Doing the "Lambada"

Yesterday, I decided to drive south to Melbourne and meet up with my buddy Jim Lee to check out the new aircraft that he and old friend Joe Bostik  are importing from the Czech Republic. Originally I was going to sail down, but as you can see in my posts below that didn't work out.

A little background:  I used to own and fly a couple of aircraft that were registered as ultralights.   Ultralights are (by law) supposed to weigh no more than 254 pounds.  This law was enacted in 1983 and was quite archaic in the sense that by limiting the weight that much, you're asking the designer/builder to leave things off the craft that would be desirable. For that reason, ultralights slowly got heavier and heavier and even the FAA was turning it's back on the fact because they knew that most 'fat' ultralights were safer than one that was within the weight limit.   Still, after enough years, the FAA decided to address the 'fat' ultralight problem.

When this decision to change the situation was arrived at,  I was heavily involved in the United States Hang Gliding Association's (USHGA) board.  In fact during this time,  I was president. The USHGA as well as the United States Ultralight Association (USUA) were part of the  rule making process.    As most things with the government it took a long time to accomplish and in fact before the process was done, I'd retired from the board.

The result of the process was the LSA - Light Sport Aircraft.  This category is a major change from the Ultralight category.  The Ultralight Category still exists as it was (part  103) but now there's this new category - Light Sport - that  covers the weight range from 255 - to just over 1300 pounds.  Ultralights are supposed to have a top speed of 55 mph and the new LSA has a top speed of 120 mph.  Ultralights don't have to be certified in any way - LSA do. Ultralight pilots can do all their own maintenance - LSA cannot.   Ultralight Pilot do not have to have any rating to fly by themselves - LSA pilots have to have a LSA license (which is less work and qualification than a regular pilot license).

So, that's a quick and dirty overview of the system.  Of course, it's more in depth than that quick synopsis,  but why confuse the reader any more?

So, Joe Bostik is a past U.S. National HG champion who came here from Czechoslovakia. He now flies for Northwest Airlines and has settled with his wife and little girl in Melbourne.  Joe started importing ballistic parachute emergency recovery systems from  the Czech Republic a few years ago and has recently started bringing in this LSA - the Lambada.

Jim Lee (whom you've seen a few times in my blog over the last couple of years) is also a past U.S. National HG champion and after 2 years of cruising with his family on their sailboat, has joined with Joe to promote the Lambada.  Jim is a sailplane instructor as well as a powered plane instructor,  so he's perfect for this job.

Now, about the aircraft.   After seeing and flying in the Lambada, I think it is the perfect aircraft for pilots like myself - and I think there's quite a few of us.   The Lambada has a cruising  speed of 115 mph - so it can get you places - PLUS it has wonderful soaring capabilities.  It has a 30:1 L/D and a very respectable sink rate.   With an 80hp Rotax engine - that uses unleaded automobile fuel - it's inexpensive to operate as well.  Side by side seating (pretty rare in the sailplane world) makes it a more sociable aircraft as well.

I arrived at the Melbourne airport around 10 am and met up with Jim who was preparing the demo Lambada for a prospective customer who was driving up from Bushnell.  Jim showed me around the plane which was a work of art.  Completely a composite plane, it's sleek and beautiful with an ample cockpit (for a soaring aircraft) and a large canopy.  The wings come off the craft quite easily and the whole thing packs up like a regular sailplane for transport.

 There's 2 wing extensions for the Lambada - one adds a couple of meters to the wingspan - for optimum soaring and the other finishes of the the wings with an aerodynamic  tip - best used

for when you're flying the craft like an airplane and not a sailplane.

Anyway, I could go on and on, but it's starting to sound like a glider review rather than a blog posting.

After lunch, Jim and I went up in the demo and Joe went up in a 'not quite committed' customer's craft.  The Lambada smoothly 'leaps' into the air after an amazingly short takeoff roll.  We initially headed west toward some good looking clouds.  With the ROC (rate of climb indicator) showing substantial lift, both planes killed their engines and we feather the prop.   

Jim quickly wrapped us up in a nice thermal with Joe right there alongside.  There were lots of birds out thermalling so we flew from cloud to cloud and bird gaggle to bird gaggle.  I took the controls and felt clumsy (not flying a sailplane for almost a decade) but after a while I got the hang of it and was able to thermal adequately.  We hung out in the late afternoon  Florida sky for a couple of hours between 1500 and 4000 ft.  We thermalled with a wood stork as well as a couple of bald eagles.

When it was time to head back to the airport, Jim did all the talking on the radio to the tower and I piloted us back and set up the approach.  In the downwind part of the approach I was amazed at how easily the plane reached 100 knots.  I flew the plane into ground effect and Jim took over and landed her.  What a great and fun flight!!

Again, I think this is the PERFECT aircraft for a lot of soaring pilots who would still like to go places.   Jim is flying one to Albuquerque in the spring. That's 1400 miles.  The Lambada has a range of 700 miles on a tank of fuel so theoretically, it could be done with one stop, but Jim's going to take a few days and stop off at his parent's house as well as a couple of prospective customer's place.

If I had $108K laying  around - I'd have one of these.   Thanks Jim and Joe!

Smoothies from my own Bananas

We harvested our bananas a few weeks ago.  You take them off the tree and put them in a dry (and not too light) place.  I hung the stalk up in the garage.  The bananas weren't very big, but there must have been over 100 on the bunch.

I've made a few smoothies from them - with strawberries added and they're really good.  We won't be able to eat them all before some of them go bad, but it's kinda cool to eat bananas that you grew yourself.

Best Laid Plans.....

Headed South

...and back North

Today just didn't go as planned.  I got up early with Jan and after she went to work, I packed all my stuff for a 5 day round-trip sail to Melbourne and back.  I was planning on hanging with Jim and Kathy Lee and still getting back home in time to go to work next week.

I got to the boat and prepared it for getting underway.  I topped off the  battery banks with distilled water, checked the oil, transmission fluid, etc.  I threw the dock lines off about 8:45 and backed out of my slip.  I stopped at the fuel dock and topped off with 24 gallons of diesel.

After leaving the fuel dock, I headed out the channel and into the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway).  Just 5 minutes into the southbound trip I heard a Security announcement on the VHF...   "Securitay, Securitay, Securitay, this is the US Coast Guard - Ponce Inlet. For an update on the George Munson Bridge,  switch to channel 2-2 alpha".   So, I switched to 22a.   "Securitay, Securitay, Securitay, this is the US Coast Guard - Ponce Inlet.  The George Munson Bridge will be closed today until 5pm for repairs.  All mariners with questions should  contact the U.S. Coast Guard.  This is the U.S. Coast Guard - Ponce Inlet: Out".

Well, my plan for  the day was to sail to Titusville and anchor outside the Titusville Marina for the night.  Jan works just 10 minutes from there, so she was going to drive over after work and we'd spend the night there and she'd get up in the morning and go back to work - and I'd continue south to the Melbourne area.  To get to Titusville in the ICW, you have to pass under 2 draw bridges.  One of them  is nearer to Titusville and is the Haulover Cut bridge.  The other one is the north causeway bridge (also known as the George Munson bridge) in New Smyrna Beach.  It's only 21 feet tall and my boat's mast is 54 feet above the water, so I wasn't going under it without it opening for me.  Going out into the ocean wasn't an option for me singlehanding - because it's 75 statute miles and I wouldn't be able to get to Port Canaveral (the next inlet south of Ponce Inlet) before dark.

Oh well, since I had the boat out, I took it south to Port  Orange - under  the 65 ft bridge and then did a 180  and headed back to the Marina.  I was out about 90 minutes or so.  When I got back to the slip and tied back up, I checked out the engine compartment and I had several oil leaks that I never had before.  I hadn't had the boat out since I had the oil pan gasket replaced by a marine mechanic.   I gave  him a call and he's going to come over and  work on it.   So, I guess it all works out in the end.  Since I'm leaving on Feb 19th for the Bahamas, I want to get the oil leak fixed before casting off.  I wouldn't have found the leaks if I hadn't taken the boat out for a spin this morning.

I'll probably take the 1 and 1/2 hour drive down to Melbourne tomorrow to hang with Jim.

Back in the Groove

I'm feeling tons better.  I still have a significant pain problem with the Pleurisy.  It hurts to do things that are physical.  Even bending over to pick something up or to sit down will create a fairly sharp pain around my lungs - both front and back.   My mom says that it lasts for a while, so I'll just figure it'll get better when it gets better.  The best part is that 95% of my coughing is gone and I actually feel like doing something - for the first time since Christmas.

Today, I'm taking supplies to the boat and also going to vote (for early voting here in Florida).  I'm planning on leaving for a 5 day trip in the boat on Monday.  I'm going to head down to Melbourne area to see my friend Jim Lee.  I want to just do something in the boat since I should be in the Bahamas right now anyway.

My buddy Steve Pauls from the PIT surfshop on the Outer Banks is in town for a couple of days. He stays at his long-time friend's (Todd) house in Ormond by the Sea when he comes down every year.  Yesterday we got together for lunch and then headed down to Edgewater to the manufacturing facility of Orion surfboards - which is one of Steve's suppliers.  The photos above are from the laminating room of the shop.

Those guys are coming over for dinner tonight.  We haven't had visitors in a very long time.  I can't remember the last time - could be a year now.

Back Home in Florida

We had an eventful trip home yesterday.  We knew that we would possibly be spending the night somewhere besides our home due to the fact that we had some really tight connections at Salt Lake City and Atlanta.  Also, our flight to Daytona Beach was the last one of the day - so missing any of our fights would be an instant sentence to sleeping in the airport.

We left Montrose Colorado on time and our plan was to rush to the gate in Salt Lake City to try and get moved up to the bulkhead seats at the front of the coach section. We were seated in row 38 and it takes a while to get off the plane when you're that far back.  The airlines (at least Delta) doesn't assign the bulkhead seats until 1 hour before the flight.    Our schedule had us getting  into Salt Lake City only 40 minutes before the flight was scheduled to leave, so we knew that we stood a good chance of NOT getting the bulkhead seats.   And, we didn't.  

The flight left 20 minutes late with us in row 38.   Now to plan B.   I went to the flight attendant during the flight and told her that with the now scheduled arrival time in Atlanta, we had only 25 minutes between flights.  I asked her if she could figure something out and if there were any seats further forward that we could move into before landing.  She checked and there were 2 middle seats (not together) in row 20 and 23.  So, with 20 minute left in the flight, Jan and I moved forward to these rows - where the people sitting on the aisle both offered to let us sit on the aisle so we could get out faster - that was very nice of them.

When the plane stopped, Jan and I both were in the aisle and ready for the door to open.  When it did, we shot out and got out to where we could see our connecting flight info.    Now, if you've ever been to the Atlanta Airport, you know that the concourses are set up very long.  There's basically 36 gates on each concourse - starting with number 1 on one end and number 36 on the other end.  We had arrived at B1 (at the very end of course) and our next gate was A33 (on the opposite end of the next concourse over.

The transportation system is in the middle of the concourse (around gate 18), so we had to run to the middle of concourse B, then down the escalator to the underground transportation center.  With the train not there, we ran on the moving sidewalk to the 'up' escalator at concourse A, then all the way to the end (almost) to A33.  We got there with about 1 minute to spare before they closed our door.    

We felt certain that there was no way our baggage could have made the flight - and we were right - but we also weren't too concerned.  Our baggage was full  of winter clothes and we didn't need those immediately.  It's better to be home and sleeping in our bed without our baggage, than to spend the night with our baggage in the Atlanta Airport.

We had a great time visiting in Colorado and want to go back during the warm months to visit for longer.

The photo at the top is of some of the famous ice climbing in Ouray.  The town/county sponsors a free ice climbing park that is pretty much manmade.  There were banners all over town at businesses that support the ice climbing park - all saying: 'welcome ice climbers'.   This is something that you pretty much only see in small towns.   A similar thing happens with hang gliding.  Towns like Lakeview, Oregon , Dunlap TN, Big Spring, TX and many others all put out a big welcome mat for hang glider pilots because a small number of people coming to their town can make a large percentage change in the town's revenues.   This just doesn't happen to the same level in larger towns and cities.  The impact of small and insignificant sports just isn't enough to matter to the larger places.

Photos from Telluride

We spent Tuesday in Telluride.  It was a good time.  We rode the gondola over to Mountain Village and then had Thai food in town.

Telluride Gondola

In Colorado

Jan and I are in Colorado.  We're staying at Bill and Michelle's house in Ouray and it's really beautiful out here.    Our travel was eventful with delayed/cancelled flights that made things always 'up in the air' as far as getting here.

We're about to head over to Telluride and check out the town.  I'm not going to ski while here because I'm still having some tough breathing symptoms from the athsmatic bronchitis and going from sea level to 8000+ at the valley floor is really reminding me of it.   I like skiing fine - but I don't love skiing, so it's not a big loss to me.  I'm a 'take it or leave it' guy when it comes to snow sports.

Here's a couple of photos that I took from Bill and Michelle's front porch.

Almost Well I think

Finally, this morning I feel better than I have since I first started getting sick on December 20th. That's just 2 days shy of a month with this illness.   Quite frankly I'm tired of it and will be happy to be completely well again.   I still have some coughing fits and my pleurisy is still a sharp pain when coughing and a dull pain when I try to breathe deeply.

Jan and I will leave on Sunday to travel to Ouray Colorado to visit our friends Bill and Michelle at their new house.  We'll have a 5 day vacation and it'll be a great time.  I'll post some photos from there.

Well, that's the current update on me.

Later

4 Doctors - 3 Diagnosis - 9 prescriptions

I think I may be turning the corner on my illness.  I've gone to urgent care 3 times and to a doctor's office once.   I've been diagnosed with bronchitis, early pnuemonia and now asthmatic bronchitis.  I'm now on my 3rd set of antibiotics, my second set of steroids as well as a myriad  of inhalers and cough medicines.   I'm not really sure that these doctors know what they're doing, but after 21 days of this - I'm sure ready to be done with it.

If I start to feel better, I'm going to go to the Surf Expo tomorrow in Orlando.  My buddy Steve (from the Pit Surf Shop) has invited me to join him during his yearly trip to the gigantic surfing trade show.   I really want to go - so I'm hoping today will be a noticeable improvement of my condition.    

Jan and I are also working on trying to get to Ouray Colorado this month to visit our good friends Bill and Michelle.  It will  be fun to visit  a winter wonderland!!  We hope to be able to go during the week of the 21st.

My sailing plans had to be modified due to lack of crew.  Currently, it looks like it'll be around the 3rd week in Feb now.  I'll probably take the boat  out for a 3 or 4 day spin in the near future.

A year without Snowy and 'early pneumonia'

Photo above is of Bette Davis hanging with Snowy

Saturday marked 1 year since we lost Snowy.  We still miss her greatly.   She was a very special cat.   Betty Davis (Gracie) is a cool kitty, but she's no Snowy.   It's obvious that she was really abused in the past and has issues that she's slowly getting over when it comes to completely trusting people.

I went to the doctor (again) on Friday when I returned from the Orange Bowl and after having x-rays taken, it turns out I have 'early pneumonia'.  With 3 more prescriptions, I'm spending time on the couch and in my easy chair with sporatic fits of coughing.  Hopefully, I'll get well soon.  I've coughed so much and so violently, that I've pulled a muscle in my back - so now it hurts doubly  to cough.

Tonight's Orange Bowl Show

It's less than an hour before the game and the chance of anyone reading my blog and THEN watching the game is pretty low, but I thought I'd let you know about a new product that we'll be using tonight. Actually, it's been used for the past few weeks, but still it's really new stuff. It's called 'jump cam' on FOX. It uses a 16mp still camera mounted on top of a game camera. We take 5 frames a second for about 7 seconds and then we're able to 'recreate' a 'zoom in' on any position that the game camera shoots. It's only done as a replay, but the moving picture snaps to a still photo that's zoomed in on to several points (usually 2 or 3).

If you see it, we're doing it. (as well as our 1st and 10 line as well as 'down and distance' arrow).

Happy New Year from Cold South FL

It's thursday the 3rd and this is the first time I've had to get on my computer since I arrived in Ft. Lauderdale/Miami area. Jan and I drove down here on monday and checked into our hotel just off the ICW in Ft. Lauderdale. I've been quite sick since the week before Christmas with very bad bronchitis. I'm still having a pretty bad problem with it after 2 weeks and I'm pretty darn tired of it.

I have some coughing fits that last up to 45 seconds or so and are very violent. I'm on a lot of different medicines and I actually think it's possible things may be getting slightly better today. I hope so.

Anyway, I'm a big fan of where the hotel is here - it's only about a mile from the best ribs in the world (at Bahia Cabana) and just across the street from the largest marine book and chart store in the U.S. Also, just around the corner is the Southport Rawbar and Grill (which my uncle introduced me to in the mid 80's). Just down the street is (what must be) the largest West Marine Store in the U.S. - where I stopped in this morning and got myself a new Icom Marine VHF - courtesy of my mom (for Christmas). So in general, the hotel is located in a good spot.

Jan and I had lunch at Southport Raw Bar on New year eve, went to the marine book store and then around 9pm went to Bahia Cabana for ribs -with the intention of staying there to ring in the New Year. I was really feeling crappy, so we just went back to the hotel and watch the ball fall in Times Square on TV before going to sleep. Jan flew home on a quick hop the next morning and I came to work at the Orange Bowl.

We've had 2 set days for the show (most major shows have 2 set days) and now I'm sitting in our production truck just 'hangin' until it's time for the ball game at 8pm tonight.

I'll drive home in the late morning (I'll be working til at least 2am). I had planned to leave on monday to begin my sailing trip to the Bahamas. Some schedule changes may be in store for that one. The photos below are all posted from my iPhone. The ZZ TOP one looks really bad, but it was very cold outside while I was working the camera and I couldn't hold the phone still. Last night broke a 100 year low record for Key West. If global warming gets any worse - we're gonna freeze to death!!

ZZ Top

Rehearsing Wednesday night

Night Work

Everyone doing their jobs getting ready for Thursday night's show.

ZZ Top's stage is being readied in the corner.

Orange. Bowl 2008

Onsite Tuesday