Mele Kalikimaka!

Click image for more photos!Merry Christmas from Hawaii!

Natalie and I arrived last night (the 23rd) and are staying on the Windward side of Oahu for the next few weeks. Now, before you get all jealous of our time here in one of the world's paragliding paradises, listen to this.
Ahem.
Barack Obama likewise decided to come to Hawaii for the holidays - which makes sense, being that he's from here. However, now that he is the President, his visit necessitates serious restrictions to the use of airspace. Uh-oh.

So, the FAI issued something called a TFR which is in effect from December 24th @ 2pm until January 4th @ 12 noon, stopping all flying on Oahu. Violators face criminal penalties and deadly force.

Now on most days, on the windward side of Oahu the flying starts early - you don't have to wait for thermals to cook up like on the mainland. But today there was next to no wind anywhere on the island so we would have to wait for some onshore wind to build. But the TFR started at 2pm so it would be tight!

I called Thom in Kailua and he said that a bunch of guys were heading to Nanakuli on the west side of the island (their main site when the trade winds aren't active). Natalie and I weren't up for the drive and hike that it would require so we decided that we'd make our way to Makapuu and hope for the best.

Well, to sum up, I flew for nearly 3hours, launching from Manics - playing around with some Parapark action for the tourists, buzzed the lighthouse, top landed at Cactus to say hi to Thom, cored a rare thermal up high over Three Poles, thought of going OTB to Koko, flew past the school at Waimanalo, back to the lighthouse, then lead the crew (Thom, Joey, BonBon, and Reaper) almost to the GreenWalls where I eventually decided to turn back to join everyone at the Makapuu LZ - just as the clock struck 2:00.
Or was it 2:05?

Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera with me but, as luck would have it, there was a local photographer up high on the ridge who grabbed some great shots. Thanks Tim!