Hyner weather

[brianvh]

Looking decent: light winds, no rain, SW flow. Straight in at the ramp, with the option of using the newly reopened SSW slope launch. Light enough to get off the steep NW slope.

[silverwings]

One of the better flying holiday weekends at Hyner for me. Marney and I got there Thursday 4:00 to nice cool temps but quite cross winds from the N. A few pilots flew on lighter cycles and Tom G got above for a soaring flight. Friday was also nice temps and better wind conditions. Saturday temps were a bit warmer and fairly good flying at times. Sunday was still a bit warmer that Saturday and good flying and we left around 4:00 to head home. Some pilots got soaring flights each of the days, quite a number of tandems, some extendo's and some sleds. I flew my PG and HG each day Friday - Sunday and had a nice 1:25 PG soaring flight on Saturday and some PG soaring on both Fri and Sunday. Had HG extendos on Fri and Saturday and a nice 55 min HG soaring flight on Sunday before we left for home. When we left it looked like Dan Tuckwiller was doing his second soaring flight for the day. The forecast also sounded promising for Monday though hotter. Hyner is such a lovely flying site and a good group of pilots.

[mingram]

Jealous! I've never been to Hyner, but Friday and Saturday would have been a good time to camp and fly before it got really hot. Is it only PGable from the SSW slope, or can the NW cliff also be used? John, were you the only observer there? I wasn't able to find any observers flying near DC this weekend, so I think I need to expand my contact list and start traveling farther to WV and PA.

Matt

[brianvh]

I think the average soaring flight on sunday was over an hour.

Some new additions to the traditions: after the statue of liberty all the female virgins were called in for a tossing of the, well, not bouquet. I should maybe let that one stay at Hyner, but it was hilarious. There was a russian sauna and plenty of cloud diving. The Hyner fairies blessed every campfire. A good weekend.

As for paragliders launching off the NW slope (not cliff) it seems to be normally done with a forward launch, though I've seen reverse launches as well.

[silverwings]

Re: PG at Hyner - There were 3 or 4 pg's there and usually more on holiday weekends. Though I am not a PG observer, Mike and I handle that responsibility when there. The main launch (non cliff) is used for NNW to W winds usually and is very steep for the W direction and a little less steep for the other. Pilots use forward or reverse launches depending on conditions and their preference. The other PG launch is to left of the hg WSW ramp and faces SW, not as steep and allows for more running room. There is NOT a separate SSW launch per se and SSW winds probably a bit risky for launching and flying in my opinion. Hyner tends to have it's own effect on wind direction. Most of the forecast's for Sat thru Mon were for W and SW winds and by the time I left Sunday at 4:00 there had been virtually no SW winds mostly W to NNW winds. All the compass directions my guesstimate!