kas@hp-pcd.UUCP (kas) (09/26/85)
Hello Everybody,
Hey, believe it or not, I actually made two jumps at the beach this weekend.
Wow, what a neat experience! There weren't any cliffs or sand dunes in the
area, so there wasn't the updrafts that I expected. In fact, there wasn't much
wind either. We jumped onto a nice wide stretch of sand in front of a string
of hotels, so we had a large audience to show off to. Little kids ran up to us
asking for our autographs!
The first jump I made was a simple, relaxing 4-way, which we free flew as
smooth as glass. We dumped a little high, and just enjoyed the ride. I took
a couple of swings out over the ocean just to tempt fate.
The second jump was more interesting. It was the last load of the day, and
we didn't get off the ground until after sunset. Our game plan was to hop-n-pop
at 6500' and do some CRW (a very experienced fellow was going to pin me). When
we left the beach there was still clear sky overhead, but by the time we had
shuttled to the airport, and got airborne, a cloud bank had moved onshore and
obscured the beach. There was a hole over the beach several blocks South of
where we were supposed to be, so we jumped anyway, figuring we could get back
easily because of our extra altitude. The guy that was going to pin me had a
minor problem with his retractable pilot chute, so he called off the CRW attempt
and we all got a very long canopy ride. The tops of the clouds were at 3000',
and the base at 2500' (a thin layer), and the hole was slowly moving Southeast.
I stayed over it so I could keep my bearings straight, but I realized that I
was gradually moving AWAY from our landing area. Just before entering the hole,
I took one last look at the ground, pointed myself Northwest, and plunged into
the clouds on the North side of the hole. Hopefully, I told myself, I'll pop
out of the clouds somewhere closer to "our" beach. About half way through, I
decided to spiral down to get through quicker. When I broke out of the clouds,
I found that I was a dozen or so blocks South and a few blocks East of our
beach. I figured the best thing to do was to head for another section of beach
that was closer, to the West of me, and walk back. Well, thanks to the 4:1
glide ratio of my Raven, I was able to get over that beach with plenty of
altitude to spare. So, I pointed North and followed the beach all the way
back "home"! I was really surprised that I made it all the way back, and STILL
had a little altitude to spare. What really made this jump spectacular was
that the ground was in total darkness due to the cloud cover, even though there
was some light left at 6500'. I did all my navigating by counting rows of
streetlights below. I knew that our beach was nine blocks North of a certain
landmark, which was well lit and easy to find in the darkness, even from several
thousand feet up. During my flight up the beach, I was able to watch the waves
rushing toward shore, the white foam being illuminated by the glow of city
lights. It was a view I'll not soon forget! My wife and kids, who had accom-
panied me on this excursion to the coast, didn't even know that I had gotten
on this load, so they were somewhat surprised to see me come fluttering out of
the darkness and make a perfect landing right in front of them! Too bad this
doesn't count as a night jump.
*
/ \
|---/---\---| Ken Scofield C-9355
| Gone | Hewlett-Packard PCD
| Jumpin' | Corvallis, OR
|-----------|
{ucbvax!hplabs, harpo, ogcvax}!hp-pcd!kas