The only complaint I have about my Jeep Liberty Renegade is that I really can't squeeze much into it. I always manage to find room for everything, but sometimes it requires the application of pressure. Anyway, when I go camping for an entire week (something I have never done as a civilian) I like to make sure that I'm prepared. I have two tool boxes, three bags, two tents (try to relax!), a duffle sack, a bag full of rope, a pharmacy, a tool kit, a soldering kit, a sack of canned goods, a giant bag of marshmallows, 30 rolls of toilet paper (I plan to share), an air mattress, a cooler full of a cornucopia of beverages, four flash lights, and the five streamers I just finished making.The streamers are an interesting thing. When a hang glider pilot launches you can bet money that he's going to be landing, eventually, and that landing can be a complicated thing. It's important, while landing, that the glider be pointed into the wind to reduce ground speed. It's a little bit like stepping off of one of those moving walkways at the airport - your speed relative to the ground is what matters as soon as you come into contact with it. Sometimes it can be difficult to tell which way the wind is blowing and that's where the streamers come in handy.
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| Drop streamers to determine wind direction |
While coming in for a landing if I find that I cannot clearly determine the wind direction then I can pull one of these streamers out of my pocket, pull the binding string off, and toss it. The streamer should unfurl as it falls, the white end weighted with a few pennies while the red end flutters free. When the white end hits the ground, the red end will be pushed over by the wind, thus indicating the direction that the wind is blowing.
Hopefully I won't need a streamer, but I like to make sure that I'm prepared and I think that I can fit them into the Jeep if I just squeeze a little... bit... harder.....
2 comments:
Your drop streamers work well. I try to remember to toss most every flight until I got used to how they acted. My weighted end however is always red and the tail can be whatever. Thus the riddle" fly over red and you could be dead" to remember which end is which. I accordion or Z fold starting at the tail and then roll last 10" over the weight. Then when it is time I pop off the rubber band and just toss the thing to watch it unfold cleanly. ok... sorry. you didn't ask for all that.
Fly safe
Mine are white and blue (works better for me since I'm colorblind), with the weight on the white end. So I start from the blue (because I'm already in the sky) and fly toward the white. I've only tried them a couple of times so far, and it's been calm enough that they just landed in a heap.
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