Jack's and Ridgely Friday?????

[Matthew]

So how was Jack's on Saturday????

And did Chris actually take the day off and go to Ridgely on Friday?????

Matthew

[Batman]

Yes, I took off at lunch and arrived about 1:30. Carlos, Ric N, and Tim were set up when I arrived. I quickly set up and got in line launching at the end of the first wave. Winds were out of the West as advertised and tows were smooth. Ric had FOD staying up in conditions that the rest of us plebians couldn't capitalize on. I milked out a nice extendo with an uneventful landing. Rehydrated and launched about an hour later. Little bit longer of an extendo as I worked some bug farts over the northerly field, but they really did nothing more than slow my descent. NEW LESSON LEARNED. Winds had been light out of the West all day. I rolled downwind to set up for landing and realized that the flag was 180 from what I thought. I threw a little zig zag into my pattern to watch the flag to see if winds were switchy but the flag remained showing a more easterly direction. I immediately turned 180 and reversed my intended pattern and came in over the top of the line of gliders to land towards the East. Getting into ground effect, I realized that I now had a tailwind and was not slowing as I expected. No worries, I just rolled it in (SHUT UP TAD - THIS IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT!). Jim came over to state the obvious asking if I realized that I had landed downwind. Now for the lesson, the flag at Ridgely is mounted at a slight angle and it takes winds over 5-7 to get the flag to turn in the right direction. Basically, in laymans terms (Not Lehman), in light condtions THE FLAG IS A LIAR!!!! Usually Ridgely puts up streamers around the flag, but they aren't up yet. I probably could of flared hard and ran it out, but I chose to belly in since it was a nicely groomed LZ. I should of gone with my original pattern, but the flag convinced me that the winds had swapped, which I rationalized was possible since it was nearing the end of the day. ANYWHOOO... it was fun to knock off the towing dust and enjoy some nice Friday flying instead of sitting in the office.

C