Woodstock Sunday 6/1

[CraginS]

Yup, me, too.
Tom, Matthew, looks like Bacil, too, declared.
See y'all there.

[CraginS]

Just like on the 23rd, I arrived to find a cast of thousands (ok, tens) set up and hanging out at launch. Left my glider in the bag on the trail again. Light wind. No wind. Rain (20% chance is not 0% chance).

A few PGs flew. Our two Hang 2's. Kathy & Dan, each showed us the right way to run off into light winds. Superb launches, complete with cheering crowd. See the short video at my (b)Log.

I was not excited about a first mountain launch in the U2 in those conditions. Headed home about 4:00. A few more folks did fly after I left.

Roll call: Dan Tw, Kathy C, Bacil D, Tom M, Pete S (with son), Matthew G, Mark C, Karen C, Steve K, Joe S, Gary S., David & Jody B, Janni P, Alek B, Ellis K, Juanito, Charlie G, and others.

[markc]

Thought that some photos from the day might be fun,
so here are a few that I took today. Will post a few more
tomorrow, and higher-res are available.

I _think_ that the first of the two launch shots is of Dan T,
but would be nice if someone could confirm. Thanks!

MarkC

[RedBaron]

Could anyone please check what it was doing at the Pulpit today?
Could all of you please realize that WS is really screwy this year?
Could we please go to the Pulpit next time and set up / break down gliders on nice terrain for a change? I'd rather be blown out on grass than rained out on rocks

[Gene]

Very nice Photos and Video, thanks for posting Mark / Cragin. I really enjoyed the cheering and I say "WHOO HOO" to Dan and Kathy.
Gene

[DanTuck]

Yesterday was my 8th launch overall and 4th at Woodstock. Another sledder but I was happy with the launch, approach, and landing and those are the important parts. The grass was pretty tall but didn't interfere with anything. Thank you Cragin for the video, Mark for the picture (that is me!), and Matthew for throwing me off. I'm gald you saw the H2 window and convinced me to go. You are the man! It was fun hang-waiting with everyone and I really hope this coming weekend is better.

[Matthew]

Very Strange day. Weather stations everywhere else reported strong NW or West winds. Totally dead at Woodstock most of the day. I launched my PG sometime around 5 and scratched my way above the ridge for a few minutes. Very cross from the SW. Saw a cloud open up with rain across the valley and went out to land. Got bagged up and hid in Steve's car just before the rain hit. It only lasted ten minutes. Dave from Texas had the flight of the day in his PG with about a half hour and Josef, also PG, got about 20 minutes. Ellis would have gotten up except that she had a stick stuck in her brake lines. Dan T. and Kathy both had excellent launches in their HGs.

Matthew

[KathyC]

Thanks for posting the video and the pics Mark and Craigin!! I wish my landing would have been as good as my launch, but I learned a little bit about Woodstock... I'm going to check out scooter towing to work on my altitude/angle judgements to improve my approaches. Thanks Tom for throwing me off and helping me out in the LZ, very much appreciated! Not sure if anyone else saw Dan T's landing, but he did a great job out there. Kathy

[RedBaron]

Don't sweat it, Kathy, these things happen, especially on your first landing at WS. Trees everywhere, textured, technical, it's tough. My first landing there was an uncoordinated mess, I just kinda survived it, on a Falcon! I hope repairing your glider won't be a big deal.

[brianvh]

Not sure scooter towing will get you high enough to improve approaches. Truck towing is the next cheapest option. You want to practice setting up with treelines...which actually makes setting up a lot easier.

[CraginS]

[quote="brianvh"]Not sure scooter towing will get you high enough to improve approaches. Truck towing is the next cheapest option. You want to practice setting up with treelines...which actually makes setting up a lot easier.[/quote]

Kathy,
If you talk to Steve Wendt about what you want to work on, he may suggest scooter or truck, or both. He has big scooters that can get you 300-500' AGL, as well as the truck which can get you over 1000'.
If you work with Jim and Adam at Highland, I think they have a lot of capability in their golf cart system. But not having seen it, I'll defer to Jim's feedback.
In either case, I think taking advantage of the ground tow options at both flight parks is an excellent idea. Both the tow technology and the quality of instruction are super at both schools.
Many years ago, as a brand new H2, my too low and too slow approaches in the mountains is what led me to Blue Sky to start truck towing. (One Observer told me after a High Rock flight he would not throw me off again until I went back for some more landing instruction.) It helped immensely. Neither scooter nor AT were available options in the local area then.

Good luck and good flying!

[Matthew]

Hi Kathy, Glad you are okay. I hate to disagree with Janni. But I think you should sweat it. Anytime anyone has an accident, they need to take it seriously and do whatever it takes to to insure that it doesn't happen again. I hear through the grapevine that you are going to go down to Blue Sky and work on approaches. Thus you are sweating it.

So kudos to you!

If you pick up any good tips or suggestions while working on approaches, please pass them along.

Matthew

[KathyC]

Thanks ya'll for the advice and support. I'm looking forward to my trip down to Blue Sky this weekend to check the glider in to the hospital. I also plan to take advantage of whatever towing method Steve Wendt recommends to help my approaches. The downtime I'll have is the perfect opportunity to work on this. Looking forward to it!

Kathy