Blue Sky Saturday September 1

[CraginS]

The forecast with a high pressure region bearing down on Richmond caused a light turn out of pilots for Saturday. Traffic moving south on I-95 was summer vacation heavy, so I hopped over on US 17 at Fredericksburg to take 301 down to Manquin. The trip took 3 hours instead of my usual 2.

I arrived at 1:00 as Joe was just finishing a wind check at altitude in the Dragonfly. Strong winds, not promising. Steve told me he had to make the scooter lesson earlier an abbreviated one as the winds had picked up. We all waited. Eventually, after 2:00, Peter had Joe pull him up, where he was able to stay up for quite a while and make it to 3K. However, on landing he also reported very strong winds.

Tom, Gene, Rob, and Jonathan all started some truck tows mid afternoon. No soaring, and reports of strong winds. As the wind picked up, Steve called off all flying after 3:00 for about an hour. We all visited and waited. I met Cathy, up from Florida to work on her landings using scooter tow lessons. A carload of folks arrived planning tandem lessons late. Scott and Holly arrived. Lots of socializing.

As 5:00 approached, we started flying again. The four truck tow guys flew several more times. I got on the string behind Joe at 5:10. None of us expected me to stay up, as late in the day as it was. However, Joe dropped me just next to a spot of lift over the trees north of the park, and I found light, but nicely workable lift. I had to be patient and work slowly, but I did achieve a gain of about 400 feet, and turned it into just shy of a half hour flight. My biggest problem was letting the thermal drift away from me, and having to find it again. I'm still focusing too much on the ground points when thermaling. I also gave myself way too much space when landing on the runway, resulting in a long walk back to the pavilion. Peter asked if that was my first XC at Blue Sky. :-)

Winds got better. As I left, Peter and Joe were beginning a series of tandems, hoping to get everyone into the sky before the sun dropped too low. Holly was on the truck, about to take her first flight of the day (of the year?). I took 301 home, which let me grab a slab of ribs at Johnnie's Ribs barbecue in La Plata. Nice!.

[Scott]

Holly and I had a great return to flying at Blue Sky over the weekend. We arrived late Saturday, and I was frankly feeling too mellow to fly, so just hung out, relaxed, and socialized! Holly got in several truck tows in calm evening air and did great.

Sunday morning Holly and I got up bright and early just like good ol' beginner days and did a scooter tow lesson with Steve—what a blast! It's been more than two years since we've done it, and it was still fun and exciting, as well as a great way to practice some landings. (Steve was happy for us to be in the same lesson as two brand-new beginners, saying "You'll be good models for how it's done—the pressure's on!" LOL)

Sunday started off looking like it would be a spectacular day. Several people aerotowed shortly after noon and all stuck for 1-2-hour flights. Flight of the day, though, was by "Sonic Bob" who got up off the truck and didn't come down for 2+ hours!

I wanted to aerotow but decided to wait to get some calm air tows before getting back into midday conditions, so I did a few truck tows around 2:30pm. One weak link break was kinda exciting, but otherwise giant, thick cumies shut out the sun and lift disappeared for most of the rest of the afternoon (so the people that launched around 12:30 found the best conditions).

After several truck tows and evening aerotows, I'm feeling like a pilot again. It's always nice to say to yourself..."Right—its all coming back to me now!"

Sadly, Joe (tug pilot) has left Blue Sky for Brasil and kite surfing. So aerotowing there will be hit-or-miss for the fall as Steve doesn't have any regular full-time tug pilots. He'll tow you up in calm evening conditions, but admits he's not a midday tug pilot.

Definitely good to fly again!
Scott