Bills Saturday

[XCanytime]

Looking for some polar bears interested in flying Bills Saturday. Looks like upper 30s and ESE winds. Bacil

[Matthew]

Count us in-- we're charging up the electric insoles and gloves!


Missed out on MLK day because I had to fix the roof. Does a couple of hours at 35' over count as airtime???

Matthew

[Ward Odenwald]

I'm going too.

Ward

[DanTuck]

See you there around 11:30.

[carweill]

Hope to make it.

Will this time be early enough?

Carlos

[Dan T]

It looks like a good light day. I plan to be there with just the paraglider.

Dan T

[Matthew]

Went to Bill's-- Bacil and Greg and Dan Tuck all flew HGs-- Greg had a pretty long extendo.

Bailed to Fisher's with plans to fly to Ritchie Knob in the PG. The road to launch was sheet of ICE! Launch, however, was clear. Tom and Lazlo were already in the air. Ellis launched and got up for a bit before she and Lazlo sunk out. Dan Tomlinson tried to launch his PG-- but it was too strong. It took me two times to get off and I flew down to Ritchie Knob as planned and landed in that humungous field behind the ridge. My fingers were like ice cubes!!! It's the coldest my hands have been since I was a teenager.

Ellis came up and helped Dan launch and he flew XC to a field about a mile from the old, old primary. Lazlo flew again and landed because he was cold. I think Tom was up for 3 hours-- I don't know how he kept his hands warm.

Matthew

[XCanytime]

3 hang glider flights at Bills today. I launched first a little after 12:30P into a light straight in cycle. Turned right into the expected cross, and found rotory air. Got in a pass to the north screaming by launch. Headed out to a nice landing in the main into a south wind. Greg Sessa had a nice extendo next. Dan Tuckwiller rounded out the flights with a perfect no step landing in the LZ. Ward did not fly; he took our gear back to the top while Greg, Dan, and I raced him back to the top with our legs. Thanks Ward. Bill Crist, who Bills Hill was named after, showed up and we all had a nice chat with him on the history of Bills and how it was opened by him and Eric Logan. We retrieved our gliders from the LZ; Greg headed home, while I led Dan and Ward over to Fisher Road. They had never seen the launch. Ward and I made it up to the launch in the snow and ice on Childers Ridge Road and Fisher Road. Dan's low/no clearance vehicle didn't make it up Childers Ridge Road. It was soarable at Fishers; the wind into launch was 12 to 18 MPH and straight in.

Bacil

[DanTuck]

Like Bacil said, it was trashy on the ridge. Just too much Southeast in it so I headed out for a sweet landing. Thanks guys for the help launching and Ward, thanks for taking our gear up.

[g.sessa]

Mathew, Bacil and Dan pretty much summed up the day at Bill’s. I just wanted to thank Mathew and Karen for stopping by and agreeing to observe me for the day. Thanks Bacil for the helpful flying advice. And thank you Ward for your help throughout the day.

Cool video Dan!

[tomceunen]

It was a marvelous afternoon with consistens thermals every half a mile along the ridge. Superb speed XC practicing day.

I felt only cold on the face for the first 5min. But as soon as I got acclimated it was fine.
Fingers:I fly with normal mittens where all fingers are together to keep them warm, keep them crumbled in the hand palm
Head: I fly with a double biker cap and an extra sinus protection
Body: 1 TShirt, 2 Fleece and a soft shell jacket
Legs: normal paint, ski paint and the fairing of the harness
I never got cold.

Next keep on thermalling and speeding, it keeps you busy and warm

Cheers!
Tom

[lbunner]

Can someone clarify the situation with Fishers Rd? I thought the site was closed. If I remember correctly, Janni approached the landowners to try and open it back up but was unsuccessful. Is it open now?

[Matthew]

You can't land in any of the old primaries-- the LZs discussed in the site guide. You either have to go XC down the ridge or over the back... or if you fly PGs there are some other bailouts available-- too small for HGs. I think we could get back the old, old primary-- the furthest from launch. There are new landowners there and it does not look like they have horses. The previous landowners gave us the boot when they got horses. We need a charming good ol' boy to go talk to them. Any suggestions????

Matthew