Ridgely Sunday 12 Aug

[mcelrah]

Sunday was advertisd to be light and variable, but when I arrived around noon it was steady 10 straight down the runway from the west. Judy had flown a couple of times in a Target (she just bought Linda B's Sport 2 and was working up to it). Janni was doing a bunch of tows in the Highland Falcon 195. Christian (Millenium ultralite sailplane driver), PK, John Simon and Mark Cavanough were coordinating a 45 mile triangle course. Carlos and I were right behind them, along with Victor, who lacked a radio and waypoints but was hoping to eyeball it. Matthew and Karen arrived while we were in line for the single tug (interleaving tandems).

I had a reasonable tow with the much-discussed Tad mouth emergency release and heavier weak link. Main issue for me is the novelty of towing from the shoulders (this was maybe the fifth time) and the danger of cross controlling when I'm pulled through the control frame like that. The tow pilot (name?) dropped me in a thermal S of the field. I had a number of things to attned to: instruments had turned around backwards on the downtube, headphone jack had pulled out of my radio, had to zip up - but the U2 thermalled FOR me, unattended. I rode that one all the way to 5800, drifting downwind on course for the first waypoint, Harrington, 16.5 miles east. At my level, flatland flying is a lot like ballooning: just try to stay up and let the wind blow me downwind. Seemed like I circled east of Denton forever. Two bald eagles came in under me and climbed through me. When I reached Harrington, I could SEE the beach in the clear air. I could hear Christian, PK, and John S. already on the final leg back to Ridgely, but I doubted my ability to complete the triangle, so elected to continue downwind. With plenty of altitude, I flew through heavy sink into the convergence several miles inland between the prevailing west wind and the onshore breeze opposing it. Got the best lift of the flight (6-800 fpm) but lost it as I continued east and saw the expanse of wetlands between route 113 at Milford and the beach. I picked a plowed field behind a big new car dealership on 113 north of Milford and diagnosed the onshore breeze for landing. The farmer came out with his two young kids and took pictures of them and me with the glider. Mark Cavanaugh graciously came and got me along with John Simon. It's always gratifying to see how long it takes to get home from a cross-country flight. We celebrated with pizza and beer at Ridgely. Christian and PK made the whole triangular course back, although PK skinned his knee landing on the taxiway - he said he was already metntally drinking beer and forgot he still had to land the glider.

What a great weekend with relief from the high pressure/haze/humidity!

- Hugh

[mcelrah]

Oh yeah, forgot the stats: two hours/24 miles. - Hugh
P.S. Remarkably, Matthew and Karen managed to set-up, fly, break down, and depart in the time I was gone. What efficiency!

[silverwings]

I must admit it was a really nice day at Ridgely for both me and my student Chris who did his first tandem flight. I got pulled up about 2:45 and started with a light thermal that got better. Sure glad I wore a light jacket and got some nice thermals topping out at 5600. Flew for a little over 2 hours choosing to come down and I was in desperate need of some air time! Chris got a tandem with Jim and got to thermal for the first time and got up to 4000. He was thrilled with the flight, scenery and that Jim let him fly it quite a bit. Thanks Jim.

[jimrooney]

Really nice day here yesterday.
I was very happy that the schedule allowed me to fly with Chris and that the weather was very conducive to teaching thermalling. Nothing like climbing up a couple thousand feet in your first thermal ;)

BTW, on the Hazy / Hot / Humid side of things...
Yesterday was a great example of how "High Pressure" does not equate to bad flying conditions (a very persistent myth)... yesterday was very high pressure. After a high sits on you for a couple days, things mellow out... but those first couple days of a high pressure system bring some of the best flying conditions you encounter. We were stuck under a Low during those blisteringly hot days... Saturday the front rolled through and Sunday was excellent flying (Sat was too btw).

The key I look for is the passage of systems... too much of anything is bad ;)
Something about variety and spices I think.
Jim

[Matthew]

I had the opportunity to fly Judy-Judy's new Sport 2 135 (formerly Linda B's Sport 2) at Ridgely. It's the same model as Karen owns. But Karen has only let me fly her glider on the training hill.

The little Sport 2 climbs like a Bat Outa Hell. I outclimbed Steve K in the 155 Sport 2 and topped out at 5300' for an almost hour long flight... and I think I weigh about 5-10lbs more than Steve. Steve is a skinny dude :)

The little Sport tows super easy. Karen had a great flight too topping out at 3700'. It was quite nice to have a lazy morning at home, arrive at Ridgley about 2:15, soar, hang out with Judy-Judy, PK and Nick and still be home before 8pm.

The wind switched on me during final and I landed with a quartering tail-wind and came in on my knees. I don't know if this would have helped PK with his knee landing on the tarmac. But I always wear pants when flying. On hot summer days I pull on a thin pair of rip-stop nylon running pants over my shorts just before I climb into my harness.

Also, SHOES and preferably hiking boots! These people flying around in sandals without any ankle support are just asking for a twisted ankle some day. And landing out, with all of the poison ivy in this region, and no coverage on your legs and feet also boggles my mind.

Anyway, you may flame away for me recommending wearing pants and shoes while flying.

Matthew

[Batman]

What about underwear?

[Matthew]

Underwear? What's that?

Matthew

[jimrooney]

I think that's what he means by these things he calls "shoes".... things you wear Under yourself... like undercarriage? Lots of people seem to show up with them. They seem pretty popular.

[davidtheamazing1]

Showed up at 7pm for some tandem patterns with Sunny. Tows were great and the air was glassy smooth. Flew solo for the final flight of the day. Didn't land perfectly on the spot, but did ok a little earlier the runway. Thanks to tug pilot Zach who worked a more than 12hr day.
-David

[Ashley Groves]

Even better than pants is knee pads. Yeah, yeah, I know all the East coasters look at me funny and probably figure I can't land, but there were at least two West coast experiences where the probably were the reason I was able to walk away afterwards.

I don't notice them in flight, and are also nice to wear during set up and breakdown.

Everyone says you don't need them in the East, but I have now heard of two landings on the tarmac at Ridgely.

I figure what the hay.

Ashley

[mcelrah]

I'll try to find the knee-pads I bought for my kid when he was rollerblading and pack 'em for the trip west (leaving tomorrow). - Hugh

[kcarra]

I have gardening pants with built in knee pads that work really well for flying (and set up and break down). The guy that tiled our kitchen floor wears sniper pants, which apparently also sometimes have built in pads.

Karen