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1000km attempt San Joaquin Valley Wave Day

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A January 2020 1000K attempt from Avenal Morgan Hall and Kempton Izuno    Jan 16, 2020, 1:00pm Seeing it coming January 7th 10:46am Kempton is texting me that he sees a super day for southwest wave out of Paso Robles on Thursday the 16th. Coastal range should trigger enough wave to access it from relatively local to Paso. Nixus happens to be rigged at Paso Robles and might be available. Many hurdles to cross for that to happen though. It's right in the middle of additional flight testing and verification. We agree to watch the forecast and let things firm up. I do block my calendar out at work just in case. I alert Jim Payne and Paulo Iscold about the possibility thinking that Jim may want to use Nixus for a flight. If not, I am hoping it will be available. Then we wait. Will it improve, degrade stay on track? Kemp: Morgan and I had known each other for years but never flew together. With many years of mentoring cross country pilots in each of our two
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May the 4th be with you

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The leadup to the weekend was a great one for destroying productivity.  Over a week out the prognosticators are calling for good looking conditions.  Soon, good was upgraded to great.  Then it even looked like it would align with a weekend day. By mid-week the NAM , the RASP , XCSkies, Matt, Darren, Walt (WX) were pumping Saturday as the day.  The consistency of the blipmaps as Saturday approached continued to build confidence.  What would the task be?  Straight-out?  Across the valley to the Sierras? Around the Horn? Friday morning Julie learned that her Saturday had just been freed up.  Thankfully my offers to the back seat of the Duo had been declined by those I'd reached out to and she was able to claim her right.  Saturday morning we arrived at the airport a little later than intended.  Damn battery stop to replace the batteries in my Spot that I had left on the week before.  I think almost every private ship at Avenal was rigged or being rigged.  GD, Russias 1 & 2, 5H
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GoPro Camera mount for kite lines

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Problem:   You want to take pictures or video from your kite or your lines. Solutions:   Buy a $40 mount that is nice quality connects quickly and you are up and running.  Downside: very little adjustability and is typically "in your face" and too close. Mount the camera to the kite Downside:  Who is that speck? Make your own for cheap that is adjustable and super stable Downside: Possible ridicule, most likely jealousy. I thought I was the creative maker type and opted to make my own. Requirements:   Easy to install on the kite Stable and resists twisting or wobbling Adjustable to allow positioning up/down the lines. lightweight sturdy enough cheap so that if I destroy it, I can build another materials must be relatively easy to get at a hardware store Should break down for travel Materials: 4 - 3/8"x3'  Hollow Carbon fiber Kite struts -  available at any kite shop 4 - 3/8" Inner Diameter plasti
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Egg Attempt in the Blue

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Walt Rogers got me excited that the weekend held an opportunity to continue my quest to capture the egg from it's nearly permanent home at Air Sailing.  Great conditions were called for in the Great Basin, the challenge as always is connecting from Avenal to the desert. I had a plan, a westerly line down the California Valley, jump to the Sierra Madre's near Santa Ynez and run the convergence past the Tehachapi's connecting to the Sierra and blasting north hoping for something late in the day near Minden for final glide into Air Sailing.  Sunday, we'd take a tow out of Air Sailing, egg safely tucked in the Duo and fly back South hopefully getting to 18k somewhere down near Mammoth and dead glide our way back across the Sierra and the valley towards Avenal. Conditions looked like they might allow for an early (for Avenal) start around noon.  I was set to go it alone in the Duo as Karl was flying our ASW-20 with Julie willing to crew should I end up short or need a re
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