LSXC Update #4 (July 3-10)

The para glider pilots are upon us! Matthew Carter and his girlfriend Michelle, Jim Macklow, Gavin Savin, Kristi Bechtold, Brendan Pegg, Bill Bailey, and Andre Dreyer all California pilots arrived in the early morning hours of July 3. The day was completely blown out, so it gave them all a chance to catch up on some rest after flying in from the west coast and traveling from the San Antonio airport. Carl Snitselaar, who grew up in the Owens Valley flying with Mark Gibson and Kari Castle, drove down from Colorado bringing his winch and Vincent Staub and Jerome Sarthe (both French pilots, but living in Houston and San Francisco respectively) showed up on the 3rd as well. Since the day was blown out we took the entire group down to Mexico late that afternoon for some shopping, margaritas and dinner. Everyone had a great time (photos above).

On the Thurs., July 4th, Mike Degtoff and his son Jake showed up from Austin. Mike brought his Stalker to attempt a personal best. The day brought high winds so we decided to head for the beach in the afternoon. Carl, Andre and Gavin had some fun bodysurfing while Matt and Gaye helped to rescue a panicked woman who got separated from her husband (nothing serious, just lots of screaming). Jake took to the waves on a boogie board and Alan (our youngest son) played in the surf as well. South Padre was completely packed with people, so we decided to leave before the fireworks were over and watched them from the causeway which connects back to the mainland of Texas.

Friday, July 5th, the winds were strong in the morning, but subsided a bit that afternoon. Everyone was eager to get into the air and get some winch tows under their belt. Everyone took several tows each, but Vincent Staub and Matt Carter were able to get to cloudbase and get away from the airport. Vincent flew 65 miles downwind achieving a personal best...in 1 hour and 45 minutes! Matt flew 50 miles. Andre Dreyer got a short XC flight of 6 miles. Degtoff areo towed his Stalker late in the afternoon just to get in the air for awhile and have a look at the area. Prior Powers, from Florida, showed up this afternoon with his Sensor which he set up to be ready for Sat. morning. John "the bomb" Krueger flew his Bonanza here from Abilene for some weekend XC flying on his Fusion.

Saturday, July 6th started out early for us, with Kristi Bechtold, Brendan Pegg, and Bill Bailey doing some practice tows. The conditions were perfect for just that at 7:30 am, winds were very calm. Josh Cohn and Bill Belcourt have joined us today. The morning progressed nicely with the winds increasing slightly at S-SE direction and distinct cloudstreets forming. Andre Dreyer achieved a personal best flying 75 miles, Matt Carter flew 59 miles, Josh Cohn flew 57 miles, Bill Belcourt flew 55 miles and Jerome Sarthe flew 38 miles. Our HG pilots started launching around 1pm, with John getting everyone started, then Burnzie changed modes from winch towing to aero towing and towed John up last. Degtoff set a new site record for Edinburg flying 125 miles landing just north of Laredo. John and Prior both got about 10 miles out, and after being retrieved John jumped in Degtoff's truck and retrieved his flying buddy.

Sunday, July 7th was a repeat as far as conditions. Josh Cohn flew 75 miles, all the way to Zapata, Gavin Savin flew 73 miles (personal best!), Bill Belcourt flew 65 miles, Andre Dreyer flew 55 miles, Carl Snitselaar flew 25 miles (Carl has been helping us with the towing and finally got to take a flight today...of course one of the last to launch - thanks for all of your help Carl!), Vincent Staub flew 20 miles and Brendan Pegg flew 18 miles. John Fenner, a Colorado HG pilot came over for the day and took a tow behind the DF which produced just over an hour of local flying. Prior flew again as well and had another short XC flight. He was able to get some awesome aerial photos of the airport at a mile high before heading out (we didn't ask him what he was doing at the time ;-). There was a very interesting retrieve that took place this evening for 3 of the PG pilots. Bill Belcourt was picked up by a repo man, driving a tow truck with an old Ford truck in tow. They went up the road to retrieve Gavin. Andre had landed on a dirt road near Roma and no one could seem to find him...not even the Sheriff's department. Gaye had phoned Andre to let him know that she alerted the Sheriff's Dept. because he was down in a very bad area (lots of drug dealers). When Bill and Gavin showed the repo man where Andre was on the GPS, he said "Oh, I know exactly where that road is"! So they proceeded to rescue Andre. Bill and Gavin knew that the repo man had a gun with him, so decided to have a little fun at Andre's expense, not knowing that Gaye had just called to warn him about the area. Bill and Gavin duck down in the front of the cab and the repo man pulls up asking Andre what the hell he is doing in that area late at night and that he had a gun. As Andre's hands went straight up, the color in his face drained and turned white. Everyone had a good laugh, but worse yet, poor Andre had to ride in the cab of the Ford truck while it was being towed into the town of Roma (quite a site!). The repo man had one more car he needed to pick up, which happened to be a new Lincoln towncar, all leather interior with all the bells and whistles. Hopefully you can see where this is going...the three PG pilots got to drive the new car back to Edinburg, leaving it in the parking lot of the hotel they were staying at and leaving the keys with the front desk for "Carlos" the awesome repo and "retrieval" man to pick up later. Many thanks to Carlos, who by the way has been in touch with us and is looking forward to more retrieves!

Josh Cohn took Bill Belcourt to Laredo on Mon. to catch a flight home, then came back to Edinburg for a few more days of flying. On Tues., July 9th the wind was blowing S-SE at about 10-15 mph. Cumi's had developoed my mid-morning and Josh launched at 11 am. He flew 80, near the Hebbronville area. On Wed., July 10th conditions were similar and Josh launched around 10:30 am, flying 80 miles again, near the same area. His retrieve was another interesting story. After landing he was picked up by an 18-wheeler truck driver. The guy's route turned off about 10 miles north of the airport, so he radioed to one of his buddies and they met at an intersection where Josh jumped from one truck to the other and was let off at the airport. So far this area continues to be very user-friendly! Today was Burnzie's birthday and Josh was the only one to bring a present to the breakfast party...a PG t-shirt from the Nationals 2001 event. Thanks Josh!

The flooding has really affected the conditions for big air and big flights. Regardless, we had such a great time with this group of pilots. They are fun, energetic, easy going and self-sufficient. Several personal bests were achieved, retrievals were exciting, Mexico and South Padre was fun, and playing hackey sack in the air conditioned pilots lounge was a blast. And Gavin was always entertaining, either singing or sleeping. Everyone has already signed up again for next year!