Daniel's PG Wednesday 5 May

[mcelrah]

I arrived about 4:30 to find Ben and LE parawaiting on launch. There was one freight train that came through - a sample of what they had been watching for awhile - but there was a declining trend. Matt arrived, with Laszlo peddling as fast as he could to catch up with the crowd he himself had generated with his announcement. I launched at 5:10 into moderate STFI, got up in ridge lift to 400 over, then headed out to test penetration. Continued climbing on the way out to the LZ to 900 over, penetrating at low single digits. Wind was west on the surface, but had an east component at altitude (wrapping around Parker Mt.?). Came back to the ridge and pushed out into the valley repeatedly (at one point heading back to launch I saw 43 mph on the GPS), but with progressively less altitude gain, for the next hour + 15, landed into the surface west wind, although it was dead in the swale. Laszlo had FOD with 1:50. He was flying with a lot of birds. Ben, LE and Matt all flew toward the end of the day. This was my first paraglider flight since breaking my ankle 3 1/2 months ago (flew HG on Saturday to test it). Ben, LE and I celebrated this excellent day with dinner at Pomme in Gordonsville. - Hugh

[mcelrah]

I should add that it turned west cross on launch after I had launched. - Hugh