Training Hill / Antique Fly-In Day : Smithsburg Sat Feb 16

[markc]

Hi, this post re-creates a topic that came up in the past couple of days,
but which got lost due to a problem at our website....

Basically, tomorrow is looking pretty good for a winter training hill
type of day at Smithsburg, perhaps to be followed by a dive off of
High Rock later in the day.

Bacil and KathyC posted that they plan to be at Smithsburg early,
maybe 9-ish/10-ish . Matthew and Karen will be there with their
PGs and HGs. I'll probably go too, as a nod toward safety/practice.

Temps are going to be a bit higher than originally 'cast, close to 40.
Pretty good, given the workout of lugging wings back up the hill!

I'm bringing a thermos of hot chocolate, with cinnamon schnapps
to be added after the flying is done

Come on out, scrape off some rust, get in shape for spring!
Drag out an old wing that hasn't seen the sky if you happen
to have one.

MarkC

[hang_pilot]

I'll be there.

A quick reminder on parking at 'burg...

*At site, please park perpendicular to the road as close to the road as possible
*No more than 3 cars;
*After unloading, parallel park on gravel road along the backside of the hill.

The ground is going to be very soft. Let's not piss-off the owners by leaving deep ruts on their property!

Thanks,
Daniel

[hepcat1989]

Mark, Sounds like a good time.
I'm in! 10ish.
Shawn.

[markc]

Bring along your favorite hot beverage for post-THill or post-flying fun in the
High Rock LZ. I've got what looks to be a wicked vanilla/brandy concoction that
will go great with hot chocolate, coffee, what-have-you!

Conditions look great in the AM, then lightening through the afternoon. But
even so, I think I'm going to make Smithsburg my first destination, crank out
a bunch of launches, and then head up the mountain later in the day.

Come on out, it'll do ya good! Hang Is, IIs, IIIs, IVs; P-1s, 2s, 3s, let's get
a crowd out there and make the good folk of Smithsburg wonder what the
heck is going on, woohoo!

MarkC

[XCanytime]

Sum it up in one word: Success. It was great to see so many hang gliders and paragliders decorating the hill. Haven't seen that in a long while. I got in 3 flights. Tom McGowan was the iron man with 7 flights from the top . Light conditions and increasing mud were the order of the day. A lot of north was occurring frequently. The multiple windsocks helped to see the light, straighter in cycles. Richard Hays had a class with 3 or 4 pilots at the foot of the hill going on. Tom and I were the first to leave around 2P after our flights. Hope the cycles continued for the remainder of the pilots.

Bacil

[RedBaron]

Great day. Had 3 flights at Smithsburg and a sledder at HR in Glen's big Sport2. Nice glider.

[mcelrah]

Congratulations and thanks to all who participated. Hope the newbies were encouraged by seeing the skygods paying their dues. I woulda been there but for a spousally mandated cross-country skiing trip to western MD and southern PA. These people are ANIMALS! 10 miles the first day - on crusty snow (NO control with edgeless XC skis) at New Germany State Park, then 6 more on Sunday on groomed trails at Laurel Highlands. Gotta go back to work to rest up! - Hugh

[markc]

Wow, the Smithsburg/Mudburg Saturday was quite a success. We had... Lemme count...
Tom, Pete, Janni, Bacil, Kathy C, moi, Dave B, Eddie, George T, Daniel, Steve, Karen, Matthew,
David, Joe B, plus 3 or 4 students of Richard's out there. Wow! I can't remember the last time
I've been at a hill with that sort of turn out.

I took a couple of photos, but unfortunately they don't really capture the spirit of the day.
Cycles were very rare, and many pilots were charging off in very brief windows. I wanted
more than just a flight or two, so photos had to take a back seat.

We headed up to High Rock afterwards, and cajoled Dave into a sled at the end of the
day (Janni, Glen, Pete and Tom had flown/sledded earlier). Then on to Barley And Hops
for another great post-flying dinner.

Ya shoulda been there, to knock off the rust and to soar above the mud!

MarkC

PS: The below attachments illustrate a new forum feature : You can now add photos directly
to your posts. But note that this is limited to forum users who are also CHGPA members.

[Pete Schumann]

Hey Mark,

I took a buch of pic's. of the folks launching/flying at Smithsburg on Saturday. I just don't know how to post them.
I'm not sure where to post them to. Also I'm not the best at this sort of thing.
I sent them to Tom M.

Pete