Visit to Torrey Pines, turf of the Goat

I made a trip to San Diego and took Sunday morning to visit Torrey Pines Gliderport!  There was an outside chance to catch Floyd Fronius and his newest Goat X at the cliff.  No such luck, but it is awesome to now understand the home of the Goat.

Torrey Pines is a massive 300ft cliff right along the Pacific Ocean.  On arrival at 10:00, the grass was quiet.  After an hour or so to hike on the beach below (beware the sunbathers) the grass above was starting to come to life as the wind slowly picked up. 

The RC sailplane area was a wonderful sitting spot to watch the paragliders kiting and then steadily launching off the cliff.  It started with a couple of guinea pigs in the light air, and then more followed as the wind filled in.  There were over a dozen gliders aloft at the same time.

Relocating to the Cliff Hanger Cafe for lunch was a short walk and gave a different view.  The tandem pilots would meet their fare in front of the cafe, clip them in, and launch within minutes.  It looked like a blast.

Torrey was amazing.  I am inspired (and slightly sunburned).  

My Goat really needs to get some air beneath the wings.  First cuts were literally 18 years ago...

Vario purchased!

An LxNav S3 is now in the mail (edit --- out of stock!!).  It is a mechanical needle and not the latest tech (S10 or similar), but it is only a total energy pressure input, which will be insensitive to just how slowly the Goat flies, rather than an airspeed pressure sensor set up for glass ships.  Airspeed pressure scales poorly for the low-speed range, but total energy is close to static and it is the same pressure sensor for fast and slow-speed sailplanes.  The S3 is also self-contained with a speaker, so I just need to add power and (desired) connect to a total energy probe.  Static pressure will be close enough to total energy for my purposes, so this will also functionally serve as an altimeter.

And an ICOM A13 is also in the mail.  This is the "don't hit me" radio and should have been the first radio purchase anyway.

Navigation will be easy enough with a phone app.  There is no way I'll range away from beyond sight of the airfield for now, so the phone will be plenty sufficient.  And I already have the phone...

To-do's before the first flight are now:

1. do a weight & balance
2. do a very thorough pre-flight check
3. airband radio 
4. variometer 
5. finish weld trailer frame joints

Deferred:

• wing root kiss seal
• leather patch on wing tips where they rub the ground
• leather patch guides for elevator control lines
• trim color paint
• main strut fairings
• jury strut fairings
  
• emergency parachute
  
• drogue chute