 2400'/min lift and 2600'/min sink, broken trucks, bent aluminum, tangled lines, blown launches, downwind landings and hillside crashes (all with no serious injuries), tons of pilots saying it was the best flying and best ground party they've ever experienced, press coverage and a professional film crew making a movie of the whole damn thing!
It was the best f***ing fly-in in over a decade. In 2014 we're going to do it again and we'll have over 200 pilots. If you miss it, you'll regret it. Just like this year.
This was the greatest hang gliding event since the last Telluride meet.
We had 9 flyable days, 141 registered pilots, 130 mile flights, climbs to 17,999+, a fully stocked bar where we took credit cards, beautiful bartenders who dressed up in wonder woman outfits, killer trophies, top notch shirts and hats, a hot springs 15 minutes away, glorious vistas, 5-star catered food providing 3 square a day - with lunch on launch, on-site EMTs, a fly-over of F-16s on the 4th right of the deck, on-site massages, circus performers, belly dancers, a burlesque show down to pasties, 4 bands, off-key sax solos, random hook-ups, tandem flights, out-landings with stolen gear recovered by the police, HG & PG camaraderie, no launch congestion, gust fronts, lightening, 2400'/min lift and 2600'/min sink, broken trucks, bent aluminum, tangled lines, blown launches, downwind landings and hillside crashes (all with no serious injuries), tons of pilots saying it was the best flying and best ground party they've ever experienced, press coverage and a professional film crew making a movie of the whole damn thing!
It was the best f***ing fly-in in over a decade. In 2014 we're going to do it again and we'll have over 200 pilots. If you miss it, you'll regret it. Just like this year.
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but this was very unusual weather for VG, and apparently some were able to XC even with morning launches.
