Desert Wind Does Hawaii

So as most the pilots I fly with know I’m fortunate to have a job that has me in Hawaii for up to 100 days a year sometimes. I go there quarterly and over 6 years of flying there I’ve gotten to know the sites and pilots there quite well. Every couple years I’ll be telling a pilot there I’m heading home tomorrow and they end up being shocked because the last couple years they’ve known me they thought I lived there. I end up flying their sites a lot more than the few low airtime pilots there. I’ve had more than a few students and fellow flying friends join me there over the years and we always have a blast even the rare times when the weather isn’t good to fly more than a few days in a row…I mean hey, we’re in Hawaii…there’s lots of other fun things to do. Kim, Jim and Gingher joined me once the exact week Hawaii had its worst hurricane in over 40 years and we still managed to get Jim off a couple different sites and Gingher ended up with a 3 hour flight soaring Ko Ko crater. Not to mention go see Bad Brains on their reunion tour at the Pipeline café.

This last trip I flew a friend and student Sean Buckner out on my overfilled Hawaiian miles account and my long time flying friend Glenn from Phoenix and his friend JR also came along. Not epic Hawaii flying but sweet enough for us to get some sick flying in.

Our first flight at Makapu we launched out of Tomato juice which demands a masterly feel of your glider due to the power lines just behind where your wing will be and the short amount of launching ground behind your feet. And then once airborne you need to make an immediate right turn and pretty much get your wing tip as close to the power lines as you feel comfortable to stay in the lift band. From launching Tomato juice hundreds of times I’ve learned that who soars out of tomato patch and who doesn’t, is directly related to who feels comfortable enough with their flying to hug next to power lines and who doesn’t. Glenn was one of the only three PG pilots in Phx when I started flying and his easy going yet kick ass personality never ceases to amaze me. I told them I’d like to be on launch to help them on Radio stay in the lift band and tell them if they need to turn and head for the LZ. They agreed that was best and Glenn wasted no time stepping up to the plate. He made it look easy and actually crabbed into the bowl around the corner when the lift turned out to be lighter than I predicted after launching, with no radio assistance. JR went next and couldn’t seem to muster the courage it takes to crab into a venturi bowl with power lines all around to get up so he kept turning early and making numerous passes by launch. We coached him into the bowl and with a lot less crabbing than I would have liked to have seen he got up and joined Glenn in the HUGE and endless lift band that Makapuu’s 1200 ft long ridge has to offer. Sean made it out clean and his justified caution was apparent by the way he crabbed by the power lines with his entire body hanging out of his harness leaning away from them with perfect brake control. I never see better weight shift than at the demanding sites of Hawaii. Good stuff. We flew almost the entire ridge that day. We couldn’t make it out to soar the lighthouse but that would come later. We flew out over the ocean and let small Cummis float through us as I got to pull some brake on an Aspen 3 I have on Demo. Sean playing it safe staying lower unsure of the trade winds strength. All good. Not sure how long we flew but sure it was a couple hours.

We flew Kahana next when after launching Tomato patch the launch seems easy. Sean again impressed me with his willingness to stay lower and well out front and land after an hour or so to feel out the site and call it a good one. It’s a tough mile over the bay unless you have just the right amount of North in the trade winds. We tried several times to no avail but had lots of fun trying and just cruising Kahana. The views are unbelievable. The weekend before I had crossed the bay and after doing so for years knew what awaited us if we did. Bigger walls, bigger air and easy hops over sweet Hawaii valleys. One mistake I made was letting JR and Glenn land a couple hours into flying because I pretty much knew it would be good enough to fly down range the opposite direction of the bay. I’m still learning how to be a good flying guide. So myself and about 5 others made the 7 mile ridge hopping flight downrange and got to fly back over Sacred Falls along the way. Always a special day. A few of us made the final LZ called “pounders” and a few landed a few miles short. I felt bad they weren’t with me.

After the inevitable stop at Chis’ for fresh octopus salad and beers for the driver I ended up back at the Kahana LZ to meet Sean, Glenn and JR feeling bad about not telling them to land, only to be greeted with big smiles and hugs because they were stoked about the flying. Of course JR and Glenn are seasoned pilots so there was the question of why I didn’t tell them I was thinking down range the other way looked good, to which I could only apologize.

I set Sean up with my friend Jorge for an Acro Tandem flight the next day. You may know Jorge from the video “The Never Ending Thermal.” We had a day at Makapu we call Low and in the bowl. Which means that better be where you’re flying or you’re making a big mistake. The winds called for launching out of “Crazy mans.” (I’ve heard there are over twenty different launch points at Makapu, I’ve launched 9. This launch also demands your full attention. The launch protocol I got there years ago was if you get dragged backwards, if the traffic doesn’t get you the power lines will. I’m pretty sure I gave them a better launch briefing than that and we were all up and away. There was a bit of what we call Rabbit Island rotor as I tried to go down range so I warned Glenn and JR and we all stayed put low and in the bowl cruising over the turquoise water and Hawaii green cliffs of Makapu. As I was busy trying to get video of Sean doing spirals with Jorge I thought about getting on the radio to tell Glenn and JR they should try to fly out to the lighthouse only to look and see JR about halfway there. They both made it and were rewarded with a whale breeching and the breathtaking views from high out front of the lighthouse. It’s pretty sweet because all the tourists are waaay back on the lookout with their monster zoom lenses all trying to get a glimpse or picture of the whales and you just cruise above them, then way out over the water practically looking straight down at the whales. Sweet stuff.

One day we got to see some of the regular Hawaii fun with Scrappy and Jarrod hand rope towing up in the Kahana LZ and fly over to soar the 50 ft trees.

Glenn and JR took off for Phx and on the last day me and Sean did the 40 minute steep hike up to another sweet coastal site called Lanikai. Only to hang out on the lowest launch and wait for it to die down to a safe wind speed which it never did.

Sweet hikes, cool friends, good flying, killer food and sushi for free because I was playing tour guide, nice walks around Waikiki with the endless scenery from the other side of the world, dips in the sea, Jacuzzi at the end of the day…….man I Love it when my friends come to Hawaii. I’m there most of September and March and a lot of June and December, so let me know who wants in. Who knows I might give ya a smoking deal on a ticket with my miles. I got a quarter million of em and what am I gonna do….go there on my vacation!?

Jorge is over there now working with my good friend Pete on his T3 rating. Hope he gets some sweet trade winds.

And if you’re thinking of not coming because you’re a thermal junky, don’t you fear. When the trade winds die down on the leeward, drier, higher cloud base side of the island, they have a sick thermal site called Nanakuli. I’ve hit 1850fpm up there and managed more than a few nice mini xc’s. Others have flown nearly halfway across the island.

Sorry I don’t have more detailed flight logs or better photos and videos with people in them but you guys know me…….I’m terrible with that stuff.

Big Mahalo to all those who have joined me there and put up with my imperfections of being a tour guide.

Another awesome thing about paragliding in Hawaii is they have the greatest bunch of pilots ever. I don't know if I've flown anywhere where the pilots are so helpful and knowledgeable and just as much fun to fly and hang around with. This trip Pete again hosted a BBQ bash for my B Day and we had a blast telling stories and having BBQ'd Pineapple with everything we ate. You can check on the Hawaii crew and what's going on by visiting Wind Lines.

AZChandler (as the Hawaiians know me)

Aloha