RSSHEADLINES SKYSPORTS

With clouds calling my name, I moseyed to launch as everyone watched.  Neil dropped me off at 400m near a miserable little climb that drifted more than climb.  Returning and lining up with the road where Neil was towing Dan.  I moved aside as Dan rose above me then swung around below and behind Dan getting ready to land.  A few vultures popped out of the trees upwind of launch, I snagged a workable parcel at 200m and latched on.  I drifted away in a slow climb, but got high enough to make it back where I found another low climb to the south of launch.  That climb finally lifted me to base around 1300m.


Meanwhile a parade of pilots were launching and struggling to get up.  Gus and Jeff joined me dancing around cloud base as we waited for others.  Gus glided off to the north while Jeff and I played in the wisps forming far below base.



I lost patience after an hour and took off to the west by myself.  My day might have ended early when I was below 350m east of the LaBelle airport before I was drawn into a strong solid climb back to cloud base at 1500m.

I was "dropping liquid ballast" west of LaBelle when Gus flew in below me.  We shared climbs and glides as we flew over the Babcock Ranch Preserve  but parted ways as Gus made an aggressive move he could pull off with his higher performing wing but I couldn't.


I floundered over a dirt bike park until I found a sweet climb to over 1700m that allowed me to fly along base on a well defined convergence line.  I kept pressing on as the sea breeze front kept creeping closer.


Gus came in below me from somewhere to the southeast as I raced the sea breeze.  Not sure where he got delayed, but I was glad to have a wingman again.  We drifted apart on our approach to Arcadia .  I had a good line and was settled in a good climb when I noticed he was also climbing to the west.  Not wanting to split up the team, I started gliding towards his position.  Alas, he abandoned his dying climb while I was on glide.  Crap.


We both glided north with Gus finding a climb just in front of me near Limestone.  I came in underneath and found absolutely nothing; no lift, no sink, nothing.  Gus climbed away in that bubble and I went into search mode with no good candidates.  Gus moved on assuming my day was done.

I searched the area, keeping a good LZ within reach.  I stumbled into a region of broken lift and was joined by a gaggle of birds also looking for free lift.  We bounced and slowly climbed until I could move on again.






The clouds ahead were dying as the sun sank to the west.  I knew my chances of finding another climb this late were slim, so I stayed close to a road as a glided off my altitude in the smooth evening air.  I spotted a nice green field ahead with a small pond that would be a good indicator of the surface wind.

Birds were flying toward a complex of power lines and 4 stubby towers connected to large pipes that came out of the ground as I approached my field.  I assumed it was a pumping station co-located with an electric distribution center.  Since I didn't see any smoke or steam, I also assumed it was inactive.  The birds were bouncing around but definitely going up.  I starting climbing as I approached then noticed it got much warmer.  At first I assumed it was just me getting lower (350m) but as I got even closer my exposed skin started to burn as if I was standing too close to a fire.  I looked over and thought I saw a blue flame down the throat of a tower.  Crap.  Then my glider decided to repack itself into a convenient sized package.  Double crap.  No way I wanted to deploy my parachute over a maze of high voltage lines.  A couple quick ninja moves and I flew away yelping like a scared puppy.

The surrounding air was turbulent, but there was a relatively sane parcel of air at the far end of my chosen LZ and I had good safe landing.  I was talking with Peter Judge later and he suspects I flew over an operating gas-powered generating station.  Each of those towers were equivalent to a jet engine pointed upwards.  I was very lucky and implore pilots to avoid these things in the future.  Much worse than any sugar cane or forest fire.  This one, the Vandolah Power plant, is remote and had no external indications that it was operating.



However, my adventure was still not over.  I was half-way packed when a young guy in a pickup truck stopped and offered me a ride.  (I knew that Gus landed about 7 miles away in Wauchula so that was my destination).  He wasn't going that way, but if I wanted to tag along for awhile, he could get me a ride there.  Sounded good to me.

He reminded me a lot of my nephew, who also grew up in Florida.  He was proud of his truck and I was impressed with the camo material he lined the inner cab with.  He also talked about his dogs he trained to hunt wild boar.  He showed me pictures of his dogs and his buddy roping and carting away a live boar.  Think flying sounds exciting?  I'm sure those hunts are just as intense.  We drove to his grandpa's place to hook up a trailer to go fetch his car.  After that we drove around looking for his buddies who were loading kitchen cabinets on another trailer.  We eventually found them, helped them load and tie down the cargo, and then his friends gave me a ride into town.  They dropped me off at the Walmart plaza on their way home.

Meanwhile Gus was being fed, given vodka, and entertained by a nice lady that owned the field he landed in.  I was treated to a gorgeous sunset and an outdoor meal at the local Subway.  We both enjoyed our evenings.


Neil convinced Neco to fetch us, which was no small feat since we were a couple hours away by car.  I bought Neco breakfast for the next morning at Walmart before he picked up Gus.  Gus, who just arrived before we flew, quickly fell asleep as Neco tried to teach me a little Portuguese on the way back.  Thanks Neco!

Not a bad day of adventuring and, oh, a personal best distance.

Details available on Leonardo .

Flights: 1, Duration: 5:35, Distance: 122 km