Something new

Back in April one of the birthday gifts Cathy gave me was a gift certificate
for an introductory helicopter lessen. Until recently I'd been too busy to
collect on it, but finally this week, I went and gave it a whirl. It was
very fun!

The lesson entailed half an hour in a flight simulator and half an hour in
the real thing - a Robinson R-22. I found that the controls for a
helicopter are not intuitive. It takes time to get the hang of it and even
longer for it to become second nature. That doesn't happen in an hour.

When time came to get into the real thing I realized how tiny the machine
was - just enough room for the two of us. Obese people need not apply. The
instructor performed a quick pre-flight, then started the little
horizontally opposed flat four cylinder engine and warmed it up. He lifted
us just a few feet off the ground, flew slowly along the taxi way, then
turned, accelerated and climbed out and up over the runway. The view was
spectacular. He flew us out over Clearwater and north along the Gulf shore.
It was a view of boats in the Intracoastal Waterway, marinas and people on
the beach like I've never seen before.

Returning to the airstrip, before setting down, the instructor had me try
the controls. I found them to be even more sensitive than was the
simulator. In my inexperienced hands the machine would soon develop a
rotation or bank in a way that I struggled to control. If left to me, we
surely would have crashed. I asked how many hours of flight training it
took to become certified. Fifty. Fifty hours at $280 per hour. By
comparison, racing my R6 motorcycle is a huge bargain. I enjoyed the
helicopter experience, but I'll stick with flying on my race bike.

Letter to former students and friends.

Hey you guys!  Hope you’re both well, and that you’re enjoying a summer with many opportunities to get out on Long Island Sound. 

 

Here in St Petersburg we’re in the heart of summer heat, humidity and the daily threat of afternoon storms.  That doesn’t stop us from doing what we do.  Business activity has dropped off, but not as much as anticipated.  We’re still pushing off bareboat charters, doing day sails, sunset sails, and I’m still doing lots of teaching.  We work harder at hoping for winds which generally are light this time of year, and then late in the day keep a sharp eye out for storm cell development.

 

Cathy and I are now well settled in our condo, which is just three blocks from the marina.  It’s great being right down town again.  Walking to restaurants and entertainment.  This year’s hurricane season get-away is a trip to Europe.  We fly to Brussels on Sept 1 to visit a friend who is doing graduate work there.  We’ll travel by train to the north of Germany to visit an old friend of mine from my days knocking around in the Islands.   Another train ride down to Berlin where we have another set of friends.  We’ll travel by car with them for a visit to Paris, Versailles and then a week long B&B tour of Burgundy.  We fly home from Paris on the 24^th. 

 

I expect this coming season with Sailing Florida will be even more busy than the last.  For one thing, we’ll have even more nice new boats.  We’ll soon take delivery of a new Hunter 50, soon after that,  a new Jeaneau 53, then sometime later another new Hunter 50.  I’m hoping that before my life is again dominated by the demands of more charterers and students at the dock, that I’ll get time this fall to get away to play on my R6 race bike.  I’ve ridden the three road race courses here in Florida (and look forward to doing so again) but there are a couple world class tracks in nearby states that are on my bucket list: Barber, near Birmingham AL, and Road Atlanta in GA.        

 

Look forward to hearing from you.  Be well.