New Distance-to-Goal World Record and U.S. Open Distance Record
by josh Cohn
Conditions looked pretty good in Zapata, Texas. There was 2/8 cumulus at about 4,500 feet and a moderately strong south-southeast wind. On the second tow ftom Michael Osoba, son ofthe famed weather guru and pilot Gary Osoba, I got away. After several turns in 15-20 mph winds you're committed.
The thermals felt more like real cores than usual; you could actually crank it in a few of them, although there was still plenty of the usual waffling. While making crosswind glides to the east to skirt the Laredo airspace there was plenty of time to spot the places I'd bombed out on previous days.
Coming over the San Ygnacio road at 2,300 ' (1 , 800' AGL) I could almost make out the horrible little clearing I'd attempted to land in the day before. At 10 miles out, this road is the only paved road on the first 40 miles of the route. It exerts a powerful pull when you start to get low. But coming in under a cloud it worked this time and I was soon happy again. I listened enviously on the radio to Kari aerotowing to the east of the airport.
The landscape below is mesquite brush, marked by a grid of dirt roads oriented to
something very different from north with radiating pipelines connecting natural gas wells. What is not obvious from the air is that nearly all of the dirt roads are separated from public roads by locked gates. However, I'd had pretty good luck with hitching rides out from these areas, other than one three-mile hike.
At 25 miles out I passed over the dirt part of the San Ygnacio road where it snakes back under the course line. Next was the seven-mile section of tiger country that I'd walked out of earlier, and a blue hole just as big. I radioed to Kari that she should catch up to me and we should help each other get through the blue hole. She replied that she was going around it to the east. With this reminder to avoid the death glide, I waited under the clouds in light lift until finally some cu's started to pop in the blue ahead.
The little wisps never really worked,
and the next thing I knew I was getting low. At 1,500' AGL I saw a small dust devil a quarter of a mile ahead. When I spotted the gaggle of vultures following it I felt encouraged. They didn't seem to be getting trashed too badly. So I radioed in, "Josh at 40 miles, 172 degrees, 800 feet and going for a dust devil," to Kari, driver Don and anyone else listening. It rook longer to chase down the dusty than I'd expected, but luckily there was light lift near it and I gained a little height.
The core was nice and fairly smooth when I found it - 450 fpm. Soon Kari came gliding in below and started turning below me. Then the vultures showed me a better core and I radioed Kari over. Soon we were screaming up to cloudbase (the FM prescribed distance below it, that is) at 6,000'. Around this time we were paid a visit by a Lear jet 1,000' below us. While we were definitely outside the controlled airspace of Laredo airport, the east and north sides of the airspace were very busy. A little later we heard from Davis on the radio that the Lear jet pilot had noted our presence.
After getting to base with Kari at 50 miles out, on the northeast side of Laredo, she glided off and left me. The giant, paved circle of the Uniroyal tire test track was visible below. Another plane flew by, but not as close.
Two hours into the flight I was happy to have
made over 20 miles per hour in the initial crux of the flight. It looked like a record could happen, although the drift was less at higher altitudes. Leaving the Laredo airspace behind , it was a relief to be able to pick a route connecting the clouds with only Highway 83 to follow.
The first section of Highway 83 follows a south-southeast to southeast wind drift pretty well, cutting the corner at Catarina. At Carriw Springs, 100 miles out, with 22 mph average speed, Highway 83 turns due north and it gets trickier I made the mistake of getting lured downwind of the course line by some nice clouds over Carriw Springs. After that it was a battle for the next 50 miles to Uvalde to stay up without ever getting to base, and to stay within a reasonable (two miles or so) walk of Highway 83. During this time I was paying close attention to Kari's position and route, as my plan was to hitch a ride back with her and driver Don Boucher. She had pulled away from me at an average speed of7.5 mph since Laredo. I heard Cun Warren on the radio navigating for Don. He had flown 260 miles the day before and missed his hitched ride back. He'd spent the night as the guest of a 70year-old woman on her farm and hitched back to Uvalde the next morning where Don picked him up.
Closer to Uvalde there are more brown, cultivated fields, periodically sending up dust devils. I hoped to be able to hang on until then. When I did find something in that area it was a floating piece of orange plastic that marked it, not dust. But still I was not yet out of the woods, needing to keep driving east to stay near civilization. Just northwest of Uvalde I'd finally figured out where Highway 55 was (Kari's route) and glided in to some brown fields with cloud shadows on the edge of them.
just as I saw another gaggle of vultures climbing well. Soon I was sitting
pretty again: 6:50 PM at base, 160 miles out at 9,000' with Highway 55 stretching our downwind
I heard Kari on the radio talking about route options with driver Don and then heard her sounding like she was about to land, low and having run out of landing options but with one at 250 miles
The Texas Hill Country came into view. Up until now there had been no relief visible from the air It was beautiful in the low evening light, although I was a little apprehensive about entering narrow canyons in these winds .
The next climb came from 4,500' MSL above the sunny lee side of some large hills ac 180 miles. It took me up under a cloud street extending far co the northwest. Unfortunately, it didn't follow Highway 55 and it seemed to be dissipating. At 7:30 the streets (the first I'd seen during the flight) were shading each other and it was hard to cell if they would last at all. So, I
"This has to work," I thought,
made a crosswind glide ro cake the sector phoro of Camp Wood, my declared goal at 192 miles.
Gliding in under the next cloud street brought only a couple of blips oflifc. A low glide over a small pass with ripping ground speed was nice and smooth, but with no lift. I was planning ro land on a wide area of Highway 55 's shoulder when I noticed power lines crossing the highway there. I was also at 199 miles and the temptation ro stretch the glide was great. These facrors conspired ro find me landing in a dry riverbed half a mile from the highway. Of course, it had a power line crossing it roo, but landing in 15 mph winds it is easy to land shorter. After all my landings so far in hot, dusty, mesquite and prickly pear-
infested brush land, the clean white limesrone cobbles of the wash were a welcome change. Oh yes, and the GPS had clicked over to 200 miles! I left voice mails for Kari and Don's cell phones, as they were deep in the hill country finding Kari. Billy goats butting heads down in the wash provided entertainment. After little luck hitching, I finally got a ride back to Camp Wood and met up with Kari, Don and Curt there at 10:30 PM.
This flight is dedicated to the memory of Paul Ferguson. I'd also like to thank Windtech, Airplay, Ball ~rios, and Rytec USA for their help and support •
"\V,lhat? Spanish for shoe? Nope, it is a W small town in South Texas, 50 miles south of Laredo on the Rio Grande It was formerly a destination for sun-seekers during their winter migration south in search of friendly climates, but then the local Falcon Reservoir dried up and retreated miles down-river, and Zapata's winter appeal diminished correspondingly (don't believe those blue patches you see on all the maps) . Summer appeal was always questionable in Zapata - the climate is really hot, and not very scenic. The surrounding area is dry, flat and covered in prickly pear cactus and mesquite bushes that offer no shade, while natural gas wells dot the horizon. The legacy left by the Spanish land grants in the area is nearly no public land and miles and miles of fences and locked gates. Owing in part to Gary Osoba's efforts to involve the local community, the local residents are exceptionally friendly and hospitable.
So why are we reading about Zapata, even if nice people reside there? Zapata also happens to be headquarters for the WRE, the World Record Encampment, created by a few hang glider pilots in their quest to do away with Larry Tudor's longstanding 310-mile World Open Distance Record. Davis Straub and Gary Osoba stumbled onto a meteorological and geographical phenomenon which they believe creates a uniquely favorable environment ro fly extremely long distances in soaring aircraft. Last summer Davis set a new rigid-wing world record of 348 miles, so this year, record-hungry pilots from around the world flocked to "beautiful" Zapata.
Thanks to the efforts of Gary, Davis and WRE manager David Glover, the WRE 2001 was in action during part of June and all of July. Based out of the Zapata Airport, the not-insignificant participation fee provided access to a hangar for lifesaving shade and the airport runway. In addition, a Dragonfly tug from Florida's Quest Air was brought in to aerorow the hang gliders up to altitudes of 3,000'-6,000' AGL, which gave the pilots a pleasant start for their flights.
The WRE was gracious enough to allow paraglider pilots to partake, but the event and site proved to be most ideal for hang glider attempts. As paraglider pilots we had a series of obstacles to ov~come in flying this new site. First, we had to
1":',''',', ,, · b~f~re 10:00 ?foflong flyW,er~Jight, .ow t<.>w alti.W: save,in light · · t) .On pilots
by Cherie Silverawinds), <.Teating beautiful cloudstreetS starting early in: the day, sretdily incre.lsihg winds and constantly rising cloudbases. We never saw one of these "perfect" days, but everJ. on the less-thal').-pe~fect days personal bests were set and world '.repqtdS ~efe smashed. The heaJ aQtliboredam,ofJap~t~ quicldy fade as your F ~i~t.µ(ce ·. · gtows. See you. there P:e; m~tl
Wit~g Qpen Di~tance woi,ld record at 250 miles/402 km (previous 230 miles by Tove Heany, 1998).
July 28 - ~etinho Schmitz, new Flex Wing Distan:ce~to-Goal world record at 311 miles/500.5 km (previous 303.4 miles by Larry Tudor, 1990) .
July.28 - David Glover, new Rigid Wing Distance-to-Goal world record of 220 miles/354 km (previous 196. 8 miles by Dave Sharp, 2000).
OTHER NOTEWORTHY PERSONAL BESTS
• Bo Hagewood tied Larry Tudor's previous flex wirJ.g hang gliding world record, flying 308 miles.
" Paris Williams broke Tudor's hang gliding world record, and had the world record for a few hours, flying 318 miles. ·
® Curt Warren, personal best of 260 miles on his flex wing hang glider.
" Kevin Coltrane went from eight miles to 130 miles on his hang glider.
LOGISTICS
XC season: June-July-August.
Getting there: Fly into Laredo (50 miles) or Austin (200 miles) and rent a car. Necessities: Tow winch, retrieve driver/ car, working radio and cell phone, gallons of sunscreen and a hat.
Accommodations: Lakefront Lodge, $35/night, $200-$300 weekly for the motel and $15/riight for an RV. There is no lakefront, but the pool is the most refreshing pl~ce to spend your non-airborne time while our fabulous host Stan co.oks.a mean: brisket and keeps you plied with told drinks.
you say, t:his:place~ounds pretty dire, what is the point? Why•wa,s anyone there?\VeU, ifyoµ sµi.yive. thisfong, dodg, ing th~ loneso,ne desert and rattlesnakes on the ...gr:ound q.nd the opliv:ious aircraft in the afr, you are ready to go. Let the cloud streets set .up a~d.lettheflesta begin! Just stay high and·fo!low the roads north (there aren't f11~¥). Setting a new personal best is just on the horizoh. ·. . .
The WRE organizers relate that on ideal days, mdisti1re from the Gulf of Mexito isblown:·inland (south-southeast
July 17 - Manfred Ruhmer, new Fle:x Wing world record at 435.4 miles/700'.8 km (previous 308 miles by LarryTudor, 1994).
July 17 - Davis Straub, new Rigid Wing Open Distance world ,record at 406.8 miles/655 km surpassingMark'sJ>ending world record.
July 20- Kari Castle, ne'NWomen'.s.Flex Wing Distance-to-Goal wotld record at 217 miles/350 km (previous 190.6. miles by Tiki Mashy, 1998). . .
July 27 - Kari Castle, .new Women's Flex
Contact: for ne'l(t year's WRE, davis@davisstraub;com,
More details: See the Oz Report at www.davistraub.com/OZ/
P.S.: For next year a new grass airstrip is being scouted 15 miles east of Zapata, whi.qh should make passing the Laredo. ak$pace easier.
CherieSilvmi is a.member ()f the U.S. Paragliding Te;m spons()red .by Adva.nce Paragliders and an outdoor adventt,tre film produc·er..