Location: Fort Funston (South of San Francisco's Ocean Beach)

Weather: 49°F, winds to 35mph+

Aircraft: Cermark Banchee E3D

Camera: DC-T50

Description:
When I first arrived at this location I could see the next storm cell moving in rapidly so I got the plane airborne as quickly as possible. I've flown in some pretty crappy weather before but today was by far the absolute worst conditions I've ever experienced. At one point the wind was so strong my plane would not make headway even at full power! I got in two shots, both at take-off before the winds intensity rocked the plane so badly that I ended up crash landing in the field adjacent to the parking lot. Score 0 for 1.

I went home to get some dry clothes and to repair the plane. Met up with a couple of flying buddies later on back at the Fort and after kludging together a temporary mount for the camera (note the copious amounts of tape), launched under dimming skies. Flew for close to 10 minutes and thought I had over two dozen shots in the bag, not a single one came out and my buddies ragged on me for not only keeping them standing there in the rain but for not producing a single keeper. Score 0 for 2.

Sorry I could not contribute anything to this great effort but if it's any consolation, at least I saw a rainbow on the way home.

Happy 2005 everybody!

-Roger