 November 14, 2007 - Seminole, FL in a Grob 103, Two tows. First flight to 2,300 ft for checkout lasting .3 of an hour. Second to 5,000 ft, .5 of an hour.
I was in Florida for some business and had the opportunity to take the afternoon off and go soaring. I have always wanted to try soaring in Florida and finally got a chance! Seminole is an absolutely beautiful airport. This was my first time even seeing a grass runway. What a great place to get started. The owner was very friendly and easy-going. We did a quick checkout so I could then take a business friend on a ride. I haven't been in a Grob 103 for many years but after one flight it was comfortable. I was really surprised at how slowly the control responses were in this particular one. It felt more sluggish than a 2-33! We had a great flight and my friend who is a power pilot got his first taste of soaring. Too bad it didn't last long because of launching the end of the day but we still had fun. Great flight and I hope to make it back to Seminole soon!
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 December 16, 2007 - Dillingham, Hawaii in Grob 103 Acro, One 4,000 ft tow, 1.0 hour flight.
The family went to Hawaii for an early Christmas present. Heidi and I have never been there before. We have visited either Mexico or the Carribean almost every year since we were married 10 years ago (10 aniversary is tomorrow the 17th) and we were excited to see the Pacific. We spent a week in Maui with the 3 kids and loved it. The weather was sunny, warm and great inspite of forcasts for rain and we had a blast.
The last 3 days of the trip we then spent in Wai Ki Ki in Oahu. It was fun surfing with the kids and seeing a different island but I would want to spend another vacation either in Maui or another of the smaller less populated islands. I knew, however, that I would finally get a chance to soar the volcanoes of Hawaii as advertised in SOARING magazine. I have been waiting to do this for over 14 years now.
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 My wife was great and let me take over half a day and drive across the island to the north shore and fulfill this dream. She stayed at the beach and watched my oldest (Alexis who is 8) surf and my other 2 play in the water. The drive was beautiful and I was really excited once I got to the airport. The people there are very friendly and I told them I just wanted to go fly and have someone sit in back because they wanted an extensive check-out with 3+ tows and hour of ground school. Scott ended up just sitting in back and I flew the whole flight. I was really glad to have him there because I then could get away from the airport and not worry about them getting mad at my going too far. I took a high tow out to the west because the wind was coming from the east. It was my first time taking a scienic tow and was well worth it.
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 We then headed back east, got off tow and then played around the higher volcano for the next hour. The winds were strong and the lift was strong as well. It was amazing circling over the jungle peaks just a few hundred feet below at times. I would strongly recommend anyone who is in Oahu to take the time to go on a soaring flight like this. Well worth it!
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 This last photo was taken above Dillingham a few thousand feet. You can see the coral reefs and just how close to the ocean the airport really is. What a spectacular location to go soar. Thanks so much Soar Hawaii for the opportunity! Well, it looks like this will end up being the last soaring flight of 2007. I ended up soaring 37.4 hours and flying 33 hours in powered planes. Not a ton of time but each minute doing both was a ton of fun.
I look forward to 2008 and can't wait to hear from more of you. I have received dozens of emails from people through out the this last year who have shared their own flying and soaring stories with me or who have asked questions about the Phoebus in particular. Your emails are greatly welcomed and I hope to meet more soaring pilots or hopeful pilots in 2008. Happy New Years and God bless! -- Bruno
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