Unread postby RobinHastings » Sun Aug 14, 2016 6:58 pm SUNDAY, AUGUST 14th: Bill and I met Taro Nihonyanagi about 10:45 in El Paso, and soon were at the base of the Anapra site. Lo and behold, the only other vehicle we spotted was a blue Corolla, driven by our up-and-coming PG pilot Steve Crye. He guided us up to the launch, helped us to set up, and fed us the vitally important wind speed data we needed. The gusts got as high as 35 mph, the lulls down as low as 13. (Steve had already had a bumpy sled ride from the site in his PG, and was heading home when he met us.) We set up our Wills Wing gliders: My U2, Bill's Sport 2, and the Falcon 195 for Taro. Eventually, only the U2 was still assembled; the winds looked to strong to Taro and Bill. I finally launched into 23 mph east winds at 2:20 pm, MDT. I turned right, but not soon enough; I was right out of the lift band, as I cruised along the ridge to the Border Wall. I turned there, and without enough altitude for another pass, I just went out to the landing area. I had an excellent landing. Bill, Taro and Steve soon joined me, as I put away the glider, and so did a nice Border Patrol agent, who had a great time learning about PG's and HG's from us. We said goodbye to Taro about 3:30 and he drove back to his home in El Paso; Bill and I reached Las Cruces about 4:15. It was a pleasant day with good friends, and a fun flight even if short. Who am I to complain? -Robin
The quoted post above was posted by Robin on the flying possibilities topic and I thought I'd start an Anapra topic to post the YouTube video and still pictures. https://youtu.be/DLWR7cJFc4Y
Taro doing the impossible with Robins harness..JPG (116.77 KiB) Viewed 11724 times
Steve C. monitoring the wind..JPG (88.79 KiB) Viewed 11724 times
Taro-Robin-Steve-BorderPatrolTruckForSize.JPG (101.36 KiB) Viewed 11724 times
Just yesterday or the day before (?) YouTube made some changes without notifying me. Bob had to change some code in order for us to post videos as usual. Now and just by accident I noticed that the toolbar on the bottom of the YouTube video now works. Before I always had to leave the embedded video here at the US Hawks and go to YouTube to be able to make the video go to full screen and change the resolution setting and even select slow motion. Below is a "Snipping Tool," screen capture where it will not work but on the actual video it does work. Click on the picture below to expand it to see the Now Working tools indicated by the red arrows.
imbedded video tools now work!.JPG (72.04 KiB) Viewed 11707 times
For Anapra, NM today the forecast was showing light wind and too much south or right cross at the El Paso International Airport. (KELP) KELP is eleven miles out in front of Anapra at 085º. This is only 5º north of straight in front of the Anapra ridge. (Height 236ft.) If you don't fly south over the border fence into Mexico the usable ridge is 0.38 of a mile long. Below is the heart breaking history for today:
Anapra to KELP 11 miles 085º.JPG (49.38 KiB) Viewed 11697 times
If the forecast holds Robin is going to throw me off of Anapra tomorrow.
Join a National Hang Gliding Organization:US Hawks at ushawks.org View my rating at:US Hang Gliding Rating System Every human at every point in history has an opportunity to choose courage over cowardice. Look around and you will find that opportunity in your own time.
Elp-Deming 8-17-16.JPG (76.22 KiB) Viewed 11683 times
When Robin and I stopped behind launch at Anapra Ridge (Mesa) at 12:08 today it was too light to soar. A Harrier Hawk was climbing and drifting to the NW out in front of launch. We decided to wait until 1 pm and got back into the Xterra to listen to NPR which put Robin to sleep. The forecast had the wind scheduled to pick up between noon and two pm. At 12:22 a big thermal cycle came through (I thought) but it was more like someone hit the switch and started the blow out. 25 mph with gusts to 35 mph. The above chart shows history at El Paso International Airport (KELP) 11 miles out in front of Anapra to the east. The Deming history is what is happening 70 miles downwind to the WNW. I think it is a safe bet that Sierra de Juárez (5,600') to the south of Anapra in Mexico and the Franklin Mountain Range to the north of El Paso, TX sets up quite a venturi effect through the pass (El Paso) Even though the wind speed was more than forecast yesterday and today it was really blowing at Anapra Mesa. The ridge is only 236' high and one can expect some acceleration at the launch rim but, "The Pass," must make for a touchy dial for the wind gods when setting the wind speed at Anapra. (AEOLUS, FOR GOD SAKE WOULD YOU TALK TO EURUS? HE'S GONNA KILL ONE OF US!)
Bill Cummings wrote:Robin and I are headed for Anapra since a grader was busy on our local tow road (&^%$#@*). We should be down there at 1:00pm.
Well, plan B didn't work out for us. Once we arrived at Anapra except for thermals it was too light and cross. Our tow road north of I-10 (Interstate 10 NM) at exit 116 is west of Las Cruces by 24 miles. We had along my 1,600' towline for static ground based towing. The county plow (grader) was working on the road which was already good enough for 60 mph and we would only need 23 mph tops with the 5 mph wind we had out of the ESE. Seldom is the wind down the road like it was today but just in case it was cross wind I had brought along a two foot length of one inch pipe to pound half way into the ground straight up wind. The plan for that would be to take off straight into the wind toward the pipe/stake then the towline would lift over the pipe as the glider gained altitude and then we would crab down the road in a crosswind. Even coming with a few trick up our sleeve to get airborne we didn't have a trick for getting around the grader.
Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018: Juan Mira, a student at University of the Southwest in Hobbs, got a flight at Anapra today. The winds were strong, out of the east/southeast. Nick Reiter was on the left wing and I was on the nose wires of Juan's Vision Mark 4 Seventeen, when he took off at 10:10 am MST. Steve Crye took some video, as well. Juan yelled "Clear!", I hit the dirt, and I heard a scrape from the right wingtip as he charged forward. Fortunately, he kept on going, and rose up easily into a soaring flight. He was 50 feet or more above the mesa as he came back from his first pass. He made several passes, ridge soaring this 200-ft hill, zooming off to the left and coming slowly back to the right - though the winds at launch were pretty much coming up this east-facing hill, they were obviously a lot more southerly in the air. Juan soared for a couple of minutes, then headed out to the LZ and made an excellent landing. Total airtime was probably 3 minutes, but he sure learned a lot in that time - and made some good decisions, too. We might head for La Luz tomorrow (light NW winds) and are considering Magdalena Rim on Thanksgiving Day. Let me know if you want to join us! -Robin
the usable ridge is 0.38 of a mile long.
