Flight 135 - Sometimes I purposely don't follow my own experience or advice.

Flight 135
190417
Placida
Flight time 00:58
PIC 119:50
GTOW wt. 285 lbs 130 kgs
Wx: Clear
Wind: 26011/13 mph (at the beach)
Temp: 82F

Pilots: Roger, Daniel

Well well well, sometimes I purposely don't check all the boxes. This adds uncertainties to the flight which can bring forth problems to solve that can be exciting.

Roger texted the Twitter group mentioning they were flying Wed afternoon for a beach run. It was an early day for me so I joined in. Alvaro arrived later and headed out but the wind was turbulent and decided on a short flight. Roger and I headed to the beach in reflex. Our wings are similar in speed arriving at the beach together. We dropped down onto the deck and flew to stump pass waving too many watchers as we crawled our way north at less than 10 mph GS. Upon arriving at the South end of stump pass the hot-dogging begins.

I truly enjoy managing the aerodynamic changes while performing on the deck 360’s to touch-n-goes.
On one of my touch-n-goes Roger decided to land next to me which looked cool but in doing so he lost control of his wing. I've never deflated my wing in the wind high enough to not remain in place. The wind was 11 to 13 mph.
I flew around for another 8 min and finally decided to stop. I deflated properly and dragged the wing inline with the wind flow and went to help Roger. It took us twenty minutes untangle his wing and for him to launch. Another twenty minutes I spent doing the same.

If done properly it's not a big deal. However if you don't have a plan, it can create anxiety that can lead to other mistakes. I was on an island with only boat access
Sunset was in an hour I work the next day I've never launched in wind high enough to need to anchor the wing
Didn't have a plan. Shouldn't have used the reverse kiting hand holds to launch. Should have followed Roger's lead and performed a Cobra launch. I made one helluva mess of my wing which took twenty minutes to fix.

Later that weekend the wife, daughter and I went to the beach. The wind was too high to practice so on the way home we stopped by the LZ to practice high wind deflation and the Cobra launch using my daughter's knee in replace of sand on the wing tip, I practiced a few different deflations of the wing, none of which I particularly liked. During laying the wing out in preparation of the Cobra launch I learned a few things that helped form a plan. I'll give the following steps a go next time you have high wind and a fellow pilot to practice with.

Looking fwd to my next high wind beach deflation. I'm confident it will work out.

Anchor wingtip with sand on the upwind side.
Layout wing inline with the wind flow
Straighten lines making sure A's are clear
Set trims out though within brake range
Bring the risers to the center of the wing about three feet from the trailing edge
Mount your paramotor
Connect to the wing
Start your engine
Execute the Cobra using the downwind A and brake line only walking towards the upwind end and away from the wing at the same time.
Transition from Cobra to overhead
In high wind I kite using my deflation risers
Wing and line check
Transition to brake controls
As you reverse add power
Launch when stable

Sometimes I purposely don't follow my own experience or advice.

Bob The Pilot
@Bobthepilot (Twitter)
[email protected]