Alpine Skiing:  In the mid seventies my sister had a ski cabin at Ruidoso, NM.  At their invitation and assistance I learned to ski and became a somewhat casual skier, perhaps skiing 10 days per year with some exceptions for the next 45 years.  Recently taking advantage of free skiing offered at some slopes for the 80 years plus participants.

I attended University at Boulder, Colo. for a lot of 1964 through 1973 but was much too busy to learn to ski.

At Hughes in the 80s as I recall, I had a secretary (these don’t exist anymore), named Marce.  She quit and went to Montana to study engineering (and that’s why).  After getting the degree she got a position with Utah Highway Dept. based in Salt Lake City.  A tiny lady, she was an avid, and proficient, skier and several times I got to visit and ski all the resorts around Salt Lake.

Also fortuitous, the AAS, AIAA Rocky Mountain Guidance & Control Conference, was held at a Colorado ski resort every winter, earlier at Keystone, later at Breckenridge.  In addition to keeping up on the latest spacecraft attitude control technology, this enabled skiing at the host resorts as well at Vail and A Basin.

Ski Trips 1999 - 2000

Sierra Blanca - Ruidoso, New Mexico

Northstar, Alpine Meadows, (Tahoe North Shore) Truckee, Ca. 2000 ……… 2018 off and on numerous times.

Breckenridge (AAS, AIAA Rocky Mountain Guidance & Control Conference) - when I find a sponsor Breckenridge, Colo.

Jackson Hole, Grand Targee, Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Ski Trips 2000 - 2001

Sierra Blanca - Ruidoso, New Mexico Thanksgiving - was exceptionally good for this early in the season and this far South

Heavenly on South Shore - sort of rocky on this trip, needing more snow.  Checked out the new gondola from down town.

Alta, Alta, Alta, Solitude, Park City, Deer Valley, Brighton, ???? Salt Lake City, Utah:  Coming February.

Ski Trips 2018

Mammoth ………. finally!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ewing's Rapid is about one quarter mile North of the Kern River crossing bridge in Kernville, California. It's not dangerous, but fun. Usually considered a class 3+ I think, but it can have some exciting wave and hole action. This photo is May of 1999. Kayaking mostly took a back seat to windsurfing this year. Next year we will try to schedule Caribbean windsurfing a little earlier, in May, so we are around for the June runoff for kayaking,

A little time is passing and windsurfing has been dominating my water sports activities lately.   As a result I only get to the river a couple times per year recently.    Last paddled this rapid in May 2003 at a flow of 2500 cubic feet per second - much higher waves but actually easier to get through the rapid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baja:  The photo is from San Felipe, Baja California along the Northern portion of the Sea of Cortez. Was taken several years ago, probably fall of 97- inside the boat harbor as you can see perhaps. You'll need the KGB again to tell that's me behind the shadows. Although a good board and rig is upwards to $2000, the quote is right for this sail and my favorite 110 liter Bic Vivache, 282 cm board.

Two recent trips to San Felipe  11/03/99 - 11/09/99 and 01/23/00 - 01/29/00, the latter having been right in the middle of the 'wind season' were complete blow-outs.  Only one day of mediocre wind on the second trip.  Loosing my faith in Baja!  Tried again 09/00 and got a few days of mid-day decent wind.

Punta San Carlos, on the Pacific coast 50 miles (40 unimproved) south of El Rosario  & Los Barrriles (60 mi south of La Paz) ~1996.  La Ventana (30 mi south of La Paz) Grand Canaria 2002

Aruba:  In 1999 I spent the entire month of June at Windsurf Village in Aruba, three weeks, and Margarita, Venezuela, 1 week, at the El Yaque Paradise Hotel. This was supposed to be a big 'fling' after retiring, but it turned out to be before retiring. After attempting to acquire the skill of the planeing jibe for about 18 months, the idea was to really concentrate on this. Still didn't get it perfected, practice at Cabrillo Beach in Southern California for the remainder of the summer got me up above the 75% success ratio. Late in the summer I was able to sail for 3 days at Rio Vista in Northern California and the success ratio was even better there.

Again in the spring of 2000 I was able to repeat a month long Caribbean trip, spending two weeks at Margarita and catching the Margarita Wild Winds, where we got to meet and see lots of windsurfing celebrities - Kevin Pritchard, Jaime Torres, Micah Buzianis, Ricardo Campello (about 10 years old then)- how's that for name dropping, then returning to Aruba to mix and compete with the Tackle Shack crowd in late June for another two weeks.  If you think this was neat, you should hear about my friend - she went to Jericoacoara.  On this trip happened to coincide with Margarita’s Wild Winds competition.  Ricardo had several local contemporaries competing in the free-style competition.  Interesting to note his Father is Kleiber Moto who ran the internet café in \El Yaque, but an accomplished windsurfer in his own rite with pictures of him and Robby Naish adorning the walls of the internet café.

After a false start, or shall we say exploratory trial going as far as Fortaleza in January 04, I did get to Jericoacoara in 2007.  Great trip, read about it at the link.

Now that planeing jibes are starting to work pretty well, by the end of the summer I hoped to be well on the way to the Lay-Down, Clue-First Water Starts, Helicopter Tacks, Planeing Duck Jibes, and elementary jumps (after a lot of fruitless trials most of that stuff went by the way side)  I did gain some ability to do short board tacks, clue-first water starts and clue-first sailing, but in the winds of Maui’s north shore all these free-style dreams went for naught.

Margarita:  After the two Margarita visits this became a regular spring trip every year 1999 through 2010, missing 09 only for a total of 12 years.  I believe on every trip but the 1st, a regular sailing companion, John McIntyre, accompanied me.  Margarita was much better than Aruba as in the Venezuelan economy lodging, meals, and equipment rental were cheaper – usually staying at El Yaque Paradise Hotel and renting gear at Windsurf Paradise.  The wind was quite reliable on our May-June dates and not shadowed by high-rise hotels as sometimes on Aruba.  Further, we lived right on a nice beach and it was always easy to walk to local restaurants for dinner around the village of El Yaque.

Cabarete:  During this period I also got into the routine of going to Cabarete, Dominican Republic along in the Mar-April time slot.  Wind results in this time period were mixed.  The last trip, 2005, I sat down there for 14 days and did not get any significant sailing.  They do have a great wave through when there is wind.  Generally the wave face is perpendicular to the wind and the shore, though a quarter mile of so out.  The wave-wind orientation allows sailing out through the rough between successive waves, a fun and perhaps more benign setup.  Cabarete however, is also significantly more expensive than Margarita.

North Padre Island:  Subsequent to 05 I became a Winnebago traveler and began a routine, 2006 – 17, of generally spending April at the National Seashore at Bird Island Basin 15 miles south of Corpus Christy, Texas.  March through May produces a lot of windy days and relatively warm weather.  Occasional “northerners” come through, reversing the wind and dropping air and water temperature suddenly and drastically – but still sailable for the hearty.  Over the years there developed a great group of windsurfers from all over the US, at least as far east as Michigan and to the West Coast including Northwest – including Hood River area folks - even Toronto.  Many regulars are acquainted and camped about 20 – 30 feet from water’s edge and interact in odd hours and when the wind isn’t blowing.  Worldwinds Windsurfing is there on the edge of the camping area for rentals or equipment or instructional needs.  Also, Andy Brandt shows up usually late April for a long weekend to conduct a windsurfing clinic.  Sailing here in the Laguna Madre is the greatest place imaginable for beginners as the water is usually warm and it’s hard to find places where the water is more than shoulder deep.

Winnebago travel also provided a convenient mean to travel to and camp and windsurf several times to the Columbia River Gorge.

Maui:  In 2003 I bought a condo on Maui and subsequently began sailing here four to five months per year when the wind blows.  As the years have passed this has gradually diminished windsurfing travels to other destinations as well as local Cabrillo Beach sailing in So Ca.

When I retired from Hughes to emphasize windsurfing and consulting my colleagues sent me off with this great new North TransAM 7.3 m2.  Probably the biggest named sponsor around, excepting all the AAdvantage sails you see in Aruba, and of course Andy Brandt's "Dad's Paint & Varnish Remover."  Here we're getting out through the rocky entry at Candlestick on the San Francisco Bay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Australia

The Past

This is one of my favorite countries in the world.  I have been to eastern Australia seven times between 1985 and 1992.  Much was for business in connection with the design and launch of commercial communication satellites for Aussat and later for Optus.   However, I managed to include numerous other adventures too.  On an early trip in 1985 I stopped for several days of SCUBA dive on Fiji.  My Sydney – LA flight stopped at Nadi.  From there I took a local flight on a DC-3 to a remote NE island, then by boat to a more remote island, names lost to me at this writing.   The local airline may have been called Sunshine, and stopped at several intermediate local rain-flooded grass strip runways with terminals like a Pennsylvania country school bus shelter, once with runway just vanishing over a cliff at it’s end.  Very difficult to get enough speed for take rolling through the water film on the grass runway.  Some other of these adventures are, a week of SCUBA diving on Herron Island, several visits to Cairns and SCUBA on the barrier reef in that area, a multi-day live-aboard SCUBA boat trip out of Port Douglas to "the cod hole" and a night by and on (but not at the resort) Lizard Island, a short visit to Hamilton Island, and several excursions to the Table Lands and surrounding Outback of Northern Queensland.  On Christmas eve on 1992, after the infamous failure of the Chinese Long March rocket to launch Optus B(3?) into orbit, I started a 10 - 12 day drive north from Sydney in a rental car with a tent and sleeping bag and got as far as Noosa, past the Gold and Sunshine coasts, casual camping in most locations.

The Future (edited 2018)

The dream persists, to return to Australia for two to four months during the southern hemisphere summer, rent or buy some sort of spartan motor home or camping vehicle and circumnavigate the Australian continent at a leisurely pace.  By now (2018) the future has happened – click back to descriptions of these ambitions achieved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

French Guiana 1995

Christmas past, Lee Pressman and I were discussing the launch of our latest Brasilsat communications satellite.  I noted how I have participated in perhaps 50 or more satellite launches, and would be participating in this one from the Satellite Control Station at Guaratiba, near Rio de Janiero, but had never been to a rocket launch site where the satellite leaves the earth.  For those unfamiliar, the rocket is like a big delivery truck ride to space.  This ride lasts about 30 minutes and takes you up about 200 miles.  For nearly all commercial communication satellites, this short hop is followed by up to two weeks of "flying" the satellite up to geostationary orbit (about 22,000 nautical miles), deploying various solar arrays, antennas, etc. and a check out period before being placed into service.

In any case, Lee suggested I come along as a VIP guest to the launch site in French Guiana, and proceed on to Rio after the liftoff.  Of course I jumped at the chance!  The first excitement was the misplacement of our luggage in poor plane connections between Miami and San Juan.  We proceed without it to Guadelupe, where we stayed an extra day waiting for the luggage to no avail.  As our plane was taxiing out for departure to Martinique, we saw the American flight landing with the luggage.  We proceeded by air to Cayenne, and by car to the launch site at Kourou, French Guiana, and the luggage finally caught us a couple days later.  Though the Ariane rocket is a joint European venture, the launch site at Kourou is operated by the French.    We had about a week of spacecraft preparation and leisure awaiting the liftoff day. The VIP treatment, tours, great launch viewing position, etc. were great.   But seconds before ignition a malfunction aborted the mission!   We had another week to wait.  For those personnel who work continuously at the launch site entertainment soon becones scarce.   To thwart them from playing bumper cars with the rentals they have Jean Banet, the activity manager.  Just tell him what you want to do (except bumper cars) and he arranges it and often serves as guide. On one hike he found us an 8 foot boa, we went canoeing on a jungle river, for a mid-night BBQ on a beach about 50 miles west on a full-moon night when 1600 lb sea turtles were coming ashore to burry eggs, we saw many, and we went on a 3 day weekend over night backpack to the west at Suriname.  The French backpack with bottles of wine!  At the campsite we slept in hammocks under a shelter to protect from snakes, critters, and weather.   On the return day we had lunch at a river front café on the Maroni River.  The border of Suriname is the east edge of the river, so putting your toe in is a visit to Suriname.  After the week wait for a part from France and recycle of the launch vehicle we viewed a spectacular night launch.  Then off to Belém, Rio, and the satellite control station.

A night in Belém.  This city is at the mouth of the Amazon at 1.5º S latitude.  The drive from the airport was through extreme poverty and torrential rain all the way.   At the hotel we formed a "bucket brigade" of luggage between the taxi and the lobby -- but when all collected out of the rain, my laptop was absent.  I had watched very carefully at the airport, and was SURE it got put in our taxi.  Marcello, one of Brasillian customers traveling with us, got on the phone to the airport taxi stand.  After repeated calls, searches, denials, threats to get the police or do something more radical by Marcello, about an hour later the laptop arrived at the hotel.  I am forever grateful that Marcello was so forceful - and I didn't have to endure the remainder of the trip and satellite mission without my laptop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

China 1995, 96

November 1995 was my first trip to China, to Beijing on business.  The trip was associated with and upcoming launch of a Hughes satellite, Apstar 1A, for Asia Pacific Telecom (APT).  This satellite was scheduled later for launch on the Chinese Long March rocket that had just catastrophically failed during an Intelsat launch attempt.   Video was captured of this failure during which the rocket went into horizontal flight and exploded in a near-by village showing much of the rocket flight and damage wrought by its crash and explosion.     We stayed in the Beijing Palace, perhaps the finest hotel in Beijing, and one evening had an infamous $400 fish in addition to the main entree because Jack W. didn't handle the Chinese language as well as we hoped.   In spare time I wondered around Beijing alone being absolutely awe struck with the thousands of years of heritage in the Forbidden City, Temple of Heavenly Peace, and many other temples and landmarks.  In working time we listened to the Chinese explain what went wrong with the rocket and how they might fix it.  I got appointed to a six person International Review Committee (IRC) which led to a continuing review of Chinese corrective measures and two later trips to China.  It is noteworthy that at this time there was a severe shortage of commercial launch vehicles and facilities in the world because of the space shuttle Challenger disaster.  In the lead up to this the US placed heavy emphasis on launching everything in the shuttle, and conventional rocket launch programs were slowed or abandoned.   After the Challenger crash, all but a few government payloads were restricted off the shuttle, and the commercial satellite industry was scrambling all over the world for launch capacity.

In April and May 96 I returned to meet with the IRC members and the Chinese engineers to hear and review the Long March failure assessment and correction measures taken.   Although the active rocket launch site is at Xi'Chang several hundred miles southwest of Beijing, our meeting were mostly held at the Long March assembly and test facility on the edge of Beijing.    A new experience for me was no address to this place - you could not step out of the hotel and ask a cab to take you to the Long March factory, instead one had to have a driver who had been there before.  This is not so uncommon, I encountered it much later in Mexico City, but it was a first for me.  During spare time on this visit Madame Zhou, an APT representative, took some of us to the Great Wall Badaling section and the Ming Tombs.   On one day we visited the Beijing Flight Controls Institute and went that evening to an elegant dinner at the Emperor's Summer Palace, home of the Marble Boat and other scenery and architecture.  Although the Long March was returned to service and we launched the Apstar satellite in July 96, this was the last commercial launch of an American Satellite by a Chinese rocket for a long time.  The IRC, comprised 6 members, four from the US, one from Australia and one from the UK, was tasked to review and understand the Chinese failure action and report to the insurers, another international conglomerate not including any Chinese.   Partially based on this report, the insurers would decide whether and for what premium they would insure the success of the impending Apstar launch.  

The IRC members were quite aware of severe trade restrictions that prohibited us from helping the Chinese improve their rocket.   Still, there were activities requiring judgments, and a time came when how these judgments came down would be questioned.  About this time the administration in Washington came under strong criticism for licensing the launch of American satellites with Chinese rockets from China.  Some elements of the opposing political party claimed it was happening for political financial gain while others claimed the Chinese were being aided in development of better rockets.     This situation churned in the press and elsewhere for a couple years, until in June 1998 the Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China (Cox Committee) was voted into existence by the US House of Representatives.  This committee, chaired by Representative Christopher Cox, was tasked with investigating the potential transfer of knowledge and technology to the PRC in a number of disciplines including thermonuclear weapons, high performance computers, precision machine tools, and rocketry.    A redacted (the classified version in Jan 99) version of the Committee Report was issued in May 1999, with satellite launch related material in Chapters 5 and 6.   The report has been critiqued at the link.  One major result of the Cox Committee investigation was that export control of commercial communication satellites was transferred from the Department of Commerce to the Department of State and placed on the US Munitions List, requiring also export controlled under the ITAR and Department of Defense and review.    For the 30 years from 1970 to 2000 the commercial satellite manufacture for the free world was totally dominated by a couple companies in the US.  Subsequent the new export regulation resulting from the Cox investigation, foreign customers became increasingly annoyed by what they could not be told about the product they were buying - even our friends like Canada, Australia etc., and as a result began migrating more to foreign suppliers, particularly in Europe.   By 2010 a good share of the commercial satellite market had moved away from the US.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oops, didn't get this section finished yet!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pantanal My Brazilian friends tell me this word means a region of swamps (swampy region). If you look it up, pântano means swamp in Português. This region is in the central western portion of Brasil (Brazil, English?), before the land starts to rise up to the Andes. After both enjoying and being disappointed by a trip to the Brazilian Amazon region west of Manaus I learned of the pantanal. A few hundred miles west of Rio de Janeiro the land falls off a very high cliff that continues North-South for perhaps several hundred miles. On the West, low, side of this cliff, the land is very flat and almost completely flooded when I flew over it. Perhaps it is somewhat like the Everglades of Florida, except much closer to the equator. The region is in the "state" of Mato Grosso, and to visit it one would probably travel to Campo Grande as a starting point. It is reported that there is a plethora of wild life in its natural state in this region, including many jungle animals and exotic birds. A friend who knows, writes to me:

"I went to pantanal this year with a group of friends. It was an unforgettable adventure. Fishing - watching nature, birds, crocodiles and many other animals - boating across endless lagoons of transparent waters, eating, drinking beer....enjoying life. The best period to go is when the waters are coming down - this is April/May. As for the mosquitoes they can always be a burden but not too much in this period".

So .......... one of my desires is to visit the pantanal soon in the future. If you have been there or have a similar interest please send me email at JWSmay@earthlink.net.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Australia, one of my favorite places. I have been lucky enough to visit Australia several times and plan to make it my winter home eventually. The Gold Coast begins a few miles north of Byron Point (the Eastern most point of the Australian continent) and extends North perhaps 100 miles, past Brisbane. Then the Sunshine Coast begins and extends another 100 miles or so the Noosa Head and the Noosa River.

 

some key words: Atherton, Kuranda, Yungaburra, Tully, Cairns, Port Douglas

 

 

Maui

Maui is a favorite place for me.  I first came to Maui on a 10 day car camping trip about 1977.  In the late 90's after I started windsurfing, I began coming more regularly.  In 2003 I got a condominium on the south edge of Kihei across from Kamaole III Park.  The preceding link goes to some photos in and around the condo, the complex is called Hale Kamaole,  and a few other scenes around Maui.  Since then I have been coming even more, usually to supervise and work on upgrades to the condo and hopefully to get a lot of windsurfing in too.   My latest upgrade project is a new tongue & groove ceiling and lighting.  Too bad I don't have a "before" picture to show the improvement.

When I am not here the condominium is rented.  Rentals are managed by Condominium Rentals Hawaii (oops ....... no more rentals after 2010)

Many friends visit in Maui from time to time when I am here.  One friend from my professional, skiing, kayaking, and other lives is Andy.  He came over to Maui in 04, bringing his bike, and rode up Haleakala.  On that trip he motivated me to get a bicycle here that I frequently use. Then in 2005 Andy came back and shamed me into riding up Haleakala with him.  We started about 6 am in Paia, me on my $800 bike and Andy on his $8000 bike.  Eight hours, 38 miles, and 10,000 ft later we got to the top.  Coming down he wanted to go very fast, an activity that frightens me, so we parted.   About at the entrance to the park I found him (weak kneed beware) splattered all over the road.  So, we both got a ride down in the ambulance.  Andy recovered, and has actually ridden up the mountain one more time.  He can't learn to windsurf though, while I learned better about the mountain in only one try.    Bike riding on Maui is frequently tough, either riding into the wind or up mountains.  My local friend, Tom, and I frequently ride from Waiehu up the east side of West Maui Mountain to the Turnbull Art Studio and return on Sunday mornings, only about 16 miles, but one way is all up hill!

Windsurfing is my favorite activity on Maui or elsewhere.  The latest water sport rage is stand up paddling (SUP) which has become very popular on Maui since about 2005.  Many go rather long distances over rough water, and the real experts do serious stand up surfing.  During a few days recently, (11/08) when we had no wind I got a board from a friend and practiced some of the basics.  I can go out on calm water with small swells, low surf, and keep my shirt dry now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 SCUBA Diving

In 1977 I got Hughes to sponsor me to give a paper at a Conference on Spacecraft Attitude Control at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The discipline was pretty new then even thought we had been to the moon 8 years before.  I was the greenee, but somehow I got thrown in with a group of movers and shakers in the discipline.  Some folks were taking an idle day to go down to Pennekamp Park on Key Largo and invited me to go along.  The group included a lot of “well knowns” excluding me, Tom Spencer, Dan DeBra and Art Bryson from Stanford, and Phil Dahl from Aerospace Corp.  Sorry I depart a bit from SCUBA diving, but I add a little background.  Bryson, along with Ho, was well known for development “optimal control”, an emerging discipline, while DeBra worked for years on a spacecraft called “Gravity Probe B” that had something to do with verification of Einstein’s theories and was eventually a success, while Phil Dahl conceived the model of Dahl Friction.  All of these folks can be found on the internet today.  In any case, Pennekamp was an under-water park with spectacular tropical scenery.  As I recall, Bryson and I were the only ones not certified for SCUBA and relegated to snorkeling.  Nevertheless, it was very impressive. So impressive that within the month, back in Southern Ca. I was enrolled in SCUBA classes at Dive n’ Surf down the street.

Early diving was round Sothern California, beach diving at Whites’ Point off Palos Verdes, at points off Baja California and boat diving around various local islands, Catalina, San Clemente, Santa Barbara.  Soon after my sister and brother-in-law got certified and we made numerous trips to Mexico and the Caribbean on dive adventures – the Caymans, Turks, Bonaire.

Eventually I was able to dive off Fiji and many times on the Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea of Australia.  One high-light was a live aboard trip out of Port Douglas to the “Cod Hole” and to Lizard Island.