Saturday 8/9

[silverwings]

Looks like it could be doable at High Rock, Pulpit, Ridgely. Anyone got plans to fly?

[lbunner]

I'm headed to the Pulpit to hopefully get some miles in. Anybody game?

[hanging3]

moo!

[POLISH EAGLE]

Gregory and I are planing to go to the Pulpit on Saturday.

[RedBaron]

I'll be at Ridgely. A glider folding up on me as soon as I clear the ramp wouldn't really be testimony to my great judgment. Looks damn light anyway.

[XCanytime]

I'll be at the Pulpit. It is rarely ever light at the Pulpit. That's why you go there in a 5 to 10 forecast, because it usually ends up 10 to 20.

Bacil

[markc]

I hear both the call of the beach and the call of the mountains. Not sure
yet which one I'm going to try for, but I bet it will be fun regardless!

MarkC

[tdilisio]

I'd like to do the pulpit again. Is the primary still full of hay rolls? Observer present?

[carweill]

Im going flying today.

I'm leaning to Ridgely right now

Carlos

[lbunner]

Pulpit looking good. I'll be there at 1030.

[markc]

I'm heading for Ridgely... Can't shake the call of the waves today

I think Matthew and Karen are as well.

MarkC

[hanging3]

Oh no the heard has split...cant go to the beach so Pulpit it is...
moo

[carweill]

Heading to Ridgely

Carlos

[XCanytime]

News flash! Larry Bunner flew 73 miles from the Pulpit today to his home east of York, PA. Details at 11.

Bacil

[davidtheamazing1]

Nice day at Ridgely. Tug was working great and we had a steady breeze down the runway with very active thermals. First tow, I got too high, then broke a link on the first turn. Got right back in line as I was circling to land, found some lift and started going up instead of down... Was able to stay up for about an hour and followed a gaggle of pilots downwind. Decided that I was getting kind of far from the runway and decided to head back towards the airstrip. Came up short of the windsock field so I landed on the grass runway. Got pretty high, but didn't get into any clouds.

[XCanytime]

Pulpit was working early Saturday. Got a late start and didn't get to the mountain with my driver until 11:45A. Larry Bunner was set up and ready to go, Krystof was setting up, and Juanito was there with students Aaron and Jim. Krystof and I helped Larry launch just after 12 noon into 8 to 12 MPH winds on the old ramp. The sky was looking spectacular. We watched Larry slowly climb out in a north cross on the ridge. Juanito had a helluva time untangling his lines on one side, but after at least a half an hour he got them untangled and had a nice launch and got up. I leisurely set up in no hurry, expecting it to ramp up during prime time. Steve Krichten, his friend Don, and Joe Brauch showed up, so there was ample wire crew. Krystof got up on the ramp to launch and it backed way down. He got off of the ramp, and it ramped up to 12 to 18 MPH. By this time Larry had headed north of launch and taken one over the back. Krystof got back up and launched and showed that it was still north cross on the ridge, but he was above launch. I got ready and launched in a light cycle and didn't find much at all. Headed out to the secondary and found some bubbles to loiter in since I had the field made. A turkey vulture was nearby, and I was hoping for a thermal marker, but he headed back towards launch after a few circles. Put down in the secondary with a late flare in high grass. Couldn't keep the feet under me and I had what I thought was a light belly flop. It was enough to put a slight bend in the right downtube. No more flying today for me. Jim and Aaron had their first mountain flights courtesy of Juanito, and they both landed in the secondary with huge grins. Congratulations Jim and Aaron. My driver picked me up, and we went over to the Mountain House bar and had some food and beer out on the deck, enjoying a nice breeze and a great view of the surroundings . After that we walked the trail back to launch and found out Joe and Don had short flights and Steve was breaking down after waiting for a while on the ramp for halfway decent cycles. It was an early day at the Pulpit this day.

Bacil

[RedBaron]

Ridgely was spectacular. Left my apartment at 5.30 am for an early tow to make sure I had put my glider back together right. Launched again at noon and was struggling for a half hour or so in gnarly and torn lift. At 500' over the airport I was already kicking my legs out of my harness when I felt a few bumps. Stayed with them and they solidified into a thermal that took me straight to cloud base at 4K. Didn't think and just headed out. Long story short, I didn't pick any good line and never made cloud base again but had two more low safes from 500' that allowed me to fly half way to Dover (20 miles or so). Since cloud base at the airport I was never higher than 2500' so I feel pretty good about my flight and reading the ground following some of Sonny's excellent advice. I also had a nice tow in very rough conditions, without the fin, so at least I've got that part down, more or less.

[XCanytime]

I should have said the 11th, not at 11. Here's Larry's writeup on his epic flight from the Pulpit to home:

On Thursday, the blipmaps looked really good for a Pulpit XC day on Saturday. Friday evening I talked my wife Sue into driving for me, since we had to be home by 6:30P Saturday evening. I like getting to the site early to observe the conditions so we left around 9:00 driving up Rte 83 north to Harrisburg and then west on 76 to Rte 75 to Fort Loudon and then up the backside to the Pulpit (about 1 ½ hours). We arrived about 1030 to find straight in winds at 10-15 mph and nice looking cu’s out over the valley. I was setting up when a few PG pilots showed up so it looked like I would have a launch crew. Bacil showed up at 11:30 and I ended up launching into excellent looking conditions at 12:00. I thermaled up to 3000’ msl right away and thought this was going to be easy. It was another ½ hour before I caught another one in spite of the epic looking clouds. I rode this one up to 4000’ but couldn’t quite stay with it. Before long I was back down below ridge height searching hard for a good core. The clouds looked really good just north of launch but seemed out of reach past the power lines as the slightly crossing NW winds would be really cross at the bend in the mountain. After groveling at ridge height for almost an hour and a half though, I figured these consistently forming clouds were my only ticket. At 2800’ I flew over the power lines to the NW bubbling along not losing any altitude headed for a nicely building cu. About a ½ mile out I finally hit a nice thermal that averaged 400 fpm to cloudbase at 6000’. A series of clouds had formed a long street over the back and I dolphin flew out past the fish hatchery with the bar often at my knees trying to stay in contact with the ground.

Last week’s flight taught me a good lesson on what I needed to do to get on a track that would take me to East Prospect. This thermal had put me on a line to High Rock, I needed to dive to the NE in order to get in a good line to the east. There were several good looking clouds over the top of Front Mountain which is the last mountain before the ground opens up toward Chambersburg. I flew NE right over the top of the southern tip into some rough air. Just east of the mountain I hit good lift at 500 fpm to 5800’ and flew NE to another cloud topping out in strong lift again to cloudbase at 6100’.

It was time to head across the valley to the Michaux State Forest. Bacil and I had discussed how this area could be tough to get across as it is 10 miles wide (at its narrowest part) with very few landing areas. Obviously the best way would be to climb really high out over the forest and then just dive to the other side (sounded easy enough). I was down to 3100’ at the airport north of Chambersburg in search mode under a nice cu but couldn’t find anything consistent. Back to the west there was a building cu so I reversed direction and headed into a solid thermal that took me back to cloudbase. A series of clouds were now lined up over Rte 30 that headed east over the forest. I connected with all three of them and left the forest after topping out in the last one at 6300’. I was now 10 miles north of Gettysburg and in great position. The clouds were lined up heading east and the winds aloft were under 10 mph out of the WNW. Yahoo!

I radioed Sue for the umpteenth time to relay my position not knowing if she heard me as my headset was malfunctioning again (chronic problem). Over Rte 15 I hit the biggest thermal of the day at 750 fpm on average with several circles in 1000+ fpm. Visions of flying beyond East Prospect entered my head as Pete Lehmann’s record (88 miles?) was beckoning. Of course 20 minutes later I was at my lowest point after leaving the mountain at 2700’ north of the York Airport. The clouds still looked great but I was having trouble finding the cores and was just bubbling along from cloud to cloud. My decision making really diminishes when I get fatigued, it was now 4:00 and I was feeling it. For some dumb reason I tend to not top out in the thermals when I’m tired. I tend to have visions of stronger lift downwind and leave before I should. Anyway I did manage to top out at 5500’ on the west side of York and now had the numbers to glide home. A good cloud street was leading the way. I went on final glide working little bubbles but not really concentrating on getting back up as my goal was made. I flew around the development yelling at some of the neighbors from 1500’ and then headed south of town to a nice big freshly cut hay field and touched down at 4:32. Yeehaw! Sue showed up 20 minutes later. She never heard me the entire flight but kept heading east as she figured I must still be in the air. What a driver! Flight statistics: 78.5 miles, just over 6500’ msl, and 4 hours 32 minutes, and dinner was great! What an excellent day!


Bun

[mcelrah]

Larry,

Congratulations on a superb flight and thanks for the great write-up! It is an inspiration to us all. - Hugh

[hepcat1989]

.

[lbunner]

Thanks guys. I really like flying at the Pulpit. I think it has alot of potential, a really long one is possible from there one of these days.

Killer Bee

[markc]

Wow, Saturday at Highland was simply spectacular!

Given that we were post-frontal, with low temps and super-low humidity, I could feel that it was going
to be a good day the moment I walked out my front door.

I was the second to arrive at Highland, a bit before 11am. Janni wanted to talk about his pattern tows,
but I really couldn't focus on conversation very much The sky was looking that good.

I launched third, after Jim R and JD, close to 1pm. *Very* active tow, but once on my own it was very
hard to find anything solid. I spent close to an hour downwind of the field near the Choptank, bouncing
between 2500' and 3000' MSL. Got low-ish a couple times (1800 MSL), but luckily found something to
work by heading back upwind and veering this-away or that-away.

The thermals got a little easier to work, but base was still only 3500. So I stayed put, until finally
seeing Janni climbing like a banshee way upwind. I pulled string and ran his way, and that thermal got
us both to base at 4700 MSL. Janni then headed downwind, but I thought that the cores might get better
and stayed put. Shortly after that, I joined Jim R in a boomer, screaming up to another cloud. Now
THAT was what I wanted, and I headed downwind on an ESE course.

Not much to tell from that point: Lots of clouds were working and I got to base a bunch of times. Best
lift of my day was a long-sustained 780 fpm on the averager. It's been quite a while since I was in
lift that strong and continuous. I flew over Harrington and then Milford, but unfortunately I came up about
three miles short of my land-in-the-sand goal : Slaughter Beach was just out of reach. Not sure if I was
pushing into the seabreeze, if the line I was on just wasn't working at the crucial time, or if I just suck.
Probably the latter, given how good the day was!

But I can't complain, it was truly a fun flight. A nearby landowner stopped by to chat once I landed, and
then he drove me into Milford, where I grabbed some cold brews and a sandwich at Appleby's. Carlos
had stayed at Highland, and offered to pick Janni and I up (Carlos, you are the best!!), so I texted him
my coordinates and hung out, watching the Olympics. Bought them both a beer when they arrived, around
5pm. Then we retrieved my glider and we headed back to Highland, with a detour at Delicio's Pizza for
carry-out. Then much post-flight merriment at Highland until midnight or so.

Attaching some photos from the day below, hope you find them fun.

MarkC

[RedBaron]

Janni wanted to talk about his pattern tows, but I really couldn't focus on conversation very much

Janni: Mark, I need to talk to you about a few things.
Mark (looking skywards): What about?
Janni (sobbing): Leonie wants a divorce. She's been having an affair with my best friend for the last 3 years.
Mark (stuffing battens): Oh, bummer!
Janni: I don't know what to do.
Mark (looking skywards): Look at that sky, I think we're in for a good day.
Janni: I don't want to live anymore.
Mark (fixing his wands): That's too bad.
Janni (pointing a gun at his head): I might as well finish myself off right here...
Mark (attaching his nose cone): It's the beach my friend, it's the beach, woohoo!
...BANG!...
Mark (clearly distressed): Oh my god, oh my god, is the tug down?

[brianvh]

Haw!

(going to sleep still laughing).

[mcelrah]

Great pictures - and a great flight! How do you do that (upload pictures - I know I'm unteachable as far as staying up)? Is there a way to share the pictures with non-members of the forum? - Hugh