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The Vendors Quite a few vendors offered their wares and it was interesting to see what's out there. There were a few left out who left before these shots were taken on Sunday...I apologize to those.
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Those that showed are some of the most dedicated folks our sport enjoys and their efforts are appreciated by many.
Michael Purdy and Casey Cadwell of www.wsRadio.ws came with their new motor home and included a portable recording "studio". This very nice bus-style coach was very well appointed and made for comfy accommodations while traveling and working. They plan is to keep it at Torrey Pines and work from there...oh THAT will be rough!
There were several interviews recorded during the event which will be played on the next Powered Paragliding Show. As with all the shows they will also be available in the archives too.
Unfortunately I only participated in the "Cone Kick" so i missed some of the other events. The cone kick was fun and afterwards (the next day) I succeeded at picking up two cones, one in each foot, on one pass. That was cool!
There was also a bomb drop, spot landing contest and others but most folks seemed to enjoy just flying around.
Nobody
was hurt although a few aerodynamic contributions to the wood pile were made.
This sky cruiser prop served well even during demise and gave new meaning to
"recycling". The story of this particular prop was a happy one as no
damage was done to the machine and it's pilot was airborne within an hour.
The seated opposed thrust tester was an
elegant answer to the thrust question. 
Unfortunately
it didn't work. The rolling friction was too much and it took about a 10 pound
difference in thrust to move it. Maybe bigger diameter tires and a harder
surface next year.
A lot of other flying was taking place with ultralights in many flavors visiting the field. A good contingent of them showed up to see the weirdoes and their crazy flying seats.
The prizes were drawn on Saturday night since many were leaving on Sunday. Bob Armond, his wife and daughter did an exquisite job of making it fun while handing out the many prizes. Many thanks go to the sponsors for their generosity and support of our sport.
The big prize, a Sky Cruiser, went to Richard Goode who lives in New Smyrna beach and has been helping Eric Dufour do instruction...I'm sure he will make VERY good use of it.
The thrust tester didn't work as planned because the rolling friction was high enough that at least 10 pounds of differential was required to make it work. It's a great idea though and maybe with larger wheels and a completely smooth surface will be able to be used again. It sure looked funny!
The work of putting one of these fly-ins together is quite a lot and many in the community appreciate Bob's effort at making this an enjoyable and memorable event.
Porta potties were welcome and lasted ALMOST till the end of the event. There was fuel and oil available on the field and someone was around to mind the radio most of time folks were in the air. Eric Dufour plus a few others helped out with safety duties and and many of the vendors offered their services when things didn't go right.
Besides
all the organizing, Bob Armond worked with the Park Rangers to get the exact
scoop on avoiding the boot. It was pretty easy and there were a lot of areas
were foot drags and low flying was easy to the east and south. We need to stay
above 500' while in the park and under no circumstances "buzz" a
campground. Bob was told that one complaint to that effect would shut down the
operation...fortunately everyone behaved.
A number of interesting and well-attended clinics were enjoyed with topics ranging from radios to reserves and motors in between.
There were some new goodies and it was great to see that the sport is evolving as some manufacturers strive to introduce improvements to their product line. Some of these will appear on the "What's New" section of our web site.
Inventiveness
lives in spades with this sport!
Many contraptions were home-made and some will likely see production. An example is the "Wally Shifter" which seems to give the best of both worlds for sky cruiser weight shift (pictured left). I flew this version and liked it very much.
The distance bars pivot up and down but
a mechanical stop prevents them from swinging above the horizontal position.
While this limits the weight-shift slightly it dramatically improves comfort and
launch. 
Details
of this mod are available on the Home
Improvements section and Paralite is selling a similar version.
From the "Anything Goes on a Sky Cruiser" Department this 3-cylindar Konig engine sports a Scimitar prop which purportedly reduces noise. That's a good thing...it's a direct drive!
Apparently it only weighs about 4 pounds more than the Top-80 cruiser since it eliminates the redrive.
There were many other improvements that I did not get to photograph but, as with all human endeavors, these ideas and implementations will certainly improve our sport.
A vast area was available to us albeit with some altitude restrictions. And the scenery was spectacular. Of course getting a wing out meant it was instantly dirty and repeated flights yielded increasing amounts of fine dust in the cells.
The
famous Salton Sea was about 18 miles to the east and several of us flew there
and back. During my trip I couldn't resist a touch and go 50 feet below
Sea Level. Pictured right, Javier (of Aerolight) and Nick Scholtes join me for a
short formation foray towards the Sea.
The only annoying aspect of the event was the pervasive dust. It was very fine, resembling chalk dust. Paraglider wings, of course, fell in love with it right away and the two were difficult to separate. It made everything exposed to it feel like chalk dust and everything was exposed to it. Besides the dust stirred up by our flying, there was biking, 4-wheeling, walking and the occasional dust devil which all conspired to keep a fine dust haze drifting with the variable light breeze.
Room was plentiful and you could launch in any direction. Of course, by nature, we all tended to launch near our campsites which was nice to have available.
There was mountain just a few miles to the west that offered good exploring but we couldn't go real low.
Generally it was pretty mellow until about 10:30 then by noon it was fairly rowdy. After my Salton sea trip I landed at 12:15pm and got to watch the beginnings of a dust a few feet in front. That most certainly got my attention! Had the motor not been running the results could have been more spicy. So most folks kept away from the mid-day stuff.
Our pattern was simple and, with a few exceptions, most folks followed it.
The Magnetic Truck
Sometimes you just park in the wrong place. In this series of pictures, a pilot has just made a flawless landing only to have the wing continue overhead and play truck shade. Then another pilot starts a takeoff and, after deciding against it, winds up on the very same truck. Oops.
The following tells much of the story. As always it was the people that made it so memorable and these pictures capture some of them. It's too bad I wind up leaving these things wishing I had more pictures of more people. There will be more as folks submit them, but for now this is pretty good sampling.
1. Ron and a friend,
2. Scott Johnson did a lot of this...mixing and burning fuel,
3. Michelle Daniele, Jeff Goin, Jerry Daniele
1. Steve and Michael all stickered up,
2. Jeff wound up in front of a microphone,
3. Michael is behind the microphone where he belongs!
1. "Turbo" Bob who tore up the pattern with his trike contemplates
launch,
2. Michael who has completely perfected flying this Mosquito, starts his run.
One of several group shots, this one by Mary Hobson, Alan Chuculate's wife
(pictured left). The folks are (L to R): Mikey, Bruce, Wally, Bob,
"Turbo" Bob, Jerome, Randy, Phil (Blue), Bob, Alan and Don with me
(Jeff) occupying the Sky Cruiser.
1. Mikey putting his Adventure together,
2. Jerome - our sports favorite free spirit and writer extraordinaire,
3. Nick Scholtes trying out the Eden
1. Floyd brought out his BUG...Basic Ultralight Glider,
2. This dome house caught my eye while flying,
3. After nearing the Salton Sea I couldn't resist doing a touch and go below sea
level.
All Contents Copyright © 2007 USPPA
The
preferred cartage was an RV and there were MANY of them present! It works as
well for us as it does for the equipment...its a very comfortable way to travel,
overnight, hangout and hold gear. Nick, who needs the little hand to complete 8
laps overnight, found a good place to help with Navigation (pictured left).
The
wind direction was determined by a random number generator and any direction was
just as likely as the next. Patience or wheels were the best solution. There
were lots of launch attempts in the variable winds that didn't work out as
planned but, considering the conditions, folks did an admirable job of getting
themselves airborne.
The
vendors brought their wares and many demo's were made of wings, motors and other
gear...I know my contribution was over $300 so hopefully they were supported
well enough with sales. It's a LOT of work getting all that gear there for just
one full day and my hat is off to those folks willing to go to the
trouble. 
