tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562194Thu, 07 Mar 2024 23:39:05 +0000BAPA fly-inDunlapDumpMussel rockPhotographyVideodunsmuirgagglehat creekhedge creek fallslassenlavender farmsmt shastaparaglidingpotato hillrailroad parkrippling waters resortsequoia highlandsthermalingtrainxc co-opTales and pictures from the sky!http://pmurthy-paragliding.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (PM)Blogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562194.post-6660696991810708340Tue, 16 Sep 2008 01:33:00 +00002008-09-29T00:22:56.766-07:00potato hillHmm, almost 3 months since last post!Let's see, in that time, got my P3, several flights at Ed Levin, and a couple of hours at the Dump.Needed to go to India in between for my dad's yearly ceremony, came back on Aug 30th.For september 6-7, decided to go to Potato hill with Mihir and Ron. Som and Jens couldn't make it. Usual drill: got up at 4:30 on 6th, and met up at Ron's place and set off by 6:http://pmurthy-paragliding.blogspot.com/2008/09/potato-hill-trip.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (PM)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562194.post-5126285348960687070Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:46:00 +00002008-06-30T15:25:36.770-07:00BAPA fly-indunsmuirhat creekhedge creek fallslassenlavender farmsmt shastaparaglidingrailroad parkrippling waters resorttrainJune 21, 2008Ok, so "Veni, Volavi, Valedixi" doesn't have the poetic simplicity of "Veni, Vidi, Vici" ("I came, I saw, I conquered" as Julius Caesar said after conquering some place in modern Turkey), but (I think) it means "I came, I flew, I said goodbye", and that pretty much sums up my participation in the BAPA annual summer solstice Hat Creek fly-in held on June 20-21 2008.The flying itself http://pmurthy-paragliding.blogspot.com/2008/06/veni-volavi-valedixi-or-how-i-spent-all.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (PM)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562194.post-3389521937565953867Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:01:00 +00002008-06-11T14:54:06.279-07:00BAPA fly-inDunlapJune 6, 2008"It's gonna be a tight one", said Mihir, referring to the crowded gaggles we might fly in judging from the turnout of pilots in the LZ for another BAPA fly-in. Well, we were already piled in the back seat, and were hoping that the thermals would generate some steam heat: Ay-O-Let's go, Ay-O Let's go! sang the Ramones in my head as we sped up to launch in Kevin's Element. This fly-in http://pmurthy-paragliding.blogspot.com/2008/06/blitzkreig-dunlap.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (PM)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562194.post-917411273525459788Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:01:00 +00002008-04-30T13:13:42.231-07:00BAPA fly-inDunlapgagglesequoia highlandsthermalingxc co-opApril 26-27BAPA Dunlap fly-in and cross-country co-op Back to Dunlap for this weekend's fly-in with a cross-country (xc) intro thrown in. Thanks to Susan Kent, this fly-in was to have a no-stress intro to xc flying by there being a simple task (a course marked in the sky via GPS waypoints). Mihir and I decided to go on saturday morning with the usual drill of getting up at 4am and leaving the http://pmurthy-paragliding.blogspot.com/2008/04/giggling-in-gaggle-of-gliding-grinning.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (PM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562194.post-6669241682654308931Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:03:00 +00002008-04-02T18:51:14.550-07:00DumpMussel rockPhotographyVideoHmm, first post after nearly 9 months! The urge to fly has finally come back after dad's passing last year. I guess more than anything, it was the fear of losing the skill itself.February saw me meekly crawling back to Ed Levin's bunny hills to practice kiting and launching.Then, 3 weeks ago, decided to do the 600 hill with a bunch of others (Charlie, Rich, Nir, Uwe, Steve, Ricardo) since noone http://pmurthy-paragliding.blogspot.com/2008/03/back-in-saddle-again.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (PM)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562194.post-4462933804567189797Mon, 04 Jun 2007 23:05:00 +00002007-06-04T17:57:12.975-07:00June 2, 2007Tried taking videos from the air for the first time! A cold foggy day at the coast today, around 45F, with winds from 10-21 Mph per the windtalker. However, on the lower, "Lemmings", launch, it felt more like 8-10. But everyone was launching from there, and Mihir decided to take off. I dawdled for a bit, saw that he was having a good time, and decided that wasn't going to let him havehttp://pmurthy-paragliding.blogspot.com/2007/06/first-video-from-air.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (PM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562194.post-5154518181759149054Mon, 21 May 2007 23:47:00 +00002007-05-25T11:20:38.493-07:00May 5-6, 2007Went for the annual BAPA Anderson Flat fly-in near Yosemite. Same drill: get up at 3:45am to be at Ron's by 4:45am so that we (Ron, Mihir, and I) could leave in Ron's truck by 5am to be at the LZ and cabin by 8:30am. Long story short, got skunked the first day and spent wandering around trying to discover some alternate, old launches.Actual launch Met a bunch of nice folks, includinghttp://pmurthy-paragliding.blogspot.com/2007/05/bapa-anderson-flat-fly-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (PM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562194.post-116484931781936088Thu, 30 Nov 2006 01:15:00 +00002006-11-30T10:25:45.700-08:00November 25, 2006I am a photographer. I have 1,2,3,4,5, no, 6 cameras at home. And yet only one that can really be taken up with me? And that one is with my wife right now. Grrrr. That's what I thought as I saw the godlight bursting through the black clouds in the distance o'er the Pacific. Because after almost two months of lousy weather and unsuitable or missed conditions, I fly again! 30 http://pmurthy-paragliding.blogspot.com/2006/11/super-brad-demonstrates-yoyo.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (PM)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562194.post-116242897928669917Thu, 02 Nov 2006 00:15:00 +00002006-11-04T23:09:18.616-08:00September 30, 2006Went off to Utah for some flying with Mihir, Ron, and Som. Plan was to fly several P2-friendly sites around Salt lake city, including Point of the mountain, Inspiration, and the "B". The plans were made two months ago, but the situation got very dicey when my father-in-law became ill and Jo and Chinmay rushed off to India immediately. They left on 24th, and I made my plan to go http://pmurthy-paragliding.blogspot.com/2006/11/five-days-in-utah.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (PM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562194.post-115835700901699171Fri, 15 Sep 2006 21:19:00 +00002006-09-15T14:57:10.320-07:00September 2, 2006Today was my third flight at the Dump (Mussel Rock state beach, Pacifica CA), but a first in many ways. Before I had my first ever hour-long soaring flight here back in May, I had been skunked 10-15 times here last year and the previous. Each time I would drive and find the conditions to be not right (too strong, too weak, foggy,...). On a few occassions, the conditions had been http://pmurthy-paragliding.blogspot.com/2006/09/2-hour-endurance.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (PM)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562194.post-115766050317589667Sat, 26 Aug 2006 19:31:00 +00002006-09-15T14:50:58.400-07:00August 26, 2006This weekend was a BAPA fly-in at Dunlap in the Sierra foothills, right next to Kings Canyon national park. Since my nephew Tejas was born 10 days ago, and since the Hindu festival of Ganesh Chaturti was on Sunday, my wife was of the opinion that I should only go for one day, Saturday. Sunday was to be a cradle ceremony for Tejas. But...but...my brother-in-law didn't attend http://pmurthy-paragliding.blogspot.com/2006/08/4-snotty-p2s-launching-off-hill.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (PM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562194.post-115698993077869975Sun, 13 Aug 2006 01:48:00 +00002006-09-15T14:55:28.700-07:00August 12, 2006Two flights off the top at Ed Levin today, from the 2300 ft MSL (1750 ft above landing zone), for a total flight time of 90 minutes! To get an hour at Ed Levin is rare indeed, and I just had an hour long flight here, on my second one! Actually, I could have stayed up longer; lots of lift everywhere to be had. But everyone else was down, even the advanced guys who were playing with http://pmurthy-paragliding.blogspot.com/2006/08/sticks-on-wing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (PM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562194.post-115698657179667626Thu, 06 Jul 2006 01:04:00 +00002006-09-15T15:16:53.903-07:00 Paragliding Potato Hill 07/03/06 This was shot by Mihir, and is the only known video of me launching. Not a very good launch as I get picked up by a gust and veer to the left, but enough to get airborne!If the above doesn't work, try this:http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4564158057249435371&hl=enhttp://pmurthy-paragliding.blogspot.com/2006/07/potato-hill-launch.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (PM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562194.post-115698561770195236Thu, 06 Jul 2006 00:51:00 +00002006-12-02T00:25:01.306-08:00July 5, 2006I had a very productive flying weekend. On Saturday, I flew off the top at Ed Levin (2300 ft MSL), and while this type of altitude is not new to me, this state park has a ton of regulations that you need to complete before they allow you at the top, including the "P3 spots", where you are required to demonstrate an ability to land within a 10 foot circle five times. I finished these http://pmurthy-paragliding.blogspot.com/2006/07/hot-potatoes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (PM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562194.post-115698540850049390Wed, 10 May 2006 00:40:00 +00002006-09-15T14:54:02.663-07:00May 9, 2006like she's neeeeever soaaaaared befooooore crooned John Ashcroft, the former attorney general, in what is the worst song sung by a politician yet, and yet strangely that's what went through my mind as I took off and flew slowly, with considerable trepidation, towards the windsock jutting out on the cliff to the right, unsure of what scene would unfold afterwards, provided that I http://pmurthy-paragliding.blogspot.com/2006/05/let-eagle-soaaaar.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (PM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562194.post-115698450769981598Mon, 01 May 2006 21:33:00 +00002006-09-15T14:53:36.983-07:00May 1, 2006This weekend, there were several social getogethers that Jo attended. The get togethers all went off well, but I wouldn't know for I was away at the bay area paragliding association (BAPA) fly-in at Elk mountain for the weekend. Many thanks to Jo for letting me do this, and for managing these get-togethers without me.I had two great flights, and on one I managed to soar again (get http://pmurthy-paragliding.blogspot.com/2006/05/bapa-elk-mountain-fly-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (PM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562194.post-115696817308890668Fri, 24 Feb 2006 20:54:00 +00002006-09-15T14:53:16.306-07:00February 24, 2006Not paragliding per-se, but another type of high..."You’ve seen your birth your life and deathYou might recall all of the restDid you have a good world when you died?Enough to base a movie on?"asked Jim Morrison in The Movie, and while I am not sure if my life would amount to even a short music video, there are certain moments that stick on in my memory, perhaps in the vain hope http://pmurthy-paragliding.blogspot.com/2006/02/when-you-wish-upon-star.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (PM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562194.post-115690216799294509Wed, 07 Sep 2005 01:09:00 +00002006-12-02T00:39:11.446-08:00September 6, 2005"I must be Scottish, because everytime I see an Englishman, my blood boils", said Doug, as we descended from the truck. "My granddaddy was pure Scottish", said Wally, "not sure what clan he was but they were feuding about something". "Well you should find out; we need to figure out if you and I can be friends or not!", remarked Doug as he grabbed his gear.We started the 15 minutehttp://pmurthy-paragliding.blogspot.com/2005/09/highland-charges-and-thermal-surges.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (PM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562194.post-115689675318068901Tue, 05 Apr 2005 00:05:00 +00002006-09-15T14:52:17.533-07:00April 4, 2005This weekend was my much anticipated trip for some mountain flying. A meet had been scheduled at Elk mountain, about 3 hours north of here, up by Ukiah and Clear lake. I got up at 4:30am on saturday and started out at 5 to make the 8am meeting time in the LZ (landing zone). The "critters", Bernard the French guy, Mihir the Mumbayite, Ed the "pilot for Jesus" guy, Kathy the Light, http://pmurthy-paragliding.blogspot.com/2005/04/2600ft-o-legroom.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (PM)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33562194.post-115689599427135084Tue, 18 Jan 2005 00:58:00 +00002006-09-15T14:51:45.466-07:00January 17, 2005Well, at long last, I think I can call myself a pilot! As you know, I completed my written test for the P-2 rating in december, and had purchased the equipment (paraglider, harness, helmet, reserve parachute) in July. So everything was in place for me to let loose. But not much flying since then, and no flying unsupervised. Well yesterday was a beautiful day, in the 60s and sunny http://pmurthy-paragliding.blogspot.com/2005/01/bird-gets-its-wings.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (PM)1