Dilingham

Sailplanes, Paragliders, Skydivers, and Humpbacks

On rare days, the north-western edge of the island of Oahu is a paraglider's dream.
And, as luck would have it, on my first adventure out there, flying conditions were about as nice as they get!

My good friend Don and I made the drive together, picking up another local pilot (JK) on the way. The site is about 20mins west of the world famous North Shore surf beaches, just past Dillingham Airfield where a continual stream of sailplanes were towing up along with skydiver-packed powered planes.

An impressive thousand foot cliff runs behind the airfield all the way to the tip of the island at Kaena Point and four of us PG pilots flew most of its expanse for many hours today! Humpback whales were out in full force, breaching the afternoon away.

Alex did a nice write up on the local club's site here:

"On the many days we've flown Dillingham this winter, we've settled for imperfect conditions. We've flown it in sea breezes, trade winds, cross northeasterlies, super cross easterlies, and anything in between. We've had some fun out there, but we've been pining for the genuine post-frontal northerly flow that seemed to work best in the old days. Today, our prayers were answered, and we remembered why we love the Dill: it was truly a sweet and crispy delicacy in today's northerly flow. We ruled Ka'ena Point today!

The cold front had passed quickly overnight, and the morning dawned clear and chilly, with a light northerly breeze: a perfect post-frontal day. I posted my hopes for a Dillingham mission on the chatterbox. After a fun kayak session with Amelia, I headed out there to meet my fellow penal colonists at around 1 pm. By that time the northerly flow had turned NNW, and was holding steady at about 5 mph.