Not so great in Florida either

[Paul Tjaden]

April and May in Florida are the months that we long for down here. Sure, we can fly most of the year but during these two months we can reasonably expect to have excellent soaring conditions on most days. In the past, the pilots at the Flytec comp (held in late April) could expect to fly nearly every day. But this year seems way different. Oh, there have been good days like during the Wills Wing Fly in and a handful of others (Davis flew 150 miles a while back) and I think there were a few days that were good while we were in Arizona but overall, it's been pretty poor. Lauren and I flew a week ago on a relatively weak and blue day and managed about an hour over the field. Prior to that and since, it has been blown out and promises to stay that way until Thursday. Yeah, because we are retired and can fly any time we are getting an occasional flight but this is nothing like we usually see this time of year. It certainly does seem that there is a change in the usual weather pattern this year. Hope things improve in Ridgely for the comp. We'll see you guys soon.

A quick note about my back and leg issues. I have steered away from any surgery for the time being and am focusing on traction therapy called VAX-D and am also getting Cortizone injections in my Lumbar area. Although I am definitely improved, I'm still not 100%. When I flew last week, I used my old Mark IV and landed on the wheels rather than risk my legs. I'll have another injection on Thursday and will continue the VAX-D this week and maybe next week until we head north. Hopefully, this will get me in shape for the comp. I guess we'll see.

Hope the weather improves for you guys so you can get some air time. Remember, you don't need ridge lift to soar. Sure aren't any mountains down here. If you have launchable conditions, just sit and wait for a thermal to show up and then jump into it. Some of my best mountain flights were on light wind days. You just need to time your launch a bit more carefully so you don't sink out before you find a thermal. Yeah....I know easy for me to say while I'm sitting down here in FL.

See ya,

Paul T.

[jimrooney]

Glad to hear you're better. Here's hoping that upward trend continues.
It'll be good to see you no matter what.
Jim