Thursday Flying

[RedBaron]

Steve K and Glen have expressed interest. Could be a good HR or Pulpit day. Any other takers?

[Danny Brotto]

Thursday: Partly sunny, with a high near 49. West wind between 11 and 17 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. (Hagerstown)

Sounds sporty to me w/the 'burg being blown out. Try Woodstock; let us know how it goes.

Danny Brotto

[dbodner]

I was thinking it might be a little strong, too. However, if anyone's available Friday, I could be, too.

[markc]

I'm encouraged by the forecasts that I see at the moment... Strong stuff is supposed
to move through in the AM, with lightening winds behind.

With Saturday mostly coudy and a chance of rain, and Sunday's high of 30 degrees...
Tomorrow might be the day.

I'm going to try to get some work done tonight, and then a few hours in the
office tomorrow AM. If things still look good, I'll probably head for the 'Stocker.

Tryin' not to get too excited,

MarkC

[carweill]

Woodstock still looks promising.
I'll try to contact someone if conditions hold and can arrange thing at work.


Carlos

[markc]

I'm still tentatively in.... Thinking of hitting the road at around 11:30
if the updated forecasts still look decent. Carlos, Janni, give me a call
if you want to coordinate a shuttle.

MarkC
301-807-5414

[hang_pilot]

I'm meeting Janni in the Woodstock LZ at 1:30. ~Daniel 301-275-6584

[markc]

Carlos and I are giving it a try too. ETA: 1:45pm-ish

MarkC

[markc]

We had a pretty good crowd for mid-week hookie: Tim, Steve, Janni, Carlos, Daniel, Gary, and myself.
Gary had gotten there relatively early and was already set up when the rest of us started trickling in
at 2:00 or so. So he was the first off, at about 2:30, into light (<10) winds, and without any of the
usual elevator at the end of the slot. After seeing that, and with conditions clearly getting lighter,
I completed my setup AFAP and was the next to give it a try, a bit after 3:00.

Gary had gotten up and seemed to be having a good flight. But he wasn't stinkin' high or anything, uh-oh...
I waited for a cycle of about 7mph, turned left out of the slot, struggled briefly to the south of launch,
headed back, and found a very light thermal near the parking area. I clung to that one because
it seemed that Gary wasn't getting much at the north finger, gradually climbed to about 100' over,
and was able to breathe a bit easier. Not sure if Gary got flushed or not, but he was soon headed to
the LZ.

Steve K dove off next, and then Daniel and Tim. We started getting a bit more sun and the thermals
started popping off : Steve and I worked a nice one to 2k+ above launch, that was my best for the day.
There were some periods when the ridge was shadowed, and conditions at launch apparently went
*really* light, where Janni and Carlos had to wait for launchable cycles. Janni picked one that got him
above the ridge, but Carlos wasn't as lucky and had an extendo to the LZ.

The sky was drying out, and with sun the length of the ridge I headed to the Edinburgh gap. A bit of
a slog against the west cross (conditions were stronger above the ridge), but it was very fun punching
down the ridge, grabbing thermals for a spin or two, and then pushing on. There seemed to be a
fair amount of wave lift out there, but I was never able to grab something to get really high. If I'd
worked the broken stuff a bit better... Ah well, can't complain.

I flew for about 2 hours and was shivering by the end of the flight. Landed not long before sunset, and
thank god I didn't notice that Gary was filming landings... Would have been a guaranteed whack if I had!

After packing up we all took Joe up on his offer to stop by his place: He and Zelda had beer and pizza
waiting when we all trooped in, which they then supplemented with cheese and crackers, roasted chipotle
peppers, chips & salsa, and fruit salad and ice cream for dessert! Wow, what a great meal! And what a great
way to close out the day, with flying stories, tales of flying adventures out west, and remembered first
high-flights, around their table. Truly a fun day.

MarkC