Outdoors Maryland Classics; 113

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It's always windy in this valley. Spilling hard over Pennsylvania's rocky ridges to the north. Air here rides the tree tops to the valley floor rushes south over Pastor strikes this Mountains weathered face and pushes straight up until it swallows a rugged piece of stony outcrop called High Rock. Imprisoned on three sides by a wilderness of steep foothills It's a daring place to visit especially if you can fly. This soaring Mecca for winged creatures also summons on natural slides most serious and persistent students. Spirits are high on this particularly blustery autumn day especially among some of the more experienced hang glider pilots who arrive here on Maryland's northern fringe of the Catoctin Mountains. High Rock is a spectacular bluff that has long lowered pilots and climbers. But weekends transformed this wooded ridge into a rendezvous point for the curious who come to

soak in a beauty that contrasts with the inherent danger of the place. Today the crowd senses the valleys more blustery than usual. Pilots Matt Graham and Karen care are husband and wife team who come here to harness Iraq's ceaseless breeze and fly the volley. Both hope to be today's escalating winds and launch Marvin Presley from nearby bones were all hopes for a high fast ride his piloting specialty is flying on one like today's blustery and fickle. I like stronger conditions and for the fact that you all get nervous when they long and you get a natural adrenaline flow just like you played the sport competition which makes your sharper more aware of what's going on around you so you get totally focused that launch. Launch is very important. Wind speeds to be 15 miles an hour less for a safe takeoff. But now gust between

eight and thirty raising the inevitable question of safety. Pilot Mark Frank of Washington DC has been soaring for more than 10 years. I think. It is the kind of sport. That. If you push the envelope before you really are well trained and well experienced you can make it very dangerous for yourself. But it really boils down to is that pilot judgment is really the most important aspect of minimizing risk when flying hang gliders first on the launch ramp this afternoon as Presley friends fondly call him their window maybe because once in flight he probes and explores winds aloft the radio's conditions to pilots waiting on the ground. However you want to go forward from here. Seventeen hundred feet above sea level pilots can see more than 30 miles into Pennsylvania and West Virginia. One year.

After. They. Were. Awarded. The wrapper on one. Right. Right. Right. Right. Sure. Oh. Good Lord. Oh. My. Good man I. Would get death. About I don't. Know. Back on the ground Eddie Miller asks Presley for a wonder Ford. It's getting rough. The launch window is closing no thanks to a small weather front that's blowing through the valley.

Veteran pilot Bob Gillis he decides to go now get down there in the wake of rough because what you have got away with it right ahead. That will be the most awful thing. For you and I thought by the time it went out. Though accidents are uncommon among well-trained pilots there are risks to hang gliding precarious wins on takeoff and landing can be as dangerous as equipment failure. The cloud sock is a hazard where veracious updrafts can sweep a glider and pilot inside clouds sometimes with deadly results. And most pilots are warned not to scratch the ridge a risky technique of flying low over tree tops to boost lift. Making hierarchy more challenging and even a bit of a sinister jumping off spot

is the airspace just behind the cliff known as P. 40 the 40 is restricted heavily guarded government air space. Motor driven or gliding aircraft crossing into p. 40 are forbidden intruders risk being shot down. Pilots must use their unique skill in understanding a flight to stay outside before boundaries and understanding that mechanically hang gliding is simply riding the wind. It's physics though or another matter for a complex combination of natural elements. The sun's heat the Earth's shape and color together build the windy up graphs of thermal fly the gliders required to stay aloft. Thanks says knowing how to work the elements can make or break a flight. Basically hang glider pilots use two sources of lift. In order to sustain their flight. One is going to be deflected when that's going to be coming up the mountainside. In other words mechanical Ridge lived is what we call it. The other is convective heating as the day goes on in the sun warms up the

surface. There be columns of heated air called thermals which rise up and typically we try to work them just like birds work. And you've probably seen in the summer time groups of birds circling up to the clouds what we basically attempt to do the same thing. In layman's terms hang glider wing really is a lot like an aircraft wing in the sense that it has a airfoil shape to it so it will deflect air and create lift in the same manner that a conventional aircraft generally does. We have a wide range of wing design some which are appropriate for beginners and some which are more higher performing ones at the sea typically a competitions stall speeds generally vary between around 20 miles an hour 18 to 20 on the lower performing wings up to 20 to 24 in the higher performing range of the top. Performance ones. Now. I get. I got I got

up getting later in the weather no better friend to discharge to face the gathering when news. Broke. Good luck. And. Good luck. With. Your home and. Believe. They're going to. Do that. At. Home. Right. Now it's Matt Graham's turn to launch sunsets only an hour away and he's racing the weather and the clock. A quick check by Mark Cavanagh measures Ridge when gusts of 30 and the drama of whether or not to test the volley wins begins to build. Yeah. I know. Right. Yeah. I know.

Right. There were times Graham groups to the edge ready to launch would backs off as dangerous unstable gusts muffled his glider and grew. At one point he gives up on the day. All right now the wind to pick back up are of like 30 miles an hour or. So away hoping that when the sun comes back out. These clouds are generating left. But the point I think of them contributing to the strong wind. So when the sun comes back out there won't be the left without a with a cloud and the wind will dive back

down. Good patience pays off. Gentler wind unexpectedly spills on to the ridge and lifts him off the rock. They will hang gliding across a border of strings but it's really not. It's more of a sport a sense of freedom in that you can see everything. I mean good lefty get real high but a mile high above the ground you can just see everything that has fantastic beauty inside. Graham's instinct about the weather is right. Turbulence is severe and he plans a quick flight.

The altimeter strapped to his leg beeps loudly as it tracks his rapid descent to the farm field below. We're directly across that field. Will.

Those adventure today was lost to gusty weather soaring is over for now. But the mountains sunlit uplands remind them of the meandering winds of this place and the chance that as there is tomorrow. Her name is island bird and she's one of the grand old ladies of the Chesapeake Bay. Her heritage reaches back more than 100 years to the vanished arrow on wooden boats under sail dominated the horizons and the wide bodied rivers of the bay.

Island bird is a racing log new part of a fleet of sailing boats that can trace their roots back to the Native American dugout canoes. The earlier AP and settlers adapted this canoe building technique and joined together three to five chiseled out logs to form a larger more sea where they haul capable of hauling freight or taking fishermen to oyster bars. In the 19th century there were thousands of these fast and sleek sailing boats that sped up and down the waterways with their billowing sails on their distinctive raked back masts by the turn of the century they devolved into pleasure racing boats. Now there are only slightly more than 20 long canoes remaining. No one knows that history better than the owner and captain of the island bird. JOHN NORTH a retired judge from Talbot County whose family is descended from long canoe builders Island Byrd was built by my great grandfather in 1882.

He was a professional boat builder Tilman Zeile and he built bird a series of other log canoes which were used principally as pleasure racing boats. Bird is the oldest canoe. With a definite construction date. Decade after decade from the roaring 20s to the turbulent 60s. Island bird raced her way through most of this century winning trophy after trophy different captains and different crews but the same sleek haul and glorious cloud of sail earned her a reputation for being a champion both in her class. Judge North has been sailing on the island bird since he was a boy. For him long good news are a passion and so is island bird. Well it would mean so much to anybody that sailed the same boat for 50 years. You'd agree with that I'm sure. This is the 50th year that we have owned it and I've sailed on it. So the emotional attachment has to be substantial.

Like a cloud of white swans swooping low over the water the early summer brings the nose with their wing like sails back to the bay each year. Judge John North's summer home with its a long dock on the banks of the lazy miles river becomes a beehive of activity. If we had land here we could get the Bastile I think probably that's us. Yeah. Crew and helpers scamper about getting the boats ready for a day of races. It's a traditional right here marking the beginning of the racing season. While everyone else is dressed in shorts and T-shirts. Just north follows an old tradition and dresses and a white shirt and white trousers just as they did in the 1920s. He's considered by many to be the dean of the log canoe fleet. He and his family own three of these old boats. Besides Island bird one of the smallest boats in the fleet. There's an island blossom that was recently restored to mark the boats one hundredth

birthday. And there's JD The largest of the log canoes at 60 feet overall built in 1931. She's owned and skippered by one of the judges two sons down North who like his father is a great believer in family and tradition. This boat was built by my great great uncle in 1931 and she's been back in our family as it were since the early 70s and I'm very happy to be here skipper. Take a course since he was built by my great great uncle. But besides tradition speed is what makes these swift unstable sailing boats distinctive with their huge spreads of canvas on their narrow halls. They're racing machines capable of sailing twice as fast as many sailboats their size. JD with her crew of 14 is one of the fastest. These boats don't have a lead heel. Instead we have what we call spring boards which extend out over the side of the boat and we get people to go out on the spring boards to balance the boat.

I don't allow this to have basically a much lighter boat with a lot more sail area and so it can be a much more exciting type of sailing. For the crews of log canoes it's a constant challenge just to keep the boats upright. Most log canoe sailors experience a capsize at least once a season. Even the most skilled can end up in the water when we go into an area and go across when they go on top and they're gorgeous. Oh when I'm selling out I'm thinking of keeping the boat upright and when in the race I don't have a whole lot of thought in the course of the race. The addition of this out about a lot but that comes later after the race is over for the presentation ladies and gentlemen. Over the years judges Northen Ireland bird have rarely ended the racing season without successfully bringing home a trophy but that changed. For the last eight or 10 years we've won. High Point trophy.

Seven or eight times this past year we had an off season. We came in fourth in the high point. Which was something of a wake up call to me I guess. The problem was the advancing age of island bird she was over 100 years old. Judge North had to studiously maintained a boat but rotten wood and rust were beginning to take a heavy toll. We had been bothered with excessive leakage. Water has been coming up in the centerboard truck and from that we knew that the wood surrounding it was getting soft. In short the island bird was in serious danger. The boat was hauled off to a local boat yard in Oxford. The prognosis was even worse than the judge had imagined. We were surprised with the amount of broth and soft wood we encountered which is always the case with an old wooden boat. You find a little spot of rock you figure your chisel it out replace it and the next thing in though that little spot of rock that run the length of the boat.

The project took close to nine months nearly 50 percent of the original wood was replaced including some of the logs that made up the home. Even the decks in the wooden supports underneath had to be rebuilt. Tom Campbell headed up the project. If you want to start on the inside you'll see all the new wood. That has replaced what used to be the center of. The old wood you see on the outsides are what remains of the wing. By using spruce instead of for on some parts of a boat. Island bird would now be considerably lighter and the judge hoped considerably faster on a hot muggy weekend in late June the newly refitted Island bird was very much alive and ready for a trial run. The opening of the log canoe race season on the miles were ever wanted. Yeah yeah I pulled tight last minute preparations were underway on the 45 foot persistence. Last year's overall

winner a few hundred yards away the crew of the Annapolis based Patricia raised their feisty insignia the Chesapeake Bay mosquito will drop the ball one race and beyond and one race also kept a needle Murfree expected stiff competition from the island bird. She's going to be a very very difficult to beat. I judge an off Islander has made a new keel which will allow him to go faster at slower speeds. So Judge not an island bird have now brought their boats up to being a very modern type of technology. The races got under way under sunny skies. The boats glided swiftly up the miles river tacking back and forth. What he likes about the island bird is that. He is. Much more difficult the sale than any other canoe in the fleet because she's so small very tender hairy delicate they require just the right finesse on the teller

and thus a higher challenge. In the first race bird did exceptionally well finishing first in corrected time but in the second race she narrowly averted disaster. The winds were gusty or and more unpredictable and one of the log canoes already overturned in the water. Word came that island bird had suffered the same fate. Right. Right. Where. Is it on the new harbourside remember the other song. Fortunately for Judge North and his crew the knockdown occurred after the race was over. Island bird with her handicap and managed to come in second in corrected time. Welcome solace for the soggy crew. One of the crew members Sidney Dixon explained what happened. Because they. Were sure run abroad. Yes we let the sail go out the sails were in the water. Once the sails are in the water you

can't bottom out any further. You started everything will get wet but not despair as a judge North pulled himself to shore making light of his capsize. Some say it's the speed of the logs were new and the danger of hurtling so close to the water that attracts sailors to these boats. But for others like John north there's clearly something more than just the thrill of going fast racing these boats is also the preservation of tradition and memories. Memories that for him have become intertwined with the island bird. A boat that played a big part in his family's past and is now very much a part of the family's future. A lot I would hope should go for a hundred years after all the refit that she's been to. Here's an apple pie order for the moment to. Drop into our website at w w w dot MP t dot o r

g to send us your comments and suggestions for. Learn more about Maryland's diverse natural beauty on our website. And in our magazine. Deana are inspired by nature guided by science outdoors Maryland is made by NPT to serve all of our diverse communities and is made possible by the generous support of our members. Thank you.