Tuesday (3/29) @ Woodstock

Post by **Ward Odenwald** » Mon Mar 28, 2016 9:53 am

Forecasts are looking good along the entire length of the Massanutten. Who’s up for some ridge running?

Ward

smurfsky101 · Post by **smurfsky101** » Mon Mar 28, 2016 10:29 am

I'm 98% in

Lostgriz · Post by **Lostgriz** » Mon Mar 28, 2016 11:24 am

Possibly.....

garys · Post by **garys** » Mon Mar 28, 2016 1:42 pm

I am in but can't make it until 3:00.

Post by **wmelo** » Mon Mar 28, 2016 2:25 pm

I think I can be there by 2:30pm in the launch area (may be a little bit before). I will confirm tomorrow morning after seeing the weather forecast.

Post by **krryerson** » Mon Mar 28, 2016 8:43 pm

Planning to be there too. Just talked to Walt and might be able to be there as early as 1 o'clock or even earlier, depending on work.
Knut

smurfsky101 · Post by **smurfsky101** » Mon Mar 28, 2016 10:14 pm

I plan on being there noon thirty at the latest, will hang out and kite in the LZ for a bit.

Looking like damn near perfect macro-meteorological conditions....

Post by **Ward Odenwald** » Tue Mar 29, 2016 6:27 am

ETA 9:30 - 10.

smurfsky101 · Post by **smurfsky101** » Tue Mar 29, 2016 3:29 pm

Another early day for me, sorta. Launch was better this time, the wind started to smooth in and I took a bird soaring as a good omen.

Played around launch for a few minutes before finding a few thermals that seemed to feed together for a solid climb up to cloudbase at 6.4K.

Rolled the dice and went over the back thinking I could speed downwind, ended up landing somewhere on the way to luray in a farmers field.

Am still hitching back, what an adventure!

Extremely pleasant flying conditions. Smooth easy lift

Post by **krryerson** » Tue Mar 29, 2016 9:45 pm

Launched after John anf Ward around 2:30, in great conditions. Never did see them. Flew a few miles up and down for one hour, in spring air. Topped out at 3200 ft. Did feel that the good conditions was starting to shut down. Played safe and landed before Walt and Gary got airborne. Big mistake, should have stayed up. Turned out there was plenty more lift left for the day. They both had very good flights.
Knut

Post by **wmelo** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 8:30 am

Great spring day at Woodstock.
I arrived by 2:000pm at the LA just in time to help Ward and Knut take off. Both of them had very good launches. The conditions were 100% "waltable" and falcon-able. The winds and the gusts were below what the weather.com/NOAA/etc forecast. Gary and another pilot who I cannot remember his name (sorry!!!) helped take off by 3:00pm. I flew for 2h, got 1400meters (4593ft) ASL, and finally landed at the bridge field. Once again I struggled to go down: a lot of lift and thermals in the bridge field.

Concluding, we all had a great day!

Walt

smurfsky101 · Post by **smurfsky101** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 12:14 pm

Congrats to Ward for making it to Massanutten!!

Here's a snapshot of my poor decision making. I had such altitude, and figured that with a 20mph+ tailwind I would be fine making it to Skyline Dr. Ridge. Boy was I wrong, got drilled with an L/D of less than 6 all the way down and ended up only going 12 miles or so.

Here's a snapshot of the IGC

Post by **Ward Odenwald** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 6:10 pm

By all accounts it was a good day to be soaring above the Massanutten. Here’s a “doarama” view of my flight that started just after 2pm. My goal was to fly from one end of the Massanutten to the other (radio tower to radio tower). As can be seen in the flight track of the few thermals that I stayed in (more than one 360), after the New Market gap the thermal drift indicated a NNW air-flow. At times, along some of the ridges the movement of the pine trees suggested a near 90-degree cross. Near the south end, the rock-slides became the most reliable sources of lift. I’ll post a few photos later.

Many thanks to Walt, Knut and Juan for helping me launch and especially to Juan for my retrieval!

Best viewed with Google Chrome, full screen at 8x speed along the ridges and 4x for the gap crossings.

http://www.doarama.com/create?a=737288

Ward

PS: Thanks Knut for advice concerning posting the flight track!

Post by **XCanytime** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 7:47 pm

Hey Ward this Sunday is an ideal opportunity to do it again. The wind is fcst to clock around the other way during the day, making the flow more perpendicular to the ridge to the south. Where did you land? Bacil

Post by **krryerson** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 8:01 pm

Ward,
What a great flight. LOVE IT! Good job and hopefully I can try to follow you next time.
Thanks for posting it on Doarama.
Knut

Post by **Ward Odenwald** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 8:09 pm

Thanks Knut! I agree Bacil, right now, Sunday does look like a do-over. Here's the GPS numbers for the landing: Longitude 38.36169; Latitude -78.76840

Post by **XCanytime** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 10:31 pm

How does one view the flight w/o a GOOGLE or FACEBOOK account? Thanks, Bacil

Post by **Ward Odenwald** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 11:07 pm

Sign up for a free google email account (@gmail.com). Nothing else is required. Given that they (google) already know more than you think about you/us, why not? The doarama format has a very good google earth (3D) background that shows the surface contures of the Massanutten ridges.

On another unrelated development: This evening, I discovered that one of my zipper sliders (the unzip slider) has a broken pull attachment (the attachment snapped off during Tuesday's landing). Its a Moyes Matrix harness. Does any one know where I can buy locally (or via the web) new zipper spreaders?

Ward

Post by **silverwings** » Wed Mar 30, 2016 11:32 pm

Ward it was pretty neat viewing your flight. As far as zippers, there are multiple sizes and kinds of zippers but many used in harnesses are YKK zippers. If the tab broke off of the slider, it would be best to remove the slider and take it with you to find a replacement. I have a few but may or may not be the correct one. Some fabric stores sell zippers but may not have the size you need.

Lostgriz · Post by **Lostgriz** » Thu Mar 31, 2016 8:22 am

Steve Wendt at Blue Sky can help you with your zipper. He replaced mine for my Covert and did an excellent job. He has the heavy duty zippers in stock.

Matt

Post by **krryerson** » Thu Mar 31, 2016 3:06 pm

Bacil,
Try this link for Wards flight:
http://www.doarama.com/view/697837
Ward, your flight in Doarama seems to be still in editing. Did click on upper right corner Create Visualization, so viewers don't need an Google or Facebook account to see the flight.
Knut

Post by **Ward Odenwald** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 7:10 pm

Starting with the Edinburg Gap, here are consecutive images of the flight down to the southern end of the Massanutten (sorry for not posting sooner). Combined with the earlier posted flight track, they should help others that are headed in the same direction.

Ward

PS: Given the five image max/posting, the 25 pics will be parsed into 5 posts.