hyner memorial day

[brianvh]

May be the last chance to hang out and fly with Shawn Rae. Aside from the usuals (myself, bunkhouse, beard, krichten) it looks like Hugh, Ellis, Janni, Dan Tuck may come up. Often John Middleton is there but haven't heard word yet.

The long range forecast is showing mainly light southerly winds. At Hyner it's steep enough you can wait for a thermal, or we may go to Jack's, which is only 2 hours away versus 3 from DC. But the forecast may change between now and then. And there's the Superbowl for SW winds, Hyner East, Kennedy (north)...

[DanTuck]

I'm planning on heading up Thursday morning with Olivia and staying until Sunday. We're also bringing two of her girlfriends from New York and they all want to do tandems. Last year, if I remember correctly, the forecast was not so good on July 4th and Labor Day, both of which turned out to be pretty good for flying. Hyner seems to make its own weather. Hope it's good. See y'all up there.

[brianvh]

Not that I trust predictions a week out, but the possibility of thunderstorms suggests instability, and with light winds this gives Hyner a good chance to 'make it's own weather'. I put it in quotes because everyone who knows Hyner uses those same words.

the Jack's forecasts are tending slightly more east of south, which is good. But this will all change in a few days.

[brianvh]

Oo-oo-oo! Forecast just went to wnw, nw, etc. Not that I trust it, but hey.

[dbodner]

Thinking seriously of going.

[hepcat1989]

.

[brianvh]

Still looking good. I should be arriving sometime friday morning.

[lbunner]

Is there any place to stay local other than camping?

[hepcat1989]

.

[brianvh]

The ABSOLUTE BEST place to stay is the North Bend bed and breakfast, closer than either of those other two, and way much nicer.

570-923-2927
800-240-2921

But I'd recommend keeping a tent at the LZ anyway, just in case you stay up late drinking.

[silverwings]

Marney and I will be arriving Saturday. Hope to see you there.

[RedBaron]

This is so hard. I don't like the forecast, Saturday and Monday seem to be crap and I don't want to be stuck with a wet glider.
What to do, what to do?

[Dan T]

Janni,

That's a no brainer, it's Memorial Day. What else are you going to do, sit at home and watch baseball?

Besides if it rains the whole place will probably want to party with you for all you did at the Pulpit. You might not make it home until next Wednesday!

Dan T
in baghdad but just for a little longer
PS I jumped off a ten meter high platform at one of Saddams resorts today. Kinda like flying, almost.

[DanTuck]

Got there Thursday afternoon and it was too South to fly so we just set up camp and got dinner. Nice evening around the campfire with the early Hyner crew. Friday morning was light and clear and I got a short flight in nice smooth air. We decided to head back up for another quick flight before lunch. After I was set up Leo and Joe Gorrie launched and got up around 3K over, and of course the scramble for launch followed. Unfortunately the pilots who launched right after them struggled and sank out due to a nasty looking cell that shut everything down. Leo and Joe came down and landed to avoid it and we had to wait for the cloud to pass through. Fortunately it didn't rain or anything and the sun came back out. We waited for it to heat back up (I was on the ramp, Dennis Pagen was on the gravel launch) but it was already after 4 at that point. After awhile I just chose a decent cycle because I felt bad making everyone wait around for possible heating and I had another short flight. Saturday was decked over and South but later in the day there were some very short windows. If you wanted to launch, you had to take a lull but they were only lasting 10 seconds at most. So lots of us set up but the later it got, the shorter the lulls got. Eventually I broke down up top. We had a real nice evening relaxing around the campfire with Shawn, Malina and Bacil. Sunday morning brought the first possibility for a cloud dive and I was up top by 7:15 so as not to miss it. It was the first time I had witnessed what seemed to be the mountain breathing. It was trickling over the back at a couple mph but then it would start to come in straight at a couple mph. And whenever the wind would come in, the clouds would slosh up on launch and wash out the set up area. Then the winds would switch again and clear out the set up area. It was very cool. When the clouds finally began to break up, the wind was light out of the North and we all got off. Olivia's friend Demetra got to do her first tandem, a semi-cloud dive, and had a blast. Unfortunately, they had to drive back to Manhattan and I had to drive back to Charlotte so we ran out of time and Olivia did not get to fly. But we all had a lot of fun. Hyner is well worth it even if you don't sky out. I was not disappointed. Pictures and video to follow.

Plus I wouldn't have missed Shawn's last HG weekend around here (at least for awhile). We'll miss you Shawn. Keep in touch.
PS - Lots of Capital folks there - Shawn & Malina, Bacil, Hugh & Sally, Ellis, Stan, John M & Marnie, Kathy & Troy, David B, any others?

[brianvh]

Yep, better camping than flying weather, though I got off 4 flights nonetheless, including a magnificient cloud dive. I kept missing Shawn and Malina around the campfires, though I did drop in and spend some quality time one breakfast. Myself, Hugh, Bodner, Ellis, and Ellis's P-2 Stan pooled food with Dave ('Spoons') food and had excellent repasts the entire weekend.

I started out with one vehicle, and arrived in another. After spending the night with Mike and Julia Balk, I pulled out friday morning in my old 1990 Honda Civic. 5 miles later my timing belt broke, and the valves chewed themselves up. My fault, but I got a good 100 K out of that puppy. So you're stuck far away from both your home and your destination with no car, what do you do? You go out and buy another one. Mike did an internet search for Subaru outbacks in the area, and we sniffed around a bit on the way back from the shop. After lunch we decided to stop by a used car place just a couple miles from home, and sitting all alone, unadvertised but with a sort of heavenly glow around it, was MY OUTBACK, for $3,000. Put it on a credit card and rolled out an hour later. The stars were truly aligned.

Then less than 24 hours later in a parking lot in Renovo I forgot to set the parking brake, it rolled out of the lot, off the curb and into a side street. Boy did they have fun with that one around the campfire that night. Fortunately no obvious damage to the car, good thing it has good clearance.

[DanTuck]

Here's my video from the weekend (click the link for higher quality) -
http://www.vimeo.com/4837582




Here's Shawn Ray with a nice landing on Friday afternoon -
http://www.vimeo.com/4835918


Pictures later.