New Record from Highland!!!

[Paul Tjaden]

Last Wednesday, John Simon and I were lucky enough to be invited to fly with Sunny on one of his days off. He is going to compete in the ECC this year and wanted some experience flying XC with a couple of us that compete on a more regular basis. We had flown a triangle together a day or two earlier and Sunny had kicked my butt so I wanted revenge. The forecast looked pretty great for a long downwind to the north so we decided to try to break Ric N's record. Jim Rooney was kind enough to drive for us so at about 1:00 we were off. We thermalled up together over the field and headed north with a handful of thin Q's forming. CB was up around 5K at that time but would later get to over 5,500. John took the early lead but Sunny, who had gotten a lower start was struggling as the sky seemed to be drying up behind us.

By the time John and I reached the C&D canal, about 40 miles north, we were considering not continuing on because our progress was slower than we had hoped for. We didn't want the hassle of a long flight and retrieve if we couldn't have a shot at the record. Sunny, who was a few miles behind us decided to fly back to Massey airport and call it a day but John and I hooked up over a northern branch of the Chespeake and climbed up for another glide. We crossed onto the mainland just west of Elkton and found ourselves higher than the cloud base to our north. Not sure what caused the lower and lighter conditions (perhaps the southerly wind coming in off the bay?) but from here on we never got above 4,500 and lift was broken and hard to core. I kept thinking we should just give it up and save some of the long drive back but John and I are both inherently stuborn so we continued drifting to the north stopping for climbs in every bug fart we found.

During this part of the flight I managed to slip a couple of miles ahead of John and was feeling quite superior but at about 75 miles we started encountering huge areas of trees along the ridges with few LZ's and the sun was getting lower along with my altitude. At 85 miles John slipped by me while I was trying to get enough altitude to make it past the next area of unlandable terrain but a few minutes later he radioed that he was at 1,500 msl and was probably about to land. Around 5:00, I went on my last glide from about 2,500 in completely smooth air and landed in a hilly meadow at 93 miles from Ridgely about 15 miles south of Allentown. I tried to radio John just before landing and got no response so I thought he had landed and that we had both fallen short of the record of 104 miles. After landing I tried to contact him by phone and also got no response. I was so certain that he was on the ground that I started to worry thinking he had hurt himself in a rough landing and was unable to use his phone. Finally about 45 minutes later John called with the news he had gotten a low save and climbed back to 4,500 and made it another 15 miles landing on a golf course at 108 miles out where he was treated like a hero and taken to the club bar for liquid refreshment while I sat in my bug ridden field.

Jim and Sunny showed up shortly and after having a great dinner in Allentown we finally returned to Ridgely at about 1:00.

Hopefully John will have time to tell us more about his flight. I just wanted to publicly congratulate the bastard for kicking my ass!!!

Paul (always the bridesmaid!!!)

[Lauren Tjaden]

The boys did indeed fly great! I flew the triangle the day before with them, but I decided on an out and back the day they flew downwind. Downwind record attempts always make for a marathon day and night. I flew downwind first (on my out and back) which was a mistake, because the trip home took MUCH longer -- but I made it. I was a little jealous of the boys but not too much. I enjoyed a martini and steak dinner with my old buddies before hitting the sack (John Simon left me his truck). Paul crawled into bed after one AM!
Lauren
PS- We are having the best time ever on our trip here. We have missed our friends here SO much.

[brianvh]

Way to go John! Nice epic. Now if you really want to be like Ric you need to figure out how to land at home. If you're lawn's not big enough I'm sure the naval academy won't mind you using their parade ground.

[hang_pilot]

LAST Wednesday?

You guys were sure keeping these fantastic achievements on the d.l. Congratulations to both of you for amazing flights.

Was John on his kingposted Discus?

~Daniel

[Paul Tjaden]

I should have mentioned that John was flying JD's Litespeed. Bad enough that he got the record and I didn't. Don't think I could have lived it down had he been flying his "pig sticker".

Paul

[John Simon]

Thanks to all,
I got lucky when Sunny actually figured out he should fly XC once or twice before the comp...
Paul and I got pretty high and he went out front... Sunny came a bit later. The first half of the run, up to the canal was a bit easier with 4-500 fpm and 5500 or so. I was soon out front but not for long. We never really got low for the first half and the clouds looked pretty good, although not great.
We had light south winds around 7 on the peninsula. As I crossed the canal I yelled at Paul to "step on the gas" as he was 2 or 3 miles in trail and I still figured we could make the record. 10 minutes later I was rewarded as Paul flew over my head climbed up over me and left me in his dust. That's the last time I yell at him.
For the next 40 miles or so I was 2-3 miles in trail of Paul and could not get a decent climb or catch him. I was slow to realize that 4-500 fpm was gone and now 2-300 was it and 4500 feet. Paul was occasionally out of my sight as he worked out front and higher in a sky with fewer cumies than earlier.
At 85 miles I could not see him and went on glide from 4500 feet... we had a lot of trees to cover and I topped out to do it. I never saw him but next time on the radio he reports 86 miles and I'm at 88. We drift North low and scratching for quite a while, both of us reporting 1300' or so (1000 AGL). It's bubbly but I'm not finding anything... finally just below 1000' I get a small full circle at 100 fpm. At this altitude and time of day it's a boomer.
It finally turns into 200 then 300 and I climb all the way back up and head out literally singing. One more climb and I'm out to 109 miles and a nice golf course complete with complementary taxi service. They put JD's glider on a trailer bring us to the bar and I'm drinking beer with lovely Laurel while I wait 40 minutes for my ride.
Awesome day and just squeaked by the record. Dinner south of Allentown was very good. Thanks to Sunny and Adam for letting me fly and Jim Rooney who towed me and picked me up and Paul and Lauren for the wheels. Also JD for his lightspeed but he doesn't know it yet.

Take Care,
John

[mcelrah]

Hey, Paul (bridesmaid) - you look ravishing in that lowcut saffron silk number with matching 4 inch heels! - Hugh

[mcgowantk]

Hey Paul and John

I just got back into town and read your posts. Excellent flights! Sounds like conditions were less than ideal, so all the more power to you. I am sure you both will tear it up next week.

Thanks for the write ups.

Tom McGowan