Another amazing CVRC Fall Soaring Festival (a rolling circus) is in the books. This is the 45th annual event and once again the entire CVRC Club has pulled it off. Several of the original members are pulling a heavy load to pull this event off. They are the people everyone still in the sport needs to reach out to for help. We may not think this is a team sport but now is the time we all have to pull together and do more than ever to keep our events rolling. It getting serious.

I’ve had my good cups of coffee in the morning while enjoying the cooler fall air. There is nothing like being in the central valley this time of the year when the air is cooler. One thing that I can report is that everyone I saw was happy to be at the FSF and see everyone. It might be a sign of the times with so many of the people we have known in the past no longer being with us. I’m not really sure. All of the guys I know who have had personal challenges told me they were glad to be here and flying again. That says something to me about how special the FSF is to so many people in this activity.

With the cooler temperatures we enjoyed a full 3 days of head winds. Friday kicked off the rolling circus with all the typical smack talk and light conversations as people arrived. The guys all gathered in various sections of the field to sport fly prior to the ALES fun event. I use the word fun lightly because this was a very competitive group. Many have flown in 5FJ events and we did have members of...Continue Reading

I saw a thread on the topic of winch launching and decided to add this to my blog to remind myself of the good launching habits. Joe Wurts is the best at launching in my mind. He gets maximum tension and then releases the launch with a smooth easy motion. I used to use the boom launch prior to seeing Joe launch his Supra. After seeing the numerous pictures of Jo Grini on the Samba and his web site I switched over to their techniques. Boom launching is the easier way to go when you are not confident of the launch process. As you watch the video you will see how off balance one is as the line tensions up. Jim Monaco put together a super clean video to show how to use the proper launch technique that really does make it easier to launch. Joe Wurts shows how to pull massive line tension on his Maxa.

Boom throwing

Pike perfection winch launch (1 min 59 sec)

Jim Monaco

F3J Tips & Trick - Launching (3 min 10 sec)

...Continue Reading