Flying Saturday

[Matthew]

Anyone else seeing Woodstock for Saturday???

Matthew

[chuckok]

Looks like a good idea to me!

[DanTuck]

IMO, Woodstock is looking pretty light and also pretty West. So far, I'm liking the look of the Pulpit better, probably on the strong side mid-day but a much better direction. I'll keep my eye on it and decide tonight but I'm thinking an early Pulpit day tomorrow. Or maybe a nice evening flight.

[Matthew]

Will also look again in morning--

But a 15+ degree temp drop in one day and a cold front blowing through on Saturday-- I'm just not buying the light wind forecast.

Matthew

[garys]

I am heading to WS early to mid afternoon Sat. then Calvert cliffs for a Sunday flight. Gary H 540-955-3956 Cell 540-686-0351

[Danny Brotto]

Saturday: W and "lighter" early... NW and "stronger" later into sundown. WS best bet although watch the velocity!

HR might be decent on Sunday through mid-day although w/ a N cross (andstill a bit breezy?) Oregon Ridge might be interesting

Gonna fly fiberglass and carbon tomorrow.

Danny Brotto

[kcarra]

Text forecast still says 10=15-- Meteograms show 15-20-- the front still hasn't passed through-- I'm still thinking Woodstock.

Anyone else?

Mathew

[John Dullahan]

If it's not blown out, the Pulpit could prove to be an epic day. The NWS text for the area: TODAY SUNNY. NOT AS WARM WITH HIGHS IN THE UPPER 70S. WEST WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH. If you click on the Pulpit NWS Surface 'Cast it shows a high of 14 mph wnw with gusts under 20 mph. However, that's in McConnelsburg, so it would be higher at launch. What say you?

John

[garys]

Heading to WS today. ETA 2:00 pm. Velocity looks good. Swinging more NW later too. Calvert cliffs? Looking kinda N there in the morning. Swinging NE as the day progresses but the velocity drops. It will be a gamble for HG there but good for PG. Rain starts Sun night.

Gary

[chuckok]

Heading for WS ... early PM arrival.

[John Dullahan]

OK, I will probably follow the crowd to WS. If anyone want's to give the Pulpit a shot call me on my cell: (301) 646 4999

John

[carweill]

Pulpit
The soundings forecast at launch is 17-18 knots all afternoon. Wind direction 290.

Woodstock
The soundings forecast 14-16 knots not including 'woodstock effect'' wind direction 290

Inclined to Woodsotck right now

Carlos

[chuckok]

Beautiful day at Woodstock, and a full house to boot! We even had some visitors from upstate NY join in!

The West cross made for some swirling action at launch, and some busy flying. I hung back to launch in the evening with the Karen and David B, and the PG folks. A nice "old man" flight ... smooth ... 1K over ... 40 min. air time.

Nice way to spend a Saturday!

[Matthew]

Great day at the Stocker-- I flew down to the North Point in the HG, never getting too high, and thinking that I'd propbably have to land out becaus of the South cross on the ridge. I arrived at the end of the ridge to find a big fat one that I rode up to 1100 over. After playing around in it a while, I decided to give it a try to get back. It turned out to be pretty easy and I dolphined my way half way down the ridge as the air went magic and I climbed back up to 1K over as I returned to launch. Landed after 1:45 and Steve K. and I went back up top to launch the PGs-- Steve going first. I climbed up to 800 over in smooth as glass lift that went all the way out to the LZ-- so smooth that I flew hands free most of the time. The wind picked-up at the end of the flight and I had to use speed bar to get over the LZ-- 40 minutes. Big thanks to Carlos for sticking around to make sure Steve and I launched OK.

Matthew

[John Dullahan]

Lots's folks of both the HG and PG persuasion at Woodstock yesterday. For most of the day we were concerned with the wind velocity - there wasn't enough. When it occasionally came in at around 4/6 MPH there it was a west cross, which had the streamers in the slot blowing in various directions. (The trees around launch, especially to the left and front, really need to be topped or cut down). Around 2:30 pm, after an extended wait for a decent cycle, (all of us had to wait for good cycles - until about 5pm when it got better) Carlos wind dummied, and got a nice extendo, followed by Randy Weber who had a sled. This was followed by a predictable pause, until Dan Tuck showed us how it was done. He had a strong launch into a nice cycle and ended up with the FOD by getting around 3,000 over. Most of the rest of us got a max of 1,200 over (though it was rumored that someone else got as high as Dan). Between 5 and 6 pm there were at least 5 paragliders and more HGs in the air, everyone stayed up, and everyone except Ellis landed in the main LZ (She couldn't get down and flew out towards route 11 to do so). I apologize if I left someone out, so someone please fill in the forgotten names: Mark Gardner, who honored us with a four-hour drive to reach WS, Steve Kinsley (who flew HG, then PG, as did Randy), Dan Tomlinson, Ellis, Matthew and Karen, Laslo, Chuck (who posted the neat video), Dave Bodner, Mike Cosner, Dave Green, and "Dan" with a HG school somewhere. Thanks to Carlos for shuttling cargo and bodies to the LZ. Some of us topped of a great afternoon by decamping to a nice restaurant in Strasburg afterwords (Run by Mexican restaurant owner's daughter).

[DanTuck]

What was looking like a bust turned out to be a great day of flying! I counted 13 HG flights and 6 PG flights by 16 pilots (Matthew, Steve and Randy with twofers), it's been a while since we've seen numbers like that! And especially on a so-so forecast. I can add Gary Smith to the list, and there were probably others. A little while after Randy landed there was this great 10 minute cycle that made me decide to get suited up. Of course as soon as I got on launch it went calm. So I waited for 15 minutes until a decent cycle started blowing through. It was swirly but after a few seconds it began to fill up the slot so I took it. I turned left into the West cross and found abundant lift that got me over the ridge immediately. From there I was finding thermals all over the place. They were pretty punchy at first but once I got above 1,500' over, they got much smoother and better organized. I found a bunch that got me 1,500'-1,800' over and then about an hour into the flight, I found a big fat super smooth one that took me to 3K' over. Once up there, it was easy to stay between 2,200-2,800' over. The drift was mostly straight up the ridge, not so much over the back, and the winds aloft were not very strong. I went out into the valley, and played around as conditions got smoother and almost magic. As the shadows started getting long, I headed out to land and was climbing the whole time unless I stuffed the bar. I made my approach real wide to stay away from the treeline on the West side of the field and landed after just under 2 hours. The restaurant was very accommodating, keeping the kitchen open late just for us. Dinner on the terrace was a perfect ending to the day. Great choice, Karen. Video later.

PS - Cool video, Chuck!

[Lauren Tjaden]

Sounds like you had a great day-- I miss you all! How wonderful that there are so many active pilots in the area.
I loved Chuck's video but had to laugh. I must have the same software he does (Pinnacle) to edit videos, because I've used that song a few times myself.
Come down to Florida if you get cold this winter and enjoy some flatland flying!
Lauren

[chuckok]

Giving away my secrets!

[DanTuck]

[deveil]

yeah, crank and bank - i got it
try not to fake it next time
damn nice landing btw.

[DanTuck]

hahaha! dizzy yet?

[deveil]

p.s. not wanting your skills a documentarian to go unremarked upon - i realize that the actual scope of your piece was "the full woodstock experience", including the climactic build - of the 'rush up the trail' - lungs screaming - heart racing - pulse pounding - breast ACHing! EAger - yEARNing - nEEding to KNOW! ..." hi guys, how's it goin', what's it doing at launch?"

one critique: the beer? Hello! ... yafah got ah bout the beer.

[dbodner]

lungs screaming - heart racing - pulse pounding - breast ACHing!

You ARE talking about what happens to us out-of-shape guys carrying our gliders toward launch, right?