Just adding to the chorus of awesomeness.... Yesterday was surely the best in months in the mtns. 900-1000 fpm reported on my 30 sec averager under one monster cloud. Topped out at 6800msl, with many other climbs to 2,3,4k over. Flew for 4, maybe 4.5 hrs, sore in all the right ways today!!!
MarkC
NW winds this weekend
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
Re: NW winds this weekend
Great day at Woodstock. Fun to see so many pilots out. I've never seen the setup area that packed before. Glad everyone got to soar!
Launch conditions turned out to be fairly technical with the north cross bouncing around in the slot all day. The weird air, combined with quite a few less than stellar launches was some cause for concern among the spectating pilots. No super-close calls, but generally it wasn't pretty. I took video of some of them and included what I have below, good and bad.
I had a nice late-day first mountain flight on my new-to-me Falcon 3 170. It's a little ragged out and has some flutter, but darn it's easy to fly. I sold my Sport 2 this summer in favor of moving back to a glider I felt more comfortable on. I'm glad I did. The Falcon is just so pleasantly carefree to fly and land. I didn't go far, or get very high, but I had a very enjoyable flight and didn't find myself flying scared coming in to land in the Woodstock primary on a North cross.
Here's to more flyable summer days, and Congrats to Charlie for his first flight from Woodstock!
Jesse
Launch conditions turned out to be fairly technical with the north cross bouncing around in the slot all day. The weird air, combined with quite a few less than stellar launches was some cause for concern among the spectating pilots. No super-close calls, but generally it wasn't pretty. I took video of some of them and included what I have below, good and bad.
I had a nice late-day first mountain flight on my new-to-me Falcon 3 170. It's a little ragged out and has some flutter, but darn it's easy to fly. I sold my Sport 2 this summer in favor of moving back to a glider I felt more comfortable on. I'm glad I did. The Falcon is just so pleasantly carefree to fly and land. I didn't go far, or get very high, but I had a very enjoyable flight and didn't find myself flying scared coming in to land in the Woodstock primary on a North cross.
Here's to more flyable summer days, and Congrats to Charlie for his first flight from Woodstock!
Jesse
Re: NW winds this weekend
Thanks for the video, Jesse. Hearing convulsive laughter after my launch does wonders for my confidence. 
Maybe I should make "Neutral!" my new launch cue.
The weekend started off early and bad for me on Friday at the Pulpit. An absolutely lousy approach had me using the entire upper LZ, plus a couple of feet. No damage, just embarrassing. Fortunately, two days later I had one of my better approaches and landings.
4951' over launch and 1:37. A great flight followed by continued euphoria into the morning.
Maybe I should make "Neutral!" my new launch cue.The weekend started off early and bad for me on Friday at the Pulpit. An absolutely lousy approach had me using the entire upper LZ, plus a couple of feet. No damage, just embarrassing. Fortunately, two days later I had one of my better approaches and landings.
4951' over launch and 1:37. A great flight followed by continued euphoria into the morning.
David Bodner
Re: NW winds this weekend
Wow, with all these great altitude gains, did anybody attempt to make it to the winery? Should have been a cakewalk from 81 if one was still at 4K' MSL. Bacil