I'm pumping coffee in via IV, but should start loading the car soon. Will be on the road by 9:30-10:00. Forecast shows N going W in the afternoon, so lets rendevouz at the Beach in formation!
Chris
Ridgely Sunday!
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
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Paul Tjaden
- Posts: 398
- Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 10:28 pm
Re: Ridgely Sunday!
We're HERE! FL sucked a$# --like it wasn't even flyable, so Paul and I packed up our stuff and got here late last night. Mike B called and told me he was heading out to GA and we figured -- what the heck --let's BLOW this pop stand!
Today was really FUN. PK made me cry when he told me "welcome home." We saw Christian and Sunny and Windsor and Adam and my beloved Jim Rooney. Joe G was back flying high and I hugged approx. 4000 old friends. I feel totally surrounded by love. Of course I have had a martini so maybe it's just the gin talking...
Yeah, I flew, for about an hour. I didn't allow enough time for the line so I was really late. Paul flew the Combat for the first time in months!!! We thermalled together and also with Matthew but that dog Christian sucked us over to a paltry climb-- we'll get him back!
I shhuld (hey, how do you like that spelling?? that is definately the gin) have flown earlier but am feeling pretty great right now. Come play.
Lauren
yeehaw let's get the party started!!!
Today was really FUN. PK made me cry when he told me "welcome home." We saw Christian and Sunny and Windsor and Adam and my beloved Jim Rooney. Joe G was back flying high and I hugged approx. 4000 old friends. I feel totally surrounded by love. Of course I have had a martini so maybe it's just the gin talking...
Yeah, I flew, for about an hour. I didn't allow enough time for the line so I was really late. Paul flew the Combat for the first time in months!!! We thermalled together and also with Matthew but that dog Christian sucked us over to a paltry climb-- we'll get him back!
I shhuld (hey, how do you like that spelling?? that is definately the gin) have flown earlier but am feeling pretty great right now. Come play.
Lauren
yeehaw let's get the party started!!!
Re: Ridgely Sunday! Damn those high pressure days
Well those high pressure days suck, just like Janni said. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, at least not near us. I mean if Christian can't find the big lift you know it's got to be dead right?
Well let's see, I had two flights. The first one was my first towing flight since last year and was a respectable 27 minutes off a broken weak link in a rented glider. The second one started off like the first until I managed to hook into a choppy but robust thermal at 1300. By the time I got to 2000 it was beginning to come together pretty well and I wasn't thinking about landing any longer. By 3000 it was well defined and I was looking up at Batman Chris specked out another 2k above me. At 4k I'm gaining on him but he's not sinking at all. I'm telling myself "I gotta get above him at least once" but he ain't making it easy. At about 4800 we are thermalling together and when I finally manage to get a look at the top of his glider I'm at 5400 and freezing my asx off.
Cold and tired well into my second flight of the day I turn to the upwind side of the field and eventually pull off a nice landing about 100 feet in front of Jim Rooney, how promptly shakes my hand and says "these high pressure days suck don't they!"
When Batman Chris finally shows up he tells me he spent an hour at 5000 feet and eventually hit 6k above the strawberry festival at Ridgley, after doing a few wingovers showing off for the crowd.
The morale of the story is don't believe the hype about high pressure days. Every flyable day can turn out to be a good one, but you gotta show up.
Dan T
Well let's see, I had two flights. The first one was my first towing flight since last year and was a respectable 27 minutes off a broken weak link in a rented glider. The second one started off like the first until I managed to hook into a choppy but robust thermal at 1300. By the time I got to 2000 it was beginning to come together pretty well and I wasn't thinking about landing any longer. By 3000 it was well defined and I was looking up at Batman Chris specked out another 2k above me. At 4k I'm gaining on him but he's not sinking at all. I'm telling myself "I gotta get above him at least once" but he ain't making it easy. At about 4800 we are thermalling together and when I finally manage to get a look at the top of his glider I'm at 5400 and freezing my asx off.
Cold and tired well into my second flight of the day I turn to the upwind side of the field and eventually pull off a nice landing about 100 feet in front of Jim Rooney, how promptly shakes my hand and says "these high pressure days suck don't they!"
When Batman Chris finally shows up he tells me he spent an hour at 5000 feet and eventually hit 6k above the strawberry festival at Ridgley, after doing a few wingovers showing off for the crowd.
The morale of the story is don't believe the hype about high pressure days. Every flyable day can turn out to be a good one, but you gotta show up.
Dan T
Re: Ridgely Sunday!
Stellar day at Ridgely. Me and my dog arrived just before noon to the largest number of gliders I've seen in quite a while. Awesome surprise to see Paul & Lauren's shining faces which was quite unexpected. Rushed to get the glider setup as I had seen a bunch of Cumi's starting to pop down South while I was driving over the Bay Bridge. It was a cloudless blue sky over Ridgely and remained that way for the rest of the day. I entered the launch line around 1:45 as many gliders were starting to rain from the sky. John M launched just before me and was already on the ground when I launched. Expecting to add to my long list of sled rides this year, I was surprised just how much thermal turbulance was out there on tow. At 2200 feet, I watched as the Tug rocketed up and my glider joined the space shuttle launch a few seconds later. I fell out of the thermal in a hard right turn and knew I had no chance to get back wings level. As I reached for my release, the weak link snapped (AS IT'S SUPPOSED TO) and suddenly I was off tow. I followed the ensuing hard right turn around 270 and entered the thermal that had just bucked me and continued by climb up to 5500 feet. I was joined by Paul and soon after Matthew, which was an awesome feeling as its been quite a few years since the 3 of us have been in the same thermal. Thermal drift was only about 4 mph so I just lazily drifted with it. Dan T joined me in another thermal a while later and I decided it was nice to share! Deciding to explore, I flew up near Greensboro, got down to about 3500 and caught another thermal taking back up to 5700. I headed south down by the golf course and then at about the 1:15 mark, I decided I was cold and was ready to head back. I parked myself over the Ridgely fairground and performed a few wingovers for the Strawberry Festival crowd, deciding at 2500 I would pull VG and head back to land. Caught a screamer over the town and took it up to 6200 and decided to fly a little while longer. Once Matthew radioed up that all of the above mentioned pilots were on the ground, I decided that my work here was done and I was not only freezing, but exhausted. Heading back to Ridgely, I corkscrewed down and enjoyed the warm air that rush up to meet me. Ended the flight with a good landing for 1:48 total flight time, longest flight in over 2 years. Hung around for the rest of the day enjoying all the friends and the good company at Ridgely. Did dinner en masse in Greensboro and got home at 11:15.