weekend outlook

[RedBaron]

Pulpit Saturday and Ridgely Sunday
I may have a driver for Saturday

[RedBaron]

High Rock tomorrow?

[Matthew]

We are gong to be heathens and go climbing in the morning-- then check conditions mid-day and decide whether or not to continue on to fly somewhere.

Matthew

[hanging3]

Pulpit and/or HR
Start at Pulpit and see what happens?
will check in AM

[hepcat1989]

.

[markc]

Looking more NW on Saturday, and more W on Sunday. Could be one of those
weekends where things are good everywhere.... If the forecast holds, my own
plans might be determined by how many hours I'm willing to spend on the road.
I'll be up and looking at conditions early tomorrow, 8-ish.

MarkC

[carweill]

Up for flying, but haven't decided where yet


Carlos

[markc]

Kinda looks like High Rock to me today, with the one unknown
being a strongish winds winds-aloft 'cast at 3k.

But what the heck, shall we give it a go? Who's in?

MarkC

[Kelvin Pierce]

High Rock sounds good to me.

[markc]

Count me, Carlos, and Pete S in!

MarkC

PS: No TFR today!

[hanging3]

Following the herd!
moo

[DanTuck]

Well, my day changed and now I can fly. Are there any observers headed out that could throw me off?
202-487-oh 231

[RedBaron]

HR was sick today. 2.5 hours, cloud base a bunch of times. Landed completely fatigued from flying and struggling to get the glider down. Everybody soared, everybody seemed stoked.

[kcarra]

So, does this mean you no longer hate high rock???

Matthew

[markc]

Wow, another great High Rock day, and this time without a TFR to worry about!!

Lessee... The cast included Bunkhouse Bob, Carlos, me, Kelvin, Pete, Dan T, Craig,
Joe B, Janni & Leonie, Glen, and Eddie. Not a bad turnout, not bad at all!

Bob went first, was above for a while, but then succumbed to a sink cycle. No worries
though, he hiked back up and was able to get a second flight with plenty-o-airtime
later in the day.

I was going to give it a try around 1pm, about to carry up to the cube.... But I could
see that the lullls were still seriously dead, and that we had no clouds overhead.
Common sense kicked in, and I decided to wait a while.

Darn glad I did! I was second off, after waiting for a very large cloud shadow to move
through (and earning 'potato' jeers from Janni). Lift was sketchy at first, but managed
to scrape my way up. And man, it was great from there! Flew for close to three hours,
topped out at 4800' over launch, got to cloudbase at least four times, and generally
had a blast flying anywhere I wanted.

Decided that this would be a good day to try an upwind task, something that I totally
suck at. Goal was the church steeple in the center of Waynesboro. And damn, I actually
made it! Took friggin' FOREVER, while the return to the ridge was done in, like, 10 or
15 minutes? Sheesh! That was a workout!

Everyone soared today. Dan T had a sled fairly early, but as we were breaking down
in the LZ the lightbulb finally went off: We have to get up there and throw Dan off
in some magic! Doh! Luckily, conditions up top were still good when he launched at\
about 7:20. He flew until sunset, to the delight of the crowd on the Rock.

Attaching a few photos from the day below. Enjoy!

MarkC

PS: The camera was accidentally in manual mode for a while, so a couple shots are
near B&W. I think they turned out pretty cool.

[CraginS]

Mark's count was off by 1 - Rich Hays was also there and flew. Total pilot count of 12.
OK, really 13; Danny B had been overhead mid-afternoon in his sailplane. Around 7:30 he joined us at launch to visit about the day.
Thanks to Rich, Eddie, and Glenn for wiring me off.
First HR flight in the U2, and second mountain launch on it
I succeeded in reaching the block in a long sink cycle, so potatoed for 15 minutes. Finally I launched, with a good clean straight out - I was pleased with it. Once I did get off, I was in ratty stuff, and scratched between 100' below and 150' above for almost half an hour.

I was also very pleased with my landing - clean set up and nice short run out. I had the shortest and lowest soaring flight of the day, but was very happy with being out there.

See my b(Log) for a couple of minutes of video (yes, with music) from my flight.

BTW, here is the latest social news from the launch block graffiti:

[DanTuck]

Yesterday was such a nice day. I talked to Kelvin in the morning and headed out to High Rock arriving around 12:30. There were 5 or 6 gliders already set up when I got there, including Kelvin so I set up quick. But conditions were light so there was actually no rush necessary. I watched Bob launch and stay up, at least for a little while and conditions were getting better which was encouraging. Finally, when things were looking good, I wire crewed for a few pilots and then went and got ready. I got up onto launch and waited a few minutes for a decent cycle. Well, I didn't wait long enough because the cycle that I picked was weak and I sank fast. My launch, approach and landing were fine and I had the breakdown area to myself as the sky was filled with gliders. We hadn't brought any vehicles down to the LZ so we would be hiking up. And I took my time breaking down my glider. I must say, it's no fun when your neck is sore after your first flight because you sled and spend the next 2 hours alone in the LZ with your head craned back watching everyone play with the clouds. I watched Janni share a thermal with a sailplane (Danny B). I watched Mark go on his upwind task. Kelvin and Carlos even teased me by coming out to the LZ and pretending like they were going to come give me some company only to hook a thermal and sky out once again. I think I even heard them laughing as they went up. Eventually a few pilots did land only because they were tired and cold. After much ado about how difficult it was to get down (what are you talking about?! It was easy!) it was time to set out on our trek up the mountain. Kelvin, Carlos, Pete and I hiked up, got our cars and went back down to the LZ. Not too long after we got down there we all realized that it had gone magic and if I could get up, then everyone would have soared. I had honestly already accepted defeat for the day - Kelvin had offered to throw me off again a little earlier and I had declined - but I changed my mind because of the prime conditions and I didn't really want to end the day on that note. When Cragin got back down he agreed to go back up and throw me off so Mark, Carlos, Cragin and I went back up. Daylight was running short and the guys helped me get set up in a flash- thank you! It had backed off a little by the time I was up there but I still found a good cycle to launch into. I turned LEFT and up I went. The beeping from my vario was so steady I could have used it as a metronome. I played around at 3-400' over for about 30 minutes in the smoothest air I've been in yet. About mid flight I was flying with a gaggle of 6 vultures. They were about 200' below and off to the right a little but I thought it was really cool that our speeds and direction were identical. We paralleled each other until I turned back up the ridge. When the sun began to fall below the horizon I headed out to the LZ and did a few big 360's. Cragin signaled to me from the LZ that it was calm in the field. I began my approach when the sun was three quaters gone which was good and I touched down as the last sliver of sun slipped away. I broke down as fast as I could but it was dark as we loaded my glider onto the rack. Man, what a day. After dinner at Cozy I got home and crashed but not before I put the video together. Thank you Kelvin and Cragin for throwing me off!!
The video : http://www.vimeo.com/1544488

PS - Mark, those are some great shots! Do you have a higher res version of the one of me? Thanks for the new screensaver!

[markc]

High rez shot is on its way Dan... Great video, thanks for sharing your sunset magic
flight with us!

MarkC