Week of 01/19/2008 - 17:00 to 01/26/2008 - 16:59

Fresh off 36 hours of travel, Brett , Cornell, Lee, and I found ourselves on Sarangkot Launch high above Lakeside, Pokhara in the beautiful mountain country of Nepal.

Charlie shines at Koko Crater
While Paul and Rick do at Makapuu

Conditions were variable and Koko Crater was fickle. Paul and Rick both scratched but to no avail while Charlie managed to thermal up and enjoy the views down into the crater itself. Congrats Charlie!

Later in the day the guys went to Cactus launch around the corner at Makapuu where Charlie decided to launch last. Unfortunately for him the wind picked up (as it tends to do as the day progresses) and he ended up hiking down. Paul and Rick however, clocked an hour or two each.

Makapuu Flights!
Conditions were light initially (as demonstrated by Charlie and Rick who both scratched their way just past the beach). Then the wind picked up but stayed a bit too east for everyone else to fly unfortunately.

Paul got over an hour in and flew over the lighthouse (a first for him).
Charlie got to taste some Makapuu ridgelift (more where that came from).

Nanakuli Thermalling for Charlie, Rick, and Paul
Knee Injury for Kuno
Sunset Soaring for Jayson

Another day of light winds so back to Nanakuli it was! Paul, Rick, and Heather had arrived so a good-sized crew was on hand. I had to go pick Lee up from the airport so the plan was for everyone to fly and we would join in later on.

Five Thermalling Hours betweek Kuno, Charlie, Natalie and I

Another rare light wind day so, with new tour arrivals Kuno and Charlie, Natalie and I drove to the southwest part of the island the thermals brew.

Natalie and I hiked up and then down Cactus Launch at Makapuu as the wind was too light and east.

FireDave and Jetflap (two local pilots) decided to hike over to the ocean side of the lighthouse ridge and attempt to fly from there.

Still awaiting the rest of the tour participants, Natalie had me all to herself for another day. We hiked up the Lanikai Ridge and had a refreshing 5mins worth of rain greet us as we reached the top (it does that from time to time here. Hence the rainbow image that dons the license plates). We dried out then checked the east launch (the cleaner of the two).

Our first day in Hawaii and Natalie and I made the hike up to the launch overlooking Kahana Bay. The excellent president of the HPA (Hawaii Paragliding Association), Alex Colby, was already in the air and he came in to top land and say hello before relaunching.

Natalie almost got set up but the wind strengthened and maintained so I flew instead while she hiked down. Sorry Nat!