Highland Sun the 26th

[John Simon]

Ridonculous.

Lots of pilots, and as usual I arrived late and numerous gliders up and very high. Many pilots over 6000 and 7000 feet at 1pm, they report very cold temperatures and light drift out of the north. The clouds are well streeted and impressive.
I wait for Ric N. to arrive while Bertrand and Jim M. land to warm up. Rich E., Rich M., Greg S., Blain, Steve K. Heather, Sammie and others are all flying or gearing up. We setup a small out and back to Masse, it's 46 miles round trip with the first line into the 7-10 mph north wind. Took quite some time to make it to Masse while fighting the wind.. but the trip home was fast and furious. I hooked a cloud street and did VERY little turning on the 23 mile downwind run, touching 6300' and wishing I were lower due to frosty fingers. Ric also makes it back and Jimmy comes close. I had radio trouble so was not able to get Rich on board. Next time!
Many great and high flights. Bertrand hits 7950'.... I've not been to 8000' on the eastern shore in 10 years of flying there so that tells you how good it was. 500-600 fpm was standard and many 700 and even a couple 800 fpm climbs (although I was not turning so not sure if it counts... but it was sustained!).
Great time hanging under the temple watching the sunset with a few beers.

Hasta,

John

[Rich E]

Agreed, it was crazy good but oh so cold - took just over 20 mins to get down, hands like frozen lumps of meat, not enough layers but what an incredible day. Had a good tow, boomed up to 7K, seemed like just a huge area of lift everywhere, hunted for sink and cored it down, tried to time arrival over field with a big cloud to calm down any thermals and that worked but went long, had to squeak over a taxiway and had a minor nose cone touch, little or no grip or feeling in hands - epic day

Cheers

Rich

[Brit_in_SoMD]

Certainly was good, but cold - thank goodness for my thick flight suit and bar mitts!

Based on wind reports, set myself a small triangle to try - Ridgely, Goldsboro, Roe, Ridgely - as i wanted to get up and going before everyone else was ready.
Got a good climb reasonably soon off tow, didn't drop below about 4k for the rest of the flight (just over 2 hrs) until i came down to land.
First climb had me drifiting south and east of the field, so I tried working back up/cross wind towards my route. However, after several attempts at that, my patience ran out on how painfully slow progress was, so i decided to stop fighting it and just went with the drift. Had begun to start feeling queasy and was starting to think about not wanting a long flight, so rather than just pointing downwind, which would have given Angelyn a long retrieve and me not learning much, i decided to head back towards Ridgely, expecting not to make it, but happy with the multitude of landing options available on the way. HOwever, i did make it, thanks to all the magic lift everywhere! I think i made it back overhead around 2k and had to stick in the sink holes to get down.
Not a dainty landing due to tired, slightly chilled and queasyness, but my nose cone didn't actually touch the ground!

Furthest point out was just under 12km, so 24km total. Not far i know, but not bad for me on my first flight of the year!
Good times!

Thanks as always to Adam, Sunny and special guest tug pilot Mitch.

Richard