High Rock today
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
High Rock today
Doable cycles and not so doable cycles type of day. Pretty light and North. Arrived at 3 pm to see Gregory launch and bum out. Bob went after him in somewhat better conditions and quickly climbed 100 feet above launch on his trusty US. He ended up with the flight of the day of over an hour and, I don't know, 1000 to 1500 over? I went off after Bob and had an extendo of hopefully ten minutes. Tim went and had what I had. Glen had a 30 minute soaring fligt on his brand new Sport2 175. How did the SAC work out?
Sacramento Saturday 9/29
Arrived at the SAC at 10:40AM to find Larry Bunner just arrived. The skies upwind had multiple cumies that were slowly coming our way, and the sound of the breeze in the trees indicated soarable conditions. Larry and I quickly set up. Joe and Karen Gorrie arrived around 11A and started setting up. A few motorcycle wuffos showed up and we entertained them prepping for launch. I took off around 12 noon into nice air and worked a good bit to get up over the ridge to the west. Once up I passed over launch and waved to the wuffos, a few who were quite excited as indicated by the exclamations that were audible. Didn't have the altimeter watch, so I just concentrated totally on the senses. Got to at least a few thousand over a few times waiting for Larry to launch, hanging out between launch and the Klingerstown Gap. The skies to the west were totally blue, so I didn't go plowing west into it towards the river. Just enjoyed floating around. Larry launched, got up to the west, and was soon at my altitude. He drifted a little behind launch, headed back east towards launch, and then I lost sight of him. The next thing I know, I'm losing it on the ridge, and Larry is out in the valley north of Klingerstown stinking high. The famous Sacramento ridge midday flush was occurring, and it claimed me. I was lucky to have made it back to launch. The winds on the ridge were completely west, so I had a heckuva tailwind to enable me to make it back. Otherwise I would have been landing out somewhere, and there is still a lot of corn in the fields. Put down in E to NE winds in the LZ. Climbed the mountain to find Joe waiting on launch for a decent cycle, since things had gone to zilch on launch. Tom Gartlan had arrived, and a local Hang 2 was present too. Joe ended up extendoing to the "west" field. Back at launch at 3PM it turned on for around 30 minutes while Joe retrieved his glider with the trailer. When they got back it had backed down again. Tom took off and had an extendo. I left at 4PM with Joe on the bump looking for another decent cycle. Hope it went magic for them.
Bacil
Bacil
Sacramento 9/29 Part II
Just got word this morning that Larry had one helluva flight from the SAC yesterday. I'll let him tell his story, but suffice to say that he did a flight that I believe has never been done from the SAC in just over 4 hours and either 5600' MSL or 5600' over (7100' MSL). Can't wait to hear the details.
Bacil
Bacil
-
theflyingdude
- Posts: 359
- Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:40 pm
- Location: Cumberland, MD
Re: Sacramento 9/29 Part II
C'mon Bacil, don't be a tease and at least give us the basics of Larry's flight, i.e. how far and where did he land?XCanytime wrote:Just got word this morning that Larry had one helluva flight from the SAC yesterday. I'll let him tell his story, but suffice to say that he did a flight that I believe has never been done from the SAC in just over 4 hours and either 5600' MSL or 5600' over (7100' MSL). Can't wait to hear the details.
Bacil
JR
Larry's Flight (long)
Well, I’m back to work for another 6 midnights of 12+ hour shifts. Last Saturday was my day off if you can call it that. I got off at 6:30 am and had until 6:00 pm Sunday before I had to return to work. When you think about it, it doesn’t amount to a “day” off but is more like hours off as there really isn’t a whole day to take.
The Sac was looking good for Saturday, so I formulated a plan to load my gear on Friday night, leave work on Saturday morning and head to the site right away so I could get some sleep before I flew. Unfortunately my cell phone battery had died earlier in the night and although I charged it, I forgot to turn the radio service back on before I left. I put out a post to the Hyner Club very early in the morning for anyone to give me a call to confirm that the Sac was the site before I drove up there (Shawn and Bacil both called and left messages unbeknownst to me at the time).
Six midnight shifts in a row do a number on your body and mind. Sleep habits get firmly entrenched and I had a strong desire to just head home to get a couple hours of shut eye before leaving for the site. I know from experience however that once I crawl into bed I won’t get back up so I committed myself to driving to the Sac. Twenty-five miles out and still no calls so I headed to the house to check emails one last time. If there was no contact I was just going to give it up and succumb to the need for rest. No emails, but I decided to call Shawn. He stated that Jonestown (?) looked good and to call TR for the forecast and directions. TR thought it might work however the winds looked to be diminishing in the afternoon. Not reassuring but at least some pilots would be there. This site is almost three hours away but is in the same direction as the Sac so I could drive and hopefully get a call confirming people would be there.
The drive was torture. Northeast of Harrisburg I was struggling to stay awake. Rolling down the windows and slapping myself to stay alert wasn’t working so I pulled into a Subway, bought a big coffee, a breakfast wrap and a Red Bull. The coffee did the trick and I felt better or at least more alert. Noticed the cell phone was off when I attempted to call Sue who was in Illinois. I had a message from Bacil stating that he would arrive at the Sac at 10:30. WooHoo! I wouldn’t have to drive all the way up to Jonestown. I got to the Sac right at 10:30 and threw my Talon off the truck. The wind was STFI and blowing 10-15 mph with cu’s already coming over launch. Soon Joe and Karen showed up after their long drive and we had us a posse! Bacil said he was going to fly west to the Susquehanna River about 20 miles away to land at a golf course. I thought that would be a good task only I wanted to return back to the Sac to eliminate any retrieve.
Bacil launched first in shorts and a light long sleeve shirt. I asked him where his clothes were and he said he was looking forward to getting cold up there. He launched and climbed out. Normally I fly with multiple layers including a t-shirt, windbreaker, bunting and a stretch yellow Cold Gear jersey to stay warm. This time I added a jacket that I hadn’t flown with in years. The harness was a snug fit but warm. I powered down the Red Bull to give me a boost and proceeded to the mound.
Joe and Karen coached me through a good launch around 12:15 and I slowly starting climbing out to the left. Bacil was high above so I headed toward him and climbed to over 3000’ msl. The lapse rate was excellent, the first several climbs averaged over 400 fpm with top of the lift slowly increasing. I decided early to head west to the end of the ridge and although I had no radio transmit capability (does that surprise anyone?) I felt confident after the first few thermals that the lift was consistent and abundant enough to make the run down and back.
I cruised over the first gap at Rough and Ready maintaining 2500’ (1000’ over) just by bubbling along. Just before Klingerstown, a nice fat thermal rewarded me with a 550 fpm climb to 3800’. I blazed to the second gap at Pillow and again hit a nice thermal to 3700’. Hey this was easy! Three miles later a golden eagle thermaled through me in a strong 600fpm cycle that I left at 4200’. I crossed the last gap and made the turn at the river at Paxton a couple miles short of the end of the ridge. I was now down to 2000’ and headed back east just knowing the next ticket up would arrive soon. I flew to the gap and conditions got really soft. The ridge lift had died and I was below the top of the mountain. Two more passes and I was down to 400’ agl looking over a good landing field. Two vultures flew under heading back west so I followed thinking this was my last hope. The vultures turned away from the ridge and began climbing! In short order they were 300’ above me and still flying straight out over the valley. Cool! Another ripper at 600 fpm to 3000’ and I was happy to get out of there. All told, I was stuck down by the river for 40 minutes.
Ahead to the east clouds were lining up into the valley toward the north. I stopped twice to climb back above 3000’ to get me to the street where I left the ridge under the clouds. I slowly climbed out heading north skirting under each cloud trolling for a good thermal. A big fat cloud had formed over Fisher Ridge and I thermaled in broad lift generally toward the north climbing to 5100’. I continued north zig zagging from cloud to cloud getting as low as 3800’ a couple times north of Hooflander Mountain before finally turning parallel to the valley at Rebuck just short of Line Mountain. The view was incredible from there, I could clearly see State College to the northwest and the towns running along the Susquehanna to the east over to the nuclear plant marking the area near Jonestown. I probably could have kept pushing north to Little Mountain and worked my way to the east from there however that wasn’t my goal today. I now had my sights on getting to the east end of the valley and then back to the LZ at the Sac. There were many clouds in the valley, I continued working cloud to cloud and hit the best thermal of the day at 750 fpm+ northwest of launch topping out just below cloudbase at 5600’. One more good thermal to 5400’ and I was back to the ridge. I flew a couple miles east of Rte 125 before heading back west. Twenty minutes later I was back at launch having completed the triangle. The air was still bouyant with little wispies coming through however I had my fill. I slowly descended checking out the different LZ’s and finally landed in the small main one below launch where the other gliders were.
No one was in the LZ so I moved my gear out of the way and retrieved my truck that Karen had graciously driven down for me. Tom Gartlan and a new hang 2 Dave flew and landed (nice flight Dave). Joe and Karen brought vehicles down. What a great place to fly! This was my third flight from the Sac and every one of them has beyond expectations. I’ll remember this one for a long time. The smug satisfaction of completing a 50+ (52 miles) mile triangle and being in the air for over 4 hours on a day that I might have slept through helped me overcome the fatigue that was nipping at me. I finally got to bed at 9:00 that night after being up 31 hours straight (haven’t done that in decades) Now it’s back to the grind.
Bun
The Sac was looking good for Saturday, so I formulated a plan to load my gear on Friday night, leave work on Saturday morning and head to the site right away so I could get some sleep before I flew. Unfortunately my cell phone battery had died earlier in the night and although I charged it, I forgot to turn the radio service back on before I left. I put out a post to the Hyner Club very early in the morning for anyone to give me a call to confirm that the Sac was the site before I drove up there (Shawn and Bacil both called and left messages unbeknownst to me at the time).
Six midnight shifts in a row do a number on your body and mind. Sleep habits get firmly entrenched and I had a strong desire to just head home to get a couple hours of shut eye before leaving for the site. I know from experience however that once I crawl into bed I won’t get back up so I committed myself to driving to the Sac. Twenty-five miles out and still no calls so I headed to the house to check emails one last time. If there was no contact I was just going to give it up and succumb to the need for rest. No emails, but I decided to call Shawn. He stated that Jonestown (?) looked good and to call TR for the forecast and directions. TR thought it might work however the winds looked to be diminishing in the afternoon. Not reassuring but at least some pilots would be there. This site is almost three hours away but is in the same direction as the Sac so I could drive and hopefully get a call confirming people would be there.
The drive was torture. Northeast of Harrisburg I was struggling to stay awake. Rolling down the windows and slapping myself to stay alert wasn’t working so I pulled into a Subway, bought a big coffee, a breakfast wrap and a Red Bull. The coffee did the trick and I felt better or at least more alert. Noticed the cell phone was off when I attempted to call Sue who was in Illinois. I had a message from Bacil stating that he would arrive at the Sac at 10:30. WooHoo! I wouldn’t have to drive all the way up to Jonestown. I got to the Sac right at 10:30 and threw my Talon off the truck. The wind was STFI and blowing 10-15 mph with cu’s already coming over launch. Soon Joe and Karen showed up after their long drive and we had us a posse! Bacil said he was going to fly west to the Susquehanna River about 20 miles away to land at a golf course. I thought that would be a good task only I wanted to return back to the Sac to eliminate any retrieve.
Bacil launched first in shorts and a light long sleeve shirt. I asked him where his clothes were and he said he was looking forward to getting cold up there. He launched and climbed out. Normally I fly with multiple layers including a t-shirt, windbreaker, bunting and a stretch yellow Cold Gear jersey to stay warm. This time I added a jacket that I hadn’t flown with in years. The harness was a snug fit but warm. I powered down the Red Bull to give me a boost and proceeded to the mound.
Joe and Karen coached me through a good launch around 12:15 and I slowly starting climbing out to the left. Bacil was high above so I headed toward him and climbed to over 3000’ msl. The lapse rate was excellent, the first several climbs averaged over 400 fpm with top of the lift slowly increasing. I decided early to head west to the end of the ridge and although I had no radio transmit capability (does that surprise anyone?) I felt confident after the first few thermals that the lift was consistent and abundant enough to make the run down and back.
I cruised over the first gap at Rough and Ready maintaining 2500’ (1000’ over) just by bubbling along. Just before Klingerstown, a nice fat thermal rewarded me with a 550 fpm climb to 3800’. I blazed to the second gap at Pillow and again hit a nice thermal to 3700’. Hey this was easy! Three miles later a golden eagle thermaled through me in a strong 600fpm cycle that I left at 4200’. I crossed the last gap and made the turn at the river at Paxton a couple miles short of the end of the ridge. I was now down to 2000’ and headed back east just knowing the next ticket up would arrive soon. I flew to the gap and conditions got really soft. The ridge lift had died and I was below the top of the mountain. Two more passes and I was down to 400’ agl looking over a good landing field. Two vultures flew under heading back west so I followed thinking this was my last hope. The vultures turned away from the ridge and began climbing! In short order they were 300’ above me and still flying straight out over the valley. Cool! Another ripper at 600 fpm to 3000’ and I was happy to get out of there. All told, I was stuck down by the river for 40 minutes.
Ahead to the east clouds were lining up into the valley toward the north. I stopped twice to climb back above 3000’ to get me to the street where I left the ridge under the clouds. I slowly climbed out heading north skirting under each cloud trolling for a good thermal. A big fat cloud had formed over Fisher Ridge and I thermaled in broad lift generally toward the north climbing to 5100’. I continued north zig zagging from cloud to cloud getting as low as 3800’ a couple times north of Hooflander Mountain before finally turning parallel to the valley at Rebuck just short of Line Mountain. The view was incredible from there, I could clearly see State College to the northwest and the towns running along the Susquehanna to the east over to the nuclear plant marking the area near Jonestown. I probably could have kept pushing north to Little Mountain and worked my way to the east from there however that wasn’t my goal today. I now had my sights on getting to the east end of the valley and then back to the LZ at the Sac. There were many clouds in the valley, I continued working cloud to cloud and hit the best thermal of the day at 750 fpm+ northwest of launch topping out just below cloudbase at 5600’. One more good thermal to 5400’ and I was back to the ridge. I flew a couple miles east of Rte 125 before heading back west. Twenty minutes later I was back at launch having completed the triangle. The air was still bouyant with little wispies coming through however I had my fill. I slowly descended checking out the different LZ’s and finally landed in the small main one below launch where the other gliders were.
No one was in the LZ so I moved my gear out of the way and retrieved my truck that Karen had graciously driven down for me. Tom Gartlan and a new hang 2 Dave flew and landed (nice flight Dave). Joe and Karen brought vehicles down. What a great place to fly! This was my third flight from the Sac and every one of them has beyond expectations. I’ll remember this one for a long time. The smug satisfaction of completing a 50+ (52 miles) mile triangle and being in the air for over 4 hours on a day that I might have slept through helped me overcome the fatigue that was nipping at me. I finally got to bed at 9:00 that night after being up 31 hours straight (haven’t done that in decades) Now it’s back to the grind.
Bun